An Introduction to Jay Bothroyd

A bit late to put this up seeing as the match was on Wednesday, but here's a blog post that I did for One Foot in The Game introducing Jay Bothroyd for those who may be unfamiliar with him:

http://onefootinthegame.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/an-introduction-to-jay-bothroyd/


Yes, I compare him to Zlatan Ibrahimovic. What of it?

How to get out of the Championship

Over the last few years the Championship has picked up a (highly deserved) reputation as being a tough and very competitive division. There are now a host of teams that can boast fairly recent Premiership experience (Sheffield United, Portsmouth, Leeds, Burnley, Ipswich, Reading, Hull, Middlesboro) as well as those that can think of themselves as ‘established’ Championship sides looking to kick on to the next level (Cardiff, Bristol City, Nottingham Forest, QPR). All this means that it can be very difficult to pick out who the winners and losers will be of a weekend as there are usually a couple of surprises and teams can be counted on to take points off each other. It also means that the difference between mid table and the playoffs can be a well-timed semi-decent run of matches at the back of the end of the season (see Blackpool last year).

Last night provided an example of how this competitiveness can result in some ludicrous stuff. Somehow Cardiff lost to Leicester but still managed to hold onto 2nd spot in the league due to other teams below them trading blows. The league is 6 games old and frankly any team that loses a match in the first 10 games of the season would expect to drop a couple of places.

Another ludicrous example was Cardiff’s collapse in form just after Christmas last year which carried on into the February of 2010, where occasional scrappy wins punctuated draws and defeats. Despite this, Cardiff managed to maintain their place in the playoffs during this period until their form recovered as others below and around them traded punches.

However these are exceptions rather than the rule and a mini-slump in form can often see a team dropping like a stone or rising like a whale that’s running out of breath. So how is it possible to escape the melee that is the mid to upper end of the Championship table? The simplest approach is to rise above the kicking and punching scrum by storming out into an early lead. This is easier said than done, but by escaping out of it all you can score an easy and early psychological blow. Opposition teams will feel there’s no point trying to haul you back in as you’re effectively out of reach, so they’ll concentrate on those a bit closer to them and making sure that they don’t get away. This forms a virtuous circle as you keep on picking up points while all those in the chasing pack keep taking points off each other in an effort to keep in touch. The perfect example came last year with Newcastle (admittedly a very good side at that level) who sailed away into an early lead and simply kept it going. Other examples include Reading in 2005/06 and Sunderland in 2004/05.

I suppose it’s quite simplistic; ‘win league by being top from the start’ isn’t exactly a revolutionary approach, but after watching this division for a number of years it seems to be the best approach to avoid the manic end of season jostling for position that inevitably happens. Could QPR be the team that will do that this year? It’s too early to tell but they are certainly the early runners with a string of impressive results during their first 6 games. If they’ve got a 7 point lead after 10/11 games then it’ll be interesting to see how teams approach games against them.

Of course, the other option is to just fluke your way up like Blackpool did.

We Are City

Ahead of tomorrow’s Championship playoff final I've been thinking about Cardiff City and what it means to be a fan. Partly because since last week’s ridiculously thrilling semi-final second leg I haven't been able to think of much else. During my ruminations I found this video by Jonathan Owen that was broadcast on ITV ahead of the FA Cup Final of 2008. I highly recommend you watch it.

I remembered it a while back but hadn’t found it until now. For me it sums up a lot of what it means to be a City fan and it highlights how identity is formed by opposition as much as support. Being a City fan (I'd argue being a fan of most football clubs, but I think especially for City) is as much defined by who you aren't as who you are. And what he says about being a City fan and being different, being outside the norm, is true.

Growing up I had to put up with constant mocking because I supported City. All the kids in school were Liverpool or Manchester United fans. Essentially they were glory-hunters. Trying to explain that I went down and watched my team at least once a month live, in front of me, carried little weight when they retorted yeah, but we can watch our teams on TV. But in the end it made my support even greater, it made me determined that being City was going to be a key part of who I am and a way of saying that I’m not like everyone else. I may have missed the 80s phenomenon of casuals and mod styles, but football was still going to about difference and defiance.

Some of those who took the piss will be supporting City this weekend, either at the final or on TV. To them I say nice one, took you a while but glad you’re on board.

All the above is an example of how the oppositional element of football support and specifically City support can manifest itself. Simply put, We are City. We are not one of the ‘Big 4’.

We are City. We are not rugby. It's hard to explain this to non-Welsh people, but rugby exerts a stifling grip on the sporting psyche of Wales. Like many good Welshmen I do like rugby but my relationship with that sport has always been a bit fractured, due to my insistence that football, and welsh football at that, is my primary sport. As Owen points out, rugby comes from the establishment, from the stereotype that permeates Welsh identity of the honest rugby supporter grumbling a bit and drinking a pint of Brains but always supporting the boyos. It’s something that the WRU exploits to pretty much it’s limit. But South Wales is full of people who love football, but don't like rugby and a lot of them are City fans. We regularly cock a snook at the fortunes of the Welsh rugby team, while still flying Welsh flags with pride at the stadium and at away matches, as well as often forming the hardcore support for the Welsh football team. Because we're still Welsh. It's just we'd rather wear a Bluebird than three feathers. Which leads me to…

We are City. We are not English. Being one of only two Welsh clubs in the English Football League means we constantly identify as Welsh not English. This despite the fact that the majority of the first XI is generally English (currently it's Scottish, but no matter). It adds an edge to things, as Jonathan Owen points out in the video. Be under no illusions, despite many City fans not caring about whether Wales do well in the rugby, or even in the football, we are Welsh and we are fiercely, proudly Welsh.

