Posts Tagged ‘Aldershot Town’

Sniffers Sunday Shorts 24/01/10: Leeds United, Preston North End, Accrington Stanley, Portsmouth, Carlisle United, Crystal Palace, Aldershot Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Manchester United, Swindon Town.

Jan 24th, 10 / Comments Off

 

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

Our name on it?

Rather than just be pleased with the draw and the drama of it all and worry about how awful Alan Wiley was or how brilliant Ankergran and the defence were against Spurs. Rather than get into the conundrum of our FA Cup form verses our January league form. Rather than add another billion words into the Beckford hyper-bole debate or raise the odd eyebrow over Leeds United’s tactics in the first 30 minutes, sometimes you just have to fall back on mystic myth to explain a result like that. Our name is on the club, we are destined to beat all the big clubs on the way to glory, something that will be surely be proven when we draw Chelsea away in the fifth round!

Taking fairness out.

If Wiley was showing his prejudice in favour of PL clubs in the first 93 minutes he was only following the precedent set by Mike Dean earlier in the day at the Preston NE verses Chelsea tie. Preston fans must have felt irritated almost from the off and Dean’s first decision was to give Chelsea a free-kick for what everyone else could see was a perfect tackle. The FA seem not to have learnt from numerous complaints about the allocating of “elite” referees to the so called “big clubs” games. This shouldn’t be rocket science, if the referee is good enough to referee a top 4 division game they are good enough to be random allocated. The FA Cup is about a level, playing field and the present system gives the advantage of familiarity to the PL clubs, it needs to stop!

Season over?

Another manifestation of rotten modern refereeing is the concept of “two bookable offences” especially when it happens before half time in a game. Accrington Stanley, who were holding Fulham at the time, was the latest victims of this application of the laws of the game so inconsistent with the spirit of the game. It’s a little bit of a shame for Stanley and manager John Coleman that a decent performance got cut off at the knees like that. Accrington have proved a lot of people wrong this season, surviving financially looked difficult at one stage, surviving in L2 now looks done. Let’s hope their season doesn’t unravel due to having nothing to play for.

Proper fit.

Did anyone see the reports of the unrest from the fans at Fratton Park at the end of a week where Portsmouth managed to raise the bar on financial and administrative incompetence? Well at least their fans are prepared to express themselves even if it seems they still don’t get who dropped them in it in the first place (I half expect Storrie to explain away everything without real questioning) something other clubs supporters fail to do. What can we expect this week? Well a lot of whining about the transfer ban, a spineless PL will probably lift it with 3 days to go, a mass exodus of anyone who can get out and some surprise or other you’d need to be Nostradamus to predict.

Long road to what?

Carlisle United’s win at Elland Road in the JPT went a little uncommented on outside of the press in Cumbria. In a similar vain to Leeds the form from Greg Abbot’s team is erratic to say the least and as they and Southampton sit posed for a trip to Wembley it begs the question around priorities. Is it worth risking relegation simply to give 40k border-men a day out? I suspect the answer lies in the amount a Wembley game generates, for Carlisle you suspect its more significant that it will be for the boys from St Mary’s (and that is also why Leeds should play the stiffs at Carlisle for the return leg).

Fire-fighters do get burned.

Speaking of the value of extra games brings us to Selhurst Park and the mess that is Simon Jordon’s attempts to sell Crystal Palace. What with a winding up order on Wednesday and all the blatant attempts to flog Victor Moses you could almost hear him (and maybe Warnock as well) willing Wolves to equalise so Palace could get a replay. All this fire-fighting must take its toll at some point and a club without proper control of its assets and wage-bill is going to the wall, although to be fair to Palace they could be just one of 5 clubs like that in the CCC at the moment.

What’s in a name?

One of the little pieces of information that is new to me I garnered from this week was that the Recreation Ground in Aldershot is in fact the “EBB stadium” (in case you were wondering, paper merchants). This got me thinking about the whole stadium naming rights situation and I bizarrely find myself praising Mike Ashley! To me how difficult is it to insert the accepted known name of a ground into any change brought around by sponsorship? Was the “EBB Recreation Ground” too much of a mental step for the boys from Hampshire or is it clubs just don’t respect traditions enough to care to ask?

Shot in the arm.

So three league games later Sheffield Wednesday have 9 points out of 9 under Alan Irvine, have moved up 4 places and out of the relegation places. It’s a decent start that will need to be sustained if Wednesday are going to be part of the CCC Yorkshire League next season. No doubt some Owls are still making excuses for Brian Laws (although I suspect Burnley fans are not after he presides over a painful defeat in just his second game) but I suspect the majority of fans have realised the change was urgently needed. Whilst I think now both Wednesday and Preston will be safe under their new managers it wouldn’t surprise me if the former finishes higher than the latter.

Yeh right!

Speaking of Ferguson (which we were without mentioning junior by name) SAF is reported in today’s NOTW as demanding Tevez gets a ban for a tackle the referee (one M Dean from the Wirral) deemed not worthy of a yellow. To be honest the increasing idiocies of his weekly rants must even bore his own family they are that pathetic. I suppose it’s beyond him to concentrate on the issue of his own squad’s tackling (or in Ferdinand’s case elbows) or the reality of Manchester City being the biggest club in that city. Of course this Tevez nonsense is irrelevant to SAF’s bigger crime, siding with the Glazer’s on debt and legal money laundering and that is what will sully his legacy, an inability to stand by any worthwhile principal’s. Socialist my arse.

The real important game.

Speaking of idiots the Leeds players come down to earth on Tuesday away at Swindon Town where they renew contact with Jonathan Douglas. Apparently Douglas found himself a popular at the County Ground under Danny Wilson (oh the irony of a footballing manager getting the best out of Douglas). Swindon are the surprise package in the L1 push for the play-offs and Leeds play them twice in a very small time period. Going to Wiltshire is a proper test for the way Leeds season will finish, another post FA Cup slip up and the nerves will really start to jangle (and cause and effect 3 won’t be very far away).

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Sniffers Sunday Shorts 20/12/09: Leeds United, Manchester City, Cardiff City, Liverpool, Colchester United, Spurs, Aldershot Town, Queens Park Rangers, Newport County, Hull City.

Dec 20th, 09 / Comments Off

 

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.

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