Yesterday, being St Patrick's Day was a great day to celebrate being Irish. Or if Nottingham was anything to go by, an opportunity for hundreds of people with no Irish connection at all to don silly Guinness shaped hats; pretend to have an Irish accent, and get drunk.
I missed the St Patrick's Day parade; actually I avoided it. I haven't been to a parade since Belfast in the early 1970's, which put me off them totally, though I have no desire to prevent others from experiencing this strange form of enjoyment.
I do like my sport though, and with apologies to the Irish, and English, and Scottish, and Italian, and French, yesterday was a great day to be Welsh. Wales won the Six Nations Rugby championship by beating the five other nations over the last few weeks. At the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, they beat France 16 - 9, and so achieved the Grand Slam. This is the 3rd time in 8 years, and the 2nd time in the last 5 years that they have achieved this, which had Jonathan Davies talking about them in terms of the great sides of the 1970's. I'm not so sure that they're at that level yet, but they're still quite a young side, so who knows. They have however matched the achievement of 34 years ago by winning three Grand Slams in eight years. I remember Welsh Rugby in the 1970's, and the video below gives a glimpse of the magic of those days.
This was the golden era of 1969 - 1979 when Wales won four consecutive Triple Crowns, with players whose names still trip off the tongue: Gareth Edwards, Barry John, Phil Bennett, J.P.R. Williams, J.J. Williams, John Taylor, Mervyn Davies, (known as Merv the Swerve, and who sadly died just 3 days ago), Gerald Davies, and the Pontypool front row of Graham Price, Bobby Windsor and Charlie Faulkner.
Some people (mostly from outside of Wales it has to be said) are begrudgingly giving praise to Wales, but saying that the real test of how good they are is when they play teams from the Southern Hemisphere, such as Australia and New Zealand. Oh come off it. People don't say that when England win. Let's just acknowledge that as far as the Six Nations is concerned, Wales are the best team in the Northern Hemisphere, and that as far as Rugby is concerned, it's a great time to be Welsh.
But it's not just rugby. Yesterday, for the first time this season I watched Match of the Day. There were only two Premiership matches played, so there were some decent highlights shown.
First on was Fulham verses Swansea from Craven Cottage, with the result, Fulham 0, Swansea 3. This lifted Swansea to 8th position in the league, which is a remarkable achievement for a team who have just come up from the Championship.
But it wasn't just the score that impressed me, as good as that was against a very decent Fulham side. It was the manner in which Swansea played the game. I've read a lot of the plaudits that they have received for their style of football, and I was looking forward to seeing this for myself.
In the analysis of the game afterwards, they showed a marvellous clip which they had speeded up. It was a sequence of 30 - 40 passes lasting nearly 1:40 seconds, and it was a great example of possession football. And all of it was played on the grass, which reminded me of the great quote from Brian Clough, "If God meant us to play in the clouds he would have put grass there". Gary Linecar felt that Swansea were almost "Barcelonaesque" in the way that they played football. This is the kind of hyperbole that I would have been proud of. There are no "stars" in the team, just players who are comfortable on the ball, and know how to use it well. They are a credit to football, and another reason why yesterday was a great day to be Welsh.
But enough of this Welsh love-in. Yesterday also showed that football and rugby are just games, and other things in life are much more important. This was brought home by the collapse of Fabrice Muamba from a suspected heart attack while playing in the FA Cup for Bolton Wanderers against Tottenham Hotspur. Muamba is a former England under 21's player, and is young, fit and wealthy, but this didn't stop his heart from giving out, and at the time of writing this on Sunday evening, he remains in a critical condition. There really are no guarantees in life are there. I do hope that he pulls through OK.
I wasn't planning another blog on football quite so soon, but a couple of thoughts came into my head, and I couldn't resist it.
I decided to watch Football Focus on the BBC at lunch time today, because Joey Barton was on the panel, and Paul Scholes was being interviewed. I'm always interested in trying to find out about the person behind the public persona, as people are often different, depending on the scenario.
Joey Barton has often been portrayed as a bit of a thug on and off the pitch, and the examples of his violence do nothing to dispel that image. On TV today he came over as being fairly quiet, hesitant in giving strong views (though that may have been due to inexperience in front of the camera), but thoughtful.
Paul Scholes has rarely given interviews throughout his professional career, preferring to be more in the background. On the pitch, he was often in trouble due to his tackling ability, or lack of it, and was a tenacious performer, nothing like his shy image. Both players have been described as playing with passion (something I always find a bit strange, as if it's a rarity in sportsmen), and sometimes that gets you into trouble.
