I don’t support them…. I
support a big team….
How often do you hear that?
I support Chesterfield FC,
strangely enough, because that’s where I’m from, I don’t live there anymore but
still follow the team.
We’ve been doing badly, the
Chairman’s resigned amongst much speculation that he will take all his money
with him, or perhaps it’s just a ruse to get rid of some of the directors.
Manager Danny Wilson was
sacked after taking us from top to bottom of the division and then recovering a
bit.
The great team that we had 2
years ago that got to the playoffs has all been sold and it’s a full on
relegation battle this season.
Chesterfield is a proper
football town everyone loves the game, but trying to drag people to the match
is hard.
When you grow up there, a lot of the local school kids like me would
go to the match. Danny Wilson was our hero in the great team we had under
Arthur Cox, now Danny’s managed us and it hasn’t worked out.
I am usually asked “What
team do you support” when I say “Chesterfield” I’m usually met by a cry of
“They’re shit, who are they? I support (insert name of Premiership side) Anyway
what division are they in?” It’s tedious but you get used to it.
Other kids “supported” Man
United or Liverpool, they never went to football, or maybe once a season, if
they were playing one of the Sheffield teams. In the schoolyard you pick a big
team to support so you don’t look like a loser. Some kids supported Derby
County, but only went if their dad took them.
I go to the pub, bump into
couple of friends who are talking about who will win in the Man United v
Liverpool match the next day, one of them supports either team. They’ll be
watching it on telly. I ask them if they are going to the match today, they shake
their heads, they’re not wasting their time, they support big teams.
They ask me who
Chesterfield are playing I tell them it’s Coventry City, they assume it’s a cup
game and ask “How come Coventry are in’t same division as Town?” after all
Coventry are a big team aren’t they? Coventry are a financial basket
case, that’s how.
Half time in a relegation 6 pointer at the Proact Stadium
Sky Sports is on TV, it owns
football, but it now has rivals who also wish to do so, Sky Sports must up
their branding to win the hearts and wallets of the consumer.
Manchester United are going
to play Liverpool the next day in something called the "Nissan Super Sunday",
Manchester City will also play Everton in a blue coloured version of this event.
Their part of the event is not as magnificent as the red part of the soar away
Nissan Super Sunday, their branding is not as dominant in Outer Mongolia or Timbuktu or Chesterfield.
The Japanese Car Event is
the biggest day of large, huge epic-ness that’s ever existed. I am asked who I
wish would win the event I tell my friends that I am “not bothered.” I am met with incredulity, admitting that
you are “not bothered” about this fixture is the equivalent of saying you're somehow mentally defective and spend your afternoons trainspotting whilst
filling in a stamp collection.
Both friends assume I am
“taking the piss” they are scared that I may secretly support their hated TV
rivals, I am accused of being a “Plastic Scouser” and a “Secret United fan”.
Sky TV have Gary Neville and
Jamie Carragher telling us about their epic clashes. Neville is honest enough
to admit that Man United used to try to "influence the referee", especially in
this fixture, his rationale is that other teams used to do it, so they also had
to.
The more you told the ref he
was wrong, by crowding him and screaming abuse, eventually he’d give you a decision.
He’s probably right.
It then became apparent that
half of the traditional 22 man pushing event is a game of “keep the other team
away from the ref so we can "influence" him ourselves.”
At least Neville is honest,
I don’t find him or Jamie Carragher like-able but in a game where winning is
all, that really doesn’t matter. They’ve got so much money they could purchase
a personality each if they wanted to.
If you want un-likeable see
our ex-manager John Sheridan, he guided us to the League two title and a
Wembley win in the former Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. Recently he was managing
Notts County, in a referee's report he abused officials “My kids are not going
to get any F******* Christmas Presents because of you” and told the 4th
official “You’re a C***, I’m going to knock you out you C***”, he was sent to
the stands and got a 5 match touchline ban.
Sheridan was subsequently
sacked by Notts County who now sit second bottom of the entire league, he
clearly wasn’t much good at influencing football officials.
I’d like to see John
Sheridan as a panellist on SKY TV, purely so he could call Gary Neville a c***
and threaten to knock him out.
We took 54 fans away to Rochdale in the Checkatrade Trophy, it's not the most popular competition.
John Sheridan has a new job
at Oldham, for the third time, Oldham are worse than Chesterfield and in even
worse financial trouble. Both teams are in League One, in case you need to ask.
Gary Neville could buy either
team, he and his mates bought non-league Salford City; they want to redevelop
their ground much to the consternation of locals. Anything being built in
Salford would be an improvement.
Gary also wants to knock
down a street in Manchester and build another hotel, wisely he decided not to
build a hotel in Salford.
To the match, I had almost
given up in despair the last tine I saw one of Danny Wilson’s team play, we
lost away at Port Vale. Port Vale is not a place, but we lost to it. The
players looked hesitant and seemed unsure of the tactics, it was a relegation 6
pointer, Port Vale scored with a lucky deflection we only had one shot in the
whole game.
Port Vale Away
Ex hero Danny Wilson is
gone. Reserve manager and ex player Richie Humphreys is in temporary charge.
His first game did not go well we lost 4-0 away at Luton in the cup for the
league one and two teams, the one that John Sheridan managed us to victory in a
few years back, it’s now called the EFL Checkatrade trophy. Compared to that, Nissan sounds great.
Checkatrade is a directory
of trusted traders.
It’s a relegation 6 pointer.
Our team suddenly looks like
it knows what it’s doing, we are playing a diamond shape formation and moving
well but the final ball usually goes astray. Coventry can break quickly and
create 2 good first half chances but luckily fluff their lines.
There’s not much in it and
too much at stake. Our best chance is a first half shot by Ched Evans, yes him,
he’s probably not a nice person but he’s our best player. Chesterfield were the
team that resurrected his career.
In the second half
Chesterfield up the tempo, there’s not much in the game, Coventry have a “goal”
disallowed for offside, Marcus Tudgay, remember him? is flagged. After the game
Cov’s desperate new manager Russell Slade says it was a legit goal. Picture a
man clutching at a bag with no straws left in it.
We still can’t fashion a
good chance, then Humphreys changes the tactics to 4-2-3-1,. After 75 minutes
Midfielder Jay O’ Shea dribbles the ball across the Cov defence which holds a
solid line, he lays it off to Dan Gardner who smashes in a 25 yarder. We have 2
more good chances late on, but can’t convert another.
Palpable relief lifts the
gloom at the Proact, (yes that’s our sponsor) Stadium for the home faithful,
the 1,000 or so Coventry fans drift away. They’ve seen it all before.
Outside the ground I hear 2
Cops on their radios mentioning that Coventry supporters are mounting a
protest.
There’s a few away fans in
anoraks behind a banner demanding their owners leave the club, I feel sorry for
the fans, they have no hope.
Coventry City are owned by
SiSu a London based hedge fund. Some suggest ISIS would show more pity to the
team they own.
The outside of the Ricoh
arena, where Cov play, proudly boasts it is the home of egg ball chasers Wasps
who also rent the stadium.
Coventry City’s decline is
well documented, there seems no end in sight, the ground does not belong to the
club. They spent time ground sharing with Northampton Town. There have been all
sorts of protests, fans have suggested a buy out but SISU don’t want to sell.
The result sends Coventry
rock bottom, as I walk away form the ground 3 coach loads of Coventry fans with
miserable faces go past. Rather them than me. I go back to the pub, there’s much
talk of who our new manager will be.
I’m asked who will win on
Sunday Man Yoo or Liva’pewl?
Easy answer; “Nissan.”