We are City. We are not Bristol. Despite sharing the suffix, we are the true City. Local rivalries play a huge role in football, and we’re no different in our hate-hate relationship with our neighbours from across the Severn. And as for them lot down the road…

We are City. We are not the jacks. I don't think this last one needs much explaining.

This identification as City above all else, above Wales, is surprising to some people that I know. But the fact is I'd happily take a decade of stiflingly bad Welsh rugby that is an insult to JPR, Barry John and the Pontypool front row if it meant we won on Saturday and got a tilt at the Prem for just one season.

Because we are City.

C’mon City!

So we’re now Riverside FC, eh? Why exactly are we copying an ineffectual Man Utd protest?

Walking down Sloper Road in the afternoon sun on my way to the match yesterday I saw a couple of new additions to the stock on sale at Billy the Badge’s emporium of poor quality Cardiff City merch. First of all there were lots of Malaysian flags, which makes sense what with our prospective Malysian benefactor supposedly being in attendance (my favourite banner at the match simply read ‘Selamat Datang’ which means welcome in Malay). The second were some weird chocolate and amber scarves. I thought it might be some sort of show of support for newly promoted Newport County. Turns out they were the colours for Riverside FC (never knew what their colours were before). For those not up to date on their Cardiff City history, Riverside FC was the original team that became Cardiff City AFC after Cardiff was granted City status and just before we joined the football league.

So, it now looks like we’re trying to do a Man Utd and protest at the club’s running by wearing the scarf that our great-grandfathers would’ve worn if they’d gone along to Sophia Gardens in the 1900s? Well, I have a number of problems with this.

One is that we are NOT Man Utd. Copying a protest like theirs makes us look like a tinpot outfit. Related to this is that I think the whole Newton Heath thing is a bit pathetic. It’s given us the ludicrous sight of someone wearing a £5 Newton Heath scarf presumably in protest to the Glazer’s ownership whilst also wearing a replica shirt that has put £50 directly into their hands. Oh yeah, and a season ticket that’s probably cost the best part of a grand. Basically it’s an easy way for fans to feel like they’re ‘making a statement’ but without actually doing anything. The situation at Man Utd will only be resolved by some serious action. That means people not buying Man Utd branded stuff, not turning up to matches, not giving the Glazers money, joining the Supporters Trust and trying to help organise and support the ‘Red Knights in their takeover. It may mean that they have to forego truly supporting their heroes on the pitch, whom they have only love and respect for. Which is a hard thing for a football fan to do, but that’s the nature of the situation at that club. A green and gold scarf won’t cut it.

The situation at Cardiff is different. Our chairman, though dodgy as hell, is actively seeking new investors so he can ease himself out of the picture. We’re pursuing a wealthy benefactor in the mould of the Glazers to bail us out. Who knows if he’ll turn out to be as rich as he claims, or any good? Also, boycotting merch is a bad idea what with the club still possibly facing administration. Trying to draw parallels is daft.

Two is that I’m not really sure where this has come from. I had a scout around and the usual places haven’t provided any info on this, so I’m not sure whether the Riverside scarf thing is actually a fan started grassroots protest, but instead simply a merch seller who’s had a word with a Mancunian mate of his who told him how much of a killing he’s made on this Newton Heath scarf craze.

Three is that they look like Harry Potter scarves. Which is cool in its own way. I’m tempted to buy one just as a surreptitious way of supporting City while out and about, but if I do buy one it won’t be in protest at anything. I protest in the best way, ranting anonymously through the interweb tubes.

Irresponsible and Irregular

Yes Peter, the title of the article would be referring to you.

I’ve watched with increasing concern over the last week or two as yet another Cardiff City drama has played out. This time, in addition to some slightly ropey performances on the pitch involving a total inability to hold onto a lead, it’s been revealed that City owe nearly £3m to the taxman.

Now I have a simple question. Did you not realise you had to pay tax? We all have to pay tax. Everyone, unless you’ve got some seriously good accountants. Surely there’s an army of accountants ensuring that the club’s finances are in shape? Did they not realise that you needed to pay tax? If not, sack them now as they’re incompetent.

Whoever made the call to deliberately avoid paying our tax bill (and this is what appears to have occurred) deserves to be hauled over the coals by their bollocks for their sheer stupidity. I fail to see the justification for going down this route. It was not an honest mistake, an organisation of the size of Cardiff City does not make an honest mistake like that.

