Fools fools, and more fools

I was considering some kind of April Fools Day prankery for the blog today, but decided against it because;

a) It's past 12 noon, and common convention states that anyone who tries to play a joke after lunch time is labelled the "April Fool" themselves.

and

b) Newcastle have already come up with the best April fools joke ever by suggesting that Alan Shearer (left) will be their next manager. I can't believe so many media outlets have fallen for it.

Also showing themselves to be a bunch of jokers today are Hertfordshire Police, who have issued the following statement today ahead of United's trip to Chavsville next Tuesday:

HERTFORDSHIRE CONSTABULARY are issuing advice to Cambridge United supporters ahead of the match against Stevenage Borough Football Club on Tuesday, April 7.

The game is being held at the Stevenage Borough ground, and over 1,600 tickets have been allocated to Cambridge United supporters.

Chief Inspector Mark Canning said: "Initially 1,400 tickets were allocated to Cambridge fans; this has now been increased by another 250 due to demand. This is the maximum ticket allocation and there will be no tickets for sale to Cambridge fans on the evening of the match.

We want both sets of fans to be able to enjoy the match and I am urging Cambridge fans not to travel to Stevenage if they do not have a ticket."

Statements like this always make me chuckle for a couple of reasons. Firstly because it's totally pointless; I know they have to be seen to be doing something, but how likely is it that any United fans who were planning to infiltrate the Stevenage end will now think "hang on, better stay at home now the police have asked us nicely not to go".

But moreover, they could avoid any chance of trouble by simply making the whole stadium all ticket. Even though this would be by far the most logical solution, it won't happen because Stevenage won't want to lose the income from the proportion of their fans that can't be bothered to book a ticket in advance for what, after all, isn't a particularly important game in the grand scheme of things.

Since we've been in the Conference it's become apparent that police advice only has to be obeyed as long as it's not more profitable to do otherwise. You may remember that the kick off time for our game at Histon two years ago was moved by the police, then moved back again because it was more convenient for Setanta. There's something a bit wrong about that in my opinion, and while I'm sure there won't be any bother at next Tuesday's game, if there is then it's about time some of the people who make these rules took a long, hard, look at themselves.