Football Fans–Their Own Worst Enemies?

From the title, you could be forgiven for thinking that I am going to be writing about the rivalry between football fans. Not this time though. I am talking about the goings on at Newcastle United.

The recent history of Newcastle United has been more like a soap opera than the history of one of the best supported football clubs in England. In brief, Mike Ashley, then a relatively unknown businessman bought Newcastle United in the summer of 2007. Initially it all started well, with him appointing Kevin Keegan as manager. The future looked bright, then Ashley seemingly set about sabotaging his own business. He effectively constructively dismissed Kevin Keegan by undermining him by various acts including appointing the inexperienced Dennis Wise as the Director of Football. The club appointed Joe Kinnear as manager and eventually after Kinnear had a heart attack, the club were relegated.

Ashley tried unsuccessfully to sell the club and after being unable to find a full time manager he appointed caretaker manager Chris Hughton as full time manager. The club sold most of its big name players. Despite all this Hughton steered Newcastle to an immediate return to the Premiership.

A good start to the first season back in the Premiership saw Hughton sacked. Yes, you read that right. Instead Alan Pardew who had failed at Charlton, West Ham and Southampton was appointed as manager. Then after Pardew, an unpopular appointment, had started to win over the fans, he had the ignominy of having Joe Kinnear appointed as Director of FA, sorry, Director of Football. Kinnear proceeded to tell lie after lie about his contacts, his history. In fact Kinnear is someone who has never been introduced to the truth. He could not lie straight in bed. To say these appointments were not popular with the fans is an understatement.

Ashley re named the ground the Sports Direct Stadium or some other such abomination that upset the fans, the local council etc.

Ashley managed to get rid of Virgin Money as club sponsor by not even offering them the chance to renew their sponsorship. Instead he signed a sponsorship deal with loan sharks Wonga.

There are so many other things that Ashley has done that he regularly faces abusive chants at games. There is a group called “Time 4 Change” who before a recent home match organised a protest march through the town calling for Ashley to go. The local media covered the march. The result was the football club have banned the local media from the ground. The press ban prompted the following

So, why do I say that football fans are their own worst enemies? Firstly, its not just Newcastle United who have banned the press. Other clubs have as well. However, Newcastle have excelled in that as well as banning the press, they have banned the supporters representative group from liaison meetings for daring to liaise with the fans. Yes, you read that correctly. The details are here.

So despite all this, 51674 turned up on Saturday to watch them play Chelsea. Some of those will be season ticket holders and have paid in advance. however all those who have paid for that particular game have simply made Mike Ashley more money. He is a business man and his interest is in making money. His success with Sports Direct and his other business dealings show this.

Even those who are season ticket holders will have spent money on programmes and refreshments within the ground. Thus providing money to Ashley.

Those who think he will listen to protests are mistaken. Ashley couldn’t care less what people think as long as he is making money. Pay your money to go into the ground and you are boosting his bank balance.

Many Newcastle fans that I have known for many years have stopped going to games. They gave up their season tickets and refuse to pay their money to Ashley. Sadly there are thousands of others to take their place, so the ground remains full, the cash keeps flowing into Ashley’s pocket and nothing will change.

Some fans complain that Ashley will not spend money on transfer fees or high wages for players. Why should he when he can fill the football ground with a team built on the cheap.

The only way that things will change at St James’ Park is if fans boycott games, and those who have paid in advance for season tickets refuse to spend money in the ground. That means not buying overpriced crap food or foul drinks. Not really a hardship is it? If the fans stood up to Ashley by hitting him in the wallet, he would have to either change his approach or else sell up the club. Either way – its job done.

Mike Ashley is to the fans what Michael O’Leary of Ryan Air is to air passengers! if today’s Daily Mail is to be believed, even Ryan Air are having to look again at their passenger treatment following passengers voting with their feet.

So Newcastle fans, if you want to bring about change, you need to vote with your feet and hit Ashley in the wallet. The same applies at many other clubs as well. Shout and complain all you like, but its not your club, it belongs to the shareholder( s ) and their interests are not the same as yours. The only way to have an effective voice is to hit the owner in the pocket.

Ground Hopping: Gateshead Leam Rangers FC v Spennymoor Town FC Durham Challenge Cup 2nd November 2013

For today’s trip I was up in the North East with my good lady. I had the choice of a couple of lunchtime kick offs. It had to be a lunchtime kick off if I was to get to a game as I had to go out in the evening to a bonfire function.

So, the options were to go to St James’ Park to watch Newcastle v Chelsea in the Premiership or go to Gateshead Leam Rangers FC for the 2nd round of the Durham Challenge Cup between them and Spennymoor Town FC. I should add that Leam Rangers are currently 2nd bottom of the Wearside League which is at Level 11 of the Football Pyramid. No contest really was it?

So, off to Leam Rangers it was. A miserable day weather-wise. Torrential rain and probably the coldest day of the autumn so far.Leam Rangers play at the Hilltop Ground. That should have been a clue as to the conditions to be found.

