The Manchester Derby-playground style

The Manchester Derby ended in an 8-8 draw today, although United were adamant that the three points should be theirs as they were on top and would have won had the game not had to be abandoned due to bad light.

Before the game started, there was an argument as to which ball should be used. Ander Herrera wanted to use the Official Premier League ball he had just brought from SportsDirect, but a number of Manchester City players complained that it was too heavy. In the end a truce was reached; Samir Nasri’s ball was to be used in the first half, with Herrera’s used in the second.

Vincent Kompany had a portable goal, which City attacked in the first half, with United playing towards a pair of jumpers. It was agreed that they would switch sides, as well as balls, after one team hit five goals.

20 seconds into the game, Daley Blind’s powerful drive flew between the cones, but Joe Hart was adamant that he wasn’t ready and the goal shouldn’t have stood. Hart refused to play until the goal was disallowed so Michael Carrick, acting as peacemaker, was forced to disallow it.

City  took the lead soon after, when United’s tactic of playing rush goalie failed them, as last man back Marcos Rojo was buy updating his twitter status, allowing Aguero to stop on the line, fall to his knees and nod the ball into the net. United were furious with this lack of sportsmanship, with Rooney making his feelings known, before being shouted down by Kompany, who called him a “bad loser”.

City then wasted a gilt edged chance to go 2-0 up. Navas, with Aguero in a fantastic position to his right elected to shoot from a difficult angle, which resulted in a furious Aguero declaring him a “hogger.”

Manchester United’s equaliser was also cause for argument. A free kick from Di Maria, awarded for obstruction after Clichy sat on the ball, sailed over Hart, with the City contingent convinced it had gone over,while Di Maria argued that Hart would have reached it had the jumped higher. Carrick, again acting as peacemaker, awarded his side a penalty, which Rooney duly converted. Still angry about his original goal being chalked off, Di Maria went into a “mardy” and sat cross legged on the touchline with his head in his hands for five minutes.

A second United goal resulted in more heated debate between the two sides; a shot from Rooney was heading over the line, when Fellaini appeared and tapped it in “just to make sure”. A livid Rooney branded Fellaini a “goal stealer” and insisted the goal was credited to him. Having lost their lead, City temporarily lost a player, with Demichelis unfortunately stepping in dog dirt that had been deposited inside the penalty area. A reluctant Hart was on hand to clean up the mess, and play was allowed to resume, once Demichelis had sufficiently cleaned his boots.

City got back on terms with a moment of brilliance from David Silva, who set himself up for a stupendous volley past De Gea, who had no complaints. Play again ground to a halt as Silva insisted on an “action replay”, which took a good ten minutes to replicate

Manchester United went in front, as usual in controversial fashion. A shot from Mata went wide, and Rooney persuaded Hart to allow him to play on rather than take a goal kick. Rooney trotted back on the pitch, turned, and blasted the ball past Hart, and then proceeded to wave a fist in Fellaini’s face.

The game’s second penalty was awarded to City, as Yaya Toure was roughly shoved to the ground by Phil Jones, who insisted it was a shoulder barge, rather than an elbow, and attempted to demonstrate the difference on Marcos Rojo. Aguero missed the original spot kick, but insisted upon a retake as De Gea was putting him off. The retaken spot kick was hit low to De Gea’s right. The equaliser spurred City on, and within moments they had gained the lead, this time in comical fashion. Phil Jones attempted a back pass, unaware that De Gea had vacated his goal to join the attack, and watched horrified as the ball rolled into the net, despite his desperate attempts to get back.

Half time was then called as City got their fifth, but it was another goal that resulted in friction between team mates. Fernando, through on goal was suddenly confronted by a furious Nasri, who pushed him out of the way, screaming “LET ME SCORE! I HAVEN’T SCORED YET!” and hammered the ball past a bemused De Gea.

The second half kicked off with Herrera’s ball being used, but not before a debate that the ball was not properly pumped up was settled. A delay occurred as Herrera drove back to his house to pump the ball up according to regulations. Man City had a moment of charity, and decided that United could have Jesus Navas as an extra man, as “We’ll win easily anyway”.

The next goal would be crucial, and it was United who got it, and again it was down to inadequate defending. Joe Hart spotted an attractive woman walking past and decided to show off. He attempted to kick the ball against the post and back into his hands, but misjudged the flight of the ball and could only look on aghast as it flew back into the net. United’s joy was short lived though; Fellaini decided to join in on City’s side, as he didn’t want to be on the losing team.

City regained their two goal advantage with another debatable goal. A shot from Fellaini rolled over the left hand jumper and into the net, with the goal empty due to United committing men forward. Furious United players argued that the ball would have hit the outside of the post and rebounded away had there been one, but City’s players countered with “but there wasn’t a post, so it doesn’t matter.” United hit back with a moment of trickery of their own. A cunning Di Maria convinced an unwitting Fernando that he was on City’s side now, and persuaded him to pass him the ball. He then gleefully “skinned” Clichy and arrowed the ball into the top corner to bring United back into the game.

Fellaini, seeing United might win afterall, rejoined the Red Devils, with Navas leaving the field to go to the toilet. Yet again, City regained a two goal advantage. Not for the first time in the game, Manchester United were left short on the goalkeeper front, and a long goal kick by Hart bounced into the net. United heads went down, and City appeared to have killed the game off, as Fernando took revenge on Nasri by tackling him just as he was about to score, shouting “Bloody hell, look at that over there!” at De Gea to distract him, and scoring to give City an 8-5 lead.

Another delay then occurred with a dog escaping onto the pitch and running off with the ball. The delay lasted 20 minutes before the dog was called off by its apologetic owner.

The delay served Manchester United well and they responded with a quick fire double. First, Di Maria scored a free kick, awarded despite claims by City that he had “played on” after being fouled by Zabaleta, beating the 10 man wall, that had positioned itself three yards in front of him, and this was followed by a goal from Carrick, who noticed Hart busy checking other scores on his mobile, and deftly lobbed him from 40 yards, A furious Hart again claimed that he wasn’t ready, but it was unanimously agreed that he should have been.

The final goal of the game came as it began to get increasingly dark. Radamel Falcao, on in place of Rooney, who had a stitch, received a long ball from Jones, and tapped it into an empty net. Falcao refuted claims for offside by saying “We’re not playing offside” and laughed off chants of “Goal hanger!” from Toure and Kompany.

Then came the major talking point. It had become too dark to see the ball, and City decided it had become too dark for them to play. Wayne Rooney was in agreement, but insisted his team be awarded the win, as “we would have won, we were on top.” A furious fight broke out, which culminated in Nasri spitefully kicking Herrera’s ball into a pile of stinging nettles.

Final score:
Manchester United 8-8 Manchester City (Man United awarded themselves the win as “We would have won if we’d played on for longer anyway)

Cheltenham 1-0 Hartlepool and Taxi Woes

I would be glad to be able to report that my trip to watch Cheltenham play Hartlepool passed without much fuss. Sadly, I cannot. I’m publishing this on my general blog as well as my football blog as most of the post isn’t football related.

