I blame Tom Palmer. If I hadn't bumped into him at Harshead Moor Services on the way to the match we wouldn't have lost. Having coffee with a Leeds United fan ahead of an important game like that was bound to influence the outcome.
It began so well, too. The atmosphere outside the ground was buzzing as 31,000 Town fans and 17,000 Posh fans descended on Trafford Way, our combined blue and white colours morphing into one. The air resonated with the sound of fans' singing and the pungency of fried onions from the numerous burger vans lining the surrounding streets. People took it in turns to take photographs beneath the iconic statue of George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton outside the main entrance with Town fans having bragging rights as Denis was one of our players before Man U.
Despite its vastness compared to the Glapharm, Old Trafford is easy to navigate and we found our seats in the Stretford End nae bather. It does take your breath away as you come up the stairs and out into the 'ampitheatre' of dreams - especially when blue and white instead of red is the dominant colour. Dean Hoyle, chairman of HTAFC, bless him, had made sure the fans each had a 'Believe' t shirt on their seat to greet them. We were in one of the blue sections. It all added to the day.
The first half was OK. Not brilliant but OK. Peterborough probably edged it with their ace striker Craig Mackail-Smith proving a handful. Luckily Antony Kay was on full alert and made some timely tackles to prevent him scoring. At half-time our unbeaten run of 27 matches without loss was intact. Hopes were high. Town are renouned for coming out all guns blazing in the second half.
The play-off final proved no exception. We ran it. For 30 minutes we ran it. If you watched it on TV you'll know we ran it. Hunt, Roberts, Ward and Afobe were immense. making incisive runs into the box with Hunt's cross on 58 minutes coming so close to scoring the opener and a great chance for Afobe on 75. Then disaster. We gave away a free-kick on the edge of their penalty area. It took a slight deflection off Naysmith and Rowe scored on 78. We could have coped - we would have equalised, I'm sure - but two minutes later they scored again. Mackail-Smith (who else?) from a deflection off Kay. That second goal on 80 minutes was the killer. Town slumped. Heads went down. Tackles became less cautious in dangerous areas. Peter Clarke's foul set up their third on 85 minutes. Game over.
I barely noticed. I was distracted by things landing on my head from the upper tier. Dean Hoyles' t shirts were being lobbed by some 'fans' in disgust. Higher up to my right a fight had broken out. A fight! Among our own fans! Disgraceful scenes followed before stewards stepped in to eject the idiots. According to Twitter five or six men had been obnoxious all match, kicking off big time after the second goal. When people complained they turned on them, with one woman being spat at full in the face and a guy having his head kicked in - in front of horrified families. It beggars belief. I hope the bunch of morons are banned for life. Town, like every club, has always had a cretinous element among the rank and file of decent fans; it's just a pity they were allowed off their leashes for the final.
That soured things further to say the least. However, unlike some 'fans' - I'm having to use inverted commas a lot here - I stayed until the end. I clapped our lads. They'd given their all, not just today but throughout the season. Peter Clarke was in tears. Clarke, our toughest guy, our hard nut defender, crying his eyes out. Proof, if needed of how much he cared. Proof, if needed, that Town will be back, refreshed, regrouped and gunning for automatic. So yes, the 2010-11 season is officially over. In the words of the great philosopher, Vinny Jones, it's been emotional.
Roll on August!
Helena Pielichaty
PS Sorry about lack of images - I took loads of photos but Blogger's being awkward and won't let me download them. Will try again later.
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Monday, 23 May 2011
For some of us the season isn't over...
Congratulations to Narinder Dhami and her team Wolves' Great Escape yesterday on Survival Sunday but hard lines to Ian Holloway's plucky Blackpool team who were relegated. However, for some of us the season continues. The mighty Huddersfield Town march on. This coming Sunday we meet up with Peterborough United at Old Trafford to decide who takes the last remaining place in the Championship. I hope you'll all be watching! I'll wave to you from the Stretford End if you do. We've sold 26,000 tickets already and two fans are travelling over from New Zealand.
