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Shots latest production: “The Taming of the Shrews”
It’s been, in my book at least, a pretty mixed week for football. On the one hand there’s been the “goings on” at Manchester United. On the other we’ve seen the re emergence of the Baggies manager (one of the most decent men in football) after his Liverpool debacle plus, on a personal front, Shots quite unbelievable 3 goal hammering of Shrewsbury Town.
I have nothing against Man U (Excellent team. Great manager), but the hypocrisy of some of Ferguson’s latest comments and the way in which the likes of Garry Neville have condoned Wayne Rooney over his latest misdemeanours simply beggars belief.
In an interview I heard over the weekend Sir Alex suggested a) that referees had been unfairly pressurized over the Rooney incident (Something the great man would of course never do himself) b) that the penalty call was the first decision to go their way for 7 years (Did I really hear that or was I just imagining things?) and c) that in fact the penalty was a 50/50 shout in the first place (50/50? “You cannot” as the man said, “be serious”).
The problem with all this is not so much that it’s been said but that, as you can hear whenever you go into any bar, people actually believe this kind of rubbish and end up trotting it out themselves. It’s a sad fact that the average football fan increasingly sees Referees as a bunch of at best weak and at worst dishonest morons, who consistently manage to get even the simplest of decisions wrong and in doing so mess up what would otherwise be a great and glorious game.
As for the Rooney affair why people like Garry Neville are unable to understand the difference between swearing away to your hearts content in the middle of the Stamford Bridge pitch and doing so with your nose 3 inches away from a TV camera that is beaming out the message to upwards of 10 million people I can’t even begin to understand.
Sure there are other issues (like the FA’s failure to deal with De Jong’s foul on Ben Arfa, its inability to address the issue of cheating and of course the behaviour and language of fans themselves) which are even more important but in my opinion, that doesn’t go anyway towards excusing the likes of Wayne Rooney.
On the bright side wasn’t it nice to see one of footballs nice guys getting back on the right track.
Roy Hodgson clearly needs players willing to buy into his footballing philosophy and at West Brom he appears to have a squad who are willing to do just that.
Roy Hodgson, Manager of the Season. I don’t think so. No doubt that will go to some bloke with 50/50 vision instead.
The Taming of the Shrews:
After last week’s 90 mile Southend cycle you would imagine driving 50 miles down the motor way for a match would be a piece of cake. However with only three games left the team has not produced even one convincing home performance. Throw in the fact that we’re playing third in the League Shrewsbury and that we will be fighting the “Manager of the Month League 2” curse (Well done Deano by the way) and it looks like being yet another long depressing journey home.
4.50: No need to fret. In the event it was a walk in the park on a day of firsts. The first match this season we’ve won by more that a single goal. The first goal for Ben Hurd for over three years and the first time Danny Hylton’s scored a goal with his left foot for … well forever actually.
The boys were magnificent. The Shrews were, being generous, ordinary in the extreme and all of a sudden undefeated in 9, only 2 defeats in 19, the future’s bright.
The crowd left looking back over their shoulders as if not quite sure they could believe what they’d just seen.
Ok! The Board has warned that next season the wage bill is to be cut so there will no doubt be worrying times ahead. But just now let’s enjoy the moment. As Roy Hodgson said on Saturday “I’m certain there are clouds on the horizon but if you spend your life worrying about them you forget about the sunshine and lead a pretty miserable life.”
Now there’s a man whose got his world in order.
Up the Shots!
Old Timer.
PS: Shame for Barnet about Allen. With Northampton and Burton both in free fall I fancied the Bees to escape the Conference. Now I’m not so sure.
Posted by Aldershot fan Old Timer
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