I'd make a joke about Cookie's crumbling, but it's too important...........!

To be a supporter of Wales is always a challenge, no matter the sport. As a small nation we shouldn’t be able to compete, yet when we suddenly get a decent group of players the pressure heaped on them is so great that they inevitably crumble or just lose the passion to play for the nation. 

The Welsh football team seems to have a peak every 20 years, where we nearly qualify for something, then it all goes wrong for a while.  It was only 3 years between Paul Bodin missing that penalty and Moldova rolling us. 4 years separated beating Italy and getting spanked at home by Slovakia. It seems that the best Welsh players give it 3 or 4 years before losing interest. Or more likely they are given 3 or 4 years before top Premiership managers start saying “Aaron, we have a really big Champions League game coming up, are you sure you want to go to Macedonia and risk getting injured? I mean, Wales aren’t going to qualify are they?”

Gary Speed seemed to have hit on a philosophy that worked for Wales. A game based on quick passing football, on looking after the ball, of clever probing passes creating chances rather than hustle bustle and puff your chests out lads and get stuck into them. It works because it suits the 3 key players who play like this for their clubs. It also works because Swansea and to a slightly lesser extent Cardiff play the same way, so players from those clubs can easily fit International football when needed. In 1 year we have developed a definite style of play, supported by the 2 major  clubs and the 3 top quality players we have at our disposal. The decision of who to appoint as the next manager of Wales is now the most important decision in the last 50 years of Welsh football.

When watching Wales, I am always pessimistic. Expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised is my philosophy. Even with the last decent team, under Mark Hughes I felt like that. There was something about that team that suggested they were scamming it a bit. Giggs still didn’t play that much. Speedo was often at left back, but, through his ability to read the game he could get away with it. If Hartson was injured the back up was Nathan Blake. Savage and Davies were good top level players, but if they were injured there was no-one to come in. In truth, the Euro 2004 campaign only nearly worked because the team got out in front of the group. After the first 4 games I seem to remember they only beat Azerbaijan. 

It isn’t like that now. Our players aren’t the best players in the world. Only Bale and Rambo would get near the England squad, and only Bale would get near the England team. Our captain, our talisman, the man who everything revolves around would at best be on the bench for the English. Our players aren’t the best, but for the first time in my life I watch Wales and expect them to win games. I have faith that we can look after the ball and cause good teams problems, as proven by the first 60 minutes against Montenegro and the second half at Wembley.

Now we have to deal with a new manager coming in and all of the problems that may involve. There’s the potential  new manager / new ideas scenario? There is also the personal issue. Speedo was a legend to every member of that squad, is there someone out there with that same level of respect amongst the squad?  Gary Speed could tell Aaron Ramsey or Gareth Bale something and they would listen intently. Wales have to continue to play in the same way. We have no choice, it is the only way we can be competitive. Chris Coleman seems to be the favourite, but personally I hope he doesn’t get the job. I don’t remember Fulham playing stylish football when he was in charge at Craven Cottage. John Hartson has a passion for Wales that can’t be matched, but no experience of management and he would almost certainly say something that would annoy somebody if he was in charge on his own.  Ian Rush is an absolute legend in Wales, but his attempt at management wasn’t successful. So what to do?

For what it’s worth, I have a solution.  For various reasons it could never happen, but here’s what I would do.  I would keep the coaching staff as it is, find a full time role for John Hartson to be involved in and I would beg Swansea to allow Brendan Rodgers to be part time manager of Wales. Right now, being Welsh is not the most important qualification for this job. Having an understanding of how to set up a team to play passing football is the only thing that matters. Swansea do this. I’m pretty sure Rodgers is a Welsh name anyway........

North of the Border, Down Cowdenbeath Way.

I did a bad thing on Sunday night. I'm not proud, I don't think it's clever and if I was still at school I would have certainly 'let it down'. I was driven to it you understand. Driven to it by the rubbish Third Round highlights on ITV. Driven to it because I can't afford Sky. Driven to it because Steve Evans is a ...(Oh no, wait, that's a whole different thing!) I feel a sense of shame, but no remorse.

I watched Sportscene on the BBC iPlayer. What's more, I loved it. Sportscene for those who don't know is the Scottish version of Match of the Day. Now normally I don't pay that much attention to the SPL, but it happened to be Scottish Cup 4th Round Day, and feeling nostalgic for the days when Dundee Utd and Aberdeen ripped through Europe, of the days when Ian Ferguson won the cup for St Mirren and Hearts choked in the final week of the season I decided to give it a view.