Today was the biggest day in the history of Leam Rangers. Admission to the ground was only £5. A bargain compared to the £28 Peterborough were charging for their League 1 game against Leyton Orient today. (That is a level 3 game). No turnstiles here, the money is paid to the gatekeeper at the entrance to the car park. For today’s game, the club had made arrangements for an overflow car park in the local school. A club having consideration for its neighbouring residents and avoiding parking problems? That’s clearly not a professional club.

The club has only been in existence for some 20 years, most of these as a youth team. They run numerous youth teams these days and have a great set up. There is a large club house and changing rooms, a first team pitch and a 2nd pitch on the site along with all weather 5 a side pitches.

The club house is large and serves alcohol, has sky TV and pool, darts etc.It is a well appointed facility and is far better than many clubs much further up the pyramid. It is for example several times bigger than the bar at Trafford FC who are in the Northern Premier League Premier Division (level 7). game).

The pitch itself was surprisingly good. It is far better than many of the pitches at level 8 and below. What was immediately noticeable was that there was no seating or covered standing. Indeed there was only hard standing along

one side of the pitch. Behind both goals and along the far side of the pitch it was simply grass. For the level they play at, it is not necessary to have these facilities. Similarly, there are no floodlights at the ground. There was one unusual feature at the ground. High Voltage power lines run above the length of the pitch! This is not something you see at many grounds.

I never did get to find out what happened if the ball hit the power lines.

 

At this level, the facilities are rather different from the Premiership. The teams have to walk across a car park to get from the changing rooms to the pitch? Can you imagine Chelsea and Newcastle walking across a car park to get onto St James’ Park

 

The catering at the ground was very good value, with tea and coffee only 50p a cup. Chips at £1 a tray and burgers only £1.50. It was interesting to note the catering facilities are open every weekday night from 5pm – 8pm. This gives some idea of the number of children using the facilities each evening.

 

The team at the top of the Northern League against a team 2nd bottom of a league 2 steps below. Surely the game would be a one sided affair. The score line at 4-0 to Spennymoor would suggest it was, but that is unfair on Leam Rangers. They battled well throughout the game and did not make it easy for Spennymoor.  It was always a game where Spennymoor’s extra class was likely to show, and if it wasn’t for some hard work from Leam Rangers, it could have been double figures.

The Leam Rangers goalkeeper deserves a word of praise, he produced some great saves to keep Leam in the game.

The weather may have been foul, but I hope the future is bright for this go ahead club who provide lots for the local community.

 

So, a day when Spennymoor progress comfortably in the Durham Challenge Cup, Newcastle turned over Chelsea, Sunderland humiliate themselves again and Leyton Orient win the top of League 1 clash at Peterborough. The weather fails to dampen a great day. Especially when one adds into the equation wins for the England Rugby Union and Rugby League teams as well.

Que Sera, Sera: Leyton Orient v Coventry City: Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Southern Section Second Round 8th October 2013

 

Tonight I went down the O’s for the biggest cup tie in London this week. Leyton Orient were drawn at home in the 2nd round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Southern Section. When I say the biggest cup tie, I need to be honest and mention the only competition seems to be Rymans League Cup ties.

Orient were hosting Coventry City. How times have changed.Its not so long ago that Leyton Orient were one of the longest continuous members of the lowest rung of the Football League whereas Coventry City were founder members of the Premier League and before that had been in the top flight of the Football League as well as winning the FA Cup in 1987. Tonight sees Orient top of League 1 and unbeaten in all 10 League games this season and Coventry are 18th in the same division on 7 points ( they have had 10 points deducted though).

Ten years ago, Leyton Orient would have had the ambition of avoiding a 5 goal hammering if they drew a team like Coventry in a cup tie, even at home. Tonight however, those who attended the game expected an Orient win. How times and expectations have changed.

The game itself was a strange sort of affair. There was lots of end to end football played by both side, but few actual efforts on target.According to Sporting Life there were only 5 on target efforts in the whole game. That would suggest the game was dull, nothing could be further from the truth.It was only the final ball that was lacking. Both sides had rested players, so its perhaps not surprising that on target efforts were at a premium.

The Johnstone’s Paint Trophy ties are decided on the night without the benefit of replays or extra time. As the game was 0-0 after 90 minutes, it goes straight to extra time. Orient winning 4-2 (only 8 penalties were taken). Coventry missed two of their four penalties.

It could be said by some that the picture below shows the only highlights of the game

I would suggest that is unfair as there were also 3 other floodlight pylons at the ground.

 

The crowd was around 2100 of which 489 were from Coventry which is a fantastic away support given the way they have been treated by their club. “Home” games are played at Northampton which is I believe an 80 mile round trip. The club was put into liquidation (hence the 10 point deduction in the league) and then bought back free of debt by the owners who put it into liquidation. Does that sound like a fair outcome? More on the events off field at Coventry can be found on the excellent 200% Blog and I will not seek to repeat them here.

