For the new year we thought we would try something a bit different and write a review of the week just gone. We won’t dwell on the games we have been to, as we write on most of them with the pictures, but rather pick on a subject that is relevant to us or to football in general.
As ever, any feedback (positive or negative) are more than welcome. So give it a try and let us know what you think.
As ever, any feedback (positive or negative) are more than welcome. So give it a try and let us know what you think.
Well Good Bye Everyone, It was Fun....I think
Week 17; 23 to 30 April
PDM Matches
23 April Chessington and Hook v Egham
24 April Ternesse v Overpelt
26 April Schalke II v Koln II
27 April Rotherham V Aldershot
27 April NSC v Nunspeet
27 April NAC v Ajax
It’s been a strange week at PDM. The events of Saturday at Rotherham confirmed Aldershot’s relegation back to the conference after a brief spell in the ‘big time’. To
be honest I felt nothing, no sadness, no regrets, nothing. Maybe this is due to distance and a lack of games (I maybe only saw 12 games this season) or maybe it
is because I had my suspicions this season would end in disappointment from as early as late September. But one thing is for sure, the team were so far removed from the fans that I genuinely could not get any affiliation with this group of players nor the people running the club.
So what exactly are the implications of relegation to ‘non league’. Well there is the financial aspect that will require a significantly lower budget for next season (although subsequent events may impact this even more). We have to play an FA Cup qualifying game and swap the League Cup and Johnstone’s Paint Trophy for the FA Trophy.
In terms of opposition, yes the teams are less glamorous, but not by much. Ignoring the obvious disappointment of missing out on two games against Portsmouth, we lose only 3 teams with decent away support (Plymouth, Bristol Rovers and Wimbledon) and gain larger than average support from the likes of Luton, Woking and Hereford. Lose trips to Fleetwood and Morecambe, gain Gateshead and Southport.
Time will tell what the full impact of relegation is. But my big hope is that this brings a sense of reality to the club, and some financial sense on which to build on.
Elsewhere in football this week
1) One of the most galling things about our defeat at Rotherham was their promotion. Something sits very uncomfortably with me about them and Port Vale being promoted so soon after being in Administration.
2) Rotherham are also managed by one of the dislikable people in football, Steve Evans. Supporters will point to his success, well fair play but that doesn’t mean I want him anywhere near my football club.
3) Talking about talented people I don’t want to see anywhere near my football club, Luis Suarez proved once again that a leopard cannot change his spots. Personally I think the FA got it about right with the suspension, yet again Liverpool fans got it totally wrong. Some of you really are an embarrassment to your club. The highlight to me was the supporter on ‘Talksport Drive’ who tried to blame the KNVB for not helping him after the first incident. Well I’m all for blaming the KNVB for just about anything, but in this case they gave this sorry footballer all the help he needed…..out the door.
4) Things that irritate me 101; in the aftermath of Bayern’s destruction of Barcelona, people are now talking of a power shift. Er have I missed something? This will we Bayern’s third ECL final in four years!
5) On the other side of the draw, Dortmund continued to show that, with a good squad and a bit of luck, you can go far in a cup competition (ahem Wigan) thereby undermining that total obsession we appear to have with the ECL being the gauge for everything. Look, they are a great club, but they are not the second best team in Europe! Mind you it did provide me with a good chuckle….I assume you all saw the tweet from someone questioning why Lewandowski has not been selected for Germany.
Personally I blame Gary Neville. Well why not, he started it!
6) Whilst on the subject of Lewandowski, the silly season appears to be starting early with rumours everywhere, particularly, it appears, Dortmund Players. Most of this kind of talk before the Cup final I ignore, but the one that did catch my eye was Kevin de Bruyne. If Chelsea do let this kid go, then, to me, they will have lost one of the nest young talents in Europe.
7) And so the FA have announced, unsurprisingly, that the FA Cup Final will kick off at 5:15pm. Que protests from fans of the two clubs complaining about lack of trains back to the North West. I have one thing to say…..SHUT UP. Use coaches, drive or get a hotel. This is the FA Cup final! At the root cause of this is the English Supporters need to get drunk at every game and get a train home. In Germany the cup final in Berlin kick off at 8:00pm, Italy 6pm (admitably in the two teams home stadium this year!),
Spain 9:30, France 8:00pm and Holland 6:00pm (on a Bank Holiday Thursday) . This is 2013 and money talks, so if you don’t like it stay at home and watch it.
8) The PFA voting shows that many PFA members (i.e. from the lower leagues) support big teams. Some of the selections were utterly ridiculous, but the cherry on the icing on top of the cake was the selection of De Gea in the EPL team of the year. Please!
9) Finally, with all the doom and gloom around the one sided nature of all the major leagues in Europe, the most exciting league finish will come in Belgium. But before we all try and follow the “Belgian Model’ make sure you are ready for change. At the end of the season, the top six move onto the play off league where they play each other
home and away. The points in this league are added to the 50% of the points you get in the regular season to find the Champion! The biggest winners from this
this season appear to be Standard. Like to guess which club’s Chairman is most opposed to this play off format?
Till next week……..
23 April Chessington and Hook v Egham
24 April Ternesse v Overpelt
26 April Schalke II v Koln II
27 April Rotherham V Aldershot
27 April NSC v Nunspeet
27 April NAC v Ajax
It’s been a strange week at PDM. The events of Saturday at Rotherham confirmed Aldershot’s relegation back to the conference after a brief spell in the ‘big time’. To
be honest I felt nothing, no sadness, no regrets, nothing. Maybe this is due to distance and a lack of games (I maybe only saw 12 games this season) or maybe it
is because I had my suspicions this season would end in disappointment from as early as late September. But one thing is for sure, the team were so far removed from the fans that I genuinely could not get any affiliation with this group of players nor the people running the club.
So what exactly are the implications of relegation to ‘non league’. Well there is the financial aspect that will require a significantly lower budget for next season (although subsequent events may impact this even more). We have to play an FA Cup qualifying game and swap the League Cup and Johnstone’s Paint Trophy for the FA Trophy.
In terms of opposition, yes the teams are less glamorous, but not by much. Ignoring the obvious disappointment of missing out on two games against Portsmouth, we lose only 3 teams with decent away support (Plymouth, Bristol Rovers and Wimbledon) and gain larger than average support from the likes of Luton, Woking and Hereford. Lose trips to Fleetwood and Morecambe, gain Gateshead and Southport.
Time will tell what the full impact of relegation is. But my big hope is that this brings a sense of reality to the club, and some financial sense on which to build on.
Elsewhere in football this week
1) One of the most galling things about our defeat at Rotherham was their promotion. Something sits very uncomfortably with me about them and Port Vale being promoted so soon after being in Administration.
2) Rotherham are also managed by one of the dislikable people in football, Steve Evans. Supporters will point to his success, well fair play but that doesn’t mean I want him anywhere near my football club.
3) Talking about talented people I don’t want to see anywhere near my football club, Luis Suarez proved once again that a leopard cannot change his spots. Personally I think the FA got it about right with the suspension, yet again Liverpool fans got it totally wrong. Some of you really are an embarrassment to your club. The highlight to me was the supporter on ‘Talksport Drive’ who tried to blame the KNVB for not helping him after the first incident. Well I’m all for blaming the KNVB for just about anything, but in this case they gave this sorry footballer all the help he needed…..out the door.
4) Things that irritate me 101; in the aftermath of Bayern’s destruction of Barcelona, people are now talking of a power shift. Er have I missed something? This will we Bayern’s third ECL final in four years!
5) On the other side of the draw, Dortmund continued to show that, with a good squad and a bit of luck, you can go far in a cup competition (ahem Wigan) thereby undermining that total obsession we appear to have with the ECL being the gauge for everything. Look, they are a great club, but they are not the second best team in Europe! Mind you it did provide me with a good chuckle….I assume you all saw the tweet from someone questioning why Lewandowski has not been selected for Germany.
Personally I blame Gary Neville. Well why not, he started it!
6) Whilst on the subject of Lewandowski, the silly season appears to be starting early with rumours everywhere, particularly, it appears, Dortmund Players. Most of this kind of talk before the Cup final I ignore, but the one that did catch my eye was Kevin de Bruyne. If Chelsea do let this kid go, then, to me, they will have lost one of the nest young talents in Europe.
7) And so the FA have announced, unsurprisingly, that the FA Cup Final will kick off at 5:15pm. Que protests from fans of the two clubs complaining about lack of trains back to the North West. I have one thing to say…..SHUT UP. Use coaches, drive or get a hotel. This is the FA Cup final! At the root cause of this is the English Supporters need to get drunk at every game and get a train home. In Germany the cup final in Berlin kick off at 8:00pm, Italy 6pm (admitably in the two teams home stadium this year!),
Spain 9:30, France 8:00pm and Holland 6:00pm (on a Bank Holiday Thursday) . This is 2013 and money talks, so if you don’t like it stay at home and watch it.
8) The PFA voting shows that many PFA members (i.e. from the lower leagues) support big teams. Some of the selections were utterly ridiculous, but the cherry on the icing on top of the cake was the selection of De Gea in the EPL team of the year. Please!
9) Finally, with all the doom and gloom around the one sided nature of all the major leagues in Europe, the most exciting league finish will come in Belgium. But before we all try and follow the “Belgian Model’ make sure you are ready for change. At the end of the season, the top six move onto the play off league where they play each other
home and away. The points in this league are added to the 50% of the points you get in the regular season to find the Champion! The biggest winners from this
this season appear to be Standard. Like to guess which club’s Chairman is most opposed to this play off format?
Till next week……..
Life as a Dutch Away Fan
Week 16; 15 to 22 April
Many apologies for the lack of 'a week in review' recently, but things have been very hectic at PDM towers. Anyway we are back and thought we would give you an insight into life as a travelling fan in Holland, arguably the most security conscious footballing nation. So here is a tale of a typical away game, food for thought next time you think you are harshly treated in your country.
To be clear I have selected a typical run of the mill game, nothing special. We will be following the trip NAC Breda fans made last Sunday (21 April) to FC Utrecht. The only reason I selected this game was because of the unique entrance to the away end, which makes for a bit of fun. That apart this is fairly typical of an away game for NAC. Some other clubs have it far worse, with compulsory bus travel for all games (or even total away fan bans).
So our journey begins 4 April with the announcement of ticket details on the club website. Given recent good behaviour of the NAC fans this game could be visited either via organised buses (unofficial or 'wild' buses are not allowed after incidents in Arnhem last season) or via private cars (although none holding more than 8 people are allowed). This is good news as Miss NAC hates buses, and it will mean we only have to travel by them for the Willem II and Feyenoord games this season. As ever tickets go on sale 2 weeks before the game and you have to be either a season ticket holder or member to buy one (the system is computerised and involves approval of each individual by KNVB). The price was 20 Euro, which, by Dutch standard, is quite high.
To be clear I have selected a typical run of the mill game, nothing special. We will be following the trip NAC Breda fans made last Sunday (21 April) to FC Utrecht. The only reason I selected this game was because of the unique entrance to the away end, which makes for a bit of fun. That apart this is fairly typical of an away game for NAC. Some other clubs have it far worse, with compulsory bus travel for all games (or even total away fan bans).
So our journey begins 4 April with the announcement of ticket details on the club website. Given recent good behaviour of the NAC fans this game could be visited either via organised buses (unofficial or 'wild' buses are not allowed after incidents in Arnhem last season) or via private cars (although none holding more than 8 people are allowed). This is good news as Miss NAC hates buses, and it will mean we only have to travel by them for the Willem II and Feyenoord games this season. As ever tickets go on sale 2 weeks before the game and you have to be either a season ticket holder or member to buy one (the system is computerised and involves approval of each individual by KNVB). The price was 20 Euro, which, by Dutch standard, is quite high.
The Thursday before the game we received the match ticket voucher in the post, which you have to exchange at a predetermined place on the match day in a 30 minute window, approximately one hour before the game. This is normally a motorway service station. However, as there were no problems in Enschede the other week, those that went to the Twente game could exchange their ticket at the away car park in Utrecht (an honour!). So included with the voucher was a parking ticket and instructions as to what route to take to the stadium.
It also came with the normal warnings; no alcohol in vehicles, don't forget your season ticket/membership card and ID etc. |
One of the advantages of all this security is that every ground has a secure away parking compound. This means there is never an issue with parking and so you can arrive literally 5 minutes before the start of a game and still make the kick off. These compounds come in all shapes and sizes (the one in Almelo is under the actual stand!). The one in Utrecht has excellent access from the dual carriageway under the brick building on the right. We had a bit of a wait as the woman in the car in front had no ID (luckily one of the NAC stewards recognised her). But before long we drove in and exchanged our voucher for the match ticket with the security people there.
|
Here we are, parked in the away compound with, as the picture to the left shows, the away end in front of us.
