AOB: Brave Lions of Ing-er-land 1 - 1 US Soccerball Kickers

I hope you're pleased with yourself Adrian Chiles.

Sure, £1million+ (allegedly) is quite a decent yearly salary for a rotund journo who occasionally sports questionable facial hair, especially when all he has to do to earn it is sit on a sofa and make small talk with Kevin Keegan.

But is any amount of money enough to work for ITV, an organisation so incompetent that they managed to play an advert at the exact moment England's brave Stevie G was slotting home the opening goal in last night's game with the USA? What price your journalistic - and broadcasting - integrity, eh Adrian? Chiles profusely apologised for the blunder during the half time break, but he might as well have been apologising for the existence of his employers, who should never be allowed to broadcast a sporting event again. Ever.

Anyway, England's 1-1 draw with America would have been painful viewing had been shown on BBC, CNN, or Al Jazeera. Not because we played particularly badly in my opinion, but because the result was so predictable. England never know what to do when they take the lead - we've seen it time and time again in tournaments over the last few years; they start faffing about, gifting the ball back to the opposition, or lumping it long in the direction of the big man up front, and before long disappointment ensues.

If the equaliser was predictable, the manner of it was less so. Nevertheless, I would stick with Green for the Algeria match, if for no other reason than neither of the replacements are a sure thing; Hart is completely untested, and James is over-the-hill and error-prone. Capello thought Green was the best option yesterday, and I would hope he has enough courage in his convictions not to change his mind after one (admitedly costly) gaffe.

After half time I thought we were much improved, and should have gone on to win the match. We kept the ball reasonably well against awkward opposition, and created plenty of chances. Heskey, Gerrard, and Johnson were the pick of the white-shirted bunch, and again I hope the manager sticks with Mr Em, who did a good job of linking play and was certainly more impressive for much of the game than Rooney.

It wasn't perfect by any means; Lampard was annonymous, the centre-backs look like a disaster waiting to happen, and the usually peerless Capello made two left sided errors, selecting Milner then SWP when Joe Cole should have joined the fray. But with two games against less capable opposition to come, England showed enough for me to remain confident we will top the group. What happens beyond that remains to be seen.

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AOB: Warning, may contain traces of England-related optimism

There's nothing like listening to talkSPORT to boost your world cup fever. Except perhaps reading the Sun, or watching Sky Sports News, who have no doubt been covering the England squad's flight to South Africa in painstaking, high definition, detail. Multiple-camera-angles-of-blokes-getting-onto-an-aircraft ahoy.

Anyway, whatever your tabloid media of choice, it's hard not to get caught up in the hysteria currently being generated around the World Cup. The press went into overdrive yesterday when Fabio Capello named his squad for the tournament, with names leaking into the public domain via Twitter like a tap with a worn-out washer.

As is often the case, in my opinion it was a lot of fuss about nothing, because Capello's selection of squad players is completely irrelevant. I didn't agree with all his decisions - I would've taken Walcott and Parker, and would have left Wright-Phillips and Carrick behind for example - but either way it's unlikely to make much difference. Is there much to choose between Wright-Phillips, Lennon, and Walcott? Not really, they've all had decent games and shocking games for England, so you wouldn't want to rely on any of them to be the difference between winning and losing the trophy.

For me it boils down to this; As usual, England can win the World Cup, but as usual they probably won't. For us to win it, we need everything to go right, and that means all our big players staying injury free and in form. There's no point Lennon playing a blinder if Rooney gets sent off, or Gerrard goes missing, or Ferdinand and Terry doze off and make some kind of catastrophic elementary error. I know it's a team game and all that, but with the squad players being much of a muchness, I don't think the selection posers that Fabio faces will be make or break.

But as I say, I think we can win it. It's not always the best team that goes to the final - look at France in 2006, or Germany in 2002. You just need to get on a run, and have a bit of fortune with the draw, referees, etc. I don't think we have a Zidane or Ballack figure to inspire us on the pitch, but we possibly have one in the dug-out. Now, where did I put my St George's flag?

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AOB: Naming, shaming, and blaming

Happy news, we're never going to have to play Stevenage Borough again.

Unfortunately this isn't because they've ceased to exist, or suffered relegation to the Herts Senior League, but because the clever bods in the Lamex Stadium boardroom have decided to remove the Borough from their name.

“Looking to the future, the directors do not believe the connotation of the word Borough in the name should be carried into the Football League," said Borough Stevenage chairman Phil Wallace. "It’s served us well as a non-league club in the climb up the non-league pyramid and we shall always be ‘The Boro’ in recognition of our roots, but now it’s time to look to the future."

