Just missing out on Celtic

Brave performances at Cappielow last Saturday and the Strathclyde Homes Stadium yesterday ended in Scottish Cup disappointment for Dumbarton, as Sons missed out on an attractive fourth round home tie against Celtic by losing to first division Morton through a single headed goal from the Greenock side’s substitute Brian Graham in the last 15 minutes or so of the tie. We also went a player down a couple of minutes later, with already-booked Scott Chaplain being sent off.

From what I hear, it sounds as if DFC spent a fair bit of time on the defensive, looking for a goal on the break. But it was an encouraging Sons performance against higher league opposition (and near rivals) over the two games all told – contrasting somewhat with the pre-season humblings I witnessed against Dunfermline and Partick Thistle. The team has been strengthening and improving, and now the aim has to be as decent a finish as possible in Division Two.

The publicity and cash from a meeting with the Bhoys would have been really good though, and throughout the game I was watching down in the southwest I was pretty obsessively checking for BBC 'live score' updates and text messages on my shiny little iPhone. Pity the Beeb updates missed the ’Ton goal altogether, leaving me momentarily thinking we’d made it through the 90 minutes – until Denise Currie messaged me otherwise! I was just trying to figure whether it was extra time or another replay; or even penalties. Ah, well…

[Photo from the first game (c) and courtesy of Tommy Hughes]
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Straining at the train

It was a disappointing end to an altogether damp afternoon and week for the West Country zyders yesterday. Also, for me, the last Exeter City home game in a fair while, I imagine, with proper relocation to the West Midlands now immanent. I may take the opportunity to take an occasional look at a number of sides, high and low, which are reachable from Birmingham. But my priority will be to maximise the opportunities to get up to Dumbarton when I have the time and money. It's about three or four games a season at present.

What I really need is one more Virgin train back from Glasgow to Birmingham after the current last one at 17.40 - which, frustratingly, is about 15 minutes too early to be viable for a round 'day trip'. Mad, yes - this being football. But viable. (I know, a sprint for the 16.57 from Dumbarton East would be technically possible... but it would mean missing the last minutes of the game, with no room for error. And call me a purist, but that would be a pretty high price for twelve hour round trip!)

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Found wanting up front

It all started so promisingly. Having squandered quite a few chances midweek in the 1-0 away defeat against Bristol Rovers, Exeter City began yesterday’s home encounter with Brighton & Hove Albion at a lively pace. For a chunk of the first half it looked as if this was going to be a high quality encounter. But somehow things got bogged down, and once again the Grecians were found lacking up front.

As I had predicted in my programme note, Brighton play better than their lowly league status suggested they would, and after City missed a crucial penalty the Seagulls dug in and eventually found ecstatic reward for the 670 travelling support (out of a decent 5,400 crowd) with a well-taken winner two minutes into the three allocated for time added on.
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First published in Sons View, 02 February 2008, Dumbarton -v- Elgin

So here we are back at Strathclyde Homes Stadium a little earlier than originally planned, following the disappointing last-minute postponement of the Peterhead league game on 21 November, and our encouraging Cup exploits at Cappielow last Saturday.

A hard-fought draw against our First Division Greenock rivals has kept Sons in the frame for the fourth round of the Scottish Cup, and this afternoon we welcome back Morton for what should be another fair old tussle.

Dumbarton ’keeper Jan Vojacek and our defenders played an important role last week, and manager Jim Chapman will be hoping that the strikers can repay their continued efforts this time.

Sons have already picked up some silverware this season, with the Stirlingshire Cup final win over Stenhousemuir ensuring another prize-winning term – but a decent Scottish Cup run has eluded us for a while, in spite of that grand day out at Celtic in 2006.

The rivalry between the two sides on display at the Rock today is long-standing, though in recent seasons it has more often been renewed in friendly games and in Cup-ties than in the Scottish Football League, given our different positions.

After a difficult start, the ’Ton have undergone something of a revival in recent weeks, with a 4-2 away win at Airdrie United keeping the North Lanarkshire side firmly rooted at the foot of the table.

That followed an impressive 5-0 victory against mid-table Raith Rovers – which puts Sons’ achievement last week in an even better light. League points and goals over the next few weeks are undoubtedly the most coveted prize for those with Dumbarton hearts, but we wouldn’t say no to a bit of Cup glory either.

Though consolidation in 2009 is what both sets of supporters are looking for, it’s hard for those of us with longer memories not to let an occasion like this cast our minds back to past achievements.

Morton fans were recently reminded of the successes of their 1979-80 side – both in the Premier League and in trophy exploits against Kilmarnock (in the League Cup) and Aberdeen (in the Scottish Cup). At a special celebratory dinner, and in his BBC column, football writer Chick Young waxed lyrical about their then star player Andy Ritchie – one that Jock Stein surprisingly let go – and manager Hal Stewart.


Back in February 1980 the now defunct ‘Soccer Monthly’ magazine declared ’Ton to be a team “to strike fear into the hearts of the Old Firm.” Since that time, however, the Cappielow side have plummeted down to the Third Division before bouncing back to the Second and now the First – something Dumbarton are hoping to emulate, though without all those intervening traumas.