It should be a great match. Sir Alex Ferguson's son, Darren, has done a fine job as manager of Peterborough. His side romped home in the second play-off semi-final leg against MK Dons. Town's match against Bournemouth was much more evenly balanced and went to penalties. Argh! Talk about tense. My nails are only just recovering.
Anyway, watch this space. Lee Clark's barmy army are on our way. Come on Town!
Helena Pielichaty
http://www.helena-pielichaty.com/
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
An Opportunity Missed - Dan Tunstall
So another season for Leicester City has come to an end.
Our final match was a 4-2 home win against Ipswich on May 7th, but the season effectively finished on Good Friday when we lost 3-2 at local rivals Nottingham Forest in a game we needed to win to have any realistic chance of making the Play-offs. Ironically, Forest's winner resulted from a goalkeeping howler by fans' favourite Chris Weale, recently restored to the team in place of the erratic Ricardo.
Looking back on the last nine months, 2010-2011 has to be considered a disappointment. A missed opportunity. There were no outstanding teams in the Championship this year, no Newcastles or West Broms, and after coming within a fluffed penalty kick of the Play-off final in 2010, hopes were high for this campaign. But things just didn't work out. Why? Well there are lots of reasons.
Parting company with Nigel Pearson in the summer was a big blow, and the short, disastrous reign of Paolo Sousa didn't help. The arrival of Sven Goran Eriksson got our season under way again, but we'd left ourselves too much to do. In the end we were like the runner who fell over on the starting line, ran like a maniac to catch up with the pack, but was too tired to kick on round the last bend. Considering we were bottom of the table after ten games, to finish tenth was a decent achievement. But really, we were hoping for so much more.
Perhaps our biggest problem was our inconsistency. Two statistics sum up Leicester City in 2010-2011. Firstly, we scored more goals at home (48) than any other side in the Championship. But balanced against that, we conceded more goals away from home (44) than Preston and Sheffield United, two of the teams relegated to League One.
All in all though, I'm not too downhearted. I've seen worse. Much, much worse. And as the transfer speculation starts to mount, I can't help thinking this is going to be an interesting summer.
Roll on August...
www.dantunstall.com
Our final match was a 4-2 home win against Ipswich on May 7th, but the season effectively finished on Good Friday when we lost 3-2 at local rivals Nottingham Forest in a game we needed to win to have any realistic chance of making the Play-offs. Ironically, Forest's winner resulted from a goalkeeping howler by fans' favourite Chris Weale, recently restored to the team in place of the erratic Ricardo.
Looking back on the last nine months, 2010-2011 has to be considered a disappointment. A missed opportunity. There were no outstanding teams in the Championship this year, no Newcastles or West Broms, and after coming within a fluffed penalty kick of the Play-off final in 2010, hopes were high for this campaign. But things just didn't work out. Why? Well there are lots of reasons.
Parting company with Nigel Pearson in the summer was a big blow, and the short, disastrous reign of Paolo Sousa didn't help. The arrival of Sven Goran Eriksson got our season under way again, but we'd left ourselves too much to do. In the end we were like the runner who fell over on the starting line, ran like a maniac to catch up with the pack, but was too tired to kick on round the last bend. Considering we were bottom of the table after ten games, to finish tenth was a decent achievement. But really, we were hoping for so much more.
Perhaps our biggest problem was our inconsistency. Two statistics sum up Leicester City in 2010-2011. Firstly, we scored more goals at home (48) than any other side in the Championship. But balanced against that, we conceded more goals away from home (44) than Preston and Sheffield United, two of the teams relegated to League One.
All in all though, I'm not too downhearted. I've seen worse. Much, much worse. And as the transfer speculation starts to mount, I can't help thinking this is going to be an interesting summer.
Roll on August...
www.dantunstall.com
Can we survive?
As you might have guessed, I've spent the last couple of weeks watching the ever-changing bottom half of the Premiership, wondering who's going to be relegated. It's been even more exciting than the race for top spot (well, it's never that exciting, really, is it? We all know it's going to be Man U, Chelsea or Arsenal up there... Hopefully Man City will pep things up a bit more next season).