So that will be out through the gate in the corner, across the road and into the stadium then? No, we're heading into the opposite corner of the car park ---------> And down the steps to find......urinals and turnstiles, naturally! |
WE'VE MADE IT!
To be fair, by Dutch standards the away end at Galgenwaard is one of the better ones. It holds around 1,400 which certainly makes it one of the bigger ones (some are as small as 500) and the catering is ok, although naturally no alcohol is on sale. As you can see below, there is netting all around, and a large fence at the front. The double perspex means that it is hard to make out more than shapes in the home section to the left especially the back half. However, at least I could see both goals, unlike one of the Ere Divisie away ends where one of the goals is not visible from the away end! And, if you want, you can keep an eye on your car!! |
And so we found ourselves back at the car, where we wait another 15 mins. Naturally half the cars spent this time blasting their horns! Eventually the gates were opened and the buses left with police motor cyclists escorting them. We followed in a line, up the wrong way of the slip road, down the wrong side of the dual carriageway before crossing the central reservation to the right side. All the locals had been stopped. We were then escorted back to the motorway, with all the side roads being held up. Then finally we were on the way back to Breda (well not us, we doubled back and went for a very pleasant evening and decent curry with the family Velthuis who we met up with outside the stadium almost 75 mins after the game ended!).
So there you have it, life as an away fan in Holland. Away turnouts are pitifully low and you can see why. As I said this is nothing special (except the tunnel) and is broadly what you can expect 17 times a year. And to be honest, NAC fans generally get it pretty easy compared with say Feyenoord.
With every game live on TV you can see why alot of fans just can't be bothered with all this.
Still, at least we were in the car, the last game of the season is in de Kuip and the dreaded bus combi!
Footnote; many of you may be aware of the accusations levelled at the NAC fans in the aftermath of this game. My only comment is that I heard nothing, nor did Miss NAC who, unlike me, is Dutch and therefore speaks the language. I will leave it at that as, unlike FC Utrecht and some of the press, we here at PDM like to deal in facts and evidence.
Till next week........
With every game live on TV you can see why alot of fans just can't be bothered with all this.
Still, at least we were in the car, the last game of the season is in de Kuip and the dreaded bus combi!
Footnote; many of you may be aware of the accusations levelled at the NAC fans in the aftermath of this game. My only comment is that I heard nothing, nor did Miss NAC who, unlike me, is Dutch and therefore speaks the language. I will leave it at that as, unlike FC Utrecht and some of the press, we here at PDM like to deal in facts and evidence.
Till next week........
International Break
Week 12 & 13; 19 March to 1 April 2013
PDM Matches
19 Mar ASWH v Goes
19 Mar Thame United v Abingdon
21 Mar Schijndel v Neunen
22 Mar MSV Duisburg v Borussia MG
23 Mar Achilles Veen v ASWH
23 Mar London Broncos v Hull FC
24 Mar Sint-Gillis Waas v Wetteren
26 Mar Egham v Wembley
27 Mar Zwarte Leeuw v Wilrijk
29 Mar Rochdale v Aldershot
29 Mar Castleford v Wakefield
30 Mar FC Twente v NAC
31 Mar Kalmthout v Oud Turnhout
1 Apr TuRU Dusseldorf v KFC Uerdingen
19 Mar ASWH v Goes
19 Mar Thame United v Abingdon
21 Mar Schijndel v Neunen
22 Mar MSV Duisburg v Borussia MG
23 Mar Achilles Veen v ASWH
23 Mar London Broncos v Hull FC
24 Mar Sint-Gillis Waas v Wetteren
26 Mar Egham v Wembley
27 Mar Zwarte Leeuw v Wilrijk
29 Mar Rochdale v Aldershot
29 Mar Castleford v Wakefield
30 Mar FC Twente v NAC
31 Mar Kalmthout v Oud Turnhout
1 Apr TuRU Dusseldorf v KFC Uerdingen
No week in review last week as we decided to follow most of the top two leagues in Europe and have a break for the internationals. Still, it gave everyone ample opportunity to go over old ground, club v country and why England are no good.
I for one, have always fallen heavily on the side of ‘country’in the argument, but for most of the late 80’s and 90’s I was a regular at England matches both home and away. I also admit, I don’t understand how people cannot play for their country when picked (especially to do media work!) but I do accept that in the modern world the balance is changing.
Top flight football is so powerful (not just the EPL) and fans invest financially and emotionally so much in these teams that I guess it is natural the younger generation have more affinity to their clubs. I have also noted a sea change in the atmosphere at England home games, where mistakes by individual players are derided along club lines (‘get off you ‘insert club’ ‘insert abuse’). I guess this has always been there but I appear to notice it more now.
The situation is not helped by the current format. For once I am not putting the blame solely on FIFA and UEFA, but again they have tried to please everyone and not really solved anything. This current Friday/Tuesday format 4 or 5 times a year, reduces the time away from clubs and limits the impact on the games immediately before and after the break, but to me leaves the games being played at times where they appear to be getting lost.
So what about a radical new proposal of two two week breaks where four games get played each time? UEFA and the FA’s need to ensure there are no cup games the weeks either side to assist in preparation and recovery. If the numbers don’t work then make the San Marino’s of the world enter pre qualification to limit the number of qualifying games. Surely worth the try?
And what of England? Well I’m not going to try and solve a problem that appears to be around the last 50 years, but I will make a couple of observations. Firstly I don’t think we are as bad a people make out, but the expectation level is so high that anything other than 3-0 wins against everybody appears to be classed as failure. Secondly, we still appear to be hell bent on picking teams from the top sides. We have to get over this. This is nothing new, it’s the kind of attitude that saw Matthew Le Tissier pick up a
mere EIGHT caps. We need to decided on a system and pick the players in form who are best for that system. If that means leaving a big name out then so be it. Let’s learn from what the successful countries (Germany, Holland Belgium etc) are doing.
Elsewhere in football these last two weeks
1) Scotland crashed out of qualification becoming the first European side to be eliminated. I smiled when I hear this not through a dislike of the country (I don’t) but I think back to the arrogance they had when the draw was done. This was to be ‘their best chance of qualifying for years’. Why? You were in with two of the best young sides in
Europe, but of course no one in the UK knew that!
2) Vincent Kompany bought out Bleid-Gaume quoting ‘It is my sports’ and social commitment towards the youngsters of Brussels’. Nice gesture, only problem Bleid is 203km from Brussels, considerably further than Milton Keynes is from LB of Merton.
3) So Sunderland finally realized what most of the footballing world already knew and fired Martin O’Neil. Mind you, there will undoubtedly be another desperate club out there to take him on (Blackburn? Leeds?)
4) Out of the frying pan into the fire, the Black cats appointed Di Canio. I give it 6 months. Still it did result in me sending my first ever tweet directly to someone in the media. To that joke of a radio presenter Mark Saggers I asked ‘You lot are unbelieveable. Why is Di Canio only now an issue? Where was all this when he was Swindon Manager? Lazy journalism’ His defense on air was laughable.
5) West Ham finally get the Olympic Stadium. Good for them, let’s hope they can make it home. My advice to you all, give it a chance.
6) Shots watch; well an away draw at Rochdale and a win against Oxford gives some hope, but I’m still not confident.
Till next week……..
I for one, have always fallen heavily on the side of ‘country’in the argument, but for most of the late 80’s and 90’s I was a regular at England matches both home and away. I also admit, I don’t understand how people cannot play for their country when picked (especially to do media work!) but I do accept that in the modern world the balance is changing.
Top flight football is so powerful (not just the EPL) and fans invest financially and emotionally so much in these teams that I guess it is natural the younger generation have more affinity to their clubs. I have also noted a sea change in the atmosphere at England home games, where mistakes by individual players are derided along club lines (‘get off you ‘insert club’ ‘insert abuse’). I guess this has always been there but I appear to notice it more now.
The situation is not helped by the current format. For once I am not putting the blame solely on FIFA and UEFA, but again they have tried to please everyone and not really solved anything. This current Friday/Tuesday format 4 or 5 times a year, reduces the time away from clubs and limits the impact on the games immediately before and after the break, but to me leaves the games being played at times where they appear to be getting lost.
So what about a radical new proposal of two two week breaks where four games get played each time? UEFA and the FA’s need to ensure there are no cup games the weeks either side to assist in preparation and recovery. If the numbers don’t work then make the San Marino’s of the world enter pre qualification to limit the number of qualifying games. Surely worth the try?
And what of England? Well I’m not going to try and solve a problem that appears to be around the last 50 years, but I will make a couple of observations. Firstly I don’t think we are as bad a people make out, but the expectation level is so high that anything other than 3-0 wins against everybody appears to be classed as failure. Secondly, we still appear to be hell bent on picking teams from the top sides. We have to get over this. This is nothing new, it’s the kind of attitude that saw Matthew Le Tissier pick up a
mere EIGHT caps. We need to decided on a system and pick the players in form who are best for that system. If that means leaving a big name out then so be it. Let’s learn from what the successful countries (Germany, Holland Belgium etc) are doing.
Elsewhere in football these last two weeks
1) Scotland crashed out of qualification becoming the first European side to be eliminated. I smiled when I hear this not through a dislike of the country (I don’t) but I think back to the arrogance they had when the draw was done. This was to be ‘their best chance of qualifying for years’. Why? You were in with two of the best young sides in
Europe, but of course no one in the UK knew that!
2) Vincent Kompany bought out Bleid-Gaume quoting ‘It is my sports’ and social commitment towards the youngsters of Brussels’. Nice gesture, only problem Bleid is 203km from Brussels, considerably further than Milton Keynes is from LB of Merton.
3) So Sunderland finally realized what most of the footballing world already knew and fired Martin O’Neil. Mind you, there will undoubtedly be another desperate club out there to take him on (Blackburn? Leeds?)
4) Out of the frying pan into the fire, the Black cats appointed Di Canio. I give it 6 months. Still it did result in me sending my first ever tweet directly to someone in the media. To that joke of a radio presenter Mark Saggers I asked ‘You lot are unbelieveable. Why is Di Canio only now an issue? Where was all this when he was Swindon Manager? Lazy journalism’ His defense on air was laughable.
5) West Ham finally get the Olympic Stadium. Good for them, let’s hope they can make it home. My advice to you all, give it a chance.
6) Shots watch; well an away draw at Rochdale and a win against Oxford gives some hope, but I’m still not confident.
Till next week……..
A Lesson from Across the Pond
Week 11; 12 to 18 March 2013
PDM Matches
12 Mar Aldershot v Burton
15 Mar MSV v Cottbus
16 Mar ASWH v Excelsior Maassluis
16 Mar Aldershot v Wimbledon
16 Mar Brasschaat v Schriek
17 Mar NAC v Willem II
There are a couple of stories that have come out of the states in the last week or so that has got me wondering if there is something that the ‘high end’ of the global game in Europe can learn from our friends across the pond. The stories are connected and concern Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim outfielder Mike Trout and San Francisco 49’ers Quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Last season, Trout was a 21 year old rookie who was bought up from the minors after the start of the season at the end of April. The word ‘phenomenon’and ‘monster’ is over used in American sports, but if ever there was a case to use them, this is it. By the end of the season he was the first player in baseball history to hit 30 home runs, steal 45 bases and score 125 runs in a season (or in his case, part of a season). He won the ‘Rookie of the year’ award, unanimously, and was second in the ‘most valuable player award’ only to a player who himself has achieved something not done in the last 30 years, the batting triple crown. Trout also won the award for best centre fielder.
Colin Kaepernick is 25 and in his second season in the NFL came into replace the then injured Alex Smith and led the 49’ers to the NFC Championship, before losing to the Baltimore Ravens in the Superbowl last January.
Trout’s reward for this historic rookie season is a 6.25% raise to $510,000. Not a week, or a month, but for the whole season. This is because he is in his second season and there is no requirement or need for the Angels to apply anything other than contracted (or in this case club policy) increases. Put this into perspective, he will earn in a year about what his two famous team mates Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton would earn in 4 days. Is Trout’s agent happy? Of course not. Is the player himself happy,
probably not, but the public face went along the lines of ‘I’m not worried, I will get paid one day’. And this is true, as it will be little more than a year or so before the big contracts (10 year $250m plus) come his way.
Kaepernick’s reward for his play off heroics last year will be a base salary of $740,800, an increase of 20% over last year, but way short of the six year $120m contract that the Superbowl winning Quarterback Joe Flacco has just signed. Again, this is solely due to the rules surrounding rookie contracts (Kaepernick is halfway through a four year deal) so the 49’ers couldn’t pay him more even if they wanted to. Again, like Trout, his pay day will have to wait a year.