Wayne Rooney was also briefly discussed on the programme due to his sending off in last nights game in Montenegro. People were agreed that it was 'silly' and 'unfortunate', but if you take that side of his game away from him, he wouldn't be the same person. What utter rot. Martin Keown noted that there had been a great improvement in Wayne Rooney during the last year for club and country. "He'd learnt to control his aggression". These pundits drive me mad. Wayne Rooney is no doubt a good player, and everything has been going very well for him; Manchester United have generally swept everything before them, and Rooney was playing well. My problem with him is that when things are not going well for him or the team, he gets frustrated, and this supposed passion is nothing less than petulance. For me, that is not a sign of a great player.
Passion, skill and control go together to make a great player, and for me there is arguably no greater example than the Welshman, John Charles. His great career was with Leeds United, and then in 1957 he moved to Juventus in Italy, where during five years he won the championship 3 times, and the Italian Cup twice. In 155 matches for them he scored 93 goals; he was never cautioned or sent off in his professional career, and at Juventus he was called "The Gentle Giant". Italians held him in such high regard that thirty years after he last played in Italy, they voted him the best foreign player ever to play in their league. He was very versatile, scoring 42 goals in a season for Leeds United, while appearing at centre half for Wales. People can only remember him losing his cool once, and that was when playing a match for Wales. His Brother Mel Charles also played for Wales, and an opponent committed a particularly vicious foul against Mel, which John was incensed by. He ran the length of the pitch towards that player, and was only stopped by team mates from committing who knows what - he was a big man. Brotherly protection was the cause of his anger, but one incident, when he didn't actually end up doing anything, does not mar his perfect example of the fact that you can be successful, with passion, skill and control. A lesson that so many of today's sportsmen could do well to learn.
Here's a musical break in the proceedings. A tribute song to John Charles. I hope you like it.
Another thought that has been exercising me today is the old argument of technology in football matches. I don't know how long this has been going on, but I guess it's been with us since at least the Geoff Hurst goal in the 1966 World Cup.
Sepp Blatter
The arguments, for and against still rage on. Give me a pound for every time I've heard, "We don't want to slow the game down", or "We don't want to lose the human element", and I'll never blog again, as I'll be living on some tropical island.
Not losing the human element means that referees will make mistakes (not managers or players of course), and we have to live with that. But players, pundits and supporters don't believe that, given the level of criticism every week.
But what really gets me going is that technology would slow the game down. No! Players rolling about in feigned agony, getting the physios on the pitch, only to be minutes later running around like a gazelle; that slows the game down. Arguing with the referee about a foul or a penalty decision; that slows the game down. The elaborate, excessive goal celebrations (even when tapped in from six inches); that slows the game down.
The European Referees Association are against technology, and want to see the introduction of two extra linesmen behind the goal extended across the board. When questioned about the mistakes that have been made where this has been trialed, they said that any mistakes were not due to the extra linesmen, but were down to the referee ignoring their opinion. So where's the improvement then? FIFA may well trial technology to determine whether a goal was scored or not. The English FA may well do the same, but not before 2013/14. What are people afraid of? The only thing that people should be concerned about is that the majority of key decisions are the right ones. I can see that goal line technology will come in to the football league in the next few years. But I'd like to go further.
To me, there are three key decisions that can dramatically affect a game. Sending off decisions; penalty decisions and goal decisions. Last weekend, Jack Rodwell of Everton was sent off for a foul. From the TV pictures it clearly wasn't a sending-off offence, and the subsequent reversal of that decision backs that up, but it was too late for Everton, and arguably it cost them the game. In a crowded penalty area, was that a trip? Was it is push? Should it be a penalty? Matches have been won and lost on such decisions. We know that television these days has the capacity for instant replays, and a video referee, as in Rugby, can make the majority of decisions in a few seconds. Inspite of what people think, there are relatively few sendings-off, and few penalties per match, given the amount of matches that are played. I'd like to see the referee having to consult the video referee before he proposes to send someone off, or to give a penalty. This would not slow the game down dramatically, but it would give more opportunity for the right decision to be made.
Was it a goal or not? Technology can answer this question very easily. There are different technologies available at the moment that could make the answer "fool-proof". Without going into the technicalities, it would be possible to install a system that sends a signal to the referees watch within 0.5 seconds to signal if it was a goal. I've heard some critics of technology say that this would create a two-tier system within football. Come on, don't tell me that there's any one out there who still believes that football is equal. Tell that to Plymouth Argyle as they languish in 92nd place in the football pyramid. Others talk about the cost of introducing it right across football. Again, come on. Many things have been trialed over the years before they were rolled out across the board. This can be trialed in the Premier League, not the Blue Square Bet, for 2 or 3 years. And the cost argument is a pure red-herring. The company behind the Hawk-Eye system have said that they would install the technology for free in every Premier League ground in return for the right to sell sponsorship around the system. Another company, Cairos will bear the cost of installation, and only charge a percentage of what the four referees are paid for every match already. The cost is not an issue.
All of this is a bit controversial for the 'purest' I know, but I think it's worth a try. If not, then stop your moaning, get off the referees back, and accept that he's only human.
