Bristol City 2 Derby County 0 - Matador

Christian Ribeiro and I had a brief chat after the game on Saturday and he admitted that City were fortunate to have kept eleven men on the field after David James had cut down Kris Commons – but pointed out that they had also had their fair share of bad luck.

Wales defender Ribeiro, 20, gave an honest assessment and said:

“As David rushed out I was thinking ‘don’t take him out’ as I was sprinting back to cover, but to be frank I don’t think I would have made it. We were lucky David was only shown a yellow card, but decisions were going against us earlier in the season and so I guess it shows that our luck has changed.”

There is no doubt about that, but you often make your own luck in life and City have worked hard to change their fortunes and are reaping the rewards having lost only one of the last nine. The problem is that the division is so tight; they need to maintain this form to stay away from the scrap at the bottom.

Looking at the situation from a ‘glass half full‘ perspective though; if they do manage to continue this form, the play-off places are within their grasp as well.

If they are to keep the momentum going they also need the whole squad to pull in the same direction and in Jamaica central defender Damion Stewart they have men with the right attitude. Stewart was signed from QPR by former boss Steve Coppell in the summer and two weeks later saw the former Reading boss quit.

After City’s dodgy start to the season Stewart was dropped but said:

“Keith Millen is the gaffer. He’s the boss and I told him from day one that he had my full support even when I wasn’t in the side. I was used to playing every week at QPR and so it was a new experience having to wait for the opportunity to get back in. I kept my head down and worked hard and now that I’m back in the team, hopefully I can continue to show what I can do.”

Brett Pitman scored a brace to take his tally to five goals in three games to show why the Robins paid £800k to Bournemouth for his services, but the stand-out player for me was former Barnet winger Albert Adomah who – like Pitman – was signed from the lower divisions and showed he too has what it takes by setting up both goals.

Pitman was fully appreciative of Adomah’s contribution, but preferred to spread the praise about and said: “He played in a couple of great balls, but everyone is working hard, running hard and filling in for each other. We work a lot on shape in training and while the players don’t like it and find it boring, it certainly pays off during the games.”

Nigel Clough was understandably furious with the decision not to send off James, but – unlike some managers – didn’t lash out at the officials. He said: “At the start of the season we have to attend a meeting with the referees where they show us videos of incidents from around the world to explain how decisions are made. If we don’t turn up we’re fined. If we complain about the referee we’re fined.”

I spotted Clough going into the referee’s room for a chat once the obligatory thirty minute cooling off period had expired and he was in there for a good fifteen minutes while his players crowded around a laptop in the corridor outside studying a DVD.

Watching it with them, it was obvious that Ribeiro was right and James was the last man and James should have walked. Commons had knocked the ball away from goal though in an effort to get past the keeper and I suspect that this was the referee’s defence. However, to suggest that a player of Commons caliber couldn’t have reached it and knocked the ball into the net is also daft. The rules definitely need clarifying here.

I also wondered whether the referee felt a little intimidated by the fact that it was the former England number one he faced red carding and reluctant to do so and be accused of trying to make a name for himself. We’ll probably never know, but Ribeiro was right, Bristol City rode their luck with that incident. Then again, maybe it was time they had it on their side.

The highlight of the day in the Press Box was when one of the radio commentators described midfielder Alberto Bueno – on loan from Valladolid – as gesticulating in Spanish. I’m still trying to work that one out. Maybe I missed him doing an impression of an angry matador!

My clippings from this morning's copy of The Sun

The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football

Bristol City v Derby County - Ram On

I've been given the game at Ashton Gate to cover tomorrow afternoon when Nigel Clough's Derby team come to town.

City have now lost only one game (Leeds away) in their last eight as they edge away from the relegation zone while Derby have last two on the bounce and need to get back to winning ways if they are to maintain the challenge at the top of the table.