In 2000, you will recall, it took a local council intervention to stop the sale of Morton’s famous ground to a supermarket chain in a development move that could well have ended the club’s proud history, which goes back to 1874 – two years after Sons came into being.

Given the growing number of small clubs in financial trouble across Britain at the moment, it’s important that proper football ambition is matched by equally hard headed business thinking at this level of the game. Everyone wants success, but based on realism not pie-in-the-sky – or ground-in-the-air.

Talking of the earth beneath us, let’s hope it’s a lot more solid today than it was at the Rock a fortnight ago. I had made my way from down south for the Peterhead game, so was disappointed that it didn’t go ahead – but at least I was well into a good lunch (as a grateful guest of the Sonstrust) before the sad news broke.

I also managed to get some good socialising in, including a long pub chat with Sons’ legendary ’keeper Lawrie Williams – who had come up for the game from Cardiff with a friend. Among other things he was recalling team-mate Kenny Jenkins, also part of that fantastic 1971-2 Second Division Championship winning side, who sadly died earlier this month, and who will be remembered fondly again today.

But back to this afternoon’s proceedings. There are two reasons why we all want to see another solid Dumbarton display against Morton. One is the chance to extend our run in the Cup, but the other is to add further confidence to the side for the tough Winter period of our all-important League campaign. ’Mon Sons!

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Hoping for a brighter future

First published in The Grecian, 05 December 2009, Exeter City -v- Brighton & Hove Albion

Today will be the second time I’ve seen Brighton and Hove Albion this season. Back in October I watched them play a spirited game at Leyton Orient, losing to a last minute goal from Adrian Patulea. A week or so before that, the Seagulls had achieved a 1-1 away draw in League One away to Bristol Rovers. Unfortunately this Tuesday night the Grecians couldn’t quite get that all-important equaliser at the Memorial Stadium. But we live to tackle another day.

Actually, there’s another Bristol connection which has become rather well known in Brighton’s history. Back in 1973, when iconoclastic manager Brian Clough briefly went down to the south coast between his sudden departure from Derby County and his apocalyptic arrival at Leeds United, he oversaw two dramatic Seagulls defeats. One was 4-0 against non-league Walton and Hersham in an FA Cup replay, the other an 8-2 televised pasting against the Rovers – shared in the dugout with sons Simon and Nigel (now of Burton and Derby fame).

This afternoon Exeter City and Brighton and Hove Albion meet each other on the back of mixed fortunes in League One and in the Cup. Up until that reversal against Bristol Rovers, the Grecians had not lost in five league outings, while the Seagulls have struggled – most recently with heavy defeats away at Norwich (4-1) and home against the aforementioned Leeds (3-0). But in the FA Cup they secured consecutive victories over Wycombe (2-0) and, last weekend, Rushden and Diamonds (3-2)… while City were crashing out 4-3 at Milton Keynes Dons, having led 3-1.

For different reasons, then, both sides will be eager to get back on track. Exeter’s home form makes them favourites with the bookies, but Paul Tisdale and the boys will not be taking anything for granted. The Seagulls may be struggling for points this season, but they have still managed to play some attractive football.

My own connection with Albion has been a curious one. I lived in Brighton for five years from 1999, two years after they nearly slipped out of the Football League altogether (a second half equaliser in a crucial final game sent Hereford down to the Conference instead) and around the time when their ground chaos was at its height. They remain one of the few ‘local sides’ I have lived near but not followed on a regular basis. This is partly to do with the goings on during that era.

A discredited old regime had sold the Goldstone Ground in Hove to developers without securing a viable alternative home, and in 1997 a ground share with Gillingham (round trip, 150 miles!) had to be arranged before a still less-than-satisfactory interim solution was arrived at in the shape of their temporary home at Withdean Stadium.

During that period, ’Gulls fans showed terrific determination to survive, and indeed Brighton thrived on the pitch with two back-to-back championships in 2001-2 (their centenary year, under Micky Adams) and 2002-3, before slipping back again to League One in 2005-6.

Then a huge planning battle took place over the site of a new stadium at Falmer, not far from the University of Sussex, one of the places where I studied in the late ’70s. After rejections, a final granting of permission and further delays, it now looks as if the project Brighton fans have been longing for will be completed in 2011… though no-one is holding their breath.

Few groups of supporters have fought harder to secure the future of their club, including the formation of a ‘Fans United’ network, petitioning the government and local council, and organising demonstrations across the country. I wish them all the very best for the future. In honesty, though, in spite of my longstanding football loyalism, I was one of those who thought the Falmer site was wrong on both civic and environmental grounds, and I still do. It would have seemed hypocritical as well as awkward to watch them when that was my genuine (and deeply unpopular) view.

However, that is now n the past, the new stadium is on its way, and Brighton and Hove Albion are rightly looking to secure a brighter future (that’s where the city gets its name from, after all!) after years of turmoil. Whatever the disagreements, they deserve it.

Today however, I’ll be looking to my more recent ‘locals’, Exeter City, to resume their good form and secure a result that pushes them that bit closer to safety – and better, we hope – in League One. So I hope the Seagulls flourish and that their supporters enjoy a good day out in the West Country. Not too good, mind!