So if this can happen in the States (especially in Baseball which reputably has one of the strongest unions in the US – and I’m not talking just sports) should we not be looking at some special rules in European football that protect both the clubs and the players, when they are at the start of their careers. Would it not be preferable to limit the base amount a player can earn in his first few years (e.g. upto the age of 21) and build in some protection for the clubs that have the contracts? Performance incentives could be added, but again limited.
This would have the potential to spread the youth pool around the continent and, hopefully, keep these youngsters in their own countries. Limiting the access to the trappings of their more mature peers would help stabalise the players in their early years and ensure that their individual work ethics remain sound. It would also ensure that players are paid based on the potential from what they have achieved, rather than just raw potential.
There would be hurdles, especially with the youngsters from South America, but I am sure it would be worth it.
Elsewhere in football this week
1) Arsenal’s defeat in Munich led to the not unexpected declaration from the English media that the EPL is now dead. Come on, let’s get perspective here. It’s as strong as ever, but this is cup football and, as shown at Old Trafford last week, that is a more volatile mistress than league football.
2) Blackburn fire Michael Appleton, whatever happened to this ‘fit and proper test’ for owners? Or does it not include the requirement to know anything about football whatsoever?
3) Michael Owen announces his retirement from football. So ends a very good career, but not a really great one. I will always feel that he never quite reached his full potential, mainly through injuries. Either way, good luck in the next phase of your life Michael, and thanks for the memories, we will always have St Etienne.
4) From memory, Owen always turned up for England when fit and picked, unlike one of his former team mates. But I am wasting no more of your time or mine on that pathetic individual.
5) Another week another set of death threats from some ‘brave’ internet trolls, this time threatening to hound one the game’s good guys into retirement. Seriously, GET A LIFE, does anyone think that Mark Halsey could have seen that tackle? And Graeme Poll you should hang you head in shame over what you said. At least Halsey can count to two….you know, the number of yellow cards an individual player gets before you are supposed to show him a red!
6) Shots watch; it is getting fairly desperate at the bottom of league two with 6 teams being separated by one point. I’m getting very worried given our run in.
Till next week……..
12 Mar Aldershot v Burton
15 Mar MSV v Cottbus
16 Mar ASWH v Excelsior Maassluis
16 Mar Aldershot v Wimbledon
16 Mar Brasschaat v Schriek
17 Mar NAC v Willem II
There are a couple of stories that have come out of the states in the last week or so that has got me wondering if there is something that the ‘high end’ of the global game in Europe can learn from our friends across the pond. The stories are connected and concern Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim outfielder Mike Trout and San Francisco 49’ers Quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Last season, Trout was a 21 year old rookie who was bought up from the minors after the start of the season at the end of April. The word ‘phenomenon’and ‘monster’ is over used in American sports, but if ever there was a case to use them, this is it. By the end of the season he was the first player in baseball history to hit 30 home runs, steal 45 bases and score 125 runs in a season (or in his case, part of a season). He won the ‘Rookie of the year’ award, unanimously, and was second in the ‘most valuable player award’ only to a player who himself has achieved something not done in the last 30 years, the batting triple crown. Trout also won the award for best centre fielder.
Colin Kaepernick is 25 and in his second season in the NFL came into replace the then injured Alex Smith and led the 49’ers to the NFC Championship, before losing to the Baltimore Ravens in the Superbowl last January.
Trout’s reward for this historic rookie season is a 6.25% raise to $510,000. Not a week, or a month, but for the whole season. This is because he is in his second season and there is no requirement or need for the Angels to apply anything other than contracted (or in this case club policy) increases. Put this into perspective, he will earn in a year about what his two famous team mates Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton would earn in 4 days. Is Trout’s agent happy? Of course not. Is the player himself happy,
probably not, but the public face went along the lines of ‘I’m not worried, I will get paid one day’. And this is true, as it will be little more than a year or so before the big contracts (10 year $250m plus) come his way.
Kaepernick’s reward for his play off heroics last year will be a base salary of $740,800, an increase of 20% over last year, but way short of the six year $120m contract that the Superbowl winning Quarterback Joe Flacco has just signed. Again, this is solely due to the rules surrounding rookie contracts (Kaepernick is halfway through a four year deal) so the 49’ers couldn’t pay him more even if they wanted to. Again, like Trout, his pay day will have to wait a year.
So if this can happen in the States (especially in Baseball which reputably has one of the strongest unions in the US – and I’m not talking just sports) should we not be looking at some special rules in European football that protect both the clubs and the players, when they are at the start of their careers. Would it not be preferable to limit the base amount a player can earn in his first few years (e.g. upto the age of 21) and build in some protection for the clubs that have the contracts? Performance incentives could be added, but again limited.
This would have the potential to spread the youth pool around the continent and, hopefully, keep these youngsters in their own countries. Limiting the access to the trappings of their more mature peers would help stabalise the players in their early years and ensure that their individual work ethics remain sound. It would also ensure that players are paid based on the potential from what they have achieved, rather than just raw potential.
There would be hurdles, especially with the youngsters from South America, but I am sure it would be worth it.
Elsewhere in football this week
1) Arsenal’s defeat in Munich led to the not unexpected declaration from the English media that the EPL is now dead. Come on, let’s get perspective here. It’s as strong as ever, but this is cup football and, as shown at Old Trafford last week, that is a more volatile mistress than league football.
2) Blackburn fire Michael Appleton, whatever happened to this ‘fit and proper test’ for owners? Or does it not include the requirement to know anything about football whatsoever?
3) Michael Owen announces his retirement from football. So ends a very good career, but not a really great one. I will always feel that he never quite reached his full potential, mainly through injuries. Either way, good luck in the next phase of your life Michael, and thanks for the memories, we will always have St Etienne.
4) From memory, Owen always turned up for England when fit and picked, unlike one of his former team mates. But I am wasting no more of your time or mine on that pathetic individual.
5) Another week another set of death threats from some ‘brave’ internet trolls, this time threatening to hound one the game’s good guys into retirement. Seriously, GET A LIFE, does anyone think that Mark Halsey could have seen that tackle? And Graeme Poll you should hang you head in shame over what you said. At least Halsey can count to two….you know, the number of yellow cards an individual player gets before you are supposed to show him a red!
6) Shots watch; it is getting fairly desperate at the bottom of league two with 6 teams being separated by one point. I’m getting very worried given our run in.
Till next week……..
Take it Like a Man
Week 10; 5 to 11 March 2013
PDM Matches:
5 Mar Frimley Green v South Kilburn
7 Mar Germany v Netherland U17 Ladies
8 Mar Groningen v NAC
9 Mar London Broncos v Hull KR
9 Mar Fortuna Koln v FC Koln II
9 Mar Borussia Monchengladbach v Werder Bremen
10 Mar Utrecht v RKC
To me the talking point of the week is the utterly depressing way in which we, as a nation, still cannot accept defeat with any resembling a level of class. I’m am of course talking about the events at Old Trafford surround United’s exit at the hands of Real.
I struggle to find anyone who came out of this with any real credit except, ironically, Nani himself. Sir Alex Ferguson should be very embarrassed when he sees tv coverage of his reaction. Exactly what has the fourth official got to do with the decision or, what can he now do about it? I would say that Ferdinand should also be embarrassed, but I feel, given the events of his career, that is an emotion he clearly lacks. How UEFA didn’t throw the book of him, only they know.
Outside of United circles it didn’t get any better. The special one was being especially patronising with his ‘the best team lost’ routine. Sorry, that was no more a job interview in disguise as this piece is. That was Jose’s way of saying, we were rubbish and still beat you hahaha, see how special I am.
Twitter exploded with United fans declaring the greatest travesty since, well the last time they lost, and were countered by thousands of fans declaring them hypocrites given the number of decisions that go their way. Someone even went as far as suggesting that the appointment of Howard Webb as the referee for the Chelsea cup match was the FA’s way of apologising to United.
We had a United fan calling the Police, Referee’s twitter account being hacked and even a supposed National Broadcaster suggesting the game should be replayed.
Grow up one and all. A player got sent off. It wasn’t a terrible decision, I have seen more injustice on many occasions this season alone. Personally I don’t think it warranted a red, but it was one of those that could have gone either way, and this time it went against United.
But we really all need to take a deep breath more often around things like this. I hoped after the Anders Frisk business that we would have learnt a lesson, but clearly not.
Elsewhere in football this week
1) A team that definitely had something to complain about was Swansea City….yet we hardly heard anything. If ever there was an advert for tv relays this was it.
2) What is this rubbish about not celebrating after scoring against your old team. Ronaldo, I wanted to see you run to the corner and celebrate with your team and fans. That’s football. This self righteous crap is dull
3) Grey clouds over the Rec as games start to run out. But seriously, how many more ways can this team find to not win games!!
4) Belgian first division is almost at an end, and then onto the playoffs. If anyone out there has the slightest idea how these work, please contact us!
5) More madness in the managerial world as the lot from Berkshire decide Brian McDermott isn’t good enough for them. Seriously, this has to be the otherway round?
6) German Price watch; 10 Euro to stand for the fourth tier Fortuna Koln v FC Koln II local derby.
Till next week……..
5 Mar Frimley Green v South Kilburn
7 Mar Germany v Netherland U17 Ladies
8 Mar Groningen v NAC
9 Mar London Broncos v Hull KR
9 Mar Fortuna Koln v FC Koln II
9 Mar Borussia Monchengladbach v Werder Bremen
10 Mar Utrecht v RKC
To me the talking point of the week is the utterly depressing way in which we, as a nation, still cannot accept defeat with any resembling a level of class. I’m am of course talking about the events at Old Trafford surround United’s exit at the hands of Real.
I struggle to find anyone who came out of this with any real credit except, ironically, Nani himself. Sir Alex Ferguson should be very embarrassed when he sees tv coverage of his reaction. Exactly what has the fourth official got to do with the decision or, what can he now do about it? I would say that Ferdinand should also be embarrassed, but I feel, given the events of his career, that is an emotion he clearly lacks. How UEFA didn’t throw the book of him, only they know.
Outside of United circles it didn’t get any better. The special one was being especially patronising with his ‘the best team lost’ routine. Sorry, that was no more a job interview in disguise as this piece is. That was Jose’s way of saying, we were rubbish and still beat you hahaha, see how special I am.
Twitter exploded with United fans declaring the greatest travesty since, well the last time they lost, and were countered by thousands of fans declaring them hypocrites given the number of decisions that go their way. Someone even went as far as suggesting that the appointment of Howard Webb as the referee for the Chelsea cup match was the FA’s way of apologising to United.
We had a United fan calling the Police, Referee’s twitter account being hacked and even a supposed National Broadcaster suggesting the game should be replayed.
Grow up one and all. A player got sent off. It wasn’t a terrible decision, I have seen more injustice on many occasions this season alone. Personally I don’t think it warranted a red, but it was one of those that could have gone either way, and this time it went against United.
But we really all need to take a deep breath more often around things like this. I hoped after the Anders Frisk business that we would have learnt a lesson, but clearly not.
Elsewhere in football this week
1) A team that definitely had something to complain about was Swansea City….yet we hardly heard anything. If ever there was an advert for tv relays this was it.
2) What is this rubbish about not celebrating after scoring against your old team. Ronaldo, I wanted to see you run to the corner and celebrate with your team and fans. That’s football. This self righteous crap is dull
3) Grey clouds over the Rec as games start to run out. But seriously, how many more ways can this team find to not win games!!
4) Belgian first division is almost at an end, and then onto the playoffs. If anyone out there has the slightest idea how these work, please contact us!
5) More madness in the managerial world as the lot from Berkshire decide Brian McDermott isn’t good enough for them. Seriously, this has to be the otherway round?
6) German Price watch; 10 Euro to stand for the fourth tier Fortuna Koln v FC Koln II local derby.
Till next week……..
Bits and Pieces
Week 9; 26 Feb to 4 March 2013
PDM Matches;
26 Feb Chesterfield v Aldershot
27 Feb Elinkwijk v Leonadis
28 Feb Cercle v Club
1 Mar Tilburg Trappers v Amsterdam G's (Ice Hockey)
2 Mar ASWH v Nivo Sparta
2 Mar Aldershot v Gillingham
2 Mar NAC v Heerenveen
3 Mar Blue Star Poperinge v Ieper
4 Mar MSV Duisburg v Braunschweig
With there being no stand out event in the world of football (well not for us anyway) for this week we will go with a few bits and pieces from around the footballing world.
