The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Oadby Town on 30th December 2006.
The ongoing saga of one man’s season.
Saturday 28th October – Coalville Town v. Racing Club, Midland Alliance
The Owen Street Sports Ground is a lucky ground for our boys. In 2003/4 we won there 3-2. The following year we won 2-1. Last season we won again, this time 2-0 with goals from Jermaine Gordon and Scott Lower in the match that marked Marcus’s final game in charge. For those of you who haven’t been to Coalville Town before it’s worth knowing that their ground is pretty difficult to find unless you’ve got directions. Owen Street is tucked away just off the town centre but it’s not until you get nearly all the way to end of the Street that you’ll find the entrance to the ground which is well hidden away. It’s actually quite a tidy set up surrounded as it is by what I took to be landscaped slag heaps on two sides. The winding wheels of the colliery’s pit-head can be spotted on the horizon. Yes folks – this is mining country but did you know that Coalville is also famous as the home of Pippa - the dolls were manufactured there back in the 1970’s? There’s one to impress the lads with down your local tonight!
We made good time getting there – it’s less than an hour from Warwick but sadly I counted fewer travelling Warwick supporters than we’ve seen in previous seasons. Come on chaps and chapesses. Support your team! This year we travelled with optimism, albeit that our boys went into the game on the back of a five game winless streak. That said, our last two games had featured draws against Oldbury and Market Drayton and these were closely followed by a postponed League Cup tie away at Causeway that we would surely have won had inclement weather not intervened!
Once again Racing Club were fielding a very young side. And once again we started off very much on the back foot. Coalville applied considerable early pressure and had already had good chances to take the lead before they did so in the eighth minute courtesy of Chris Gray. We feared the worst but Coalville failed to press home their advantage and our boys got back into it albeit without creating too many chances. Late in the first half we hit the woodwork thanks to a clever free kick from Jamie Newland - the rebound was scrambled home by Matt Brown standing, sadly for us, in an offside position. It was to be our best chance of the game. We huffed and puffed throughout the second half but never came as close again.
Wednesday 1st November – Arsenal v. CSKA Moscow, Champions League
One of the consequences of the previous weeks deluge and subsequent postponement of Racing Club’s Polymac Services League Cup tie at Causeway’s new home at Tividale was that I would end up missing the rearranged game a week later due to me having snaffled a ticket for Arsenal’s Champions League game at home to CSKA Moscow. Thankfully, after a winless October, Racing Club got back to victorious ways with a thumping 4-1 win securing our passage into the second round of the competition and a tie away against regular foes Tipton Town. This was Jose’s twentieth game in charge and it is interesting to note that his side’s record is now identical to that of his erstwhile predecessor over his first twenty games, albeit with a better goal difference. Given that Marcus is held up as the most successful manager that we have had at Racing Club in recent seasons, that’s no mean feat. However, Marcus’s games 21 to 30 in charge yielded eight wins and one draw so the comparisons will get much tougher from here on in Jose!
|
|
Played |
Won |
Drawn |
Lost |
Goals |
Goals |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
For |
Against |
Success |
|
Jose Ascensao |
20 |
7 |
4 |
9 |
33 |
33 |
45.0% |
|
Marcus Law |
20 |
7 |
4 |
9 |
20 |
26 |
45.0% |
|
Mick Wilson &
Pete Beadle |
20 |
3 |
3 |
14 |
13 |
42 |
22.5% |
Turning from the Polymac Services League Cup to the UEFA Champions League (now how often do you hear that particular phrase?), those of you that know me well will know that, being a bit of a Spurs fan, an opportunity to view the Gooners does not normally figure very high on my list of priorities. However, being a fully paid-up member of the 92 Club (the club for those people who have seen a home game at the ground of the every club in the Premiership and Football League), I was duty bound to make a trip to Arsenal’s new home, affectionately known as the Emirates Stadium (yes it’s sponsored).
When people get to hear that I’m in the 92 Club I’m usually asked to name its best and worst grounds. Now I’ve been a member of the 92 Club for 20 years and for 19 of them I’d always struggled to decide which was the best and worst. Not so this year. Without a doubt in my mind, and though it pains me to say it, the Emirates Stadium is now the best in England. It may not be the biggest but there’s not a poor view to be had in the house, every seat has leg-room to die for and, wait for it, every seat is padded! No more agonising Farmers in North London (cockney rhyming slang: Farmer Giles = Piles)! I reckon that the footprint of the new Stadium must be at least three times that of Highbury and the behind the scenes catering and toilet facilities are first class. If I have to pick a fault with Arsenal’s new set-up it would concern the surrounding transport facilities which struggle to cope with the 60,000+ people arriving and departing the Stadium ina short space of time on match day. The Capital’s streets don’t really offer much room for parking at the best of times so most people have little choice but to use public transport. The trouble is that one of the nearest Tube stations isn’t open on match days because it only has a spiral staircase down to the platform. Therefore the majority head for Arsenal and Finsbury Park Tube stations which consequently become very crowded and require police crowd supervision to regulate the flow of humanity onto the platforms. So you want a bit of travel advice for the Emirates? Leave your car at Potters Bar Railway Station and get the overground train into Finsbury Park – it took us less than 10 minutes to do the trip and wasn’t particularly overcrowded for the return journey – it seems that everyone else takes the Underground.
As you probably already know, the match finished goal-less but was nonetheless highly entertaining as Arsenal created and squandered a hat-full of chances. CSKA Moscow looked a fairly solid outfit and were UEFA Cup Winners not so long ago, also laying claim to being Roman Abramovic’s “other” side. As I was heard to remark when one or two passes went astray in the middle of the park: “There’s no point Russian” (groan). And at the end: “Ah well, Moscow”. Arf Arf.
One of my pet hates concerning Arsenal is the habit that far too many commentators have for referring to them as the Arsenal. Why do they do that? We don’t have the Chelsea, the QPR, the United or the Bury do we? Are there other clubs masquerading as Arsenal requiring us to be informed that this one is in fact the real Arsenal? No, there’s nothing the about them is there and the club badge doesn’t have the word the on it. Now if Arsenal were based in Yorkshire rather than North London it would make sense for them to be referred to as Th’Arsenal provided that it stood for Thierry Henry’s Arsenal! Perhaps we should simply refer to them as “The” for short?
Oh and just in case you’re still left wondering which is the current worst ground in the 92? My personal wooden spoon goes to league new boys Accrington Stanley (Who are they? Exactly!) whose Interlink Express Stadium (yes it’s sponsored) is quaint but not really suited to the kind of large attendances that come with League football. Anyway, that’s me back to the full set of 92 in readiness for a trip to Doncaster Rovers early in the New Year, the next new Stadium to grace the 92.
Keep the faith!
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