So, for the 2nd time this season, Orient just scrape through in a home cup tie against Coventry City. Whilst the performance was not of the quality some Orient fans may have liked, it was another win against a side that most Orient fans have thought to be a much bigger/ better side. Before last year, it is a long time since Orient were in the same league as Coventry, let alone beating them.

For Orient its time to look ahead to the Southern Section Quarter Finals next month and back to the League in the meantime where another 22 points from the remaining 36 games should be enough to ensure their survival in League 1.

Ground Hopping: Harlow Town FC v Redbridge FC 21st September 2013 Rymans’ League Division 1 North

 

After the disappointment of watching good free flowing attacking football from Leyton Orient on Tuesday, I had decided that this weekend I would give the football a miss and do some domestic chores. Apparently the house needs cleaning now and then – well Michelle says so, and as she is coming down to stay in a couple of weeks, I felt the need to delouse the house.

Well, that lasted till about 5 minutes after I had started cleaning. Ok, when I say cleaning, I meant thinking about starting it when I had finished surfing the net. Ok, if the truth be known I never got as far as even thinking of doing the cleaning. I mean a little bit of dirt never hurt anyone did it?

So, surfing the net and I look at The Non League Paper and their excellent fixture guide and settle on Harlow Town FC at home to Redbridge in the Rymans League Division 1 North. Its only about 20 miles from my home and easily reached via the M11. Redbridge are based near to my home, having bought Barkingside’s ground and are now Barkingside’s landlords. It is a relatively local game for both teams.

Harlow is an “interesting” place being a new town built around an existing small town. This is a little bit similar to Milton Keynes, but minus the cows.

 

 

Driving along the road to the ground, it was interesting to see the Rugby Club and the Cricket Club are off the same road. There is also a Greyhound Stadium next to the football ground. A real sporting conglomeration. The ground is signposted off the main road and the first thing you notice is there is lots of parking available free at the ground. Its not just on road parking, but specifically built parking spaces at the side of the ground. This is a nice touch and welcome as the ground is over a mile from the town centre and not served by any major bus routes.

After parking the car, the first thing I noticed was what appears to be a very large main stand. Given Harlow have an average crowd of under 200, I never expected to see such a big stand. As I hadn’t been here before, I did wonder if this was a sports centre that Harlow Town shared.

Round the corner were the turnstiles.There were 2 turnstiles here and 2 at the other end of the ground, but only 1 turnstile was needed to get everyone in. There was an interesting sign on the turnstiles.

If this is applied, then one wonders what the game will be like. I’ve never seen a football match without a ball before.

Admission into the ground if £10 which is steep for this level of football, but it does include a match programme providing they have not run out. An interesting approach. The programme has a nominal face value of £2 but I am not sure who would be paying for one given they are included with the admission price.

Through the turnstiles, the first think you see is a small Astroturf area for children to play football on. It is fenced off from the main pitch. A good idea to keep kids amused during the main game?

The ground itself consists of the main stand referred to above and a relatively large terrace opposite it. The remainder of the ground is hard standing surrounded by grass. The ground it self is very neat and tidy and is without a doubt one of the smartest non league grounds at this level. It is obviously a relatively new development. In fact, the ground is only 7 years old. The pitch is an artificial one. I have always been against such pitches till I saw Spennymoor play on Durham’s pitch 2 seasons ago. They have improved massively since the mid 1980s when QPR, Luton and Oldham amongst others used them in the Football League.

The one immediately noticeable thing about the pitch here was the amount of “sand” or similar substances that were on the pitch. In parts the pitch was black as a result. The corner flags were also rather different. They were not fixed into the ground, but consisted of a weighted flagpole.

 

 

Jumping ahead to the game, the pitch played very true. Indeed, it allowed players to use skill, and was a true contest between the teams with the pitch not producing uneven bounces or bobbles. I would definitely be happy to see games played on artificial pitches like this every week.

As I said before, the ground is impressive. There is a decent tea bar, and a licensed bar at the ground with Sky TV etc. The main stand itself appears to have been designed with some form of corporate entertaining in mind. There is a directors lounge at the back of the stand.

The game itself was an interesting affair with Harlow looking the more skilful side, but they repeatedly failed to take their chances. It therefore came as no shock when Redbridge’s giant of a centre forward scored from a near post header towards the end of the first half. They then doubled their lead after a comical series of events. Firstly Redbridge were awarded a penalty after a trip in the area. This lead to lots of pushing and shoving between the player fouled and the player penalised. This was right in front of the referee. After he restored order, the player penalised, the Harlow captain continued to argue with the referee and refused to listen to him. The referee booked both players, which seemed a little bit lenient on the Harlow player. He commits a foul, he then strikes an opponent and shows dissent to the referee, even after being booked. The Harlow player got the same punishment and he “only” struck the Harlow player after he was shoved first. It seems the original foul and the repeated dissent went unpunished.