1) Smoke bombs and pyros appear to be on the increase in England and Scotland. Latest one I have seen pictures of is the Liverpool fans at Wigan. So this and 5,000 away fans all stood in the away end at the DW, yet we are still against safe standing? A little hypocritical there?
2) While on the subject of Liverpool fans, the banner they had was a little amusing. However, I assume you will all be happy to see Gerard and Suarez leave so you can all have lower ticket prices?
3) Linking nicely again, I see that the diving biting one is being linked to the footballer of the year award. Why not I say, it would sum up the direction the EPL is going in
nicely.
4) The special one is at it again. A rare 3pm kick off for El Classico so Man U have absolutely no advantage for the Tuesday game; except they don’t have to travel, they are at home, they have the away goal, they don’t have to score, oh AND THEY ARE BETTER!!! Still, I for one hope that Mourinho is back in England soon, the place isn’t the same without you Jose.
5) Stan Collymore had a pretty decent go at attacking modern top flight football this week on the Monday night show on Talk Shite. Earlier in the day Stan had tweeted:
The Champions League has killed the following; UEFA Cup, ECWC, FA Cup, League Cup. European club football isn't stronger for it.
Stan is of course right. In the same way as the EPL is strangling the life out of lower league clubs as the pressure on wage inflation cascades down. Problem is, isn’t this a case of ‘poacher turned game keeper’? If you had criticised all this when you had your head in the very trough you now complain about, it would have carried more weight Stan.
6) News that many of you probably might have missed, but Aldershot and Dean Holdsworth finally parted company. No great surprise as those fans who still bother to go to the rec appear to be blaming Dean for everything from missed goal opportunities to global warming. I’m not going to defend Dean as he did lose the plot a bit this year, but fans of lower league teams need to remember that, if you put lipstick on a pig, it is still a pig.
7) German Football Watch; I went to MSV Duisburg last night in Bundesliga 2, paid for parking, two adult tickets, a programme a beer and a coffee. Total price 30 Euro. Makes you think hey?
And finally, this week saw the passing of Theo Bos, who died from Cancer at the age of 47. Bos played for 15 years for one team, Vitesse before going on to coach FC Den Bosch. He returned to coach in Arnhem in 2009 before a short stint coaching in Warsaw in 2011. It was on his return from Poland and his appointment as coach of FC Dordrecht that I first came across the man they simply called The Boss. I remember well the first home game after it was announced he was suffering from cancer. On scoring the whole team ran over to where Bos was sat watching from the stands to celebrate with him.
RIP Mr Vitesse.
Till next week……..
26 Feb Chesterfield v Aldershot
27 Feb Elinkwijk v Leonadis
28 Feb Cercle v Club
1 Mar Tilburg Trappers v Amsterdam G's (Ice Hockey)
2 Mar ASWH v Nivo Sparta
2 Mar Aldershot v Gillingham
2 Mar NAC v Heerenveen
3 Mar Blue Star Poperinge v Ieper
4 Mar MSV Duisburg v Braunschweig
With there being no stand out event in the world of football (well not for us anyway) for this week we will go with a few bits and pieces from around the footballing world.
1) Smoke bombs and pyros appear to be on the increase in England and Scotland. Latest one I have seen pictures of is the Liverpool fans at Wigan. So this and 5,000 away fans all stood in the away end at the DW, yet we are still against safe standing? A little hypocritical there?
2) While on the subject of Liverpool fans, the banner they had was a little amusing. However, I assume you will all be happy to see Gerard and Suarez leave so you can all have lower ticket prices?
3) Linking nicely again, I see that the diving biting one is being linked to the footballer of the year award. Why not I say, it would sum up the direction the EPL is going in
nicely.
4) The special one is at it again. A rare 3pm kick off for El Classico so Man U have absolutely no advantage for the Tuesday game; except they don’t have to travel, they are at home, they have the away goal, they don’t have to score, oh AND THEY ARE BETTER!!! Still, I for one hope that Mourinho is back in England soon, the place isn’t the same without you Jose.
5) Stan Collymore had a pretty decent go at attacking modern top flight football this week on the Monday night show on Talk Shite. Earlier in the day Stan had tweeted:
The Champions League has killed the following; UEFA Cup, ECWC, FA Cup, League Cup. European club football isn't stronger for it.
Stan is of course right. In the same way as the EPL is strangling the life out of lower league clubs as the pressure on wage inflation cascades down. Problem is, isn’t this a case of ‘poacher turned game keeper’? If you had criticised all this when you had your head in the very trough you now complain about, it would have carried more weight Stan.
6) News that many of you probably might have missed, but Aldershot and Dean Holdsworth finally parted company. No great surprise as those fans who still bother to go to the rec appear to be blaming Dean for everything from missed goal opportunities to global warming. I’m not going to defend Dean as he did lose the plot a bit this year, but fans of lower league teams need to remember that, if you put lipstick on a pig, it is still a pig.
7) German Football Watch; I went to MSV Duisburg last night in Bundesliga 2, paid for parking, two adult tickets, a programme a beer and a coffee. Total price 30 Euro. Makes you think hey?
And finally, this week saw the passing of Theo Bos, who died from Cancer at the age of 47. Bos played for 15 years for one team, Vitesse before going on to coach FC Den Bosch. He returned to coach in Arnhem in 2009 before a short stint coaching in Warsaw in 2011. It was on his return from Poland and his appointment as coach of FC Dordrecht that I first came across the man they simply called The Boss. I remember well the first home game after it was announced he was suffering from cancer. On scoring the whole team ran over to where Bos was sat watching from the stands to celebrate with him.
RIP Mr Vitesse.
Till next week……..
German Football
Weeks 7&8; 12 to 25 Feb 2013
PDM Matches;
13 Feb Belgium v Austria (Ladies)
14 Feb Borussia v Lazio
15 Feb Dordrecht v Go Ahead Eagles
16 Feb Aldershot v Cheltenham; Kloetinge v ASWH; NAC v Heracles
17 Feb Royal Antwerp v Boussu Dour
18 Feb Dordrecht v Den Bosch
19 Feb Victoria Koln v Huijs
20 Feb Saarbruken v Beilefeld
22 Feb Bochum v MSV Duisburg
23 Feb Mainz v Wolfsburg
Firstly and apology for not having submitted a 'week in review' last week. However, with all three members of the team in the same place at the same time, we took the opportunity to do a bit of hands on research into a subject close to our hearts......German Football.
Alot has been written over the last week or so about the merits of the game in Germany in the build up to and aftermath of Bayern’s win in London. But how much of it is
underlying fact and how much of it is selective examples driven by an era in English press where it is vogue to put down the English game (being able to put
the boot in on Arsene Wenger is an added bonus!).
Regular readers will know that we are big fans of the game in Germany. We have visited around 30 grounds and one member of the team is a regular in the stands at Borussia Park. But given all the column inches of the last two weeks we thought we would take an objective look into some of the ‘headline facts’ and give our take on
it. So what better way than to see a game in each of the top four tiers of Germany in the span of 5 days (stopping only for a night in the pub watching the Europa League). Forget the fact that the temperature rarely got above freezing, the snow continued all week and Matt had a cold, we completed the 2,500 kms in one piece and these are our findings.
Often Quoted Statement One – It’s Cheaper to Watch German Football
Ticket prices for the game we attended were
Tier Club Seating Standing
Adult Child Adult Child
4 Viktoria Koln €15 €12 €8 €5
3 Saarbruken €17-€25 €15-€25 €10 €4
2 Bochum €17.50-€35 €5-€32.50 €11 (*) €8
1 Mainz €18-€60 €12-€30 €12.50 €9.50
(*) Bochum charge €12 no reductions for away fans to stand
So I think it is fair to say that this is true and for tiers 2-4 there is absolutely no dispute. But let’s scratch the surface a little on Tier 1. I must have received 30 tweets all saying that it cost more to watch the Arsenal v Bayern game than Bayern fans pay for a season ticket. Ok, true, a standing season ticket costs €120 and a standing match ticket is €15. But to each person I say, try and buy one. You can’t, and it’s not just there; Dortmund, Schalke, Monchengladbach, the terraces are the domain of season ticket holders and they all renew. Not once in three years of going to Borussia Park have there been tickets on sale for the terrace.
So you are left with seats. At Borussia Park they will set you back between €27.50 and €44.50, with the vast majority being in the €35 to €40 bracket. Is that really any more expensive than mid range EPL?
Often Quoted Statement Two – The crowds are bigger
Stats never lie (!), on average there are more people watching Bundesliga I games than the EPL, and next year it is likely to get higher if Hertha and Koln regain their place and Furth and Hoffenheim get relegated. That would leave the lowest average at just over 21,000 and only Fortuna and Stuttgart as under 88% average capacity fill. 11 Bundesliga teams average over 40k, in England 7. But the remaining 7 in Germany all average under 31k.
But again scratch the surface a little, and the truth is not what it seemed. Admitably all were midweek games, but the Bochum/MSV derby attracted a little over 14k, Saarbruken 3k and Koln 600. Whilst there are one or two clubs with high attendances for their league (Hertha in B2) the attendances drop off steeply. There are 7 of the 18 Bundesliga 2 teams that average less than 10k this season. In the Championship, it is one. The inclusion of professional under 23 teams in leagues as high a tier 3 mean that crowds can be as low as a few hundred.
Often Quoted Statement Three – There are more away fans
Anyone who has seen Dortmund or Shalke play away or witness a derby such as Koln v Gladbach cannot fail to notice the huge numbers of travelling fans (in Dortmunds case it’s not hard as they all wear luminous yellow!). True, the allocations are bigger. But in addition, there is a more relaxed approach to away supporters in the home sections. I saw Schalke play at Borussia Park once and when they scored there were several thousand away fans cheering in all home sections except one, the Noord Kurve. Home to Borussia’s Ultras. And this is the unwritten rule. Colours and cheering are allowed anywhere except the home ‘end’.
Nurnberg even put this in their stadium rules on their excellent English website…..important: in the north stand (blocks 1-13), no fans are permitted whose clothing identifies them as fans of a team other than 1. FC Nürnberg! Anywhere else no problem!!
Yes there are exceptions, yes police can intervene. But on the whole this is the way t works. And this is why, when asked how many away fans there are, I always reply…I’ll let you know when they score!
But again, dig deeper. The away end at Viktoria Koln was shut 5 minutes into the game as it was empty, there were 20 away fans in the seats. Bielefeld had around 200 at Saarbruken (250 mile journey) and MSV about 2,500 at Bochum (30 miles). Wolfsburg had 500 at Mainz (240 mile journey). Again, with some exceptions (e.g. Dresden in league 2, RW Essen in 4 and Uerdingen in 5) away support tails off dramatically outside the top 20 or so clubs.
Often Quoted Statement Four – The grounds are better
Subjective I know, but again true. In Bundesliga 1 they are better, pure and simple. But that is because the focus in on the ‘bowl’ itself i.e. the seated arena. Very little expense or thought is given to the facilities behind the stands. Even in Dortmund the facilities are fairly basic, one or two beer and sausage outlets and toilets (that are immaculate). Outside the stadium there are lots of beer and food stands and fan areas.
The lower down the more undeveloped grounds you get. There are a surprising number of athletics stadiums in the lower tiers, and there are lots of grounds that have been part modernized and older pieces of unused terracing remain. Not exactly the creature comforts of some grounds in the football league, but paradise for us ground hoppers.
Often Quoted Statement Five – The atmosphere is better.
Again subjective, but true. There is absolutely no comparison between the atmosphere in the Bundesliga and the EPL. It is chalk and cheese. The noise is louder and more sustained. Lower down it is at least comparable, but in many cases better.
But the main difference is in the ‘general’ atmosphere. Police visibility is high in the cities and around the stadium (during the game you always see lines of police entering carrying their white helmets) but the policing is generally relaxed. People drink openly in the streets and on public transport, rival supporters travel together to and from the grounds together in the main and hold backs are rare. Stewards control searches (everyone) and entrances to sections, but they are not heavy handed and rarely get involved once the game started.
At Saarbruken, two youngsters were sat on the fence at the front to get a better view without any problem. In Mainz, the only time I noticed a steward during the game was when he asked someone to move off the stairs. Goals are celebrated with considerable enthusiasm and without any intervention by the men in yellow.
And all this is against the backdrop of limited segregation and free access to alcohol. Yes, that’s right folks. Anyone over the age of 16 can drink beer in any part of the stadium from when it opens to when it closes (which is sometimes not for an hour or so after the game). Only once (Koln v Borussia) have I seen restrictions which were low alcohol for away fans in the ground.
