Hednesford Town v Real Madrid

Sir Alex Ferguson via BBC

Contrary to the impression given in some press coverage, Sir Alex Ferguson is not dead; he has risen again and walks the earth in his own likeness. It is business as usual at Old Trafford.

The remarkable record of Manchester United is due to a strong squad, consistency and having enough money to buy as many world class players as are required to win titles. Ensuring a permanent place in the lucrative Champions League is more about business interest that silverware and television rights and gate receipts are the imperative rather than pride in wearing a club shirt. Consistency, in this case, means replacing one dour, disciplinarian Scotsman with another, younger dour, disciplinarian Scotsman.

The migration of David Moyes along the M62 seemed inevitable following a nil-nil draw last week against arch rivals Liverpool resulting in a likely sixth place for Everton and not a place in the Champions League. With comparatively little money and a squad plagued by injury, Moyes has done well to achieve that and logic would indicate that given the considerable resources now available to him, Manchester United will conquer the world, find a cure for cancer and broker a lasting peace agreement in the Middle East. The expectations and the stakes are high. Anyone remember dour, disciplinarian Scotsman Tommy Docherty and what happened at Villa in the late 60`s, Wolves in the mid 80`s and Manchester United being relegated in 1974?

Recently, the excellent Stan Collymore has been expressing common sense regarding the German model for top flight football. This is where supporters have a stake and a voice and ticket prices are held at a sensible level. In the Bundesliga, football clubs are clubs and not simply a business. Another radical idea is a spending cap on transfers and a requirement to field home grown talent nurtured through youth teams. This would create a level playing and end the advantage of teams with rich owners simply buying another thoroughbred when one gets broken or fails. It might also dissuade the wealthy elite buying up promising young players and leaving them in the reserves just to stifle any potential opposition. Ironically, Manchester United pounced on Wayne Rooney, a product of Everton`s youth policy, after he frightened the life out of the United defence in a league game at Goodison Park in 2004.

Villa`s season will go down to the wire against Wigan and still face a mathematical possibility of relegation. With Wolves fans screaming for blood, Walsall did rather well to finish ninth in League One and West Brom will be happy with eighth in the Premier League. Imagine what could be achieved with the spending power of Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City or Manchester United. With such disparity, the Champions League will remain a closed shop.

Today, rich Manchester City face poor Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup Final at Wembley but for those fans that support football clubs rather than global marketing brands, there is a potentially more important game today. Local non-league teams have been doing rather well of late, particularly Chasetown, Walsall Wood and Rushall Olympic and today, Hednesford Town are up against FC United Manchester in the Northern Premier League Premier Division play-offs. Ironically, FC United were founded as a protest by Manchester United fans against some of the more dubious financial activities of overseas investors.

These non-league clubs with their loyal fan base do not need a dour, disciplinarian very well paid clone. What they do need next season, is for you to part with a few quid and go and watch them play.

David Moyes via BBC

Triple whopper with lies

Today is the third anniversary of the 2010 General Election and, like any normal three-year-old, the present coalition government has learnt to walk, talk and destroy things.

Quite a lot can be achieved in three years. You could, if so inclined, complete a university degree course and saddle yourself with debt and no hope of gainful employment. You could, with tenacity and stamina, produce three children and therefore enjoy a life of luxury by scrounging state benefits. Given an advantageous launch window and a suitable propulsion unit, you could journey in a space craft to Jupiter. You could train to be a nurse and save people`s lives only to find that your hospital is closing because a lying minister unqualified in health has decided that you are “uncaring”. You could become a teacher and educate three cohorts in Key Stage One or Key Stage Two only to be described by a lying minister unqualified in education as a Marxist for wishing to nurture children with a balanced curriculum. You could develop a serious disability or terminal illness in order to adopt a lifestyle choice of state benefit dependency only to be told by a lying minister unqualified as a human being that you are a feckless, workshy scrounger and will receive no support during the time it takes you to die.

Walsall fantasy football

Image via walsallfcstore.co.uk

Today, Walsall Football Club celebrates 125 years of history, triumph, disaster and survival; year number 126 might just prove to be the best yet.

In 1888, when Walsall Town Football Club merged with Walsall Swifts Football Club to become, unsurprisingly, Walsall Town Swifts, Queen Victoria was on the throne and the Marquess of Salisbury was Prime Minister. The year brought to the world T.S. Eliot, John Logie Baird and T.E. Lawrence and witnessed the passing of Matthew Arnold, Edward Lear and Louisa May Alcott. The Financial Times was first published, Jack the Ripper was doing his worst in and around Whitechapel and Van Gogh cut off a piece of his own ear. More importantly, the Football League was founded. The first 12 clubs included Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Walsall Town Swifts would become founder members of the Football League Second Division in 1892 and would be renamed as Walsall Football Club in 1896.

The more recent and financially troubled past has been thoroughly documented elsewhere and given the current economic turmoil affecting Cyprus, it might be best

A game of two halves

Image via morethanthegames.co.uk

Some months ago, I was persuaded to be complicit in an elaborate deception involving beer, non league football and a surprise birthday party.

A friend had decided to organise a surprise birthday party for her significant other and I was tasked with keeping the birthday boy occupied between midday and six pm on a September Saturday to allow for the secret preparations. Realising that the only person who does not enjoy a surprise party is the victim of all the mysterious fuss, I joined the conspiracy against my better judgement. Given that his preferred leisure active is a complete anathema to me, golf was out of the question and an alternative was required. After extensive research, it appeared that there is very little for two portly, middle-aged men to do in Walsall on a Saturday afternoon other than become incredibly drunk. This was not an option as the evening`s celebration was specifically designed around people becoming incredibly drunk.

Being an intelligent man, my victim knows my character well enough to smell a rat if any encounter did not involve booze and so, as a pre-emptive double bluff, we arranged to meet at high noon in the Manor Arms situated in the delightful hamlet of Rushall. This might seem counterintuitive but it was all part of the sneaky plan. After a couple of pints of rather fine ale, drunk unusually slowly, we adjourned to The Boathouse for lunch before heading to the magnificent Dales Lane Stadium to enjoy the spectacle of Rushall Olympic take on the mighty Burscough in the Evo-Stik League Northern Premier Division.

Non league football is an absolute gem. The sound of every crunching tackle, leather on skull, studs on shins and the inventive placement of unsubtle obscenities are all clearly audible just a few feet away from the touchline. This is a million miles away from the pampered prima donnas of the Premier League. This is real football and these are players who play for the love of the game and not for the love of money. The recent heroics displayed by Walsall Wood away to Guernsey in a cup replay seem nobler even in defeat than the petulant shrieking that comes from the management and players at more affluent corporate brands. It is difficult to pin-point exactly when top flight professional football stopped being a sport and became a business and exactly when supporters were reclassified as customers but you can bet your Arsenal replica match shirt that it was at about the time when television rights were put up for auction. Money, it seems, is good in the box and keeps its shape at the back.

Generation F

League tables, as any supporter of Walsall Football Club will tell you, are not very important unless you find yourself at the very top or at the very bottom. However, a drop of 70 places even in a meaningless and hollow taxonomy is not the best of news for a beleaguered yet still proud town.

With Walsall sixth from bottom in the npower League One Table, just three points away from the relegation zone and with a dreadful goal difference of minus 12, questions as to the future of manager Dean Smith are beginning to be asked. Only an emphatic win against Yeovil on Saturday will go some way to silence the critics and avoid the long journey into League Two and away fixtures at Exeter and Gillingham. Football in Walsall, though, still has a chance to survive with the noble forces of courage, commitment, dedication and hard work. Sadly, the same cannot be said of education in Walsall.