|
Anyone
fancy a bagel?
A week in the life of a football fan.
by
Paul Davidson
Our
roving reporter and fast food guru visits all sides of the football
pyramid.
Saturday
15th August 1998
First
game of the season at my own personal "Temple of Temples" , Loftus
Road , home of my most enduring and greatest love , Queens Park
Rangers ( with due deference to my long suffering better half Carol
). How sad I am that a once good club like QPR are now in total
free fall due to the grossly incompetent management of the last
three years or so.
Gone
are the days when we enjoyed a healthy rivalry with the European
Select X1 at Stamford Bridge. All we have to look forward to now
are derby games against the resurgent Fulham and , God forbid ,
bloody Brentford .We now have to suffer a chairman ( who was going
to save the club ) that cant tell a decent manager from a bowl of
chicken soup , a manager that wouldn't know a decent striker from
a llama , an assistant manager that only seems to care about being
seen on TV ( and now in films ) in a three piece suit and to cap
it all , a member of the Dowie family as coach ! I ask you , is
it any wonder the club is struggling ?
The
only real surprise of the game is a wonder goal three minutes into
injury time by the natural successor to Tony Adams as London's donkey
in chief , Karl Ready , the clubs first goal of the season.
Sunday 16th August 1998
A
day in the garden followed by watching another great love , Celtic
, lose one of the most amazing games I have ever witnessed on TV.
It occurs to me that there must be some sort of curse on the hooped
shirts as Celtic's strikers are actually worse than those at QPR.
Mind you , when was the last time QPR , Harrow Borough or anyone
else come to that got three penalties in one half , we are lucky
to get three in one season ?
Monday
17th August 1998
To
the top end of the spectrum today, a seat in the North Bank at Highbury
for the first home game of the season for the reigning Premier League
champions Arsenal. I first stood on the North Bank 30 odd years
ago and boy have things changed.
At
half time a female member of the row behind asked her colleagues
, all dressed in designer suits and with very proper accents , if
any of them would like a bagel. A bagel for Christ's sake ! Whatever
happened to meat pies and Bovril , when the only suits seen on the
North Bank were boiler suits? There followed a discussion between
these suits as to whether they preferred their tuna bagels with
salad , as per last season , or the new type with sweetcorn. I didn't
know whether to laugh or cry.
The
game itself was OK but not exceptional , although it was nice to
see some of the top stars in the flesh for a change. Workmanlike
Forest were a bit unlucky not to nick a point , but World Cup star
Overmars won the game in the last few minutes with a piece of opportunism
that makes him nearly worth his extraordinary wages.
Tuesday
18th August 1998
Work
commitments meant that Tuesday nights entertainment was from the
very opposite end of the football spectrum. A game in the ex mining
town of Atherton in Greater Manchester , at Crilly Park , the home
of the splendidly named Atherton Laburnum Rovers. I was disappointed
to find that their strange name has nothing to do with the ground
being swathed in laburnum trees , but that 6 of the original team
of the 1950's lived in nearby Laburnum avenue.
The
ground , excellent for this level , was built in the shadow of the
massive Atherton Mill although this has been demolished and replaced
with a modern yuppy housing estate full of people wearing exotic
holiday destination t-shirts and driving company cars.
No
bagels on sale here though , thank God. The programme informed me
that Nelson ( the team , not the sailor ) provide the best meat
pie peas and gravy in the league and I made a mental note to make
sure I make a visit there before the end of the season. Rovers were
almost bankrupted by a crooked chairman three years ago and are
now fighting their way back up the pyramid towards the Northern
Premier League , although they have a long way to go mentally if
not physically from the newly named North Western Trains League.
You
can't help but love a club though , when one of their officials
, when asked what time the kick-off was , replies "when would you
like it ?" Eventually the crowd of about 120 settled down to watch
a slightly uneven contest on a pitch resembling the lower slopes
of the Andes. The home side found that you cant give a two goal
lead to the promotion favourites in the first eleven minutes and
get much from the game. A brave fightback was stopped by three late
goals from the visitors , Newcastle Town , who were slightly flattered
by the eventual 5-1 scoreline.
Wednesday
19th August 1998
Back
to the Boro for the first game for the reserves in the Capital League
against Stevenage. I was hoping to write here how much I enjoyed
watching the game and how much I would recommend other Boro fans
to take in one of these matches soon.
Up
until the 86th minute , I was thinking just that. The occasion then
was completely ruined for me by the shabbiest piece of unsportsmanlike
gamesmanship I have seen for many years. Stevenage deliberately
taking advantage of a badly injured Boro defender lying on the ground
to keep two forwards onside to equalise , when several of the Boro
players had stopped playing waiting for Stevenage to kick the ball
out of play.
That
Stevenage went on to win in injury time was of no real consequence.
Even the few away fans there seemed a bit embarrassed by it all
. I do not know what upset me the most , the attitude of the Stevenage
management that thought that what they had done was a great piece
of opportunism , or the general acceptance of what had happened
by everyone after the game.
Mind
you , when their ego maniacal chairman heard what they had done
I'll bet he was proud of them , no wonder Stevenage have become
such an unpopular club in recent years. I would , however , heartily
recommend a visit to see our reserves , I think that given a bit
of luck , they could surprise a few teams. Stevenage certainly appeared
surprised at the high level of our play before pulling such a low
trick to get a result.
Thursday
20th & Friday 21st August 1998
Two
days away from football to hopefully renew my faith in the game
and prepare myself for the first League match at Walton & Hersham.
Football certainly isn't what it was and I dont think that it will
be quite the same ever again. I am afraid that people in suits eating
bagels and players cheating each other is the future of the game.
They will all probably still be there in a few years. I wonder if
I will !!!
|