So there you have it. Some good some bad, but in the main the 'vogue' quotes are right. But what strikes us as we continue our travels through Germany, is the focus that the whole country puts on the top league. It is, in our opinion, the best league for fans in Europe and the model other leagues should strive for. But further down you go you uncover that, rather like the mad uncle you put in the corner at parties, the Germans have a tendancy to hide their failings out of sight of the rest of the football world.
But the German’s are now at a cross roads where the two old foes (supporters and authorities) are facing off. The subject is the very basis of what makes the game what it is here and neither side are backing down. The authorities want to limit the size of the terraces, reduce the numbers of traveling fans and restrict the power of the Ultras. All this under the guise of trying to eliminate flares from the terraces. The problem is that, in the main, all the plus points of the Bundesliga derive from one aspect of their game. The big crowds, lots of away fans, cheap tickets, colour, noise and atmosphere are down primarily to one thing; the terraces. Lose them and will the German's be able to do what the English couldn't and keep the heart and soul of their game.
The stand off continues…….
For further reading we refer you to this excellent article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2012/dec/02/ermany-bundesliga-noisy-fans
13 Feb Belgium v Austria (Ladies)
14 Feb Borussia v Lazio
15 Feb Dordrecht v Go Ahead Eagles
16 Feb Aldershot v Cheltenham; Kloetinge v ASWH; NAC v Heracles
17 Feb Royal Antwerp v Boussu Dour
18 Feb Dordrecht v Den Bosch
19 Feb Victoria Koln v Huijs
20 Feb Saarbruken v Beilefeld
22 Feb Bochum v MSV Duisburg
23 Feb Mainz v Wolfsburg
Firstly and apology for not having submitted a 'week in review' last week. However, with all three members of the team in the same place at the same time, we took the opportunity to do a bit of hands on research into a subject close to our hearts......German Football.
Alot has been written over the last week or so about the merits of the game in Germany in the build up to and aftermath of Bayern’s win in London. But how much of it is
underlying fact and how much of it is selective examples driven by an era in English press where it is vogue to put down the English game (being able to put
the boot in on Arsene Wenger is an added bonus!).
Regular readers will know that we are big fans of the game in Germany. We have visited around 30 grounds and one member of the team is a regular in the stands at Borussia Park. But given all the column inches of the last two weeks we thought we would take an objective look into some of the ‘headline facts’ and give our take on
it. So what better way than to see a game in each of the top four tiers of Germany in the span of 5 days (stopping only for a night in the pub watching the Europa League). Forget the fact that the temperature rarely got above freezing, the snow continued all week and Matt had a cold, we completed the 2,500 kms in one piece and these are our findings.
Often Quoted Statement One – It’s Cheaper to Watch German Football
Ticket prices for the game we attended were
Tier Club Seating Standing
Adult Child Adult Child
4 Viktoria Koln €15 €12 €8 €5
3 Saarbruken €17-€25 €15-€25 €10 €4
2 Bochum €17.50-€35 €5-€32.50 €11 (*) €8
1 Mainz €18-€60 €12-€30 €12.50 €9.50
(*) Bochum charge €12 no reductions for away fans to stand
So I think it is fair to say that this is true and for tiers 2-4 there is absolutely no dispute. But let’s scratch the surface a little on Tier 1. I must have received 30 tweets all saying that it cost more to watch the Arsenal v Bayern game than Bayern fans pay for a season ticket. Ok, true, a standing season ticket costs €120 and a standing match ticket is €15. But to each person I say, try and buy one. You can’t, and it’s not just there; Dortmund, Schalke, Monchengladbach, the terraces are the domain of season ticket holders and they all renew. Not once in three years of going to Borussia Park have there been tickets on sale for the terrace.
So you are left with seats. At Borussia Park they will set you back between €27.50 and €44.50, with the vast majority being in the €35 to €40 bracket. Is that really any more expensive than mid range EPL?
Often Quoted Statement Two – The crowds are bigger
Stats never lie (!), on average there are more people watching Bundesliga I games than the EPL, and next year it is likely to get higher if Hertha and Koln regain their place and Furth and Hoffenheim get relegated. That would leave the lowest average at just over 21,000 and only Fortuna and Stuttgart as under 88% average capacity fill. 11 Bundesliga teams average over 40k, in England 7. But the remaining 7 in Germany all average under 31k.
But again scratch the surface a little, and the truth is not what it seemed. Admitably all were midweek games, but the Bochum/MSV derby attracted a little over 14k, Saarbruken 3k and Koln 600. Whilst there are one or two clubs with high attendances for their league (Hertha in B2) the attendances drop off steeply. There are 7 of the 18 Bundesliga 2 teams that average less than 10k this season. In the Championship, it is one. The inclusion of professional under 23 teams in leagues as high a tier 3 mean that crowds can be as low as a few hundred.
Often Quoted Statement Three – There are more away fans
Anyone who has seen Dortmund or Shalke play away or witness a derby such as Koln v Gladbach cannot fail to notice the huge numbers of travelling fans (in Dortmunds case it’s not hard as they all wear luminous yellow!). True, the allocations are bigger. But in addition, there is a more relaxed approach to away supporters in the home sections. I saw Schalke play at Borussia Park once and when they scored there were several thousand away fans cheering in all home sections except one, the Noord Kurve. Home to Borussia’s Ultras. And this is the unwritten rule. Colours and cheering are allowed anywhere except the home ‘end’.
Nurnberg even put this in their stadium rules on their excellent English website…..important: in the north stand (blocks 1-13), no fans are permitted whose clothing identifies them as fans of a team other than 1. FC Nürnberg! Anywhere else no problem!!
Yes there are exceptions, yes police can intervene. But on the whole this is the way t works. And this is why, when asked how many away fans there are, I always reply…I’ll let you know when they score!
But again, dig deeper. The away end at Viktoria Koln was shut 5 minutes into the game as it was empty, there were 20 away fans in the seats. Bielefeld had around 200 at Saarbruken (250 mile journey) and MSV about 2,500 at Bochum (30 miles). Wolfsburg had 500 at Mainz (240 mile journey). Again, with some exceptions (e.g. Dresden in league 2, RW Essen in 4 and Uerdingen in 5) away support tails off dramatically outside the top 20 or so clubs.
Often Quoted Statement Four – The grounds are better
Subjective I know, but again true. In Bundesliga 1 they are better, pure and simple. But that is because the focus in on the ‘bowl’ itself i.e. the seated arena. Very little expense or thought is given to the facilities behind the stands. Even in Dortmund the facilities are fairly basic, one or two beer and sausage outlets and toilets (that are immaculate). Outside the stadium there are lots of beer and food stands and fan areas.
The lower down the more undeveloped grounds you get. There are a surprising number of athletics stadiums in the lower tiers, and there are lots of grounds that have been part modernized and older pieces of unused terracing remain. Not exactly the creature comforts of some grounds in the football league, but paradise for us ground hoppers.
Often Quoted Statement Five – The atmosphere is better.
Again subjective, but true. There is absolutely no comparison between the atmosphere in the Bundesliga and the EPL. It is chalk and cheese. The noise is louder and more sustained. Lower down it is at least comparable, but in many cases better.
But the main difference is in the ‘general’ atmosphere. Police visibility is high in the cities and around the stadium (during the game you always see lines of police entering carrying their white helmets) but the policing is generally relaxed. People drink openly in the streets and on public transport, rival supporters travel together to and from the grounds together in the main and hold backs are rare. Stewards control searches (everyone) and entrances to sections, but they are not heavy handed and rarely get involved once the game started.
At Saarbruken, two youngsters were sat on the fence at the front to get a better view without any problem. In Mainz, the only time I noticed a steward during the game was when he asked someone to move off the stairs. Goals are celebrated with considerable enthusiasm and without any intervention by the men in yellow.
And all this is against the backdrop of limited segregation and free access to alcohol. Yes, that’s right folks. Anyone over the age of 16 can drink beer in any part of the stadium from when it opens to when it closes (which is sometimes not for an hour or so after the game). Only once (Koln v Borussia) have I seen restrictions which were low alcohol for away fans in the ground.
So there you have it. Some good some bad, but in the main the 'vogue' quotes are right. But what strikes us as we continue our travels through Germany, is the focus that the whole country puts on the top league. It is, in our opinion, the best league for fans in Europe and the model other leagues should strive for. But further down you go you uncover that, rather like the mad uncle you put in the corner at parties, the Germans have a tendancy to hide their failings out of sight of the rest of the football world.
But the German’s are now at a cross roads where the two old foes (supporters and authorities) are facing off. The subject is the very basis of what makes the game what it is here and neither side are backing down. The authorities want to limit the size of the terraces, reduce the numbers of traveling fans and restrict the power of the Ultras. All this under the guise of trying to eliminate flares from the terraces. The problem is that, in the main, all the plus points of the Bundesliga derive from one aspect of their game. The big crowds, lots of away fans, cheap tickets, colour, noise and atmosphere are down primarily to one thing; the terraces. Lose them and will the German's be able to do what the English couldn't and keep the heart and soul of their game.
The stand off continues…….
For further reading we refer you to this excellent article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2012/dec/02/ermany-bundesliga-noisy-fans
Europa League
Week 6; 5 to 11 Feb 2013
PDM Matches;
5 Feb Wantage v Abingdon
7 Feb Jong PSV v Jong NAC
8 Feb FC Dordrecht v Helmond Sport
9 Feb Aldershot v Plymouth & ADO Den Haag v NAC Breda
10 Feb Grimbergen v Dender
This week sees the end of one much maligned cup competition and the restart of another. As the African players finish returning to their clubs after their continental competition, Thursday night football returns to a stadium (or most likely TV) near you in the form of arguably the most ridiculous cup competition in world soccer; the Europa League. Now some of you may think that is a somewhat bold statement, especially coming from someone with a soft spot for Club Brugge, who, with 17 unbroken years, hold the record for consecutive years in the competition (no one else is even close). But let’s look at the facts:
1) The Europa League must be one of the few competitions that, when it starts, there is a likelihood that the winner or runner up aren’t even in the competition yet. In the last 5 years, 3 winners and 3 runner ups have entered the competition as a result of failing in the Champions League, joining in February!
2) The Europa league awards places based on country coefficients; every country have 3 places except 6; three (Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino) only have one, and three countries have four. So that’s countries ranked 1-3 in coefficient? Nope, those ranked 7-9!
3) The Europa League takes place on that well known ‘big night’ for football; a Thursday. Don’t worry though, because UEFA rules mean that participants have to play on the following Sunday! This led to an amusing exchange one year between the Belgian police and UEFA over the timing of a Club v Anderlecht game the weekend after a Europa League game for Club. The Police won.
4) Until recently the group stages involved you playing other teams in the group home OR away, but not home AND away.
5) Three places are given on the basis of ‘fair play’. So that’s the three teams in top flight football throughout Europe who have the best disciplinary record? Nope, it goes to the three countries with the best disciplinary record (providing their rating is at least an 8.0 –don’t ask) and they give it to their team with the best record.
6) Some countries are able to award their places to the winners of non FA competitions (ahem…England).
7) The competitions has a series of knock out games (to get rid of most of the unwanted clubs) then a league (to maximise income) then a knock out again (to appeal to the tv companies).
8) UEFA rules apply to all stadiums hosting these games; so that is no terracing, no alcohol (except in the lounges), huge numbers of tickets to be made available to the 'football family’ and they have the right to set pricing (which probably explains why my ticket at Borussia Park this week has risen from 38 that is normally is to 75 Euro!
So I have this one thing to say to the suits in Nyon. Stop taking us for mugs. We (the fans) like European competitions as it gives us a chance to host and visit clubs that we wouldn’t normally. But check your attendances and tv audiences; we aren’t fools. Scrap this bastard of a competitions and have the balls to do what you really want to do, which is to run a midweek European second tier league.
Elsewhere in football this week:
1) There is a famous English football quiz question; which is the highest football ground in England; answer The Hawthorns, home of West Bromwich Albion (552 feet). Well the lowest? St Mary’s in Southampton at three feet (till Grimsby at two feet are back in the league). Relevance? Well according to my sat nav, the stadium at ADO den Haag is 30m below sea level!!
2) With Aldershot losing their 6 pointer with Plymouth at the weekend, it is looking more and more likely that two from us, AFC Wimbledon and Accrington Stanley (all kind of reborn from the ashes of old clubs) will drop out of the league. Moto; live the dream as long as you can, as you never know when it will end.
3) I have e-mailed three clubs over the last week about various matters (no names but all three were second tier teams in Europe). Four days on I have had no reply from any. #lost customer.
Till next week……..