What a reward it was. If you take out the Old Firm, whose dominance makes the league pointless, Scottish football is very honest and entertaining. Cowdenbeath v Hibs was a belting match in a good old fashioned stadium.  It had everything. The underdogs cutting through in 15 seconds to take the lead. The professional comeback of the Premier League team. The wondergoal from Cowdenbeath to make it interesting again and then the gale force wind. Throw into the mix a Hibs striker going mad at his own fans after scoring and you have a great match. Dundee v Kilmarnock was end to end, and had the added entertainment of the ref and linesman pontificating over an offside decision. Inverness v Dunfermline had shocking goalkeeping. Airdrie v Dundee Utd had a plastic pitch and Hearts V Auchinleck had just about everything that is great about football in one 90 minute match.

If you are a fan of the superstar football of the top of the Premiership, don't go near Sportscene. There is nothing there to interest you. If, like me, you prefer football that you can actually relate to, then it is well worth an hour... Now, where can I find highlights of Division 3?

 

A Proper Keeper's Goal

Thank you Tim Howard! It's been a while since a goalkeeper has scored a true keeper's goal, which makes it all the more enjoyable when it happens.
Since Peter Schmeichel netted against Volgograd in the mid 90's, the sight of a goalkeepers name on the score sheet has become less rare as managers, in a last desperate throw of the dice send the keeper into the area to cause a bit of mayhem. This has always annoyed me, because the same manager will always leave 1 or 2 defenders back covering against the break. Surely this defies the objective, as you are leaving players who are used to heading the ball back on halfway, whilst a player who heads the ball once or twice a season is sent into the box for the corner. I've always thought sticking the keeper on the half way line to mop up, and sending all of the outfield players into the mix would be more effective, but, because sometimes it works, managers seem determined to send the glovewearer into unfamiliar territory! I don't count these goals as real keepers efforts though. As funny as they are, they are not the real thing.




As I rack my memory, I can only remember seeing 3 other proper jobs. Pat Jennings v Man United courtesy of an old video. Steve Ogrizovic vs Sheffield Wednesday and Paul Robinson v Watford. I know there have been others, but I just can't remember them. A proper keepers goal has to be launched from miles away, with the ball starting behind all of the other 21 players on the pitch. From hand or from the floor doesn't matter. It will usually involve a gust of wind or a freak bounce. It will also leave the opposing keeper (be it Stepney, Hodge, Foster or Bogdan) groping wildly at thin air, whilst their legs pedal backwards in despair. They are beautiful things. Sometimes there is nothing quite like watching one guy punt a ball 100 yards to score. Nothing wrong with Route 1 when it's done well!!!!

The Ghost of 3rd Rounds Past

The start of January is supposed to be a time for looking forward and making changes in your life. In reality, most people's resolutions fade away by January 7th, so it seems right to me that this year 7th January is FA Cup 3rd round day, because now all it reminds me is of a New Years resolution gone wrong. It reminds me of the person who has promised to lose weight tucking in to their first lump of chocolate. Of the person who has promised to get fit giving up on their run because, "It's a bit nippy out there tonight". Of the person who is determined to have their bright ideas heard at work this year, slowly and silently slinking back in their chair as an idiot with a loud mouth takes control yet again. The FA Cup 3rd round is nothing but a broken promise now. It's hyped up on TV and radio, but it's not the same anymore. Just wait until Wigan and Bolton send out their reserves if you don't believe it.

Throughout my childhood it was my favourite day of the season, it almost made going back to school worthwhile, because once you were back at school 3rd round day was nearly here. The excitement started on Football Focus. It was, in those days, usually the only chance you got to see places like Vale Park, Prenton Park and The Recreation Ground on TV. It was the only chance you got to see what the players and managers actually looked like, and more importantly, what kind of a pudding of a pitch the top division players were going to have to cope with. It was also the time when you found out which game Tony Gubba was commentating on, as that was guaranteed to be a shock. You also knew that it would be a genuine shock. The First Division clubs would be putting out strong teams and not saving players for the next league game.

This weekend I expect Swindon to beat Wigan's youth and reserve players, and Charlton to roll the players masquerading as Fulham's 1st XI. Swindon fans won't care one bit, and beating a Premier League side (whoever it might contain) can only help their promotion push, but I suspect that the Wigan fans won't care either. Particularly if the rest helps them get something against Manchester City in their next league match. That is precisely why the FA Cup has lost it's magic, it is because the smaller Premiership clubs, the clubs who the Cup offers their only chance of success to, don't care at all. Look at the Arsenal fans behind the goal when Steve Watkin sent them crashing out. The Coventry fans when Matthew Hanlon smashed one past Oggy and the West Brom fans as Tim Buzaglo completed his hat trick. They cared. They hurt. That's why we remember these games.

It has ruined the cup completely and I long for the days where Plymouth v Watford, Coventry v Leeds and Wimbledon v Luton Town were semi finals. The equivalent now would be Notts County v Fulham, Wolves v  Burnley and Blackburn v QPR. Out of those 6 teams, I'd fancy Notts County and Burnley. The other 4 teams will be trying their best to get knocked out to ensure their millions.