Omar

Roy's Rain!

2011-12-24T23:16:00.002Z

No it's not a misprint but I think it sums up what Roy Walker's time as manager of United is all about. Now I don't claim to have influence about our club, but eleven and half years ago we were looking for a manager, after Nigel Best and I like many others thought Kenny Shiels was the man. Kenny lasted five years in the job and it's true he 'flattered to deceive', they were some good times, but they were some bad times and I tend to remember the bad. But when Kenny was sacked, the 'board' in it's wisdom, appointed Tommy Wright. Now I disagreed with this appointment and the Sky Blue Sport team disagreed with as well for two reasons. Firstly, although Tommy had taken Limavady United, who were a relegation hunted team, to the higher reaches of the league, they eventually fell from grace and we were worried that we would improve, only to fail as well.

Secondly, Tommy had done the 'dirt' on us as a player, Kenny signed him as back-up and he played just a handful of matches and he claimed he was hurt and hung up his boots. Then a few weeks later he got a job as Linfield's goalkeeping coach, United cancelled his contract (reading between the lines I believe they paid him off) and two weeks later he registered as a player for Linfield, obviously not a man to be trusted. Tommy as a manager didn't disappoint and through his three years in charge he also 'flattered to deceive' and left us in the lurch, despite the fact that our board in it's wisdom 'sweetened' his contract when first he intimated that he was going to leave. I had cautioned against his appointment and had suggested Marty Quinn (I was told that United fans wouldn't want Marty because of his ethnic background, but I dismissed this as claptrap), Marty took the Coleraine job and as we know the rest is history.

When we were looking for a manager again, the 'board' in it's wisdom, got it narrowed down to two people, neither of which I wanted to see in the job and I made my feelings known and I was told and I quote, 'they had both interviewed well', the mind boggles. Another candidate was local boy made good, Michael O'Neill, but I was told he wanted too much money, (I heard a rumour it was £800 per week, not confirmed) and the choice was made between Tommy's assistant, Jim Gratton and Roy Walker, who been out of the game for a number of years. If Tommy had left us mid-season, we could probably have took a chance on Jim Gratton as caretaker and so the board came to choose Roy Walker. Roy tenure of management men is typified by excuses, he was hampered by a number of players on big contracts in the first years and then we got a catalogue of injuries.

Then the referees was all out to get him and we got some bad decisions no doubt, but the biggest disappointment from my point of view was Roy seemed to listen to other people. This was typified by his disastrous signing of keepers, Ryan Brown and Chris Kerr, when he told us (the fans), that they were both the best keepers in the first division. All I can say is the rest of them must be very poor, these two couldn't catch cold. Cutch, who has been a sensation and Roy's only success story, convinced him about Jenks, another flop and I personally thought he had made a good signing in Elvis an even bigger flop, I could go on and name more but there's no point, suffice to say we are sub-standard. Then the last straw, he panicked and signed Vauls and Watson at the transfer deadline, Vauls after a hesitant start is shaping to be a good player and Watson, the less said about him the better.

Roy didn't seem to be able to motivate his players, we the fans would be built up for a match and the team came out and flopped. Roy maintained he wasn't responsible, but somebody was or something was, maybe the players thought they should have a bonus for playing in knock-outs, for in these games they flopped miserably, I was of the opinion they should all have been fined. Ironically in Roy's last game in charge, the team played like they were really up for it and they were outdone by a poor refereeing decision and a keeper error, typical. Now we are in the market for a new manager and there's six in the frame, but only five are named, who the other one is, I'll try ascertain on Boxing Day, but my source is reluctant to tell me, for I betrayed his trust some years ago, white wine has something to answer for. I hope it's not you know who!

Marjorie Daw!

2011-01-27T23:19:00.003Z

See-saw, Marjorie Daw, so goes the ancient nursery rhyme and as I reflect on the comings and goings of the last few days, it seems like a fairly relevant phrase. United manager Roy Walker said he thought he needed, a couple of players during the transfer window. I'm sure it never crossed his mind that he'd lose two players who had 'shaken' hands on an extension to their contract, which meant he needed two replacements for them. Another player, who has become part of the United set-up has intimated that he sees no long term future at the Showgrounds and will not be here next season. Walker has already 'shown the door' to Richard Gibson and placed Nathan Hanly on the transfer list, but I believe Mike Smith has to go too.

Roy has already stated that if 'you're not for us, you're against us' and Gibson demonstrated that perfectly on Tuesday night at the Oval. Surely we can't take a chance on Mike Smith throwing in the towel against his likely employers (Linfield), this Saturday. He did play extremely well on Tuesday night, but we need somebody, who's a dyed in the wool Sky Blue man, not a fly by night money grabber. Hanly, Gibson and Smith all fall into that category and therefore they can't be relied on when the chips are down. Roy says Hanly and Gibson shook hands on a new deal, I wonder did they look him straight in the eye when they did it. The eyes are the windows of the soul and the 'shifty' boys can't look you straight in the eye which is a dead give-away.

On top of all this upheaval I found out today that Dwayne Nelson, who performed heroicly on Tuesday night, won't play again this season, yet another position Roy must fill in the next four days. The old saying that it 'never rains but it pours' is definitely bearing true for United at this point. But we've had such misfortunes many times in the past and we've just got on with it. Paul McAreavy may or may not turn out to be a good signing and like Ru McClean will have to be given time to prove his worth. Linfield (beware of wolves in sheep's clothing), have 'loaned' us a young striker, Aaron Boyd, which may or may not be beneficial to us, but only time will tell. A top six position is well within our reach, we have no other distractions and nobody to blame but ourselves if we don't make it. Come on Sky Blues, let's go for it, let's shaft them all!

Skit S--t!

2011-01-13T23:29:00.003Z

This is a wee 'skit' I've writ(ten), giving a 'tongue in the cheek', reason for the false accusations laid against United fans when they visited Stangmore Park, Dungannon last season. There may be some inaccuracies here, as after all I'm only human (allegedly), but if this offends any United fan, I deeply regret it. If it offends any of those love children from County Tyrone, who told lies about us and influenced the referee, I will be truly ecstatic!

Twas (sorry for the archaic language), Saturday the 15th August, 2009, an auspicious date if ever there was one. United fans had made the long boring journey to Stangmore Park to watch the wee Sky Blues as is their wont on a Saturday afternoon. Now that 'hole', that is Stangmore, has never been a 'happy hunting ground' for us it's fair to say, but we believe in following our team no matter where they go. By a strange coincidence both teams sported a player who it would be fair to say was a non-white. Alvin Rouse, from West Indies I believe, was in goal for the home side, while Ormo Okunaiya, known simply as Ormo by United fans, was playing for the Sky Blues.

There was the usual banter during the game, friendly it could be said, if that's possible, we were as usual branded as 'sheep shaggers', while they who are famous for one thing only, the slaughter of 'chickens' and what they do to them, before or after slaughter, is anybody's guess and I'm not guessing. During the both halves United had a presence behind the Dungannon goal and after the game it was 'alleged', that they chanted racial abuse at the home keeper. This of course was a complete fabrication as the chant from fans as the 'stick thin' Rouse took goal-kicks was the same as chanted by fans all over the country, 'you 'fat' ba--ard' (Love-child). The emphasis on the chant is placed on the last word which is generally drawn out as 'baaaas- taaard, whereas the words 'fat' and 'you' are hardly intoned. Could the following be what happened during this infamous incident, I wonder.

United fans were chanting the 'fat' phrase, when a young Dungannon director asked a mature United fan why they were calling 'Rouse' fat, when he was so obviously 'thin'. This man (we'll call him John Doe),informed him that it was 'black humour', which this director (we'll call him Chicken George), said 'so they're making racist remarks about our keeper'. John Doe said, 'no George, you've got the 'wrong end of the stick', in this instance black has nothing to do with colour, it's really just irony'. Chicken George was by this time totally mystified, he had never heard of 'black' humour and what the hell was irony and where had the stick come from? Not wanting to seem like the complete ass-hole that he was, Chicken George, grinned, John Doe saw him smile and foolishly thought he'd got the message (unfortunately he didn't realise that Chicken George was a typical empty head from the Dungannon back-water).

Chicken George returned to his fellow directors and informed them that United fans were calling their keeper 'black' and as they were by this time 'half-cut', (it's a little known fact that the ingestion of copious amounts of chicken blood, freely available in that area, lowers human resistance to alcohol), in other words very little drink renders them legless. They ganged up on the referee, one Trevor Moutray and after half a bottle of whiskey, diluted with chicken blood, he admitted to hearing 'something'. after another half bottle of local brew, poteen and chicken blood, he said in his report that he distinctly heard United fans call Alvin Rouse a black ba--ard.

What are the lessons to be learned from this unfortunate incident I wonder. I suppose one should never underestimate the depths to which people will sink and how they will completely misrepresent the facts and show no remorse even when the facts are proven to them. Happy new year, bring on the Glens!

Tommy's Wrong!

2011-01-06T23:24:00.002Z

United return to the 'scene of the crime' this Saturday, that excuse for a football ground that is Ballyskeagh, the home of Lisburn Distillery. The crime in question is the false accusation by former United manager Tommy Wright against United fans for abusing the injured Andy Devlin as he lay writhing on the ground after a 50/50 tackle from United's Nathan Hanly, who was wrongly sent off by referee Steven Weatherall. Big Tam, who was treated rather kindly by United fans, we seldom called for his head (well no more than half a dozen times anyway), has now joined the list of officials (not all of them managers), who have falsely accused United fans of saying sectarian, racial or generally unfair things about them or their players.

Andy Devlin, who let's face it 'made a meal' of a hard tackle, was accorded full respect from Ballymena fans, who were to say the least disgruntled at the unfair dismissal of their player and the rantings of at least one home player. This player then complained to the referee (who heard nothing as there was nothing to hear) and he went and complained to United officials and United kit-man Bertnell Thompson was dispatched to tell us off for saying, 'nothing', but being accused of harassing the injured party. This further maligning of our good name was bad enough, but we were later told that big Tam had also accused us of abusing his player, a load of hogwash or Ballyclare nonsense. Myself and the 'Sport team don't take kindly to these false accusations, but unlike Dungannon, where we have no intention of returning to, we will be at Ballyskeagh on Saturday.

But we will be making our feelings known to big Tam and maybe inquiring where his players get their ideas of making up rubbish about United fans. I wonder what it is that cause so called fellow football folk to make up lies about us? First we had Roy McCreadie who 'falsely' accused us of calling him a 'f-n--n love-child', when in fact we were calling him a 'thieving love-child'. Then David 'the fat controller' Jeffrey accused our fans of sectarian abuse, unproven once more and we were promised an apology which we never got, no surprise there, it takes a decent man to stand up and admit he was wrong and apologise unequivocally, enough said. Then of course came the Dungannon incident, where 'fat' became 'black', when pressure was put on the referee by Dungannon officials, who now try to claim innocence. It's got so bad that I'm now scared to say 'boo' in case I get accused of something completely different, like 'love-child'.

Next week I'll be publishing a 'skit' which I've writ (I know I should say written but writ rhymes better), about the Dungannon incident, hoping that once I get it off my chest, maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to look at the incident in another light, but I very much doubt it. By the way I did say 'skit' and not that other word that sounds similar, although it might be nearer the truth. Hopefully you'll see the funny side of it, but in there somewhere there's just a grain of the truth, as they say, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction!

Confusion Rains!

2010-12-30T23:09:00.002Z

Why was the Boxing day game against the Coleraine scum, called off so early I keep asking myself. Couldn't we have done what Dungannon, Portadown and Cliftonville did and waited until Monday morning? I not only think we could, I am totally convinced we should and if the pitch was still not playable, could the match not have been put back 24 hours until Tuesday, which was still officially a holiday. By all means give the fans warnings about the possibilities of games not taking place, but give yourselves every chance of actually playing the game. The 'thaw' probably wasn't expected, as the original forecast was for more snow on Sunday and not heavy rain as it transpired, but the decision to postpone had already been taken and even if we'd had balmy sunshine, it was too late to reverse the decision.

Or was it I wonder, as I said it was still officially a 'public holiday' as Christmas day and Boxing day fell on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, their official public holidays were Monday and Tuesday. Surely it would have been possible to rearrange the four postponed games for Tuesday afternoon or Tuesday night at the very worst. Of course we are dealing with the I.F.A. here and their collective brains tend to work very slowly. In fact if you listen closely you can almost here the 'cogs' turning over when they are trying to come up with a plausible answer. Not that they have ever come up with any plausible answer or any solution in the last 50 years. They usually just let things potter on until they find their own solution, no taxing of their brains required.

Just have to mention the ludicrous suggestion by Ballymena council to lay a 'Plastic pitch' at the Showgrounds. Having witnessed the two sub-standard pitches on offer in our league at present, Seaview and Solitude, I personally think this is the road to no-town, it will in my opinion be the end of football in our wee country. Games on these surfaces are devoid of 'pure' football skills and players spend the majority of their time trying to 'keep' their feet. As a spectacle it is 'bloody boring' and the sooner it's disallowed (surely clubs can agree to ban teams with such surfaces from the Premier league), the better it'll be for Irish football. As for our council allegedly saying we are merely 'tenants' and will have to abide by their decisions, maybe they should cast their minds back to the huge amounts of grant money which their tenants have steered in their direction and without which the Showgrounds would never have been developed.

On another note I've been thinking lately about the 'water' crisis that is affecting our wee country. Burst pipes all over the show, no fresh water and at the head of it all a bunch of nincompoops. There is an analogy here believe it or not, they could in fact be talking about the I.F.A. Just think about it their management skills are a total farce, their equipment is outdated, no adequate investment in the last 20 years. They stand up and keep saying we're doing our best and at the end of the day they're not accountable. Politicians have promised heads will roll, but even if they do they'll be laughing all the way to the bank with their 'golden handshakes'. Yes it's just the I.F.A. in disguise and worse yet, it's still going on. Happy new year to all my readers or reader as the case may be and come on Sky Blues!

Half Empty!

2010-12-02T23:37:00.003Z

I suppose I'm posing a philosophical question here, we're exactly half way through the league season, 19 games played, 19 games to play, but is the glass half empty or half full? That is the big question, I personally believe it's half empty. Here we are with a record of played 19 games, won 7, drawn 7 and lost 5, it's only really about average and 28 points is a poor return. In another 14 games the 'split' will occur and I think we'll need 50 points to be sure of being in the top half, so a vast improvement will be needed between now and mid-March. Not good news when you've just lost two of your best players, Gibbo with a broken foot, minimum 6 week lay-off and play-maker Nathan Hanly , for 2 games courtesy of miscarriage of justice, when he was wrongly sent off against Lisburn Distillery. Some people are going to have to step up and be counted over the next few weeks, but who it's hard to say.

Ryan Berry came off the bench last week and scored an equaliser for us and looks to be the obvious replacement for Hanly, but who partners him is another matter as Taggart was the man he replaced at halftime and he came off injured. Mo, who we at 'Sport foolishly wrote off a few weeks ago, played a major part in United's equaliser last Saturday and he may get his chance, as Rory Carson is still a couple of weeks away from full fitness. United's squad will be tested fully over the next few weeks, with 3 big league games coming up, away to Dungannon Swifts on December 11 and then home to the Glens on Christmas Saturday, before entertaining the 'scum' on Boxing Day. These of course are the times that define exactly what type of players we have in our side, are the quitters, or will they roll their sleeves up and get on with it, hopefully the latter will prevail.

Just thought in passing I must allude to the big event today when England lost it's bid for the 2018 World cup finals. The reason, they refused to 'grease' enough palms, believing that right was on their side. We in Norn Iron aren't quite as naive, take for example the meeting between the local Government and the I.F.A. today, as we seek to get some much needed funds from our Politicians while surreptitiously feeding cash to Linfield like it's going out of fashion. The I.F.A. claims to have struck a new deal with Linfield, which is allegedly better than the previous one. I'm not going to go into the perplexities of the deal, but here it is as simply as I can put it. At the minute Linfield get about £500,000 from the I.F.A. each season and they are responsible for small running repairs to the ground. In the new deal they'll get £250,000 each year, sole use of Windsor park where most finals are played and no responsibility for the upkeep of the Stadium, if that's not a good deal for Linfield, then Sepp Blatter's a saint!

Half Over!

2010-11-11T23:27:00.002Z

Around about 15-45 on Saturday afternoon we will have reached the halfway stage of this years league, well the halfway stage before the split, if that makes sense. We'll have played exactly 16.5 league games and amassed 24 points (hopefully more by 16-50), in the process and if we can double that tally in the next 16.5 games, I've no doubt we'll be in the top six, but it ain't going to be easy. The teams below us, Coleraine scum, Glenavon, Newry and our dear friends from Dungannon, all appear to be over their collective 'bad spells' and one things for certain, they will pull out all the stops against us.

Cliftonville, whom we play this Saturday have lost their last 3 league games and their manager Eddie Patterson will no doubt have them all fired up to try and arrest their mini-slump. If we can play to our strengths and avoid an over-reaction from the referee, (Davey Malcolm),I believe we can prevail against the North Belfast Reds. Having said that the referee, aforementioned who is assigned for this game has already had two 'stinkers' in games he officiated in when we were involved, that is the down side. On the up side, we won both those games, one of them with ten men, but hopefully this time we'll manage to keep all eleven players on the pitch.

It's time for our boys to get back to delivering the goods, we were not impressive in our last two games, but on the plus side, we didn't lose. We should've had a win on Tuesday night, even with ten men and can probably count ourselves unlucky to only take a point from the Linfield match, although I do think a draw was a fair result, as for the Glenavon game, we definitely got out of 'jail free' in that one. The blossoming partnership between Gibbo and Cutch could be the key to our success or decline in the coming winter months, which will in turn define our season.

With the 'exciting' Rory Carson unlikely to make a comeback before the end of January, our manager may be tempted to bring someone in when the transfer window opens, as we are desperately short of midfield cover. The experiment of bringing in the Carninney boys has greatly misfired and Mo especially has failed to make a serious impact. In our game at Portadown he was impressive, but since then he has regressed. The time has come to stand up and be counted, 7 points in our next 3 games are vital, otherwise we will be back in the bottom six and that is not a nice place to be, only believe!

Curse Lifted?

2010-10-21T23:28:00.002+01:00

I know it's been a while since I last blogged, I haven't been too busy, in fact most of my time is spent doing sweet F.A. now that I have retired, I merely wanted to see if we (United Sky Blues), had turned the corner. Alas I have to report that we are no further forward than we were 2 years ago. We are hopeless at the basics, we cannot defend throw-ins, corner kicks and free-kicks. We cannot take throw-ins, corner kicks or free-kicks. These are basic things that happen time and time again during the 90 odd minutes of a football game and how you deal with them is what defines you as a football team.

With the arrival of Nathan Hanly, United's taking of corners and free-kicks has greatly improved, but the end product is still badly missing. When they go to the far post, on average I'd say about 70% of the time, then they invariably end up as goal-kicks. Surely this is something that can be ironed out in training. Our throw-ins seem to have only one target man, Gibbo. The ploy seems to be a hopeful throw in his direction, hoping he can get his head on it, average number of times we get possession out of this, 20%, not a good ratio. It's entirely possible to throw the ball to 'feet' and the one and only time we did this on Saturday past, it led to a goal for us, let's have some more please.

Then there's our defending of throw-ins and corners, that leaves a lot to be desired, especially at throw-ins. Take Saturday past as a prime example, Portadown get a throw-in level with our 18 yard line and what do we do, we give them all the space they require and then do the 'unforgivable', allow the cross to come in and it leads to a goal. Our defending from corner kicks has improved somewhat, as goalkeeper Dwayne Nelson, leaves his line occasionally to punch the ball as he realises his fellow defenders will never clear it. We have also got a very bad habit of allowing crosses to come in, that is the road to no town. Of course given our record at throw-ins and corners, maybe that's no big surprise.

But we're lying filth in the league table on goal difference (we still don't score enough and let in too many) and with a teams beating each other every week, we have a chance to stay there, so we must be doing something right. I believe that we're getting the breaks. Take Saturday past, Portadown could and should have been at least 3-1 ahead at halftime, as Boyle, who scored their goal, missed an easier chance later and then had a good claim for a penalty turned down. In the last two seasons those things have gone against us, but now they're going for us. Why this change in fortune I wonder? Is it possible that the Gypsy curse, 'allegedly' put on the Showgrounds 20 years ago has been lifted? I don't know, but somebody up there is surely looking after us at the moment and long may it continue, now where did I put that lucky rabbit's foot!

Backward Jumps!

2010-09-09T22:31:00.003+01:00

There's no point in taking a backward step, but even worse would be to take a backward jump as has been suggested in the press recently as the I.F.A. (better known as the bunglers), attempt to replace president Raymond Kennedy. The name being mooted is that of former president, the strangely colour blind, Jimmy 'I'll do as I please' Boyce. Memories are obviously short as Boycie is a reminder of the bad old days, when we couldn't organise a raffle (admittedly we're still useless at organising things), but occasionally we get it right. There was talk of a breakaway league, but that seems to have died a death, like most things in local football.

The I.F.A. Is in meltdown and has been for the last fifteen years or even longer. Where else would you find an association where junior clubs have the final say as to what happens in the Premier league. If we can't have the Premier league governed by Premier league people then surely a breakaway is the only logical step forward, or will we just drag our collective heels, going from one crisis to another, while money earmarked for development is withheld by our tight fisted government. The proposed new deal with Linfield is a prime example of the inefficiency of the governing body, where they have taken away from Linfield on the one hand, only to give them an even better deal on the other.

Who in their right mind (okay I admit I'm being silly here, theirs none of them even remotely sane), would propose a deal where Linfield will still own the ground, will pay nothing towards it's upkeep, will be able to play on it almost when they want, get a big handshake from the I.F.A. every year and be able to play every final on their home pitch. Am I the only person who can see how ludicrous this sounds, the King as they say 'is as naked as the day that he was born', but only a few can see it. It's almost as ludicrous as the backward jump, forecast by myself, taken by Ballymena Borough council in regard to the Stock cars which share the use of the Showgrounds (nay dictate the use of the Showgrounds, where United cannot play Friday night games as the stock cars have sole use on those days), with the football club and haven't contributed one penny towards the development of the facilities.