The journey started, as journeys usually do with the 9:19 from Oakham to Birmingham. This was pretty event free and by about 10:45 I was at New Street station. I decided to get my first beer of the day (it’s an unwritten rule that early drinking is acceptable on football trips) so went to “Mi Casa Burrito” to try one of their Mexican beers, the name of which I can’t remember.
Inevitably I was asked to provide identification so I showed him my provisional license. “Sorry, we don’t take provisionals” he said. Yes, that’s right, it seems that despite my provisional license having my name, a picture of myself and my date of birth, they couldn’t take it. I couldn’t be bothered getting into an argument so I popped into the Pasty shop and bought a can of Stella which I enjoyed on the journey from Birmingham to Cheltenham. Off I headed then to my favourite pub The Spectre where I enjoyed some Amstel and was bored by Burnley and Man Utd playing out a drab 0-0 draw.

After that it was to the stadium and onto the game. We lined up unchanged from the team who beat Tranmere so spectacularly. New loan signing from Millwall John Marquis took residence on the bench. The first half was pretty uneventful but we just about shaded it. Not much to report really. The second half, we turned the screw but seemed unable to score. Marquis, who came on for Gornell, whose goalscoring touch again deserted him. Sterling-James then came on, surprisingly for Vaughan. I tried to work out what formation we’d gone for. Yates, who I was just behind looked to be gesticulating that it was four at the back, with Jordan Wynter going to right back and Brown pushing up to defensive midfield.
It was the final sub that would prove decisive however. Koby Arthur entered the fray for Byron Harrison, and in the last minute of normal time, he rose to head in a flick on. Impressive for someone only five feet six inches tall. Hartlepool didn’t look at all like equalising in the four added minutes and it was four wins from five for Cheltenham. Joint top of the table with Burton, who officially occupy top spot on alphabetical order. This is our best start to a season since 1994 and we have more points than we acquired after 12 games last season! Still though, it’s early days.

Braham-Barrett was again a revelation at left wing back and picked up a deserved man of the match award. Richards put in one of his best performances in a Cheltenham shirt and of course supersub Arthur did what he does best. Marquis also looked very impressive on his debut and was unlucky not to score.

I should also add I enjoyed a delightful chicken burger at half time.

Off I went back to The Spectre where I had another Amstel and setled down to watch Everton V Chelsea while charging my phone. The first half as you probably know was most entertaining and at half time I took the bus back to the station. I went to cross the barriers to get to the Midland Hotel and wait for the train while watching the rest of the game. This proved difficult as despite me putting my ticket through the machine, the barrier stubbornly refused to budge so I decided to roll under the barriers. The second half of the game was of course an almost farcical goalfest and I left with about 5 minutes to go to get my train with the score at 5-3 to Chelsea. Mercifully the train was not delayed or anything. Not so mercifully, I realised I couldn’t find my ticket. I must have left it in the machine or something but whatever the case it was nowhere to be seen. I knew then that I’d have to hope I wasn’t asked to show a ticket, as that would mean paying up extra money. If I could get to Oakham it would be OK as there are no barriers there, thank goodness. The Cheltenham to Birmingham leg passed without event and in Birmingham I acquired a can of Grolsch and a cheese and onion pie. Midway through the journey, I was asked by a gentleman if I could kindly turn my music down. I found this a bit odd, as my earphones are pretty quiet even on top volume and this was a pretty quiet acoustic song I was listening to. I took the earphones out to test how loud it sounded and could only hear it faintly so wasn’t overly sure how he was able to hear it from a good six feet away but none the less lowered the volume.

At Leicester, I was asked by a friendly looking young chap if I had any water, a question to which the answer was no. He then struck up a conversation with another guy from which I learned he’d been to meet a girl for the first time (or was he going I can’t remember) and the other guy had been to Gay Pride. I suggested to the water needing guy that he may have time to run to the vending machine as there was a few minutes to go until the train resumed its journey, but perhaps wisely he decided not to risk it, as unlike me he was not an experienced train user.

So to Oakham, and no ticket check. Now here’s where the fun begins. As dad was away, and mum was in bed, I was getting a taxi home. Now every time I’ve had to get a taxi home, there’s been one there straight away. I even stayed out one time and hopped into one at about 1AM. This time there was a taxi here but apparently it was already booked. I waited, but no taxi was forthcoming. Then someone approached me and asked if I was my dad’s son. I said that I was, probably with a hint of suspicion, in case it was some kind of horror movie scenario where I ended up kidnapped. He was, it turned out, someone who used to work with my dad. I explained my predicament and that I planned to head to wetherspoons to charge my phone and call for a taxi. We made small talk, he attempted to call one taxi company on my behalf but they were booked until 2:30, what luck!
We parted and I headed to Wetherspoons to charge my phone. I decided that it would be unwise to have another beer as I’d cross the line from somewhat inebriated but still with it and able to function, to an out of control state. So I sat with a juice while I plugged my phone in and set to work on getting a taxi. This proved highly tricky. First I tried Uber, but that was just very unco-operative, then I tried numerous taxi numbers, all of which were either uncontactable or unable to provide me with a service. I finished my drink and returned to the station to wait. I bumped into someone on the way who was also having no luck getting a taxi. I figured I had about four options. Either stay in Wetherspoons and hope for a taxi before closing, shell out for a night in a hotel, walk home, or have mum wake up and try and pick me up. At half 11 mum called, and despite me saying I’d quite happily wait for a taxi, she insisted on coming to collect me and so my ordeal was over. I headed back to Wetherspoons and waited with another glass of juice.

It was one of those situations where you feel like an inconvenience even though the situation is really not one that one can help. It must have simply been a particularly busy day for the taxis of Rutland and next time I may have to resort to booking one.

In all though, it was an enjoyable day out, memorable for right and wrong reasons. A good result, frustrating delay in getting home, but something to write about.

Tranmere 2-3 Cheltenham

Goodness me, what a game that was. A 7 minute blitz by Cheltenham sent Tranmere packing and means we’ve had our best start to a football league season EVER with ten points from the opening four matches.

Let’s start from the beginning. Nothing really to report on the journey there, apart from that I was surprised that the train to Liverpool was pretty empty and also impressed by how trendy it looked. I had to check I hadn’t accidentally got into first class! Pre match pint was had at the Prenton Park hotel after a half hour or so walk to the ground, which involved me being confronted by a very large puddle.

After dipping my foot in and discovering it was about ankle deep, I decided to go around the puddle.

So onto the game, Tranmere took the lead after 11 minutes when Elliot Richards strolled through our defence and beat Trevor Carson in the one on one. He could have twirled a cane as he strode into the area. After that, Tranmere zipped the ball around nicely and looked a class above us. My verdict on the game at that point was that we were losing to the better side, which we were. They were spraying the ball around while we were hoofing it.

