Sweep sweep

I may have previously suggested on here that Steve Y'Know doesn't seem to do very much at Bridge Road other than give a vaguely respectable face to the John Beck regime.

But I'm coming to realise that he does indeed fulfill an important role for the Villagers - that of chief sweeper. Whenever a problem arises that may be detrimental to their friendly village team image, he picks up his broom and helps Baldwin sweep it under the carpet. In fact, it's probably more crowded under that carpet than it is at your average Histon home game; Craig Pope, his racist remarks, and phantom retirement, are under there, as is Erkan Okay and his drunken behaviour. Now they've also made room for the case of ineligible player Ben Coker, which was highlighted in Sunday's Non-League Paper. For those that haven't seen the story, Histon were fined because Coker, who made one appearance in Stutes colours back in August, did not have the correct international clearance.

"I thought that had all be forgotten about," Y'Know told Radio Cambs this morning during a break in his busy brushing regime. This implies that it may have previously been in the public domain, something we all know is impossible given that our much loved local media rigidly stick to their policy of never printing or broadcasting anything negative about Histon FC. He then added something to the effect of: "I'm sure the FA would always follow the rules to the letter." Is that so Steve? Only you weren't so sure of that when they confirmed something that you didn't like, i.e. that Pope is a nasty racist.

I don't particularly have a problem with the way Histon have been treated in this instance; the case is obviously very different to the problems faced by Oxford, Mansfield, et al. But what does amuse me is their constant state of denial about anything they don't like. Perhaps someone should explain to the Villagers that everyone makes cock ups from time to time, and that attempts to highlight these cock-ups are not necessarily driven by some kind of shadowy agenda that is trying to bring about their demise.

I notice Baldwin is at it again on the BBC website: "It's very unfortunate, but this happened in August, clearly there are some people who would love to see Histon's play-off challenge destabilised with these stories coming out now," he said. I hope the poor little petals aren't scarred too badly by this scandalous persecution. After all, they are only a village team.