Redbridge then managed to miss the penalty, but immediately afterwards, a cross was put in and the Harlow keeper flapped at it gifting a goal to Redbridge. 2-0 up away from home at 1/2 time and surely looking forward to an away win?

The second half saw Harlow gradually control the game. They however came as close to going 3 behind as they did to closing the gap. Then a breakthrough and Harlow pulled one back. Then in the 90th minute they managed to get an equaliser. It was not undeserved, but it did not seem as though it was coming. A draw was a fair result.

I need to make a mention of the Harlow Ultras. It seems that along with telephone masts in football grounds in the London area, all non league clubs have their own group of Ultras. The Harlow Ultras numbered about 20 and whilst they did make some noise, the majority of it came from a siren device which was set off after each goal Harlow scored. They however added a bit of atmosphere to the game and were clearly enjoying themselves. This needs to be encouraged. It will entice others to games if they see it as being lively.

One final observation of the ground today was that although it was a great set up, there was a distinct lack of groundside advertising. There were 2 boards from Macron the sportswear manufacturer, 2 boards from a company called Platinum Sports Management, one proclaiming the club were proud to be associated with the Variety Club (charity)  and the obligatory board of the League’s Sponsor. Given the number of firms in Harlow, it is a poor show. The club need to get the local businesses on board to act as sponsors or at least to advertise at the ground. It is not easy, but faint heart never won the fair maiden.

   

Oi, Barry Hearn Sort It Out – An Open Letter to Barry Hearn

 

Dear Mr Hearn,

As Chairman of Leyton Orient, you need to get your act together and sort things out at the club before it is too late.

I moved to London in 2000 from Newcastle where I had been a season ticket holder for many years. I rapidly identified a lot of similarities between Leyton Orient and my beloved Newcastle United. Both were clubs that in the last 50 or so years have not had much success. Both are clubs with a hardcore of loyal fans, and many staff who have the best interests of the club at heart.

On the field both clubs flatter to deceive and just when you think they are going places, they fall flat on their faces. When I started coming to Orient they had been in the old 4th Division longer than just about any team other than Rochdale. Like Newcastle, Orient were able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Like Newcastle, Orient could get a good result against the top team in the division and then the next week lose to a side who hadn’t scored in 10 games.

Orient had a fleeting glimpse of success in 2006 when they won promotion, but this was only from the 4th tier to the 3rd tier of English football. It was hardly a roaring success. Last season, Orient showed their true colours, getting to the Johnston’s Paint Trophy Southern Final before losing at home to a poor Southend side who were struggling in the division below. Then Orient were winning away in the 2nd leg and were within seconds of getting to the national final at Wembley before reassuringly throwing it away.

Following Orient, is like following Newcastle in that it is comforting to know they are going to throw it away. Even after a good run, you know they are going to lose to the side at the bottom of the table.

Then we get nights like tonight. As Chairman of Leyton Orient you should be taking action to ensure this does not happen again. After 6 wins out of 6 games and incredibly the only club in the top 6 divisions with a 100% record, Orient were to host a Notts County side who were bottom of the table with only 1 point from a possible 18. Add to this the fact that despite being only mid September, it was chucking it down with rain and freezing cold. Top of the division Orient playing at home to the bottom side. This being Orient, the faithful turn up in the expectation, based on years of experience, that the O’s would screw it up and lose miserably at home.

So what did your manager Russell Slade and his team serve up? A pathetic home display culminating in a 1-0 home defeat or perhaps a real off night and a heavy home defeat. Such performances are so reassuring to the long suffering faithful at Brisbane Road. Instead of this, Leyton Orient let all of us regulars down by destroying Notts County and winning at home 5-1 whilst their nearest rivals were losing at home to leave Orient 5 points clear of the 2nd placed team after only 7 games. Orient are already a ridiculous 17 points off the relegation places.

This is not the sort of thing we expect. It was appalling tonight to see the faces of Orient fans facing the prospect of going home tonight to their other half or to work in the morning unable to moan about how rubbish the O’s are. People in the North Stand tonight were even seen smiling and laughing.

It is up to you as Chairman and owner of the club to put an end to this sort of behaviour. We don’t expect to see sides put to the sword, to see our strikers substituted and to still score 2 more goals after those substitutions. We don’t pay our money to see Kevin Lisbie scoring for fun or Dean Cox curling sublime shots round the opposition keeper. None of us expect to see Shaun Batt running through defence and scoring or subs scoring with their first touch of the ball.

As Orient fans, we expect to be let down and to have reasons to moan.

Its about time you ended this winning streak and do something to return normal service to Leyton Orient

The scenes below are not what we pay our money for. We demand mediocrity and failures and  an end to this winning lark. Its not something we spectators are able to cope with.