Then something changed and we started to put on some pressure, but we just couldn’t get that final ball, or final touch. Terry Gornell put one across the face of the goal, Craig Braham-Barrett fired over from the edge of the box and we had a series of corners. It looked almost certain that a goal was coming and sure enough a goal came…but it wasn’t Cheltenham who scored it. Troy Brown’s shot from the edge of the box was charged down and fell kindly to Cole Stockton who found Marc Laird and he put the ball beyond Carson’s despairing dive Oh well, I thought. We’re going to lose to a side that will probably be in and around the promotion picture.

At half time, Mark Yates did something he doesn’t do very often at all. He made a substitution. It did turn out it was somewhat forced upon him-Steve Elliott was feeling somewhat peaky at half time and was unable to take further part in proceedings. Omari Sterling-James, the new man in from Redditch came on for his first league appearance. This meant a switch away from 3-5-2. I wasn’t sure at first how Yates would go-would he move to a straightforward 4-4-2 and play Omari on one flank and maybe Matt Richards or new loan signing from Bristol City on the other? It was in fact more a 4-3-1-2, with Omari in the hole behiind the strikers, though Wynter did drift out wide quite a few times.

We carried on what we’d been doing for most of the first half and took the game to Tranmere-though I did have a slight worry about being picked off on the counter. A minute into the half and Lee Vaughan fired a shot wide, then OSJ saw a diving header bounce off the inside of the post and somehow not over the line from Braham-Barrett’s (I’ll call him CBB from now on) cross. We were all ready to celebrate a goal. At this point I was thinking of the play off final where we did everything but score. Maybe it was going to be one of those days. At the other end it could have been 3-0 but good old Trev made a save from Richards’ long range shot. Poor Terry Gornell was getting into all the right positions but his shooting was somewhat off and he was taken off for our Ghanaian winger/striker Koby Arthur (on loan from Birmingham). This was a change I was hoping to see as I felt Arthur’s pace and youthful exuberance alongside Harrison’s strength and power would make for a good combination.

Mere moments after he came on, OSJ’s shot from just outside the box was saved and Matt Richards pounced upon the rebound. Game on. 66 minutes played.

Tranmere were rocking and two minutes later, Arthur got onto a Byron Harrison flick and finished sublimely from the edge of the box. Cheltenham had made it Desmond! Two apiece and the 151 away fans celebrated with great jubilance.

At this point our game against Wimbledon last season sprung to mind. A game that holds terrible memories-though I wasn’t in attendance, only listening on the radio-where we comfortably held a 2-0 lead before conceding three goals in as many second half minutes and ended up losing 4-3 to a 97^th minute goal. Was this our turn? Part of me wanted us to go for it, part of me wanted us to just calm things down a little bit.

It wasn’t quite three goals in three minutes but with 73 minutes played, Matt Richard’s cross was met at the far post by Jordan Wynter who volleyed home and us away fans, including Chairman Paul Baker partook in some wild celebrations, and then informed the Tranmere contingent of the fact that they had let a two goal lead slip through the medium of song.

The time that followed after the goal went somewhat slowly and I’m sure there was an extra two minutes before the referee put his board up, but really Tranmere never threatened too much. A couple of corners which came to nothing and the odd pot shot from long range, that was about it and how we rejoiced when the final whistle went. Even the normally laid back and some may say languid Byron Harrison seemed animated as he applauded the fans.

Mark Yates suggested after the game it was his best moment as Cheltenham manager. It probably has a big case to qualify as my best away day. It was the best I’ve seen us play in a good two or so years. CBB, scapegoat last season, one of the players involved in not-trying gate and expected to make way for new boy Paul Black was a revelation at left wing back and then left back, Yates even compared him to Roberto Carlos! Another misfit, Jason Taylor, transfer listed and as I’ve said previously, someone I expected not to play for the club again bossed the midfield. Are we finally seeing the player we signed? A mention to Yates too who I think got his tactics and substitutions spot on, maybe that coaching course, or holiday as some unkind fans suggested, is paying off.

We’ve played four games then, and have ten points. Three of those games were against teams that I’d expect to be in the upper reaches of the table, and the other was against a team who have beaten us at home three times in the last four seasons. It’s early days of course, but we’ve shown steel and resilience, and today we showed we can also have a bit of pace and also have a plan B.

We play Hartlepool on Saturday, a game I hope to attend, and a game that I am worryingly confident about. It took us 13 games last season to pass 12 points, if we win on Saturday it will have taken us four.

It sure is a happy time to be a Cheltenham fan right now.

 

Here are some vids…courtesy again of the ever reliable healer_ctfc

 

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OSJ went excruciatingly close. 

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Matt Richards set the ball rolling. 

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And there’s Wynter’s winner. Due to still celebrating the first goal, the second goal was not caught on Healer’s camera. 

Here’s how the chaps on Radio Gloucestershire described the goals: https://audioboo.fm/boos/2417997-ft-tranmere-2-3-cheltenham

 

 

Bury 0-1 Cheltenham. My review.

The beginning of the 2014-15 season and Cheltenham fans were not in the most optimistic of moods. We’d ended last season poorly, finishing in 17^th place, a little too close to the bottom two for our liking, and had lost our beloved goalkeeper Scott Brown to Aberdeen. New signings had come in, but for most of them, they were gambles, players with something to prove rather than proven quality. We’d also just been comprehensively outplayed by Kidderminster and even our most optimistic of fans were tipping us for a mid table finish at best.

Bury meanwhile went into the game as the fancied team for the season. They’d spent big and brought in the likes of Ryan Lowe, Pablo Mills and Kelvin Etuhu. They’d finished the past season strongly and were in confident mood. Add the fact that Cheltenham Town do not tend to fare well up north and the majority of fans were hoping we’d just lose with our dignity intact.

The journey for me was roughly a three and a half hour one. It began in Oakham at around 20 past 9, and took me first to Leicester, without much problem. Then from Leicester, I was bound for Sheffield. This train was somewhat packed and it took until people got off at Derby for me to nab a seat. My first thought when I got to Sheffield station was that it was very breezy. I also noticed that the platform for the train to Manchester was extremely full. When the train did arrive, I did have a worry that I’d actually not make it onto the train. It was one of those annoying train journeys where there are actually seats but no one can actually move anywhere. I myself could not have moved far if I’d wanted to, as I was blocked in by suitcases on either side. Mercifully I did manage to make my way off the train at the designated stop.

 

The train was very full.

Manchester saw my first experience of the metrolink/tram service. Pretty much like the London Underground and I managed to navigate it without any hitches. So onto Bury and it was a pleasant walk to the stadium on what was a lovely sunny day. I found a pub called The Staff Of Life and enjoyed my first pint of the day, a John Smiths, while watching the second half of Sheffield United V Bristol City. During this time, news reached me of the line up. 3-5-2! With Craig Braham-Barrett playing too. Risky, I thought. It could backfire spectacularly.

Onto the game then, and I started off by having a cheese pie and a bottle of cider. Just before kick off, the number of fans in the away end was very little. There’d been a crash on the M6 and the supporters coach was somewhat delayed. This was the scene that greeted me as I headed to take my seat.

 

 

In the end I decided to go for the top row, in the middle, in line with the goal.

