Posts Tagged ‘Colchester United’

Daily Contribution to the Leeds United Quagmire (01/03/10): All to play for.

Mar 1st, 10 / Comments Off

 

Welcome to today’s daily Leeds United comment column which looks at the seven way fight for the three golden prizes.

Today’s DC, which happens to be Clarkeonenil’s 300th post, focuses on the tightening promotion battle. We are doing this, looking at others rather than just us for a change (I expect I’m not the only one finding the “Howson/Becchio are rubbish, Howson/Becchio are great” extremes you can find elsewhere in Leeds United Cyber World a touch pathetic and self defeating this stage in the season). Simon Grayson himself has realised the extent himself of the battle ahead and reflects that with this comment form Saturday: “I thought it was a fair result and it is another point onto our tally. But the lead has tightened up and I believe that all of the top six are in with a shout of going up automatically,” he said. I clearly would have preferred a win to make it a bit more difficult for teams to catch us. But it is another game gone, another match without defeat, and so it’s one less match for them to do it in.”

Now let’s firstly put him right, it isn’t 2 from 6 for automatic promotion its 2 from 7. Millwall in 7th are as in this competition as much as Huddersfield Town are in 6th (they are both on 58 points). With 13 games to go no-one can say they have made it yet, not Norwich City, and certainly not us. Norwich and Swindon Town are the medium term form teams, Huddersfield have found some away form, Charlton Athletic are erratic but still poised, Colchester United took third for a small while. On present 6 game form Millwall are garnering double the points we are: http://www.sportinglife.com/football/cc_league1/stats/lastsix.html. Tight doesn’t really cover it, for a neutral its exciting, for us it is full on stress bunny.

Let’s try to take a logical view on how to decide when a team is probably not in the automatic promotion race (or even the play-off race). If you say that with every game played you are less likely to catch up the teams ahead and use a formula of from 13 to go to 3 to go if you’re the same number or points or less behind as the number of games left you can still catch up. So on that basis Milton Keynes Dons, 18 points behind Leeds can’t realistically go up. Millwall technically can still finish top, although should they lose or draw their game in hand on Norwich (and same with Huddersfield when they play Southampton Tuesday) then that stops being credible. As each game is played clearly (and from our perspective hopefully) clubs will drop below that logical line. However from this juncture with 13 games to go, we can finish 7th or we can finish 1st. As an aside, had we kept that 2-1 lead on Saturday at the Galpharm I would have said Huddersfield were 1 defeat away from not being a threat, that equalizer gives then an extra couple of slip ups before we stop worrying about them.

Nothing is going to change for a round or two, the Millwall v Charlton local derby (subject to us not screwing up against Brentford and Tranmere) on the 13th March provides the first possibility of a team dropping out of the chase, but equally it offers the prospect of the 9 points between 2nd and 7th becoming even tighter. Actually in a bizarre way the contenders playing each other helps those with the points already in the bag. Huddersfield entertain Norwich on the same day, will that tighten the gap between 7th and 1st or expand it to where Norwich can feel the worst that can happen is play-offs? That is one of the crux’s of this wide open race, the chasing pack don’t have the certainty of the play-offs to fall back on yet and thus Colchester will be looking just as much at Millwall as they are at Leeds United.

Sometimes you just need to go with your footballing instinct, mine is telling me that Millwall has what it takes to make the play-offs and the experience of last season, that Huddersfield would be the team that worried me the most if their away form had kicked it earlier, that if Swindon can maintain that season long consistency of just a touch under 2 points a game average then they should get in those play-offs and that Charlton will re-find the early season form and will be the main challenge to second. Assume as I do Norwich will get one of the two promotion places then clearly I am indicating I expect Colchester to miss out, mainly due to quality of players (that not even Boothroyd can do much more with them). That leaves us either second or in the nightmare play-offs. You might think it a small matter we shouldn’t finish 7th but if that promotion to the CCC is so vital to the club we can’t look that gift horse in the mouth.

I started by staying I wasn’t going to look too deeply at our inadequacies but to some extent that is unavoidable. As the form guide pasted earlier shows we need to find some early season performances soon. The away form is the big key, Tranmere Rovers away becomes a massive game, three points and we keep ahead of the chasing pack, defeat and the doubts become the size of dinosaurs. The reality for us is clear, play-offs are the equivalent of 7th (or mentally at least until they are our only option) and a failure on our part given where we were New Years Day. Whilst it is nice to see Grayson acknowledge the tight race one does wonder whether that’s a sign he thinks we might miss out on automatic promotion. If it is well then we have to hope that his Blackpool experience allows him to redeem the situation. All to play for indeed.

Editor Michael.

Contributions on the Leeds United Quagmire

Sniffers Sunday Shorts 17/01/10: Leeds United, Queens Park Rangers, West Ham United, Rochdale, Colchester United, Bournemouth, Manchester United, Wigan Athletic, St Mirren, Kingstonian.

Jan 17th, 10 / Comments Off

 

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

Cause and effect.