Personally I think nothing screams Non-League quite like changing your name (see Ebbsfleet and Fleetwood) and if they really do want to improve their image I would suggest more radical action. Like removing the "Stevenage" part of their title. And moving to a nicer part of Hertfordshire. And sacking Graham Westley. And getting some new fans. Actually, thinking about it, losing the Borough bit is probably a lot easier.

Some who - effortless segue alert - probably wouldn't mind changing his name this week is Lord Triesman, who has resigned his position at the FA and with the World Cup 2018 bid team after he was caught on tape making some serious allegations about rival bids to a female associate. As football administrators go, Triesman always struck me as being a fairly decent chap. He was prepared to voice his concern on Premier League debt (a subject on which, given the Portsmouth situation, he turned out to be correct) and seemed to have a good understanding of what was going on at grassroots level.

Triesman was a bit of a birk to go blabbing to the first young woman who batted her eyelids in his direction, but I lay the blame for his departure firmly at the feet of the Daily Mail. In my opinion the Mail can be found at the root of many of the world's problems, but one thing I wouldn't usually accuse them of being is unpatriotic. But in this case they have published a story which may have done fatal damage to England's world cup bid, an event which could have really galvanised the people of "broken Britain". They really are a despicable publication, and fair play to Gary Lineker for showing his disapproval by severing all ties with them. Hopefully they'll stick to immigrant bashing and miracle cancer cures in future.

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AOB: Paris St Germain 3 - 1 Bordeaux

Erding nets PSG's second goal (photo (c) www.psgmag.net)

Even though it doesn't have the best reputation, I've always had a soft spot for the French league.

Alright, so the quality isn't really comparable with that of the English Premiership, and the propensity of managers to play 4-5-1 away from home means the goals don't always flow freely. But since Lyon's powers began to wane a couple of years ago, it has become one of Europe's most open divisions.

This season six teams are still in a shot of the title, including reigning champions Bordeaux, who I was lucky enough to see in action last Saturday night at Paris St Germain.

I half-heartedly follow the fortunes of serial-underachievers PSG, who are, as usual, bumbling along in mid-table. This represents a disappointing first season in charge for coach Antoine Kombouare, whose squad includes experienced campaigners such as Claude Makalele and Ludovic Guily.

The atmosphere inside PSG's Parc-des-Princes ground pre-match was akin to that of a funeral. Not because it was quiet you understand, but because the supporters in the Bolougne end of the ground unveiled a massive grey and black flag featuring a mysterious figure known only as Yann. As kick off approached many songs were sung mourning Yann's passing, while several white roses were also chucked onto his banner in tribute.

Mrs U's Blog and I assumed that he was some kind of sinister cult leader, until a fan in an adjacent seat informed us that he was in fact a prominent member of a hooligan groupe anglais casuale who was killed in a confrontation between the Bolougne Boys and PSG supporters from the rival Tribune Auteuil, who stand at the other end of the ground. Astonishing stuff, and something I doubt you'd see in English football these days.

Apart from the concept of supporters fighting amongst themselves, the other major difference between the English and French football experience I noticed was the amount of marijuana use within the stadium. But the game that was visible through the smokey haze was a good one; Bordeaux had the better of the early stage, passing it about neatly without really hurting PSG. But the complexion of the contest changed in the 31st minute when Girondins keeper Ulrich Rame hurtled out of the area and handled the ball under pressure from PSG striker Melvut Erding.

The stopper was shown a red card, and replacement keeper Keita's first job was to pick the ball out of the net, with Sylvan Armand's free kick taking a slight deflection and zipping over the outstretched arm of the guardien.

Guily hit the bar just before half time with an explosive volley, but after the break the ten men had the better of it, with Ligue Une's outstanding player of last season, Yohan Gourcuff, pulling the strings in midfield.

But the reigning champions still couldn't break through the home defence, and then pressed the self destruct button again in the 74th minute. Keita scuffed a clearance straight to Guillame Hoarau, who quickly laid it off to Erding. The Turk, who spent much of the match buzzing around ineffectively like a bee trapped in a jam jar, took the ball into the box before crashing a shot into the net via the underside of the bar for his 12th league goal of the season.

Bordeaux were briefly back in contention when Sane flicked in an 80th minute header from a free kick, but an almost identical goal from Hoarau in the 85th wrapped up the points of the home side. "We drink a beer for Paris, we drink a beer for Yann" sang the Bolougne Boys as the match drew to a close, though perhaps the joy was tempered by the fact that their victory handed the initiative in the title race to their bitter rivals Marseille. It should be an interesting last few weeks in Ligue Une.