Six minutes in and new signing Asa Hall went down with a calf injury, and his participation in the game came to an end. Promising young midfielder Joe Hanks, who’d performed admirably in the final two games of last season, came into the fray. The sign of things to come? I hoped not. For the first twenty or so minutes, nothing too much happened. Bury had a lot of the ball but did nothing to really trouble our new stopper Trevor Carson. The atmosphere in the away end was somewhat subdued, probably due to the lack of numbers. That all changed about 25 minutes in, when the coaches finally arrived and around a hundred fans walked in, greeted by cheers and it gave the travelling faithful, and maybe the team too, a lift.

We had the ball in the net after about half an hour, but there was adjudged to have been a foul in the build up. From my position it did look like a foul, but having watched a video of the incident, it did look more like two Bury players had accidentally collided with each other.

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It didn’t matter though because shortly afterwards, Byron Harrison and Terry Gornell linked up well and Harrison teed up Hanks who placed a beautiful strike into the top corner to net his first goal for Cheltenham. The celebrations were a joy to behold as you can see in the video below.  Always good to see a team celebration rather than an individual dance or something, shows togetherness.

 

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More of the celebrations.

It was clear that the second half would be a backs to the wall job and that Bury would come out fighting, but there was something about this Cheltenham side that wasn’t apparent last season. We played as a team. Players threw bodies on the line and defended as though their lives depended on it. The 3-5-2 formation was working wonders and Steve Elliott, Troy Brown and new signing and captain Matt Taylor were imperious at the back. Jason Taylor, who I’d expected to never play for the club again after being transfer listed at the end of last season, played like a man possessed, chasing, harrying and not giving his opponents a moment of peace. Even Braham-Barrett had a commendable game in the left wing back slot.

There were some scary moments-Matt Richards cleared one off the line and Trevor Carson made some splendid saved. I was impressed with Trev, he commanded his box well and took care of any crosses or balls into the box with ease. I think he’ll be a more than adequate replacement for Scott Brown.

For all Bury’s attacking intent then, we stood firm and were able to celebrate a memorable opening day victory. A fantastic performance and it turned out Yates’ tactics actually worked out perfectly. I don’t think I can think of a criticism of any player. I won’t get too carried away, and this will most likely be a season of as many downs as there are ups, but the team proved a lot of people wrong today, me included  Hopefully we can use it as a springboard for a more than decent season.

 

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Carson celebrating again.  Thanks must go to Cheltenham fan hEaLeR_ctfc for these videos. A wonderful service.

One thing I did think, is that while the 3-5-2/5-3-2 formation works great for games like this one, where we’re expected to be on the back foot and hopefully nick something on the break, and should definitely be used at Brighton in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday, it may need tweaking for home games against teams we’re expected to be on the front foot against. There wasn’t much pace in the team today-Braham-Barrett is reasonably quick and Harrison is no slouch, but for games against teams like Exeter and Morecambe at home, we may need a bit of electric pace to unlock a stubborn defence. In Italy, a few teams play 3-5-2 but with wide midfielders instead of wing backs, so you’d maybe have new boys Andy Haworth and Koby Arthur on the flanks. However this would mean no spot for the excellent Lee Vaughan, who for me should be one of the first names on the teamsheet. The best option would probably to go for a 4-3-3/4-5-1 formation with two wingers playing either side of Harrison.

On to the journey back then, and although the Bury metrolink wasn’t very informative when it came to what time my tram was, I managed to get there in time and get to Manchester for the journey back. At this point I was pleasantly surprised that the journey had so far passed without a hitch. In fact the only out of the ordinary thing that happened was a man talking to himself on the tram to Bury. This involved repeating each stop after it was announced. “The next stop is Radcliffe.” “Heh, Radcliffe, yeah.”

There was a train to Sheffield leaving at 6:20 but it looked pretty full so I decided to go for the one about 20 minutes later. It arrived in Sheffield and there I noticed the first hitch of the journey. The train to Leicester was getting in at 9:31. I needed to be in Oakham, where I was getting picked up, for 9:45-arriving at 9:31 would mean missing the connection. Thinking on my feet, I looked for trains to Peterboorugh. The plan had been for my dad to drive to Peterborough to collect my brother and his girlfriend from their trip to London for her 18^th then pick me up from Oakham on the way back. Thankfully, there was a train to Peterborough (changing at Retford) which would arrive at half 9, pretty much the time their train arrived. Even more thankfully, due to the fact that there was only 3 minutes before the train left, I was only a few feet away from it, would have been somewhat disastrous if it had been on the other side of the station. So on I got for the train bound to Lincoln Central, which really was a glorified bus. I was seated near a woman with an annoyingly overexcited toddler who kept jumping around and climbing over his poor mum. When they got off, I was joined by some rowdy Nottingham Forest fans. The ticket inspector who checked my ticket wasn’t the friendliest of people, and didn’t seem to understand when I told her how I’d had to get this train as a sort of spur of the moment thing, but apparently the ticket I had was OK, which surprised me as I was fully prepared to pay for a ticket if I had to. My main hope was that I didn’t get a fine-I hoped not because I did have a valid reason for not having a ticket. Anyway, after a few minutes in Retford, it was off to Peterborough then onto home after a long, but extremely enjoyable day out.

It turned out my mistake had actually been that I hadn’t checked the route on the return. I’d assumed I was meant to go the same way I’d came, but I was actually supposed to go to Crewe, then to Nuneaton, then back to Oakham. In the end though, it worked out well as it meant dad didn’t have to go out of his way, my train was timed brilliantly, and it didn’t cost me any extra. I have to say all in all, it was a very lucky day.

 

The problem with English football fans.

I often think that if I wasn’t English, I probably wouldn’t like the England football team. It’s not the team itself that’s the problem, although I sometimes find them a bit boring to watch, it’s more the attitude of many of the fans as well as the media. I should probably have called this post “The problem with English football fans and the media” but that would have looked a bit wordy.

We are out of the World Cup after two games. That sounds bad on paper. But in reality, we lost narrowly to two sides ranked higher than us. We were underdogs against Italy and very narrow favourites against Uruguay. We lost both games but probably deserved a point from each. If we’d been comprehensively thrashed both games then I would have been worried. People are using words such as “inept” and “embarrassing.” Embarrassing is Itay in 2010, who failed to win a game in a group including Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand, finishing bottom. Neither of those teams qualified this year, Paraguay and Slovakia didn’t even come close. Embarrassing is France’s very public implosion in the same year. Not to mention their not scoring a single goal in 2002. England really have done as a lot of people would have expected. Had we been the unseeded European team in Group F instead of Bosnia for instance, we’d probably be needing a win against Iran to secure qualification. If Belgium had been in our group instead of us, I think they would quite likely have been in the same position we find ourselves in. Also, had our fixtures fallen differently, we could be fresh from a win against Costa Rica with a must win game against Italy or Uruguay to come.
People point to the fact that Costa Rica beat Uruguay and Italy as reason for us to be embarrassed. I disagree with this. Uruguay were without the talismanic Suarez against them, and Italy were badly effected by the heat in Recife. I got the impression they almost didn’t want to be there. And there was an element of complacency from both sides in my opinion. Both sides brought their A game against England. I would still expect us to beat Costa Rica. They got two good results, deservedly so but they’re not some kind of world beaters. We are capable of beating them.