So to clarify, in both the games since Beckford’s transfer request became public knowledge Leeds United have put in inept performances, that’s despite the so called goal machine playing. The apologists for Beckford point out that he scored at Old Trafford and suggest that shows it makes no difference to his contribution and they are partly right, Beckford used to go missing when the rest of the team went downhill previously, it’s just on this occasion we at least understand what his motivation is! How many league games more before Bates and Grayson realise their tactics around Beckford’s greed hasn’t helped and when will those who worried that without him we might miss out on promotion realise we could miss out with him still with us?

Manager of the Month

And the winner of QPR’s manager of the month award for January goes to….? Who knows, could be anyone at the rate the Loftus Road club go through them. Now this site has suggested previously that Paul Hart was a strange choice given his poor managerial record but even we didn’t expect such a short reign. QPR have become a laughing stock, all while supposedly owned by some of the world’s most successful businessmen! If there is any truth that a sulking 20 year old got Hart the sack I hope the next manager in stamps his authority, literally, on that lad and every other moaning player from day one, if not the February winner of the manager of the month in White City could well be someone off the terraces!

Getting dyer.

Less than a couple of months after Dean Ashton was forced to retire from the game comes the news that WHU’s Kerion Dyer might have to face the same reality (although it surprises some this lad wasn’t retired about 4 years ago he has played that little football). In some senses this might be a blessing in disguise, especially for any new owners of WHU, being able to get rid of the expensive deadwood whilst promoting the products of the legendary youth academy seems to be the way forward. One thing’s for sure, the club is unlikely to see the point of retaining a Italian Director of Football who doesn’t seem to contribute anything.

Rochdale rising.

Despite the irritation of having the game against Port Vale postponed it has been a good week for Rochdale. They stand 11 points clear of 3rd place (likely to be 4th place once Rotherham United play their 10 games or something in hand) and actually bought rather than sold a player. It is starting to look like the Dale are finally going to get out of L2 which will be a major achievement for Spotland. Those strange people that were heckling Keith Hill earlier in the season will hopefully have crawled back under the stone they came from.

Ying and yang.

Speaking of heckling it seems that Paul Lambert enjoyed sticking it back to the booing Colchester United fans when he visited the Community Stadium with his Norwich City side yesterday. As previously expressed on this site it does seem that despite Aidy Boothroyd’s best efforts to get them to focus on the outside prospect of promotion the fans and owners at this Essex backwater seemed intent on a hate-fest towards there ex manager. Well if Lambert needed to prove he made the right decision then a resounding 5-0 win, which makes the L1 promotion race a 3 way fight and consigns the rest including Colchester to the play-offs at best, does that for him.

Howe to do loyalty.

Sometimes it is not when the results are going well that appreciation of a manger is needed but when it is not. In the case of Ernie Howe at Bournemouth, things have started to go against him and his very small squad, the transfer ban remains and the speculation as to whether the top scorer (Brett Pitman) will still be around at the end of the month abounds. Now I don’t think anyone is thinking about sacking Howe but on the off-chance maybe they should remember his loyalty recently when speculation suggested he could walk into any spare CCC job going.

Calling Gerard.

Hidden within the headline figure that Manchester United lost £45m (sorry made £35m after Real Madrid went mad with their money) are some interesting developments around re-financing, consultancy fees and possible asset sales. Now far be it for me to assist the Old Trafford yanks in their quest to de-burden themselves of self-imposed debt but if they want the telephone number of an expert on selling grounds and training complexes I’m sure Mr Krasner would take their call. Equally should the whole thing go fully tits up I understand KPMG have a large Manchester office.

Over-inflated sense of worth.

Whilst yesterdays win in the relegation six-pointer at Wolves will have come as a relief to Wigan Athletic there is still a sense this week wasn’t the club’s finest. Listening to Gary Caldwell’s blatant comments on why he backed out of joining Middlesbrough and why he didn’t sign a new contract at Celtic was a master-class in egotistic greed (were you watching Jermaine?). I quote “I had a clear sense of my worth” or put another way he joined Wigan because they were stupid enough to pay him well over his ability.

Feeder fodder.

As if to underline how over-rated anyone who comes out of the SPL is the manager of St Mirren made comments this week to the effect that the 12 clubs in that competition are just feeder clubs to the lower English leagues. His mood was not helped by the sale of Stephen McGinn to Watford. The point he makes is not only an accurate reflection of the financial realities north of the border but also perhaps a eye-opener to those talking about a British league. Whilst I have no problem with the concept the fact is some of the lower parts of the SPL would be lucky to be in L1 should that ever happen.

You cannot be serious!

Except they were, Monday’s Ryman’s league game for Kingstonian verses Wealdstone has been postponed, not due to the state of the pitch or even the area around the ground, no its because the powers that be have decided the away clubs Middlesex Senior Cup commitments take precedent over the league programme. Sorry run that by me again, and they wonder why the end of the season gets littered with catch up matches. It’s a wonder that such an important competition like the Middlesex Senior Cup isn’t live on Sky Sports these days!

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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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