Posts Tagged ‘Wolves’

The Original Grumpy Old Man: 2 down 1 to go.

Jan 13th, 10 / Comments Off

 

Welcome to a new regular column from an old favourite. The Original Grumpy Old Man (OGOM). This week OGOM looks at the relegation scrap in the PL and renames it the CCC waiting room.

This time last year, on a long forgotten forum dedicated to the idle, I wrote a long piece about the contenders for relegation from the PL in 2008-09 which I subtitled “The Hull Line”, basically stating any team that got above Hull City would stay up (at that point they were 8th or something) and until they did overtake the boys from the KC they remained in a relegation battle. As we know Hull City finished up just above the line themselves (by the skin of some very rotten teeth). This season and a similar number of teams stand in the midst of a 12 team melee with only the team most advanced of the pack, Fulham, looking relatively safe, this unfortunately makes coming up with a snappy clique for this seasons madness problematic, so I won’t bother.

Let’s however be clear, there isn’t just a 12 team competition to avoid the financial despair of relegation (sorry your suggesting there is another despair that goes with relegation are you? Well would have agreed with you once but it must be over a decade since anyone in the media looked at relegation other than a £30M+ disaster), there are two relegation groups of clubs, the first is where the fun is, the stick-on certainties, the clubs with financial issues already, iffy and complicated ownership structures and needing to offload players as we speak and there is a bigger group tossing the hot potato of the last relegation place around which is where the action will be.

This is the crux of the relegation issue; too many clubs are always in the waiting room to the CCC. Some clubs pop in and out every 2 or 3 seasons, some others don’t believe they are ever part of the club and thus when reality hits them Newcastle United/Middlesbrough style it’s more of a shock. In general however about 6-7 clubs will always be in the waiting room season in, season out, that is a third of the PL always worried about relegation (and we call it the best league in the world!). How do the supporters of such clubs cope with the tediousness of season after season striving for 15th? Where is the ambition, the thrust for success, well the term has been reassessed and now equates to just being there. For what exactly pray tell? The dubious honour of seeing your clubs wage bill for average players go idiotic? Pathetic it is and all due to the ridiculous chasm in finance between what is still really Division 1 and Division 2. Occasionally a club bucks the trend and raises the game a little, some fly too close to the sun and burn (Portsmouth) others hopefully, like Fulham can make it into a “outside contenders” club, small at the moment but hopefully growing by the season.

We shall not detain ourselves at this time with an extensive analysis of who is going to be the unlucky third relegated club alongside the stick-on two, its perm 1 from 10. Of that bunch, whilst it’s a shame Stoke City, Everton and Sunderland are in a league with too many poor teams to feel threatened and an act of faith tells you Wigan Athletic and West Ham United will be ok, you are still left with this group of road-blocks: Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley and Wolves. After the decision to play his Sunday pub team at Old Trafford Mick McCarthy has made it difficult for neutrals to care for Wolves and the decision by Burnley to employ Brian Laws makes suggesting they can avoid relegation intellectually problematic. Equally the distain for Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers is so complete that you wish Gartside and Allardyce could work together again at a merged “Lancashire Lumpits” club so the PL could be rid of both of them. Basically I could waste my time and energy putting the case against all 4 but I’d rather just admit I don’t care which one goes, they are all worthy of relegation, and instead focus on the stick-on two (although if you push me for an answer to has to who will go I’d say Burnley made that decision easy for me today).

Membership of the stick-on group was set almost before the season started, Portsmouth and Hull City and in some respects well deserved it is. Starting with “the humiliated of Hampshire”, a club so in disarray it evokes sympathy from Leeds United fans. Al Faraj may well exist (stc) but he clearly isn’t spending cash, all of Portsmouth’s dealing seems to be predicated on borrowing money off banks. In the midst of all this remains the man who was there in their CCC days, there when the stabilised in the PL under Mandaric, there when the Gaydamak’s came in and the FA Cup was won, there when the wage bill went through the roof (John Utaka, a permanent substitute on £80k a week!!!), there when the money dried up, there during the Al Fahim debacle and is still there as they go from daily crises to daily crises, take a bow Mr Peter Storrie (stopping off at Criminal Court with Mandaric and Redknapp over tax matters).