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Controversy, technology and fair play

First published in The Grecian, 24 November 2009, Exeter City -v- Millwall

Love them or loathe them (and today’s opponents attract strong emotions of both kinds!) welcoming Millwall to St James’ Park tonight is the nearest to a guarantee of a tough, competitive game as you could possibly get – in this or any other division.

One of the few lower division sides to have made an appearance in top-level European competition, thanks to an FA Cup final appearance a few years ago, the Lions’ 2004 UEFA Cup dream ended disappointingly against Ferencvaros, losing 4-2 on aggregate in Budapest.

At that time Millwall were in the Championship and seeking to recapture some of their past football glory, which has sadly been mired in an altogether less desirable reputation based on the unseemly behaviour of some who have attached themselves to the south-east London side.

Now they are one of several illustrious teams seeking an escape route from League One, and they sit just on the edge of the play-off zone in seventh place. This means Millwall will be determined to take more points off Exeter City this evening, just as the Grecians will be keen to build on the good results and performances of the past few weeks.

Among the Lions’ achievements already this term is a 2-1 victory over title favourites Leeds United: a real declaration of intent for their continuing 2009-10 campaign. That said, Brentford, who we beat at home recently, managed a 2-2 draw with them, and City will be trying their best to go one better.

Though for a brief time I used to live on the edge of Bermondsey, I cannot recall ever making it to a game at the Den, or to Millwall’s new ground. But you certainly used to hear a lot about them in the area! The word ‘controversy’ has rarely been absent in their recent history.

In the 24/7 media environment, what happens in the span of 90 minutes is only a fraction of the time the modern game occupies in the public consciousness. Indeed, a millisecond of action on the pitch can produce hours or even days of coverage.

That is definitely the case with Thierry Henry’s blatant handball last week, which saw the Republic of Ireland undeservedly denied the opportunity of penalties against France for the possibility of a place in the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa.

Usually “the luck of the Irish” is something you would happily wish upon your favoured side, but there will not be many Exeter City supporters craving it right now after what transpired on Thursday night.

By the time you read this, FIFA will presumably have had a chance to respond to all the fuss, but no one is predicting especially bold action.

Just as it is unfair to judge Millwall entirely on the behaviour of a minority of their fans, it would be very sad indeed if the skill, ingenuity and inspiration demonstrated by Thierry Henry over the years was to be besmirched by just one mad moment. It is therefore in his interest, as well as the game’s, that he is suitably punished. My own view is that he should be banned from the group stage of the World Cup.

Regrettable as it is in the circumstances, I can see why the world footballing authorities would not accede to a replay request based on a refereeing error. That would very likely open the (legal) floodgates.

But where a misdemeanour of this seriousness has been clearly identified by the cameras, strong post-match redress is essential if the genuine attempts to re-instil fair play at every level of the game are going to be taken seriously.

What the France-Ireland incident also illustrates is that the to-and-fro debate about the use of technology in the top echelons of the game is out of touch with reality. The issue is not whether technology should play a role in sorting out on-field misdemeanours and controversial decisions – it is already playing a role. The real question is how to respond to that fact.

Even if FIFA continues to insist that regulating matches should remain firmly in the domain of officials for the 90 minutes (to avoid extensive disruptions, and out of regard for the evenness of the game at all levels, low to high), the truth is that they cannot – and do not – ignore television evidence afterwards.

If players knew that there would be really serious consequences for being caught out ‘after the fact’, not just a quick ban, fine or proverbial rap around the knuckles, it would hopefully contribute to more discretion and honesty on-field.

That’s certainly what we all want to see in Exeter this evening, together with another positive outcome for the Grecians and en enjoyable night for both sets of fans.
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Summoning up some good fortune

First published in Sons View, 21 November 2009, Dumbarton -v- Peterhead [Match postponed and to be rescheduled]

The man sitting behind me at the match a few weeks ago sounded more than a little exasperated. As another goal went in against his team, he suddenly exclaimed: “Sheesh… Every time I tell myself I’m not at all superstitious, something seems to go wrong!”

We all laughed. But I know how he feels. It’s patently ridiculous to suppose that the incidentals of your life and thought have any effect on your football club’s fortunes, but even the least spooky among us end up entertaining these slightly deranged notions from time-to-time!

In a weird way, therefore, a bit of me (the bit that’s had one too many gulps of Dutch courage, maybe!) thinks that there could be an upside to Sons’ otherwise disappointing outing at Cowdenbeath last Saturday. Namely, there’s no growing ‘unbeaten record’ for us all to get anxious about losing against Peterhead this afternoon. Instead, it’s a case of picking up momentum again in front of the home support.

Each Saturday I eagerly wait for news of how the Sons are getting on, knowing that the rest of the weekend is liable to be just that bit brighter or gloomier depending upon how things turned out in the all important 90 minutes. Sad, isn’t? But that’s what being a fan is all about.

Today I care just that wee bit more than usual, because I’m in the stand here at SHS myself. A work-related trip to Newcastle on Friday has happily given me the chance to make another visit from deep down south to the lush pastures of the Rock.

Now I don’t wish to sound, well, superstitious… but last season I inadvertently did rather well at picking out for personal attendance the odd few games when Dumbarton’s championship form was being most sorely tested. I also came up for the pre-season friendlies against Partick Thistle and St Mirren, when we shipped five goals and got none.