Surely the promises made by the council of new turnstiles and a new entrance for home fans via the Ecos centre should be fulfilled. We have after all helped them to get funding for the refurbishment of the old stand and previously the building of the new one (a name for it is long overdue) and the provision of dressing rooms etc. Is it too much to ask that they, the council, deliver the goods they have promised or is it just another pipe dream, where they fob us off with promises and then claim their hands are tied. Enough is enough, it's time to get off their collective backsides and give us a fair crack of the whip, it's all we ask!

Remember Limavady!

2010-08-05T23:53:00.003+01:00

What a strange headline you might think as we embark on a new season, we've unloaded all our 'money grabbing' parasites and are now a lean points gathering team. All I can say is I haven't seen or heard (mostly heard), much evidence of our point grabbing expertise. I've only attended two pre-season games seeing the whole of the Cowdenbeath game and the 2nd half of the N.I. junior game. These two games were typical of our shortcomings over the last 10 seasons, promised plenty, but delivered nothing! Against Cowdenbeath we got a great start, two nil up at halftime and then went to sleep at a set-piece and were somewhat lucky to get away with a draw.

Against the junior International side, coached by former United player Harry McConkey, we could hardly string two passes together and paid the price in the end with a 2-1 defeat. But these two games were as nothing compared to the game sandwiched in between them, the benefit for former United player Lee Patrick, away to Limavady United. A defeat for the Sky Blues was always on the cards, but to lose 5-0 was really unacceptable. People may argue and say that we didn't have a full first team out, but at the end of the day we had the nucleus of our side on duty and they failed miserably.

This does not augur well for the new season and wouldn't it be ironic if we were drawn away to Limavady in the first round of the C.I.S.cup, which rightly in my opinion has become a knock-out competition. But before that happens United have to face their first league fixtures, starting with a visit to league champions Linfield. A visit to Windsor is rarely pleasant and even more so with our dismal record, but to make matters worse, we are to be 'herded' into the Alex Russell stand behind the goals, as the North stand undergoes repairs.

This arrangement brings the number of grounds where fans are limited to a view from behind the goals to five, in my book five too many, but then again the I.F.A. don't give a hoot about the people who keep them in a job, the long suffering fans. If Roy Walker requires a rallying call for his team this season he could do worse than say to them, 'remember Limavady'! Not that, that game or result was one to be remember, but the fact that it is one we don't want to see repeated. Let's forget about the 'nicey nicey' football, let's get stuck in and remember the immortal words of Corporal Jones in 'Dad's Army', "they don't like it up em", so let's give em what they don't like!

Only Leave!

2010-04-29T07:46:00.002+01:00

Roy Walker is promising a better outcome for United next season and he's saying it'll be better because he has a 'clean slate', his words, not mine. I have to say I'm not optimistic, as I think we took 'backward steps' this season and I do realise as Bruce Balmer said, I could look foolish as by a strange quirk of fate United could still finish in 8th position in the league. But I will assume (dangerous I know), that we will be as disinterested as usual and end up losing to Glenavon, as the Tommy Wright bandwagon rolls on, our dear friends from Coleraine will probably see to that, while Institute preparing for their play-off game will allow Newry a free passage, which means we finish in 11th place.

Everyone talks about our great feat in reaching the Irish cup semi-final, I think we were bloody lucky to get by the first round. Sean O'Neill made three crucial saves in our first round match, which kept us in or we would have deservedly lost to Ards in the first round. We eventually saw them off after extra-time, not something to get the heart racing, except for the wrong reasons, but not an unmitigated disaster, we've had more than our share of them in the past. Then along came Ballinamallard, whom we saw off but not without a wee hiccup or two and then we went down to play Glenavon. Glenavon are to be commended as they distribute leaflets with the programme showing the teams for that day's game and I have to admit when I saw that Roy had selected seven defenders in his starting line-up I was less than optimistic.

As it turned out we eventually made it through after a replay, which I unfortunately missed, but I've been told we were 'lucky' as they missed a couple of 'sitters' and Dwayne Nelson made an unbelievable save near the end. Let's look at it in detail then, we played 5 games to get to the semi-final and at no time looked impressive, as i said earlier definitely nothing to get excited about. Of course we flopped in the semi, as we had done earlier in the season in the Shield semi and that is all down to the manager. Everybody says their goal should have been disallowed, but forget about the 'sitter' they missed and hitting the post when it looked easier to score, we could in all honesty have been dead and buried by halftime. we did play some fantastic football but no end product and it's 'goals that count'.

Then came the 'dreaded' penalty shoot-out and I could tell by the 'body language' of our team that we didn't have the stomach for it, that is all down to motivation, which comes from management. We may have a clean slate for all the wrong reasons as our best player, Kevin Kelbie looks to be heading out of the Showgrounds as he deliberately handed his jersey to a young fan last Saturday, obviously his last home game in a United shirt. Some smart Alec will no doubt point out that Mike Smith was selected as our best player this season, but in my opinion the 'best player' is the guy who contributes match winning performances, e.g. crucial saves, crucial tackles or in Kevin's case crucial goals and he certainly scored a few of them this season.

Roy will have a difficult time replacing him and we still haven't found that 15 goal striker to play alongside him, Andy Smith's ten goals wasn't nowhere near good enough. Let's just have a quick look at the rest of our team. Our two keepers are average, just average, they will do in a pinch, but are both a bit suspect. The two fullbacks are just that, fullbacks, yes you can push them up a bit at times but there's nobody to take their place, so it's a pointless exercise. Ramsay and Archie are really not good enough, they've been tried all over the show and let's face they're crap. Albert has some good games, but is injury prone and costs too much, while Gazza has gone to the dogs, is his time at the Showgrounds up I hope not, but we must face facts? Taggart, so heralded by Walker, runs about like a headless chicken, rarely tackles and couldn't pass water, while Aidy Watson plays hard, but when he has a stinker, which happens too often, he's a liability.

Locky I'm afraid is past it, while Gary Muir is a complete waste of space and Noel Anderson has played so many places but still fails to impress but at least he's trying. Andy Smith is a liability, who can ever forgive or forget his penalty misses against the 'scum' and the Glens, while kelbie only plays about one game in five. The Cush, who tries his eye-strings out can't get in the team, McConnell has only come back into the picture, not a great player either, but a whole hearted one. So where is this clean slate Roy's so avid about, more than half our team aren't quite good enough, while the good ones will soon be brought down to their level. It's simple, the clean slate we need is a new manager, Roy's a nice guy, but I don't think he has a clue about how to wield together a winning team. To hell with good football, get us a winning team, if you can't do that, 'get thee hence from us' (god I hope i'm not getting biblical), in other words, 'only leave'!

Season's Gone!

2010-04-22T22:40:00.003+01:00

It's that time of year once more, the meaningful part of the season has gone and here we are no further forward than we were last season. Roy Walker was hinting at the end of last season that he had several possible signings in the pipe line, which would make us into a force to be reckoned with. The major target and the man to lead us out of the wilderness, was Phillip Carson and what a let down he proved to be. Here we are two seasons down the line under Roy's management and in my opinion we are going nowhere but backwards. Roy of course says he has possible signings in the pipeline and next season we'll be a force to be reckoned with, where have we heard that before, or should I say where or who haven't we heard that, from before.

Our wage bill is far too high for the standard of football we are receiving and will have to be trimmed dramatically for next season once more. The choice is simple, if we don't trim the wages, we could be the next club to go to the wall. Two of our players are receiving a wage of well in excess of £1,000 between them each week and good as they are, they're not worth that sort of wages. These two men I'm informed have both been offered new contracts, but are as yet to put pen to paper. Perhaps an ultimatum from our manager, telling them to sign before the close season or be considered free agents, would help them make their minds up.

Carson isn't the only piece of dead wood and Locky looks like a player well past his prime, while my favourite player, Gazza, seems to have lost his way completely. Neither of our two goalkeepers, Nelson and O'Neill are totally reliable and I believe we need to strengthen that position by releasing one of them and bringing in a new face. Cushley looks as if he will be gone (a big mistake in my book), while Nathan McConnell hasn't got a pups chance of getting in the team and I have this on good authority. I assume one of the players being released will also be Joe McDonnell, one of Tommy Wright's parting shots, who has been an expensive and useless signing if ever there was one.

Just saw on the back of the 'Times' that surprise! surprise! the stock cars are coming back to the Showgrounds, albeit on a temporary basis at first. I think it's a safe bet that they'll be back permanently next season and our ground with it's nice new stand, will not be eligible for European football as the pitch is too narrow. But there's no need to get excited as United will need at least a 200% improvement to have any chance of getting into European football in the foreseeable future and I can't see that happening overnight. I'm afraid there's no blinding light at the end of our tunnel, only darkness, I'd love to 'only believe', but I'm too much of a realist and money doesn't grow on trees nor do great players come to struggling teams like ours, maybe it's time to wake up and smell the coffee!

Five Heroes!

2010-04-15T22:55:00.002+01:00

When the chips are down, it always surprises me who are those folks who step up to the plate. And so it was last Saturday night at Windsor Park when it came to penalty shoot-out time. I and the rest of the 'Sports team were trying to second guess who our first five penalty takers would be and in all honesty I must say Archie and Kit Ramsay, were not two names that sprung to our minds. Kelbie was first on the list, then we expected probably Gazza (but he had been substituted)and Locky fell into the same boat also. Andy Smith would no doubt come into the equation and Noel Anderson also.

Our next suggestion would have been Albert, Aidy and/or Sparky. Then and only then, would the 20 year-olds have come into the fray, not in the cauldron of the first five, which had we scored we would've been in the final and not Portadown. But where were the great club-men who have been at our club for a wee while now, this was their time to come up with the goods and they failed us miserably. I realise that taking penalties isn't everyone's cup of tea, but when the chips are down, it's time to roll your sleeves up and get on with it. When volunteers were asked for only these five stepped forward and they were all heroes in my book.

Archie and Ramsay were willing to put their reputations on the line for the good of the team and they are to be commended for their bravery and commitment to the cause. To them and the three boys who scored, Kevin, Andy and Noel, myself and the Sky Blue Sports team say a big thank-you, you were there for us and in our eyes you'll always be heroes. We came within a whisker of making the final, it was a magnificent effort, but we just fell agonizingly short. Hopefully we'll live to fight another day, but if not at least you five players can hold your heads up high and say, 'we gave it our best shot' and after all that's all we can ask and the least we expect!

Half Mad!

2010-04-08T22:55:00.003+01:00

When I first heard that our cup semi-final was fixed for 17-30hrs this Saturday, the first thought that came to my head was, are they bloody mad. Of course as it's the I.F.A. the question is rhetorical, of course they're bloody mad, otherwise they wouldn't be in the job in the first place. Football is meant to be played at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, it's the traditional time and it gives people the rest of the night to get sozzled if they so wish.

The news that the game will be played to a finish as a result of the fixture cock-up which should be laid firmly at the door of the I.F.A., there's a distinct possibility that fans won't be home until late Saturday night. If the clubs were being compensated for this upheaval at least it might be worthwhile, but the rumoured paltry fee of £1,000, is nowhere near enough. And who will be watching this game on television as it clashes with the Chelsea/Aston Villa match live on I.T.V., more clever planning by the I.F.A.

I can see no winners from this ill-fated exercise, the 'gate' will suffer as a result of the late kick-off, while some fringe fans will decide to watch it either in the comfort of their own home, or in licensed premises nearby. Yet another own goal scored by our association, just when you think the chaos can't get any worse, we're proved wrong once again. Not since the pre-floodlight days have I attended a match at this time of night. I didn't like it then and I positively hate it now!

Organised Confusion!

2010-03-31T17:27:00.002+01:00

It could only happen in the Irish league, here we are about to enter the last phase of our domestic league programme and we have no idea what the make-up of that league will be. Irish football president Raymond Kennedy, or to give him his proper title, Mr. Blobby, has said it's all down to the weather. In other words, 'we f- - ked up but we'll blame it on god'. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the Irish cup is now two rounds behind schedule and we know who's to blame for that (I.F.A., who else), which also makes for a fixture pile-up and a major balls up.

Take ourselves, Ballymena United for instance, we have an outstanding game with Lisburn Distillery, which luckily has no bearing on the 'split', or does it, as the fixtures are seemingly pre-determined, more confusion. We were due to travel to Newry this Saturday for a league game, but that game is now cancelled as Newry must play their Irish cup replay this weekend. Our game scheduled for Easter Tuesday is either away to Portadown, if they lose their outstanding game away to Coleraine or at home to Coleraine should Portadown either win or draw that game. But if the Easter Tuesday game isn't played we'll have been inactive since playing Crusaders last Thursday until the cup semi-final on Saturday April 10, hardly ideal preparation for such a big game

Of course the game at home to Coleraine may not take place as I imagine their outstanding cup game at home to either Newry or Loughgall, would take preference and their league game with Portadown may not be played either, as already stated, due to the weather. Then again if the cup replay falls foul of the weather, a distinct possibility, who knows what 'hair brained' scheme the I.F.A. will come up with next. They say that every cloud has a silver lining and the one good thing to come out of this 'act of god' is that the summer football campaigners (better known as the flat world society), have lost their argument, as the so called summer season has started and matches are still not being played due to waterlogged pitches. No doubt Raymond and his fellow 'flat worlders' would argue that these were freak conditions and could never happen again in 30 years, d—k heads.

Spare a thought for United treasurer Noel Millar who has the unenviable task of arranging flights for United's two Scottish players, Kevin Kelbie and Gary Muir. My understanding is that if the games are called off early enough and the boys can be contacted, we're still liable for some of the fare, but knowing the I.F.A. they'll definitely wait until the last minute. I would urge the people who are running our local football to start listening to the fans, we don't want this 12 team league where you meet one team at least six times in a season (and it could be 12). Get us back to the 16 team league , where there was a bit of variety and there were a lot less matches to play and more 'windows' to play postponed games in. Let's face facts, this is a major 'cock-up', please don't let it happen again, our game is teetering on the brink of self-destruction, act now, don't wait till it's too late!

Pennies Drop!

2010-03-18T22:42:00.003Z

After 28 years the penny has finally dropped and the organisers of the Milk cup have realised that Coleraine Showgrounds is a dump. I could've informed them of this fact 28 years ago, but had concluded that they wanted to centre the games in the North West principally. If I had thought for one moment that they had been temporarily blinded (28 years is a a long temporary period I admit), by the 'shite' talked by the Coleraine scum, I would soon have enlightened them as to their big mistake. Ballymena Showgrounds is so superior to Coleraine, which has been undeveloped in the last 20 years, as to make Coleraine akin to a junior team's ground.

In fact I'd lay odds that Junior team's wouldn't be seen dead in those types of surroundings, as the ground should in fact be condemned. Monies and bottomless pits go 'hand in hand' with Coleraine, one can only guess at the money that has been invested there over the years and still no development of the ground has taken place. They did siphon a lot of this money off into players salaries, but where the rest went is anybody's guess, I'm pretty certain that the inland revenue never got any of it. The Milk cup organisers have stated that they hope this will be a temporary measure until Coleraine get their act together. Hopefully from a Ballymena point of view it will last for at least another 28 years!

Another 'Penny' finally dropped this week, when after endless promises, the Ballymena borough council finally gave the 'Stock cars' their marching orders. The council had intimated that they intended to oust the Stockies, as they were continually damaging the Showgrounds pitch, which then the council had to finance the repairs of. In the end they lacked the 'balls' to do this and have invoked the matter of 'health and safety' as their grounds for refusing a licence for the oval racers. I personally believe they are doing this 'tongue in cheek', knowing full well that they cannot be sued by the Stockies, but if the Stockies appeal against this rule and win their case, they will look to be guiltless and will tell the football club that their hands are tied.

There's an old saying (attributed to Winston Churchill, among others), that goes, 'you can fool some of the people, all of the time, all of the people, some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people, all of the time! Ballymena Borough are attempting to do the 2nd of these statements (fool all of the people some of the time) and they will probably get away with it while us football folk, will have to suffer as a result of it. Our pitch will remain too narrow for European football, Stock cars will regularly 'cut up' the pitch and we'll never be able to have exclusive use of the Showgrounds on Boxing or New Years Day. If this is progress, I want no part of it!

Warped Opinion!

2010-03-04T23:20:00.002Z

Glenn Ferguson was waxing lyrical in his column in the Sunday Life about the inconsistencies of referees and for the most part I would heartily agree with him. Where I have to take issue with Glenn is in his claim that there isn't a problem with indiscipline in our local game. Where have you been burying your head in the sand Glenn? I will simply refer to three incidents which call your claim into question. Number 1, the Boxing Day derby between Crusaders and Cliftonville. Number 2, the Irish cup match between Newry Town and Larne and last but by no means least, the 'free for all' in the recent Linfield /Crusaders league game.

Spike also makes the claim that Peter Thompson of Linfield was wrongly sent off for a deliberate elbow, claiming that his ex-partner wouldn't do such a thing. This from a man (Spike), who was and is a notorious elbow-er and who taught young Thompson almost everything he knows. At the end of the day we have to face facts, these three games showed local football at it's worst and I don't think the punishment dished out was anywhere near enough. We don't want this sort of behaviour in our local game and we should be striving to have it thrown out and hit the culprits with much heavier suspensions. The Newry/Larne game was exceptional in that there was no cameras there, but the other two games were well documented and action should be taken, action which fits the crime, in other words, lengthy suspensions.

On another note it was no great surprise to me that Alan McDonald resigned as Glentoran manager, allegedly after a 'bad' decision went against his team at Dungannon (we know all about that). Alan, let's face it is nothing more than a big 'Girl', he already threw his 'toys' out of the pram when the Coleraine scum trounced them at the Oval, so I suppose in many ways this was inevitable. Could he though have picked a worse time to make his exit, with the Glens facing Linfield in the Irish cup this Saturday? They are also in the final of the C.I.S. cup and still in with a chance of winning back-to-back titles. I know of a wee man, who allegedly manages Ballymena United and he'd just love to have those sort of problems!

I and the rest of the 'Sport team have decided to have a short break, supposedly in the sun from this Sunday, in order to recharge the batteries after this long hard winter. Alas we have boobed as if there's an Irish cup replay we will miss it and even if there isn't we'll miss a trip to that wonderful venue, Ballyskeagh. When we originally booked our trip there was no mention of united having a game next midweek, but as they say a week is a long time in football, just ask Alan McDonald if you don't believe me. I am also considering making this my last season as an active member of the 'Sport team, but more about that later. I will not be writing anything next week, but will be back in harness the day after St. Paddy's day if I survive till then. So come on Sky Blues, let's shag (not literally if you know what I mean), those Lurgan boys!

Living Legends!

2010-02-25T23:41:00.002Z

Last night in the Des Allen suite at the Showgrounds, it was the turn of Ballymena to host the 'Carling living legends'. With compère Jacky Fullerton introducing, former United stalwarts Eddie Russell, Norman Clark and Arthur Stewart, alongside present United Captain Gary Haveron. It was nice to hear the old-timers waxing lyrically about former managers Alex McCrea and Geoff Twentyman, McCrea was acclaimed as possibly United's best ever manager. Jacky used his local knowledge to extract plenty of craic from the locals and one antidote does bear re-telling.

In a match at Lurgan Jacky was receiving some 'stick' from a few United supporters (Jacky never seemed to give his all when playing for United) and Eddie Russell thought he'd ask the fans to lay off our Jacky. He was firmly put in his place with the retort that he had no room to talk as he was even worse than Jacky. Jacky forgot to mention the history surrounding Ballymena trips to Lurgan over the years. The fact is they rarely lost down there in them days as the 'bookies' didn't communicate with each other very much and loads of money was bet on themselves to win at various towns on the way and they all reaped a tidy bonus.

Various questions came from the floor one of which was to name United's best striker and in my mind there were two omissions, one of them from the 'glory years' and one who 'set the ball rolling' so to speak. The man from the glory years was Paul Malone, who scored loads of goals for United and more or less single-handedly got them to the final for their first Irish cup win in 1981, with his scoring feats epitomised by a hat-trick against Cliftonville at Solitude in the 2nd round. The one who set the ball rolling was 'Hoody' McCambridge who scored the priceless goal when Ballymena won their first ever Irish cup way back in 1929. I was told a story about this man's feat many years ago by my wife's uncle. Hoody was travelling to work in the same bus as Elijah Scott, who kept goals for Belfast Celtic, Ballymena's opponents in the '29 final. Scott said to Hoody, 'sure you didn't know where that ball was going when you hit it' and Hoody replied, 'no and neither did you till you were picking it out of the net'.

Every body was asked who was the best player they ever played with, Russell opted for McCrea, Clarke was torn between McCrea and Russell, but never in no circumstances would it be Brian Clough who was at Sunderland in his time. Arthur mentioned Twentyman, but in the end plumped for Geordie Best and who could argue with that. Gary Haveron alas committed a major gaffe by going for Coleraine 'hatchet-man' Pat McAllister, which brought a few murmurs from the United faithful. I almost got up and walked out at this stage myself, this man was an animal who delighted in kicking 'lumps' out of people and to hold him up as some sort of example, was at best ill-guided and at worst foolhardy, not your best moment Gary.

As the evening broke up I managed a word in Norman's ear reminding him about the kick-a-bouts down in Smithfield playing fields, which was just waste ground then and he remembered all the names of the youngsters. That's one thing about the 'Ballymena boy', he doesn't forget his roots or his friends. A good night, a free pint of Carlings and a chance to catch up with some good memories but we need more than memories, we believe Roy, but it's high time for you to deliver! Gary, we'll give the benefit of the doubt on this occasion!

Long Overdue!

2010-02-18T23:11:00.003Z

In his 'Captains blog' in Tuesday night's programme our Gazza (Gary Haveron to the uninitiated), was holding forth about the disgraceful display of refereeing by our dear friend Alan Black at Coleraine. What Gazza had to say was very interesting, re- the decisions, but the point I'd like to pick up on was Gazza's query about the referee's accountability, or should I say the lack of it. When an English premier league referee makes a 'horlicks', which they do as they're only human, they are usually dropped from the premier league list for several weeks. In Norn Iron they are seemingly infallible, as they are not accountable and I've yet to hear of a referee being punished for getting decisions wrong.

