A Little Late Lower League Week

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.

Click here to read Lower League Week – Managers and Money

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

Pools are Going Down; I’ve Written for We Are Going Up

I’ve been a bit busy writing for a few sites over recent days. First up is a piece I wrote for We Are Going Up – basically a look back across Hartlepool United’s awful, awful season.

It’s been a season when Pools have set a new club record for games without a win, a new club record for least amount of goals scored by the top scorer, and have lost by 5 goals on 4 occasions.

On the plus side, I still think the ground looks awesome.

Click here to read Thank God It’s Nearly Over

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

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

This Week’s Lower League Week

Yesterday, this week’s Lower League Week went up at Bornoffside.net.

Coventry, after refusing to pay the rent on their stadium for almost a year, have finally ended up facing consequences for their rudeness. (Though they’ve objected to their punishment on a legal technicality.)

Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn has responded to West Ham moving into the nearby Olympic Stadium and threatening his ‘community club’ by thinking about moving the club outside of the community.

Southend and Stevenage have both changed their manager, while Northampton and Burton are on very long winning streaks at home.

And the organisers of the Football League Trophy have apparently decided that the trophy was too well respected, and responded by inviting Soccer AM hosts Helen Chamberlain and Max Rushden to sing the national anthem. Yeah, that should fix that problem.

Click here to read The Lower League Week – The Laughably Inept Edition