One hour after the game finished, the Nottingham Forest Manager, Steve McClaren had resigned (after 112 days in charge), and the Chairman, Nigel Doughty said he would resign at the end of the season. Nigel Doughty incidentally is also the club's owner. Fan's protests before and after the game were asking for resignations. They've had their wish granted, but will anything change?
Supporters often see Forest as a 'massive club', and needs to be back where it belongs. Unfortunately, facts do not back up this view. Undoubtedly, the heyday of the Club was under the managership of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, when they were European Champions in 1979 and 1980.
However, since the formation of the Premier League in 1992, there have been 19 seasons, not counting the current one. During that time Forest were in the top tier on 5 occasions; the 2nd tier on 11 occasions, and the third tier on 3 occasions. They were actually one of the 22 teams who were in the first Premier League (this was reduced to 20 teams in 1995). Although finishing 3rd in the Premier League at the end of the 1994-1995 season, they were also £11.3 million in debt, and placed in the hands of auditors, Price Waterhouse. This is symptomatic of the situation over at least the last twenty years (and a lot longer if truth be known); the story of a club living beyond its means, and moaning about its lack of success.
Sanity and reality are not big in football. Dreams, whatever the cost are. Too many readily forget that if it hadn't been for Nigel Doughty, Forest would not be in existence today. He joined the Board in 1999, and invested £12 million in the club. He became owner and Chairman in 2002, promising another £5 million to cover the reported losses of around £100,000 a week. When he took control of the club, his stated aim and ambition "was to make the club self-sufficient and to achieve and retain Premiership status". Since then, seven managers have come and gone, each one being blamed for furthering the decline of the club. Ten years later, neither of the Chairman's aims are remotely near being realised, and although the debts to external sources have been cleared, the club has seen the debt to the Chairman rise to what some say is anything between £50 million and £100 million. It's hard to argue with one Forest supporter who said, "For such a high level of investment, it's turned to nothing less than a spectacular level of failure".
I've often felt that one of the reasons for supporter unrest is the lack of communication between the Board and the supporters. There are many reasonable and intelligent supporters, and one such runs a Forest supporters web site. He speaks for many I'm sure when he outlines his criticisms of the Chairperson. These are:
Forest's continued policy of chasing unrealistic targets
Pulling the wool over the eyes of supporters
Pretending to be one of the division's big hitters when it comes to signing players.
A fourth reason could well be not being open with supporters about the true financial position of the club. This has now been addressed. In an interview on the clubs' official web site, the Finance Director, John Pelling clearly outlined the current financial state of the club. It does not make for good reading. He said that last year, the club had income of £15 million, but had made a loss of £12 million. The shortfall was made up by Nigel Doughty, who pumped money in to balance the books. Already this season the club has effectively run out of money, and that Nigel Doughty is "writing monthly cheques to keep the club afloat and pay the bills". The crude message is that there will be no more money spent on players this year. One of the drivers in dealing with this debt scenario is undoubtedly UEFA's Financial Fair Play policy which will come into force.
This means that in 5 or 6 years time (phased in over that period), all professional football clubs in Europe will have to break even, and so live within their means. There is so much technical detail involved in what break even means, that clubs with expensive lawyers and accountants will be scrutinising every detail for possible loopholes, but that will be against the spirit of the policy, and I'm sure that the majority will comply. And for me, it is a good thing that every club has to live within their means. When this happens, certainly in lower leagues, it becomes more of a level playing field. "Sugar-daddies" will not be relied upon to bail out clubs, and perhaps more clubs will have strategies that are longer than a season.
"They say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one". Living within their means should see transfer fees come down; excessive wages reduced and perhaps more serious attention given to using home grown talent. When Steve McClaren left the City Ground on Sunday, he said that the "Club does not match my ambition". I'm not sure that's true. The club may match it, but they just can't afford it. That's the harsh reality, and it will remain so for many years to come. The future for Forest is one of prudence and further cost cutting. The supporters will have to accept that this strategy will not quickly get them to the promised land of the Premier League.
Some are calling on Nigel Doughty to sell the club to someone who can provide more investment (rather insulting I think to someone who has put in so much), but leaving aside the prospect of finding someone who is currently willing to put in about £1 million a month to cover losses, what difference will it make under new UEFA Financial Fair Play rules? Whoever is the owner, the club will still have to live within its means. Perhaps sanity will return to football, and I may fall in love with the professional game again.
We do well in all walks of life to remember the words of Mr Micawber in Charles Dickens', David Copperfield.
"Annual income, twenty pounds; annual expenditure, nineteen pounds, nineteen shillings and sixpence - result happiness.
Annual income, twenty pounds; annual expenditure, twenty pounds, 0 shillings and sixpence - result misery".