We have a referee's assessor at every game, but as he is usually a retired referee, he just agrees with every decision the referee makes. This of course results in a 'whitewash' and in my book is a complete waste of time. Why bother having an assessor at all if he's just going to sanction everything the referee does, rightly or wrongly. We have had more than our fair share of poor decisions this season, with at least three men sent off, when they were in fact the victim of fouls. Not only is the referee not brought to book over his performances, the players have no avenue of appeal when they are suspended.

In most leagues a player can appeal against a caution or a sending off if he thinks he has been treated harshly by a referee. In Norn Iron I'm afraid a player has no right to appeal and must suffer the consequences of over-zealous officials. Surely it's time in this the 21st century, that our players had the same rights as most other players in the U.K. I wouldn't be surprised that it's illegal under European community rules, to not have a right of appeal. As for F.I.F.A. they are as single minded as the I.F.A. and appealing to them would only fall on deaf ears. We already have an example of their two-faced legislation re-the Gibson controversy and we know they can't be trusted.

Maybe the players will need to get together and threaten strike action or similar in order to get their point across. The alternative is to do nothing and suffer at the hands of the 'little Hitlers' like Alan Black. Approaching the I.F.A. would be a futile exercise as they believe they are right and everybody else is wrong and that is because they've been 'shafting' everybody for so long they actually believe they're right.I think the time has come for the players to stand up and be counted, otherwise the dictators have won!

Mind Boggling!

2010-02-11T23:39:00.002Z

Can someone explain the 'new' offside rule to me, I must confess I can't get to grips with it at all, it's just bloody confusing. Oh for the good old days, when if you were offside, a free kick was given to the opposing team. Then some bright spark came up with the idea (allegedly to speed the game up), that if you weren't interfering with play you couldn't be offside. Next up was the ruling that if you were level, you couldn't be offside and if memory serves me correctly at this stage we also got rid of the rule that when the ball was played off a member of the opposing side, you were offside and not 'played on', but if a member of the opposing side played a deliberate back pass you 'were' played on.

Now of course they've come up with the idea that you cannot be offside unless you actually touch the ball and this is where the confusion comes in. Linesmen are sometimes still flagging for offsides and free kicks are being given when a player is in an offside position without him touching the ball. At other times they're not flagging even though players are clearly offside, maybe even in the penalty box, but in their opinion aren't interfering with play. As the late great Danny Blanchflower allegedly said, 'if they're not interfering with play, what are they on the pitch for'? I wholeheartedly agree with our Danny on this occasion.

Surely the old adage rings true once again, 'if it's not broken, then don't fix it'. I can see no benefit for the game in this new offside ruling, players look completely bemused when the flag goes up (forwards) or doesn't (defenders) and speaking as a fan, I just don't have a baldy. I suppose as it is a F.I.F.A. ruling we're stuck with it, but I don't like it just the same and I hanker for the good old days, but this is progress I'm told, progress isn't always a good thing would be my retort, but it'll only fall on deaf ears. I don't like it, so I'll just have to lump it I suppose!

Tunnel Vision!

2010-02-04T23:00:00.003Z

Let me state categorically here that I in no way condone the action of the 'mindless alleged' United fan or fans, who threw the two bottles onto the pitch at Coleraine Showgrounds after the scum had taken a 3-1 lead, just nine short days ago. But it was not without provocation, as fat Davey O'Hare was plainly seen gesturing to the fans behind his goal when the scum scored their 3rd goal. No doubt our fans had been giving 'fat' some stick, as we always do, but I do know that the visually impaired Alan Black, who saw a 'dive' when a foul had been committed, chose not to see the actions of the fat scum-bag. O'Hare played a vital part in this incident, but Black, only saw what he wanted to, just as Trevor Moutray only heard what he wanted to, in United's other 'fat' incident at Stangmore Park.

Has the word 'fat' taken on a new meaning? Is it more offensive to the ears than the word that usually comes after, 'love child'? One thing's for sure, we cannot fight the establishment, even when we proved our case against the lies perpetrated by Dungannon officials and the 'lying love children' of Moutray and company, we were still found guilty, just as we'll be found guilty at Coleraine Showgrounds. What punishment should we give to the perpetrator/perpetrators of this vile act which brings more shame to our club? At first I thought we should ask them to pay the fine and if they refused then we should banish them from the ground.

But that would in fact give the victory to the 'fat man' and the I.F.A., no there has to be another way to earn absolution. We could make them hand out leaflets about non-violence, sectarian chants and racial discrimination at all games for the remainder of the season. We should also name them and shame them, as we all have a right to know who has besmirched our name, on this occasion. Referee's may have 'tunnel vision' but hopefully we have not. United we stand, divided we fall, all we have to do, is believe!

Heavy Price!

2010-01-28T23:46:00.003Z

Last week I highlighted our weakness at throw-ins and corners and what an omen that turned out to be as we allowed the Glens to score two of the easiest goals they're ever likely to due to our benevolent marking. I hope what I'm about to say this week doesn't come back to haunt me, but it's something I feel needs to be said nonetheless. I refer of course to our discipline or more precisely our lack of it. Let me stress here that in no way am I condoning the performance of referee Alan Black on Tuesday night at Coleraine, but I do feel we did shoot ourselves in the foot somewhat. We can argue till we're blue in the face about whether the official was right to send Chris Ramsay off on Tuesday night, but at the end of the day it was a bad tackle.

Now when that happened we should've realised from then on we had to be 'whiter than white' as the referee was like a lion who had just made a kill and has the scent of blood in his nostrils, he could barely wait to make another one. Yes we had to compete against the scum with their extra man advantage, but we could ill afford to risk the referee's wrath. It's not as if this was a first for us this season as we have had more than our share of red cards already and in that respect you would think we would know better. Albert was booked for an innocuous foul but thereafter behaved himself and Mark Surgenor, who reacted to a tackle and got cautioned, behaved impeccably thereafter. Noel Anderson, whom I thought was superb, blotted his copy book by getting cautioned for dissent, so he was walking a tightrope for the rest of the game.

Like most United fans I was angered when Black cautioned him for an alleged dive, which was in stark contrast to his ignoring of a blatant dive in the penalty box by a scum player. Anderson protested his innocence and he did appear to have a mark on his thigh which looked like a stud injury, but the damage had been done when he was cautioned earlier. The Captain is the one that has the right to question decisions, not a player and it was obvious that Black was in no mood to listen to criticism of his performance anyway. This foolish behaviour is prevalent on the touchline as well and I believe our manager and his staff need to curb their own emotions. Maybe if they give a good example, the message will get through to the playing staff. We have so many suspensions looming that we may need to recall a few players in order to field a full side. Get this sorted Roy, sooner rather than later, only believe!

Full Support!

2010-01-21T23:38:00.002Z

We, the Sky Blue Sport team have decided to give full backing to the 'fans' initiative of a complete boycott at the forthcoming away match at Stangmore Park, against Dungannon Swifts, as a protest for the alleged racism chant by our fans, which never happened. We would also agree that on the night of the game we should all attend the Showgrounds and donate some money towards the fine that the club have to pay because lots of people were prepared to tell lies against us. We would also like to send our best wishes to 'our' (fat), player, Ormo, who has unfortunately broken his leg and wish him a speedy recovery. Now here's Omar:

After our Irish cup scare against Ards (and it was a scare), it'll be nice to get back to league action on Saturday (weather permitting). Here we are poised in 8th place with two thirds of what I like to term the 'qualifying period' over. We are in the situation where we can either move up into the top six or slip into the relegation mire. The top six would be nice from a financial point of view as both Linfield and Glentoran would have to visit the Showgrounds and as they strive for league points the club should reap the benefits. The one big drawback in my opinion is that they'll have to share the United 'home' stand due to the ongoing work at the old stand.

Of course there is one hitch that will have to be overcome if we are to progress and that's the team's penchant for shooting themselves in the foot. I don't know how many games we have thrown away this season from what looked like a winning position, but it's a statistic we need to change if we are to mount a serious challenge for a top six finish. Manager Walker has said that he'd like to sign a striker as back-up while Andy Smith serves his 6 game suspension (4 to go yet), but I think we have the players who can mount a serious challenge as it is, if we can only sort out our basic play. I refer of course to our throw-in technique which seems to be, give it to Lee Colligan and/or Mike Smith and let them throw it as far as they can or throw to a player close by who can 'boot it' up-field. I have no football coaching experience but I think there's one or two more tactics that can be employed.

Then there's our defending from throw-ins, we never mark the thrower, which means when he gets the ball back he has a free run at our defence. This should never happen, when we are defending a throw-in we should be the favourites to win possession, not the attacking team. These are basic skills, they're not rocket science, in fact they're just common sense. Then we come to corners: we can't defend them and despite having four tall players in our team we can't exploit that at the other end. Surely these are things that can be worked out at training, if we can get these basic skills right we have enough talented players to unlock any defence in the league, but continue to get these wrong and I fear we'll slip down the table or at best hold our position. If we want a top six position it is I believe up for grabs and we can get off to a good start at the Oval on Saturday, after that it's all in the melting pot!

Foolish Talk!

2010-01-14T23:06:00.003Z

After four postponed games in a row due to the wintry conditions, I suppose it's only understandable that that old debate about summer football should resurface. Let's face it there are already far too many summer distractions and I for one couldn't see myself attending games when I could be away playing golf or better still sporting myself at the seaside, on the rare occasions when we get some summer weather. What would we do during the close season? On a personal note the last three Saturdays have been a struggle as I have had no argument for my partner's quote 'If the football was on you'd go, snow or no snow' and so I reluctantly accompanied her on a shopping trip.

For any hot blooded man to have no alternative but to go shopping is a travesty of justice. Our forefathers didn't fight for the forty hour week, so as men could go shopping on their weekends off. Saturday afternoons are and always have been for attending football/sports games. If the 'little lady' wants to tag along and do her shopping during match-time, well and good, but and I stress the word 'but', if men have to traipse round shopping centres on Saturday afternoons from December to March they might as well be emasculated. Of course some of the people trotting out these bright ideas may already be emasculated, but I see no reason for the rest of us to be put in the same boat.

Then there's the hard bumpy pitches, football is at it's best when it's played on a surface with a bit of 'give' in it. I think that is what turns me off about summer football, the ball is bobbing about so much it's more like 'ping-pong' on grass. When I say on grass I'm using the term 'grass' in it's loosest term as by June or July it's hard to tell where the tarmac ends and the grass begins. Players will I think be more injury prone on hard pitches and watering isn't really much of an option given the high water rates prevalent at the moment.

The I.F.A. would be better employed delivering on those empty promises of the 'wealth' which every club would reap in this all new 12 team Premier league. This was to be the 'be all and end all' of football in this country. Here we are 18 months into the 'new deal' and half the clubs are admitting severe financial difficulties. Bangor have already gone to the wall and one of the oldest clubs in our league, Distillery, are facing a winding up order. If that's progress, why didn't they leave well enough alone. Enough of this foolish talk, let's just get on with things as they are, it's the only game in town!

Tainted Bias!

2010-01-07T23:35:00.002Z

The I.F.A. have been out to get us for a long time. No, I am not being paranoid here, I merely quote from the facts. Now at last thanks to some misguided bigot, aided and abetted by 'punch drunk' officials, they appear to have got their way.

The first instance of bias in recent times (there was the well documented 'paying of Amateurs' vendetta of yesteryear), came when United fans quite rightly taunted former Omagh Town boss Roy McCreadie about the disappearance of the gate receipts from the 'Omagh Fund' match with Manchester United, by calling him a 'thieving Love child'. He of course tried to say we were using a sectarian word that sounds similar to thieving ( F-n--n), or at least it did to his biased ears. His protests were on that occasion found to be without merit (no apology to the maligned United fans).

Then there was the incident involving the 'fat' controller, David Jeffreys, when he wrongly accused United fans of using sectarian language to his players (funnily enough none of his players or anyone else for that matter heard the alleged comments). We were promised a full and frank apology if we were found to be innocent, which we subsequently were. Still no apology from the 'fat controller, but it's only to be expected I suppose.

Now in this latest incident we are accused of chanting racial abuse at Dungannon Swifts goalkeeper Alvin Rouse, allegedly calling him a 'Black' Love child. I myself was at that game and although I wasn't in that section of United fans accused of the racist chant, I honestly heard nothing. I did hear, as I hear every week from both sets of fans, the chant when the keeper takes a goal-kick, you 'fat' Love child. I have been assured by several individuals who were in this small section of fans that this was the only 'chant' which our fans sang on the day in relation to keeper Rouse. Is this yet another case of a misheard comment or is their as I suspect a secret vendetta being conducted against United.

For what reason it's being conducted I don't know, but I believe it is there. Maybe it's because we do everything above board, like paying our income tax on time, which then highlights the clubs who take everything to the wire or don't pay at all. Are Dungannon being used by some other club, who coincidentally play in the same colours and have 'bought' (I use this word in it's loosest term), quite a few players from them lately and who would like to deflect criticism from themselves. Their fans are the biggest purveyors of sectarian and racist comments in our league and the I.F.A. never take a 'blind' bit of notice. If we are to have no recourse but to pay this fine, then I think the 'kid gloves' will have to come off, in other words, we'll have to fight fire, with fire!

What Now!

2009-12-31T00:26:00.003Z

Here we are once again on the brink of a New Year and what has the future in store for us? There seems to be little light at the end of the tunnel, in the last week we've heard that Lisburn Distillery are facing a 'winding up' order and Institute have told their players they must take a 50% wage cut (rumour has it that that'll only reduce their outgoings by £2,000 a week). Who's next I wonder? There's nobody safe (well Linfield are safe, propped up by the I.F.A. as they are), but as I look around the grounds all I see are dwindling attendances, poor spectating facilities and sub-standard toilet facilities. Will somebody at the top please sit up and take notice?

Gone are the days when we fans would go through 'thick and thin' and endure antiquated toilet facilities in order to support our team. We expect, nay demand proper viewing facilities and the most hygienic toilet facilities it's possible to have. My colleague Sammy Patterson decided this year to do a survey on the away venues of our opponents. Admittedly he has been somewhat lax in this department but he tells me when he reviews the conditions we are subjected to in our travels he feels utter despair. I myself am loath to visit the toilets at away grounds unless I can do no better and faced with a long journey home I usually have to give-in and brave the conditions.

Then there is the standard of refereeing we have to endure week in and week out. If the referees were consistent it would be a start. How many times have we witnessed one team getting away with physical contact, while once the other team put a foot wrong, out comes the yellow cards. As for the offside rule, I confess I don't understand it anymore and neither do most of the linesmen (referees assistants), who officiate at Irish league games. I think it's time we went back to the basics with this rule, if you're in an offside position, then it's a free kick to the other side, that way its easy to enforce and easy to understand.

We are now facing a fixture pile-up after losing two games to the adverse weather conditions. So what does the Premier league do about it? Sweet F.A. as usual. In fact their spokesman (somebody called Craig Stanfield, who the hell he is I'm sure I don't know), says we've nothing to worry about. Well for a start there's the loss of revenue, 2 holiday fixtures were wiped out and if the league's normal fixture planning is anything to go by, they'll be played while competing against Champions league matches. Who in their right mind wants to endure the archaic conditions prevalent at most Irish league grounds when they can sit at home in comfort instead.

The big question at the moment seems to be are we entering two thousand and ten, or twenty ten? As far as football here is concerned we're still back in the 1970's. We would just love to be embracing the future with little to concern us but what to call the year. Instead we have to worry about the incompetents who are running our game and seem to have lost touch with reality. In the words of our American friends, 'it's time to wake up and smell the coffee', please do so before it's too late, Happy New Year!

Christmas Wish!

2009-12-24T23:53:00.002Z

My Christmas wish apart from the obvious that is (3 points away to the Scum), is for the I.F.A. to get it's act together and sack Raymond Kennedy. I actually thought that nobody could be worse in the job than Jimmy Boyce. Now I have to admit I was wrong and it was a case of 'better the devil you know, than the devil you don't know. Yeah Boycey was one of those misguided fools (Richard heads), that signed us up to the 100 year lease of Windsor Park for International games, but compared to Kennedy, he was actually a nice, if misguided fool.

Not only did Kennedy allegedly go against legal advice and sack our Chief executive, he then settled out of court and allegedly cost us £400,000 in compensation, £400,000 we don't have I hasten to add. Now he's saying he can't divulge the details behind his 'balls up' because of a confidentiality agreement. What a load of claptrap, the reason he can't divulge the details is because he made a major cock-up. Sack him I say and let him sue us (taking and heeding legal advice first), if he thinks he's been badly done by.

Added to this horlicks he's now involved, allegedly, in protracted negotiations with International team manager Nigel Worthington. Why oh why are we having such negotiations I ask myself? Here we are a football association, who are locked in a profit sapping deal with one of our clubs, not Raymond's fault I admit and we're talking about giving our manager £450,000 a year and at best he's done sweet F.A. during his time in the job. All we can afford is a basic pay of £250,000 a year, not a vast amount by today's standards, but until we can get out of the finance eating deal with Linfield, that's all we can afford. If Nigel's not happy with that sort of money, then we'll have to look elsewhere, you know it makes sense. A happy Christmas to all my readers/reader and remember, 'Coleraine are scum' Nathan rules!

Backward Step!

2009-12-17T22:58:00.002Z

Just what is going on at I.F.A. headquarters? I know it's generally pandemonium there as the men in charge (probably women too), just don't have a clue. But now we're really plumbing the depths. Norn Iron manager Nigel Worthington (a dyed in the wool Sky Blue), has failed, according to press reports, to reach an agreement with the chief clown and has stated an interest in the vacant Sheffield Wednesday job. What's the reason behind the present stalemate, we are left to wonder. Surely even the incompetents at the I.F.A. haven't waited until the eleventh hour in order to start negotiations with our Nigel. We, the fans, thought it was only a matter of crossing the T's and dotting the I's and Nigel would be in charge for the next two years at least. Now it's all up in the air again and to make matters worse our president let it slip that there were plenty of people interested in the job. Of course there's plenty of interest in the position, it's not a bad job, you only work about ten days a year and you're expected to fail, if there's a better job going I don't know what it is. Hopefully Raymond and the boys will get their act together and sign the Ballymena man up to another contract for at least the next two years. I just heard on the news today that his predecessor, Laurie Sanchez, would be interested in the job, well that's no big surprise, as his success with Norn Iron is the only real plus in his CV. Going with Laurie, if Nigel steps down, would I think be a backward step, yes he did have a wee bit of success with us last time, but then we had sunk as low as possible and as the old saying goes, 'whenever you're down and out, the only way is up' and we did move up. His spell also coincided with a certain David Healy starting to knock in goals for fun and in the process blowing the Norn Iron scoring record to smithereens, could he pull another rabbit like that from his hat? The present International squad has possibly one campaign left in them and then it's going to have to be built almost from scratch once again and I don't think Laurie is the man to do that and could we trust him to stay on and see the job through to the finish anyway? The solution's simple, give Nigel a four year contract and tell him to get on with the job, it's the only thing that makes sense!

Decisions! Decisions!

2009-12-10T23:34:00.002Z

Just back from my wee winter break, which I took as we had no scheduled league game last Saturday and what do I find, United did have a game, not on the Saturday but on the Thursday. Bad enough that the entire Sky Blue Sport team missed it, but even worse, United lost and had Andy Smith sent off as well. Apparently Andy 'feinted' to head-butt an opponent, which according to the 4th official is as bad as actually carrying out the offence. I normally wouldn't argue with that but have witnessed countless players this season, actually head-butting our players and not even getting a caution. These are the decisions that turn games on their heads, if they go for you it's great, if they go against you it's anything but. Then there's that other decision eagerly awaited by the much maligned United fans, the alleged racist remarks 'chanted' at Dungannon Swifts goalkeeper, Alvin Rouse, which I know to be a load of hogwash. Hopefully this matter will be resolved in the next couple of weeks and then United fans can 'decide' if they want to attend the game at Dungannon on Christmas Tuesday (December 29). I am pondering over the dilemma of whether to buy shares in United to help tide them over their current sticky patch. This decision (being considered by scores of United fans), will have far reaching consequences as it's vital for the club to raise enough funds in order to see them through this season. Then there's the decision of 'will I or won't I' make the trip to the home of the 'scum' on Boxing day (I'm joking of course, that's already set in stone). Maybe we'll get the right decision that day, all three points, now couldn't I just live with that!

Double Standards!

2009-11-26T23:15:00.003Z

Our local M.Ps., you know those people who are always urging us to save money. You know what I mean, they tell us we can only have a 1% rise and we must conserve energy and cut our C.O.2 emissions by at least 25%, are now proposing to give themselves a rise. They are already in the best paid part-time job in the world. The minimum earners receive £43,000 per annum and they're talking, not about the 1% that the rest of us got, no they want £5,000 more per year. Now my mathematics aren't brilliant, but even I, with my Ballymena Boys education, know that's at least a 10% rise, good work if you can get it. What has this to do with football I hear you ask (well I don't really hear you ask, it's just blogging speech),well I'll tell you. Linfield are apparently up in arms about Glentoran's intention to raise admission charges for the Boxing day derby by a cool 20%, citing the high cost of security, that would equate to a charge of £12 instead of the normal £10. Let me say here immediately that I'm against this type of 'fleecing' of loyal fans, by raising the admission charges for a one-off match and blaming it on security cover. But and I emphasis the word 'but', I think Linfield are on somewhat shaky ground in their condemnation of it. When three years ago, clubs like our own were charging £8 maximum admission, Linfield were already charging visiting fans £10, which meant it was 25% above the normal price. Their fans, are even talking about a 'boycott' because of the proposed charge, but they have been paying over the odds at their own ground for years and we've not had a single protest out of them. Come on Blues fans, get a life, if you have to pay a couple of pounds more for peace of mind, surely it's worth it, would you really want to miss the 'biggest' game of the year. Okay I exaggerated there a wee bit, it's the 2nd biggest game of the year, the 'biggest' takes place at Coleraine Showgrounds on Boxing day. Now if them 'scum' decided to up the admission fee for their dump of a ground, I can tell you there's be hell to pay for sure, too bloody right there would!

