Downwind of the Chicken Shed (Part 8)

The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Barwell on 4th November 2006.

The ongoing saga of one man’s season.

Wednesday 13^th September – Manchester United v. Celtic, Champions League

The opportunity to see a Battle of Britain fixture between probably the best two supported sides in the UK was too good to miss and, with the missus being not very happy at the number of midweek fixtures that I’ve been attending lately, I decided to forsake the delights of Romulus v. Racing Club on the Tuesday night in favour of the Theatre of Dreams on the Wednesday. By all accounts Racing Club gave as good as they got against one of this season’s pace setters and the final 2-0 score line in favour of the tenants of Sutton Coldfield Town was a flattering one for the victors with their second goal coming only in the final minute of the game. The memories of last season’s 2-5 Racing Club rout of Romulus at the same venue seem such a long time ago don’t they? For those of you that are interested in these things, as at the final whistle of the Romulus game here’s the comparative record of each of the most recent Racing Club Managers after their first ten games in charge. As you can see Jose’s off to a promising start!

	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Goals	Goals	%
					For	Against	Success
Jose Ascensao	10	4	2	4	22	16	50.0%
Marcus Law	10	3	2	5	8	13	40.0%
Mick Wilson & Pete Beadle	10	0	2	8	7	25	10.0%

The Champions League was new territory for me as it would be, I imagine, for most residents of the West Midlands given that Europe’s premier club competition is the exclusive property of English football fans in the North West and the Capital. I did once have the pleasure of attending the Barcelona v. Sampdoria European Cup Final of 1992 at the old Wembley but that was positively prehistoric having taken place in ye pre-Champions League olden days you understand (yes kids, many years ago only the Champions of a country were allowed to enter the European Cup, incredible as it may seem!). This season’s competition had paired United in the same group as the Bhoys from Glasgow and, as these things usually do, represented a golden opportunity for the British media to hype up the clash. Perhaps surprisingly this was the first competitive meeting of these two famous clubs who seem to have had fairly close unofficial links over the course of the preceding decades.

I had heard of the reputation of the Celtic support for backing their Bhoys. Apparently they’ll always find a way to get in to see their team - I understand for example that the attendance at Celtic’s appearance in the UEFA Cup Final against Mourinho’s Porto in 2004 was substantially of the green and white hooped variety. On this special Old Trafford occasion, Celtic took their full allocation of 6,500 and had also managed to hoover-up the lion’s share of the hospitality tickets (where yours truly was sitting!). So I found myself sitting in one of those recently constructed corner sections that have lifted the capacity of Old Trafford to an awesome 76,000, adjacent to the Stretford End and in a small sea (a lake?) of green, white and gold clad Scotsmen. The majority of the Celts appeared to be huge nightclub bouncer-sized middle aged men smartly turned out in collar and tie and with the distinct aroma of strong drink having been taken. When they spoke I needed subtitles! A broad Glaswegian accent is impenetrable at the best of times but with an alcoholic slur it becomes indecipherable! They did manage to communicate their joy however upon taking the lead courtesy of the player with surely the longest name in world football now or perhaps ever: one Mr Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink no less (note to referees – you may need to bring another pencil along if you think that you might need to book this guy). I was dying to witness the Celts break out into a rousing chorus of “Give us a “J-ay-ay”” but alas no. The match was hugely entertaining for the neutrals as the two sides went in at the break locked at two a piece and within seconds of the resumption Fergie’s favourite little Baby-Faced Assassin shot his side into the lead with what turned out to be the winner. Finally a note to all Sky Blues fans out there: Paul Telfer was indeed out of his depth – bet that gladdened your hearts didn’t it? All in all, it was a night to be remembered.

Saturday 16^th September – Atherstone Town v. Racing Club, Midland Football Alliance

Sheepy Road’s a football venue name to conjure with! Perhaps not quite the same ring to it as Nou Camp or  San Siro but nevertheless special in its own way. My last trip to Atherstone was back in 1995 for a Beazer Homes League Premier Division clash hosted by Atherstone’s earlier gone-but-not-forgotten outfit United. This visit was to see Atherstone’s new club, still nicknamed the Adders but this time more officially known as Atherstone Town and unbeaten in their opening league games and that at a new, higher level of football.

We knew that, going into this fixture, the game would be relished by the players of both sides. Atherstone fielded former Racing Club favourites Lee Everitt and keeper Richard Williams as well as former Racing Club fringe players Ashley Pringle, Danny Haynes and Junior Hewitt. With Jose having played a significant part himself in Atherstone’s recent successes in the Midland Combination and having brought one or two former Atherstone players to Hampton Road, both sides had a familiar look about them irrespective of which one you supported. Most Warwick supporters did not know prior to kick off of the disrespectful remarks alleged to have been made by Atherstone’s manager towards the so-called “rejects” playing for our club. Many thanks to him for providing all the motivation that we needed to take the game to Atherstone! We dominated the first half and any neutrals watching would have thought that it was Racing Club with the unbeaten start to the season. Atherstone found themselves in more trouble going down to ten men following the sending off of Everitt for bringing down Ubong from behind when clean through. It was tough on Everitt who had played very well up to that point but it is difficult to criticise a referee when they apply the letter of the law. Warwick’s goal came courtesy of James Graham on 39 minutes and was no more than we deserved.

Atherstone proceeded to lay siege to the Racing Club goal for long periods of the second half but Warwick were not without several good chances themselves and really should have extended their lead on more than one occasion. Atherstone won the close-but-no-cigar honours with two woodwork rattlers to our one but our luck held and the final whistle blew on our best league result of the season. Atherstone’s unbeaten start had bitten the dust and Warwick remained the pride of Warwickshire. Jose really should have shook the Atherstone manager by the hand and thanked him for providing all the motivation that we needed. Perhaps we should ask Mr Ginnelly to do all our team talks?

Keep the faith!