Anyway, back to the bottom. Apart from West Ham, it's still all up for grabs. I always felt that Wolves were just about good enough to stay up (without any bias), but have they left it too late? Will they lose to Blackburn? Will I have any fingernails left after next week's games? My predictions are that Blackpool and Birmingham will join West Ham in the championship (sorry to any fans of those clubs); on the other hand, it could be Wolves and Wigan. Or maybe Wigan and Blackpool...
That's the great thing about football - no-one really knows what will happen. It's what keeps us all watching.
Anyway, back to the bottom. Apart from West Ham, it's still all up for grabs. I always felt that Wolves were just about good enough to stay up (without any bias), but have they left it too late? Will they lose to Blackburn? Will I have any fingernails left after next week's games? My predictions are that Blackpool and Birmingham will join West Ham in the championship (sorry to any fans of those clubs); on the other hand, it could be Wolves and Wigan. Or maybe Wigan and Blackpool...
That's the great thing about football - no-one really knows what will happen. It's what keeps us all watching.
Sunday, 15 May 2011
The Women's Super League - an update
Well, the Women's Super League is half way through. The eight teams are having a break as players prepare for the Women's World Cup that starts at the end of June.
The table looks like this:
Team Played Points
Birmingham City 7 17
Arsenal 6 13
Chelsea Ladies 7 12
Everton 6 7
Bristol Academy 7 7
Doncaster Belles 7 7
Lincoln Ladies 7 5
Liverpool 7 3
As you can see from the points there seems to be a definite gap between the top three and the bottom five. I'm not sure how true a reflection of the teams this is. I've watched Lincoln Ladies play three times and read the reports in the Lincolnshire Echo for matches I haven't attended and in my opinion the difference in standard between them and their opposition hasn't been that great. The Lady Imps have never once been swamped or thrashed by their opposition - even Birmingham and Arsenal. When they've lost it's been by one goal. The main missing ingredient seems to be the lack of a striker to put the ball away. If it's the same for Liverpool, Doncaster and Bristol the mid season break will give coaches a chance to shore up the deficiencies and come out firing on all cylinders after the World Cup. Well, that's my theory anyway!
I think the FAs initial idea of 'pooling' talent has worked fairly well. The idea of sharing the top players round has made for much more even and fast paced games. What I'm not sure about is how the original 'base' team has adjusted to the new hotshot signings and vice versa. Teams take a while to bed in and get used to each other. And how do some team members like the fact that while they're earning peanuts, four of their squad are on £20K (still peanuts but jumbo variety). I'd love to be a fly on the dressing room wall!
One good thing about the new league has been the increased interest in media terms. There was a whole ten minutes about the origins of the game on the One Show last Wednesday. Gabby Logan interviewed Gail Newsham about Dick, Kerr Ladies (see previous blogs). In girls magazines, too, women footballers are increasingly being mentioned and features. This is real progress. The more girls read about, and see, sportswomen as media-worthy the more they'll choose them as role models instead of vacuous wannabes who've done nothing more than look pretty and got ahead thanks to daddy's money.
The daily newspapers have been less enthusiastic. After an initial flurry of interest it's back to the same old mass reportage of the men's game and nothing about the women. The good old Guardian seems to be about the only one who regularly reports results. However on a local level it's a different matter. The Lincolnshire Echo has been fantastic at supporting their WSL team. On Friday they carried a whole page report of the match between Lincoln Ladies and Chelsea, complete with photos, interviews, stats and marks out of ten for each player. In other words, they got the same coverage as the men's team. OK, poor Lincoln City FC have just been relegated out of the football league so there's not a lot for the Echo to write home about there but to be fair the Echo has always been generous in it's coverage of the women's game. Well done that paper!
Twitter is even better. Through that I've discovered that there are loads of websites and contacts dedicated to women's football. http://www.shekicks.net/ is one. So we're getting there. Now, if my Girls FC books can be part of that groundswell, I'll be chuffed to bits!