Handy Henry!

2009-11-19T23:45:00.002Z

Just thought that as last night was such a momentous night I might as well give my thoughts on the big incident. So what's the big deal? Some French c--t, handed a ball during a football match. The referee and the linesman didn't see it, what the fcuk is so new about that. Go to any Irish league (well any involving Ballymena)and you can witness the referee, both linesmen and the 4th official, pull our players and our manager up for minor or imaginary infringements, while ignoring blatant indiscretions by opposing players and managers. Anybody who's being honest (is there such a thing as an honest footballer), anybody who played the game at any level, would tell you that handing the ball is as natural as kicking it. Did Thierry intend to hand the ball as it was played to him, I think not. I believe as the ball came to him he realised it was going to be difficult to control and he just helped it along with his hand. So if he didn't intend to hand it, it wasn't a deliberate hand-ball and therefore in that context the goal has to stand. Anyway there was a precedent for what happened, the Republic of Ireland (know as the free state in Ulster), play their games at the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association's ground, Croke Park, where it's they're not only allowed to hand the ball, it's definitely encouraged, so maybe Thierry was confused, maybe he thought it was Gaelic football match, not for the whole of the 120 minutes I grant you, just for that few seconds when he so skilfully set up William Gallas to knock the gypsies out of the world cup (sorry I'm positively gloating now). Never mind Henry setting the goal up, how ironic was it that the goal that clinched victory for a team playing in blue, was scored by someone called William!

Jumping Jacks!

2009-11-12T23:34:00.002Z

Okay I admit it, I'm old enough to remember 'Jumping Jacks', for the uninitiated, 'Jumping Jacks' were fireworks (known to us from the 'high country' as squibs), which you lit and they jumped and banged. The usual ploy was to let them off around the lassies and they would then behave like the 'Jumping Jacks', I tell you it was 'guid gutty'. This is of course was in the good old days when boys were boys and the girls were glad of it and you could buy and let off fireworks till your hearts content. Nowadays we're better educated and realise how dangerous these shenanigans can be. The I.F.A. on the other hand still haven't learned the lesson and continue to make mistake after mistake. The latest of course is the 'pay-off' to our former chief-executive, a six figure sum we are told, in other words somewhere between £100,000 and £999,999. This is from an organisation who admit to being on their uppers and we are led to believe took legal advice before sacking the Chief-exec. One would assume then that this is the lesser of two evils and if they had paid him off legally and above board it would have cost them a whole lot more. Is there then I ask myself no limit to the depths of 'stupidity' the I.F.A. will sink. This is the same (okay the personnel have changed but their still basically the same), organisation who entered into a 100 year agreement with Linfield for the use of Windsor Park back in the enlightened eighties. I can only imagine that they signed the chief-exec with a guarantee of at least a one and a half Million pounds golden handshake. The majority of Irish league fans are of the opinion that 'Goodie bags' are distributed every year by Linfield as a thank-you for the signing of their contract, so I wonder what they get off Howard for giving him his? The I.F.A. are behaving like 'Jumping Jacks', frittering their/our money away and dancing to somebody-else's tune. Surely it's time to put a stop to this gravy train, it has gone on far too long, but enough is enough!

Amost There!

2009-11-05T23:28:00.003Z

As we near the halfway point in the premier league, 16 games played, 17 games to play before the 'split', I thought I'd just have a wee look at out statistics. Of the 16 games we've played so far, we've won 7 and lost 9, scored 21 goals and conceded 22 and are in 7th position in the table with 21 points. We are 'poised' so to speak, exactly 10 points behind the 2nd placed teams, Crues and the Glens (both of whom we've beaten once and lost to once) and ten points above the relegation play-off team. Our next three league games will in my opinion decide whether we are an 'up and coming' side or just one of the also-rans. Unlike last year we have scored a few goals, but in my opinion are still conceding too many and that needs to be sorted. Manager Walker has been quoted as saying that he will not dip into the transfer market in the January sales but will still be trying to unload one or two misfits, all I can say is, good luck. Dwayne Nelson is first choice keeper at present, with young Sean O'Neill waiting patiently in the wings, while in Mike Smith and Lee Colligan we have our best fullback partnership since Marco and Boydie. These two and our central defensive pair, Archie Stewart and Chris Ramsay make for our youngest ever back four I think. We have three central defenders on long term injury, so maybe if we can get them fit we'll have real competition for places at the back. Midfield is pretty sewn up at present and its a case of about eight guys vying for four and sometimes only three places. We even have a wee bit of competition for the striking role for a change, with Nathan McConnell, now vying with Andy Smith and Kevin Kelbie for that position, while young Paul McNeil is lurking in the background. Things are indeed looking up, but and I emphasis the word 'but', things can change very quickly. Roy Walker says he's equal to the task, for the fate of our wee team, I hope he's right!

Forked Tongues!

2009-10-29T23:20:00.003Z

In the 'good old' western films the Indians said that the white men spoke with 'forked tongues', which when translated meant you couldn't believe a word they said. Linfield football club I believe speak with forked tongues. Last year they 'allegedly' received £800,000 pounds from the I.F.A. for the use of Windsor Park for Internationals and cup finals etc. I say 'allegedly' as that is the fee they're admitting to, but in my limited experience, what is quoted officially and what is actually received, could have a difference of 20% more than claimed, which would make that a round fee of a million pounds. All of a sudden they seem prepared to give that income up, re-negotiate their terms which is contracted to run for another 100 odd years, the mind boggles.
The first whimper we heard was that Linfield would in effect, allow (they are bloody generous aren't they), the I.F.A. to develop the stadium (which lets face it is a disaster waiting to happen),into a 24,000 seater stadia and take a reduced fee for games. How much this fee was to be reduced was never specified, but I'd lay good odds it was by a very small percentage. Now they have stated that ownership of the stadium must remain with them. Do they think we all came down the Lagan in a banana boat? They want the I.F.A. and the Government to spend Millions developing the ground, which they will still retain ownership of. I realise Raymond Kennedy is a bit 'soft' in the head (he is a Coleraine board member after all), but even he would surely not be daft enough to agree to this ludicrous suggestion. The only sensible way forward is really to build a new Stadium, but if that's not going to happen and apparently it isn't, then ownership of the ground should pass to the I.F.A. with Linfield who would be putting nothing into the deal being allowed use of the ground for domestic games for a period of 20 years and thereafter pay a reasonable rent for the use of the facility. This is the way forward, Linfield may not like it, but anything other than this is 'anarchy'!

Fixtures Fiasco!

2009-10-22T20:14:00.004+01:00

I find myself almost flabbergasted by the advent of a fixtures fiasco, masterminded by those refugees from ´romper room´, better known as the I.F.A. (for any young readers, romper room was a kiddies programme from the seventies, involving pre-school children). By a pure fluke United are involved in a mini fixture fiasco themselves this weekend, after having played (or should I say lost abjectly to), Crusaders, in the County Antrim Shield semi-final on Tuesday night, they now entertain the same team in a league match this Saturday. Three days later they host league champions Glentoran in a league match, that´s Tuesday the 27th October and then it´s a triple header against Institute, interspersed with a trip to Glenavon on November 7. I realise the draw was done correctly and above board (ha, ha, chance would be a fine thing), but could they have given us a less attractive draw, personally I don´t think so, even the Whites with former United manager Tommy Wright at the helm would have helped boost what most probably will be a pathetic turn-out. When the ´Stute come to the Showgrounds United lift nothing from their fans as they all (the whole eight of them), travel in the team coach, so they will bring no paying fans and United will have to rely solely on their own supporters for a decent home ´gate´.
Who in their right mind would make a pathetic fixture like this two-legged and even worse decree that the first leg be played on a Saturday. Saturdays are for league games, Irish cup games or Internationals, not penny-ante C.I.S. cups. Yes there´s prize money to be had but it´ll never compensate for the potential receipts United could expect from a Saturday meeting with the league champions. Please sit up and take note Kennedy & Co, you are destroying our game, competitions like the C.I.S. cup are a distraction, an escape from the pressure of the league race, but don´t ever think they can take it´s place. If you do, as sure as pussy´s a cat our wee game will go down the plug-hole. If this is the great sponsorship spin-off from the 12 team league, then quite bluntly it isn´t worth a plugged nickle and whoever thinks it is should go jump in the river Bann!

Both Ways!

2009-10-15T23:45:00.003+01:00

An impassioned plea by United chairman Robert Cupples for fans to help with the clubs finances I fear may fall on closed ears. If the club are serious about wanting fans to help out then they must put their own house in order first. The players in the opinion of most fans, myself included, are 'grossly overpaid' as they show few signs of rising above the mediocre and on their wages that's nowhere nearly good enough. Their wages should be based on results, a very basic pay for being on contract and then get paid extra for wins and draws. Our players are by all accounts about the fifth best paid in the current league, this is way too much for a team that's never been better than sixth in the league and last year were decidedly lucky to avoid being in the relegation mix. There are allegedly two players costing the club over a £1,000 a week that's over £500 each in wages and travelling expenses. Our players wage bill could therefore be at least £4,000 a week, that's a lot of dosh for a mediocre team in my book. As for the management I couldn't hazard a guess at their wage bill, as we appear to be a little top heavy to my mind, with a manager, an assistant-manager, a first team coach, a goalkeeper coach, a team attendant and a kit-man. Get the results and you'll maybe not get more fans in, but you'll get fans willing to dig deep in order to help the club out. We have suffered long enough with a team that flatters to deceive, it's time to put up or shut up. So the ball is firmly in your court 'United officials', give us a good sound lead and we will definitely follow!

Fat Twats!

2009-10-09T23:56:00.001+01:00

For anyone who has had his or head buried in the sand (or anywhere else) and hasn't heard the news, my headline may seem a little strange to you. It refers of course to the unfounded allegation of racist abuse raised I have been reliably informed by one Dungannon director, a referee and a referee's assessor. Despite United's appeal that our fans like fans up and down the United Kingdom were calling the Dungannon keeper a 'fat' Love-child (love-child being a polite word to use instead of the more common Bastard), these three individuals interpreted it as 'Black' bastard (oops I went and said it). Now I have racked my brain all week in wonderment as to how one could get confuse the two words, fat and Black. Fat does rhyme with Twat, Rat, Bat and Sh(a)t while Black rhymes with neither of these words and doesn't even sound remotely like them. I on the day in question was a good 70 yards from the incident (or should I say alleged incident), but those that I have questioned who were among the fans behind the goal assure me that no such words were spoken. What reason would our fans have for using racist comments anyway as we have nothing against any mans colour or religion either, regardless of unfounded allegations from the 'fat controller', which he still has not apologised for. My only conclusion about the whole affair is that the 'Twat' the 'Rat' and the 'Bat', 'Sh(a)t' on us and unfortunately it has stuck. We may be down, but we're not out and hopefully this time we 'will' receive a full and frank apology, but I won't hold my breath!

Switch Time!

2009-10-01T22:58:00.003+01:00

With exactly a third of the league gone before the 'switch', it's surely time for United to 'switch' and instead of losing 7 and winning 4, win 7 and hope for the best in the other 4 and then maybe we can think of progressing into the top six. The matches we've lost, with the exception of the Glenavon game, have all been by a solitary goal, so maybe we're not too far away. As I said the Glenavon game was an exception and we were told it was down to indiscipline in the 'ranks', so surely these 'ranks' owe us the supporters a more professional attitude in the next round of games. Our injury crisis has deepened and at present we're minus four central defenders, with Albert Watson out with a fractured jaw, added to the already injured, Paul Muir and Gary Haveron, while Mark Surgenor reportedly has Swine flu. So it's not going to be easy as in our next three games, we face a visit to Solitude to play the Reds and then entertain Dungannon and the 'Scum' at the Showgrounds. We lost to all three of these teams and need to claim all 9 points this time around, but we would probably settle for 7, anything else is unthinkable. Therefore there's really no pressure on the team, all they need to do is go about their business and who better to lead by example than team Captain Kevin Kelbie, who has just notched up his 150th appearance for the club, if he can return to his true form then there's nothing to stop us. So come on Sky Blues, let's get stuck into these 'fat' love children, you'll notice I did say fat, just in case somebody's eyesight is as poor as their hearing, but then again, that's another story!

Just Boys!

2009-09-24T23:54:00.003+01:00

With the confirmation in the last few days that a number of Norn Iron boys broke the 21-30 hours curfew on the Sunday just after the Poland game, comes the realization that the players are really just in it for the money. They don't give a toss about the dedicated fans who spend their hard-earned money following them all over the world and flock to Windsor Park paying exorbitant prices for a seat in a second rate stadium, which let's admit it,is an accident waiting to happen, just to cheer their heroes on. A pure coincidence I'm sure that Keith Gillespie was in Belfast on that night, possibly strolling round the streets of his native city. We may never know who the players involved were, or if in fact they were all involved, but surely the least we fans can expect is a unanimous apology from the players and a promise that it won't happen again. Nigel being the disciplinarian that he is will extract the full retribution on the culprits and don't be surprised if quite a few players never don the green shirt again. If anybody thinks Nigel isn't capable of wielding the axe, look no further than Keith Gillespie, who got on the wrong side of the Ballymena man and when the chance came paid the ultimate price. We at Ballymena have found ourselves recently in the same boat when our first team squad thought it would be a good idea to go on a binge while the United manager was in America. As a result in their next home game, with a decent home crowd in attendance, they 'lay down' without a whimper to Glenavon. Our players were, we are assured, fined for this indiscretion, but why oh why did they have the need to misbehave in this manner in the first place. Is it I wonder the fact that despite all this talk about professionalism, they are still just 'boys' and as they say, 'boys will be boys'!

Non-Interference!

2009-09-17T23:49:00.003+01:00

With the news that Newry City manager Gerry Flynn has resigned citing interference, presumably or allegedly from his chairman, it's worth remembering that no matter what the circumstances, interference is a non-starter. The Newry chairman has since denied any interference, but we at United have found Gerry to be an honest chap, even though he left the Sky Blues to move to the 'scum', which in the eyes of Ballymena fans is also a non-starter, but that's another story. Yes we all love to have our opinion on who should play and who shouldn't play, but that's only speculation and the decision must always lie with the manager as it's his job that's on the line if the players mess up. On the International scene yet another former Sky Blue, our own Nigel Worthington, has come in for his share of criticism over the dropping of 'fans favourite' Keith Gillespie. Now far be it for me to try and second guess our Nigel, but it is believed in some circles that Nigel, has an axe to grind with Gillespie and he's not omitted solely on his talents. Well that's as maybe but at the end of the day we have to abide by Nigel's decision, whether right or wrong, as he is the one who'll have to carry the can if Norn Iron (as looks likely), fail to qualify for the World Cup finals in 2010. We at Ballymena I hope would never dabble in team affairs, although we do like to try and influence the manager when it comes to substitutions, but he generally doesn't take a blind bit of notice. Gerry Flynn obviously felt he couldn't ignore the interference he was getting in team selection any longer, in fact a rumour is circulating that Gerry was given two possible team sheets for last Saturday's game at Ballymena, just our luck, from our point of view he picked the wrong one, but that's also yet another story!

Double Take!

2009-09-15T12:39:00.002+01:00

The inconsistency of referees, not just in our own league, but in football in general is a real bone of contention. Consider ourselves, a mere three weeks ago Belfast referee Ronnie Crangle sent United's goalkeeper Sean O'Neill off for raising his hands to an opponent (rightly in my opinion I hasten to add), although the opponent took an exaggerated dive. Then this Saturday at home to Newry City, referee Crangle took no action against Newry keeper Coleman, who in almost a 'carbon copy' of the previous incident, raised his hands and shoved United's Andy Smith. Admittedly Andy took a somewhat theatrical dive, but at the end of the day the hands were raised. To make matters worse he merely cautioned the perpetrator of the original foul, an elbow to Darren Lockhart's face, as the United midfielder sped past the last defender, instead of adhering to the letter of the law and red carding the offender. This was in fact somewhat ironic as he had earlier cautioned Lockhart for what one assumes was dissent, when the midfielder remonstrated with the official over an alleged elbow to United defender Mark Surgenor, conveniently missed by both referee and the same linesman. In this weeks United programme, the editor was complaining about the inconsistency of officials, namely the 4th officials, who it seems have a grudge against United manager Roy Walker. This biased officiating was never more evident than in United's away game at the 'scum slum', when the 4th official was constantly on Walker's back if he went 2 inches outside his coaching zone, while allowing home manager Platt to wander along the touch line at will. In fact the United manager was finally told to leave the coaching area by referee Davey Malcolm. We do not want specialised treatment, we just what to have a fair crack of the whip, surely when we're paying out the guts of £500 to the 4 officials that's the least we can expect. It's got so bad they almost make me want to long for the days of the 'laughing fairy', John Ferry, from Londonderry, but remember I did say 'almost'!

Diving Divas!

2009-09-03T23:12:00.002+01:00

There's a lot of talk in the media at the moment about footballers taking a 'dive', in other words deliberately trying to 'con' the referee. There have been big headlines this week relating to an English Premier league team, Arsenal, who have had a player suspended by E.U.F.A. for allegedly diving in order to win his team a penalty. Now I don't want to get into a debate on the rights or wrongs of that particular case, but I would like to point out that 'diving' is rife in our own Premier league. I can fully understand players taking a dive in the penalty area, where a decision in their favour could win a penalty and providing they score, could help bring them and their team a 3 point bonus. What I can't understand is players (and it is condoned by their managers), taking a 'dive' in open play with the sole aim of winning a foul and/or getting an opponent cautioned. Two such incidents occurred at the Ballymena Showgrounds on Tuesday night when Glenavon were the visitors. In the first incident former United player She[a] Campbell, took a blatant dive in front of 3 officials, referee, linesman and 4th official, winning a free kick when it was perfectly clear no contact was made. This enraged United manager Roy Walker so much that he had to be physically controlled by the 4th official. The United fans were also in uproar and what made it even worse was that they enjoy a love/hate relationship with She[a]anyway. Then later on in the game Darren Lockhart was cautioned by the referee for a non-existent foul right on the byline when Glenavon player Costello took a blatant dive and the linesman who must have been in the early stages of myopia and was standing right beside the incident, aided and abetted the Glenavon 'love child' in his deceit. Surely this sort of thing must be stamped out before it gets a grip on our game, just because it's rife on the mainland doesn't mean we have to adopt it also. In an ironic twist, Glasgow Celtic who protested so vehemently about the Arsenal player taking a 'dive', were found guilty of the same offence in their next match. Their player's punishment was merely a caution, while the Arsenal player must sit out two games, it doesn't seem hardly fair now does it?

Rough Tactics!

2009-08-20T23:41:00.003+01:00

Ballymena are licking their wounds after yet another 'mauling' from the 'animals' of Ballycastle Road (Coleraine Scum), aided and abetted by supposedly one of our top referees, Davey Malcolm. Davey was at his biased best on Tuesday night, booking 6 United players and only two from the scum, but far and away Davey's biggest 'gaffe' however was to not even give a foul for the late tackle which left United Captain Gary Haveron with yet another broken leg. Davey of course was aided and abetted by (1), the linesman (or should I say referees assistant), at the tunnel side (players entrance)of the ground, who, standing 5 yards from the tackle, saw nothing untoward either and (2), by 4th official Jim McFadden, who with a clear uninterrupted view saw nothing unfair as well. He, McFadden, was of course too busy watching United manager Roy Walker in case he set a foot over the coaching box, while affording the Coleraine bench the freedom to wander where they pleased. These officials don't come cheaply, over £400 in total, so one would think they might want to earn their keep, but no you'd be wrong. Later in the game United's Andy Smith broke clear of the Scum defence only to be 'cleaned' in the box when looking likely to score, this foul carries an automatic Red card or at worst a yellow one, Davey of course showed neither. Surely the time has come when our officials should be held accountable for their contribution or lack of it during the game.If something's not done soon, there could be serious repercussions and I don't think any of us really wants that!

First Shot!

2009-08-13T23:26:00.002+01:00

Yes the big kick-off arrived and the colourful Cliftonville fans appeared with their red and white flags (although one of them appears to have washed out and looks to be green, white and orange), of course Jimmy Boyce (the former I.F.A. president says there's no such thing, just how long can Boycie keep burying his head in the sand I wonder). The paltry 200 hundred fans Cliftonville brought to the game did little to swell the coffers at the Showgrounds, although they did keep us amused by singing songs about the Irish famine, something to do with a grain failure I believe. But I digress, elsewhere there were few shocks, although the 'fat controller' had a close shave down at the bannside. Former United keeper Alan Blaney, allegedly made a major gaffe, my heart bleeds for both him and Linfield, but of course 'lucky Linfield' got a break when the home side had a man sent off for what can be best described as a mistimed challenge, but then they get penalties and sendings off etc, far, far more than their share. Reigning champions Glentoran got off to a flier with a 4-0 trouncing of the Whites, but I wouldn't read too much into that as one of their (the whites),major signings was Aaron Callaghan and we know all about him at Warden street, added to that Jim Brown is their manager, so there's not a lot going for them. So all in all nothing too strange or startling, but there's a long way to go and as the old saying goes, there's many a slip, between the cup and the lips, so roll on next Saturday!

Back Pedalling!

2009-04-30T22:58:00.003+01:00

After a complete season under new management, United find themselves just above the relegation play-off slot. In the previous three seasons we did just about manage to hold our own, but this season we have backslid. The reasons behind this demise are two fold, we are 'shit' at defending, we are 'shit' at scoring goals, therein lies the crux of the matter. With what we are paying Kevin Kelbie (wages plus flights), we could have two decent home based strikers and maybe manage to score a few more goals, while in defence, with what we're paying Albert Watson and Gavin McDonnell, we could get 3 decent defenders and hopefully begin defending a bit more adequately. the one plus thing to come out of the whole season, was the 7 points gleaned from the Coleraine scum in 3 meetings, not bad for a team in 14th place in the league standings. There's an old saying that you're only as good as your last game and since beating Institute, just after the split, we have been bloody crap to say it mildly. United manager Roy Walker needs to make a few changes during the summer recess if United are to a force to be reckoned with once again. The time for talking is over Roy, it's time to put up, or shut up, we await the outcome with baited breath!