But before you decide to bar me from the ground altogether, I should point out in my defence that I was also present (and cheering like mad) at those historic matches against Elgin and Annan when the Sons triumphantly claimed the Third Division title and scored a hatful into the bargain.

Besides, as we’ve established, there’s absolutely no connection between the match you are about to witness and whether someone brought their ‘lucky bobble hat’ along with them, or whether they remembered to give the cat an extra spoonful of food before setting out for the game. It just feels like there might be!

According to some recent research, there has been an overall decline in superstitious rituals and match-related beliefs among professional footballers over the last 25 years. Unsurprisingly, this has accompanied the increasing use of proper sports psychology in the dressing room and on the training field.

Unlike the lurking suspicion that my attendance may make things worse, this correlation makes perfect sense. It’s been long established that what human beings think will or will not happen does indeed play a role in what actually happens, because appropriate levels of confidence (not too much, not too little) play a massive part in sporting achievement, alongside technical skill, tactics, team awareness and the rest of it.

Similarly, though crowds can’t win games on their own, they can encourage or dissuade players at critical moments on the pitch – though a way of accurately measuring, quantifying and applying all of that has not yet been found.

If and when it is, and ‘crowd-zone’ computer stats are studied as eagerly as ‘pro-zone’ ones by those who can afford them, you can expect stewards to be given the unenviable task of muzzling some negative mega-mouth three rows in front of you, because he or she (most likely he) has just been calculated to have played an 0.0027 per cent role in your centre forward’s hopeless miss last week – rather than because, say, his creative choice of expletives has caused a delicate descendant of the Anglo-Saxons to blush.

Hmmnn… Nope, I don’t think it’s going to happen either. And if it did, it wouldn’t change that much. Football is and always will be about human foibles, both on and off the pitch. If goal-line technology is finally introduced into the upper echelons of the game, it won’t stop managers and officials arguing. It’ll just give them something else to argue about.

As for today’s game against the Blue Toon. Well, let’s hope that any luck going spare heads in the Sons’ direction. Three points please, lads!
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Irish eyes... not exactly smiling

What the Sun newspaper has dubbed 'The Hand of Frog' incident looks set to rumble on. Thierry Henry gave a pretty fulsome apology for the double-handball that, unsighted by the match officials, unjustly sent France through to the 2010 World Cup Finals this week, at the expense of the Republic of Ireland. I was watching the game in my local pub, and unsurprisingly everyone was pretty appalled. Only the bitter and twisted Roy Keane seems to have written the episode off as unworthy of concern.

Both Henry and his former manager and fellow Frenchman Arsene Wenger agree that a replay would be appropriate. FIFA are unlikely to relent on this, having made it clear by deciding to seed the playoffs (something they had not previously announced) that they want to see the biggest sides qualify for South Africa in order to fill their coffers and those of their sponsors. In this context, talk of "fair play" is a hollow sham.

Actually, there is a precedent here. Uzbekistan and Bahrain replayed a World Cup qualifier with FIFA sanction in 2005, after the referee encroached into the area when the Uzbeks had a first half penalty, and then gave a free kick to Bahrain. The difference is that the Henry incident concerns a wrong decision by an official, and the team who might be detrimentally effected are one of the 'big boys'. In football as in life, there's one law for the rich and one for the minnows.

Meanwhile, my admiration for Henry as a player remains undimmed. But his claim that his deliberate handball was 'instinct' and that it is up to the referee to see it not him to come clean at the time will not wash. Again, I doubt that he will receive more than a two- or three-match ban and a censure. By rights he should be barred from the group stage of the World Cup finals. A just punishment would be in his interests to, as this incident should not besmirch an otherwise deserved reputation for beautiful football and fairness.
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Thanks for the memories

First published in Sons View, 14 November 2009, for a special memorial match for Gordon Lennon.

“In this obsolescent society in which we live, age and tradition are to be dearly cherished”, writes Jim McAllister in his fine one volume history of Dumbarton FC. How right he is. And here is another significant day in the life of our small but distinguished Club. We are taking time out from our league schedule, and from the many activities involved in sustaining a modern football team, in order to remember with gratitude and pride the contribution of Gordon Lennon – who will go down in the annals as a Sons legend.

Memories are inevitably a blend of the happy and the sad, the joyful and the poignant. Today is a powerful example of that, but with the emphasis firmly on celebration – which is what Guido himself, full of life, would have wanted. Over the past weeks many words have been spoken and more than a few tears shed over the way Sons’ captain for the showcase 2008-9 season was tragically taken from us. For those closest him, there remains a gap that can never be filled.

But this gap is not a void. Far from it. As time moves on, so do our recollections. This afternoon’s game may be a memorial, but it is a forward-looking one, dedicated to the energy that animated Gordon and made him a special person, as well as a committed footballer. It is also a chance to recall the happiness he brought to us, not least on the field.

Much of what Guido embodied, and how he deserves to be remembered, is summed up in the picture that adorns the cover of Sons View this term. It captures his moment of sheer, unalloyed joy in lifting the Scottish Football League Third Division Championship trophy in front of 1,343 people at Annan Athletic on 9 May 2009.

