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: 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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Paranoia sets in

Much as I don't like to sound like a Newcastle fan (Hahaha, Joe Kinnear, hahahaha), it has seemed like the media is working against us this week.

Maybe the fact that the team haven't been winning much lately is making me paranoid, but everyone seems to have been sticking the boot in. First we have Pravda going on and one and about Histon Village being above us in the table by an enormous margin of one point, a point just about gained against a ten man Lewes side who are surely the worst team ever seen at this level (yes, worse than Droyslden).

Fair play to Histon, who have started really well this year and seem to be going the right way about avoiding "second season syndrome", but I must have missed the news that the season finishes in September now. If they're above us in May then they'll have something to crow about, but until then the CEN should stop trying to make something out of nothing, and well done to Danny Brown and Dan Gleeson for not being drawn on the subject this week.

Then we have Setanta, who conducted a full on Oxford United love in before, during, and after Tuesday's game at the Kassam. "We thought they might crumble again, but thankfully they got a third" said Steve Bower during the post match summary. Thankfully for who exactly? Not for me or any other fans of the real U's, that's for sure. And by the way Steve, I'm not certain exactly how you pronounce the name of Oxford's number seven, but I'm fairly confident that he's not Yemi Od-uu-bad.

Of course, Bower is still more literate than the witless Paul Parker, who continues to display an overt anti-Cambridge attitude. At one point he accused Felino of diving in the box, then went very quiet when replays showed the defender had trod on his foot and brought him down. How these imbeciles get on TV I don't know.

To make matters worse, Radio Cambs have re-employed the smug, P*sh supporting, not-half-as-funny-as-he-thinks-he-is, numpty that is Paul Stainton to front their sports coverage. I think I might just stick to Teletext in future.

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