During the Algeria V South Korea game, people on my twitter feed were commenting in Algeria’s attacking football saying “why don’t England play like this!” Well for a start Algeria were playing South Korea, rather than Uruguay or Italy. Secondly, I thought we did play positively but small margins cost us. We were going for the win at 1-1 against Uruguay and maybe that worked against us as holding out for a draw and killing the game off would have suited us more than Uruguay. Though in hindsight of Italy’s loss to Costa Rica, had we drawn we would have had to rely on Italy not beating Uruguay.

Then there’s the constant comments about “passion” and “spirit.” When exactly have our players not showed passion? Just because they don’t show visible displays of emotion like Stuart Pearce after his penalty at Euro 96 doesn’t mean they don’t care. The same people who go on about passion drool over how laid back Pirlo is. “Barely breaks sweat! Look how effortless he is!”

The constant slating and self deprecating humour by fans and media alike doesn’t really help. Things like “Germany have Klose on the bench and we have Lambert.” I doubt Costa Rica fans were going “Uruguay have Cavani and we have Joel Campbell”, they were probably being positive and thinking “OK we’re underdogs but we can have these! Let’s show everyone what we’re about!” Bryan Ruiz had a poor season with Fulham but I bet Costa Rica fans didn’t start a petition for him to be dropped like we did with Cleverley. When an English player comes into bad form, why do we not encourage him instead of making him a figure of ridicule?
I recall in 2006 when Sven Goran-Eriksson was recorded making ill advised comments that he thought were off record to someone he thought was a Sheikh. They weren’t off record; the Sheikh was an undercover journalist and the comments were published in the News of the World. Yes, Sven shouldn’t have made the comments but what was the need to entrap him like that just before a World Cup. Surely they knew it would be detrimental to his or England’s preparations?

You have people saying we should have taken Ashley Cole, but he barely played for Chelsea last season. He’d have been short of match fitness. As for John Terry, whose absence many bemoaned, I think despite his leadership qualities, his lack of pace would have been badly exposed. In any case, the squad Roy Hodgson picked was one most agreed with, as for the line ups, aside from Rooney playing on the wing against Italy.
As I’m writing this, the line up against Costa Rica has been released, and as expected there has been many changes. Foster, Jones, Cahill, Smalling, Shaw, Milner, Lampard, Wilshere, Barkley, Lallana and Sturridge are the 11 picked to start. Already I’m seeing people slagging off the line up, despite wanting Hodgson to give the fringe players a chance. I think the line up is more than capable of beating Costa Rica, a good blend of youth and experience. Jones is probably a better centre back than right back, but he kept Franck Ribery quiet exceptionally when Bayern visited Old Trafford in April so he’s more than capable of playing in that position. Smalling gets a lot of unfaie criticism because he’s often played at right back rather than his preferred centre back position. He struggles at right back which makes people think he’s a bad player when he really isn’t.

Then there’s the club vs country debate. Really there shouldn’t be one. The two are not mutually exclusive. When England are playing I want them to win, when Cheltenham are playing I want them to win. Fans will often let club bias get in the way of their opinions of players. Man United fans will try and make Gerrard a scapegoat, while Liverpool fans will try and do the same with Rooney.
I’ve never really understood the need English football fans have for a scapegoat. It happens at club level as well as international. Fans of a club decide a player isn’t good enough and get on his back at every opportunity. He misses a chance “he’s useless! Get him off! Why is he in the team!” the fan’s favourite misses a chance “oh nevermind, unlucky.” It’s almost as though they need someone to complain about.

It’s disappointing to go out early but unlike in 2010 I think there are promising signs. We’ve got youngsters like Sterling, Barkley, Stones, Flanagan, Shaw and Ward-Prowse with plenty of potential to fulfill. Then players such as Sturridge, Henderson and Wilshere yet to reach their peak. Then Jones and Smalling who I mentioned earlier, Jones in particular has the quality in my opinion to be England’s first choice centre back. Him along with Cahill in 2016? Wouldn’t mind that at all. And who knows, maybe Andy Carroll could have a revival in form in the next two years and become a valuable spearhead. He’s still only 24,

We haven’t been dismal, we haven’t embarrassed ourselves, we’ve been at the wrong end of the result in two tight games that could have gone either way. There is no need to panic. I don’t know about you but I’m filled with hope for Euro 2016.

We Must Still Believe

The worst possible result for England has happened, a devastating late Suarez goal has left us clinging onto our World Cup hopes by a thread. However, while we are very down, we are not quite out.

First, we need Italy to beat Costa Rica. Any other result and we can book the plane home. Although Costa Rica did beat Uruguay, you would expect Italy to have too much for them.

If that happens, we would need to beat Costa Rica while hoping Italy do us a favour and beat Uruguay. The margin of victory needed against Costa Rica depends on Italy’s result against them. If we imagine Italy beat them 1-0, that leaves the table like this:
1. Italy 6 (2)
2. Costa Rica 3 (1)
3. Uruguay 3 (0)
4. England 3 (-2)

In that scenario we would need a 2 goal win. Two goals coupled with a Uruguay defeat lifts our GD up to 0 and theirs down to at least -1. Costa Rica’s would also go down to -1 meaning we overtake both. A two goal Italy win would mean we simply need to beat Costa Rica.

The big danger for me is Italy VS Uruguay. Let’s imagine Italy beat Costa Rica by at least 3. That puts their GD to +4 at worse, and they would likely need to lose by at least 3 goals just to relinquish top spot. That might see them rest players ready for the last 16 and give Uruguay a big chance to get the win. Or if we’re beating Costa Rica, an Italy and Uruguay draw would send both through. If word got through at half time that we were winning comfortably, would Italy and Uruguay settle for a result that sends both through? In honesty it wouldn’t surprise me. The long and short of it is that we need Italy to win, and it’s very likely that they won’t need to. We just have to hope whatever team they put out plays to the best of their ability, anything else would be detrimental to the integrity of both their country and the tournament and even football as a whole. What’s worrying is that even with both teams giving their all, you would not feel confident of an Italy win.

As I said in the last blog, we need to hope for a similar story to the USA in 2009. They needed a SIX goal swing to qualify after losing their first two games. They won 3-0 against Egypt while Italy lost 3-0 to Brazil. USA went through on goals scored. That was a far more outlandish scenario than the results needed for us to gl through.

Of course we still need to beat Costa Rica and we can’t take that as a given. They’re a good side that plays exciting football. Their game against Italy will I think tell us whether the Uruguay game was a bit of a freak occurrence or whether Costa Rica are to be feared as well as respected.

A treble of the results England need to have a hope of qualifying has odds of 5.43/1. The three results are ones that as standalone results you would expect to happen. It’s a bit like Man United needing to beat Stoke while hoping Man City beat Stoke and Everton. In truth, it’s a very tough ask and to go through having lost our opening two group games would be unprecedented but all we can do is believe.

