nickbennett_blog

Category: Football

  • Scummers top!!!

    Two weeks in and Col U are sitting at the top, hopefully not an ominous sign of things to come. Our start couldn’t be more frustrating! Two leads thrown away with silly mistakes. Yesterday’s 2 – 2 with Walsall did bring some financial reward in my accumulator but taught me a lesson in not betting on the team you love. From now on I’ll be only betting on games I’ve no loyalty towards. We’re also through to the next round of Carling cup and we got our dream draw against a Premiership side….Hull away!

    The Premiership started this weekend with a bit of a bang. All the top sides getting victories showing that this year could be the year where it’s at least a 3 horse race. I think Christiano Ronaldo’s departure could be the difference this year, and if I had to take a punt I would say Chelsea would be a good bet. We already have a little bit of controversy. Bryan Gunn is the first Managerial casualty and we’ve already had the first referee blunder of immense proportions. Crystal Palace’s disallowed goal is just another example of why we need goal-line technology. Ice hockey has a system in place, so why can’t football?!?

    ESPN has replaced Setanta and having watched the Everton vs Arsenal game I was quite impressed with their coverage. And thankfully ITV has handed over its coverage of the football league to the BBC. Hosted by Manish ‘The Football League’ show is not a bad round-up show. There’s a lot of stuff that probably could be cut from the show, especially Jackie’s fan’s emails section. If I wanted this I’d listen to 5 live. The fact that it’s on iPlayer is a godsend, especially if you have a faulty sky box.

  • New Season, no optimism

    So a new season is upon us and with that comes the hope of promotion? Not quite! This season’s goal will be the same as last year…survival. Plain and simple. Survival, not just in footballing terms but also in financial terms. I can appreciate why people choose to subscribe to the better leagues and stay at home. It’s cheaper and less hassle. However, you can never fully appreciate the whole drama of a match or a season from your living room.

    So who’s going to keep us afloat? Our chairman (like many others I’m sure) is saying all the right things, but he will always be viewed as a suspicious businessman. A new stadium looks like a distant dream in this difficult time. Football in the lower league as a whole is taking a massive financial hit. This is despite the astronomical figures being spent in the top leagues here and in Spain. Recent examples of Luton’s demise and Tranmere’s E-bay listing does concern me as these are teams I put on par with us. I can only pray that a bored oil sheik may one day stumble across Roots Hall and decide to take a punt. Notts County fans must be delirious!

    Do we look worse off than others in the league? It’s difficult to say, not knowing the ins and outs of all clubs. For us, though the fear set in after last year’s postponement of the team photo due to a lack of playing staff. This year’s team photo was released this week with a miss-match of short-term contracted players, loan players, and eagerly promoted youth players. It doesn’t bode well that we’ve lost our player of the season for ‘greener pastures’ for the past two seasons. It’s worrying that these ‘greener pastures’ are Charlton and Huddersfield!

    I’ll be there tomorrow taking my usual seat in front of the Columbo look-a-like, behind the weirdo, and to the left of Dagenham Kev. I’ll be berating the referee and complaining (under my breath) about the behavior of our resident hooligan. It will be as if I was never away. Why do I do it? Because this is Football, where the underdog can prevail. With our die for the cause captain and our dedicated loyal manager, anything can happen!

    Come on you Shrimpers!