Tommy's Timing!

United manager Tommy Wright stated in the media, that we were never in danger of losing at Seaview last Saturday. He admitted that United keeper Paul Murphy had to make a couple of decent saves, but said they were ‘basically’ the kind of shots you’d expect a keeper to deal with. Somehow I’m just not so sure, although I do admit they weren’t of the unstoppable variety. But if we cast our minds back to United’s previous league game, away to Glenavon, our goalkeeper didn’t exactly cover himself in glory on that occasion, by any stretch of the imagination. Then again perhaps our manager was trying to play down the important role our keeper performed last Saturday. Has he at last discovered the secret of man-management? This would be a great asset to the club if he has, but I’ll need a bit more convincing. He already has allowed too many good players to leave the Showgrounds, because he was unable to control their temperament. Two recent case spring to mind, Vinny Sweeney was on United’s books last season, scoring a dozen goals, but walked away in the close season. While Rory Hamill was bought out of his contract, before moving to Dungannon Swifts. Both these players are now starring with clubs who are a long way ahead of United in the race for the Carnegie league title, so it seems to suggest that they are manageable. How galling it would be for United fans if either of these two players were to pick up league winners medals and what a blow it would be to our manager’s self-belief. Now we are told that he’s willing to listen to offers for striker Paul Brown. Would this not be another admission of failure by our manager as he signed the player exactly a year ago, but so far has been unable to get the best out of him? Many questions will be asked of our management team over the second-half of the season and the first one comes this Saturday, when we face Cliftonville, who could be the first team to take six league points off us, having won the reverse fixture at Solitude. But if United are to be a force to be reckoned with, they must answer the call this week and send Cliftonville and former player Vinny Sweeney, back to Belfast, pointless!

Heel Boys!

I attempted recently to glean some information about the proposed new, invitation only, Premier league. Increased sponsorship was one of the things being ‘bandied about’ by chief executive Howard Wells. The person, whom I approached and who shall remain nameless, informed me that admission charges would rise also. On a fairly recent trip to Scotland, before the start of the present season, I attended a Scottish second division match and the admission charge was £10 to all parts of the ground. The Scottish second division would almost be on a par with our own Premier league, with mainly part-time clubs, but also one or two full-time ones too. When I asked my ‘source’ if this was the charge being intimated for the new set-up, he told me that £12 would be closer to the price. He went on to say that little of this new money would find its way into club ‘coffers’ and most would go to players increased wage bills. I must emphasis that at the moment I bitterly resent paying £9 for entrance to the Oval, where facilities are still in the dark ages, so I’m hardly going to welcome an increase to at least £12. The I.F.A. are at pains to point out that viewing facilities will change drastically in the new set-up, but I think they’re ‘putting the cart before the horse’, so to speak. In one and a half years time, the grounds will not have improved by any great deal and at the moment only about 20% come anywhere close to a decent standard. The criteria in my opinion shouldn’t be all-seater, stadia alone. Surely viewing facilities must be improved as well, as there’s nothing worse from a fan’s point of view as missing half of the action because the whole of the pitch isn’t in view. The I.F.A. are supposedly consulting everyone concerned, but I feel they are failing to consult the people most affected by the proposed changes, the fans themselves. I believe most fans, believe the league, although not perfect, gives a fair reflection and is quite competitive. There will always be isolated results like Glentoran putting 8 goals past Armagh City, as happened in the last league game between the two sides, but these results can happen in all leagues from time to time. I think the time has come for local football fans to make their feelings known to their respective clubs and then for that information to be passed onto the I.F.A., otherwise it’ll just be a case of the ‘tail wagging the dog’. In other words its 'high' time (forgive the pun), for local fans to let the administrators know that without us, there wouldn’t be a league and our feelings are of paramount importance!

Cup Magic!

It’s fast approaching to that ‘magic time’, the Irish cup, when we mortals can dream about a day out in Belfast in early May. Eighteen years have elapsed since Ballymena last made that journey and came home with the Irish cup, but I still remember it vividly. If you asked me now if we can repeat it this year I’d have to say no, definitely not after last Saturday’s collapse at Mourneview Park. But then again all you have to do is win five games and we’ve proved already this season that we’re capable of beating the best the league has to offer. After last Saturday’s demise I honestly believe that a high league finish is beyond our capabilities, so maybe we should go all out in the cup and just ensure our survival in the league for another season. Someone once said (reiterated by every Tom, Dick and Harry since), that all you can hope for in the cup is a home draw. We didn’t actually get a home draw, but because our opponents, Harland & Wolfe Welders F.C.’s ground is not up to the required standard, the match has been switched to the Showgrounds. This should be a massive boost to United, but after last Saturday I imagine there will be a few butterflies floating about, not only in the dressing room, but out in the home stand as well. Hope though does spring eternal and I’m sure the United players will want to bury last weeks result in the best possible fashion, with a convincing win. We know they have the ability, but we’ve all got to play our part as well by getting behind the team from the outset. It would be so easy to be pessimistic about the outcome of the game, but I believe we must remain positive about possibly the most important match of the season so far. The ‘Welders’ will be doing their level best to cause an upset and they will seize on any weakness shown by the home team, so it’s important that we show a ‘United’ front straight from the kick-off. Remember this is the first of five must win games and just think of the ecstasy waiting for us come the 5^th of May, so come on United, let’s bust those welders!

Divine Outlook!

It’s the season of goodwill, or at least so I’ve been told, so I thought I’d do a piece on that most maligned subject, referees. There have been no harsher critics of the men in black than myself and the rest of the Sky Blue Sport’s team, but at the end of the day they are a vital part of the game. I’m sure even Linfield fans would agree with that statement, given that a referee accidentally helped them gain their late win at Seaview last Saturday. I say accidentally, as I didn’t see the incident myself, even though there was extensive footage of the game shown on T.V... We at Ballymena have reasons to be thankful to the men in black this season, there was the offside infringement over-ruled in the game at home to Armagh City, which enabled us to salvage a point eventually and who knows how vital that might be come the end of the season. Then in our last two games we were awarded penalties in each, at least one of which seemed fortuitous to say the least, but it’s all down to the referee’s decision on the day. Glentoran defender Kyle Neil felt hard done by on Tuesday night and protested his innocence so vehemently that he earned himself a caution. I’m sure if Kyle really thought about it he’d console himself with the fact that he’s ‘got away with a few decisions’ in his time, so when one goes against you, you have to accept it. The I.F.A. recently recruited 160 people, who completed their referee’s course, but out of that number only 40 will be referees. I can well understand why people are reluctant to take up the job, as the names fans call them (I reluctantly include myself here), is less than respectful and their parentage is called into question repeatedly over 90 minutes. They do say that they rarely hear comments from the crowd as once the game starts they get caught up in the action and are oblivious to the crowd and their comments. Not wanting to call officials liars, I do wonder if this is the case, as I’ve witnessed the referee being influenced by fans allegedly, this season. When the reverse fixture against the Glens was played on the last day of September 2006, referee Adrian McCourt appeared to be influenced by the home crowd in sending off United defender Gordon Simms, when he clearly wasn’t the last defender. But as I said earlier, some you win, some you lose and you have to take it on the chin and get on with it. What we all need to get into perspective is that referees are human and like all humans they make mistakes and as the old saying goes, ‘to err is human and to forgive divine’, so let’s all try hard, to be divine!