On the pitch, two successive mistakes in employing L2 standard managers (Adams T and Hart) followed by employing a man who despite once managing Chelsea to a CL final has in fact spent most of the last 4 years doing the non job version of a Director of Football. Grant has not a dot of experience of battling relegation in the PL, he won’t be given the opportunity to wheel and deal, he is stuck with the sub-standard Smith’s, Webber’s Brown’s and Wilson’s of this world and also has to motivate a large group of foreign players who have been messed around something rotten the last 2 seasons. With the likes of James, Kaboul and Belhadji looking to find a club that pays its wages on time the chances of fluky wins at Coventry lifting the season are remote. Pivotal I think is this, their best player whilst being glued to the bottom of the league has been Jamie O’Hara, he is now back at Spurs and that is a miss Pompay can’t afford. In my book they have gone already, it’s just a case of how badly they go down, I suspect they will drag it out until April but will never once give their support any real hope. The fans can look around Fratton Park next season in the CCC and wonder what did those 8 years achieve? Well not a lot financially or in the infrastructure.

Meanwhile on the East Coast sits a basket case of a club desperately hoping Portsmouth beat them to administration. Hull City are a real mess, the owners have literally done a runner, handing over the club to Adam Pearson with a mandate to pass it on to someone else (and if he can get new owners to take on the insolvent debt levels then Mr Duffen and co will be very grateful!). In the meantime the club has publically stated they have to ship out a significant number of players (most of which have contracts that they are unlikely to get elsewhere) all whilst the same squad has struggled all year. Part of Hull City’s issue is what allowed them to rise in the first place, a disengagement between ownership of facilities (the council built KC stadium) and the football club. Factor in the towns relative isolation and its extensive social issues and it’s a wonder they even had last season as a PL club never mind this.

The present squad reflects how fortunate the Tigers were to ever go up and certainly to stay up. Contained within that ridiculously large group of players is very little quality and what little there is gets stifled by Phil Brown (who in my book would be lucky to manager of North Ferriby United if jobs were allocated on ability rather than mates in the media). Doyle, Dawson, Ashbee, Gardner, Barmby, Fagan and Folan, just 7 examples of players not good enough for the PL (and there are another 15 like that) who play alongside the has-beens of Boetang, Kilbane, Mendy, Barmby (yes in twice for a reason, he is both rubbish and past it) and Hesselink who play alongside the compulsory imported likes of Cousin, Sonko, Geovanni, Ghilas, Olofinjani, Halmosi and Altidore. Local young talent has no chance in that set-up, not when the likes of Paul McShane are around. Even the better players have issues, Bullard hardly plays due to injury, Zayatte wants out and Myhill is shell-shocked. Hull City are well and truly doomed, a repeat of their form this time last season and they are down by March. If that happens, put your mortgage on them being the first top flight club to fail to finish the season.

Personally I would like to see the PL bunch up a little, for the relegation candidates not to really emerge until February, for all 20 clubs that start the season to have some form of contention in their make-up. But alas the CL monies will continue to distort the competition for years to come. Whilst I can console myself that Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool may have financial disasters to come, that is not the same as expecting any of them to ever be in a relegation review. Over the next few seasons I hope we do see some unexpected names doing a Newcastle United and been replaced by clubs hitherto outside the largesse of the last 6 years. It wouldn’t do some of the cocky top half clubs any harm to have temporary seats in the CCC waiting room and it certainly would be good for English football.

Football through a hardened glare

Sniffers Sunday Shorts 27/12/09: Leeds United, Liverpool, Wolves, Ipswich Town, Charlton Athletic, Preston North End, Stockport County, Cheltenham Town, Torquay United, Manchester City.

Dec 27th, 09 / Comments Off
soon to be notsoplainmoor.

soon to be notsoplainmoor.

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

Do it on the big stage.

So one week on and the Beckford fan club are purring again. I’ll try to be charitable, it was up to Beckford to recover from his stupidity and giving a team assisting performance on top of his 1.5 goals is what was needed (although I do tire of the way the occasional non selfish Beckford performance gets treated like the second coming of Christ). However still some to do: let’s see him perform against a PL side and in front of the national stage, call it a goodbye present to the fans by scoring at Old Trafford.

Getting desperate.

A sure sign of the desperation at Anfield was the behaviour of Benetiz and Reina in ensuring the Wolves went down to 10 (more of in next segment). Why the Spanish goalkeeper felt the other 10 Liverpool players weren’t gobbie enough heavens knows. Add in the deluded garbage the manager spouts that equates home wins against Wigan and Wolves as the equivalent of winning the title and once gain all your thought turn to wondering when we can lose this lunatic from the English game. The facts remain that anything other than a victory at Villa Park means Liverpool should be more concerned about being overtaken by Fulham than chasing for 4th.