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AOB: Hypocrites hammer Henry for hand ball

I bet Thierry Henry is feeling thoroughly ashamed of himself this morning.

As he sits in the kitchen of his multi-million pound mansion, being served an expresso and a croissant by his glamorous girlfriend, and contemplates the prospect of appearing at a fourth successive world cup, I'm sure he is overwhelmed with grief that his blatant cheating has denied us the chance to see such footballing luminaries as Glenn Whelan and Darren Gibson at the finals in South Africa next year. Shame on you Thierry, shame on you.



Admitedly his indescretion in the France versus Ireland game was a fairly obvious one, but judging the hysterical reaction today you'd think he'd murdered Princess Diana then drowned a litter of puppies for good measure.

It was amusing watching Tony Cascarino getting more and more angry on Sky Sports News last night, and today he has channeled his anger into column form on the Times website: "Henry speaks so eloquently, but to me now he’ll always be insincere, a faker, someone who cares only about himself (...) They [FIFA, UEFA, The United Nations, any other regulatory body you can think of] will turn a blind eye, and another piece of football’s credibility, another little part of its soul, will quietly die."

To be fair to Tony, he admits in the piece that he is "no angel", but is the man who openly admits that he played for Ireland throughout his career despite having none of the requisite qualifications - such as being Irish - really in a position to call someone else an insincere faker?

The problem with people in football getting on their high horses is that most of them, be they players, managers, or officials, will have benefited from cheating at some point in their careers. Some incidents, such as the Hand of Henry, are more clear cut and high profile than others, but that doesn't make them any more right or wrong. And, apart from the odd exception, most of them won't have done anything to try and remedy the situation. I'm not au fait with the nuances of Ireland's World Cup Qualifying campaign, but it seems unlikely they went through the entire group stage without getting the benefit of any dodgy decisions.

"They probably won't grant it as we are minnows in world football but let's put them on the spot," said Irish justice minister Dermot Ahern this morning when calling for a rematch. Perhaps once the Irish have removed the chip from their shoulder they will realise that, to mix my metaphors, they are just going to have to suck it up and take the swings with the roundabouts.

Incidentally, I should add that it's the French we should feel the most sorry for in all this. The goal means they are stuck with the completely hopeless Raymond Domenech for at least another seven months.

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AOB: Fergie Jr not too Posh to get the push

Another day, another set of amusing stories emerging from our near neighbours.

Both P*sh and the villagers seem to have been reading The art of communication according to CUFC given their latest faux pas.

Gareth Baldwin has followed the lead of our dear ex-chairman Rolls, and decided to carry out all communication by text message, much to the chagrin of Tony Roach. It's not all bad news for Histon though, as the new chairman is confident their financial difficulties will soon be a thing of the past.

"I feel very optimistic that we can get through this period and I don't think we're going to have to sell loads and loads of our players," Roach told the CN, while trying to lasso a nearby flying pig. "Our aim is to have cleared all overdue debts by January." That's alright then, they'll be able to turn down those multi-million pound offers for Danny Wright which have no doubt been flooding in over the weekend.

P*sh meanwhile are following the other golden CUFC rule and not saying anything at all about the future of their manager Darren Ferguson, despite the fact that news of his departure is about as secret as Paris Hilton's bedroom preferences.

It's hard to feel sorry for convicted wife-beater Ferguson, and given the amount of cash he's spent I wouldn't go along with those who claim him to be one of the best up and coming managers in the game. But on the other hand, the poor bloke can hardly do more than win automatic promotion in consecutive seasons. The scummers haven't had a great start, but seeing as they have very few players with Championship experience in the squad this season was never going to be a walk in the park.

Still, if you accept the money of a millionaire on an ego trip I guess you have to live with the consequences. Hopefully Barry Fry will be named caretaker, I'm sure he can keep them ticking over at the bottom of the table for a few weeks.

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AOB: Conference Sponsorship news

In between publishing their usual mix of homophobic bile and general scaremongering nonsense, this morning's Daily Mail found time to report this:

"There may soon be a full set of the major English professional football competitions looking for new backing such is the sponsorship crisis facing the game.
"The latest sponsors in discussion over whether to renew a title endorsement are online betting operation Blue Square, whose three-year support of the Conference divisions below the Football League will terminate at the end of the season."

