More Late Drama Than Sky Atlantic’s Through the Night Programming

On Friday BornOffside published my latest Lower League Week.

It begins with a summary of the events in the League One and Two playoff semi-finals, which were pretty dramatic.

I also covered the smaller, end of season stories.
Bury fan favourite Efe Sodje is in conflict with manager Kevin Blackwell, refusing to sign a new contract unless he leaves. Steve Fletcher has finally retired at the age of 40, not because decades of centre-forwarding have taken their toll on his body, but simply because he’s pretty far down the pecking order now.

Steve Fletcher: Retiree

Coventry were locked out of their stadium again after continuing to refuse to pay the rent (what are they like!) and Martin Ling, who’d been on sick leave, has been replaced as Torquay manager by Alan Knill.

Having narrowly survived relegation, Dagenham caretaker manager Wayne Burnett has been appointed as permanent manager, while Brian Flynn has decided against continuing as Doncaster boss despite their last minute title win.

And Luke McCormick has returned to Plymouth, the club that terminated his contract after he was convicted of causing the death of two young boys. Yeah, it’s not all sweetness and light.

Click here to read The Lower League Week – The Stoppage Time Equaliser Edition

Last Week’s Last Day Drama

Although football in the Premiership and the Championship are ongoing, the normal season in Leagues One and Two are now complete.

Speaking as a Hartlepool fan, I’m glad to see the season go.

There’s been some pretty dramatic action on the final day, including an end to the Doncaster – Brentford game you may be aware of, and amazingly, 7 teams battling to avoid relegation from League Two on the final day.

And Jeremy Kyle, daytime TV talk show host, was invited to give a pre-match team talk, during which he presumably revealed the results of a DNA test to one of the players, and yelled at others.

Click here to read The Lower League Week: The Jimmy Glass Day Edition

Bias In Wales

In English football, there are a number of Welsh teams competing within the English football leagues. This came about essentially because there aren’t enough professional teams for a fully professional Welsh league to be sustainable. So, for a century, Welsh and English teams have intermingled.

There is a strange detail to this – though they compete in the English leagues, when their players are disciplined, the Welsh teams are punished by the Football Association of Wales, rather than the English FA.

Recently, this has led to a conflict of interests, with a Wrexham player having a ban rescinded, allowing him to compete in the Conference playoff semi-finals.

This is what Wales looks like from space… if you squint really hard.

I’ve written about this for BornOffside.

Click here to read Time to End Welsh Independence

A Dramatic Day to Come in Leagues One and Two

It’s a bit late in the week, but I’ve covered the events in Leagues One and Two.

Barnet have played their last game at Underhill, home of the famous sloping pitch; Portsmouth have been deducted points this season rather than next, despite already being relegated; Scunthorpe are all but relegated, for the second time in three years; Coventry City FC are – I’m sorry if I don’t seem to be taking it seriously, just laughably villainous.

I’ve also written about the teams still with something to play for on the last round of league matches this weekend.

Click here to read The Lower League Week – Preparing for the Showdown

Earlier, The Week

I do have a bad habit of neglecting this blog from time to time…

During the week, the latest Lower League Week was published at Bornoffside.net.

Portsmouth were taken over by their fans, but, along with Bury and Hartlepool, were relegated from League One with two games to play. Yeovil vs Oldham saw father and son managers on the touchline; Torquay’s new chairman is a lottery winner, and the country’s highest positioned female chairman; Danny Wilson was sacked by Sheffield United; and Coventry have outdone themselves in their battle over the Ricoh Arena.

Click here to read Lower League Week – Confirmation of Relegation Edition

Patience and Loyalty

In football, it’s an unargued truism that managers deserve loyalty, that the best course of action is to back the man in charge.

But what if the man in charge has spent over a year in charge with no definite sign of forward progress (Martin O’Neill) and there’s a danger of relegation. Should he be allowed more time?

Martin O’Neill looking slightly sad. He probably cheered himself up by attending a murder trial or two.

When a boss who’s got a good reputation as a coach, but hasn’t done much as a manager, and is taking the team down the table (Michael Appleton), should they be persisted with? Even when the former caretaker manager had a better record, and is still on staff?

I wrote about this dilemma on Friday for Bornoffside.

Click here to read Have Recent Managerial Sackings Been Fair?

One Week Plus One Week Equals One Fortnight

After missing last week, I’ve written a Lower League Fortnight, which has just gone live today.

Typically, there’s been some biggish stories breaking while the column was being checked over by the editor, but there’s still been a fair bit going on.

It was decided pretty quickly that Coventry were talking out of their backsides when trying to avoid a points deduction by claiming it’s only an arm of the club that’s gone into adiministration.

This place has caused them a hell of a lot of problems.

Walsall, Port Vale, and Portsmouth have all been in good form; Notts County and Stevenage have appointed new managers that the fans will be familiar with; the Football League Trophy final has been played, with a pro singing the anthems and everything; and Crawley Town decided to stop their local reporter interviewing their manager and players, because they didn’t like the headlines above a few of her articles.

Click here to read Lower League Fortnight – Happiness & Unicorns Edition

What Does di Canio Believe?

Just a brief post, linking to a piece I’ve written for Bornoffside today.

Former West Ham striker and Swindon manager Paolo di Canio has been named as the new Sunderland manager, prompting criticism of the fact a ‘self-confessed fascist’ could be given the job. Former MP David Miliband resigned from his position at the club in protest, and there’s been debate about the morality of it all in the media.

I’ve tried to look in a bit of depth at di Canio’s beliefs, how they’re reflected in his management style, compared di Canio’s and Miliband’s morality.

Click here to read Paolo di Canio & The Strongman Principle

Is There an ‘E’ in Noticeably? Also, a Delayed Link to Lower League Fortnight

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.

Click here to read The Lower League Fortnight – Financial Mismanagement Edition

A Noticeably Delayed Link to a Lower League Week

I’ve neglected the blog recently, although I have been writing for other places. I’ve written a short story from start to finish, which I intend to try and get published soon (and will write more about in a day or two), and I’ve had promising discussions with a couple of sites about writing for them.

But I’ve also been writing my weekly Lower League Week for Bornoffside, which I’ve not quite got round to linking to from the blog for some reason. I’m going to catch up now, both in this post and another to follow shortly after.

On Thursday March 7th I wrote about Swindon’s new manager, seemingly chosen for his dullness; Coventry being placed under a transfer embargo; Plymouth’s supporters association picking a bad time to criticise the board; Port Vale hitting a rocky patch as they challenge for the League Two title; and Gary Mills, who led York City to two Wembley wins last season, being relieved of his position as manager.

Click here to read The Lower League Week – Noticeably Less Exciting