City boss Keith Millen admitted he knew he was under pressure after a poor start to the season that probably had more to do with Steve Coppell's sudden resignation in the first week then his own ability. But Millen claimed he had the players onside and it looks as though he was right. November's Manager of the Month told the club's website:

"We'll make sure we're ready for Derby," Millen told the club's official website. "If I can start out on the road to Manager of the Month for December with a win, that would be good.  I know the kiss of death has happened a few times over the years and I'll be looking to avoid that. It's a shame the Nottingham Forest match was called off because we had hit a good run of form and felt confident going there. Derby will be another tough test."

Jon Stead, who had a three-month loan spell at Derby during the 2006/07 season, looks to have recovered from an ankle problem while the knee injury defender Christian Ribeiro suffered against Sheffield United two weeks ago was not as bad as initially feared. However, skipper Louis Carey is still out after scans revealed the dependable defender has a torn calf muscle.

Clough is probably under more pressure from the Pride Park boardroom to succeed, but to be fair to him Derby look more like contenders this season than they did last term and will certainly test the Robins.

Rams coach Andy Garner told the club website: ""We want to put it right on the road. There isn't a great deal wrong to be honest. At Doncaster we proved we have enough about us to go away, play well and win a game of football. What the lads need is to build that confidence up playing away from home, and that will come with a good run. Bristol City is another game and another chance for us to get back to winning ways."

Derby striker Alberto Bueno could make his return from a hamstring injury. Jake Buxton is still sidelined by his back complaint and Miles Addison also misses out with a foot problem.

Goalkeeper Frank Fielding's loan deal is up after tomorrow's game and the Blackburn loanee will be keen to sign off with a clean sheet.

I first met Fielding during another loan deal playing for Wycombe and he is certainly a talent. However, he'll be up against a resurgent Brett Pitman who has now scored three in his last two games while City's former England keeper David James has kept his first two consecutive clean sheets of the season and will be hankering after a third.

I have a feeling for the home side in this clash, but think James will pick the ball out of his net at least once. 2-1 to the Robins ... get along to Ashton Gate to see just how bad my predictions are!

Alan Pardew - New Guy

Okay, the last word on the farce that is Newcastle United.

As this has been a slow week for football given the number of local fixtures I have lost to the weather, I'm trying to be a little topical - even if it does concern footaball club at the other end of the country from my patch, so apologies.

Earlier this season I wrote a post criticising Alan Pardew's treatment by the Southampton board given his sterling efforts at St. Mary's last season. The club started with a ten point deficit and yet he still took them to within a whisker of the play-offs and landed the JP Trophy giving the Saints their first trophy since the mid-seventies. Then he was sacked.

I spoke to several players from clubs chasing League One play-off places last season and they were all looking over their shoulders with dread as Southampton honed in on them. Pardew had the Saints on the march and was ditched for his efforts.

Ironic then that he has stepped into Chris Hughton shoes after the former Irish defender he took the Toon back to the Premier League. I guess there is no pleasing some football directors/owners.

I sincerely wish Pardew well in his new role. It will be tough and there won't be much money to spend, but if he has convinced Mike Ashley that he can take Newcastle to the summit of the league on a shoestring budget, then good for him. The five year deal he has should see him receive a nice pay-off when Ashley loses faith in him in February.

Delighted when Hughton got the boot – Your Time Is Up

After Chris Hughton was cynically dumped by Mike Ashley’s Newcastle earlier this week I was as stunned as most people at the board’s decision, but delighted to see the football community united for once in support of a decent guy.

Of course as football followers – fans, players and media professionals alike – we are a fickle bunch and what is this week’s top story soon gets replaced by something else. Last week we were all fuming about missing out on the World Cup – this week it’s Hughton.

I’ve noticed that a quite a few commentators have used the word ‘decent’ in association with Hughton and, as I have only met the guy once (after Toon’s FA Cup draw at Plymouth last season), I can hardly put myself up as a close confidant. However, on the strength of that one meeting I can say that I found him to be pleasant, humourous and approachable.

At the time Newcastle were still in the Cup of course (and would go on to beat the Pilgrims at St. James Park) and so from a result point of view it wasn’t a disaster. The pitch that day was in an awful state and neither side could get to grips with it. It was one of those uninspiring games that you get from time to time and Hughton shrugged it off as just that.