Bargain Basement!

2009-04-23T23:58:00.002+01:00

It's time for the big clear-out, with 11 players listed by United manager Roy Walker, a complete team, he obviously means business. Two of these players were signed on pre-contracts by former manager Tommy Wright, who let's face it seemingly could do no wrong in the eyes of our board. Just what a mess Tommy left behind has only come to light in the last half of the season. He also signed goalkeeper Alan Blayney and 11 goal striker Neal Teggart, both of whom have been illegally tapped by Linfield's David Jeffrey (but that's another story) and have turned down offers of an extended contract. Frankly in my opinion and all of the Sky Blue Sport team, if Jeffrey wants them, he can have them, for the sort of money we're paying them there's much better players around. Mark Picking, who was given an extended contract by Tommy and then promptly dropped has been listed along with his panic buy from last season's transfer window, Mike Ward, who has only managed 3 senior goals in a year and a bit. Craig McLean is also listed, the man Tommy slotted into the number 3 slot and dropped the veteran Nigel Boyd, what a disastrous decision that was. Davitt Walsh after a bright start has not fulfilled his promise, while last years player of the year, Gavin Melaugh's form has been abysmal and Liam Mullan who came within a whisker of a sensational goal at Coleraine, has only flattered to deceive. Then there's the two McDonnell's, Gavin and Joe, not related to the best of my knowledge, one, Gavin, was a success, while Joe, ran about like a headless chicken. I wonder if Tommy Wright made a mistake when he signed Joe, as I can't remember him playing outstandingly for Newry, but anyway both are on too big a wage. But the man who has the biggest pay packet at the club (thanks once more to the benevolent Tommy Wright), Albert Watson, has also been offered to other clubs. Albert may command a fee, as for the rest, we'd be better off shot of them, but that's no foregone conclusion!

Beautiful Dreamers!

2009-04-16T23:02:00.002+01:00

Yes the long awaited 'split' has taken place and what a difference it has made, instead of mild apathy, we now have major apathy. I said to anybody who would listen that the loneliest job in Norn Iron was manning the visitors turnstile at Ballymena Showgrounds on Saturday and Tuesday. I doubt if there were more than ten fans in on either day a waste of time even opening it. The football served up was nothing to write home about either, in fact the Saturday game only got interesting when first the home team and then the visitors had a player red carded. On the Tuesday even a disallowed goal (one of the worst decisions given at the Showgrounds in many a year) and a missed penalty, couldn't rouse the home fans from their slumbers. The United players seemed content to let the game pass them by and who can blame them, there is after all nothing to play for. They now have 3 away games on the trot and nothing except 'pride' at stake as they are well clear of the possible play-off position. The three teams struggling to avoid a possible play-off, may yet be reprieved as the only two teams with a proper licence must finish 1st & 2nd in the Championship, or there will be no play-off, how exciting is that. Terms like 'couldn't organise a bun worry' and 'organised confusion' spring to ones mind when discussing the vagaries of our beloved I.F.A. We will probably have to put up with this 'daft' format for one more season, but hopefully then common sense will prevail and this silly experiment will be consigned to the scrap heap where it belongs. Yes it's okay to dream, but please think long and hard before you subject us the long suffering fans to any more daft ideas, we've, had enough!

Split Loyalties!

2009-04-09T23:17:00.003+01:00

Yes it has arrived, this weekend sees the start of that wonderful institution that's going to solve all our problems (football wise), the 'famous' or 'infamous' split. Belfast's big two get the ball rolling with a 'live' game on Sky Television tomorrow night, the also-rans begin their lesser games on Saturday. If the 'powers' that be are to be believed, gate takings will increase dramatically and the football being played will be of the highest quality. Ballymena begin this final phase with a game at home to our North-west neighbours, Institute. I will be greatly surprised, nay, I will be totally flabbergasted, if the 'Stute bring more than 15 fans, none of whom will play an entrance fee, while home fans will vote with their feet by giving this final phase a good boot into touch. It is a total waste of time and effort, much better to have carried on and played the other 11 games at least then we'd have played everyone twice, instead of the lop-sided affair which will prevail at the finish of this season. If that's not bad enough there's the bigger debacle concerning which teams will be promoted from the 1st division, it just gets weirder and weirder, I dread to think what 'hair-brained' scheme they'll come up with next!

Side Splitting!

2009-03-19T22:48:00.002Z

Yes the big day is almost upon us, one more game must be played by all clubs and then the big 'split' will take place. When matches resume after a two week lay-off (whose brilliant idea that was I wonder?), contrary to reports the world will not have altered it's course, there will be no fanfare of trumpets and we'll still be watching the same conclusion to our league as we have for the past decade or so. The Gibson cup which is the trophy presented to the Irish league winners is destined for either Windsor Park or the Oval. That is no different this year than it is any year, okay there have been the odd exceptional years, but they are unusual and are nothing to do with the league set-up. The 'big two' have a 12 point cushion over 3rd placed Crusaders and even though there are 18 points at stake over the next 6 games, I can't see the title going anywhere but to one of the big two. The bottom of the league isn't just as cut and dried as there are 'mathematically speaking' four teams involved in the battle to avoid a possible play-off game, but in reality it's probably only 3. Bangor and Institute are out of that equation, Bangor are already relegated and Institute can be caught, but only just. Ballymena, whose record against the bottom 3 is far from good, should also be able to claw themselves to safety in the next 6 games, so the battle is between, Dungannon, Newry and Glenavon and depending on what happens in the 1st division it may not matter anyway. The only battle still to be decided is for who's going to finish in the top six and that will take time to unfold, but at the end of the day it won't matter a jot. New league, new start, you're having a laugh!

Said So!

2009-03-12T22:16:00.002Z

I apologise for being one of those annoying people who says, 'I told you so'. But try as I might I find myself secretly 'gloating' and so I've said it. Just three short weeks ago I wrote in my weekly 'letting off of steam', about the utter farce of the punishment meted out to Linfield and Glentoran over the Boxing Day riot. On that occasion I wrote: (The I.F.A. is trying once more to pull the 'wool over our eyes', by ludicrously suggesting that Linfield and Glentoran will not be allowed to play each other on a Public holiday again. They've also been fined the ridiculously low sum of £1,000 each, in other words chicken feed to either of these two clubs. The two clubs are of course going to appeal against these terrible sanctions and we all know what the outcome will be. The fine will be reduced to £500 each and the football ban will be lifted. This is after all just a 'paper' exercise, the I.F.A. (who are to all intents and purposes Linfield anyway), are just trying to look like the mighty overlords that they should be). The playing ban was rescinded today but the fine remains, but at the end of the day Linfield will merely be paying themselves anyway and it 'was' Glens fans who caused the fracas anyway so maybe for that reason the fine stays in place. The mindless minority have won once more, they have been 'slapped on the wrist' and told not to do it again. This fine or threat of further sanctions will have no effect on the 'morons' who follow the 'big two', violence is second nature to them. 90% of those causing the rioting were caught on camera and could've been dealt with by the courts and by their respective clubs, but at the end of the day they're not stupid enough to 'bite the hands that feed them'. So now we just bury our heads in 'the sand' until the next time and believe you me, there will be a next time!

Tightening Noose!

2009-03-05T14:01:00.002Z

With most teams only having two games left to play before the 'split', things are starting to tighten up at the top of the Premier table, but in some other cases a clearer picture is emerging. Glentoran's win over Linfield last night signified little about the destination of the Gibson cup, but the results the previous evening had a direct bearing on the final place up for grabs in the top six. Cliftonville's win virtually takes them out of the reach of Ballymena whose best possible points tally (winning their three remaining games), would only bring them level with the North Belfast Reds but their inferioir goal difference -10 compared to Cliftonville's + 7 would require a bit of overhauling. Cliftonville can't sit on their laurels just the same as Institute are only 5 points adrift with a game in hand but with a -10 goal difference also. The relegation picture isn't as clearly defined as yet, but Ballymena can give themselves some breathing space with victory over Glenavon this Saturday, whereas a defeat or a draw, although not deciding anything, would 'keep the pot boiling' but dash any hopes of a top 6 finish for the Sky Blues. This Saturday 6 of the top 7 clubs are involved in the Irish cup quarter finals and maybe they will take their 'eye off the ball' due to this distraction. Barring any major cock-ups the league title looks destined for either Windsor Park or the Oval, but the battle for third place has only a spread of 8 points and looks destined to go down to the wire. Even though the table has a familiar look, the 'big two' at the top, the remaining places are not so clearly defined and there's still plenty to play for. Let's hope the fans see it that way and turn out in their numbers, otherwise it'll all be change for change sake!

Vast Ocean!

2009-02-25T23:31:00.002Z

Believe or not there's no great distance in miles between Norn Iron and the U.K. mainland, in fact it's a short crossing over the Irish sea, but in referee terms it's more like a vast ocean. Our dear neighbours from Coleraine got away with 'murder' at the Oval last week, when their midfielder/winger, Carson, blatantly elbowed a Glens player and in his follow through stamped on him as well. The Glens player quite understandably kicked out at his opponent and for his 'sins' he got a red card, while Carson escaped with a caution. Referee Davey Malcolm, explained his 'miscarriage' of justice by saying that he sent the man off for retaliation, seemingly alluding that a deliberate elbow is no longer a sending-off offence, in his opinion anyway. In a high profile match in England at the weekend, Manchester United's Christian Ronaldo, deliberately kicked out at an opponent, the referee took no action whatsoever. Which was the correct action? In truth I think both are wrong, if you kick out or retaliate at an opponent, a mandatory yellow card should be given, while elbowing should still carry the mandatory red card. These are of course my opinions and they don't carry much weight, just like my pleadings against the ridiculous league format we find ourselves playing in this season. Depending on the results over the closing games Ballymena could face the prospect of having just one home game in the final five matches when the split occurs and no-one can convince me that that, is progress. Also depending on results and points gathered half a dozen teams could find themselves with nothing to play for, well out of the relegation zone and/or with no chance of progressing up the league table. They've tried it in Scotland and are not happy with the format, so why we have gone for it is beyond me. Surely this can not be good for football in Norn Iron and will in fact be the beginning of the end, killing the game off with apathy!

Utter Farce!

2009-02-19T23:42:00.002Z

The I.F.A. is trying once more to pull the 'wool over our eyes', by ludicrously suggesting that Linfield and Glentoran will not be allowed to play each other on a Public holiday again. They've also been fined the ridiculously low sum of £1,000 each, in other words chicken feed to either of these two clubs. The two clubs are of course going to appeal against these terrible sanctions and we all know what the outcome will be. The fine will be reduced to £500 each and the football ban will be lifted. This is after all just a 'paper' exercise, the I.F.A. (who are to all intents and purposes Linfield anyway), are just trying to look like the mighty overlords that they should be. Last season Linfield manager David 'the fat controller' Jeffreys, falsely accused Ballymena fans of chanting sectarian abuse at his players, which of course was complete lies. The I.F.A. promised a full inquiry and said that Jeffrey would be made to issue a public apology, we, Ballymena United, are still waiting for that apology, as the gutless I.F.A. didn't enforce the issue. Glentoran reportedly are threatening a breakaway league if the punishment isn't lifted, yet another daft idea. Do these people live in a dream world? Our game is dying before our very eyes, one only has to look at the 'paltry' crowd of fans that 3rd placed Crusaders brought to Ballymena for last week's cup game, to realise the apathy that exists within the local game. Fans are just not turning up in the same numbers for average games, yeah you still get a decent crowd for the big matches, but on average I'd say crowds are down over the last 5 years by 15% and that my friends is a trend that looks likely to continue. Never mind a breakaway league, we'll be lucky in ten years to have any league!

Prairie Fever!

2009-02-12T16:03:00.002Z

According to legend during the early years of American history, prairie fever was quite common among the settlers as when they arrived in the wide open prairies their closed minds just couldn't take in the open spaces, or the heat etc. To people coming from sheltered backgrounds like ourselves that is understandable to a certain extent, as we do live a sheltered sort of life, in a small country, one in fact where you're never more than two hours drive from the sea. Bearing that in mind can some-one tell me how Raymond Kennedy, a native of this country, could come up with the ludicrous idea of switching to summer football? It's one of those 'red herrings', similar to the campaign for 'Sunday football', which has proved to be a non-starter, 8 months into the season and only one game played on a Sunday so far. Raymond (who is to brains, as freedom is to prisons), says this would solve our fixture backlog. Maybe Raymond (in fact there's no maybe about it), needs to be reminded that one of the reasons for our fixture backlog is that we lost two games at the start of the season, one due to a strike by referees who now get paid a minimum of £100 an hour (not bad if you can get it I must say)and the next week most games were wiped out due to torrential rain. This of course didn't happen in the middle of winter, but in supposedly high summer, 16 August. Another reason for the fixture pile-up is that last season the minimum number of games played by any team was 38(here I'm assuming teams played in the Shield and not the North west or Bob Radcliffe cups), this year thanks to the superior knowledge of Raymond and his fellow bunglers, each team must play a minimum of 42 games, four more games to fit into an already packed schedule and we've had the worst winter for over forty years to boot. So let's not hear any more 'Prairie fever' talk, sort out the fixture schedule, if you must do something, but only panic when it's necessary, it's much too early for that yet!

Dunder Heads!

2009-02-05T23:50:00.002Z

Of course it was bound to happen, I am of course referring to the so called Irish Premier league, it has unsurprisingly blew up in their faces. The promises made to clubs at the start of the season of how this was to be a big step forward and how much sponsorship money it was going to bring in, what a joke. Here we are more than halfway through the season and suddenly one of the teams has announced it won't be competing in the 'big' league next season. What a farce and what a farce that they were ever there at all. Surely anyone with a bit of gumption would have given Portadown a bit of leeway when they missed the deadline and included them from the outset. Bangor it has to be said, have done quite well from a playing perspective, but they have brought nothing to the game. Their ground hasn't progressed since the nineties, there fans are as scarce as 'hens teeth' and now they're bankrupt. So where does that leave the rest of us, will there in fact be no relegation now that one team is dropping out? Once the first division winners are promoted, rumour has it that the team finishing bottom this season will play off against the next best placed team who have the necessary licence, providing of course there is anybody in that position. If, as looks likely, Portadown win the first division and qualify automatically, we could be waiting on this miracle stand that is going to spring up a Celtic Park out of nothing. Take my advice boys, go back to the 16 team league before the whole thing collapses round your ears. You've had your go and it hasn't worked and I won't be surprised if another couple of clubs drop out before the seasons out. So it's time to cut your losses, as we all know you couldn't run a raffle, it's not your fault, you're just thick heads!

Amazing Mess!

2009-01-29T23:31:00.003Z

So there will be no new International ground at the Maze, that is a surprise. First you've got a bungling I.F.A. involved and then you've got a bungling Norn Iron government involved as well, it's a miracle we ever got to this stage, never mind starting to build. Now we're back to square one, we need a stadium in the short term, but because we've been 'twiddling our thumbs' for the last few years, we are now further behind than ever. The 'alternative', is to pour more money into the bottomless hole that is Windsor Park, in the short term, or face the prospect of no International football in Norn Iron. This of course will be nothing new for the I.F.A., they have been pouring money into Windsor Park for years thanks to the ludicrous contract that's set to run and run and at the same time pouring loads of money into Linfield's coffers. This money of course enables the 'Fat controller' to but any player he more or less fancies, the only saving grace being that he won't go over a certain amount, which at the moment appears to be £35,000. That is what he is rumoured to have paid Dungannon for Mark McAllister and what he offered Ballymena for Kevin Kelbie last summer. Will the I.F.A. drag their heels after pouring money into Windsor Park to ensure International football continues here for the foreseeable future, of course they will, they've been doing likewise for years so why would they change now? As I've said before, why bother pouring more money into Windsor Park, which is going to be excessively expensive? Get together with the Glens and the Crues, who are both wanting to develop new grounds and build a stadium to house both of them plus Internationals, if nothing else, it would be great to see the look on the 'fat controllers' face when the 'gravy' train finally pulls out of Windsor Park!

Howard's (A)way!

2009-01-22T16:13:00.002Z

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!

Ulster Bank!

2009-01-15T23:30:00.002Z

So the fat controller has finally got his cheque book out and bought a couple of players, in fact a couple of players who 'allegedly' are strikers. He reportedly made an approach to Ballymena about the 'injured' Neal Teggart, but as I thought at the time, that was just a smoke screen. When you really want to buy someone and negotiations are at breaking point, the smart guys pretend to be after someone else. This ploy worked with League of Ireland side, Derry City, who if truth be known were only too glad to get the high earning non-productive McHugh off their books. Dungannon Swifts on the other hand, were not going to be steamrollered into accepting a cut price deal for McAllister, they had already lost a potential fortune when he turned down a move to Glasgow Celtic two seasons ago. That meant the 'bigot' had to cough up £35,000, plus a player as well in order to land the under-performing Swifts 'alleged' hit-man, I say alleged as his goalscoring exploits are disappointing to say the least. This £50,000 which with signing on fees will probably stretch the total outlay to near £70,000, would seem like a vast fortune to most Irish league clubs. To Linfield, with their monopoly of International matches, it's only a drop in the ocean. The Belfast Blues are expecting to glean almost three quarters of a £million from the I.F.A. as Norn Iron bid to secure World cup qualification. That is in my opinion a ludicrous amount for one club to get from our governing body, surely their should be a ceiling set and set at a realistic figure, especially in light of the deep recession affecting all aspects of our wee country at the moment. The reality is that even if these two players don't set the scoring charts alight at Windsor, the Blues won't have to worry about financial implications, this outlay was merely 'pocket money' as far as they are concerned. I'll be watching intently over the coming months just to see what impact these two signings have if any, or were they just signed for the hell of it. After all, when you have 'loads of money', the sky 'is',the limit!

Nothing Doingt!

2009-01-08T22:56:00.003Z

We waited with bated breath for the transfer window to open, there was to be so much business done it was mind boggling and now 8 days later very little has happened. Every season we wait expectantly for the transfer window, hoping against hope that some magic player will become available, who will help transform our team from a mediocre one into a world beater. This season of course is a little different, for a start we have a different league set-up and nobody, but nobody, wants to be in the bottom half at the end of March. Of course six teams are going to be in the bottom and six are going to be in the top, but it's going to be a mighty scramble over the next 9 games before we reach that final reckoning. So managers are trying desperately to come up with the winning formula and they all believe they need a few pieces yet before they can solve their respective puzzles. Then there's the credit crunch and it's rumoured that at least three teams have been told by their respective backers (the behind the scenes money men), that the gravy train has dried up and their wage bill needs drastic trimming. This then exacerbates the problem, managers not only need to bring in new 'blood', they also need to shed some dead wood (players no longer required, or earning too much money), but almost everybody else is in the same boat. Maybe this is not the best time to be delving into the transfer market, unless of course someone becomes available who is just too good to miss, but David Beckham has allegedly signed for Milan and few other players fit that bill. The best policy is probably to sit tight, keep what you have and live with it. I know it's not possible to make a 'silk purse out of a sows ear', but think of the fun you'd have trying. Let's not sign someone for the sake of signing someone, sometimes the best policy is to do nothing and that's how it should be for us!

New Convert!

2008-12-30T23:49:00.002Z

'What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours', so say the words of the famous song and in 'football parlance' what a difference a few wins make, suddenly we've gone from the depths of despair and now 'the sky is your limit'. When United lost by a single goal at home to Institute on November 22 things looked pretty bleak. But now five games later we are on the brink of salvation (if Roy Walker would happen to read this, I don't mean that literally). We had only 8 points in the bag and things looked bleak, now we have 23 points and even though we're not out of the woods yet, there is light at the end of the tunnel. There were many doubters among the Sky Blue faithful, not too many made the trip to Mourneview Park for the Glenavon game, but Mourneview has been a ground where United have enjoyed a fair bit of success over the years and so it was on this occasion. That was the start and so it has continued over the last 5 games, maybe we were a wee bit lucky to take all three points at the Oval, but if we had taken all our chances in that game it would have been an emphatic victory. Probably our poorest display was in our last game against the Coleraine scum, but derbies are all about winning, entertainment comes a long way down the list. Once again in the Coleraine match our injury jinx struck once more, with Stuarty King breaking his ankle, while David Cushley was stretchered off for the third time in a game against Coleraine, surely an unenviable record. King, who had just taken over the Captaincy will be sidelined for two to three months, but Cushley in fact just had severe bruising, courtesy of scum player Tommy McCallion. The players who came on, Ryan Deans and Liam Mullan did an excellent job and are a fine example of the commitment the players are showing at this moment. What brought about this change in fortunes is our manager's catchphrase which the players have taken on board, 'only believe'. I was a doubter, one of many doubters, but now I believe also!

Jolly Season!

