Your reading a pre 2010-11 archived article
Welcome to the Sunday edition of Sniffer Nose, a punchier version of your favourite occasional column.
Once is enough.
Yesterday I added another game to the endless list from the last 3 seasons that I call “Third Division Dirge” by attending Brentford verses Leeds United. The dirge collection is a series of games so mind-numbingly rubbish that just to recall one is enough to make me shudder. Whilst I had a lovely day in Putney and Brentford (thanks Col) please god never sends us back to Griffin Park for a league game.
Doing it the right way.
Usually when a manager is sacked a certain amount of spite is directed towards them by fans and sometimes the board. In Plymouth however it seems people recognise the contribution to their relative success that Paul Sturrock’s reign brought. That is a development that hopefully other clubs will learn to replicate.
Taking the test constantly.
So Munto Finance is no more at Notts County. Does that mean that another set of secret “beneficial owners” will have to pass the “fit and proper” test? Well clearly it does, wonder what the odds of them being named this time? Very little if the spineless FL has anything to do with things.
Repeat loop.
If Rafa Benitez were to stop claiming that Liverpool can still compete in the top 4 maybe the table will reflect that. As things stand every time he entertains us with one of his moody press conferences another “big club” like Birmingham City, Fulham or Sunderland catch them. Actually Rafa keep chirping, you could be 14th soon.
Mouth of the Humber.
So Phil Brown sees nothing wrong with managers hitting/head-butting/pinning players? In fact Brown goes on to say (in that style only a thicko manager with no tactical sense could) such things should “stay in the dressing room”! Surly he means on the pitch at Eastlands?
Taking the Michael.
This isn’t rocket science Fabio, if Michael Owen can still bag hat-tricks in the CL then he is clearly good enough to go to South Africa. England fans will think he must have slept with your wife when you were both at Real Madrid if you continue to leave him out. Even if he did, put your pride in your back pocket and make sure he is on the plane.
Money to burn.
So to clarify, Liverpool, Arsenal, Birmingham City, Manchester City, Sunderland and Aston Villa are not interested in Ruud Van Nistelrooy. So who does that leave to pay £100k a week to a PL cast-off? Oh that will be Spurs then because they don’t have enough expensive strikers not getting games do they?
Unfulfilled.
The news that West Ham United’s Dean Ashton has been forced to retire at 26 is not just a blow for the relegation strugglers at Upton Park but also one for England. If he had stayed fit we wouldn’t have had to sweat over Heskey or Carlton Cole and instead left both of them back in blighty this summer. A big shame for Ashton and a big shame for us all.
Tight-fisted amateurs.
Stories coming out of Belfast suggest that the Northern Irish FA are about to lose their manager, not because of results, (quite frankly given what players Worthington has had to work with he has done miracles) no its because they want to cut his wages. That’s cleaver is that, motivation supreme! Not.
Ticking clock.
A few months ago this blog attracted some typical Wednesday whining from the Sheffield boys when I suggested that Brian Laws treatment of Richard Wood reflected his limited ability. So where are we? Wood has gone to Coventry, Jeffers is still on £10k a week being a idiot and the owls are in the bottom 3 and likely to be missing from the CCC Yorkshire League next season. The clock is ticking down on Laws. Oh well, how sad, well never mind.
