London Calling

 

22 – I guess that makes this column older than most of the first team squad…

World Cup News 1.

You may have heard about the Stuttgart v Middlesboro match, but not so well publicised is what happened before the game.  Apparently some kind of pipe burst and it was considered prudent to start an evacuation.  It was announced, and most of the ‘Boro fans must have wondered what on earth was going on because it was only announced in German!  This is one of the World Cup Stadia and it didn’t even occur to them during a UEFA cup match that the opposition fans might not speak German (mind you they are smoggies – they can barely speak English).  So you can’t do a ‘Basil’ but you can get stuck in a stadium in an emergency!

World Cup News 2.

The BBC, who are funded by the compulsory license, are sending a whopping 240 staff to the Finals.  This is more than ITV and the junket loving FA combined.  Ok, Auntie Beeb does do a good job of covering football tournaments but I doubt any commercial organisation would behave the way it does.

Ashley Cole To Design Shirt – Or Is He (aka World Cup News 3)?

Stellar (who represent Cole) put out a press release this week saying how delighted Ashley Cole was to be designing one of five special t-shirts for the World Cup Finals.  These are to be sold through Burtons with all proceeds going to Cancer Research Charities.  After the ‘Really pleased to help’, and ‘Worthwhile cause’ quotes they say that Michael Owen, David James, Joe Cole and Wayne Rooney will each design a shirt, with the fifth being designed by Burtons.  So either there are six shirts or one of them may as well put his crayons away. 

Rooney The Author

I kid you not.  Wayne Rooney has signed a deal to write his autobiography.  Nothing unusual in that (even at his age) these days, except that his life is deemed worthy of a five-book deal!  No doubt ‘Wayne Rooney – Schooldays’ ‘Wayne Rooney – Footballer’ ‘Wayne Rooney – World Cup Diary’ ‘Wayne Rooney – Chavtastic’ and ‘Wayne Rooney – I Like Chips Me’ will all be out by Christmas.  And yes I know I’ve missed an obvious one but I think that’s for the best!

Middlesboro.

You know I don’t like the place but right now they are the epitome of what makes football great.  From being spanked 7-0 at Highbury to beating the Chavs 3-0 in a couple of weeks.  Results like that should give us all heart because it’s why this game is so damned great!

Ron Greenwood RIP

The ex England manager dies a couple of weeks ago – and nothing from the FA.  The guy that revolutionised youth coaching (he was youth coach at Arsenal and at one point looked to have a chance of becoming manager before he left to join West Ham and lead them to their mid-60’s success) has just been forgotten.  In these days when anyone and everyone gets a minutes silence why didn’t football do something to honour this man.  I mean they had a minute’s silence at every ground for a drunken Irish waster who never truly became the great he could have been because…he couldn’t be bothered.  Absolute disgrace in my view.  And no I didn’t stand for the minutes silence when Best died – and I’ve got to say I was by no means alone.

Liverpool

Well, Anfield is always one of the biggest away trips of the year, and in terms of the actual environment it’s a much safer place to visit than it used to be.

Had to do a ‘there and back’ for this one but by the time I left home a rainy, miserable morning had turned into a bright, sunny afternoon.  That was to change, but at least for the journey down (still in a hire car) it was quite pleasant.  In fact the only problem I had was when I went into the car park after stopping at services and completely forgot what car I was supposed to be looking for!  I’m not ‘into’ cars and they all look much the same to me but thanks to central locking (I went around the car park pressing the button on the key ring until a car flashed at me!) I found it. 

Stopped in one of the first car parks and managed to get parked near the front (easy to get out).  When you park at away grounds they tend to get you to park at the back and put the home fans at the front so they can get out first.  When the guy stopped me to get my money I did (an appalling) scouse accent ‘Alright la’ and he laughed at me.  I joked that putting on a dodgy accent was the only way not to get stuck at the back of the car park.  He laughed again and said I could park at the front for my cheek – result!