I was taken to see my first football match when I was about 3 or 4 years of age, and I've been captivated by the game ever since. Although, I fell out of love with the higher echelons in the professional game many years ago. This was at the time when the Premier League was formed; TV money poured in, and only a handful of league clubs seemed to benefit from the 'windfall'.
The first professional club that I supported was Wrexham Football Club, who played just six miles from my home. They were the only professional league club in North Wales. For a number of years in the 1960's, I was to be found on the terraces every Saturday afternoon (remember the days when all games started at 3.00pm on a Saturday?) whatever the weather. The Racecourse ground was my football home, and I was pleased to play there once in a cup final - we lost - just. Wrexham have certainly had a chequered history since they were formed in 1872, and like many clubs from lower divisions, it has had majestic highs, and unbelievable lows. I was there when they recorded their highest victory (still the highest today), 10 - 1 against Hartlepool in March 1962. This was also the first time that three hat tricks had been scored in a single football league game. While we're on records, the Racecourse ground is the world's oldest international stadium still in use. In 1984 they beat FC Porto in European competition, winning 1 - 0 at home, and winning the tie on away goals, after coming from 3 - 0 down in Porto. There have been many magic moments.
What has also dogged them for years is financial insecurity. Their plight has been no different to that of the majority of clubs in the lower two divisions of the football league. Wrexham were relegated to the Blue Square Conference League at the end of the 2007 - 2008 season, after 87 years of consecutive membership of the football league. After flirting with disaster for so long, the inevitable happened. The problem was spending more money than they took in (sounds familiar?). Wrexham have decided on a way forward, which I'll come to in a moment.
Plymouth Argyle Football Club are just one of a growing number of clubs in financial difficulties. In Administration, as a result of living beyond their means (football calls it 'Living the Dream'), they failed to pay taxes, failed to pay wages and failed to pay bills. Their liabilities exceeded their assets, and they were insolvent.
Or they should have been in the real world. But football doesn't exist in the real world, it is somehow different to other businesses, and there are always reasons why clubs shouldn't be wound up. Debts increase, but it still keeps on trading. However, it looks as if a new owner has been found, who will clear the debts (there's around £3.5 million of historic wage debts to clear on its own), and start afresh. But if the business model doesn't change, how long before the merry-go-round of uncertainty begins again? I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said before, and by more experienced people than myself, but how many people are listening.
Clubs continue to exist, when in reality they should fold, because of the unswerving loyalty of supporters, players, some managers and back-room staff. At the moment, Plymouth are bottom of League Two, and last month they sacked their manager, Peter Reid "to preserve their league status". This was a man who sold his cup final medal to pay the club's heating bill, and to help particularly younger players who were not being paid. His reward was the sack. Players and back-room staff have continued to do their jobs, when they were not sure of being paid on time. Some owners don't deserve to have such unswerving loyalty, but surely there is another way of running a club?
Wrexham have just agreed to go down another route, and to follow in the path of pioneers before them. The Wrexham Supporters Trust will now run the club, and they are asking people to contribute to a community share scheme, with the minimum you can give is £250, and the maximum, £20,000. This is the beginning of a longer process, and everyone who gives will have a say in how the money is spent. This means that supporters are in charge of the club, which ought to mean more responsible spending, but if it doesn't, they've only themselves to blame. In an article yesterday in the Daily Post Wales, Andrew Gilpin described what motivated him to contribute to the community share scheme. "In the last few months alone we've had unpaid tax bills(of around £200,000), unpaid wages and a £100,000 shortfall in a bond to the Football Conference to let us play at all"."We can't go on like this". In my view, a Supporters Trust is a great way forward, and hopefully it will bring some sanity back into football, but only if more clubs go down this route.
It will be interesting to see how this all develops. The Racecourse Ground has been bought by the nearby Glyndwr University, and it looks as if the ground will now be called Glyndwr University Racecourse Ground. So the University will run the ground, and the Supporters Trust will run the club. While this major asset will no longer belong to the club, it seems to be an excellent opportunity for committed partnerships. Supporters Trusts have been around for a number of years, and seem to be growing in popularity particularly among non-league clubs (there are currently 3 league clubs, and 14 non league clubs run by Supporters Trusts). But why can't clubs higher up the food chain also benefit from being run by Trusts? This of course is a pipe dream, for those supporters will only be content with 'success', and the money that goes along with this. If you're part of a Supporters Trust running a club, you will have to be patient, and review what you mean by being successful. This is so much healthier, and takes us back to what grass roots is all about. At the moment there are just over 1,500 members of Wrexham Supporters Trust; they will need more of course, but being the only professional league football club in North Wales means that there is a fair catchment area to call upon. Also, following today's win, the club are third in the league - perhaps this season is going to be a good one after all.
The video's not great quality, but I enjoyed seeing it. Wrexham 1 - FC Porto 0.
