Howard's (A)way!

What a fixture chaos we are having at present, but then the blame lies solely at the hands of the I.F.A. Who in their right mind would arrange to have the C.I.S. cup semi-finals three days after Irish cup matches? Never mind the five games being abandoned, that's something no-one can legislate for, but you have to cover yourself against the possibility of replays and if that weren't bad enough, next week there's a full midweek league programme, meaning yet another date must be found for 1st round games, never mind replays. Add to this is the need for all teams to have completed 33 games by the end of March, coupled with two more rounds of the Irish cup and the situation gets even worse. By my reckoning the only date available for Ballymena's cup match away to Ballyclare is week beginning Monday February 2nd on whatever night suits leaving time (weather permitting), for a possible replay the next week (week beginning Monday February 9th). This is of course assuming that Dixon park isn't played on between now and then, as it'll take about three weeks of inaction and drying weather or it still won't be playable. Whom at the I.F.A. is to blame for this utter amateurish fixture congestion? At the moment we seem to have the perfect scapegoat in sacked chief executive Howard Wells. Poor old Howard, he'll get the blame for everything from now on. Stand-in Raymond Kennedy may be a 'buffoon' but he's no mug, he knows whose door to lay the blame at. I can just hear him now saying to Stephen 'Baldy' Watson, 'I wouldn't have done it this way, but we're doing it Howard's way. There's an old saying that 'we shouldn't suffer fools gladly', but I'm afraid at the moment we have little choice!