The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Causeway United on 26th September 2006.
So with the summer out of the way it was time to get down to business for the new season. Sadly it was to begin without yours truly however. With my seven-year-old daughter making an appearance as a bridesmaid at a family wedding in Waltham Abbey I was required elsewhere. Elsewhere our new-look side was entitled to feel a little nervous about making their debut at a level of football that many had not experienced before. By all accounts the fresh-faced (average age 20) Racing Club gave a reasonable account of itself at Racing Club-in-disguise outfit Quorn before going down 2-0 to Marcus Law’s new club, which was fielding six of our heroes from last season. Trying to follow a Warwick match by text message is not my idea of enjoying football and so, by the following week, I was champing at the bit for some action. Luckily for me it was going to be a busy sporting week.
Tuesday 15th August – Racing Club v. Alvechurch, Midland Alliance
Astonishing. There’s no other word for it. Loyal Racing Club supporters turned up to the first home game of the season with a feeling of trepidation. Having opened with a defeat it was going to be important to get something out of this one. Luckily we have a decent record against our near neighbours from Worcestershire but they started the stronger and we prepared ourselves for the worst. Enter Ubong Umotong. His nickname appears to be Ubo (perhaps it’s U-Boat when he comes on as a sub?) and he etched it into the Racing Club record books on his home debut by notching four (that’s four) goals against Alvechurch. In doing so Ubo joined the esteemed ranks of players that I have witnessed scoring four goals in one game. It’s only the eighth time I’ve witnessed the feat and that works out at around once every four seasons. The last time we saw it done here at Warwick was when Ollie Olanipekun notched four against Biddulph in 2004 and he’s now plying his trade two rungs further up the pyramid.
It’s fair to say that Alvechurch had an unfortunate night with keepers, losing their first choice keeper early on after an accidental collision with Lewis Malone that led to both making a trip to A&E. With no substitute keeper on the bench Alvechurch were forced to field defender Simon Redhead between the sticks and Redhead saw red near the end of the match when bringing down Ubo when clean through. Certainly the final score of 5-1 seriously flattered Racing Club but you won’t find many people round here complaining about that. An excellent night’s work indeed!
Wednesday 16th August – England v. Greece, Friendly International
The following night and I was wending my way to Old Trafford for the first International of the season, a game designed to warm-up new manager Steve McClaren’s first national selection before competitive action in September against Andorra and Macedonia. The visitors were the not to be underestimated reigning European Champions Greece, renowned for a skinflint defence and being cleverly organised by their German coach Otto Rehhagel. So much for reputations! England ripped into the Greeks and, with goals scored by skipper John Terry, Frank Lampard and a brace by Peter Crouch, classy England were out of sight by half time. Perhaps it was something of a Greek tragedy? Well they were certainly A-crap-olis! The second half had no hope of living up to the first but it was a pleasure to witness McClaren showing the fixture and the paying public a bit of respect by declining to change half of his line-up at half time a la Sven. The only change to come immediately after the break was the introduction of Chris Kirkland, which promptly earned his family £10,000, courtesy of a far-sighted £100 bet at 100-1 when Chris was a youngster. It ended 4-0 and, to judge by that night’s radio phone-ins, all of McClaren’s detractors must have been still on their holidays. Well-done Steve! Fleet Street will have to sit on their caricatures of McClaren look alike root vegetables for a few more weeks yet I fancy!
Dedicated followers of this column will recall that I have developed something of a soft spot for Crouchie following the disgraceful booing that he received when making his early appearances for Ing-ger-lund. For the record (and any boo boys out there) he’s now scored eight goals in twelve games and, when you consider that several of the dozen appearances came from the bench, I reckon he’s averaging about a goal a game. Not bad for someone alleged to be not fit to wear the shirt don’t you think?
Friday 18th August – England v. Pakistan, Fourth Test, The Oval
Not having had my fill of International sporting action in this particular week, I headed south on the Friday for the second day of the final test. If you recall, England had embarrassed themselves on the first day being bowled out for less than 200. On the second, Pakistan began to build themselves a commanding lead but, with the benefit of hindsight, it was all to no avail as the match disintegrated into acrimony and controversy on the Sunday as Umpire Darrel Hair accused the Pakistanis of “ball tampering” who, in turn, were so offended at the very idea that they decided that they simply couldn’t carry on in the circumstances. What a farce!
This was my first visit to the Oval and, ground-hopper that I am, added to my “collection” of FA Cup Final venues visited. Older readers of this column (such as Charlie our gateman) will no doubt recall that Kennington Oval was the venue for the very first FA Cup Final in 1872 but did you know that it wasn’t used as Test Cricket venue until 1880? My impression of the place was that it was a tight little ground with very little land to spare between the boundary rope and the perimeter wall of the ground and a capacity of only 23,500. Nevertheless the place was and is charming and oozes history at every turn. For example, one of the joys of wandering around a cricket ground on Test match day is that you are more-or-less bound to see a couple of cricket legends. My visit was no different in that I literally bumped into Shakoor Rana’s nemesis and Henry VIII look-alike Mike Gatting and, a little later, former Surrey and England stalwart Alec Stewart. Now how often do you see former England footballers attending Internationals or even former Racing Club players attending our home games?
And so, with my sporting week almost at an end, I caught the train home relishing the prospect of watching Racing Club in the Extra Preliminary round of the FA Cup and the possibility of our securing a first FA Cup victory in the twenty-first century. What could possibly go wrong? Stay tuned to find out!
Keep the faith!
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