  

Technorati Tags: Barry,Hearn,Sort,Open,Letter,Dear,Chairman,Leyton,Orient,London,Newcastle,ticket,holder,similarities,Both,Division,team,Rochdale,victory,promotion,tier,English,football,Last,Johnston,Paint,Trophy,Southern,Final,Southend,Wembley,nights,action,Notts,fact,September,expectation,manager,Russell,Slade,performances,Brisbane,Road,Instead,regulars,relegation,People,North,Stand,owner,behaviour,sword,strikers,goals,substitutions,money,Kevin,Lisbie,Dean,opposition,keeper,Shaun,Batt,ball,failures,lark,spectators

Windows Live Tags: Barry,Hearn,Sort,Open,Letter,Dear,Chairman,Leyton,Orient,London,Newcastle,ticket,holder,similarities,Both,Division,team,Rochdale,victory,promotion,tier,English,football,Last,Johnston,Paint,Trophy,Southern,Final,Southend,Wembley,nights,action,Notts,fact,September,expectation,manager,Russell,Slade,performances,Brisbane,Road,Instead,regulars,relegation,People,North,Stand,owner,behaviour,sword,strikers,goals,substitutions,money,Kevin,Lisbie,Dean,opposition,keeper,Shaun,Batt,ball,failures,lark,spectators

WordPress Tags: Barry,Hearn,Sort,Open,Letter,Dear,Chairman,Leyton,Orient,London,Newcastle,ticket,holder,similarities,Both,Division,team,Rochdale,victory,promotion,tier,English,football,Last,Johnston,Paint,Trophy,Southern,Final,Southend,Wembley,nights,action,Notts,fact,September,expectation,manager,Russell,Slade,performances,Brisbane,Road,Instead,regulars,relegation,People,North,Stand,owner,behaviour,sword,strikers,goals,substitutions,money,Kevin,Lisbie,Dean,opposition,keeper,Shaun,Batt,ball,failures,lark,spectators

Blogger Labels: Barry,Hearn,Sort,Open,Letter,Dear,Chairman,Leyton,Orient,London,Newcastle,ticket,holder,similarities,Both,Division,team,Rochdale,victory,promotion,tier,English,football,Last,Johnston,Paint,Trophy,Southern,Final,Southend,Wembley,nights,action,Notts,fact,September,expectation,manager,Russell,Slade,performances,Brisbane,Road,Instead,regulars,relegation,People,North,Stand,owner,behaviour,sword,strikers,goals,substitutions,money,Kevin,Lisbie,Dean,opposition,keeper,Shaun,Batt,ball,failures,lark,spectators

Football Fans – Are They Their Own Worst Enemy?

In the halcyon days, football was the people’s game, or so we like to recall. It was played by people like us. Prices were cheap and games were good value with competitive football and no play acting/ cheating as I prefer to call it.

Back in the early 1980s, then Tory MP Matthew Paris lived in Scotswood, Newcastle for a week living on benefits. He was able to afford to go to watch Newcastle United play. He got £26 benefits and a match ticket was £2.50. He repeated the exercise in 2004. By now benefits had doubled to £50 a week, but a football match ticket was now circa £25, a 10 fold increase. The increase at Newcastle is not much different to many other clubs.

When I was a student in the mid 1980s living in Manchester I often attended at least 2 football league matches a week. I was able to afford to do this. Now, a solicitor with many years qualified, I cannot afford to do this. Football prices have risen exponentially in the last 20 or so years.

In the 1980s, a good footballer generally earned about as much as a partner in a decent solicitors firm in the town. Nowadays, an average footballer in the Premiership earns as much per week as the same solicitor does. A day out at football can easily cost £100 by the time food, drink, programmes and travel are added to the cost of a match ticket.Indeed at Arsenal, a match ticket for one game costs up to £126. Yes, that is for 1 game! Arsenal get 60,000 people paying such inflated prices.

Turn the clock back 30 or more years and most football clubs were owned by a local businessman or bigwig. Often run as his personal hobby or as a tool to promote his business interests. Now football is all about money. We have club owners like Mike Ashley at Newcastle United who makes it very clear that he has no interest in being popular with the fans. Indeed he takes an almost perverse delight in antagonising the fans. You may ask why he doesn’t try to impress the fans or to make himself more popular. The answer is simple. He doesn’t need to. He knows that no matter how badly he treats the fans he will still get 40,000+ fans turning up each week.

I along with most of my friends have relinquished my season ticket at Newcastle, but other suckers buy them available season tickets and turn up every week. When you have mugs to pay the sky high admission prices, then football has no need to appeal to the fans.

Another gripe about fans of Premiership football is the fact that their team have so few 3pm kick offs on a Saturday with games being moved to Saturday lunchtime, Saturday night, Sundays or even Monday night. This is often done at short notice and after fans have already bought non refundable train tickets. Why do these games get moved? Because football sold its soul to Sky TV back in 1992 and gave Sky the right to dictate kick off times. This means that games are scheduled to suit the TV companies not the fans attending the games. We even now have the FA Cup Final kicking off at tea time on a Saturday to suit TV audiences despite this often mean those fans attending the game can’t get home that night.