It’s strange that although I never make a point of it I always seem to find myself standing in front of The Hillsborough Memorial and it’s ‘eternal flame’ when I go up there.  My feelings about what happened are very strong, but even stronger is the feeling of disgust that after nearly 17 years the families and friends of those who were lost are still fighting for justice.  Please visit their website if you’ve a couple of minutes spare, or if you don’t know what happened.  Even if you think you know what happened it’s worth checking out because there are so many myths and downright lies that have become accepted as truth by repetition.  *****

After standing there a while I went off to the club shop to get a programme.  Well four actually because I was buying for others as well.  Not likely to be a problem until I noticed this big sign on the door ‘No £20’s’.  Well it is Liverpool I suppose but I had to go to the pub and get one changed for 10’s before I could buy them!  A quick stroll past the ‘Everpool’ café (blue AND red naturally) and I met up with the person who was having my spare ticket.  Despite all the potential for disaster everything was going well, and after a joke with the steward (it’s one of the few grounds that you can actually have a joke with them) it was into the ground.

I’ve got to admit I wasn’t overly hopeful.  With Fowler (who always seemed to score against us in his previous spell there) and Morientes (who’s career was ruined because he wouldn’t play up to the ultras in Madrid in the same way Raul did) up front I just couldn’t see us holding out.  ‘Bostik Boy’ Fowler is (or rather was) one of the few players I’ve genuinely coveted and we should have broken the bank to sign him as a replacement for Ian Wright.  Oh well…

From the start it didn’t look too promising.  Ok, Lehmann played out of his skin (yet again) but it was always them that looked more like scoring a goal.  We were out played – but at least we weren’t outfought.  I don’t think anyone could make a case for us deserving to win the game, but maybe we battled enough to deserve a (however uneven) draw.  Or at least Jens did!

He has been outstanding since he joined Arsenal and dropping him last term was a complete travesty.  Now, he’s showing some of his best form in our shirt, although it is fair to say that he’s had a lot more opportunities to display his talents this term!  I think it’s especially noticeable that since we lost Sol he’s been a lot more vocal and trying everything to help the kids in front of him along.  I’m not going to make a case for him being made captain because I think that captains should be (without exception) defenders or central midfielders, but he’s certainly playing a captains role at the moment.

When he went up for that corner at the end we were all praying that he’d get on the end of it, and for a second it looked like he would.  Mind you, the way he jumped I’m not sure if he was trying to head the ball, or block it with his hands!

Our support was outstanding all night, from the pre-match chants of ‘Rocky’ to the post match chants of ‘We Love You Arsenal’.  As fans we deserved more than we got at the end from the players.  Whilst it’s not true that Henry didn’t acknowledge the Arsenal fans at the end, he didn’t exactly make too much effort about it.  He did applaud us briefly from the centre of the pitch, and then he ran off.  The other players started to follow their captain off the pitch and had to be ushered over to us by Gary Lewin.  It’s not good enough – in fact I’d go as far as to say it’s an absolute disgrace.  I couldn’t care less how disappointed the players may have been at the end – in my view it’s their absolute duty to thank the fans for their support at the end of the game, let alone after a game when it had been so magnificent.  Sometimes players need to be reminded that without the fans they’re just 22 grown men kicking a bit of leather around.  For no wages. 

The drive back was a nightmare.  I’d expected to be able to hammer the car and get home well before 1am (not much traffic at that time of night, clear roads, etc) but the rain was coming down in torrents all the way home and it wasn’t safe to go too fast, even with no other traffic on the road for long stretches.  When I got home I poured myself a brandy and looked at the clock – 2:15am.  I’m sure you’ll have no problem believing I had another couple before I went to bed that night.

Real Madrid.

Don’t let anyone tell you this is a ‘must win’ game because it’s obviously not (if for no other reason than it’s over two legs!) but it’s definitely a ‘must not lose by more than one goal’ game.  To be honest I’m quite hopeful we can turn them over.  I think Wenger has been keeping Walcott back for this one – mad as it sounds to keep a 16 year old back to make his debut in Madrid – and whether he starts or not I think he’ll get a chunk of game time.  Let’s be honest here – football is about fairy tales and they wouldn’t come bigger than a 16-year-old turning over Real!  I really do think we can beat them, so long as we go to beat them and not to just contain them.  That’s what I’m frightened of – us playing for a draw because they’ll crucify us.

Oh well, I’ll tell you about my trip to Madrid next week, until then…

Come On You Red(currant)s!