Like many of you, I was there. That day will stay with those who made the trip for the rest of our lives. Indeed, it was a week of euphoria, with the extraordinary six-goal victory over Elgin at the Rock the Saturday before all but ensuring a title-winning day on the borders. As someone commented, it was theoretically possible for Sons to lose a 17-goal advantage in 90 minutes, but the outcome would have been one of the biggest legal investigations in Scottish football history!

That trip to Annan was therefore made in expectation, not just hope, and Gordon Lennon’s delight, shared generously with fans young and old as the celebrations spread onto the pitch at the end of a fitting 3-1 victory, was a key part of what made the afternoon, and the man himself, irreplaceable.

Of course it would not have been possible without the equal generosity of Annan Athletic, who enabled our party rather than spoiling it (as happens in the meaner rivalries of football). Similarly, for today, the Dumbarton Champions Select comprising players who won the third division championship are giving of their time and effort along with a Gordon Lennon Select made up of players Guido knew and worked with at other clubs like Harmony Row, Albion Rovers, Stenhousemuir and Partick Thistle.

In moments like this, human solidarity is seen to be the essence of this beautiful game of ours. There’s fierce competition in football, to be sure. But that would not be fulfilling if it wasn’t for the other side of the pitch – the one where ‘sport’ means not just athletic and technical prowess, but also the capacity to grow as people.

Liverpool managerial legend Bill Shankly, as proud a Scot as you will find, is widely credited with having once said on a TV show that “football isn’t a matter of life and death… it’s more important than that.” Those were not his actual words, and he tried on several occasions to set the record straight – because he understood, as do all who remember Gordon Lennon, that they are not true.

Nevertheless, football can and does reflect for us what is wonderful about life, as well as what is most difficult about it. And what is wonderful is that it brings us together and gives us a glimpse of something extraordinary in the midst of the mundane.

That’s what remembrance does, too. To re-member well is to experience a ‘joining together’ across the normal boundaries that separate us; to generate a spirit that goes beyond what divides, and instead enables us to overcome enmity.

Gordon Lennon was ‘just a man’ and football is ‘just a game’. But what a man, what a game… and what a Club!
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Knowing where you're going

First published in Sons View, 02 February 2008, Dumbarton -v- Elgin

Dumbarton supporters are a pretty well travelled lot. Well, the ones I know are. Judging from the reports in Sons View’s regular ‘Fan of the Week’ slot, there’s a fair degree of mileage involved in being a really dedicated follower of the Mighty DFC. Ross County’s ground is one of those more often mentioned as an exception to the ‘been there, seen that’ rule, I note – but certainly not Glebe Park, home of this afternoon’s opponents, Brechin City.

My own geographical distance from Dumbarton (getting on for 400 miles), and the fact that I’ve mastered neither time travel nor great wealth in my 51 years on this planet, means that I get to far fewer games in Scotland than I’d like to – and when I am here naturally the priority is a trip to the Rock, or in a previous era good old Boghead.

On a rough estimate, I reckon I’ve notched up visits to about a dozen of the 40 other senior grounds north of the border, and quite a few more in England, obviously. The last time I made it to Brechin was over twenty years ago. It was a journey by coach on 17 September 1988.

I can’t quite recall where that trip started out, but it took a couple of hours and my then girlfriend wasn’t too impressed to discover that we had a nice long walk to the ground from our dropping off point. But it was a holiday, and a brisk hike on a sunny day is all part of the deal, right? Well, yes. Though it helps if you get there in time for a relaxing meal and a drink beforehand. The hospitality in Brechin is fine and I have some affection for the ground, but veggie-friendly pies were not on the menu that day so we had to make do with tea and a leftover half packet of peanuts that had been festering in my pocket!

The match itself ended in a 1-1 draw and I was quite satisfied. To date that season, Sons had won only one of their first six games (they lost the others), and if they had been mauled in Angus I would have been in even more trouble from my companion! The omens were not great. Bertie Auld had just been sacked as Dumbarton boss and morale was low. But a determined if not inspired performance against Brechin earned us a point, with 23-year-old striker Benny Rooney getting the goal.

That season was a tough one for us in the Second Division. Dumbarton finished 12th but, crucially, stayed up. Having lost to the Hedgemen in December that year, Sons finally claimed revenge at Boghead in April 1989 with a 1-0 victory.

Today we receive the players, staff and fans of Brechin to the Strathclyde Homes Stadium with a good deal more confidence than we displayed during our last outing to Glebe Park on 29 August, when a 3-1 defeat was watched by just 470 spectators.

Sons’ win against Arbroath at the Rock last Saturday has finally “got the monkey off our back”, as Jim Chapman likes to put it. Indeed, with three away victories on the trot, plus the Stirlingshire Cup triumph, Dumbarton haven’t lost a match on their travels since that reversal in Angus.

The aim today is to put that right and to start to make the Rock the kind of football fortress that its name and neighbouring Castle suggests it should be. This isn’t going to be easy. Brechin lie in second place in the division, with a perfect home record. However they have lost four out of six games away so far, indicating a certain brittleness in the travel department. The upshot is that both sides are vying for continuous improvement.