2008-12-24T16:30:00.002Z

'Tis the season to be jolly', at least that's what they tell us, but I doubt if the United Physio would agree. Now I do realise I'm stretching things a wee bit here, I'm not just alluding (I hope you appreciate that word, I heard Raymond Kennedy say it), to the Christmas season, but to the 'football season' which began way back on August 9, or would have done if the referee's hadn't went on strike. First it was Craig McClean with a leg injury which took two months to clear up and then he stood on broken glass and is only getting back to fitness now, but will need another couple of reserve games before he can challenge for a first team place. Then it was Albert's turn with a nasty looking injury that turned out not to be as bad as first thought and he returned fairly quickly. But it was only a slight reprieve for the Sandy Row man as he suffered a nasty gash at the feet of Dungannon's Timmy Adamson on November 15 and has only resumed light training and is at least 4 weeks away from challenging for a place. The third player to be 'jinxed' was leading goalscorer Neal Teggart, he suffered a stomach injury and hasn't played since the Dungannon game either and subject to the result of a scan carried out yesterday could be out for the rest of the season. Everything, as they say always happens in threes, but there's more, big Gary Haveron, the man who epitomises United's fighting spirit, with his 'never say die' attitude and his leadership on the park, suffered a broken shin bone ten days ago in a game against Bangor. This was probably the 'cruellest' blow of all, as there were only a few minutes left in the game and the 'big man' was about to be substituted when fate struck the crucial blow, we will miss him dearly over the next couple of months. On the bright side (yes there is a bright side) manager Roy Walker continues to unleash young talent into the 'hurly burly' of the Irish league. Firstly it was Archie Stewart, coming into the back four to cement a place, after starring for the reserve team last season, then it was Lee Colligan, another star in our reserve team last season and now it is young Ryan Deans, who scored the crucial first goal at the Oval last Saturday. He also managed to get two goals out of Mike Ward, whom I thought was going to be added to the long list of failures who have failed to fulfil their promise over the years. Our keeper Alan Blayney, after a poor start has proved he is top drawer, while Gavin McDonnell has in the last few games been outstanding. Aiden Watson slotted into the rightback slot as if he had played there all his days, while Tommy Wray has come on in leaps and bounds in the last few games. Stuarty King or should I say the much maligned Stuarty King has got a new lease of life and rightfully took the Captain's armband last week. Upfront the revitalised Kevin Kelbie, despite his health problems (diabetic), continues to lead the Sky Blue line and has pledged himself to the United cause only recently. While Gavin Melaugh is starting to rediscover his form, so maybe after all it is the 'season to be jolly' all I can say is, bring on the Coleraine scum! Merry Christmas from all at Sky Blue Sport and 'come on Sky Blues' let's shag them all!

Own Man!

2008-12-18T22:49:00.002Z

Norn Iron have dropped back down the F.I.F.A. world rankings, they are now at No. 52 and methinks they still have (like the credit crunch),a ways to go yet. Who I wonder is responsible for this sad state of affairs? Sad to say it is mainly down to one man and it greatly pains me to say it, International team manager Nigel Worthington. Nigel is not only a Ballymena boy, but he is also a Sky Blues hero, having been a member of the team that began that wonderful run that culminated in three Irish cup wins in the eighties. He was a 'cultured' leftback, a long throw specialist and a man to call on in a crisis. Got a free kick late in a game, let Nigel take it, got a penalty, let Nigel take it again. I could go on and on about how Nigel broke into cross-channel football and the career he carved out for himself, both as a player and a manager, but suffice to say he enjoyed a good lifestyle. When he was appointed Norn Iron manager to replace the 'charismatic' Laurie Sanchez, I was glad to see a local boy get the 'plum' job, but sceptical of how successful he could be. After scrambling a couple of good results he showed his hand in our last game of the European Nations qualifiers. Norn Iron needed to beat Spain to even have an outside chance of making the finals, no doubt Laurie would have went in with 'all guns blazing', but not our boy he went for a containing game and the inevitable happened, we lost and failed to qualify. That was the beginning of the rot that has seeped back into our International game and will in my opinion continue to ferment while Nigel is in charge. The only thing we have going for us is surprise and the fact that 11 Ulstermen turn into giants when they strap on the green jersey, take that away and very soon we will be scraping the bottom of the barrel once more. Even our 'talisman' David (God) Healey's attitude has been questioned by our Nige and told he needs regular first team football. I think in David's case the opposite is the fact, when he plays club football he's under pressure to perform, but when he plays for Norn Iron the pressure's off and he plays for fun. I know Nigel wants to be his own man, but for the sake of our wee team he has to forget his defensive tactics, let's instead go for the jugular. As Jonesy in dad's army is fond of saying they don't like it 'up em', so let's give 'em' what they don't like. We may end up not qualifying again, but at least we'll have had some fun doing it and after all, entertainment is the name of the game!

Ever Spinning!

2008-12-11T23:41:00.004Z

Not a week passes that local football doesn't get hit with some adverse headline or in the case of this week, three adverse headlines. Firstly those paragons of virtue the team and manager that can do 'no wrong', Linfield and the 'fat' controller, fielded an ineligible player during a league game on Tuesday night. The player in question should've been serving a one game suspension, but instead he played for Linfield at Mourneview Park, against Glenavon, a game which the reigning league champions lost 1-0. We now await the punishment from the I.F.A., seemingly Linfield cannot be deducted points as they lost the game anyway, so it seems a fine is likely. If the punishment handed out to the 'Bigoted Jeffrey' last season for making false claims of sectarian abuse from United fans is anything to go by, Linfield can expect a £50 fine from the powder puff I.F.A.. Then last night during that excuse for a programme, Season Ticket, that renowned reporter, Stephen (Turnip-head)Watson was interviewing I.F.A. president Raymond Kennedy and sacked chief executive Howard Wells. On the one side was the big country yokel, Kennedy, who despite answering about 10 questions said nothing and the smooth talking (marlies in the mouth), Wells, equally saying nothing, but both hinted that pretty soon the s--t would hit the fan and then there would be hell to pay. Then there was a third bombshell dropped tonight from our esteemed government better known as the Stormont 'fleecers and murderers club' (if anyone can't understand this just send a S.A.E. to Sir Reg Empey and he will explain), that suggests none of our clubs would pass new stringent safety laws and are in that context operating illegally. What next I hear you ask? The answer is I don't know, but sure as 'pussy is a cat' (some say pussy is something completely different but I won't go there), there will be more controversy, in fact it's the one thing we can depend on, we definitely can't depend on the weather and we can't depend on the I.F.A. to do anything sensible, sure the shock would probably kill us if they did!

Organised Confusion!

2008-12-05T22:26:00.002Z

Usually about this time of year the glut of unplayed fixtures tend to come to the fore with matches called off because of waterlogged pitches and to a lesser extent wintry conditions, e.g. frost and fog. This season though it's slightly different as most teams lost the first two games of the season, one because of the referee's strike and the next because of heavy rain. A few teams have attempted to get these games played, while others have 'dragged their heels' and we now have the situation where teams are still 2 games behind and with extra games over the festive period and the Irish cup coming up it's hard to see how these games can be fitted in. The disastrous (well in my opinion disastrous), decision to play the C.I.S. cup games over two legs has not helped and in a complete fluke we have the unfortunate situation where four teams must play each other three times inside a week. No-one could have envisaged that Glentoran and Coleraine would be drawn against each other just days before meeting in a league encounter and likewise for Glenavon and Distillery. But surely it doesn't take a mastermind to realise that when you have a 12 team league the likelihood of something similar happening is about 50/50. The authorities have no control over the weather I realise, but surely they have to get their collective heads together and make sure these sort of incidents don't happen again. If the spectators attending these games are an indication of the viewing public's interest, then it's high time we went back to a one-leg competition. Not only would it be possibly more enjoyable to watch, it would also leave some free dates for teams to make up their back-log of games!

Financial What?

2008-11-27T23:31:00.002Z

Howard Wells has broken his silence at last and what is his big 'scoop', the I.F.A. had no financial plans, no 'budget' to work within. Howard seems to have been surprised at this turn of events, but if he had any knowledge of Irish football, he'd soon realise that this is commonplace in the running of local clubs. That is why Coleraine went into administration, they foolishly believed that success would bring the fans flocking in and so they spent money like it was going out of fashion. Coleraine of course are not alone, most other clubs are in the same 'boat', but they just haven't let it get out of hand,yet, but I'd lay odds that they're all well over their limits. In the times of plenty, although not good 'accounting practice', this method is okay, but in times like the present where the economy is going into (or as some would say is already in), recession, then quite a few clubs may be 'found out'. Before any Sky Blue fans get to feeling smug I'd also lay odds that our finances are not good either and I wouldn't be surprised if our panel will have to be trimmed drastically during the January transfer window. Glentoran for instance are a case in point, they have their ground mortgaged up to the hilt, this was of course okay when the building boom was in full swing, but I'd warrant that the developer will be in no hurry to start levelling the Oval in order to build houses in the present economic climate. The belt 'tightening has begun and don't be surprised if a few clubs go to the wall, maybe it's time they trimmed their spending, especially as they haven't got the money to spend in the first place1

Damned Lies!

2008-11-20T23:12:00.003Z

Someone, it could have been a U.S. president, or it could have been Eric Trevorrow for all I know, once said, there are lies, damned lies and statistics, with that in mind I thought tonight I'd trot out some statistics. As an avid Sky Blue's fan these do not make for 'comforting' reading, but maybe, just maybe, it'll help us get over the difficult months that lie ahead. I decided to look at my old programmes and the one fact that stands out is the team that were bottom of the league in mid-November, over the last 3 seasons, were either relegated or at least finished bottom come April. In 2005/6 it was Ards, bottom in November and bottom in April, 2006/7, then it was Loughgall, bottom in November and bottom still in April, while last season Institute were bottom in November, but although they were bottom in April they stayed up at the expense of clubs who had not 'put their houses in order', so to speak. Another interesting statistic is that at this stage last year, we had played 17 games, scoring 29 goals and conceding 32. This season we have played 20 games, scoring 18 goals and conceding 41. Looking at these statistics one would think that our defence is to blame as we have conceded an average of just over 2 goals a game, but actually it's just a little bit more complicated than that. The fact is that last season at this time our strikers had scored 15 goals amongst themselves, our midfielder's had scored 12 goals, while our defence had chipped in with 2, not a lot, but 2 more than we have this year. This year our strikers have scored 16 goals, our midfielder's 2 and as I said earlier our defence this season have scored none. So never mind the defence letting in a lot more goals, the midfield is way behind with their goalscoring. Added to this their tackling is, to put it mildly, 'pathetic' and I believe this was a contributing factor to the Aiden Watson sending off last week, when nobody was willing to tackle, he took it on himself and paid the ultimate penalty to an over-officious referee. The bottom line is that if our midfield don't start weighing in with some goals pretty soon, we will after all be seeing quite a few new grounds next season. Roy Walker has a tough job ahead of him, the going is 'tough', but it's 'high' time, for United, to get going!

Lethargic Supporters!

2008-11-13T23:48:00.002Z

The papers have been raving in the last couple of days about the 'young' team that Arsenal sent out for Carling cup duty on Tuesday night. Don't get me wrong I'm all for giving youth a chance, but surely it's taking a big chance when a manager puts out untried youngsters against a major team, if it works he's a hero, if not he's a villain. I wonder how the Arsenal fans felt, did they feel cheated at having to watch youngsters play instead of the usual stars, or were they quite happy just to watch their team, no matter who was wearing the jersey. The latter I believe is the answer and this isn't just true of Arsenal fans, it's true of fans the world over. I myself come into this category, my wife just laughs when I say I've seen enough and won't be going to the next game when we're on a bad run, she knows I'll be there for the next game, no matter who we're playing or who's playing for us. That's why I was astounded when I turned up at the Oval a week past on Tuesday to find the small handful of United fans in attendance. One of United's top men even admitted on Monday night that he hadn't attended either, a 'damming' indictment on his loyalty. Then I picked up my copy of the Ballymena Times on Tuesday to find that there was no report on the Glens game in the paper, not even a reference to it, for gods sake even Wakehurst got a headline for losing to Dundela, but we the Premier team in the Town didn't even warrant a mention for our valiant effort against the Glens. I just wonder if United fans have resigned themselves to the inevitable belief that the team's in a hopeless position and what's the point of attending games where on paper we have little chance. Lethargy is the enemy of ambition, without ambition we are nothing, so let's get our act together and get back to supporting our team, they're tried their eyestrings out, can we do any less!

Old Gripe!

2008-11-08T20:43:00.002Z

I know I´ve said it many times before but it needs saying again, we, spectators get a raw deal when it gomes to ´spectating facilities´ at most league grounds. I was one of the few Sky Blue fans who was at the Oval on Tuesday night to witness our first away victory for 44 weeks. I say witness, but I say it tongue in cheek, as the view was to say the least, pathetic. In fact I finally went down to the edge of the terracing to get a better view, well at least I could see along one touchline from there. Car parking is never easy at away grounds anyway, but it is almost non-existant at the Oval now as the area is so built up by new houses, in fact the houses are now almost on top of the ground at the visitors end of the park. Surely the time has come for the authorities to get their act together and give spectators a better view, in fact to make that their number one priority. We are somewhat spoiled at Ballymena, as any seat in the ´new´stand affords a decent view of the whole park, surely then this should be the yardstick for all other clubs. Glentoran keep promising us that they´re just about to move to a new stadium and if this is true let´s hope they provide us with decent viewing facilities, anything else would be a waste of revenue. Cliftonville have just opened a new stand at Solitude and of course it is at the ´home´end of the ground and as much use as a ´chocolate fireguard´if you get my drift. Would the fact that the present President of the I.F.A. is a director of Coleraine have any bearing on the jaundiced view at most league grounds, for the sake of our wee game, I hope not!

Dead Duck!

2008-10-30T14:17:00.002Z

The I.F.A. plans to revamp the C.I.S. cup proved to be a 'dead duck' as a paltry crowd turned up to watch the first leg between Ballymena and Glentoran at the Showgrounds last night. Even the home team's attempt to boost the attendance by allowing season ticket holders in 'free', was largely unsuccessful. It's hard to see what can be done to boost this competition, they've tried to sell it to fans over the years without any great success and I think this just goes to prove what we've known for some time now, midweek football is a 'bridge too far' for most fans. Admittedly it was a bad night and the visitors have an important game away to Cork on Saturday, but football fans will go to the 'ends of the earth' to see their team play under normal circumstances, but not last night. I wasn't expecting a massive visiting support last night, but surely I thought the league leaders will bring 3 or 4 hundred fans with them. The fact of the matter is they couldn't even have made the old O'Kane stand look full, I don't know the official figure of visitors, but I reckon there were no more than 80 Glens fans in attendance and probably half of them were locals. In the home stand Ballymena fans were as scarce as 'hens teeth' and one could argue the point that our fans expect them to lose against top teams and have lost their optimism. What then if the game had been played to a finish last night, with extra time and penalties to decide the winner if necessary? I suppose for one thing visiting manager Alan McDonald may have been reluctant to rest so many top players, but it's only conjecture if the 'gate' would have been boosted or not. There's little point in playing this competition if it costs more to put it on than the income from gate receipts. The away leg next week will hardly excite too many fans either unless the Glens can force an unlikely win in Cork or Ballymena can unearth another 'Paul Malone' or 'Jimmy Martin' (to the uninitiated these were two formidable goal-scorers at the Showgrounds in times past), to give our long suffering fans some hope. Miracles they say happen every day, the impossible just takes a little longer!

Empty Promises!

2008-10-23T15:59:00.003+01:00

Just read an article in the local papers that three Intermediate clubs, namely Clough Rangers, Raceview and Wakehurst are to get grants for upgrading of their facilities. These grants will in fact go straight to Ballymena Borough council, who will then submit plans for the work to be carried out. I would like to caution these clubs about having a written undertaking from the council of the exact nature of the work to be carried out. I'm sure many United supporters recall the 'empty promises' made verbally to Ballymena United when our club handed grant money straight to the same council. Two of the main points were, the removal of the Stock car track and a new entrance for supporters through the E.C.O.S. centre. Admittedly there were other stipulations and these for the most part have been carried out, but what's the point of having a ground the envy of most other clubs, but being unable to stage European football, because of the proximity of the Stock car track to the playing surface. There's also the thorny question of access to and from the ground, by Warden street, Summerfield street and Suffolk street, three streets which were in existence long before the amount of vehicular traffic that we have today. In fact these three streets should possibly be on a one-way system, as movement in both directions on match days is a nightmare. In fact with such a narrow ground entrance and exit, where home and visiting fans converge, this is surely a catastrophe waiting to happen. We did have limited access by the E.C.O.S. last season, but this was not widely advertised and with the amount of activity going on in the complex on a Saturday parking close to the ground was not an easy task. That option has been denied to spectators now as the council is constructing two more pitches which will probably reduce parking spaces yet again. There's three points I'd like to make here, first and foremost there's the club, denied the possibility of playing European football on their own ground, secondly there's the supporters, denied seeing their team and possibly representative games at their own ground and then there's the 'bad publicity' that this 'shoddy' management gives out about our Borough council and our ground. This is after all the 21st century, is there any chance of us being able to embrace it, at least before 2010!

White Lies!

2008-10-16T23:47:00.002+01:00

Why can't people just say what they mean, or should that be mean what they say? Take for example that 'bigot' David Jeffrey, after United's victory last Saturday, he couldn't even give them praise for the victory, dwelling on Linfield's missed chances, while trotting out the expected condolences to the Stewart family on their sad loss. Come on David you're allowed to say that Linfield were second best on the day, there's no harm in admitting the truth. Howard Wells on the other hand was maybe a wee bit outspoken and he like many before had to give way to Raymond Kennedy. Maybe saying what you mean or meaning what you say isn't always the best policy. How many of us having been 'caught' leering at a member of the opposite sex (or should I say gender), by our wife/partner (wags for short)and immediately denied we were thinking any such thing. What do we do in this situation? We tell a wee white lie. So it is with football managers, they trot out the usual comments like, 'we've done a lot of work on the training ground', or 'we're carrying a lot of injuries', wouldn't it be better if they just admitted that their players were pretty useless and couldn't pass wind never mind to each other. Of course they'd probably be out of a job fairly quickly for what board of directors are going to tolerate an 'honest' manager, yet another 'wee'white lie rears it's ugly head. Then there's the players themselves, you just can't separate the 'flannel' from the truth. Someone once told me you never ask a player if he needs money, they always answer in the affirmative. How many times have we watched a player 'feigning' injury, or pretending he 'stubbed' his toe when he just missed an open goal or giving a lame excuse for turning up late for the team bus, when we all know he was in the bookies! Maybe we have to put up with the white lies, but god save us from pure bloody lies, their-in lies anarchy!

Red Lines!

2008-10-09T23:50:00.002+01:00

I read in the national papers yesterday that E.U.F.A. are threatening to insist on participants in the Champions league, making a conscious attempt to reduce their 'excessive debt'. I then thought what would happen if this was to become law for all European clubs, where would the current Irish league clubs be (up the proverbial creek without a paddle I'd warrant)? Of course knowing E.U.F.A. they wouldn't stop there, they wouldn't only want to know the extent of each clubs debt, they'd also want to know where their money comes from. On the one hand clubs like Glentoran (at least £1 million in debt), Coleraine, probably if they had to pay back what they owe the taxman and creditors, they'd be close to the magic Million too and Cliftonville, would be hard pressed to justify their continued existence, as Cliftonville exist on a shoestring budget, I assume they've exhausted their credit limits also. While some other teams, like ourselves, Newry City (or is it Town) and the mighty Linfield wouldn't want someone prying into where their finances came from. Linfield freely admit to being subsidised by their supporters clubs, but where do they (the supporters clubs) get the money from I wonder, one can only make so much money from members subs I think. We at Ballymena are backed by some astute businessmen (no sorry rich businessmen), if they were astute they'd put their money somewhere else, instead of throwing it into the black hole that is our finances. Then there's Newry (or as Roy McCreadie called them, Neu-ray), just where their money comes from is anybody's guess. The biggest home gate I've seen in my trips there is about 80 and I'm sure when the likes of Institute, Dungannon Swifts and Distillery breeze into Town (sorry City), they'll struggle to double their gate, in fact let's face it if they broke the ton (100 to any morons accidentally on the site),it'd be a bloody miracle. Newcomers Bangor (who I must say are doing very nicely), are another whose finances might not bear close scrutiny, in fact is their any club, in the black, who can say with their 'hand on their heart', there's nothing underhand going on here? Maybe in fact as the old saying goes, 'there are some stones, that are best left, unturned'!

Dreaded Derby!

2008-10-02T22:44:00.003+01:00

This Saturday it's 'Derby day' in the Irish league, the day that form goes out the window. There's a couple of meaningless ones in Belfast, the Blues and the Glens, Cliftonville and Crusaders, but the 'real' Derby takes place at Coleraine Showgrounds, where my beloved Sky Blues, take on the 'gas' men. As I said form generally goes out the window and nobody hopes that more than Roy Walker and the Sky Blues.If the Coleraine 'scum' were to inflict yet another defeat on this 'clueless' United team, then I think it might have serious repercussions for everyone at Ballymena. Roy Walker has somewhat surprisingly escaped the wrath of United fans, but yet another disjointed display against the 'team we love to hate', could well be the last straw for United's loyal followers. Will the 'buck' stop with Roy Walker and his two assistants, I ask myself? The one thing that has been constant for United during the last 8 years of non-performing, has been Chairman Robert Cupples and the United board. Maybe we (United fans), will be demanding a complete reshuffle, not just in management, but among the board members themselves. United have one of the biggest squads in the league, with cover in almost every position, but and I stress the word 'but', they have no 'top performers' in any of these positions. Looking objectively at our team one by one doesn't make for interesting reading, but United fans will be looking for that little spark this Saturday that might give them a good day out. All we ask at the end of the day is that the team play with a wee bit of pride, not the 'couldn't care less attitude' so much in evidence so far this season. So come on Sky Blues, hold your heads high and let's obliterate this Coleraine 'scum', or at least give them a bloody game, you owe us at at least that I think!

Rough Justice!

