The Football League has returned, and that means that, during the week, so did the Lower League Week.
On Wednesday, for Born Offside, I wrote about the Coventry fiasco; the media’s lazy reporting of the Coventry fiasco; a Crawley fan being banned for being mean to Ian Holloway; Northampton beginning pre-season with a bonfire; the opening weekend’s matches; and an Accrington employee being naughty and breaking some betting laws.
This was on the first page of searches for ‘betting’ and I’m too lazy to look further.
There was also some lovely sarcasm from Torquay United, and Notts County tempting fate.
This is a late link yet again, with the final, double-sized edition of the Lower League Week going up on Bornoffside.net during the week.
Some of the bigger stories were Coventry’s stadium apparently being on fire; the playoff finals; new managers for Doncaster and Hartlepool; Wolves and Sheffield United still searching for bosses (at the time of writing); the effects and to an extent the morality of parachute payments; early summer transfers; Bury’s financial troubles, and Billy Sharp being playful. Probably.
The second last Lower League Week went up late in the week last week, so appropriately enough, the link to it is going up late as well.
This edition covers John Hughes’ sacking by Hartlepool, James Beattie’s appointment as Accrington manager, and former Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler announcing his intent to return to management… and his belief that he would also have taken them up this year.
After two years of spending heavily, Swindon have announced their intention to make massive cuts for next year. Portsmouth will probably not be able to pay a transfer fee for a few years, as a result of being required to pay ‘football debts’ in full, and there’s the potential for a Coventry buyout by Preston Haskell IV, and investment as a result.
An Oxford supporters’ group, OxVox, have helped force the club’s ground to be designated as a ‘community asset’, protecting it against owners who want to sell it for a quick profit.
Aldershot and Wycombe have had financial problems, while a Yeovil fan has been denied the chance to take a flag into the playoff final… unless he paid £1500 for eight people to help him.
Yeovil manager Gary Johnson, immediately after having his flagpole yoinked from his fist. Possibly.
Two weeks ago I couldn’t find the time to write a Lower League Week, so last week I wrote a Lower League Fortnight for Bornoffside, covering the events of both weeks.
Coventry are in a legal mess of their own making; things are starting to look up for Portsmouth (relatively speaking); Bury’s players are on low wages; several of Accrington’s players haven’t been paid, but they now have two England international strikers on their books; the Fleetwood chairman has used Twitter to criticise his players; Southend defender Bilel Mohsni might be taking part in a cage fight; and Dani Lopez scored hat-tricks on two successive weekends, for two different teams, in two different divisions. Not bad.
My latest Lower League Week is up at Bornoffside.net, though it is a little late in the week.
With last weekend being the FA Cup Second round, that’s dominated the column. In particular the MK Dons – Wimbledon match, a hectic last ten minutes between Accrington and Oxford, and the Micky Adams vengeance match between Sheffield United and Port Vale. (Though I’m not entirely sure if that’s Adams seeking revenge for his sacking, or Sheffield United seeking revenge for him not being a very good manager.)
On the flip side, he does have very sexy legs.
There were some big non-cup related news, such as Fleetwood sacking Micky Mellon and the sad and premature passing of Mitchell Cole.
Looking back at the dates of recent posts, I’ve been neglecting the blog in the past few weeks, and, like the alcoholic father I am in this metaphor*, I intend to overcompensate dramatically in a way that embarasses everyone.
So, in the next few days I intend to polish off a few things I’ve been working on, and get them up either here on the blog or elsewhere (and remember to link to them this time).
So in the next few days there should be a follow up to my earlier Life’s Too Short article in a shameless attempt to cash in on the show’s American debut. I intend to write reviews of the books I’ve read since my last review was posted, and more.
That is, if my day job of rocket scientist/rockstar doesn’t get in the way.
Hard at work
Since my last post here at the blog, I’ve written two entries for Born Offside. The first of the two, filed on the 15th, went into depth on the lovely cuddly Steve Evans, while covering Torquay’s remarkable winning streak, Kettering not being able to afford to pay police for their matches, and more.
Despite his crimes, this is the closest he gets to a prison these days
Then, last week, I covered the reasons for Stevenage’s rise and congratulated them on holding Tottenham to a draw, the reasons why Lee Clark’s sacking at Huddersfield was reasonable, and once again giving Darlington sympathetic press.
Really, as a Hartlepool fan, I hope they sort their finances out so that I don’t have to be sympathetic to them so often.
Nine days without posting – if I don’t write more often, I’ll never clog up people’s inboxes.
Right. After spending a few days away, I missed a week of lower league column for Born Offside, and compensated with Born Offside’s first ever Lower League Fortnight.
Knowing my issues with reliability and consistency, I’m sure it won’t be the last time that happens.
This issue covered transfer movements, changes in management, Bournemouth paying a huge £800,000 transfer fee…it’s crazy, a tell thee.
I’m so happy to have signed for Bournemouth. Yayyyyyyy.
This past week, Fabio Capello, the Italian manager of the England national football team, walked out. It was the culmination of a long series of irritating events – the media attacked Capello for not walking on water, Wayne Rooney did something stupid and Capello didn’t stop him from doing it so is therefore dangerously incompetent, John Terry may or may not have said something potentially hugely offensive and faces a trial for it, Capello wanted to stick by him, his bosses didn’t, Capello told Italian television he wanted Terry to remain as captain.
SciFiFootball 