Not to be outdone, The Conference's slick PR machine moved swiftly into action this afternoon with this statement:

"In light of an article published today in the Daily Mail, the Football Conference and our Title sponsor Blue Square, wish to distance ourselves from the report suggesting that Blue Square are to terminate their sponsorship at the end of this current season."

Everybody feeling reassured? Time will tell whether Blue Square feel it is worthwhile to sign up again now that the league isn't televised. But given the Conference board's long list of previous faux pas', I think it would have been appropriate to send out the following image with the press release:

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AOB: Sven tells it like it is

I've been a fan of Sven-Goran Eriksson since he was manager of Sampdoria. As a little lad I remember being glued to Football Italia as he took a team containing Gullit, Mancini, Lombardo, and, er, David Platt, to the summit of Serie A, albeit without actually winning anything of consequence.

Laterly my admiration for Svennis has become based less on his managerial ability, and more on his knack for making vast amounts of cash for doing very little work. Witness the mahousive pay offs he's picked up in recent years after mediocre showings with England, Man City, and Mexico. The man's a genius.

He's on to another good thing now, having taken up the role of director of football at Notts County. What can there possibly be for a DoF to do at a League Two club? I assume he mostly fills his days wooing the club's female employees and going for cups of tea at Tord Grip's house. But this week he managed to come up with my favourite football quote of recent times. Asked about the mysterious way in which County are being financed, he replied;

"No, I don't know where the money comes from (...) I'm not interested in that. The important thing is that the money comes."

There we have it ladies and gentleman, modern football accurately summed up in one sentence. Keep up the good work Sven.

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AOB: Diving me crazy

It was a pretty good week to be an England fan, with qualification for the world cup being secured in uncharacteristically emphatic fashion. I'm looking forward to the inevitable nine-months-of-massive-hype-followed-by-crushing-disappointment already. But amidst the joy it was a shame that the fans at Wembley felt the need to boo Eduardo, presumably in response to the Croatia striker's dive in the Arsenal - Celtic Champions League game.

The booing was ironic given that I'm sure the same supporters were cheering as loudly as anyone else when Stephen Gerrard, a player not adverse to the odd dramatic fall himself, scored twice to set the Three Lions on the way to a comfortable victory. And I think the incident demonstrates the ridiculously hypocritical attitude towards diving exhibited by everyone as football. We accept so many other forms of cheating and gamesmanship as part of the sport, but for some reason reserve the right to jump on our high horses when the subject of simulation comes up.

Who among us complains when Danny Potter takes an age over a goal kick? Or if a few yards are stolen at a free kick or throw in? Or if Carden is in the ref's ear all game trying to influence his decisions? Not many I'd have thought, yet if a player dives they become the devil incarnate. Why is this? Perhaps it's because diving is percieved to be a problem introduced to the English game by Johnny Foreigner and is therefore, by definition, worse? I don't know, but it perplexes me that something so insignificant has become such a big issue in the last few weeks.

Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer it if there was no foul play in football at all, but I think we have accept that diving is part of the game now, and that if we're making a list of the problems of modern football, it should/would probably be a long way down the list.

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AOB: Fifa bright idea #7687321532

Football can get very boring sometimes, especially at this time of year.

It looks like it we are going to be faced with another summer of Cristiano Ronaldo-related speculation, after the winger was characteristically vague about his future in the wake of the Champions League final. We he go to Real Madrid? Will he stay at Man U? By the time he's decided will anybody care? Who knows, but whatever the outcome it's sure to keep the Sky Sports News ticker turning for the next couple of months.

I'm picking on Ronaldo because he's a thoroughly dislikeable little man, but of course he's far from the only boring thing about the beautiful game. One of my particular bug bears is the continual debate about the use of technology in football, which crops up every time a refereeing error is made in a big game such as the FA Cup final.

Personally I don't understand the obsession with getting all decisions right - while refereeing errors going against you are a pain in the proverbial, football would be pretty dull if we didn't have incompetent officials to rant about. But if the rules are to be changed to help the refs, I think it should be for non-subjective decisions such as whether the ball has crossed the line. Surely it would be fairly simple to install some kind of sensor which would indicate whether a goal has been scored or not? That way there would be no gray areas and nobody could complain of unfair treatment.

But no, the bright sparks at FIFA have decided that the best way to improve referees is to, er, add more referees, with extra officials stationed on the touchlines to monitor penalty areas. They will do so in next years Europa League (the rebranded UEFA cup), a move which is bound to do wonders(!) for the competitions already nominal credibility.