My first hope is that we at least go into the final group game with something to play for. I would hate for it to be a dead rubber. Italy do us a favour tomorrow and we will just have to make sure we do our job and just hope and pray.

England 1-2 Italy-Thoughts.

A defeat in the first game again. Disappointing, but not too disheartening and not devastating.

I feel a lot more hopeful and positive about things after this game than I did after the opener in 2010, and we drew that one. Despite the result, we actually played really well. Looked dangerous going forward, created chances, our young players looked hungry and exciting. A bit of fne tuning in certain areas and we should be fine for the Uruguay game.

Yes Italy outpassed us at times but that’s to be expected. They’re a better side than us. We were the underdogs and we more than matched them in terms of what was created. I’ve seen tweets saying we “bottled” it and it was “another awful performance”. I can only assume they didn’t watch the game properly.

Onto individual performances now, Danny Welbeck was the scapegoats choice prior to the match with people bemoaning him being in the team. Disappointingly for them he played fantastically, probably a candidate for our best player. He showed why managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson deem him good enough for top class football.

Wayne Rooney instead took the scapegoat mantle. Played out of position on the left wing, he barely got a kick in the first half before playing a delightful ball for Sturridge’s equaliser. In the second, he was in the game more but his detractors leapt onto the fact that he missed a great opportunity and took a poor corner. Having seen his chance again I think that while he maybe should have hit the target, it’s more difficult than it looked at first. He’s shooting from a bit of an angle and there’s a defender ready to block the shot so his path to goal isn’t so clear cut. He has to get his shot past the defender but also inside the post.You see chances like that missed week in week out at all levels. I prefer to be positive when a player misses and think that at least he got into the position to have the shot on goal.
The thing with Rooney is that he’s a confidence player. The fans and the media getting on his back every time he has a bad moment isn’t going to help him.
I for one don’t think we should drop him. His assist proved that even when he’s not really in a game he can provide that one moment of magic. For me he shouldn’t be playing on the wing but the problem here is that Sterling played fantastically in the number 10 role and it would be somewhat unfair to move him. On the other hand he’s more comfortable out wide than Rooney is.
This is the first tournament since 2004 Rooney’s been fully fit for and ready from the start. In 2006 he was coming back from a metatarsal injury, we didn’t qualify for Euro 2008 of course, 2010 he was again coming back from injury and clearly not fully fit. 2012 he was banned for the first two games but came back to score against Ukraine. I expect a good showing from him against Uruguay. He knows he needs to deliver.

Glen Johnson also got some stick but I thought he played well. Got forward well and I don’t remember him doing too badly defensively. Most of Italy’s dangerous moments came down our left hand side.

Uruguay are next. I thought we were overestimating them and I do even more so after their defeat to Costa Rica. Costa Rica surprised me, I was given the impression they’d be ultra defensive and play for a point but they looked exciting and certainly aren’t here to make up the numbers. Uruguay looked incredibly shaky defensively and didn’t offer much going forward. If Suarez does play against us it won’t be a 100% fit Suarez and I don’t think he’ll be the player he’s been this season. They’ll be on a low after their defeat and we simply cannot allow them to get up a head of steam.

Costa Rica’s win for me means that even if we lost to Uruguay we’d have a chance of going through. Worst case scenario they beat us-and I think we can at least draw- I think Italy have enough to see off Costa Rica. That would leave Uruguay and Costa Rica on 3 points and ourselves on 0. In the final group game, I’d expect Italy to beat Uruguay, which would meant that if we could beat Costa Rica we should go through. There would of course be the danger that Uruguay and Italy settle for the draw. If we draw with Uruguay, I think we’d have a great chance as long as we beat Costa Rica and hope Uruguay don’t overtake our GD by beating Italy.
In World Cups where the top two teams have gone through, if my memory serves me correctly no team has ever lost their first two games and qualified. Feel free to correct mr if I’m wrong. However there IS a precedent in the Confederations Cup of 2009. The USA lost their opening two games 3-1 to Italy and 3-0 to Brazil. Italy’s 3-1 win was followed by a 1-0 loss to Egypt, who’d lost 4-3 to Brazil the previous game. This meant the USA not only had to beat Egypt and hope Italy lose to Brazil, but make up six goals in goal difference. Amazingly they beat Egypt 3-0 while Italy lost to Brazil by the same score and sneaked into second place.

Of course that’s only a straw to clutch at if the worst case scenario of a Uruguay win happens. In truth. Uruguay don’t scare me. We should scare them.

Goal difference could be vital in this group so I was praying for Italy not to add a third as much as I was praying for us to equalise. Cahill’s tackle on Immobile in injury time could become a key moment.

It’s disappointing not to be writing about a more positive result but there’s no need to panic yet. There’s a huge deal of potential in this England side.

World Cup Group Predictions

Here is a quick(ish) run through of how I think the group stage of the upcoming World Cup will pan out.

 

Group A: Brazil should and I think will win this group pretty easily. Croatia may cause them a couple of problems but Mexico and Cameroon shouldn’t pose too much of a test. The battle for second however is tough to call. I’d put Croatia down as the best side of the three, but Mexico cannot be discounted as they have an excellent record of getting out of the group stage. However in the Confederations Cup they didn’t impress me. Cameroon will be out to improve on a poor tournament in 2010 in which they didn’t get a single point, They’re the weakest team on the group on paper but with Eto’o up front they cannot be written off and they have a decent midfield pairing in Alex Song and Jean Makoun. In the event, I think Brazil will win the group with Croatia getting 2^nd place.

1. Brazil
2. Croatia
3. Mexico
4. Cameroon

Group B: Now this is arguably as much a group of death is England’s group is. The two finalists from 2010, plus an impressive Chile playing on their own continent. England fans saw first-hand how good Chile are when we were well beaten at Wembley last year. Whoever loses the group opener between Netherlands and Spain will be in a very precarious position. I quite fancy Spain to win that one, and although Netherlands should beat Australia I think Chile will beat them. I don’t think Australia will make much of an impression of the group at all and I fear they may be in for a hiding against Spain. Spain to win the group, Chile to edge out Netherlands for second and Australia to finish bottom.

1. Spain
2. Chile
3. Netherlands
4. Australia

 

Group C: A very tough group to call. A lot is expected from Colombia and even without Falcao they have a number of very talented strikers including Jackson Martinez and Carlos Bacca. However there’s been this sort of expectation on them before, back in 1994 and they spectacularly failed to deliver. Ivory Coast’s golden generation are coming to an end and really they’ve yet to deliver. While their World Cup groups have been unkind to them, they’ve also yet to deliver at the Africa Cup of Nations. This is probably their best chance to reach the knockout round, but I quite fancy Greece to do similar to what they did in Euro 2012 and beat them in the final group game to nick second. Then there’s Japan, energetic and hard-working who cannot be written off. They didn’t get a single point in the Confederations Cup but ran Italy very close and were extremely unlucky to lose. I think Colombia will take top spot with Greece edging out the Ivorians for second. Japan will finish bottom, but won’t disgrace themselves.