The stupid thing is that many of those fans complaining about these fixture changes have Sky TV at home or go down the pub several times a week to watch Sky TV’s live football. Thus the fans are contributing money to Sky to enable them to pay for the right to screen live football and dictate the kick off times.

Then we have replica kits. Many clubs change their kits every season and often have 3 kits, not just 2. Why do the clubs change their kits so often? Well, its simple, so they can sell more kits. Those same fans who complain about the every changing expensive kits go out and buy the latest kit every time it changes.

So, how are football fans there own worst enemy? Well if you haven’t twigged it yet, then perhaps you are part of the problem? I’ll continue…

If you go to a restaurant that is closed whenever you want to enter it, would you keep returning? Imagine if the restaurant opens some Saturday night and not others, would you keep going there? Probably not, but football fans complain about kick off times and then turn up no matter when the game is played.

What about ever changing kits? Well, I am a cyclist and bike manufacturers change their bike ranges regularly, but I don’t buy a new bike because the manufacturer has added a stripe to the bike colouring. Yet football fans seem to think they must buy a new shirt every time the club change it. Do they not realise that their slavish buying of new kit encourages clubs to change the kit and increase their income. If you stopped buying new kit every year, then clubs would not be so keen to change their kit.

The same is true of the ever increasing prices. If you keep on paying the ever increasing prices, then the clubs will continue to increase the prices.

Fans seem to fail to realise that their beloved club is just another business. You wouldn’t keep shopping at M&S if they put their prices up too high or the quality of the product is poor or the store keeps switching its opening times. Yet those football fans keep turning up and handing over their money like lemmings. Why would football clubs want to change when they know they will get guaranteed income.

The same is true of catering in a ground. £4 for a pie or £2.50 for a cup of coffee? Go to a non league club and buy the same pie or cup of coffee for £1.50 and £1 respectively. Why do premiership or football league clubs charge such high prices? Because people will pay those prices. If fans had sense they would get refreshments before/ after the game from outside the ground. At Orient for example, the cafe 100 yards from the ground does a full meal and a tea / coffee for less than the £5+ it would cost for a burger/pie and a cup of tea in the ground.

Football fans, instead of complaining about being bled dry and treated like sh*t by football clubs, the answer is in your hands. Vote with your wallet. Instead of paying through the nose make a stand for value.

If you can’t do without your football fix, then get yourself down to your local non league ground, with admission for as little as £5 at some grounds, cheap food and drink, including alcoholic drinks. You may not see Rooney or Suarez, but you will see 22 players playing for pride, not just a wage packet.

Boycotting the Premiership / Football League clubs and their over priced products will force clubs to think again about their treatment of fans. However, you may not return to watching football at that level when you realise how good football is at non league level, and great value for money.

 

 

Technorati Tags: Football,Fans,Worst,Enemy,Prices,Back,Tory,Matthew,Paris,Scotswood,Newcastle,ticket,student,Manchester,league,solicitor,solicitors,Nowadays,Premiership,cost,food,Arsenal,Turn,clock,businessman,bigwig,Often,hobby,tool,money,owners,Mike,Ashley,tickets,admission,Another,fact,team,lunchtime,Sundays,Final,audiences,fixture,Thus,replica,kits,Many,haven,restaurant,Imagine,bike,manufacturers,manufacturer,stripe,shirt,income,product,lemmings,refreshments,Orient,example,cafe,yards,Vote,wallet,Instead,Rooney,Suarez,players,pride,packet,products,treatment,Blogger,Labels,week,footballer,doesn

Blogger Labels: Football,Fans,Worst,Enemy,Prices,Back,Tory,Matthew,Paris,Scotswood,Newcastle,ticket,student,Manchester,league,solicitor,solicitors,Nowadays,Premiership,cost,food,Arsenal,Turn,clock,businessman,bigwig,Often,hobby,tool,money,owners,Mike,Ashley,tickets,admission,Another,fact,team,lunchtime,Sundays,Final,audiences,fixture,Thus,replica,kits,Many,haven,restaurant,Imagine,bike,manufacturers,manufacturer,stripe,shirt,income,product,lemmings,refreshments,Orient,example,cafe,yards,Vote,wallet,Instead,Rooney,Suarez,players,pride,packet,products,treatment,Blogger,Labels,week,footballer,doesn

Two : On the Road to Wembley Grays Athletic FC v Romford FC 15th September 2013 FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round

 

The tale of my latest football trip seems to revolve around the number 2

a) It was my second game of the weekend

b) It was my second visit to the Mill Ground, Aveley.

c) It is home to two clubs Aveley FC and today’s hosts, Grays Athletic FC

d) It is my second time of watching Grays Athletic FC

e) It is the second home ground I have seen Grays play at.

f) It is the second time I have watched Romford FC play.

g) It was the second place I visited today (Dagenham Market being the other!)