2008-09-25T05:55:00.003+01:00

That old 'chestnut' regarding the 'offside' rule has cropped up in United's last two games. You know what I mean, there's a player blatantly offside, but the referee and/or linesperson decides he is not interfering with play and the flag either stays down or the referee waves play on. To my mind (and being a defender in my long distant footballing days I assure has nothing to do with it), the only time a player's not interfering with play is when he's outside the confines of the pitch. If a player's on the pitch and the ball's played forward he's offside, one could argue the case that he wouldn't be interfering if the ball fell to an opposing player, but actually why should the defensive team be punished when they have committed no offence. I'll set out the scenario for you, an opposing player, let's say for arguments sake Glenn Ferguson of Linfield is in an offside position but in the officials opinion not interfering with play, the ball runs through close to our penalty box, young Sean O'Neill sprints out of his box and in attempt to clear the danger miskicks the ball, it falls to Aiden O'Kane who coolly shoots into the empty net, where is the justice in that I ask you? Or to outline another scenario, one that actually happened on Tuesday night at the Oval. A Glentoran player, could've been Hamilton or Scullion or any of those 'love children', it doesn't matter who, was blatantly offside during an attack by the home team. The United defence naturally hesitated, the offending player made no attempt to get involved in the play, the linesman kept his flag down and Glens striker Halliday ran through unchallenged to score, again where was the justice? At Seaview on the Saturday a Crusaders player was offside and the linesman at the Shore Road end of the ground who had a diabolical game and signalled for a goal that 'never' crossed the line, kept his flag down, one can only assume because in his opinion the player wasn't interfering with play. The upshot of this was that United conceded a corner, where was the advantage for us here, no fecking place as usual. A legendary Norn Iron footballer and International team manager, the 'great', late, Danny Blanchflower once said that if a players not interfering with play, what's he doing on the pitch. As a long suffering Ballymena United fan (an unbroken stint of 45 years now if anyone's interested) I have never saw one of these incidents work in our favour. Probably the worst incident this season happened in the 'first' actual game in this new league. In the second half of a truly forgettable match, Cliftonville striker Chris Scannell was caught offside, he ran back towards his own half, play was allowed to continue, the United defence had a chance to clear the ball but didn't manage it, the ball was crossed into the United box where Scannell gratefully swept it into the net, that I can assure was bloody rough justice!

Happy Days!

2008-09-04T23:18:00.002+01:00

I for one am bloody delighted that the 'transfer window' has finally closed. Now perhaps managers can get down to what they are paid for, 'whipping' teams into shape and starting to win the odd game. It'll be at least 4 months before the opportunity to 'buy' their way out of trouble presents itself once more. Conor Downey, object of a failed bid by Sky Blues boss Roy Walker during the pre-season, went back to Cliftonville for an 'undisclosed fee' (two Mars bars and packet of soggy crisps would be about all the reds could muster I'll warrant). Andy Waterworth, remember him, the greatest thing since 'sliced bread' according to whites manager Paul Kirk, has returned from the S.P.L. (Scottish Premier league, although he never actually played in it) and has joined Glentoran for a 'reputed' £30,000 (the Glens have re-mortgaged the Oval for the 35th time), as Paul so eloquently put it, 'what goes around comes around' and that is definitely true in Waterworth's case. Linfield, despite being told by Ballymena United that he wasn't for sale, came in with a last minute bid for United striker Kevin Kelbie, believed to be in the region of £35,000 (the rumour that this was in Northern Bank notes hasn't so far been verified). United of course told the 'Bigot' to go take a dive into 12 inches of water (this is just to prove I can be topical) and he accused them of calling him by sectarian names, but then what he hears or believes he hears, are rarely the same thing. What am I saying, let's called a 'spade a spade', the 'bigot' just hears what he wants to hear and tells unsubstantiated lies, knowing he can get away with it. Rumours that Dungannon Swifts have signed a 'one ball wonder' so Rory Hamill doesn't feel lonely, have not been confirmed. What will we do between now and January, thank god we have the first round of the C.I.S. cup to look forward to. United will break new ground this year, they'll get to play in the knock-out stages of the C.I.S., who says this is not a progressive league, the only way as they say, is up!

Blind Ambition!

2008-08-28T23:25:00.002+01:00

I happened to mention to a United official a short time ago that it was a 'blessing' in disguise when Tommy Wright resigned. The man in question was quick to spring to Wright's defence, saying that the big man did some sterling work for United. I was equally quick to point out that we were no better off when he left, than we were when he took the job. The official then went on to sing his 'praises', about the good work he did with the youth set-up at the club, his attempts to broaden the clubs appeal to minorities and the 'healthy' financial state we were now in. I decided it was time to leave this man, recalling the old saying, 'that there's none as blind as those who cannae see', or should that be 'wannae' see. Tommy Wright was a goalkeeper plying his trade in England and when he returned he was signed by United. He made about half a dozen or so appearances, then got injured and announced his retirement from the game. United duly released him from his contract, he took on the job of goalkeeper coach at Linfield and then, surprise! surprise! declared himself fit and able to play, this in my opinion was an act of downright skulduggery. Not that this sort of thing has never happened before or since (aka Darren Murphy, but that's another story). Tommy then became manager of Limavady United, enjoying limited success and then was appointed manager at the Showgrounds. After three years of little or no success (a County Antrim Shield final) and after two extensions to his contract, he once more 'announced' his retirement and of course the United board bent over backwards and acceded to his request, instead of insisting he see out his contract. History of course repeated itself once more when Tommy (who according to himself was disillusioned with football), took up a goalkeeping coaching job in England. I for one was astounded, firstly that this man so 'highly' valued by our board had 'shafted' us once again and secondly by our 'board' who in their blind ambition couldn't see that they had been 'shafted'. Now we have embarked on yet another journey into the unknown, albeit with a manager who has all the 'right' credentials, but has been out of the game for quite some time. Let's hope he knows what 'loyalty' means, for we seemingly don't have a clue!

Ground Rules!

2008-08-21T17:06:00.002+01:00

The 'irony' that is the Irish league never fails to amaze me, here we are with a so called 'new' set-up for senior football in our wee province. First we had the 'farcical situation of the referee's strike which wiped out (totally unnecessarily I might add), the entire programme and meant the start of the new league was delayed by a whole seven days. Then it was Glentoran, who, thought they might bring forward their Count Antrim Shield game by 5 days in order that their striker Gary Hamilton would be available for selection having served his one match suspension. This was originally 'okayed' by the County Antrim F.A., but then the I.F.A. said 'no'. The reason for their refusal apparently, was because they hadn't been asked first. This created yet another farcical situation which could have been easily avoided, but then as the I.F.A. likes to remind us, rules are rules. Then there is the 'case' of Donegal Celtic, remember them, they are one of the teams who didn't make the new set-up because their 'ground' was not of the accepted standard. I find this somewhat peculiar as Cliftonville are using Donegal Celtic's pitch as their home ground while theirs is not quite ready yet. Is this not a 'double standard', Celtic are kicked out of the league, but it's okay for another Irish premier side to have their ground as their 'home' pitch. Does this in fact mean that Donegal Celtic could've approached Linfield and asked to pay rent for the use of Windsor Park while their ground was being developed in order to comply with what can only be described as 'bizarre' rules and regulations. Hopefully the fact that one of Cliftonville's directors was the former President of the I.F.A., has had no bearing on their being able to use Celtic's ground on a short term basis. The next thing you know they'll be telling us that the Showgrounds, the ground with the best facilities by far, isn't suitable for European games, now that would be just ludicrous, but stranger things have happened!

Dirty Dancing!

2008-08-14T22:41:00.002+01:00

So much for a new beginning, what we had last Saturday was a complete and utter fiasco and all because those plonkers at the I.F.A. were dragging their collective heels, as usual. They had known for a considerable time that referees were unhappy with their lot, they could and should've avoided a confrontation at all costs, but no, they had to shoot themselves in the foot. Then to make matters worse they were talking of playing the postponed games next March, when teams could possibly not have any interest in the outcome therefore affecting the gate receipts adversely. Last Saturday's games coincided with the commemoration of the closing of the gates of Derry/Londonderry by the apprentice boys, which meant some gate receipts would have been affected anyway, so a midweek match wouldn't have put any real added burden on most home clubs. Yet another fiasco has been created by the abandoning of the traditional Boxing day derby games which will now be played on the following day, Saturday December 27. This is a complete and utter piece of administration gone mad and will greatly affect the takings of almost every club in the league. One generally bumps into 'strangers' (Football fans who generally don't attend games), on this special day, who attend this game as it's almost a tradition for them. Many a time I've heard people say it just wouldn't be like Christmas if there wasn't a football match, well this year thanks to the wonderful I.F.A. it won't be. We had already lost the return Easter derby last year, which disappeared with barely a whimper, so now they're trying to eradicate the Christmas one as well. I personally believe the new league wasn't needed and expect it to be an unmitigated disaster and no-one can deny it has started quite badly to put it mildly. Former I.F.A. president Jimmy Boyce, who saw things through 'rose tinted spectacles', Cliftonville fans with their Irish tricolours, were actually bedecked in 'red' according to Jimmy, made this and many another 'gaffe' during his term of office. But there's an old saying that still rings true, 'better the devil you know, than the devil you don't know'. There's some very dirty dancing going on at the moment, there's a lot of talk, but nothings actually being said. I would caution the I.F.A. to be very careful how they tread, because if they're not extremely cautious, it could all blow up in their faces!

Marking Time!

2008-04-24T14:50:00.002+01:00

As a Sky Blue supporter for many long years, I have learned to be patient, but and I emphasis the word 'but', even I have only so much patience. We had almost 5 years of Kenny Shiels and all we had to show for it was, 'zilch', or 'sweet F.A.'. Knocked out in semi-finals do just not cut the mustard in my book, I am not only looking for success, I'm looking for sustained success. Our current manager Tommy Wright has been in the job 3 years now and I don't think we are in any better shape than we were under Kenny Shiels. Some people say we are in fact worse off, as at least under Kenny, we played a bit of football. Tommy would probably claim he is the 'victim' of his own success, as we reached the final of the County Antrim Shield in his first season and finished well up the league table. Since then we have not progressed and are in fact in my opinion, just 'marking time'. We seem unable to beat or get results on a consistent basis over the top 3 clubs in the league, in 8 meetings against them this season, we have won one, against Glentoran a great result, but lost the other seven. To make matters worse we still suffer from the 'old' Kenny Shiels malaise, we struggle against the lesser teams, Larne and Limavady have both beaten us, while our draws against Donegal Celtic and Institute last week were indications of just how poor we are. If we hadn't had our 12 game unbeaten run from mid October07 to mid January 08, when let's face it we rode our 'luck' on many occasions, we would probably now be in the relegation dog fight. The Irish cup has always had a 'magical' appeal to Sky Blue fans, but we were let down once again this season as we failed to beat Newry, despite outplaying them both home and away. Stuarty King missed 3 glorious chances in the first game at Newry and got caught in possession for their equaliser. This in itself was bad enough, but why our manager failed to bring on ace penalty kick taker Davitt Walsh in the replay, with penalty kicks looming, I'll never know! Surely we can gather together enough defenders to give us a reasonable chance in knock-out competitions. I doubt very much that we will ever have the consistency to win a league title and definitely not if we have to play 38 games as is rumoured for the new league next season. The best scenario for us is a good solid defence, a hard uncompromising midfield and two speedy strikers to grab any opportunities that come along. Much more of this level of 'dross' that we have been subjected to lately and our supporters will dwindle away and that, as they say, 'will be that'. Have a good close season and I'll return hopefully suitably refreshed in August and I sincerely hope it won't be too long before we bring home some trophy or other, fcuk, it has been a long wait!

Still Learning!

2008-04-17T22:42:00.002+01:00

There's an old saying which supposedly goes, 'the more things change, the more they stay the same'. Senior football came to Ballymena 80 years ago, in 1928. The team was originally known purely and simply as Ballymena and for the first ten or so years things went along normally, more or less. We won the Irish cup in our first year, 1929, beating the 'famous' Belfast Celtic in the final. This was a major achievement, but we finished runners-up in 1930 and 1931 also and so our love of the Irish cup was born. Things as I said went along normally, until an 'off the cuff' remark by the then club chairman, relating to the payment of amateurs (even more illegal then, than now), caused the forming of the new club, Ballymena United. By a strange coincidence we have just been fined £1,000 for breaching this rule this season, not that it's illegal to pay amateurs now, it's just illegal to pay them excessively. United were guilty of that, but so are most of the other 15 clubs in the present Premier league set-up. United I was told had the ammunition to fight back against the I.F.A., but chose to 'bite the bullet' on this occasion and pay the levied fine. We were 'rapped over the knuckles' by the authorities, but chose to eat 'humble pie', but for whatever reason I simply cannot Understand. Hopefully though we've learned from our 'gaffe' and if we can now get 'our house in order', it may well prove a small price to pay. On the other hand, if a similar situation comes up again, then surely 'heads' will need to roll in the Showgrounds management committee. We not only need to be 'squeaky clean', we need to proclaim our innocence, indeed shout it from the rooftops and only in that way can we have our good reputation restored once again!

Sore Truth!

2008-04-10T23:49:00.002+01:00

When I was growing up i remember all them old adages like, 'The truth will always find you out', 'Honesty is the best policy' and the one as kids we heard a lot, 'tell the truth and you won't get beat'. Well nothing much has changed, well okay a lot has changed, firstly honesty is not the best policy anymore and the truth comes a long way behind 'conniving and cheating'. You don't even have to tell lies yourself, you can get a professional liar (accountant), to do it for you. Ballymena United football club, have always tried to do everything in an honest manner and this year when they applied for their U.E.F.A. licence they saw no reason to deviate from the truth, in short they showed their accounts in an open and frank way. This included the payment of 3 amateurs, who were getting more than that allowed under the rules. Now let's be honest here, United are not the only club practising this so called deception, in fact I'd hazzard a guess that every team in the Irish league are doing it. So why then have United been singled out for this punishment? The answer of course is because they showed their accounts in an honest and straightforward manner. No hiding behind expenses for replacing corner flags, no our club decided that 'honesty was the best policy. Their reward for this 'honest' approach was a £1,000 fine, so where is the incentive for teams to tell the truth now?

Gloom Doom!

2008-04-03T22:54:00.002+01:00

A short time ago we were 'reeling' from the accusations of payments to amateurs, now we are awaiting the result of the 'scuffles' at the end of the Distillery match, where, oh where, is it all going to end? As if things weren't bad enough, our 'dear friends' from the bannside have qualified for the Irish cup final and that really sticks in my craw. I had personaaly hoped the I.F.A. would make a quick decision on the Distillery fracas (hereafter known as the 'fracas'), so as we can get on with our 'petty existence' (or should that be existences, no doubt some of the grammar school boys will correct me if I'm wrong). As for the outcome of the cup semi/final, Rory Hamill and to a lesser extent, Kieran Donaghy, shafted us once again, so what else is new? That of course was a rhetorical question (for any members of the United forum who may have accidentally strayed onto our site, just ignore this statement, as it is way! way! above your intelligence). I just read on Teletext that Stuarty King has been placed on the transfer list by United manager Tommy Wright. Has the penny just dropped for Tommy I wonder! On a personal note I knew 3 months after Stuarty came to us that he was as much use as a 'chocolate fireguard'. When we played Distillery in the re-arranged game in December 2007, we used David Cushley wide on the left and he was electric and what does our manager do, he goes back to using Stuarty King. Stuarty, could and should have scored a hat-trick at Newry in the first round of the cup, methinks if Cushley had been on, things would have been a whole lot different. But it's no use crying over spilt milk, is it? We have just got to dust ourselves down and get on with it and as the old song goes, 'we'll be up (I hope), like a rosedud, high on a tree, hey buddy think it over and take a tip from me, whenever you're down and out, the only way is up'!

Reality Check!

2008-03-20T23:35:00.002Z

I was totally astounded to hear the admission price for the Irish Cup semi-final between Coleraine (hereafter known as 'the scum') and Donegal Celtic, which takes place at Ballymena Showgrounds on Saturday March 29. As United have no game that day (don't start me on analysis of why we are not still in the cup), I admit I was toying with the idea of attending the game. But once I was told tickets were priced at £15 for adults, I decided the price was too rich for me. Are the I.F.A. living in 'cloud cuckoo' land? Who in their right mind would want to 'fleece' loyal supporters who want to watch their team in action? It's surely time the football authorities had a reality check, football here is in my opinion overpriced at the moment at £9 and I would be less than pleased if I had to pay £15. Just imagine attending a game at the Oval, Solitude, Shamrock Park or Coleraine and being asked to pay £15, I somehow doubt whether many fans would turn up in those circumstances. Only three grounds in the Irish league are capable of giving spectators an uninterrupted view of the pitch and decent toilet facilities. Ballymena Showgrounds, Mourneview Park and Windsor Park are the three, the remainder are to say the least sub-standard from a spectating point of view. But at these prices and with the quality being served up, fans aren't getting value for money even in these three grounds. I can't honestly see the 'Scum' fans attending in any great numbers, they are after all 'notoriously' tight with their money, sneaking in at halftime when the gates are opened. Donegal Celtic have no fans to speak of, so all in all it may be a very poorly supported game and the blame will surely lie with the I.F.A. who set the price. Its probably too late to rectify the situation now, but hopefully the 'rumours' of a big price hike for next season (£15 has been mentioned for it also), will not be realised and we can all go back to 'living' in the real world!

First Stone!

2008-03-13T23:26:00.002Z

There's an old saying, biblical I think, that goes 'let him that is without sin, cast the first stone'. The reason for me quoting this is quite simple, United have been accused rightly or wrongly of paying amateurs excessively. Are they alone in this practice one might wonder? The answer of course is most definitely no. So whoever started this 'witch hunt' had best be careful and be 'squeaky clean', for this could rebound on them horribly. The rule regarding the payment of amateurs is vague to say the least anyway and in fact deems that if an amateur is paid over a fixed amount (don't ask me for figures, £50 is one I've heard, but I haven't a clue), then that player is deemed to be a professional. So in that respect if United are guilty in this instance, what are they in fact guilty of. Does the rule not say that these players (and its only a handful, 3 or 4 at the most), are in fact deemed to be professionals and United are doing nothing wrong by paying them over 'the odds', if in fact they are doing so. I heard a story some time ago of an amateur representing Norn Iron at -23 level and our glorious I.F.A. paying that player £150 per game, surely contravening their own rules, or is that okay because its them that are doing it and therefore its alright. My own interpretation of the amateur rule is quite vague and I believed, rightly or wrongly, that players kept their amateur status as it allowed them to move freely back into the amateur leagues without having to be reinstated as an amateur when their senior playing days were over. Ballymena I'm sure are guiltless in this matter and the I.F.A. would be well advised to let the matter drop, the last thing they need with a new league being set up, is to bring even more skeletons out of their own cupboard!

Playing Practice!

2008-02-21T23:08:00.003Z

When a team gets knocked out of the Irish cup, football fans console themselves with the old saying, 'that'll let us concentrate on the league'. This statement has in fact, no basis in' fact' and the opposite is what generally comes to the fore. If a stranger had gone to last week's match at the Showgrounds, between Linfield and Ballymena, he would have assumed , quite wrongly, that Linfield were the team that had, had a 2 week lay-off. United looked jaded from the start and got worse as the game went on and I'm of the belief that this is down to the fact of them having a 'rest' day on the previous Saturday. Of course they did have a friendly with Derry City on the Friday night, but that's poor compensation for a competitive match, in my opinion. Ask any football fan and if he's honest he'll tell you he'd much rather have his team play every Saturday and there's only one way I think to ensure that is the situation. With a new league set-up due to be unveiled next season, would the authorities consider only having two rounds of the Irish cup on Saturdays, the first round involving the senior clubs and the final. All the other Irish cup games could be played in midweek, yes there might be a clash with European games, but all true fans will go along to watch their favourites no matter what, despite what some commentators seem to fear. We could even have one match televised, either on a Wednesday or a Monday night and that would give everybody the chance to be an armchair fan if their team wasn't involved in the televised game. Maybe it would also have the spin-off of ensuring teams are up for it, every Saturday, which in my opinion is much better than the fare served up last Saturday at the Showgrounds!

No Conspiracy!

2008-02-14T23:02:00.003Z

It's funny, well not funny maybe more peculiar than funny, but every year we go through the pretence of having a draw for each Irish cup round and every year as if by miracle we end up with Linfield and Glentoran escaping each other. I'm not saying it's a fix, but the odds against this happening every season are akin to the chances of a man from Londonderry winning the Euro Lotto and you know that's never going to happen. There are loads of theories as to how this outcome is guaranteed, but I can't agree with any of them, until it has been proven. One theory is that the draw has already been done with retakes of every shot until the proper draw is arrived at. I can't subscribe to this theory myself as it seems too long and too drawn out and would require a tidy number of people to be in on the deed. Another theory is that one of the balls (draw balls I hasten to add) is quite hot and the other (favoured ball), extremely cold, but this would require the cooperation of both parties making the draw and would also require some sort of signal, either audible (a discreet cough) or a hand gesture, like tie straightening to alert the other party to the fact that he had just drawn one of the favoured teams. Yet a third theory is that only one person knows whom each number relates to and he just calls out what team he feels like, but probably knows what the draw is long before it's ever made. As I said I can't subscribe to any of them and I'm left with the conclusion that it's just by pure chance that Linfield and Glentoran escape each other and end up as opponents in the final, provided they both win their games. It has been well documented in Irish football, that Linfield are the 'luckiest' team in our wee province, after all they've always been know as Lucky Linfield and the cup draws just prove that point!

Leave Alone!

2008-01-30T23:37:00.000Z

I'm having to write my wee piece a day early this week, because the I.F.A. in their wisdom (now that's a joke, as the I.F.A. and wisdom are strange bedfellows to say the least), decreed that the C.I.S. cup final should be played on a Saturday, therefore making teams not involved in the final ( only 14 teams, talk about the 'tail' wagging the dog), play their games scheduled for this Saturday at another date, in most cases this Friday night. This of course is the 2nd Saturday disrupted for the 'final' as the previous one was washed out and by a strange quirk of fate the weather forecast for this weekend is pretty dismal and there's a fair chance the game will fall foul of the weather again. I would laugh, but the I.F.A. are liable to disrupt yet another Saturday for us long suffering fans and I for one have had enough. Hopefully if the game is postponed again they will this time opt for a midweek kick-off, but I won't hold my breath. That other 'old chestnut' came to the fore last night, an all-Ireland football team. I personally hope this never happens and hopefully it won't in my lifetime, as I doubt if many players from our wee province would make it into an all-Ireland team. We would probably see the same thing happening as does in the rugby team, where two or three Ulster players are selected to keep the fans quiet and even if they are the best players in their position, there's no guarantee they'll get to start. Mark Lawrenson even said as much when he reckoned that only three of the current Northern Ireland team would be capable of claiming a place in an all Ireland side. Mark is a self proclaimed expert, yes admittedly he was a top class defender in the 'glory days' at Liverpool, but since retiring from the game he has become a professional pundit, but not a manager. If he knows so much about International football, why is he not putting his name in the frame for the vacant Republic of Ireland job. I'll tell you why, he'd much rather sit in a nice warm studio and enthuse about the great 'Wayne Rooney' or whimper on about Michael Owens latest injury crisis and by a strange twist of fate these two players play for England, who were swept aside by a team who, according to Mark, could only manage 3 players for an all-Ireland side. While us folk here in good old Norn Iron have got breath in our bodies, we'll not be dictated too by the likes of Mark Lawrenson, so take a bit of sound advice Mark and just leave us a alone!

