Daring to Dream

I write as a very happy Cambridge United fan this morning! Last night saw us defeat league favourites, Luton Town, in their own back yard 1-0. I don't want to stroke the ego of Luton fans too much, but this could be considered a scalp for most teams in our division. Much to my dismay, I wasn't present to witness one of our finer moments in non-league. Me and my 2 month old Finley, who was proudly displaying his colours were nervously checking the score all night! By all the accounts I've heard, it wasn't a smash and grab job either. This was a deserved win and a great night for all U's fans lucky enough to be in attendance. Luckily, YouTube has allowed me to live the moment our very own Rory McAuley scored what would prove to be the decisive goal.

I may be getting carried away with the euphoria of a result such as the one from last night, but I've had a big shift in opinion regarding our manager, Jez George. Don't say it too loudly, but it might even be one of those rare occasions when I'm wrong. At the start of the season, I was adamant that the appointment of a man who had never managed a senior football team was not going to amount to any sort of success. I thought success in this league would be brought about by a non-league stalwart, someone who had a few battle scars from what is probably the toughest division in professional football to get promoted from. To be fair, I did also say that when these sort of appointments work, they REALLY work. I'm not going to completely retract my opinion that we need a non-league stalwart at the helm, but I'm very close to admitting I was completely in the wrong in saying we should not have appointed Jez George. There's a long way to go yet, but Jez seems to have laid the foundations for a season of relative success and at the same time changed my mind on what our football club needed to push forward.

The super U's are now undefeated in 8 and have won their last 3 games in a row, with 2 of those against opposition we're not expected to beat in Darlington and Luton. You don't go on a run like that with a couple of the top teams involved in your fixtures by fluke. A winning formula to getting out of this division doesn't always necessarily involve a big budget. If you look at the teams that have been promoted from recent seasons, the main ingredients are a younger, well organised squad who have some previous momentum. The likes of Accrington, Dagenham, Aldershot and Burton were all on an upward spiral when they got promoted, not a club in the doldrums looking to get back to former glories. They were all in the top tier of non-league football having come from further down the pyramid. Looking back over the winners of the division, it's extremely rare for a recently relegated side to win it. Without delving too deep into the stats, I can't find a single club that has been relegated into the Blue Square Premier then become champions at the first time of asking - can any statto confirm? The likes of Exeter and Torquay have gone back up through the play-offs after short spells in non-league, but other than them it's clubs who have risen through the divisions, done their time in the top tier of non-league and waited their turn. Apart from Crawley, there isn't anyone I begrudge their place in the Football League. Of course I'd rather it was Cambridge United than Torquay or Exeter after our two ill fated Wembley play-off final trips, but I'm doing my best to eradicate both those occasions from memory.

Looking at the teams that have gone on to the Football League and how Jez has gone about his business this season, it looks like we've followed suit. Throwing a £1million plus budget and signing big non-league names under Jimmy Quinn and Gary Brabin didn't do us any favours, we got close but the job wasn't complete. It's not doing the likes of Luton, Mansfield and York any favours either. The framework for success in this division is a united club all pushing in the same direction, who are hungry to play with a point to prove. The prize for succeeding is immense, for everyone involved in the club. My main fear with Jez at the helm was the lack of nous he'd have operating in this division. As much as you might despise him, Steve Evans knew all the tricks to make Crawley a horrible team to play against, then when armed with a budget like this level of football has never seen before, win the league at a canter. I thought we'd need much the same. It turns out a work ethic, not over complicating tactics and never resting on your laurels is the recipe and Jez is a master chef!

I'm not going to go changing what I think our club needs every time it starts going right or wrong, but I'm more than happy to say that being in a minority who were disappointed in the appointment of Jez, I couldn't of got it more wrong. He IS the man for us. Even if the season doesn't continue in the same vain, even if we do end up in mid-table mediocrity, the ingredients are there and Jez is the man to lead us forward. I am proud to say I'm a Cambridge United fan again. But U's fans, as I pointed out in my previous Jez related blog - DARE TO DREAM! We are over a quarter of the way into the season and sit 1 place outside the play-off places on the back of a magnificent run. We go to Southport on Saturday with the potential to end the day 1 point off top spot! I know we've had our fingers burnt before, I know Wembley hurt, but we're football fans, more importantly we're Cambridge United fans! This is what we do, we set ourselves up for a fall. It will make the successes all the more sweeter and the defeats all the more bitter. I'd rather be at each end of that spectrum than plodding along satisfied with finishing the season in 12th.

The Referee Is Right Even When He's Wrong

In a previous blog post I put my views forward on the Respect campaign in football, this was after a meeting I attended which detailed the appeal process for a red card as non existant. Basically, unless you have a Premier League level of coverage at your game, a red card will stand whatever the circumstances. In my teams second league game of the season, everything I feared would happen as a result of this stupid system, happened. I'd like to point out, this is not a "all referees are terrible"-esque post, I like to think I am objective enough to stand back and take all the facts in and leave the emotion of the game aside for a second. During the course of a game, I like to build up a dialogue with a referee. Sometimes it's possible, sometimes it isn't.

