Whistling Chicken!

Just heard the news today that former United player Dessie ‘chicken’ Loughery has been selected to referee the Armagh City / Ards game this Saturday. Dessie was full of enthusiasm as a player and hopefully he’ll bring this to his role as a referee. I wonder how we’ll feel (United fans that is), when Dessie officiates at our first game, will we expect him to err on our side? There would be little or no conflict of interests between him and our players as Boydie is the only player left on the books who played alongside him. In fact Dessie will come up against a former playing colleague on Saturday as another former Sky Blue stalwart is on Armagh’s books. I refer of course to Mark Carlisle who said that Dessie always promised to give him some cover all the times he played in front of him, but it never happened. So maybe he’ll be reminding Dessie of this on Saturday, maybe it’ll be time to call in the favour. One thing we know for sure is they’ll never be a dull moment with Dessie around as he always tried to enjoy his football and had a bit of ‘crack’ with the supporters as well. So I wish him well and it got me thinking about all the players, who played the game in the correct spirit, who when their time was up just faded into obscurity. Some do go into management it’s true, but the vast majority are lost to the game and I for one think that’s sad. These players have a vast knowledge of the game and not only could put something back, but in my opinion should put something back. We fans are admittedly so fickle, we praise them when things are going well and curse them when things aren’t. But I think they, ex-players and managers as well, should put something back, after all most of them do very well out of it, financially and famously or infamously. There are a few who are trying, ex-United player Neil Candlish, who is involved in the United football academy is one that springs to mind, but people like Neil are as scarce as ‘hens teeth’. So ex-footballers I call on you, take a leaf out of Dessie and Neil’s books and put something back into the game, after all without your participation, there wouldn’t have been a game. I wonder is it a coincidence that Dessie and Neil were both wingers? Do you remember the old saying about goalkeepers being mad?  Does that mean that wingers are to be judged similarly? I personally like to think that wingers are just people who love the game and are glad  that they are able to put something back into it!