Old Times!

2008-01-24T23:51:00.000Z

I was almost moved to tears on Tuesday night, not by the game or the result I hasten to add, but by the article in the programme about the '58 Irish cup triumph. United beat the mighty Linfield in that year and Linfield had the legendary Jackie Milburn in their ranks, but it made no difference, we were just too good for them. I was two months short of becoming a teenager and I went to the final along with my Dad and his friend Davy and it was easily the 'best' day of my life. I had been reminded of the 'good old days' earlier on Tuesday evening when a woman in front of me at the turnstile proudly announced that she was a senior (over sixty) and was entitled to concessionary admission. She proudly stated she had been attending games for over forty years, I have been attending games for about 57 years I thought, but then again, who cares. I then began to think of the changes that have occurred at the Showgrounds in my time of following the Sky Blues. In my early years it was a seat in the old stand along with my maternal grandfather and my Dad, but from '58 onwards it was a place at the 'clock' on the sleepers exposed to the elements. I can well remember being on the terracing one cold winter's day in the sixties when we were playing Bangor and it was blowing a blizzard and bloody cold I can tell you. The announcer at the ground took pity on us at halftime and even invited us to come and sit in the stand, an unheard of courtesy in those days. I and my companion, Gerry M, who sadly passed away last year, decided we couldn't get any wetter or colder, so we stubbornly stood our ground and we were back the next game for more punishment. I can't remember exactly when we got the cover at the clock but it was a great innovation and made the game even more enjoyable. The ground of course is now practically unrecognisable, gone are the Irish banks behind the goal and we have a new stand on the 'Clock' terracing and are soon to have the new 'old' stand extended by 1200 seats. One of the things though that hasn't moved with the times are the turnstiles at the Showgrounds, surely their modernisation is long overdue. But one innovation we have at present which I hope will remain is the new turnstile operators recruited by the treasurer in recent weeks. Two beautiful ladies have been doing the job recently and they have added their own charm, greeting us punters with a pleasant smile and a bit of banter. Rumours are rife of an incident that happened some weeks ago concerning one of these women, but I am too much of a gentleman to comment on it, let's just keep it between ourselves T, I think it's for the best!

Merry Go-Round!

2008-01-17T23:00:00.000Z

'Here I go once again, with my suitcase in my hand and I'm making my way down river road', that's how the old song goes and in many ways it typifies the to'ing and fro'ing of footballers during the January transfer window. I sometimes wonder if managers sign players during this 'window' just for the sake of it. Admittedly there are those teams who are in dire need of a few new faces and sometimes new players can encourage existing players to raise their game, but there are other teams and I would include Ballymena in this group, who have little need of strengthening their respective panels. United manager Tommy Wright has released Paul Brown who has gone back to Limavady United and Aaron Callaghan, who has joined his home club, Derry City, while signing striker Michael Ward from Glentoran. Tommy would probably argue that he has been looking for a striker to partner Kevin, 'give em hell boy' Kelbie, since last season, when he realised Paul Brown was not going to deliver the goods and Fitzy wasn't up to scratch either. But surely that was the time to go get somebody, instead of having to shell out money at this time of the year and money we can ill afford. Glentoran have also purchased a couple of players, one of whom Aidy McCabe left Dungannon Swifts under somewhat of a cloud. What that reason was we may never know, but I can't help thinking it must have been for disciplinary reasons. Glentoran of course are no strangers to taking on players with behavioral problems and getting the best out of them, striker Gary Hamilton being a good example. But sometimes those complex personalities can have a disquieting effect on the other players at the club and once the team 'ethic' is damaged, it generally takes a long time to recover, if it ever does. Perhaps of course Michael Ward will come into our team and start knocking in the goals, while we shoot up the league table and our manager will be hailed as the best thing since 'sliced bread'. I of course being a long suffering 'dyed in the wool' Sky Blue supporter am a bit more pessimistic, so go on Tommy, prove me wrong, then I can laugh all the way to the cup final!

Play Fair!

2008-01-10T23:25:00.000Z

In this day and age it might seem a bit old fashioned to be expecting people to be upfront and honest in their dealings. We live in an age when it seems the people held in the highest regard are the biggest villains imaginable. Just this last week we had the admission of a cricketer, who said 'I had a lucky escape, I nicked a ball to the wicketkeeper, but the umpire didn't give me out'. Well to coin and old phrase, 'that's just not cricket', most cricketers don't wait for the umpires decision, they walk to the pavilion and this is what used to set them apart. But not any more it seems and I am not surprised that a member of the opposing team called him a 'monkey'. Actually a more appropriate term would have been 'cheating love child', but instead he called him a £500 note, the significance of this is lost on me, but then the game is played by grammar schoolboys and they mostly play rugby, enough said. The cricketer was an Australian native (I'm surprised he didn't go walkabout anyway) and being Australian probably gives him something of an excuse (the wild Colonial boy, Ned Kelly, etc). Then at home here we have just had the 'ludicrous' and unfathomable decision by the football writers to award the December 'player of the month award' to Cliftonville's George McMullan for scoring four goals during the month. Cliftonville are playing well it must be said, but they did only play 5 games during the month, 4 wins and a draw, while the wee Sky Blues played 6 games, 5 wins and a draw and one Kevin Kelbie scored 6 goals during that run of games. But then again Kevin doesn't play for a Belfast team and that seems to me to be part of the criteria. Then surprise! surprise! Tommy Wright has just been named 'manager of the month', at first I thought well that proves that they aren't totally biased after all, but then I remembered, Tommy Wright is an ex-Linfield player and maybe that gave him an edge when it came to the voting, or am I being paranoid, Sky Blue fans will no doubt make up their own minds!

Oval Muddle!

2008-01-03T00:05:00.000Z

As I parked my car at the Oval grounds on Tuesday past (New Years Day), I was surprised to see United fans coming back up the 'hen run' as the visiting fans entrance to the ground is commonly called. At first I thought the match had been called off, but I then learned that the turnstiles at that end of the ground were not open and we would have to enter the ground by the same entrance as the home fans. This was no great hardship, but why oh why, were we not informed a couple of days before the game or better still at our previous home game. As we entered the ground we made our way behind the main stand and round the City-end terracing to the so called 'visitors' stand. The first thing we encountered was the tracks of some vehicle, which ran through the enclosure gates and round the back of the goals and to say that it was muddy, was an understatement. After making our way round, trying our best to avoid the clabber, we then found when we entered the 'stand' (I use this expression in it's loosest term), that the dugouts had been moved to our side of the ground, blocking out a large proportion of the touchline in the process. As if that wasn't bad enough, we then found that 'chicken wire' had been suspended from the roof to the top of the railings giving at best a poor view of the proceedings. The view in fact was pretty poor in the first half, but when the light's came on in the second, it was even worse and can best be described as 'blurred vision', in no way satisfactory. Added to that was the £10 admission charge, nothing short of a 'rip off'. On the plus side the match was exhilarating and it was obvious that the home team gave their all, as evidenced by their collapsing on the turf at the final whistle, United always give their all. If you can guarantee that sort of action and commitment, I'll gladly play £10 for a seat in the stand at all games, but , Please! Please! Please!, for the love of the game, let us have a decent view of it. As I have said many times in the past, never mind the rules about ground safety look after the supporters interests instead, for without them you will have nothing!

Short Changed!

2007-12-27T23:33:00.000Z

For the hundreds of Sky Blue fans who made the trek to Coleraine yesterday for the annual derby match against the 'scum', I have nothing but sympathy. You witnessed a credible display by both teams on a pitch that was not worthy of the name, but you had a pathetic view afforded by the only viewing point, apart from the stand, the covered terracing behind the goals. Cliftonville, Coleraine and Portadown are three of the clubs who will probably feature in the new 12 team league being proposed for next season. What have they all got in common (nothing to do with Marty Quinn I assure you)? They each have banished the majority of visiting supporters to watching the match from behind the goals. Portadown had allowed us to enter their terracing in the last couple of seasons, but that facility has been flattened and we will be banished to a stand that is 50 yards from the goal-line for our next visit. I had a stand ticket for yesterday's game which I didn't use, but may in future have to avail of that option as I didn't enjoy the action in yesterday's game, as I couldn't see most of it. If someone was to tell me now that United didn't score an equaliser, I couldn't argue the point as I didn't actually see the ball enter the net and as for the scorer, neither I nor my fellow supporters could tell for sure who it was. All this talk by the I.F.A. about grounds being of a certain standard seems to ignore the most important people, the fans. If the fans can't see the action from a decent viewpoint, they will soon lose interest and as I have witnessed from past experience, once you lose fans, it's bloody hard to get them back. Admittedly our own ground wasn't always the best place to watch a game from, as we had wire mesh all round the ground. Now that has been removed and we have a first class stand and are going to extend the visiting stand's capacity, we are definitely moving forwards, but I'm afraid most other clubs and especially the aforementioned three, are actually going backwards. So I.F.A. take note, get your collective fingers out and get this sorted, give the 'fans' value for money, if you short change us, you may well pay a heavy price!

Stepping Back!

2007-12-20T22:18:00.000Z

When United made the trip to Suffolk last Saturday, I felt like I was stepping 'back in time'. Their ground from a spectator's point of view is a joke, not only is their no cover for visiting fans, there's practically no terracing and in what is turning out to be synonymous with Belfast grounds, only Portaloos for use as toilet facilities. These facilities are basically meant for temporary use and if used regularly need to be cleaned and disinfected quite often. The stench pervading from the ones at the D.C. ground was almost unbearable and bore testament to a dearth of cleaning, forcing United fans to use alternative methods. According to reports the D.C. have been told that they have a good chance of being invited into the new Premier league set-up next season, while most amateur league clubs have been told their ground doesn't quite measure up and I can assure you it's nothing to do with toilet facilities. Most clubs fail on provision of exits from the playing surface, their are reportedly in need of one every 25 meters, needless to say D. C. have no such regulations to consider. I wonder then,that if they are drawn against junior opposition in the Irish cup, we could have the laughable situation, where the junior club cannot claim home advantage because their ground is not up to date, but it could be played at Celtic's ground, which is probably even more basic than their opponents. We keep saying it, 'it can only happen in the Irish league', don't they realise we have a much higher profile now with Sky TV televising the odd game and this antiquated behaviour will just not do. So come on lads, get your heads together on this and hammer out a deal, which is fair and square, I realise this will be tough for you, as you are deeply ingrained in your old thinking, but do it you must, the alternative is not worth contemplating!

Fat Control!

2007-12-13T00:13:00.000Z

Big Davey Jeffreys was a worried man, here he was the manager of the most successful Irish league club, Linfield, but how was he to attract the best talent to Windsor Park. Linfield, contrary to popular belief, are not the biggest payers in our wee province, plus despite a lot of effort (well they try to make you think they're making an effort), they are still a 'bigoted' sectarian club. He went crying to his bosses at Linfield (sorry the I.F.A., one and the same after all) and they came up with the ludicrous idea of an under-23 Irish league select team under the management of the 'fat controller himself'. With three away games and three home games Davey was confident of getting the best possible chance to 'run the rule' over developing talent and convincing the 'cream' that Windsor was the best place to develop their talent. This is the only logical conclusion I can come to as why else would he include our keeper Paul Murphy on his panel of players. I somehow don't think that Murphy will opt to play for Norn Iron if the chance arises, so why bother with him at all. The reason once more is the fact that Big Davey is short of goalkeeping cover at Windsor Park and Murphy would fit the bill very nicely. United Captain Albert Watson has been under the Linfield microscope for some time now and he is due out of contract in August next year. That means the United board will have to be careful in their dealings with their team Captain, one slip by them and the 'Belfast Blues' will be ready to pounce. Or will they I wonder, if they had wanted Albert, I believe they'd have taken him already, he may in fact be the 'lure' to catch an even bigger fish and may be left 'high and dry' come the summer, either way one can be sure, Linfield will not miss out!

Honest Joe!

2007-12-05T15:13:00.000Z

Lisburn Distillery manager Paul Kirk, a hero of mine from his days as a striker at the Showgrounds, falsely accused United manager Tommy Wright of influencing referee Arnold Hunter last Saturday to abandon the Carnegie Premier league match at New Grovesnor. The United supremo is completely innocent on this occasion as he was in fact about to make a double substitution when the game was prematurely halted. The referee did however consult the fourth official and he advised him to suspend the game as the safety of the players was in jeopardy. Sky Blue Sport took the view that the match result would stand, pointing to a misconception that a rule existed where if a game had passed a certain time the result stood, Whites manager Paul Kirk was of the same opinion, but probably for different reasons. Myself and the rest of the 'Sport team have since found out that no such rule exists or ever existed and the matter in fact lay firmly in the hands of the I.F.A.. The I.F.A. have since decreed that the match was 'null and void' and must be replayed within 28 days. In view of this decision and confirmation from the referee that the United manager didn't influence his decision to suspend the game, I expect Lisburn Distillery manager, Paul Kirk, to offer a full and frank apology to the United manager. Paul Kirk as a player was a big bustling centre-forward, he took punishment and he dished it out, but he was as honest and straightforward as the day is long and for that reason, I expect him to offer a quiet apology to the United manager. Anybody can make a mistake, but it takes a 'big' man to admit and Kirky is a 'big' man, after all 'honesty isn't only the best policy', it's the only policy!

Never On!

2007-11-29T23:00:00.000Z

A long, long time ago there was a popular song called, 'Never on a Sunday' (the song I believe concerned a working girl, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, if you know what I mean). This song had a lot of relevance here in Norn Iron as the Lord's day, or the Sabbath to give it it's proper title, was sacred and practically nothing moved that wasn't religious. Now of course we're in the 21 st century and almost anything goes and in fact it's becoming increasingly hard to tell Sunday from any other day. Okay we still have limited opening times for pubs and supermarkets, but that will surely change with the influx of foreign workers, who have no qualms about working at all times and probably in the next ten years most places will be open 24/7. The one bastion to hold out against this ignoring of the traditional Sunday was in fact the I.F.A. with their 'no football on a Sunday' rule. But we have apparently been told by F.I.F.A. that this rule is illegal and if we want to compete at the highest level, e.g. the World Cup, then we have to abolish the rule and allow football to be played on a Sunday. The I.F.A. after a couple of false starts managed to get this rule rescinded by a large majority last night and it will be law from June 1 next year. Unsurprisingly (well I wasn't surprised anyway), Donegal Celtic and Newry City are proposing to play a Sunday game in January but for what reason I cannot fathom. As it will be the first game of it's kind played here, there may well be a sizable crowd (well by the tiny number of fans these two clubs have, 200 fans would be double their normal crowd), but it's what happens in the long term that's important. If one wants to gauge the impact of Sunday football you only have to look at Derry City. Derry have a fan base which is predominantly Nationalist and to whom sport on a Sunday is a way of life, yet they hardly ever play a home fixture on a Sunday. I don't honestly know why that is so, but I believe they have discovered that playing on a Sunday doesn't make economic sense. This major rule change will have little or no effect on local football and only a very few clubs will ever dip their feet in the water I think. Football is a traditional game, it's traditionally played on a Saturday and for that I believe we should be truly thankful. Now that I've cleared that up, what's all this talk about reducing the executive committee from 18 to 10 ...

Pathetically Apologetic!

2007-11-22T23:22:00.000Z

When David Jeffrey falsely accused United fans of chanting sectarian abuse at his players during a C.I.S. cup game at Windsor Park on Saturday August 11, the I.F.A promised us a full and frank apology if the accusations proved groundless. After much dillying and dallying the governing body found no evidence of wrongdoing by our supporters, because of course there was nothing to find. The full and frank apology from Linfield manager David Jeffrey or indeed Linfield football club, has not to the best of my knowledge materialised. The I.F.A. statement read that Linfield and their manager were being 'warned' for not following correct procedure, that I am led to believe is the end of the matter. It will be interesting to see what sanctions, if any, are taken if their is a repeat of these incidents of not following procedure, I won't hold my breath. The Belfast Newsletter, who carried Jeffrey's original rantings, did print an apology exonerating United fans of all blame, but as the old saying goes, 'mud sticks' and I'm sure United fans will be closely monitored in future games especially at contentious venues. I'm sure most United fans recall the incident a few years ago when Roy McCreadie accused them of calling him by a sectarian name, a F----n Bastard I believe. It has since been proved that the Sky Blue choir were in fact calling Roy a 'thieving Bastard' in reference to the disappearance of money supposedly destined for the Omagh bombing appeal and not a F----n Bastard as he thought. Hopefully our fans will still be allowed to compose some catchy if not too tasteful lyrics, but with our governing body you never can tell. But let's be careful, is all I would caution, if David Jeffrey's wife wants to leave him, that has nothing to do with football and lets face it, we can get better songs to deride him as he's an easy target. Oh sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye, 4 and 20 Blackbirds baked in a pie and when the pie was opened the birds began to sing, 'Oh we hate Coleraine, we hate Coleraine, we are the Coleraine, haters' and David Jeffrey too!

Both Feet!

2007-11-08T15:30:00.000Z

It's usually the I.F.A. that 'shoot themselves in the foot', but on this occasion they are guiltless, or at least I hope they're guiltless. I'm talking of course about the ruling given by F.I.F.A. the world governing body of football concerning players born in Ireland. It seems, according to F.I.F.A. that if you're born in Ireland, you have the choice of who you want to play for, e.g. the Republic of Ireland, hereafter known as the 'pub' or Northern Ireland, known colloquially (in slang to the uneducated), as Norn Iron. Is this then just the 'thin edge' of the wedge and could it maybe lead to players born in say North Korea, electing to play for South Korea. This is just one example that springs to mind, I'm sure if one studied a map of the world there are many, many, divided countries where players could claim allegiance to one side or the other. Why I ask myself have the so called 'godfathers' of our beloved game made such a ruling. Were they all under the influence of alcohol, or even worse, drugs? If one analysis it logically there is no other conclusion that you can come to. To think that a group of people of sound mind and body could come up with such a conclusion, beggars belief. I'd hate to ask any of these individuals to explain the off-side law to me, somehow I don't think they'd make a go of it. On a personal basis I think that if a player doesn't want to play for the country of his birth, then you're better off without him. Give me 11 players playing for the shirt any day of the week, after all we have succeeded with this ethic so far and I see no need to change it, I definitely wouldn't want anybody donning the Norn Iron jersey who didn't believe it was their first choice. If that is the ruling of F.I.F.A. we'll just have to live with it, but I think they have just opened a 'can of worms' that may come back to haunt them, in other words they have gone in with both feet!

Good Deal!

2007-11-01T23:37:00.000Z

When Sky TV were given the exclusive rights to local football, the I.F.A. were at pains to assure rank and file members that this was all to benefit the clubs. I of course, being the doubting Thomas that I am, took this all with a 'huge' pinch of salt. Here we are not quite three months into the 'new' deal and only one game has so far been televised. Surprisingly one of the teams featured in that game, was last year's champions, Linfield and the next match scheduled for transmission is the Boxing Day derby game featuring Linfield and Glentoran. The very next game scheduled is the return fixture on the first Saturday of the New Year, where Linfield entertain Cliftonville. Am I being paranoid here? Is this not saturation coverage of Linfield? What's the old saying? The poor get poorer and the rich get richer. Would it not be better, well maybe not better, but fairer anyway, for the producers at Sky TV to select a couple of games that didn't feature Belfast's three Premier teams? I know that quite a lot of our games are to say the least, boring, but many of the encounters between Cliftonville/Linfield/ Glentoran are quite boring too, the fact that they are three of the top teams doesn't guarantee good football. Another downside to this deal has been the loss of local coverage from out two local TV stations. Just this week U.T.V. and B.B.C. failed to cover the County Antrim Shield final, surely this is not good for local football. The ball, if you'll forgive my pun, is in Howard Wells's court, you made the deal, now get us a deal more to our liking!

Black Magic!

2007-10-25T23:24:00.000+01:00

I see the draw for the C.I.S. cup semi-final has been made and quite by chance Belfast's big two, Glentoran & Linfield, have escaped each other in the draw. If anyone believes the previous statement I would encourage them to stay indoors for the next few days as 'allegedly', the 'bokie' man is on the prowl. Why have the pretense of a draw, when all they have to do is seed them one and two and then they need never meet until the final anyway. The I.F.A. always seem to be able to call up a wee bit of that old 'black magic', when it comes to cup draws in order to keep the big two apart. Speaking of magic, United manager Tommy Wright could be doing with some at the moment as his team face the prospect of a seventh defeat in a row this Saturday. It's hard to pinpoint where our beloved Sky Blues have gone wrong this term, but go wrong they have in a really big way. The C.I.S. cup always seems to take us by surprise and we rarely look like qualifying although we did still have a 'foot in the door' going into the last game this time. The County Antrim Shield looked promising, dismissing Orangefield Old Boys and Donegal Celtic, in the type of games which generally trip us up. For a change we approached these games in a professional manner and were rewarded with a home draw in the semi-final. Unfortunately we didn't approach the semi-final in a professional manner and judging by our naive defending we obviously didn't have the Crues watched as we allowed their forwards far too much space and they duly punished us for it. If that wasn't bad enough we committed suicide three days later when we visited them for a league game and our form has continued to sink downhill ever since. The time has come for this alarming slide to be halted and halt it we must, if not we're going to be in for a very long winter and I'm not talking about the weather here I can assure you. Tommy Wright may have to call up the good witches and get them to cast a spell or two, well he has tried everything else, he might as well bet on a fairy tale, after all he has everything to lose, and plenty to gain!