I'll start by running you through the events of our game yesterday. My team, Chesterton Legacy, had an away fixture at West End, the league and cup champions for the previous 2 seasons. The week previous they had beaten the team that finished 2nd, 5-4 after starting the game with only 8 players. West End have quality in abundance, for my team, Legacy, getting anything from the game would be an incredibly tall order. The game started tentatively, Legacy went ahead early on but were soon pegged back and the game stood at 1-1. At around 20 minutes in, our goalkeeper was faced with a through ball bouncing up at the edge of the area. He jumped to claim the ball and with this was deemed to move outside the area with the ball in his hands. The goalkeeper protested, then stupidly kicked the ball away and received a yellow card. This was all justified and we have no complaints from the referee in issuing the initial yellow card. The resulting free kick was then scored, making it 2-1 to West End. Obviously frustrated, the goalkeeper picked the ball out of the net and kicked it back to the centre circle while using an expletive - "fuck". This was not directed at anyone and as I'm sure you can imagine, a number of expletives had already been banded around the pitch that morning with wayward passes and mistimed tackles - not uncommon at the level I play at. Not to mention a West End players frustration at a late tackle, screaming "cunt" at the player in question under the nose of the referee.

With the kick of the ball and the use of the word "fuck", the referee has issued a second yellow card to the goalkeeper and sent him off. At this point, I tried to start a dialogue with the referee (in a calm and constructive manner considering the circumstances) and was greeted with "Go away player". I was trying to ask the referee whether he was going to book everyone who swore and if we would see some consistency. The apparent answer, was no. In fairness to my team, while there was some protesting considering the usual swarm of abuse a referees usually get in this situation, more used it and channelled the frustration at such a ridiculous decision into their football. Massive credit must go to the Chesterton Legacy team for this, I've not seen many Sunday morning teams met with such injustice and not use more aggression towards an official.

Obviously this is what the Respect campaign is all about and I fully endorse everything it's trying to promote on the field of play, but my argument has always been that Respect has to work both ways. A referee needs to enter into dialogue with players (or at least the captain), explain his decisions, be consistent throughout and hold his hands up when he is wrong. On the same token, players must respect decisions, even when wrong. I feel our team did this impeccably yesterday. But the system of not being able to appeal a red card is only going to create bad referees. If they cannot be wrong, if they aren't allowed to have objective and constructive criticism of decisions, personal vendettas and blinkered decisions are going to prevail.

An example of the consistency I'm looking for can also fall out of the match we had yesterday. West End won a corner, one of the West End players met the corner with a header and hit the post. When the ball went out of play after this, the West End player punched the floor and screamed "You fucking cunt" right next to the referee. I personally take no issue with this, but as I'd seen my goalkeeper sent off for the same offence I then asked the referee if this was worthy of being booked. His reply was "No, it's different". I asked how and he said "Your goalkeeper was aggressive". I then said "I don't want to drag this out, but if someone screaming 'Fucking cunt' and hitting the floor isn't aggressive, I don't know what is". He looked at me and raised his eye brows, at this point I knew it was pointless following it up, as it probably was me even asking the question in the first place. How is there not something personal in the decision from the referee when this is how he explains himself? After the sending off, even members of the other team were saying how harsh it was. How often do you see both teams agreeing about a harsh decision in Sunday football? It's not usually the beacon of sportsmanship, so when teams can both agree on something it's usually a pretty big indication the referee is in the wrong.

I hate to sound like a basher of referees, some of them are brilliant even at my level of football. They are happy to have banter with the players, explain decisions and build up a good rapport. But M. Rayner who was our referee yesterday morning, has ruined a Sunday morning for someone, cost them a hefty fine and made what was already a big ask of our team a monumental ask.

As it turns out, a spirited and courageous performance from our 10 players earned us a 4-4 draw, the first point we have ever gained against West End. But unfortunately, despite what is probably one of our greatest performances and results against all the odds, the elation of this is marred by some outrageous refereeing. We were all gutted for our goalkeeper and now lose him for a period as he'll be banned. If anyone in the Tucker Gardner Alliance League in Cambridge happens to have M. Rayner as their referee, I'd be interested to hear their views - good or bad. But until a system is in place whereby a referee can be held accountable for their decisions and not just a player for their actions, I fear this will be common place in our game at the grass roots level.

All the Single Ladies

In this entry to my blog, I'm going to talk about some single ladies who are looking for a man, the people I'm talking about will remain anonymous. The reason for this is if they were to find out I'm a blogger and then look at my blog - they would consider me a tosser rather than a blogger! I'm not necessarily going to be insulting them, more document my observations and see how it applies to the wider population of singletons. But I'm pretty sure if you were the subject of this blog you'd take it as an insult. Anyway, that's me getting myself out of hot water should it ever come down to it, so here we go...