I entirely fail to see the logic behind this scheme. You can add as many extra officials as you like, but there is still the possibility of a decision being called incorrectly due to simple human error. And if errors can still be made, then what's the point of changing things in the first place? All it will do is slow the action down while the referee confers with his extra colleagues, and we'll end up with a fragmented sport akin to Rugby or American Football.

We'll see how the project works out in the coming months, but I suspect that, much like Kick-In's and The Respect Campaign, these extra officials will turn out to be one-season wonders.

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AOB: Quitting while you're, er, behind

There have been a lot of quitters in the news this week.

The wonderful Steve Coppell has decided to step down at Reading, Carlos Tevez is reportedly going to quit Man Utd, and the all those dastardly MP's who redecorated their homes at the tax payers expense are resigning from their posts with their heads bowed in shame. Oh, hang on a minute...

But it was another threatened departure that particularly caught my eye. It came from West Indian cricket captain, Chris Gayle, who said in an interview with the Guardian that he may give up the captaincy and pursue a career outside the test arena.

"I wouldn't be so sad", said Gayle, when asked how he would feel if Test Cricket died out. "To be honest with you, there's a possibility I might give it up – I will be giving it up, shortly."

Gayle seems to prefer the Twenty20 format, although I suspect the limitations of his Windies side (they are currently third from bottom of the world rankings) has something to do with his disinterest in what I would call "proper" cricket. And moreover, I think it would be a shame if test cricket was relegated to being a poor relation of it's newer, glitzier, cousin.

Twenty20 may be where the money is at presently, but it is still a relatively new game. Will it have the long-term appeal of test cricket? For me, the jury is still out on a format which involves a lot of brute force and very little in the way of tactics. Once the novelty value wears off, I suspect the public's interest, and therefore the sums of money being paid to players in competitions like the IPL and the ill-fated Stamford Series, will drop a bit.

I also think we're stuck in a vicious circle while there is no live test cricket on terrestrial television. With the sport in the clutches of Sky, it will always be difficult to attract new, young, fans because hardly anyone can see it. If I was growing up now, with virtually no cricket on TV, I doubt I would be as big a fan of the game as I am today. This in turn helps to add weight to the argument of those who say there is no interest in the longer form of cricket, and that Twenty20 is the way forward, and so we go round and round.

Twenty20 isn't going away anytime soon, and I can see where Gayle is coming from when he comments on how crowded the current cricket schedule is. So ideally I think we should have less test series, and get the ones we do have back on terrestrial television. Of course, the only snag about these two ideas is that neither are likely to be more profitable than the current state of affairs.

Still, it would nice to think that the International Cricket Council, the sport's governing body, could do something for the long-term good of the game, rather than the short term gain of players and administrators. I won't hold my breath on that front.

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AOB: Grounds for Concern

I'll confess that, much to the chagrin of those that know me, my memory isn't the best.

Therefore it's probably not a surprise that, for me, pre-season seems like a lifetime ago. Those of you with a greater degree of mental dexterity will remember that our first pre-season match was away to Kings Lynn. I can't recall much about the game, which featured such luminaries as Matt Halliday, Ramon Calliste, and Pat Bexfield, but what I do remember is that Kings Lynn's stadium, The Walks, is a decent arena for a club of their size.

So I was surprised to see that The Linnets have been demoted from the Conference North this week because their ground doesn't meet the requirements of the league. You may remember that Cambridge City were relegated from the Conference South for similar reasons.

The specific reasons for the demotion seem to be unclear, but I can't for the life of me imagine how that ground can't be suitable for the level of football they're at. That the Conference are kicking them out is endemic of the wider problems surrounding stadium requirements in non-league football. This is not particularly a dig at Histon (for once), but when you see grounds like theirs, Accrington's, and Dagenham's being declared fit for the football league, you wonder what possible basis there can be for expelling the likes of Kings Lynn and City.

This issue extends all the way down the pyramid. Barely a week goes by without the BBC Non-League show featuring some little club from step six or seven who are being relegated because they don't have enough seats, or turnstiles, or whatever. No matter that their average crowd is three men and a dog; you have to comply to these ridiculously high standards or you're out.

In my opinion the whole ground grading system needs to be ripped to pieces and redesigned from the bottom up, with common sense being used rather than strict adhesion to the rules. What I do know is that, as a fan, the match day experience at Kings Lynn is a lot better than at some of the supposedly superior grounds we've visited in the Conference in the last four seasons.

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AOB: Whites:2 Reds:0

I bigged up the Premier League last time I went to a top flight game, but now I’m afraid I feel the need to do the opposite (small it down?).

On Saturday I ventured up to the big smoke to take in Fulham v Man Utd, and witnessed a quite amazing display of behaviour from Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese winger, undoubtedly one of the world’s best players, was at his petulant worst as his team slipped to a rare defeat at Craven Cottage, remonstrating with the referee and his assistants at every opportunity, going to ground at the slightest hint of contact, and generally being a big pansy.

He was lucky to stay on the field after a two footed lunge at Danny Murphy, which fortunately didn’t connect with the Whites skipper’s leg, and then had the temerity to whinge about the treatment he was getting from the Fulham defenders, bizarrely rolling up his shorts to show ref Phil Dowd his supposed injuries. Still, he’s used to showing a bit of leg after his lengthy flirtation with Real Madrid in the summer, ho hum.

CRonaldo’s antics aside, it was an entertaining match, although I possibly derived most of the entertainment value from Manchester United getting beaten and seeing Alex Ferguson getting increasingly agitated on touchline. I’ve been saying all season that United aren’t all that, and a central midfield containing the decrepit Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes is always going to be a bit vulnerable. The fact that they are top is more reflective of the inconsistency of the chasing pack than of the brilliance of Fergie’s boys if you ask me.

Not that Scholes had much time to influence this game, being shown a red card for palming away Bobby Zamora’s goal bound header. Ferguson, naturally, said the ref shouldn’t have given it, despite the fact that his player had both hands above his head. Murphy thumped the spot kick high into the net, McEvilly style. 1-0.

Thereafter Fulham dominated, with wingers Clint Dempsey and Simon Davies finding acres of space between the visiting backline and midfield. Davies extended Van der Sar with an angled shot, but Johnson couldn’t turn in the rebound, and then Zamora shot into the keepers arms when he perhaps should have done better.

Finding a more able partner for Andrew Johnson than the lumbering Zamora should perhaps be a priority for Fulham manager Roy Hodgson this summer, because in other departments his side looks pretty decent, particularly at the back, where keeper Mark Schwarzer and centre backs Aaron Hughes and Brede Hangeland stand strong like a trio of granite pillars.

Fergie introduced Rooney for the ineffective and lame Berbatov at half time, and the England striker immediately showed his class as United began to turn the screw. It’s the first time I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the England striker play in the flesh, and he was at the heart of everything good his side produced. In fact, his manager probably made an error by later bringing on Tevez and moving Rooney wide right, where he was much less effective.

Anyway, Schwarzer made a terrific double save to foil Rooney and Park, while Ronaldo twice put headers wide, before his lunge on Murphy which forced the influential midfielder to leave the field.

But as the ten men committed more and more players to the attack, gaps were always likely to appear, and Fulham exploited one of those in the dying moments to wrap up an improbable win. Dickson Etuhu fed Johnson, who got to the byline and pulled the ball back for substitute Zoltan Gera, who with his back to goal flicked the ball up and scored with an acrobatic volley. Gera has inexplicably remained in my fantasy team all season, so it was about time he repaid my faith in his talents. 2-0.

United’s misery was completed when Rooney, who had already been booked for tugging back Davies, was shown a second yellow for throwing the ball away in anger. Again Ferguson questioned the decision, but having seen replays I feel he can have few complaints.

So yeah, it was an interesting match, and again you couldn’t really argue with the skill on show. But on the other hand it is fair to say that the histrionics and disrespect for the referee shown by some of the players went far beyond what you would see at Blue Square Premier level. I guess you can’t have everything.

Man of the Match: Brede Hangeland – Fulham will do well to keep this calm, imposing, central defender, who was virtually unbeatable in the air all afternoon.

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AOB: Rights wrongness

Another postponement = another afternoon in front of Soccer Saturday, wincing as all the teams around us picked up three points. Never mind though - none of the results were really unexpected, and Northwich did us a favour yesterday afternoon by beating Kiddy. Harriers form hasn't been the best of late, so perhaps Tuesday will be a good time to break our double Aggborough/Setanta hoodoo.

Speaking of Setanta, there has been a lot of speculation about their future in the last seven days after they were outbid by Sky for one of the two Premier League live game packages they currently own. From 2010/11 season, Rupert Murdoch and co will now control five of the six packages, meaning Setanta will broadcast just 23 live games a season.

Now I know Setanta are (understandably) not very popular at our level because of the way they dick supporters about at short notice, and because they inflict us with Paul Parker on a regular basis. But I do think it would be a shame if they went to the wall, if only because it would leave Sky without any serious competition.

Moreover, I think the "auction" process that sees the rights distributed is totally half-arsed. Sky are not allowed to own the entire batch of Premier League rights because, according to the European Commission, it is anti-competitive, and not good for the consumer. Yet they are allowed to get their hands on five of the six groups of games. How is that good for the consumer? If you are a dedicated follower of the Premier League you have to shell out twice to see all the matches, and because they control so many of the games there is no incentive for Sky to drop their prices.

For me it should be all or nothing: they either need to let Sky have all the Premier League football, or introduce a rule whereby one company can only own a maximum of 50 per cent of the rights. I believe that would see true competition, and a possible reduction of the cost of watching premium sporting events. If we persist with the current situation, it seems only a matter of time before Setanta goes the same way as ITV digital.

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AOB: NCBA no more?

If you believe what you read on the internet (and why wouldn't you?) Nigel Clough's Burton Albion are to become Nigel Clough's former club Burton Albion in the next day or two, with their illustrious boss set to be named as manager of Championship side Derby County.

Obviously from a United perspective I regard this as good news, as it will hopefully facilitate a spectacular implosion from the Brewers, leaving the way clear for Gary Brabin's men to make a last minute title charge. Or something.

But I have to wonder why on earth Derby would think it's a good idea to appoint a bloke who has never managed in the league before and has just one promotion on his CV in ten years as a manager. It's also probably fair to say that, before his club made around £1million by drawing Man Utd in the FA Cup a few years back, they weren't among the leading lights in the Conference.

As I've said on here before, I'm all for managers from the lower leagues getting their chance, but clearly Clough is getting this job because of his last name, rather than because he has "served his apprenticeship" in the minor divisions. Paul Ince's appointment at Blackburn came about in similar circumstances, and he was soon shown to be out of his depth at the top level.

I have no particular axe to grind with Clough (apart from that he's a miserable git), but it's unrealistic to make expect a manager to make such a massive jump and be an overnight success. I hope the Derby board are prepared to give him time to adapt to his new environment, rather than expect instant miracles just because of who his Dad was.

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AOB: Being unfaithful

Yes, I have to confess that I've cheated, spurning the chance of a romantic weekend on the English Riviera in favour of a quick one-dayer in London. I knew it was wrong, but strangely it just felt so right.

I am of course refering to last weekend, when I took in Fulham vs Man City at Craven Cottage instead of making the long journey south west to Torquay.

It was the first Premier League game I've been to since 2001, and I have to say that I quite enjoyed the experience. We were seated right in amongst the Fulham "hardcore", and the atmosphere was pretty good, with plenty of witty songs (ex-Scummer Jimmy Bullard is apparently "better than Steve Gerrard, and fitter than Frank Lampard") and a bit of banter (yuk, I loathe that word) with the visitors from the blue side of Manchester. It was certainly far from the sterile experience that top flight matches are often portrayed as.

Of course Fulham is probably the least Premier League-like Premier League ground, so that could have something to do with it, but another thing that impressed me was the quality of the football on show. Even two mediocre sides (City were missing Robinho, so instead had Darius Vassell spearheading their attack) produced the kind of play that is light years ahead of what is usually served up in the Blue Square Premier league; there were no aimless hoofs into the channels, or corners shanked straight out of play, and misplaced passes were few and far between.

What I'm trying to say is that while there is a lot wrong with the Premier League, the standard of the football certainly isn't one of those things. With this in mind it makes me laugh when Setanta try to insist that the BSP is "proper football". I will always support United at whatever level they're playing at, but I don't relish that we are in such a terrible league at present. "Proper" football is exciting and high quality and played out in front of a packed crowd. It isn't 22 cloggers taking part in a competition to see who can launch the ball the furthest in front of 800 people in some loathesome hell hole like Ebbsfleet or Histon.

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AOB: Video Nasty

I was disappointed to see in the news today that the BBC trust have blocked the corporations plans for a £68million network of local video news sites.

The plans met with widespread criticism from local newspaper bosses, who are probably now sitting back in their exclusive private members clubs smoking big fat cuban cigars, brought with the profits generated by the countries thousands of poorly paid, downtrodden, local journos. Or something.

Anyway, I thought it was a great idea, and totally agree with the ever-pertinant Dave Lee (bonus points for mentioning U's Blog) and Roy Greenslade that the regionals need to pull their socks up when it comes to embracing the web.

Look at the CEN's video output: The news and sport videos rarely bring anything to the story that you couldn't have gleened from reading the text or looking at the pictures. Whats the point of watching a five minute video of Gary Brabin sitting in the Harris Suite answering questions when I could just read the article in 30 seconds and find out the information that way.

I strongly believe in the value of local news, and that there is a place for video within that, but the visual output needs to be original and interesting, and at the moment most of what is served up by our local papers is neither. Unfortunately most prefer to do things on the cheap, rather than providing their staff with the tools, training, or extra manpower to make something that they can be proud of.

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AOB: Showing the way?

Remember this article written in September by the Guardian’s David Conn.

If you haven’t seen it, the gist is that the Conference has introduced a raft of trail-blazing measures to try and stop clubs getting into financial difficulty, with penalties to be incurred if the requirements set out by the league are not met.

“The system has teeth”, declared Conn, referring to penalties such as transfer embargos and expulsion, which can and have been applied to clubs in the past.

Well since then we’ve seen Weymouth, Salisbury, and Grays make huge cuts to try and save a bit of money, while Lewes are up for sale and in danger of entering administration, and doubts continue to surround the futures of Rushden and Northwich (best not to mention Histon here, or I may end up threatened with a law suit).

This has all happened despite the Conference’s supposedly strict rules regarding finances. If indeed the league is “showing the way” (as the title suggests) to the rest of the football world, I hate to think where we’re heading.

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AOB: Joey Barton - shut it

When I was a nipper, my role model was the great Sir Steve Butler.

SSB always seemed like the kind of guy I'd like to be when I grew up, minus the slightly dodgy hair cut of course; He was unruffled, affable, scored goals for fun, and generally seemed like a cool dude. Then he upped sticks to Gillingham, citing the travelling time to and from his Kent home as the reason, and later in his career compounded this insult by joining P*sh. I felt used and let down.

The moral of this sad story kids is that footballers generally aren't very useful role models. The good players, like my Steve, will move onto other things, and the bad ones will malinger on until they have de-generated so much that you can't remember why you liked them in the first place. Like Andy Duncan. Either way, you get left with a bit of a bad taste in your mouth.

This is why I raise a big cynical eyebrow in the direction of Joey Barton, after he stated today, ahead of his return from a seven match ban, that he'd like to become a role model for children.

Barton, whose litany of offences both on and off the pitch is well documented elsewhere, told the BBC: "When I speak from experience about the things I've done wrong in my life and how I've tried to change them, I think they respect that. Hopefully I'll be able to reach them people who, maybe before, were a little unreachable."

Admiriable sentiments, but of course we've heard it all before from the Newcastle midfielder. Only last year he did an in-depth interview with the Inside Sport programme, telling us how he knew he was his own-worst enemy, and that he'd changed, and that he'd got a raw deal etc etc. Unfortunately there's been little evidence of this so far.

Unlike some, I have no problem with giving Barton as many chances as he needs to get his life in order, be that two, five, or 500. However, I do think that before he starts talking about what he can do for other people, he would be well advised to get his head down, do less talking in the media, and make sure he is doing as much as he can to help himself, otherwise this could turn out to be another false dawn where he's concerned.

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AOB: Forza Hellas!

WHILE on my summer holidays I read a rather marvellous book.

Entitled A Season with Verona, it is written by Tim Parks, and sees him follow the progress of Hellas Verona in the 2000/01 season, as they attempt to avoid relegation from Serie A.

I imagine that, as an intelligent and discerning bunch, regular readers of this blog are probably already familiar with this book, but if you’re aren’t I’d highly recommend giving it a go – It’s well written and insightful throughout, and paints a vivid picture of the unique nature of Italian football.

As a United fan, one of the things which really struck a chord with me is the relationship between Hellas and another local team, Chievo. I hesitate to call them rivals as the latter, who come from the suburbs of Verona, traditionally bum around in the lower reaches of the Italian football pyramid, and don’t really feature on the radar of the Hellas brigate. In fact, Parks ignores them for the first half of the book, describing them as an “irrelevance”.

Unfortunately, by the end of the season Chievo are un-ignorable, having clinched the Serie B championship and been promoted to the same level as their much bigger cousins. Parks expresses concerns that fans may abandon Hellas, a team with a reputation for racism and bad management, and lend their support to Chievo, who are universally loved by the football fraternity and the media because of their “fairytale rise”.

Sound familiar at all? Parallels with our demise and the rise of that loveable bunch of part-timers from across the A14 perhaps? One hopes our situation will not continue to mirror what is happening in Italy as, while Chievo are still thriving, and have recently returned to Serie A after a one-season absence, Hellas have dropped into Serie C1, and only avoided a further relegation on the last day of last season. I think I speak for U's fans and our Gialloblu comrades when I say: VAFFANCULO HISTON & CHIEVO.

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