Sons then have to get on the bus themselves for the next two games against Stenhousemuir and Cowdenbeath, the rivals we beat to the Third Division Championship last term. A couple of wins before we next face the Binos on 5 December could mean that we will find ourselves in the play-off zone rather than worrying about the drop.

But such notions can be deceptive. In a division with only ten members there is barely anything called ‘mid-table respectability’. If you are not at the summit you are always either on the brink or on the ledge, so it’s best to focus on the immediate challenges than to speculate about where they might leave you. One thing is certain: points and goals all tally up and push us in the right direction.
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Football can never be captured by celebrity

First published in The Grecian, 31 October 2008, Exeter City -v- Brentford

Exeter City and Brentford both come to this afternoon’s match needing a good result to help take them out of the lower reaches of the League One table. If last season’s encounters are anything to go by, supporters of the two sides can expect a competitive and absorbing game.

While the Grecians were securing a last gasp draw at St James Park to basement team Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday, the Bees were claiming a 2-0 home victory over Stockport County (who have exactly the same number of points and precisely the same goal difference as City) thanks to goals from Charlie MacDonald and Myles Weston.

Brentford’s two previous outings have resulted in a defeat at Leyton Orient and a goalless draw hosting Hartlepool. The upshot is that the two sides are now separated by just four places, three points and seven goals. This division continues to be very tight indeed.

At the end of this season, I remain pretty confident that both teams will be safe. They have good players and a positive attitude, though their respective qualities are being tested robustly by football in a higher division. So there’s much hard work to do before either can breathe easily.

Neither the Grecians nor the Bees could be described as ‘fashionable clubs’ these days, but both have had their curious brushes with fame and celebrity. Exeter fans will probably look back rather ruefully on that extraordinary day when a certain illusionist produced now departed music superstar Michael Jackson to parade around the pitch. But whether you blinked or not, it happened.

Similarly, Brentford supporters will have been puzzled when it was rumoured that they had come to the attention of a number of Hollywood stars a few years ago. I’m not sure that they can match ‘the King of Pop’, but for a number of years rock keyboard legend Rick Wakeman was known to be a keen Brentford follower.

I happen to know that there’s even a dedication to the Bees on the inside cover of the 1977 Yes album ‘Going for the One’ – an obscure fact which might come in useful for pub quiz question hunters, if nothing else!

These days Rick’s affections seem to have migrated to Manchester City, following a mysterious falling out with his old Brentford pals. Fandom can be as movable a feast as marriage in the celeb world, but the constancy of the bedrock support at both Griffin Park and St James’ is something that will undoubtedly weather both time and fashion.

When the fixtures for this season were announced, this was one I marked with a big red pen in my diary. As a child I lived a decent stone’s throw away from Brentford, and my late paternal grandfather was a long-term supporter. Indeed it was a trip to Griffin Park with him at the age of nine that really confirmed me in my love of all things football.

That said, the schedule has not been kind to me as far as Grecians versus Bees tussles are concerned. I missed both matches last season, and this week pressing work and domestic commitments mean that I will be on my way from London to Birmingham as you settle into your seat or take your place on the Big Bank.

Would I have had divided loyalties? Not really. I want Exeter to grab those points, though I wish both clubs well overall and find myself keeping my grandfather’s memory alive through a watchful eye on what the Bees are up to.

Similarly, I found time a few weeks ago to go and watch my namesakes Barrow in action away against Crawley Town in Exeter’s old stomping ground, the Conference. They snatched a 1-0 win, haven’t lost since, and are making an impressive fist of securing their place in the Blue Square Premier for a second season.

The year the Grecians won promotion back to the League I made the away trip to Broadfield Stadium on a freezing midweek evening to watch a 2-2 draw along with 841 other people who had decided to abandon the Champions League on the telly in order to experience ‘real football’.

There certainly weren’t many celebrity fans to the inch in Crawley that evening, and after Exeter’s triumph in the Wembley play-off final I never particularly imagined myself heading back to Broadfield again. But then I found myself less than an hour away with a chance to catch the Bluebirds, and couldn’t resist.

That’s football for you. Quite apart from the loyalties we develop, there’s a breadth, passion and interest to the game that makes for unexpected treasures. You never quite know when something special is going to happen. Let’s hope it’s today.
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Life's a beach, then United fry

So Liverpool managed to win 2-0 in spite of my backing. And a gritty game it was, too. Mind you, at the beginning of the second half I commented to some fellow pub watchers that if I'd wagered on this one it would have been for a nil-nil draw. As Fernando Torres struck, magnificently, I thought to myself: "That's why I don't bet!"

The pre-match festivities saw the Anfield pitch festooned with balloons and beach balls -- from the Kop end. Manchester United fans had threatened to bring the offending items to celebrate Sunderland's extraordinary goal-that-shouldn't-have been last week. But Liverpool said they'd search away supporters before they entered the ground. So instead they satisfied themselves with Eric Cantona masks to settle a much bigger score. Weird old game, football.

As well as taking three points this afternoon, Liverpool have now struck lucky in selling out those £10 'beach sets' from the club shop. Just when the winter is about to set in. I think it's called 'having the last laugh'.