5 Feb Wantage v Abingdon
7 Feb Jong PSV v Jong NAC
8 Feb FC Dordrecht v Helmond Sport
9 Feb Aldershot v Plymouth & ADO Den Haag v NAC Breda
10 Feb Grimbergen v Dender
This week sees the end of one much maligned cup competition and the restart of another. As the African players finish returning to their clubs after their continental competition, Thursday night football returns to a stadium (or most likely TV) near you in the form of arguably the most ridiculous cup competition in world soccer; the Europa League. Now some of you may think that is a somewhat bold statement, especially coming from someone with a soft spot for Club Brugge, who, with 17 unbroken years, hold the record for consecutive years in the competition (no one else is even close). But let’s look at the facts:
1) The Europa League must be one of the few competitions that, when it starts, there is a likelihood that the winner or runner up aren’t even in the competition yet. In the last 5 years, 3 winners and 3 runner ups have entered the competition as a result of failing in the Champions League, joining in February!
2) The Europa league awards places based on country coefficients; every country have 3 places except 6; three (Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino) only have one, and three countries have four. So that’s countries ranked 1-3 in coefficient? Nope, those ranked 7-9!
3) The Europa League takes place on that well known ‘big night’ for football; a Thursday. Don’t worry though, because UEFA rules mean that participants have to play on the following Sunday! This led to an amusing exchange one year between the Belgian police and UEFA over the timing of a Club v Anderlecht game the weekend after a Europa League game for Club. The Police won.
4) Until recently the group stages involved you playing other teams in the group home OR away, but not home AND away.
5) Three places are given on the basis of ‘fair play’. So that’s the three teams in top flight football throughout Europe who have the best disciplinary record? Nope, it goes to the three countries with the best disciplinary record (providing their rating is at least an 8.0 –don’t ask) and they give it to their team with the best record.
6) Some countries are able to award their places to the winners of non FA competitions (ahem…England).
7) The competitions has a series of knock out games (to get rid of most of the unwanted clubs) then a league (to maximise income) then a knock out again (to appeal to the tv companies).
8) UEFA rules apply to all stadiums hosting these games; so that is no terracing, no alcohol (except in the lounges), huge numbers of tickets to be made available to the 'football family’ and they have the right to set pricing (which probably explains why my ticket at Borussia Park this week has risen from 38 that is normally is to 75 Euro!
So I have this one thing to say to the suits in Nyon. Stop taking us for mugs. We (the fans) like European competitions as it gives us a chance to host and visit clubs that we wouldn’t normally. But check your attendances and tv audiences; we aren’t fools. Scrap this bastard of a competitions and have the balls to do what you really want to do, which is to run a midweek European second tier league.
Elsewhere in football this week:
1) There is a famous English football quiz question; which is the highest football ground in England; answer The Hawthorns, home of West Bromwich Albion (552 feet). Well the lowest? St Mary’s in Southampton at three feet (till Grimsby at two feet are back in the league). Relevance? Well according to my sat nav, the stadium at ADO den Haag is 30m below sea level!!
2) With Aldershot losing their 6 pointer with Plymouth at the weekend, it is looking more and more likely that two from us, AFC Wimbledon and Accrington Stanley (all kind of reborn from the ashes of old clubs) will drop out of the league. Moto; live the dream as long as you can, as you never know when it will end.
3) I have e-mailed three clubs over the last week about various matters (no names but all three were second tier teams in Europe). Four days on I have had no reply from any. #lost customer.
Till next week……..
The Transfer Window
Week 5; 29 Jan to 4 Feb 2013
PDM Matches;
30 Jan AFC Croydon v Hendon
2 Feb Exeter v Aldershot; ASWH v Nieuw Lekkerland & NAC v PEC
3 Feb Nurnberg v Borussia
4 Feb Den Bosch v Eindhoven
So, as the transfer window in England closed without any real incidents, the pundits start their annual debate as to whether it is necessary or not. For the record the numbers for teams in England read as follows:
Number of deals: 322
Total spend: 135m GBP
However, half of those were loan deals (that window does not close for now) and the top 5 transfers accounted for 68.5m (over 50%) of spend.
The lack of any really big transfers (except perhaps the sad departure of Mario (well for the papers at least) and the arrival of the most over hyped footballer on the planet in Paris) has led for cries for the window to be abolished, mainly from those tv radio stations who spend too much money sending staff to the four corners of the globe to report, on well, nothing. The hype surrounding the mysterious lack of communication between London and Birmingham over Peter Odemwingie is evidence that they were so desperate for a story that they would run with anything.
But is the current system not working sufficiently well enough that it needs change? Well as ever, phone ins are dominated by the ‘Ronnie Irani’ brigade, those people who think football started somewhere between 1992 and 1996 and begins and ends in the EPL. All discussions and debate appeared to centre on what was best for the EPL clubs (and in Irani’s case obviously Manchester United), but we at PDM like to look at things from another perspective. At the end of the day, the EPL clubs have millions to spend each summer on bloated squads, so if they get a couple of strikers injured, lose a player to the ACN or simply realize that they are too stupid to spend the money wisely why should they have a safety net?
But of more importance to us, what of the clubs whose mere existence could depend on getting money in for a player or two?
The elimination of the window altogether (i.e. go with what you have in the Summer for the whole year) would undoubtedly cause problems for the smaller clubs who can ill afford 25-30 man squads (and definitely don’t need any further incentive to over spend), although, interestingly it could force them to utilise youth players earlier and the existing loan market could allow for gaps to be filled. However, it would also eliminate any chance of much needed mid season funds from sale of players for those clubs whose budgets were set on attendance levels that have not been met (ahem Aldershot Town!!).
Conversely, allowing transfers all season would cause near year round uncertainty at the lower league clubs, with any player getting off to a decent start to the season being the subject of endless transfer speculation. At the other end of the leagues, this would simply exaggerate the ‘who has the most money wins’ situation that already exists to a great extent.
So ultimately, and for once, we would have to conclude that the powers that be have got it broadly right and that the current solution would appear to work best for the majority of smaller clubs. Yes, it is unexciting for the masses and 24 sports channels, but do we care? About as much as they care about us!
Elsewhere in football……
1) One sad departure from the English game during the window is of course Super Mario. Total nutcase and by the looks of it a nightmare to manage, but life was never dull. We wish him, and of course everyone connected with AC Milan all the best for the future!!
2) My support for the winter break grows exponentially as NAC start the second half of the season with 9 points out of 9. For a team that was out on its feet just before Christmas, the break couldn’t have come at a better time.
3) Numpties to the fore in Gillingham last night….long ban has to come now. STAY OFF THE PITCH!
Till next week……
30 Jan AFC Croydon v Hendon
2 Feb Exeter v Aldershot; ASWH v Nieuw Lekkerland & NAC v PEC
3 Feb Nurnberg v Borussia
4 Feb Den Bosch v Eindhoven
So, as the transfer window in England closed without any real incidents, the pundits start their annual debate as to whether it is necessary or not. For the record the numbers for teams in England read as follows:
Number of deals: 322
Total spend: 135m GBP
However, half of those were loan deals (that window does not close for now) and the top 5 transfers accounted for 68.5m (over 50%) of spend.
The lack of any really big transfers (except perhaps the sad departure of Mario (well for the papers at least) and the arrival of the most over hyped footballer on the planet in Paris) has led for cries for the window to be abolished, mainly from those tv radio stations who spend too much money sending staff to the four corners of the globe to report, on well, nothing. The hype surrounding the mysterious lack of communication between London and Birmingham over Peter Odemwingie is evidence that they were so desperate for a story that they would run with anything.
But is the current system not working sufficiently well enough that it needs change? Well as ever, phone ins are dominated by the ‘Ronnie Irani’ brigade, those people who think football started somewhere between 1992 and 1996 and begins and ends in the EPL. All discussions and debate appeared to centre on what was best for the EPL clubs (and in Irani’s case obviously Manchester United), but we at PDM like to look at things from another perspective. At the end of the day, the EPL clubs have millions to spend each summer on bloated squads, so if they get a couple of strikers injured, lose a player to the ACN or simply realize that they are too stupid to spend the money wisely why should they have a safety net?
But of more importance to us, what of the clubs whose mere existence could depend on getting money in for a player or two?
The elimination of the window altogether (i.e. go with what you have in the Summer for the whole year) would undoubtedly cause problems for the smaller clubs who can ill afford 25-30 man squads (and definitely don’t need any further incentive to over spend), although, interestingly it could force them to utilise youth players earlier and the existing loan market could allow for gaps to be filled. However, it would also eliminate any chance of much needed mid season funds from sale of players for those clubs whose budgets were set on attendance levels that have not been met (ahem Aldershot Town!!).
Conversely, allowing transfers all season would cause near year round uncertainty at the lower league clubs, with any player getting off to a decent start to the season being the subject of endless transfer speculation. At the other end of the leagues, this would simply exaggerate the ‘who has the most money wins’ situation that already exists to a great extent.
So ultimately, and for once, we would have to conclude that the powers that be have got it broadly right and that the current solution would appear to work best for the majority of smaller clubs. Yes, it is unexciting for the masses and 24 sports channels, but do we care? About as much as they care about us!
Elsewhere in football……
1) One sad departure from the English game during the window is of course Super Mario. Total nutcase and by the looks of it a nightmare to manage, but life was never dull. We wish him, and of course everyone connected with AC Milan all the best for the future!!
2) My support for the winter break grows exponentially as NAC start the second half of the season with 9 points out of 9. For a team that was out on its feet just before Christmas, the break couldn’t have come at a better time.
3) Numpties to the fore in Gillingham last night….long ban has to come now. STAY OFF THE PITCH!
Till next week……
Managers and Ballboys
Week 4; 22-28 Jan 2013
PDM Matches
22 Jan HYS The Hague v HYS Herentals (Ice Hockey)
25 Jan Millwall v Aton Villa
26 Jan Middlesbrough v Aldershot
27 Jan Nottingham v Bedford (Rugby Union)
There is a fairly good chance that, when signing a contract, a football manager will never see it out. It is accepted and compensation clauses are entered accordingly. And this doesn’t just apply to multi-year deals, such as the astonishing one offered to Alan Pardew at Newcastle, as, with 31 of the 92 managers already having left their post (resigned or sacked), their shelf life is less than 3 years.
But this does not excuse those chairmen whose decisions to relieve their managers of their posts recently make absolutely no sense at all. Robbie Di Matteo for example. Does anyone in football believe that Chelsea are better off with Benitez? Sean O’Driscoll at Forest, again is Alex McLeish really a better option? And then we have the astonishing events at St Mary’s.
Firstly can I state for the record that there is no positive or negative bias towards the Saints from a fellow Hampshire football fan. That said, correct me if I am wrong, when Southampton agreed the deal to bring Adkins to the south coast from Scunthorpe were they not in the third teir of English Football? And now they are in the Premier League, two seasons later. The owners state that they wanted a manager that could take the club to the position they felt the club should be in longer term, but what is
that position? Well surely the top four can be discounted? And it is hard to make a case for them being regular EUROPA league participants (even though I do remember the time when they were). So surely that means that the long term ambitions for a club like this would be that dreadful phrase, ‘solidifying their Premier League position and challenging for Europe’ which to you or me means anywhere between places 7 and 14.
So where do they stand today. Well, a quick glance at the table will show the Saints in 15th place, one win away from West Ham who, by all accounts in the media, are having a good season. 1 win and 5 draws in the last 6 games (including trips to Stamford Bridge and the Britannia and home games with Arsenal and Everton) would also indicate an upward curve in the club’s fortunes. And whilst I am not going to say that they are not in a relegation fight, they certainly look in better shape than some others near the bottom.
So with the decision making little sense, and the timing even less, the hardest part of the whole thing is undoubtedly Adkins replacement. I know little about the guy other than his foul for the England penalty in the 2002 World Cup when playing for Argentina. Inspections of the record books show a couple of decent years managing Espanyol , but he was fired in November with the Catalan team reaching a mere 9 points from 13 games.
And it is the date of this that causes me confusion. If Adkins had to go and Mauricio Pochettino was the chosen replacement, why did the move happen midway through the window, after Adkins appeared to show some kind of recovery, some 10 weeks after Pochettino was fired? Are we to believe that this guy sat at home waiting for the mighty
Southampton to come calling? Is he really that good that the board said...wait there we want you, just need to tie up some lose ends, and then took 10 weeks?
To me the whole thing stinks. I wish no ill will on Southampton FC and their fans (as the famous song goes…whatever will be will be) but maybe the recent government announcement about football lack of proper governance is a good thing.