1. Colombia
2. Greece
3. Ivory Coast
4. Japan

Group D: Maybe there’s a bit of bias here but I actually fancy England to go through here. I think the opening game against Italy has draw written all over it, probably goalless with both sides concentrating on not losing. Uruguay may be on their own continent and may have Suarez and Cavani, but they scraped through qualification and the rest of their team doesn’t impress me overly much. I think the England side going to Brazil is the best group of players we’ve had in a number of years. I watched Uruguay scrape a win against a weakened Northern Ireland (the equivalent of an average League 1 team) and Italy drew with Luxembourg and haven’t won since September. Costa Rica will cause problems too, and if they go defensive, they could prove to be England’s toughest opponents. I think Italy will win the group ahead of England, with Uruguay third and Costa Rica bottom.

1. Italy
2. England
3. Uruguay
4. Costa Rica

Group E: Many people are talking about Belgium as dark horses but the Swiss have a very exciting crop of players. Xhaka, Shaqiri, Stocker, Inler, Dzemali and Lichtsteiner are sure to cause problems for any opponent and I actually fancy them to win the group. France are a much better side than the shambles of 2010 and I think they’ll have just about enough to see off Ecuador. In 2010, Honduras scuppered Switzerland’s hopes of reaching the last 16 by holding them to a draw. I think this Switzerland side will be a lot more entertaining to watch. Ecuador have that home continent advantage and the tragic death of their striker Christian Benitez could well be a spur for them but sadly sentiment does not get you through World Cup groups. Honduras are not to be discounted and I think they’ll run their opponents close but ultimately have little more than a point to show for it.

1. Switzerland
2. France
3. Ecuador
4. Honduras

 

Group F: This should be relatively easy for Argentina, though unknown quantities Bosnia could pose them a question or two. The race for second I think will be between Bosnia and Nigeria. Most predictions I’ve seen seem to have Bosnia taking second place but I’m not sure I agree. I think it’ll be very close. Nigeria have the advantage of major tournament experience which Bosnia don’t have, they won the Africa Cup of Nations last year and have a mixture of pace and power. I think Nigeria will scrape through into second, with Iran finishing bottom. I quite fancy Argentina to get a hatful against Iran.

1. Argentina
2. Nigeria
3. Bosnia
4. Iran

Group G: Even without injured Marco Reus, Germany have enough to top the group and get through with minimum fuss. Portugal will have to pray Ronaldo is fit and ready for the tournament as without him they aren’t really all that. For years now, Portugal have had real problems finding a world class centre forward (I don’t count Ronaldo as one, however good his goal record is) and the fact they have Helder Postiga leading the line says a lot about their problems, with all respect to Postiga. I think it’ll be very tight for second place with Portugal just pipping Ghana to the post. I don’t expect too much from the USA, though they could well get a result against Portugal or Ghana to play havoc with the standings.

1. Germany
2. Portugal
3. Ghana
4. USA

 

Group H: Belgium have been given a relatively kind group which they should win. A lot is expected of this exciting group of players including Kompany, Lukaku, Witsel and Hazard. Euro 2008 aside, Russia tend to flatter to deceive in major tournaments, their first round exit in Euro 2012 a prime example. However South Korea are nowhere near as dangerous as they’ve been in previous tournaments and Algeria are one of the tournaments weakest teams in my book. Neither should prove too much of an obstacle in Russia’s progression to the last 16.

1. Belgium
2. Russia
3. South Korea
4. Algeria

The WhyAlwaysFootball Non League Season Review.

Cambridge’s play off final win against Gateshead bought the curtain down on another season of Non-League football. I thought I’d take a look back on the season just gone.

Starting with the Skrill Premier, or the Conference as I will always prefer to call it, Luton finally cracked the code and grabbed that number one spot and a place in the Football League. After a slightly shaky start, they hit form at just the right time and in the end cruised to a much deserved title. They’ll most likely be up there or thereabouts in League 2 next season. As mentioned above, Cambridge saw of Halifax over two legs and then Gateshead to get the second promotion spot, putting an edgy second half of the season behind them.

Halifax and Gateshead were somewhat surprising play-off contenders, as I’d expected them to be struggling near the bottom. Halifax’s 5^th placed finish was largely due to their excellent home form, winning 16 games at the Shay and losing just one, compared to their away form, which saw them beaten 12 times. Gateshead lost their first four games and replaced Anth Smith with Gary Mills. The appointment was an inspired one as Mills led Gateshead to a 3^rd placed finish but he couldn’t take them past Cambridge in the final.

One of the teams I follow, Forest Green, got off to the best possible start, thrashing Hyde 8-0 but things faded and much to the joy of their fans Dave Hockaday finally left his position as manager. Adrian Pennock took over and while results improved somewhat they could only manage a 10^th placed finish. With a full summer under his belt, it will be interesting to see whether Pennock can deliver the success that Forest Green fans come to expect due to the impressive financial backing of Dale Vince.

As for relegation, Hyde were bottom by a mile and won just one game all season. Despite an impressive showing in the FA Cup, Tamworth were poor in the league and finished second from bottom. Having finished 7^th the previous season, Dartford suffered from a case of second season syndrome and returned to the Conference South. The final relegation place was definitely the most surprising. When Chester walked away with the Conference North title the season before, I thought they’d be comfortable in the Conference and maybe even challenge for the play offs. On the last day of the season, they needed to beat Salisbury at home to guarantee survival. Hereford needed to win at Aldershot and hope Chester slipped up. With five minutes to play, Chester were 2-1 up on Salisbury and Hereford were level at 1-1 with Aldershot. Within moments, Michael Rankine had given Hereford the lead and Salisbury had grabbed an equaliser, meaning Chester found themselves occupying the dreaded 21^st spot. If I’m honest, I think that unless Hereford sort themselves out financially, they may end up doing a Hyde next season so this may just be a stay of execution for them.

I can’t say I’ve followed the Conference North and South particularly well, but well done to Telford who bounced back from relegation at the first attempt. They’ll hope the 2014-15 season in the Conference is better than their last, in which they went a record breaking amount of games without a win. Altrincham came up via the play offs, and it’s good to have them back in the top tier of Non-League football. They beat Guiseley 2-1 after extra time in the final having seen off Hednesford in the semis. Going down were Workington and Histon. The days of Histon challenging for promotion in the Conference and upsetting Leeds in the FA Cup seem a long way away now and I think they’ll struggle next season. Vauxhall Motors sadly resigned from the league.

In the South, Eastleigh unsurprisingly won promotion due to their big budget. I’d expect them to do well in the Conference next season with the likes of Stuart Fleetwood and Chris Todd in their ranks. Dover sneaked into the play offs with a late penalty on the last day of the season and subsequently won them. Most impressive was their 3-0 win against Sutton in the second leg of the semi-final to clinch a 4-1 aggregate win, mainly as they’d had captain Craig Stone dismissed early on. They went to Ebbsfleet and clinched promotion despite finishing 12 points behind 2^nd placed Sutton and only winning 7 home games all season. That home form will have to improve if they want to survive the Conference next season. Going down were Dorchester and Tonbridge Angels and interestingly (to me at least) Hayes and Yeading, despite being 7^th around Christmas time. Hayes currently play at Woking’s Kingfield and as such got the lowest average attendance in the league with 152.