Right, I'm off to watch Ken Loach's 'Looking for Eric' on DVD, while my friend Kevin Scully texts me from West Ham, who were pulling back from an early pasting from stylish Arsenal last I heard. Then it's back to some work.

I've been gently chided by Kenny Macaulay, Dumbarton's inimitably colourful (Partick Thistle supporting!) 'Piscie priest for not heralding Sons' glorious first home win at the Rock yesterday yet. Don't worry, Kenny, a full update will follow. And a bit about Gambia, too. See you in the First Division next season, eh?
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Battle of the Reds

I'll be backing Liverpool over Manchester United in the much-touted 'battle of the Reds' this afternoon -- though as a young kid, like many others, I had my flirtation with post Busby-babes United... not least on account of my boyhood football hero, Denis Law. It's hardly an insight to note that the game has changed out of all recognition since then, and what was once a clash of sporting titans is now as much a confrontation between corporate giants, their brands and their ridiculously paid on-field representatives. Without wishing to be backward looking or overly sentimental, this is a great pity. Money has both regenerated and compromised the modern game beyond all calculation. But I confess that it is sheer romance that keeps me on the side of Liverpool: the spirit of Shankly, the Merseybeat, Hillsborough, 'You'll Never Walk Alone', and so on. Plus several good people I know have them as their EPL team, including friends at Dumbarton - who happily stole my heart from MUFC back in '69.

Today is in certain respects a trial of Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez, too. If there are question marks against him, many of them reside in his questionable purchasing decisions under the £10 million mark (an observation that is bound to make us 'lower league' fans laugh out loud!) Rafa's a private, somewhat distant man, and is subject to the occasional fits of pique and arrogance that seem to go with the ego territory needed to sustain a club at the more stratospheric levels of football. But he also appears to have genuinely imbibed 'the Liverpool spirit' and he has rebuffed various financially loaded attempts to lure him to Spain. Loyalty of any kind is a rare commodity in the game these days. I hope it wins out, both ways. Meanwhile, here's Liverpool Kop offering some "critical realism" on developments on Merseyside.
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The power of three

First published in Sons View, 23 October 2009, Dumbarton -v- Arbroath

It’s now three games since the Sons last made a match day appearance at the Rock, and boy don’t we feel better! Three wins in a row - including lifting the Stirlingshire Cup against Stenhousemuir – has provided a tremendous boost after a very difficult start to the season. It would be foolish to say that all is now well. You can never stand still in modern football. But at last we’re heading in the right direction.

After last week’s convincing 3-1 victory against Alloa Athletic (who had beaten us by the same score on 8 August), I found myself thinking further about the provenance of the number three for the Sons this season. Apart from the stats I’ve already mentioned, seven of our league matches this term have involved one or other of the teams scoring three goals. Only three haven’t. We’ve also recorded victories on each of the last three away trips.

What would be good now would be three home wins in a row to rectify the displeasing ‘zero’ on that front, starting this afternoon against Arbroath – who also beat us 3-1 at Gayfield back in August, you will recall. Obviously that means we owe the Red Lichties three back, starting as soon as possible after 3pm today. By my reckoning we also have a quartet of players who are on the threshold of notching up their first three goals this season, and naturally we await the first Dumbarton hat-trick. I suppose that should have come on the third Saturday in October rather than the fourth, but you can’t have it all.

Not everything about this three lark ends up going your way, you will have noticed. We’ve lost three games at home so far, for example. That said, there’s always a compensating factor. Like being only three points short of the trio of play-off places, for example – and not finding ourselves wholly fixated on the other end of the table. We are also grouped with three other teams on 11 points.

Thinking in threes can start to warp your mind in other ways, too. When I was retuning the radio last week I winced as I found myself accidentally listening to a track from a less-than-stellar album called ‘The Power of Three’, put out a few years ago by a reformed version of the old prog rock trio Emerson Lake and Palmer (known to their detractors as ‘cumbersome, fake and trauma’), featuring Cozy Powell on drums. I’m not sure that it lasted three minutes before I made it to the off button! Just in case I’ve offended someone in this regard, I should mention that one of ELP’s best efforts is called… yup, ‘Trilogy’.

Right, back to the action this afternoon. Our opponents from Tayside will share with Sons a desire to put further points and goals in the bank and navigate towards a more secure position in the Second Division, which is proving very tight at the moment. Apart from leaders Stirling Albion, who are five points clear, and Brechin and Cowdenbeath, who are chasing hard, the other seven teams in the league are all covered by just four points. So a couple of matches can make a big difference, as we have already seen over the past fortnight.

After ten years rising up to the First Division and then sinking back to the Third (they sank to the basement in 2005 after being beaten by Dumbarton – yes, you guessed it, 3-0), the Red Lichties consolidated themselves in seventh place in the Second Division last year. They won promotion to this level the season before the Sons, while we were busily trying to avoid the wooden spoon.

Arbroath now come to the Strathclyde Homes Season on the back of a 1-0 defeat to the Blue Brazil, who they beat in the first stage of the 2007-8 play-offs, as it happens. Like Dumbarton, their fragile form this season means that they have been better on the road than performing on home turf. Apart from the hard-fought 2-2 draw against the Binos on 10 October, the Lichties have endured eight defeats in their last nine outings, so they will be very keen indeed to try to reverse their poor form. It should be a strongly contested game.