He was a realist. The FA Cup was a fun competition, but the bread and butter was the league and, in particular, Newcastle’s push for promotion.

Newcastle are a big club. Many fans around the country disagree with that statement, but it’s true. Look at the size of the local support, the stadium and the history (five league titles and six FA Cup wins). Sadly for them they don’t have ‘recent’ history despite the passion.

When Kevin Keegan had the audacity to suggest it would take several seasons for Newcastle to get back into Champions League contention he was rapped over the knuckles by Ashley’s cronies.

But Toon fans knew in their hearts he was right even if – like Ashley - they didn’t want to hear it. Unfortunately Ashley didn’t know he was right. Keegan’s vast experience of the football world counted for nothing as his casino buddies (including Hughton’s possible replacement Alan Pardew if some reports are to believed) had his ear.

Relegation to the Championship, the very real possibility of dropping down another division and an owner who was repeatedly trying to offload the club at a vastly inflated price in a seriously depressed economic market, ensured realism set in fast within the ranks of the Toon Army.

As usual they wanted a big name to help them out of the ‘clart’, but no-one fancied the challenge and so Hughton got the job without the board’s whole-hearted support.

He did their bidding though and sold off as many stars as possible to slash the wage bill. Then he was instructed to take the club back to the Premier League with effectively a smaller version of the same squad that took them down.

The fans saw the difficult situation he was faced with and increasingly appreciated his honest efforts.

Unfortunately the board didn’t and having taken them back up at the first time of asking - with over 100 points - he was rewarded with … procrastination over a new contract.

Toon’s season has been up and down so far – very much a reflection of the Premier League as a whole. They have won games they weren’t expected to win and lost games they should have picked up points from, but they have achieved mid-table respectability.

Several key players have been injured for spells and yet still the results were ground out.

The most important person at any football club is the manager – not something owners like to be told. Say what you want about the Glazers at Manchester United, they know better than to mess with Sir Alex!

The problem with Ashley is that he and his ego want instant success and it isn’t going to happen – it rarely does unless you’re prepared to outspend the opposition and he certainly isn’t.

I get the feeling that he sees football managers in the same light as his sporting goods store managers. If the monthly sales figures aren’t equivalent or better than the store down the street then you better watch out. No real long term planning, just make sure the shelves are empty after the Christmas period is over. Then slash and burn any remaining stock in the January sales and start again.

His stores sell cut price tat (in my humble opinion) and that business philosophy won’t work in the Premier League.

If you want footballing success these days you either have to have an oil sheik as an owner or be prepared to build slowly, but surely and fans (customers) aren’t stupid, they are prepared to wait a little longer if the club is moving in the right direction.

Look at West Brom, for example. The side that gave Newcastle a real tonking in Hughton’s last game in charge on Sunday have been up and down more often than a whore’s drawers in recent seasons, but they’ve slowly been getting stronger and are now in a position to compete and they look like a good solid Premier League outfit.

Under Hughton Newcastle looked like they weren’t going to suffer the same yo-yo effect between Premeir League and Championship that West Brom did, but Ashley’s over-inflated sense of the club’s current worth led him to wield the axe. This might be a decision he lives to regret if the Toon implode again and, in some ways, I hope they do.

The fans have suffered enough in recent years and so it would be harsh to wish relegation on them, but fourth from bottom and an FA Cup giant killing by Stevenage would serve as a metaphorical slap in the face for Ashley.

The irony is that Hughton won’t take any pleasure from that scenario because he’s a more decent man than me.

A case of mistaken identity – Who’s the Daddy

On Saturday morning I picked up a copy of The Sun to see whether there was a preview of the Swindon game as I had been asked at the last minute to help a colleague out.

Each week there is a brief piece on each of the sides and this lets readers know who’s in and who’s out of the respective teams - sometimes there is larger article previewing the game. Given the postponed fixtures on Saturday due to the weather, Swindon v Sheffield Wednesday suddenly became the most interesting game in League One as it was … er, the only game in League One.

Sure enough there was a short item about the Swindon midfielder Jon-Paul McGovern, but to my horror the reporter (an agency freelancer by all accounts) mentioned that J-P was the son of former Nottingham Forest’s European Cup Winner John McGovern. ‘Horror’ because I’d spoken to J-P on a number of occasions, covered numerous Swindon games and so should have known that they were related.

So I was pleased when he told me they weren’t and joked:

“I was surprised to read that John McGovern was my dad this morning, but not as surprised as my real dad was. ‘I didn’t realise he was your father,’ he said and so I told him to go and speak to mum – I was staying well out of it!”

While J-P took that in good humour, he was a little more put out that many of the papers that morning had described him as “baiting” Sheffield Wednesday and felt a spin had been put on his comments that wasn’t intended. He said:

“My partner lives up in Sheffield and I get along to Hillsborough on a regular basis. It’s a great club and I wouldn’t say or do anything to upset them, or the fans, who were always good to me.”

In fact J-P took the time to applaud the visiting support before leaving the pitch (and muted his celebration after scoring the winner) and they appeared to reciprocate, but if any fans have lingering doubts about him, I can guarantee them that he was genuine in his concern that it be known he wasn’t Owl baiting.

P.S. Should have been off to the re-arranged Bristol Rovers v Exeter JPS game tonight, but it has been postponed a second time and will now take place on December 14th ... weather permitting.

Swindon Town 2 Sheffield Wednesday 1 - Learning

I sat next to a young lady from Sheffield University on Saturday and thought that rather than see the same old tripe from me, you might like to see something from a journo of the future. The following has been taken from ForgeToday.com at: http://www.forgetoday.com/page2080/Wednesday-Lose-Away-To-Swindon

My own meagre offering is at the foot of this post.

Wednesday lose away to Swindon

By Verity Sleeman

Published: 05/12/2010

Alan Irvine felt for the fans after Wednesday’s week of weather woe.

Irvine saw his side slump to their first defeat in seven games at the hands of a tenacious Swindon side who rode their luck.

Players and supporters alike had to dig their way out the city to travel to the only game in League One. And the 1,300 visiting fans did their club proud by staying vocal throughout.

Former Hillsborough favourite Jon-Paul Mc Govern helped break the deadlock in the 24th minute by chipping over the Owls defense for Swindon hot shot Charlie Austin to volley home his 13th goal of the season.

It only took six minutes for the visitors to pull one back.

Just before the break midfielder Mark Beevers had a goal chalked off after teammate Clinton Morrison was ruled offside.

The Wednesday bench were fuming at the decision, and Morrsion said, "You see them time and time again in the Premier League and they're always given. There’s got to be some consistency because we don’t know whether we’re coming or going at the moment."

Wednesday also had a penalty appeal turned down before McGovern sealed the win for Swindon in the 70th minute.

A long throw from Michael Rose was flicked on by Sean Morrison to Mc Govern, who slotted home his third of the season.

Wednesday chief Irvine groaned, "We had quite a lot of chances. We hit the bar, had a penalty denied, a goal disallowed, a lot of things to be disappointed about."

"We deserved an equaliser, there were a number of things that happened that on another day could have gone for us."

"The fans are fantastic, there’s no question about that."

Bristol Rovers v Bournemouth - Game on

It looks as though I won't know whether I'm needed at the Memorial Ground for tomorrow's game until tomorrow morning after the 9.30am pitch inspection.

If I hear anything more during this afternoon, I'll post information here for both sets of fans.

I hope that the clubs are thinking of more than just the state of the pitch though. Cherries fans might find the drive treacherous and so it might be better to err on the side of caution and postpone this weekend.

I see that the Swindon game against Sheffield Wednesday is going ahead though despite the fact that  Sheffield his been hit as hard as anywhere by snow this week (the biggest fall on the city since the late 1800s apparently). I hope the Owls supporters manage to dig their way out to the M1!

Safe travelling wherever you're headed this weekend.

Gutted! – Russians

Ah well, it’s all over and it looks like we won’t be hosting the World Cup in my lifetime – not that I’m getting on in years, but merely because I haven’t felt this sick in a long while and I’m not sure whether I’m going to recover from the disappointment of seeing Russia get the nod.

Maybe that is why Putin didn’t bother travelling – he already knew it was in the bag and so waste air fuel while you could be doing business with billionaire oil and gas barons.

Still, I have a trip to the Memorial Ground to cheer me up this tropical weekend, so life’s not all bad.

Live from Zurich (via icy southern England) – The Bidding

And so the World Cup bid presentations have ended and we wait nervously while the FIFA committee members enjoy a lavish lunch and choose from an extensive wine list having enjoyed a morning of video entertainment.

Who knows whether their minds were already made up before they had breakfast this morning, but to be fair to the English FA, Prince William, David Beckham and David Cameron, our bid was slick and professional.

Beck’s point about attending the 2010 World Cup draw one day after the death of his grandfather Joe was touching, but I thought it was also a subtle attempt to remind FIFA that he had put them first last year and maybe now was payback time.

The Dutch/Belgium bid was ‘nice’, but having spoken to several friends in the Netherlands during the last few weeks, not one felt they would win anyway. In fact several said they hoped England would win it.

Surprisingly the Spanish/Portugal presentation seemed designed to bore FIFA into submission and won’t have done them any favours.

Russia’s presentation was strong, but with Putin deciding not to attend maybe he knows something the rest of us don’t – I wonder if he spotted something in those WikiLeaks documents?

The Isle of Man’s last minute attempt to be considered floundered when their FA representative was refused admission to FIFA’s Zurich HQ.

The BBC has just announced that the voting process has started (GMT 13:00). As the result isn’t due until 14:30 to 15:00 it really makes you wonder whether the world’s favourite sport is safe in the hands of men who take up to 90 minutes to count to 22!

I suspect that most people reading this blog will have live footage streaming onto their PCs, but I will post the result of the vote on here as soon as it is announced.

English fingers crossed.

World Cup Bid - Dodgy People

I don’t normally use this blog to talk about anything other than the games I’m reporting on, but like every other fan in the country I’ve been following the World Cup bidding process and watched the Panorama programme.


Frankly, I’m fed up with FIFA and its arrogance. The timing of the Panorama programme couldn’t have been worse (and, if by some long shot England do win, it’ll be interesting to see who FIFA’s preferred broadcaster is!) and whether we win the bid or not, FIFA needs to be swept clean.

Their own rules state that members should not accept bribes or payments for favours, but – if Panorama, The Sunday Times, and other news outlets are to be believed – this is happening on a regular basis. Are these people fit to be running the people’s game? And, no, I don’t just mean the English people, I mean the people of the world.

Some FIFA members represent countries where poverty is widespread and yet they are accused of pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars to feather their own goalmouth. This alleged activity isn’t just criminal, it’s morally corrupt.

It may well be time for the national associations to take a long hard look at the structure of the game and especially its governing body.

In the 1990s the English game changed complexion completely with the introduction of the Premier League – maybe it’s time the international game was looked at with each national federation getting a vote when it comes to decisions like where the World Cup is to be held.

Yes, I know that is more than 200 countries, but it’s a global game and so why not? With the Internet available to every national federation, they wouldn't all even have to travel to an ivory tower in Zurich or wherever.

An executive committee could be set up to deal with day-to-day issues, but these members could be rotated every 18 months or so.

The Chair and vice-Chair of the new body could be elected for a limited period of time while a CEO and board of directors could be appointed to assist with the – their ‘shareholders’ being the national groups and also the fans.

Whether you think that my suggestions are complete rubbish or not, surely something needs to be done about FIFA?

Maybe it will be a blessing in disguise if we don’t get the World Cup because you can be sure that it will then be open-season on FIFA as far as the British media is concerned.