Helena Pielichaty http://www.helena-pielichaty.com/
Monday, 2 May 2011
Keith Mansfield
I’m Keith and I’m a Derby fan. There – I’ve admitted it. I actually grew up in West Bridgford, Nottingham, the location of the City Ground. However, from when I was five years old I shared a season ticket to the Baseball Ground, then home of Brian Clough’s Derby County, with my older brother. We alternated matches, but I seemed to get all the good ones. My dad’s from Derby and I guess he didn’t want us led astray by the locals.
In those days the pitch was famously a mudbath, but the football was beautiful. Under Clough and assistant, Peter Taylor, Derby won the league title and reached the semifinals of the European Cup (the days when the Champions League was for champions only), losing controversially to Juventus. A few years later we won the league again under Dave Mackay and I remember watching us demolish Real Madrid 4-1 at the Baseball Ground in another European Cup campaign, with a Charlie George hat-trick.
Nowadays, the Pride Park pitch is a smooth carpet of green, like a snooker table, but the quality of the football doesn’t live up to it. There’s a new Clough in charge, young Nigel, tasked with cutting the wagebill while delivering mid-table Championship mediocrity – it’s not a recipe for excitement although briefly, earlier this season, we found ourselves playing some of the best football for years. Could next season see a promotion charge? Might Clough Jnr take the Rams in the same direction as his father? Right now it seems far from likely, but success in football’s so much about confidence and momentum. Whoever we support, we know it doesn’t take much to spark our enthusiasm and what’s great is that things can change so quickly from one season to the next – from one game to the next. So, come next August, we can all believe again, however mad it might appear now.
I write books about a boy called Johnny Mackintosh (and his sister Clara). They’re really science fiction adventures, so you might wonder what I'm doing on this blog, but there’s a lot of football in all the stories. On the very first page of my very first book, Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London, we meet Johnny in his school football kit – white shirts and black shorts that just happen to mirror Derby’s. Early in the second book we even visit the site of the now demolished Baseball Ground. And Johnny plays matches in all the books.
As well as being a fan all my life, I captained my school and university teams and I want the football in my stories to read as authentically as possible. I love this blog and can’t wait to write some bits and pieces for it. For those of you still with things to play for at this the business end of the season: (a) you’re lucky and (b) I hope it goes well for you.
You can read more about me at http://www.keithmansfield.co.uk/.
 |
| Keith Mansfield in front of the Clough & Taylor statue at Derby County's Pride Park Stadium |
In those days the pitch was famously a mudbath, but the football was beautiful. Under Clough and assistant, Peter Taylor, Derby won the league title and reached the semifinals of the European Cup (the days when the Champions League was for champions only), losing controversially to Juventus. A few years later we won the league again under Dave Mackay and I remember watching us demolish Real Madrid 4-1 at the Baseball Ground in another European Cup campaign, with a Charlie George hat-trick.
Nowadays, the Pride Park pitch is a smooth carpet of green, like a snooker table, but the quality of the football doesn’t live up to it. There’s a new Clough in charge, young Nigel, tasked with cutting the wagebill while delivering mid-table Championship mediocrity – it’s not a recipe for excitement although briefly, earlier this season, we found ourselves playing some of the best football for years. Could next season see a promotion charge? Might Clough Jnr take the Rams in the same direction as his father? Right now it seems far from likely, but success in football’s so much about confidence and momentum. Whoever we support, we know it doesn’t take much to spark our enthusiasm and what’s great is that things can change so quickly from one season to the next – from one game to the next. So, come next August, we can all believe again, however mad it might appear now.
I write books about a boy called Johnny Mackintosh (and his sister Clara). They’re really science fiction adventures, so you might wonder what I'm doing on this blog, but there’s a lot of football in all the stories. On the very first page of my very first book, Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London, we meet Johnny in his school football kit – white shirts and black shorts that just happen to mirror Derby’s. Early in the second book we even visit the site of the now demolished Baseball Ground. And Johnny plays matches in all the books.
As well as being a fan all my life, I captained my school and university teams and I want the football in my stories to read as authentically as possible. I love this blog and can’t wait to write some bits and pieces for it. For those of you still with things to play for at this the business end of the season: (a) you’re lucky and (b) I hope it goes well for you.
You can read more about me at http://www.keithmansfield.co.uk/.
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