OK, I’ll see some of you on the third Saturday in November, when Peterhead visit us and I’m next able make a trek up to SHS from The Far Post.
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Grecians need motivation not anxiety

First published in The Grecian, 23 October 2009, Exeter City -v- Wycombe Wanderers

It’s now a fortnight since Exeter City played a league game at St James Park, and in that time – as you will hardly need reminding – we have lost two away matches by three and four goals respectively against Walsall and Huddersfield, and have exited the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy on penalties after a 1-1 home draw.

Though those defeats by no means tell the whole story about how the team has played, in bald statistical terms the situation does not look good at present. The pressure is on for four points or more from today’s match against bottom side Wycombe Wanderers and from next Saturday’s Devon encounter with Brentford, who presently lie in seventeenth position – only one point and three places above the Grecians.

The secret of success in a situation like this is not to let pressure translate into anxiety, but rather to use recent setbacks as a motivational spur to find the winning trail again. Easier said than done, maybe. But good coaching is about helping players into the right frame of mind, as well as ensuring that they are confident about their role, on top of the tactics, and keyed up both physically and technically.

Modern football is a multi-faceted game, and in order to produce the right results, everything has to come together in those crucial 90 minutes or so between kick-off and the final whistle. Having the right blend before or afterwards isn’t sufficient.

When the going is tough, waning confidence, bad luck or small mistakes are magnified for players and fans alike. Similarly an early break or goal can settle you down and set the rhythm moving once more.

There’s a strange alchemy to football, and even the best can find themselves puzzled by how things turn out. Sometimes it just doesn’t seem to make sense. City boss Paul Tisdale was realistic enough to admit in the aftermath of that Huddersfield tanking that he couldn’t immediately identify what had gone wrong – though the quality of the opposition was evident.

Training and preparation had been very positive, he said. It was on the field of play, the one place where you need things to gel, that so much seemed to unravel. No doubt a lot of recovery work was put in before the trip to Walsall, which makes the reversal there – in a match where a point wouldn’t have been out of the question given the performance – that much harder to stomach.

But aside from identifying and learning from mistakes, there’s no point in looking back. A home game is a different proposition, and it’s worth noting that the Grecians haven’t lost a league game here at St James’ since 29 August, when two early slips against Milton Keynes Dons cost us dear, despite a good fightback and Barry Corr’s 51st minute goal.

At the beginning of the season, when the unknowns of League One were that much greater, everyone was saying that home territory was likely to be where our final fortunes would be decided. This is often true for a newly promoted side. Perhaps the most dramatic example at the moment is Burnley. The Premier League minnows, guided by wily gaffer Owen Coyle (who, incidentally, started his professional football career, along with his two brothers, at my team Dumbarton) have maintained an astonishing record at Turf Moor, winning all four games, even the one against Manchester United. The corresponding loss of all five away matches still leaves them in tenth position, clinging on to the top half of the table by their fingernails.

Thankfully, Exeter City’s away record and performances have been rather better than that, with four points garnered, alongside a few hammerings. I’m sure they can improve, too. But first we have an opportunity over the next week to prove ourselves at home against other clubs in the lower reaches of the division.

Wycombe have yet to win away, but they recently had a boost with the appointment of former Aldershot boss Gary Waddock. His reign began with a 1-1 draw against Colchester (who we face on 14 November), after spending two and a half years with the Shots and leading them from the Blue Square Premier to sixth in League Two.

The Chairboys had a poor start to their campaign under seemingly luckless former manager Peter Taylor, who ended his playing career with eight games for the Grecians in ’83-4 and later went on to suffer against City when he took over at Stevenage.

The new Wycombe boss got to know Exeter well with his old charges, and will be looking to outwit us this afternoon. However Exeter quickly leap-frogged Aldershot after losing out to them in the Conference title chase two years ago, and hopefully we will be motivated give Waddock’s new boys another rough ride today.
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The next World Cup winners

Great comedy entertainment on ITV tonight (and its not often I find myself saying that). I switched on after 20 minutes or so to witness In-ger-land being outplayed for a good quarter of an hour... by Belarus, following their scraped early goal. Meanwhile the Wembley crowd have been using a Mexican Wave just to stay awake. Can't see David Beckham being threatened by this "youthful promise". South Africa 2010? It can't go wrong!

(As a footnote, Beckham comes on just short of the hour for his 115th cap. Corner from him. Goal. Quite.)
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Just about managing

Wondering what's involved in the latest takeover at Portsmouth and all the other finance-related fantasy football moves rattling around the media - or not, when frankly they should be? As far as the English game is concerned (with one or two additional forays into other nations), the Football Management site maintained by John Beech from Coventry University is unrivalled. Hat-tip to the Sonstrust and Campbell Yule on this one.

Beech is a co-director of the Centre for the International Business of Sport and a widely published author on various aspects of sports management and English football management in particular. It's worth keeping an eye on the Supporters' Direct blog too. How we need an equivalent website for Scottish football. The future of the Scottish game was subject to an interesting debate at Stirling University on 2 October 2009. More on that anon.

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