Your reading a pre 2010-11 archived article

Welcome to the Sunday edition of Sniffer Nose, a punchier version of your favourite occasional column.

Pick your shirt “bruv”.

That was a big win yesterday for Leeds United, 50 points secured before xmas and best of all, done by the team! I won’t dwell on the Beckford sulk except to say anyone who didn’t expect one of those sooner rather than later doesn’t watch us much. To me a footballer’s personality is as important as his skill range, in the former he lacks and in the latter he is average. Whilst talk of “playing his last game for the club” are a touch premature he certainly is no longer “untouchable”. Gaining promotion whilst he struggles in the CCC is certainly where my January transfer window money is going.

Doomed and dignified.

I’m not a fan of Mark Hughes the manager, his sides tend to be too agricultural for me, his one-eyed press comments irritating, his addiction to confrontational situations with decent footballing managers became almost predictable, his sacking by Manchester City causes me hardly a flicker of sympathy. However he did seem to handle yesterday well, probably helped by the size of pay-off, and maintain his dignity. I would however caution against the “Mancini won’t do any better” line already been spouted. The Italian is a seasoned title winner of a decent league, with massive CL experience and a eye for quality footballers. The reason why the change took place is clear, given the choice of letting Roberto Mancini or Mark Hughes spend another £200m over the next 18 months I know who I’d pick.

No excuse (1).

So let’s see if I can get this right, the new Cardiff City Stadium does have “state of the art” under-soil heating, it just hadn’t “been tested” but will be “in the next week”. Notwithstanding the questions that poses, like is it normal to test a system a good six months after laying it down, the fact remains the Bluebirds were the highest profile club on the “can’t cope with a little bit of cold” list that embarrassed professional football. Personally I put two and two together; club struggling to pay off tax demands cuts back on other things and as a result (and in perfect irony) loses vital cash flow/revenue over the xmas period. Another classic Ridsdale moment for our collection.

Let’s start a fund.

If losing only 2 games all season is reason enough to lose your job at Eastlands then what does 10 defeats get you at Anfield? Well apparently nothing, you get to drag Liverpool to new PL lows, splutter on about meaningless “guarantees” and defend thug challenges. The problem is clear, unlike Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Hicks and Gillett are not prepared to cough up £20m to get rid of the manager. Here is an idea, lets start a fund, everyone who’s bored with Benetiz put a pound into the pot, we will have enough to let Liverpool gives us a right laugh over xmas before Thursday.

No excuse (2).

Does the Community Stadium in Colchester have any form of pitch protection? Apparently not despite it only being 2 years old it fell victim to the cold snap. Now as I understand it Colchester United are on a run of decent form, where the manager (Boothroyd) is getting more out of a limited bunch than you’d expect. The consequence of some bad planning on someone’s part is to halt that run, to mean another fixture needs fitting into a crowded last 4 months of the season and the fans could only sit at home and watch was all the clubs above them got points. Oh well, cause – effect, that kind of thing.

Really, well I never.

In the rush to enjoy yesterday (let’s not forget Manchester United losing to bogey team Fulham) you might have missed a little snippet from White Hart Lane. The Spurs website (in an act that looks like burying bad news whilst people’s attention is elsewhere) released a statement about manager Harry Redknapp facing tax evasion charges. The interesting thing is the club are doing the “stand by our man” routine despite the alleged offenses involving his stay at Portsmouth. Do you hear that? Yes it’s the silence that comes when you ask how many people didn’t think Redknapp would one day face some investigation on financial matters!

No excuses (3).

Back to the theme of postponed games, the next club up for a shoeing is Aldershot Town, mainly because as far as I can gather, very little snow fell in the Surrey-Hampshire area; don’t they have a pitch cover? Now to be fair they are just a manifestation of the lower league mentality towards supporters, one which puts player’s wages ahead of facilities and similar to Cardiff City is just self-defeating. Perhaps a club like the shots should ask the following question: if the crowd in L2 is half what it was three divisions lower why is that? Maybe it is something to do with a realistic expectation Rymans League attitudes have no place in the top 4 divisions!

Dignity (2) but it doesn’t win football matches.

So the last PL manager to be considered “unlucky” to lose his job at Portsmouth has resurfaced at QPR, that bastion of longevity! Now again Paul Hart may be a decent man and a damn good youth coach but if your a QPR supporter look away now because some facts shout loud. Games as a manager: 342, wins: 107, draws 103, losses: 132, win ratio: 31.29%. Enough said, if Hart is still at Loftus Road come the World Cup I’ll be shocked.

Meanwhile down the M4 east of Cardiff.

Sometimes I just like to acknowledge something occurring in the lower reaches of our great game. Sitting on top of the Conference South are Newport County, a club that in my lifetime played league football and in Europe (occasionally putting out giants). Have no idea what is driving this return, or whether their ground meets L2 standards but like with Barrow, Workington, Southport and Maidstone I always like to see old names re-appear.

Guess the horrid club.

So who am I talking about, based in a town on its knees, in a stadium owned by the council, in financial meltdown, with over 30 professional footballers sitting on their arses every Saturday on PL wages, with a manager who advocates thuggery (both for managers and his players) whilst also having the tactical sense of a dead mallard, struggling to win football matches despite the massive squad and presently turning into the new club we all love to hate (witness yesterday at Arsenal). Yes ladies and gentleman I give you Hull City, whose demise one can only anticipate with extreme vigour.