 

FC United again failed to clinch promotion from the Evo-Stik and will remain there for a second season. Ironically, following a couple of last minute wins at the end of the season that kept them in the title hunt with eventual winners Chorley, they conceded in the last minute of extra time against Ashton United. Ashton themselves went on to lose to AFC Fylde in the final. Fylde are one of those clubs that have a bit of money behind them and could well be another Fleetwood.

Down at the bottom, there’s often that one club that is in financial disarray and has to play a team of misfits and loses pretty much every game. That team this year was Droylsden. Still under the ownership and management of Dave Pace, the Bloods have fallen a long way since their Conference days and won just two games all season, both at home against Witton (4-3) and Rushall (1-0). Highlights included losing 10-0 at home to Fylde, 9-0 at home to Ashton and 13-1 away to Chorley. Stafford were another former Conference club that slipped down to the fourth tier. Stocksbridge also went down, while Frickley were reprieved due to the Vauxhall situation.

My knowledge of the Evo-Stik Premier is largely more than my knowledge of the Southern and Isthmian Premier, due to my following of local club Stamford. At the start of the season Stamford were many people’s tip for the wooden spoon and even their most optimistic of fans would have settled for 20^th place. As it was they finished in 18^th place with an impressive 58 points, a points total that in other seasons would most likely have seen them further up the table. Despite some shaky moments, including a 6-0 defeat at FC United and a 6-1 defeat at Worksop, they acquitted themselves well and were tough to beat at home, gaining a point against Chorley, losing late on against FC United and beating Ashton. In the FA Cup, they reached the final qualifying round before succumbing to Hednesford. They move into a new stadium next season, and have kept hold of important players such as captain Richard Jones and top scorer Ryan Robbins. The Northern Premier is a tough league but Stamford are capable of a top half finish in my eyes.

In the Southern Premier, Corby are local to me and I really should have followed them more closely. They had a turbulent start and sacked manager Chris Plummer, replacing him with Tommy Wright and Andrew Wilson as joint managers. Their season became one of mid table mediocrity. The most memorable thing from their season probably came just before Christmas when the club’s twitter account decided to do live commentary of a fictional game between Corby and a team from the North Pole. Corby have been moved to the Northern Premier for next season so will face off with Stamford. As touched on above, I see the Northern side of Non-League as a lot tougher than the Southern side, and Corby will do well to challenge for promotion.

Also joining the Evo-Stik Premier are Halesowen and Belper from Division 1 South, and Curzon Ashton and Ramsbottom from Division 1 North. I’d fancied Darlington to go up but they were beaten by Ramsbottom in the semi-final so Stamford won’t be welcoming the Quakers to their new stadium.

 

Scarborough, who were somewhat surprisingly placed in Division 1 South, failed to really trouble the play-off spots. They’ve been moved to Division 1 North now so will get to lock horns with Darlington in what is somewhat of a titanic clash for that level at least. Expect fireworks.

Moving on to local matters, I’ll start with Kettering. At the start of the season most thought they wouldn’t even make it through their Calor Gas League Division 1 Central season, and that if they did it would be a season of stopping the rot of consecutive relegations. Following a poor start, they went on a tremendous run which sadly ended as they threw away a 2-0 lead at home to Slough in the play-off final. Should they keep hold of their better players, and add well, they should walk away with the title next season. Of course as one of the bigger clubs in the Non League scene, they have great pulling power when it comes to players.

 

Rushden didn’t make promotion from the United Counties League, due to Spalding winning 32 of their 36 games. At that level, only one team goes up from each league, and there’s no play off places, meaning you often get teams failing to get promoted with 100 points because another team has got 101. Spalding are another of those moneybags teams, attracting players who are at least two levels better, for example striker Mark Jones and winger Peter Bore. They’ll probably be up there in the Evo-Stik South next season.

 

Finally, spare a thought for poor Woodford. Having lost 42 out of 42 in the Calor Gas Division 1 Central, they were placed in the United Counties League Division 1 where, despite ending a run of 65 consecutive defeats by beating Blackstones, they lost every other game, conceding 233 goals in the process. They were beaten 10-1 by Thrapston, 16-0 by Wellingborough Whitworths, 9-0 by Peterborough Sports and 13-0 at home by Burton Park Wanderers. In their 42 games, they conceded over 5 goals 17 times. They are most likely to stay in the UCL 1 next season due to no one being promoted from the relevant county leagues to replace them.

 

In all, it’s been a fascinating season of Non League football and I for one can’t wait for the next one to start.

No League Three Thank You

The FA have announced plans to introduce a “League three” which will include Premier League B teams as well as Conference clubs. This is part of their plan for improving the fortunes of the national side. The structure is already in place in countries such as Spain, with Real Madrid and Barca having B teams in the second tier. I feel introducing this here is a terrible idea.

Firstly, the pyramid league system we have here is brilliant. The best there is in my opinion. For example, the club in my town, Uppingham Town play in the Peterborough and District League, the 11th tier. Now although it’s extremely unlikely without the intervention of a sugar daddy, they can conceivably rise into the football league. AFC Wimbledon rose from the 9th tier, all the way up to League 2 in 9 years. Here, you get games in regional leagues with crowds of 500/600+, it’s incredible. I’d rather see a Kettering Town in the Football League than a Stoke City B. The fact those teams wouldn’t be able to reach the top level also devalues it. In the Spanish Segunda for instance, Barca B could win the league but won’t be able to get promoted.

As a Cheltenham fan, if we ended up in this prospective League Three, I’d have to motivation to see my team play against a Premier League reserve side

Currently, we have a perfectly good loan system in which promising youngsters can be sent out to smaller clubs to get game time and there’s also an under 21 league where young players can play in competitive games. A multitude of players, both past and present benefitted from being loaned out early in their careers. David Beckham went out on loan to Preston, Jermain Defoe went on loan to Bournemouth, Gary Cahill went on loan to Sheffield United, Daniel Sturridge spent time at Bolton, as did Jack Wilshere. Surely that benefitted them a lot more than playing against Alfreton and Woking in League Three would have done?

I get the impression that the logic of the FA is “Spain and Germany seem to be doing quite well at football these days. They have B teams in their league system. That must be the reason!”
The reason Spanish and German football is so good is the way the players have been trained as kids. English kids are taught to win at all costs and are pressurised by pushy parents. There is little focus on technique. The FA recently employed John Beck to help bring through the next generation of UK coaches. Beck is well known for being an advocate of long ball football and “tactics”‘such as letting the grass grow longer in the corners of the pitch so the ball would hold up.

I of course want the national team to be successful but I don’t think it should be at the cost of a league system that’s the envy of other countries. There are plenty of ways to improve the standard of the national team but this is not one of them.