The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Alvechurch on 15th August 2006.
Bloody Portugal! Did you enjoy the World Cup this summer? Like many pundits I felt that it was something of a “Curate’s Egg” – good in parts. Some cracking (geddit?) contests interspersed by tedious wars of attrition ending in penalty shootouts. And of course England’s games seemed to fall into the latter category which meant that if your World Cup consisted purely of watching England’s campaign then you’ll be thinking that it was all a complete bore. Having won their Group without ever really running into form and then sqeaking past Equador in the Round of 16, England found themselves up against Euro 2004 foes Portugal complete with England’s nemesis “Big” Phil Scolari. For this tournament his selection of tactics left me feeling relieved that we won’t be seeing him darkening the doors of Soho Square. Tactics? Well they were a little “robust” shall we say? Portugal won few friends with their game plan that consisted of seeking free kicks in dangerous positions usually using what is known in the game as “simulation”. And with England similarly seeming to lack that creative spark, the inevitable happened, 120 minutes of turgid football came and went and we reached the now customary sight of spot kicks to decide the winner.
Now if you’re about to tell me that a Penalty Shootout is a “Lottery” then we’re about to have an argument! Sticking the ball between the uprights and underneath the crossbar whilst evading the keeper surely relies on some pretty basic footballing skills and simultaneously having the bottle to step up and take one is a measure of a side’s mental toughness. Whenever you enter the National Lottery, that’s a game of pure luck – a Penalty Shootout is nothing of the sort. That said, the next time I come across a Portuguese person I’ll…. shake him by the hand and say “Welcome to Racing Club Warwick Mr Jose!”. Typically, following England’s latest defeat the public and media needed somebody to blame. It’s always somebody else’s fault isn’t it? Our Wayne a thug? Never! Step forward Christiano Ronaldo for your new role as pantomime villain at Premiership grounds up and down the country this season. Had it not been for Christiano’s out and out skulduggery in pushing our Wayne then England would have won for sure! If you believe that then you’ve been well and truly duped by the media!
Yes it’s welcome back to Racing Club and the start of a new era. The “Rule of Law” is consigned to Racing Club history as we embark on a new season without former manager Marcus Law. You know that things aren’t quite right when your club’s manager starts referring to himself in the third person in the local paper – Comments about needing to do “what’s right for Marcus Law” was tantamount to a “Come and get me” plea but, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, we didn’t see a queue forming down the Hampton Road to secure his services. In the end Marcus walked out on our beloved club in order to replace Dougie Keast at Leicestershire side Quorn taking several of our first team players with him. A case of promise unfulfilled if you ask me. Almost all managers stand or fall in the end on their achievements in the league. Most managers ask to be judged after they’ve been in charge for three years. In Marcus’s case, we’ll never be able to make that judgement. I feel that we’ve been somewhat cheated of that glorious third year in which the progress over the last two and a bit seasons would have culminated in promotion back to the Southern League. Now we’ll never know what might have been and we’re starting over again with a fresh squad.
Whatever you think about the circumstances of his departure you must admit that Marcus Law and Racing Club were good for each other. He arrived in October 2003 and quickly stopped our freefall from the Southern League into the Midland Alliance. When he arrived we were languishing in the relegation positions in the Midland Alliance and, in case you’ve forgotten, that first season we eventually finished twelfth. In his first full season in charge we proceeded to finish ninth and finally, last season, we achieved the dizzy heights of sixth – our best position in any league in years. For the record Marcus managed Racing Club through 141 games of which we won just over half (71), drew 25 and lost 45 and in which we scored 242 and conceded 192 goals. Under his tenure we secured 199 points in the Midland Alliance and reached the Third Round of the FA Vase, our best run in years. But the highlight was undoubtedly the night on which we secured the Polymac Services League Cup at Oadby Town – our first Trophy since the late 1980’s. Whatever you achieve in the future Marcus you go with this supporter’s best wishes – thank you for putting a bit of pride back into our club.
Following Marcus’s departure we all feared that an exodus of the first team squad would result. First down the road was Ben Mackey who succumbed to the lure of the Windmill and joined our local rivals. According to The Courier, Ben, who scored for our heroes at the Harbury Lane chicken farm in April, was quoted as saying that “I’ll have to score a hat-trick in next season’s derby to make up”. Ben, who managed a dozen goals during 29 appearances (plus 8 as sub) for Warwick, only targeting getting a hat-trick against Racing Club? Such low aspirations for one so prolific (can you detect any irony here?)! My theory as to Ben’s departure is that the comedian who questioned his sexual orientation at last season’s end of season presentations dinner may have upset him more than we imagined at the time.
Keep the faith!
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