And so to the other big news of the week, yes the massive MMA tussle between ‘poor little’ Charlie Morgan and the ‘lynch man of La Louviere’ Eden Hazard. Please…..do me a favour. Hazard is 5’7” tall and probably weighs less than Morgan. And trust me boyo, if that flick got you running off to daddy in tears, I would stay out of the pubs and clubs of Abertawe because over your time of boozing, you will get much heftier knocks when walking to the bar (and that is just from some of the women). Mind you, looking at you, you probably already know.
Hazard, of course, was in the wrong and will take his punishment for being a ‘plonker’, but other notable mentions in this whole unnecessary incident must go to:
- Mark Saggers – surely after his reaction to all this, this total muppet will be taken off air?
- The FA – for piling on after the event. No further suspension or action is required
- The three people who made complaints to the police forcing them into it all……GET A LIFE!!
I think the whole pitiful affair can be summed up by the fact that, in my humble opinion, the only three people talking any sense throughout this were Raffa Benitez, Adrian Durham and Bill Plaschke of the LA Times. Never thought I would write those three names in the same sentence!
Couple of other things from watching football this week
1) ‘Modern all-seater stadiums have killed the atmosphere in grounds’ myth was finally put to bed Friday night as the ‘Boys from Bermondsey’ put on a real show in the cup match with Villa (who's fans get a honourable mention for at least trying to keep up). Yes a couple of numpties took it a bit far, but that should not detract from a cracking
atmosphere.
2) Age rules on what not to wear at football should most definitely be extended to coloured wigs. To the Middlesbrough fan who thinks it ok to wear a red an white wig to a game despite being in his late 40’s at best I have one thing to say……..NO IT’S NOT!!!!
Till next week....
22 Jan HYS The Hague v HYS Herentals (Ice Hockey)
25 Jan Millwall v Aton Villa
26 Jan Middlesbrough v Aldershot
27 Jan Nottingham v Bedford (Rugby Union)
There is a fairly good chance that, when signing a contract, a football manager will never see it out. It is accepted and compensation clauses are entered accordingly. And this doesn’t just apply to multi-year deals, such as the astonishing one offered to Alan Pardew at Newcastle, as, with 31 of the 92 managers already having left their post (resigned or sacked), their shelf life is less than 3 years.
But this does not excuse those chairmen whose decisions to relieve their managers of their posts recently make absolutely no sense at all. Robbie Di Matteo for example. Does anyone in football believe that Chelsea are better off with Benitez? Sean O’Driscoll at Forest, again is Alex McLeish really a better option? And then we have the astonishing events at St Mary’s.
Firstly can I state for the record that there is no positive or negative bias towards the Saints from a fellow Hampshire football fan. That said, correct me if I am wrong, when Southampton agreed the deal to bring Adkins to the south coast from Scunthorpe were they not in the third teir of English Football? And now they are in the Premier League, two seasons later. The owners state that they wanted a manager that could take the club to the position they felt the club should be in longer term, but what is
that position? Well surely the top four can be discounted? And it is hard to make a case for them being regular EUROPA league participants (even though I do remember the time when they were). So surely that means that the long term ambitions for a club like this would be that dreadful phrase, ‘solidifying their Premier League position and challenging for Europe’ which to you or me means anywhere between places 7 and 14.
So where do they stand today. Well, a quick glance at the table will show the Saints in 15th place, one win away from West Ham who, by all accounts in the media, are having a good season. 1 win and 5 draws in the last 6 games (including trips to Stamford Bridge and the Britannia and home games with Arsenal and Everton) would also indicate an upward curve in the club’s fortunes. And whilst I am not going to say that they are not in a relegation fight, they certainly look in better shape than some others near the bottom.
So with the decision making little sense, and the timing even less, the hardest part of the whole thing is undoubtedly Adkins replacement. I know little about the guy other than his foul for the England penalty in the 2002 World Cup when playing for Argentina. Inspections of the record books show a couple of decent years managing Espanyol , but he was fired in November with the Catalan team reaching a mere 9 points from 13 games.
And it is the date of this that causes me confusion. If Adkins had to go and Mauricio Pochettino was the chosen replacement, why did the move happen midway through the window, after Adkins appeared to show some kind of recovery, some 10 weeks after Pochettino was fired? Are we to believe that this guy sat at home waiting for the mighty
Southampton to come calling? Is he really that good that the board said...wait there we want you, just need to tie up some lose ends, and then took 10 weeks?
To me the whole thing stinks. I wish no ill will on Southampton FC and their fans (as the famous song goes…whatever will be will be) but maybe the recent government announcement about football lack of proper governance is a good thing.
And so to the other big news of the week, yes the massive MMA tussle between ‘poor little’ Charlie Morgan and the ‘lynch man of La Louviere’ Eden Hazard. Please…..do me a favour. Hazard is 5’7” tall and probably weighs less than Morgan. And trust me boyo, if that flick got you running off to daddy in tears, I would stay out of the pubs and clubs of Abertawe because over your time of boozing, you will get much heftier knocks when walking to the bar (and that is just from some of the women). Mind you, looking at you, you probably already know.
Hazard, of course, was in the wrong and will take his punishment for being a ‘plonker’, but other notable mentions in this whole unnecessary incident must go to:
- Mark Saggers – surely after his reaction to all this, this total muppet will be taken off air?
- The FA – for piling on after the event. No further suspension or action is required
- The three people who made complaints to the police forcing them into it all……GET A LIFE!!
I think the whole pitiful affair can be summed up by the fact that, in my humble opinion, the only three people talking any sense throughout this were Raffa Benitez, Adrian Durham and Bill Plaschke of the LA Times. Never thought I would write those three names in the same sentence!
Couple of other things from watching football this week
1) ‘Modern all-seater stadiums have killed the atmosphere in grounds’ myth was finally put to bed Friday night as the ‘Boys from Bermondsey’ put on a real show in the cup match with Villa (who's fans get a honourable mention for at least trying to keep up). Yes a couple of numpties took it a bit far, but that should not detract from a cracking
atmosphere.
2) Age rules on what not to wear at football should most definitely be extended to coloured wigs. To the Middlesbrough fan who thinks it ok to wear a red an white wig to a game despite being in his late 40’s at best I have one thing to say……..NO IT’S NOT!!!!
Till next week....
Postponements
Week 3; 15-21 Jan 2013
PDM Matches;
15 Jan Kidlington Res v Thame United Res
18 Jan Krefeld v Iserlohn
19 Jan NAC v VVV
20 Jan Fortuna Dusseldorf v Augsburg
It has been a quiet week in PDM towers as the winter freeze continues and game after game got postponed. To be honest, I got so fed up with making plans only to have to change them, that in the end I took the easy options and got tickets for an Ice Hockey game and Fortuna Dusseldorf, who play in a stadium with a roof. Dan and the Roving Reporter chanced their arm with their Tuesday night Non-League match, getting lucky that, once the game they originally headed for got called off, there was another nearby to go to.
But we aren’t complaining, at the end of the day this is the lot of a groundhopper. No better example is that of the Sedan v Dijon game I have tickets for. Called off an hour before the kick off on the first date, then two days before the second date, the next re-arranged date is when I am at Morecambe v Aldershot. Conversely, the Brugge derby is now on a date I can make. Some you win, some you lose.
But the questions the Sedan game does raise is when should a game be postponed and do the clubs have to take into consideration fans (especially travelling fans) when establishing timing of pitch inspections? There does appear to be a move towards earlier inspections in England especially where there are large numbers of away fans making a long journey, but the staggered nature of these inspections means that there is obviously no conformity. Equally Friday inspections are more and more common as clubs look to mitigate the risk of having to pay the travelling teams expenses in the event of a postponement.
But short of a uniform approach on the subject (e.g. all grounds have to be inspected at 10am Friday and Saturday) we will continue to play the ‘frozen pitch bingo’ a couple of times a year.
Looking to some of our continental colleagues there are a couple of examples that may work in the lower leagues. Both Holland (on a national level) and Belgium (on a provincial) level operate a system whereby the associations make the decisions in the event of nation-wide bad weather. For example, last Wednesday the KNVB called off all amateur football for the following weekend (level three and below). Now that may sound draconian to us Anglos, but it is accepted in Holland and, weather permitting, friendlies are arranged to compensate. The entire set of fixtures will be played at the same time later in the season, thereby eliminating ‘games in hand’ and, of course, maintaining the integrity of the period championship system.
However, this system works for two main reasons;
1) The countries are relatively small so the weather does not vary considerably; and
2) Most importantly, they don’t play as many games a year (yep that old chestnut) so it may be possible to put the who set of fixtures on a free weekend in , for example,
March.
What of Germany? Well they appear to have system akin to England where the decision is for the individual clubs. But with one major exception concerning something that has crept into our game. There appears to be absolutely no fan safety considerations when taking the decision. You know, this ridiculous modern day fad of cancelling games because the car parks and walkways are unsafe (don’t get me started on the Arsenal v West Ham cancellation on Boxing Day because of the tube strike).
Any if you need convincing take a look at the first couple of pictures of our recent trip to Dusseldorf where the huge carpark was covered in snow, as were all the walkways up until you got to the boundaries of the club’s practice pitches.
In Holland too this does not appear to be a consideration. The NAC website made no reference at all to the pitch in it's preview of the VVV game but warned fans that it was going to be very cold (-14C with the windchill) and to wrap up warm and take care in the car parks and stands as they were likely to be very icy.
What I really don’t get in all this though is that I have never heard of an Ice Hockey game, and rarely a rugby game, getting postponed because the roads and pavements are so bad. Is this yet another example of one rule for football fans and another for everyone else?
But at the end of the day, short of playing the game indoors, this problem will continue for as long as we kick a ball. So we all just have to grin and bare it as Mother Nature will continue to do whatever she feels irrespective of who we believe she supports!
PS Some may have expected this review to comment on the situation that arose in Southampton in the last week. I’ve not ignored this, but will cover it next week when I have calmed down. Sometimes, counting to 10 isn’t long enough!!
Till next week.....
15 Jan Kidlington Res v Thame United Res
18 Jan Krefeld v Iserlohn
19 Jan NAC v VVV
20 Jan Fortuna Dusseldorf v Augsburg
It has been a quiet week in PDM towers as the winter freeze continues and game after game got postponed. To be honest, I got so fed up with making plans only to have to change them, that in the end I took the easy options and got tickets for an Ice Hockey game and Fortuna Dusseldorf, who play in a stadium with a roof. Dan and the Roving Reporter chanced their arm with their Tuesday night Non-League match, getting lucky that, once the game they originally headed for got called off, there was another nearby to go to.
But we aren’t complaining, at the end of the day this is the lot of a groundhopper. No better example is that of the Sedan v Dijon game I have tickets for. Called off an hour before the kick off on the first date, then two days before the second date, the next re-arranged date is when I am at Morecambe v Aldershot. Conversely, the Brugge derby is now on a date I can make. Some you win, some you lose.
But the questions the Sedan game does raise is when should a game be postponed and do the clubs have to take into consideration fans (especially travelling fans) when establishing timing of pitch inspections? There does appear to be a move towards earlier inspections in England especially where there are large numbers of away fans making a long journey, but the staggered nature of these inspections means that there is obviously no conformity. Equally Friday inspections are more and more common as clubs look to mitigate the risk of having to pay the travelling teams expenses in the event of a postponement.
But short of a uniform approach on the subject (e.g. all grounds have to be inspected at 10am Friday and Saturday) we will continue to play the ‘frozen pitch bingo’ a couple of times a year.
Looking to some of our continental colleagues there are a couple of examples that may work in the lower leagues. Both Holland (on a national level) and Belgium (on a provincial) level operate a system whereby the associations make the decisions in the event of nation-wide bad weather. For example, last Wednesday the KNVB called off all amateur football for the following weekend (level three and below). Now that may sound draconian to us Anglos, but it is accepted in Holland and, weather permitting, friendlies are arranged to compensate. The entire set of fixtures will be played at the same time later in the season, thereby eliminating ‘games in hand’ and, of course, maintaining the integrity of the period championship system.
However, this system works for two main reasons;
1) The countries are relatively small so the weather does not vary considerably; and
2) Most importantly, they don’t play as many games a year (yep that old chestnut) so it may be possible to put the who set of fixtures on a free weekend in , for example,
March.
What of Germany? Well they appear to have system akin to England where the decision is for the individual clubs. But with one major exception concerning something that has crept into our game. There appears to be absolutely no fan safety considerations when taking the decision. You know, this ridiculous modern day fad of cancelling games because the car parks and walkways are unsafe (don’t get me started on the Arsenal v West Ham cancellation on Boxing Day because of the tube strike).
Any if you need convincing take a look at the first couple of pictures of our recent trip to Dusseldorf where the huge carpark was covered in snow, as were all the walkways up until you got to the boundaries of the club’s practice pitches.