 

So Sunday and the chance to watch an extra game of football was too good a chance to miss. Aveley is less than 10 miles from my home, so easily reachable. I combined it with a visit to Dagenham Sunday Market. I have blogged about that place before, here and here.

Well the place doesn’t get any better. It is still catering for those who need 7XL clothing. I know that I am not a slim chap and have often worn 2XL clothing. However, 7XL is a bit extreme is it not. At size 2XL, I know I need to lose weight. Do those who are 7XL not realise the fact they can’t fit through the doorframe or walk more than a couple of yards without stopping for breath is a warning they need to lose weight?

Still for those people there are lots of food stalls selling 1/2 cheeseburgers, chips and other healthy treats such as chocolate coated apples. (Do they count as 1 of your 5 a day fruits/ veg?). It seems that you are never more than a few steps away from a food stall. I’m not convinced that some people do not stop at more than one of these stalls each visit.

Dagenham Market is an experience to be seen. Even today with it drizzling, there were the usual Essex girls, wearing very short shorts and tops with plunging necklines. This wouldn’t be so bad if they did not reveal ugly home made tattoos and the females were less than a size 20!

So after Dagenham market, it was a quick drive over to Aveley for the football. The first thing I noticed was there were far more cars in the free car park than last time I came when Aveley were at home to Brentwood. There is a huge expanse of parking at the ground. So, parking outside the main stand and it was 20 yards or so to the turnstiles. Admission is £10. This is a lot more than at Spennymoor who are 2 steps below in the Non League Pyramid, but is the norm for Step 3 football.

The only mention of Grays from outside the ground was a Rymans League sign near the turnstiles. The history of Grays is of over achievement followed by a period of homelessness. Last season they were playing at Rush Green in Romford. They won the Rymans League Div 1 North last season, but were evicted by their landlords as West Ham wanted to make more use of the ground for their academy teams. So this season they are lodging with Aveley. That explains why the game is on a Sunday as Aveley were at home yesterday in the FA Cup.

The ground at Aveley is an interesting one. One side of the ground is quite large. The Main Stand is quite high up and in front of it are around 10 or so steps of terracing running the whole length of the pitch. The remaining 3 sides of the ground are little more than hard standing with small covered sections behind one goal and on the opposite halfway line. The main stand is separated from the terracing by a grassed section and by a white fence. It looks rather quaint.

In the ground a met Mr Essex Football himself, Dan Wilson (@essexfootie) who is a fantastic font of football knowledge in this area. I follow his tweets regularly and it was good to put a face to a name.

The game from the start was a feisty affair. It is after all a local derby. They were in the same division last season until Grays won promotion. It came as no shock when Grays took an early lead. It seemed that it was going to be a long afternoon for Romford. However, it did not pan out like that. Grays seemed to be unduly rattled by Romford and despite being the better footballing side, it seemed that Grays were more interested in a fight rather than just playing their football.  There were several flash points throughout the first half. The referee did well to control the game without resorting to his cards at every opportunity.

Grays did have the ball in the net a second time in the first half, but despite the stadium announcer calling it as a goal, the referee had disallowed it, correctly in my view. Now, you may be thinking this was a one sided affair, but that is far from the truth. If Romford had any form of composure in front of the goal, they could have been well ahead by half time. Every time Romford went forward they caused trouble for the Grays defence, especially their goalkeeper who looked decidedly shaky in the first half.

The second half started as the first half ended with Romford creating and wasting numerous chances. Then shortly after the hour mark, Grays doubled their lead after some poor defending by Romford and a good finish from Grays. Game over you may have thought? Well somebody forgot to tell Romford to roll lover and die. In fact a few minute later Romford pulled a goal back to make for an interesting last 20 minutes or so.

The game continued to be an end to end battle with lots of niggles and a punch up was not far away. The tackles were uncompromising. The referee did well to maintain control of the game.

Romford thought they had equalised when a header flashed past the Grays keeper but came back off the corner of the bar and post.

The game ended 2-1 to Grays, so they go through to the next round, which in keeping with the opening paragraph will be the 2nd qualifying round and will mark Grays 2nd game in this years FA Cup competition.

This was one of the most competitive and enjoyable games I’ve watched for a while. Neither side gave an inch and the commitment of all the players cannot be questioned. Its a shame it did not end up as a draw, because I would happily have attended a replay of this game.

Wanted For Crimes Against The Beautiful Game?

 

Today I went to Leyton Orient to watch their incredible start to a season. Before today’s game they had won 5/5 league games to record the best start to the season since…ever actually.

Today they were playing against Port Vale who were mid table. Hopefully another 3 points could be earned.