Unfair treatment.

Wolves have a case of the Ward sending off, not about the mistaken identity (or more like sheer incompetence) by Marriner, but the fact the referee felt the need to pull out a card anyway. You see if that had being Steven Gerrard we know he would have left his card in his pocket, like he did on 3 occasions when the No1 scouse giet made some blatant wild tackles. Ward on the other hand who isn’t given the same leeway made two non descript tackles and is off. There is no place in this country for refereeing based on who the tackler is, and it’s about time the managers of the other clubs made that clear.

Over Keane.

Another classic example of bizarre refereeing came at Selhurst Park. Before Taylor interfered the game was even, after Ipswich Town lost a ten match unbeaten run. Even Warnock said it was a bad decision, although he failed to criticise his players for running in like cretins after the tackle (which looked not even a yellow). I’ll tell you how bad it is, I agree with Roy Keane when he said: “I’m still amazed when people seem to enjoy seeing players get sent off. Some players get involved when they should have nothing to do with it. Other players, other managers, trying to get players sent off. It’s ridiculous. That’s the horrible side of football”.

Take control.

Preston North End lost their Boxing Day game due to “safety reasons”, let’s examine this a little further. The pitch was fit, the stands were safe, the roads in Preston open, so what was the problem. Apparently it was the pavements that weren’t safe, now maybe I’m being reckless here but why was that allowed to disrupt a professional sports event? Do the Police think people can’t take into account the conditions around a football ground as they approach it? How many accidents in a crowd of 10k would accrue, 5, 10? Get a grip someone and take controol of some common sense.

Have you thought of chemicals?

Sometimes however players do remind you how stupid they can be. Already down to 10 men against Swindon Town, already booked, Charlton striker Deon Burton goes and does a Maradona by punching the ball whilst going up with the Swindon goalie; utter idiocy. Sometimes you wonder whether the only way to stop this generation of mindless footballers is to have them injected once a week with something to stimulate their dead brains. Hit him Mr Parkinson where even a man of limited intelligence will feel it, in the wallet.

Dying on its knees.

Occasional you come across a team that in terms of ownership, of club and ground, is more complex than even Leeds United. Add in a run of results on the pitch so dire that its frightening and that’s where Stockport County reside. Protest marches notwithstanding it looks like the end of a professional league club in that part of Cheshire is imminent. If the Leeds home game tomorrow is off that will potentially be the end having had no home league game since December 12th whilst cash-flow is tight. Sometimes it’s just right not to call from afar why these things happen and instead hope that Stockport make it to season end and can rebuild from whichever division they are in.

Planning for demotion.

Question for any Cheltenham Town fans out there, are the club planning for the Conference? I ask this because recent events seem to suggest so. The appointment of a Conference manager, following the debacle that saw Martin Allen removed for being innocent, suggests the board have resigned themselves to relegation and are planning for a new part-time future. I realise that arousing the locals of that gentile town to care for the club is hard but please whilst Grimsby Town are in the condition they are in at least show some fight!

In praise of bouncing back.

If Cheltenham need a model for planning for relegation followed by promotion they need look no further than Torquay United (and as posh towns the analogy works there also). Paul Buckle has done a grand job rebuilding from relegation and despite some early season struggles the club is now established in L2 and in the third round of the FA cup with a chance of a shock against Brighton. Fair play to him and the rest of the set-up there, good to see what can be done with good planning.

Get down the bookies.

What do the following have in common? Wolves, Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Stoke City, Portsmouth, Hull City, Bolton Wanderers?. Answer; Manchester City’s next 7 league opponents. Now I tell you this from where I’m sitting that’s 19-21 points in the bag for Mancini. Given that City start the new year 10 points, with a game in hand, behind Chelsea, that they have the best loss record in this season wide open PL title chase (where it seems no-one really wants to win it), a little punt on them winning it, at something like 40-1 now, well worth it. What that set of fixtures also does is silence the xenophobic element in the press who think a tactical lightweight like Mark Hughes can be equated with Mancini’s quality.

The Other 91 Basket Cases

Sniffer Nose 17/12/09: Leeds United, Wolves, Doncaster Rovers.

Dec 17th, 09 / Comments Off

 

Your reading a pre 2010-11 archived article

This is Clarkeonenil’s regular comment column, cutting through the various passing issues of football and getting to the core principle in the shortest time.

Someone else’s gain.

So the City of Leeds and Elland Road go forward as a venue as part of England’s bid for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup’s, Jacob Alder must be well chuffed. Whilst lots of people will be tempted to see yesterday’s announcement as a good thing for both the area and the club it does beg a few questions. For example, if the City Council can’t afford to keep running care centres where does it expect to find its contribution to the infrastructure changes? If Leeds United can’t afford to repurchase Thorp Arch where is it going to find its contribution to the stadium changes from? If the people of Beeston weren’t too keen on a modest development around the ground in 1998 why does anyone think they will rush to applaud the extension of Elland Road to 52,000 and the accompanying Bates hotel? Sorry but as we speak all yesterday did was muddy even more waters.

The most interesting aspect of this for me is legacy and particularly the ground. Now whilst I don’t think O’Leary’s team as it could have been would have had a problem filling a 52k ground (as long as it was somewhere near Kippax), Grayson at the peak of his powers is going to struggle to pack that out even in the PL. Truth of the matter when it comes to Leeds supporters is that the club is a Yorkshire one and it is its non lioners that are its most loyal whilst the locals are the most fickle and glory-seeking. The South Stand will always be one of the limiting factors on making the ground compete with the likes of Eastlands or St James Park for awe. Car-parking, rail stations, pubs, cafes, space, non football use, all issues that need reflecting on. The danger is white elephant will be born that will add to the permanent burdens the club already carries.

One thing is for sure, even if they get it right, it won’t be the Tory/Lib-Dem coalition on Leeds City Council that wallows in the pride and it won’t be the glorified fund manager and his cohorts that rake in the cash. Both will thankfully be long gone!

Alienating everyone.

Normally I would consider myself a pragmatist, football is a squad game; managers have to juggle issues like fitness, form and keeping players happy. Under other circumstances a shuffling of a winning team isn’t that bad an idea if you do it with some intelligence. What Mick McCarthy did was nothing like intelligent or pragmatic, no instead the Barnsley bruiser insulted the PL, insulted the travelling Wolves fans but worst of all from his own perspective, insulted his own squad. 10 changes is ridiculous for a game against the PL title holders, it beggars belief that McCarthy doesn’t understand this, his protestations on the matter are meaningless, Wenger is spot on when he states the “international credibility” of the PL is now in question.

Part of the problem is the way the PL has split into two camps, those who can muster up stupid amounts of money and try (but sometimes not really achieve) to compete and those, defined as now half the clubs, who just want to survive for ever. But even if you factor that in you still play with fire sending a “B” team to Old Trafford. What if that 11 had got properly tanked, what is some of them think that is it for them for the season, what if every one of those players decides to hand in a transfer request because they don’t believe they are valued? There is also the “Ebanks-Blake” issue, has he missed his one chance to go to his old club and show SAF what he let go? You would have thought an “old-school” type like McCarthy would have understood players better. Maybe we just saw why he doesn’t hack it in the big league.

One thing is for sure, when March, April and May comes around and the annual whinging about some teams playing under-strength teams at the tail end of the season starts, no-one will be listening if it’s coming from Wolves!

Plodding slowly onwards.

Having referenced the road blocks occupying places 9-20 in the PL its occasionally nice to see the other side of that coin and a fantastically competitive CCC, well from second down anyway. Based on defeats, Ipswich are still in with a play-off shout, anyone from Barnsley to Blackpool to Swansea could be the next Burnley, that is an amazing 18 teams to choose from. Personally I think Nottingham Forest are best equipped to join Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion but that is not the same as rooting for them, no that is Doncaster Rovers. I want to see a real success story, a Conference to PL trilogy complete.

Donny to me are (fingers crossed given the state of Middlesbrough and Watford at the moment financially) the best example of a well run club you can find at the moment, a good manager supported by a realistic chairman, a municipal stadium and a slowly growing fan base. Yes there are a few issues, the failure to sell out the recent local derby against Sheffield Wednesday being a clear sign that they still play in “a town full of Leeds fans”. All in all though the club has a lot to commend it and I for one would like to see it grace the money-bags debt league.

One thing is for sure, I’d rather they made the play-offs this season and not next, the idea of repeating 2008 is not something to contemplate.

The Other 91 Basket Cases