In Holland too this does not appear to be a consideration. The NAC website made no reference at all to the pitch in it's preview of the VVV game but warned fans that it was going to be very cold (-14C with the windchill) and to wrap up warm and take care in the car parks and stands as they were likely to be very icy.
What I really don’t get in all this though is that I have never heard of an Ice Hockey game, and rarely a rugby game, getting postponed because the roads and pavements are so bad. Is this yet another example of one rule for football fans and another for everyone else?
But at the end of the day, short of playing the game indoors, this problem will continue for as long as we kick a ball. So we all just have to grin and bare it as Mother Nature will continue to do whatever she feels irrespective of who we believe she supports!
PS Some may have expected this review to comment on the situation that arose in Southampton in the last week. I’ve not ignored this, but will cover it next week when I have calmed down. Sometimes, counting to 10 isn’t long enough!!
Till next week.....
To Break or Not to Break
Week 2; 8-14 January 2013
PDM Matches;
8 Jan DOVO v de Graafschap (friendly) & Hillingdon Borough v Harefield United
10 Jan ONI v NOAD 32 (friendly)
11 Jan Excelsior v de Graafschap (friendly)
12 Jan Xerxes v ASWH & Aldershot v Accrington
13 Jan Racing Waregem v Berchem Sports
As large parts of Europe shut down for a few weeks, the annual discussion as to whether England should do the same kicks into gear. Almost inevitably the two main counter-arguments to this are raised on the phone-ins; namely;
1) There is little point as you don’t know when the bad weather will be; and
2) All the bigger clubs will do is fly half way around the world to play friendlies.
To answer these points is simple; in the first you are missing the point of the winter break and in the second you are missing the point of the winter break!
The break is not an attempt to limit the number of postponements (although obviously in many countries it is a necessity). Ironically, as I sit here in Breda writing this the Tuesday before the professional leagues in Holland return from the break, the first snow of the winter is falling, all 15cm of it. There will undoubtedly be a number of postponements.
No the logic behind the break (certainly in countries such as Belgium and Holland) is to provide the opportunity for players and pitches to recover from the first half of the season. In the ideal world everyone would play each other once, break for a few weeks and then go again for the second half.
And, from my experience, the fans appreciate it too. The first games after the winter break have a ‘start to the season’ feel about them. Certainly, last season, the first game after the break at FC Dordrecht was a bigger and more enthusiastic crowd than at the games leading up to Christmas.
So what of the accusation that teams would ‘fly around the world playing friendlies’? Yes, so what? A look at any of the football databases would show that this is exactly what they do. Most top flight teams are in Spain or somewhere similar at warm weather training and playing a couple of friendly games. Even Hoofdklasse ASWH went for 5 days.
I’m not a Doctor, but I would have thought that doing this would reduce the incidence of injuries in the second half of the season. And surely rested players (and pitches) would provide for a better quality of football in the second half?
I also believe that this has something to do with the continual failure of Premier League players to perform at the highest level in the summer international tournaments. And by this I don’t just mean the England National Team. Anyone witnessing the abject performance of the Dutch national team in Euro 2012 must surely have wondered if the amount of football players such as Robin van Persie had played had something to do with it.
Now I know that some will point to the success of the Spanish (in whose country there is no break) as a counter argument. But if you play in the country that all other teams are going to for their winter breaks, there maybe your answer.
So what are the chances of the English bringing in a break, say for 2 weeks after the cup third round. Well I put them somewhere between virtually non-existent to nil, unless attitudes change dramatically.
Firstly the paying public will have to accept there would be no football for a couple of weeks. Ironically this may well be the easiest sell, especially given the price of football. Secondly the TV companies would have to accept there will be no football on TV for two weeks in January (typically a very slow non-football sporting tv month). Thirdly we
would have to move to ‘no replay cup football’ in order to ensure that all teams are treated fairly in regard of the break.
And then we would have the biggest challenge of all. If we break for two weeks something will have to give in the footballing calendar as you simply cannot fit in two cup competitions and a 38 match league (don’t get me started on the 46 match leagues…that is for another week!). So we will be back to the discussion as to the future of the League Cup and the number of teams in the top flight.
So ultimately, the discussion isn’t about timing and friendlies, but our good old friend revenue. And as such there is no discussion. Pity really, as I believe that, without the break, the national team will never play in international tournaments on a level playing field. But, like the 24 team divisions, the club v country debate is for another week.
Till next week....
8 Jan DOVO v de Graafschap (friendly) & Hillingdon Borough v Harefield United
10 Jan ONI v NOAD 32 (friendly)
11 Jan Excelsior v de Graafschap (friendly)
12 Jan Xerxes v ASWH & Aldershot v Accrington
13 Jan Racing Waregem v Berchem Sports
As large parts of Europe shut down for a few weeks, the annual discussion as to whether England should do the same kicks into gear. Almost inevitably the two main counter-arguments to this are raised on the phone-ins; namely;
1) There is little point as you don’t know when the bad weather will be; and
2) All the bigger clubs will do is fly half way around the world to play friendlies.
To answer these points is simple; in the first you are missing the point of the winter break and in the second you are missing the point of the winter break!
The break is not an attempt to limit the number of postponements (although obviously in many countries it is a necessity). Ironically, as I sit here in Breda writing this the Tuesday before the professional leagues in Holland return from the break, the first snow of the winter is falling, all 15cm of it. There will undoubtedly be a number of postponements.
No the logic behind the break (certainly in countries such as Belgium and Holland) is to provide the opportunity for players and pitches to recover from the first half of the season. In the ideal world everyone would play each other once, break for a few weeks and then go again for the second half.
And, from my experience, the fans appreciate it too. The first games after the winter break have a ‘start to the season’ feel about them. Certainly, last season, the first game after the break at FC Dordrecht was a bigger and more enthusiastic crowd than at the games leading up to Christmas.
So what of the accusation that teams would ‘fly around the world playing friendlies’? Yes, so what? A look at any of the football databases would show that this is exactly what they do. Most top flight teams are in Spain or somewhere similar at warm weather training and playing a couple of friendly games. Even Hoofdklasse ASWH went for 5 days.
I’m not a Doctor, but I would have thought that doing this would reduce the incidence of injuries in the second half of the season. And surely rested players (and pitches) would provide for a better quality of football in the second half?
I also believe that this has something to do with the continual failure of Premier League players to perform at the highest level in the summer international tournaments. And by this I don’t just mean the England National Team. Anyone witnessing the abject performance of the Dutch national team in Euro 2012 must surely have wondered if the amount of football players such as Robin van Persie had played had something to do with it.
Now I know that some will point to the success of the Spanish (in whose country there is no break) as a counter argument. But if you play in the country that all other teams are going to for their winter breaks, there maybe your answer.
So what are the chances of the English bringing in a break, say for 2 weeks after the cup third round. Well I put them somewhere between virtually non-existent to nil, unless attitudes change dramatically.
Firstly the paying public will have to accept there would be no football for a couple of weeks. Ironically this may well be the easiest sell, especially given the price of football. Secondly the TV companies would have to accept there will be no football on TV for two weeks in January (typically a very slow non-football sporting tv month). Thirdly we
would have to move to ‘no replay cup football’ in order to ensure that all teams are treated fairly in regard of the break.
And then we would have the biggest challenge of all. If we break for two weeks something will have to give in the footballing calendar as you simply cannot fit in two cup competitions and a 38 match league (don’t get me started on the 46 match leagues…that is for another week!). So we will be back to the discussion as to the future of the League Cup and the number of teams in the top flight.
So ultimately, the discussion isn’t about timing and friendlies, but our good old friend revenue. And as such there is no discussion. Pity really, as I believe that, without the break, the national team will never play in international tournaments on a level playing field. But, like the 24 team divisions, the club v country debate is for another week.
Till next week....
Up for the Cup?
Week 1; 1-7 January 2013
PDM Matches;
4 Jan Newport v Wrexham (Conference)
5 Jan Aldershot v Rotherham (FA Cup 3) & Great Yarmouth v Fakenham Town (Eastern Counties Div 1)
6 Jan Leigh v Wigan (Rugby League pre-season friendly)
To me, the first week in January means only one thing; FAC 3rd round. For a traditionalist like me, this is still one of the great weekends of the footballing calendar and one I wish my beloved Aldershot Town could be involved in every year. Unfortunately we have only been in one third round since reforming in 1992, a creditable, yet unsuccessful trip to Blackpool in 2007 as a Conference side. The last 3rd round tie played at the rec was in 1987 when, then Division 1 side Oxford United were dispatched 3-0, John Aldridge, Ray Houghton et al. But Aldershot being Aldershot, this was better remembered for the (then) lowest ever third round crowd as the club TRIPLED admission prices (to 9 pounds!!!)
Now even I must admit to a bit of deflation when I heard the 3rd round draw. Probably the only thing worse than getting a home tie against one of the best teams in your division (especially when you are in the bottom 3) is to play them away, but the ‘luck of the draw’ left us with a home match against Rotherham United. Fortunately the team put in a decent performance and ran out 3-1 winners.
Not that you would have known. I listened to the radio all the way from Aldershot to Leigh and back on the Sunday and we never got a mention. Why? Because the topic of discussion was nearly exclusively on the weakened sides being played by some teams, the lower attendances and the inevitable discussion as to whether the cup had lost it’s appeal.
Please guys, give it a rest. Yes, the appeal of the cup has slowly eroded (and it isn’t all down to Man Utd’s ill fated trip to Brazil in the World Club Championship in 2000 which resulted in them withdrawing from the FA Cup that year). But the cup is what you make it. If some clubs want to play weakened teams then that is upto them. Manchester City showed what could be done as, with lower prices they filled their stadium. So the appeal is there, you just need to adapt accordingly.
And so back to the rec, and, in typical style, everything was turned on it’s head. Not only did we win at home, but the crowd of 2,922 was 49.5% higher than the league game between the two (the away turnout of 512 was 157% of the previous away figure) showing that, for the fans of these two clubs at least, the third round still means something.
And so to Sunday and the draw, which could have, in theory, change my club forever. Twitter was our friend as we sat at Leigh Sport Village but that life changing draw will have to wait for another time as we were drawn at the Riverside. Still, another new ground and the prospect of a cracking day out.
Till next week......
4 Jan Newport v Wrexham (Conference)
5 Jan Aldershot v Rotherham (FA Cup 3) & Great Yarmouth v Fakenham Town (Eastern Counties Div 1)
6 Jan Leigh v Wigan (Rugby League pre-season friendly)
To me, the first week in January means only one thing; FAC 3rd round. For a traditionalist like me, this is still one of the great weekends of the footballing calendar and one I wish my beloved Aldershot Town could be involved in every year. Unfortunately we have only been in one third round since reforming in 1992, a creditable, yet unsuccessful trip to Blackpool in 2007 as a Conference side. The last 3rd round tie played at the rec was in 1987 when, then Division 1 side Oxford United were dispatched 3-0, John Aldridge, Ray Houghton et al. But Aldershot being Aldershot, this was better remembered for the (then) lowest ever third round crowd as the club TRIPLED admission prices (to 9 pounds!!!)
Now even I must admit to a bit of deflation when I heard the 3rd round draw. Probably the only thing worse than getting a home tie against one of the best teams in your division (especially when you are in the bottom 3) is to play them away, but the ‘luck of the draw’ left us with a home match against Rotherham United. Fortunately the team put in a decent performance and ran out 3-1 winners.
Not that you would have known. I listened to the radio all the way from Aldershot to Leigh and back on the Sunday and we never got a mention. Why? Because the topic of discussion was nearly exclusively on the weakened sides being played by some teams, the lower attendances and the inevitable discussion as to whether the cup had lost it’s appeal.
Please guys, give it a rest. Yes, the appeal of the cup has slowly eroded (and it isn’t all down to Man Utd’s ill fated trip to Brazil in the World Club Championship in 2000 which resulted in them withdrawing from the FA Cup that year). But the cup is what you make it. If some clubs want to play weakened teams then that is upto them. Manchester City showed what could be done as, with lower prices they filled their stadium. So the appeal is there, you just need to adapt accordingly.
And so back to the rec, and, in typical style, everything was turned on it’s head. Not only did we win at home, but the crowd of 2,922 was 49.5% higher than the league game between the two (the away turnout of 512 was 157% of the previous away figure) showing that, for the fans of these two clubs at least, the third round still means something.
And so to Sunday and the draw, which could have, in theory, change my club forever. Twitter was our friend as we sat at Leigh Sport Village but that life changing draw will have to wait for another time as we were drawn at the Riverside. Still, another new ground and the prospect of a cracking day out.
Till next week......