As usual I had to go to the ticket office to collect the tickets for my friends Tony & Lisa (2 disabled tickets and 2 carer tickets) – all free courtesy of the wonderful community spirit from a great club. I’m sure I’ve said it before, but Leyton Orient are a club that care about their supporters.  Walking to the ticket office,  several stewards said hello and chatted with me. At Orient it is the friendly face of stewards, and not chatting to try to find out what I’m up to!

As well as the tickets for Tony & Lisa, I had to collect a season ticket for my son Tom. Orient are giving away free season tickets to students etc to boost the crowd. They asked people to apply and then allocated them before the season started. Strangely many of those who applied did not then collect their season tickets, so Orient re allocated them to others who had applied unsuccessfully. When I got Tom’ ticket today, there was a large number of tickets still uncollected. Why did people apply for the tickets if they do not want them?

As long as the ticket is used for 10 home games this season, the holder will be entitled to another ticket free next season. A great gesture by Leyton Orient. Mike Ashley, are you listening? Its a relationship between club and fans – you might want to learn what this is. Sadly, there is no need for Mike Ashley to do this because there are 40-50,000 people who will turn up week in week out no matter what he does. A fool and their money springs to mind.

So, tickets collected, its time to visit the cafe for the usual pre match greasy spoon experience and to meet Tony and Lisa, and eventually the late Mr Nash – so called because of his ability to never turn up on time. Still today, it was only 30 minutes after the time he suggested we meet up. We have an arrangement with Tony & Lisa that in return for use of their carer tickets, we buy them lunch. Its a great deal – buy a lunch for circa £6 (and give them a lift home) and get a £25 value match ticket free.

The game today was a rather odd affair. Orient never seemed to get into their stride, but for most of the time never seemed to be troubled by Port Vale.  It came as no surprise when Port Vale took the lead. This seemed to galvanise the Orient and by half time they were 2-1 up and playing a bit better.

What was starting to become apparent was the distinctly unsporting play from Port Vale – for kicking the ball away after being penalised for a foul. This was an approach seemingly dictated by the Port Vale bench. When the ball went to them, they would not return it, if it was an Orient thrown in. Pathetic childish and unsporting behaviour. Then there were the repeated niggling fouls done for no reason other than to unsettle and hurt the opposition players.

I then twigged who the manager of Port Vale was. It is none other than Micky Adams. I remember him from many years ago when he was Fulham manager. They came up to Darlington in the old 4th Division ( then called 3rd Division) in the season they won promotion and proceeded to kick Darlington from one end of Feethams to the other. If the Fulham team had behaved like that outside a football ground they would have ended up being arrested. From my Fulham supporting friends that was a common display under Mick Adams. His teams have been the same ever since.

Micky Adams plays to win at all costs. Sadly the end justifies the means in his book. Sportsmanship seems to be a dirty word to him. This is evidenced by his signing this player in January 2013

The observant amongst you will recognise it is the convicted killer Lee Hughes. The man who thinks its fine to drive whilst high as a kite on drink and drugs and kill someone in the inevitable car crash. Then to make matters worse he runs away from the scene of the accident leaving an innocent man dying at the scene and only hands himself into the police when he knows the alcohol and drugs will have worked out of his system. (Well Hughes, if its not true, then feel free to sue me for defamation. I’ll not hold my breath waiting for the writ though.)

Eventually this despicable piece of scum was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and sentenced to six years imprisonment.

Upon his release from prison he was signed up by Notts County and one would have hoped he was trying to build a law abiding future. Sadly you’d be mistaken if you thought that. In 2011 he was then arrested for a sexual assault and convicted eventually of a common assault. So as well as a killer he has added to his record being a violent piece of scum and been arrested as a sex offender. Just the sort of person to impress Mick Adams.

Anyway, back to the game. The second half started with the O’s leading 2-1 and playing rather brightly. So of course this lead to the inevitable equaliser for Port Vale.

The rest of the game was rather uneventful. It became apparent watching the game that Port Vale had come to Brisbane Road intending to impose their will on the game and to get at least a point by any means whatsoever. Harranging the referee, niggling fouls and general bad sportsmanship were the order of the day.

Then in the last minute of normal time ( before the 5 added minutes) Orient for once put a move together and super Kevin Lisbie danced through the Port Vale defence and scored a late winner. The cliché is that the crowd went wild. It was true here. Greg who sits next to me ended up jumping over the seat into the row in front. The chap in front of me celebrated so passionately his phone fell out of his pocket and smashed.

A 90th minute winner is so much more enjoyable than a goal scored earlier in the game.

So, its now six out of six for the Orient. This is something that has never happened before in the history of the club. Happy days.

I’m going to end the game by saying something good about Port Vale- yes, that’s right, I intend to praise #something about Port Vale. No, I’m not going to praise Micky Adams, but instead the Port Vale fans who turned up in good numbers given the distance and the cost to get in (£25 for League 1football) & gave great support to their team. They unlike the football team are a credit to their club.

Still the end of the game was football 3 thuggish unsporting behaviour 2 and 3 points for football.

Technorati Tags: