Shock shock horror horror

Poor old Fabio Capello.

Six million quid a year apparently isn’t enough to persuade the England manager to make a choice between Gerrard and Lampard. In fact, on the basis of last nights game, it’s not enough to inspire him with any original thought at all. Things he may have learned from our 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic:

- That Frank Lampard can’t replicate his Chelsea form in an England shirt.
- That David Beckham, while still capable of delivering a mean set piece, has all the pace and movement of a geriatric tortoise.
- That Stephen Gerrard isn’t a left winger.
- That Wayne Rooney wanders around the pitch too much.
- That the likes of Wes Brown and Jermaine Defoe simply don’t cut it at international level.

So it’s lucky we had the game really, because I don’t think anyone’s ever noticed any of those things before, ever.

In other unsurprising news, over in the village of the damned Mssrs Baldwin and Fallon clearly, without any doubt, proved Craig Popes innocence of any racial slurs by, er, offering no new evidence at all at last nights fans forum.

Baldwin managed to remove his head from a large bucket of sand just long enough to trot out his usual rhetoric:

“The feeling of everyone at the fans' forum was that having reviewed the evidence and watched the video we would all get behind Craig to try and show our support,” he whined, neglecting to mention that the barrister he hired twice failed to get his player off despite this overwhelming evidence in their favour.

Also it seems that, quelle surprise, Pope’s self-imposed retirement may not be permanent, and he may return to the ‘Stutes squad as soon as his four game ban is up. Much like England’s poor performance, I don’t think anyone saw that coming, no siree.

Meanwhile, the shock news of Norman Gautrey’s imminent resignation cannot be a good thing. While I’ve never dealt with the guy directly, no one seems to have a bad word to say about him, and when he leaves you have to wonder who will be steering the ship, with none of the current directors being based at the stadium full time. It should be an interesting fans forum tonight, that’s for sure…

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Burying bad news

Racism and cowardice often go hand in hand, so we should probably not be surprised that Craig Pope has flounced off in a huff rather than face the music after his appeal was dismissed by the FA yesterday.

There is more than a whiff of the lady protesting too much about his statement to the CEN, and besides which is anyone outside of Cambridge really going to care? He might get a bit of stick in the local games but other than that his reputation is hardly going to be damaged anymore than it already is. Meanwhile, Histon Village have to yet to remove their heads from the sand, with no statement about Pope's future on their official website. At least they're consistent eh.

Possibly the worst thing about this whole affair from a United point of view is that we've been complicit in helping them cover it up via the abortive transfer of Ben Farrell. Take this mornings Radio Cambridgeshire news for example; They did the Pope conviction, followed by two positive news stories about the Stutes (the potential Farrell deal and some youngsters signing new contracts). Coincidence?

In fact, if I were a cynic, I might say that the Farrell deal was never going to happen, and that Phil Law did his good friend Gareth Baldwin a favour by putting it "out there" on the same day as the Pope decision to help them bury the negative story, but I'm not, so I won't. Anyway, Farrell is still here for now, and I hope we won't be considering loaning him out elsewhere. I wouldn't want to rely on Convery or Quinton in a crisis...

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Lalala, I'm not listening

So it seems that everyone at Bridge Road is continuing to stick their fingers in their ears and hope that Craig Pope’s four-game ban for being a big nasty racist will go away.

Their supposedly unofficial message-board has disappeared from view (anyone who has read the bizarre drivel spouted by some of its members might consider this a blessing in disguise) and there is no word of the suspension on their official site. Still, at least they have Pravda, I mean the CEN, to speak on their behalf. No point having a dog and barking yourself eh?

In more interesting news, it seems the Brabinator is keen on bringing Josh Simpson back to the Abbey. “I think it's a pretty strong possibility,” affirmed Gary Roberts to BBC Cambridgeshire. "I think a lot of fans didn't see the best of him when he was over there.”

I like Josh as a player, and was a bit gutted when he left last time. I seem to remember lack of a guaranteed first team starts was cited as his reason for returning to City, and I can’t imagine he’ll be getting any such guarantees this time around with the likes of Carden and Farrell in the squad. But for me he’s certainly a better prospect than Quinton or Reed, so we shall have to wait and see what happens on that front.

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Histon Village FC - The family club

We all know that Histon FC are a lovely little village club run at no cost by an army of volunteers, and whose players are honest part-timers who hold down jobs as butchers, bakers, and candle-stick makers while playing for little more than 50p per week and the honour of walking out on the hallowed glassworld turf. In short, they are a credit to non-league football.

But events at said stadium this week have me wondering whether the marvellous Stutes are all they’re cracked up to be. Firstly, we have Cambridge City boss Gary Roberts labelling them “a bit despicable” over their handling of Josh Simpson’s potential move to the Glassworld Stadium. “I suspect that there may be an agenda that Josh can leave Cambridge City for anywhere but Histon”, warns Steve Fallon, demonstrating that he has ample room on both his shoulders for chips.

Then we have the curious case of Craig Pope, who has mysteriously accrued a four-game suspension for the start of next year. Could this perhaps, maybe, possibly have something to do with alleged racist abuse directed at LFW during the Boxing Day match last season? I couldn’t tell you for certain, as there has been no mention of his ban on the Histon website or in the press.

However, I’m sure our favourite family friendly club wouldn’t dream of intentionally sweeping something which could tarnish their squeaky-clean reputation under the carpet. So if Pope has indeed been found guilty then I’ll expect to see a statement condemning his actions in the local media in the coming days. It’s the only correct course of action that a family friendly club could take, isn’t it?

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