Single women, are you all completely mental, man hungry, obsessive, clingy, self-destructing head cases? Or is it just the ones I've come across (no pun intended)? Are you bringing misery and pain upon yourselves on purpose? From where I'm standing, it looks that way! In my every day life I have to deal with a few ladies who I think fit the description just given, they are single and their life is engrossed by the fact they don't have a man. They dedicate their entire being to eradicating themselves of this horrible existence as there is no possible way you can be happy without a man by your side. Any man who dares send some attention their way, be warned: your every SMS, movement, interaction with the opposite sex is going to be scrutinised to high heaven. You're on a hiding to nothing, expectations are far too high and they are setting themselves up for a fall every time.

Take single lady number 1 as an example, we'll call her Gina. Gina is pretty, if a little on the plump side, goes out at the weekend and on the outside appears to be a happy (aren't happy fat people described as bubbly?) and confident person. But listening to a few minutes of her pouring her heart out after yet another 5 minute relationship she has thrown herself in at the deep end for, she's an emotional mess. Her life might as well be over and men are absolute pigs. Despite being in a relationship and having been honourable for the entirety of said relationship, I was tarred with the same brush purely for having a penis. It's a horrendous cycle of meet man, think he's amazing, build up your expectations, expectations don't get met and it all ends in tears. As soon as the claws of Gina are in any man, she moves into self-destruct mode. She's reading the texts on his phone, wanting to know where he is all the time and getting worried when he doesn't answer calls. I've had to endure ridiculous conversations which even your average agony aunt wouldn't know where to start with. I read his texts and he had text another girl, he went out instead of coming to see me, we've split up after going out for a week... CHILL THE FUCK OUT! If I was still playing the game - and believe me I've played it - I'd be out of there quicker than she's probably dropping her knickers to try and get this hiding to nothing relationship to last 5 minutes longer. All for the sake of dropping the dreaded single tag, most of these girls are getting into a relationship because they can, not because they want to. Which brings us onto lady number 2...

We'll call this one Chantelle. Chantelle in my opinion isn't an oil painting, without wanting to be harsh I'd put her in the "5 pinter" category. Even in my single days it would have taken a considerable bet for me to consider going there and I'm infamous for not being overly fussy in my past. If in Family Fortunes style a hundred people had been asked to name her best feature, let's just say none of them would have said her face. Everyone knows a Chantelle I'm sure. Without wanting to slate her further (I'm sure you get the picture), Chantelle has recently had reason to celebrate by acquiring relationship status. Hurrah! The shackles of being single are off and she finally has a man. It was a long slog and was never going to be easy, but she got there in the end. She talks about her man often and I think has convinced herself this is going to be a long term thing, all good stuff. I'm genuinely happy for Chantelle, not only because I don't have to hear her constant whining about being single, but it's not often you look like that and find anyone who stays beyond the first night. So is it a happy ever after? No, in a word. I found out today that she doesn't find her new man attractive but does think he's nice. Classic Chantelle, she's found someone who didn't chew their arm off to get away unnoticed after the first night and has thought "this will do". Anyone who ever thinks this in a relationship, get out of there. You're wasting your time. I've been there, thought things were alright, nothing special but can't complain. It never ends happily - or if it never ends you're throwing your life away with someone just to avoid being single. This is where I can't work out why you wouldn't be happier not in a relationship, it was a mediocre relationship with no spark that brought about my attitude of not settling for just anyone. I wasn't going to give up my single status unless it was worth it, nor should anyone else. It's a complete waste. I'd wager now that this will last a few months tops.

Single ladies, please use the previous paragraph to your advantage. You're not going to find the man who will whisk you off your feet, put a ring on your finger and give you babies by looking for him. As stupid as it sounds, stop looking! I'm no dating guru and was hardly a playa in my time (my previous reference to having played the game was a joke by the way), but if I can offer you one bit of advice that I'm certain will be of use - just don't look for that man. I'm a firm believer that there's someone out there for everyone, if they don't turn up tomorrow, next week or even next year, they're there somewhere. Enjoy dating and get out there and meet people by all means, use the dating sites and join clubs so you can meet new people, this will obviously increase your chances of finding someone compatible. But let them find you! Don't pin your hopes on any sap stupid enough to find himself in your claws.

I think somewhere along the line the status of "single" has almost become an insult, people don't know how to be happy on their own anymore. It's impossible in the eyes of some. I've seen Jeremy Kyle hand this advice out on a daily basis and couldn't agree more - you're not going to be happy with someone else until you're happy with yourself. Where has this need from single people to get into relationships come from? Has it always been this way? Everyone just make sure you're happy, please just be happy so I don't have to put up with the lonely hearts club meeting on a regular basis!