I just can’t see what City would gain. So you hold onto the couple of million that you need to pay. How much interest do you get from it? What, a £100k, maybe £200k at the most? And if you have held onto it for the interest, then why not, as soon as a query came in, just pay it off. Otherwise, where has the money gone that should have been paid in tax gone? What have we spent it on, and is the business model for the club so ridiculous that it does not accounted for paying tax? And you say you’re running a multi-million pound business without being able to pay your taxes or figuring that in?

Now consider the court costs we’ve had to pay, any possible fines, and the reputational damage done to the club. Also consider the damage done to the fans in terms of their trust in the club. All those people (including some of my friends) who have paid for their season tickets in the hope that it would provide some capital for buying new players, with an eye on pushing for the Prem. Now all that money is being blown on paying back HMRC. Also, what sort of image does this present to potential investors? Basically that we’re a tinpot outfit that can’t manage itself. That’s not exactly a sound investment opportunity now is it? Frankly the club’s management deserves all it gets, including the ire of the fans for being so irresponsible.

This all brings me to man in charge, Peter Ridsdale. Ridsdale has a distinctly dodgy reputation courtesy of his incredibly stupid and incompetent dealings at Leeds Utd. I must admit when he first turned up City I was perturbed, I didn’t want this dodgy bloke having anything to do with the club. But he made the right noises about learning lessons and more transparency. Clearly he still hasn’t learnt his lesson, and the transparency is becoming increasingly opaque every day. So, Peter, was all this dodgy dealing really worth it?

This all highlights how murky and corrupt (financially and ethically) the world of football can be. But I don’t think any one of us is naïve enough to not believe that the football business (and it is a business) is dodgy as fuck.

A week is a long time in football

From 8th to 13th April was a truly remarkable week for Cardiff City. Easter weekend is a crucial period if it falls during this time of the season. Much like the Christmas period can shake up a league, the Easter weekend in the lower leagues can provide a final quick sequence of results to redefine the league before the final straight sprint to the finish in the league. As such it’s always necessary to pick up a decent haul of points, though for a side to be picking up max points and a whole load of momentum is rare. You just have to look at how the other teams at the top end of the Championship fared to see what I mean.

From looking over our shoulder a touch after a 3-0 loss to Sheffield Utd, City have launched on a good run of form that has resulted in us all but guaranteed a playoff place and eyeing up a shot at automatic promotion. Obviously our brilliant results (4-1 home, 2-0 away, 3-1 home) have helped, but games going our way elsewhere and Reading’s spectacular implosion as a football team have all contributed. A further bright spark is the brilliant form of Ross McCormack, and the growing stature of Jay Bothroyd as a genuinely good leader of the line who can bring strikers and midfielders into plays.

This makes a marked difference from the previous few seasons, where City have been in or abouts the mix for the playoffs only to succumb to a Charlton-esque late-season slump. Inevitably this has seen us finish comfortably mid-table but way out from the playoffs. This season promises to be very different...

Staring at the rude boys...

After conversations about Sunday’s match and the coin-throwing incident with mates and in work, my thoughts have turned recently to hooliganism. There’s a really good article in the Guardian today about the ‘literary’ genre glorifying football violence, aka ‘Hoolie Porn’. An example of this relevant to City is Soul Crew, a book detailing the activities of the hooligan ‘firm’ (what’s the correct collective word for a group of twunts?) that was associated with Cardiff City. I’ve not read it, as I have no desire to give money to the scum who glorify this kind of behaviour, but from what I’ve heard it’s of dubious literary merit at best. Anyway, I thought the author of the article today came up with a pretty good description of why hooliganism still exists:

“Hooliganism will be around as long as men like wearing nice clobber and battering the crap out of each other and there will always be an audience for a blueprint [for books] comprised of label fetishism, rucks and battle stories”

That’s about right isn’t it?

I mean there are genuine sociological arguments around hooliganism and associated forms of violence to do with masculinity, identity and class politics, tribes and neo-tribes which I won’t go into detail about here. But for me it boils down to old guys who should know better and grown out of this trying to organise a load of kids (generally 15-19 year olds) who think that because they are City fans then they should be hooligans, because that’s what being a City fan is all about. When quite obviously it’s not.

Swearing at Alan Tate

Big game yesterday, Luton hoping to restore some glamour to their season in the Johnstone Paints… hang on, let’s start again.

Yesterday I had one of my finest moments captured on camera. Nathan Dyer had just scored for the jacks, and the Swansea players were celebrating in front of us. Alan Tate (1) was celebrating particularly vehemently while pointing at the City fans and kissing his badge. Understandably, this sort of behaviour did not sit well with the majority of City fans, myself included. The result being you can could quite clearly see me shouting ‘f**k you’ at him on the TV. So that’s two incredibly classy moments of mine that have now been captured on film. The other being at the Blues vs. Calvisano match in January, where I was making fun of the Italian announcer by miming along with him while making extravagant hand gestures. Stay classy San Diego!

On a side note, as it seems to be overshadowing the game itself, the coin throwing incident. Make no mistake, nearly every Cardiff City fan condemns that particular act of f*cknuttery. What adds to the annoyance for me is that the ref had just handled a potentially difficult situation with Chopra and Diving-Jordi-Gomez with calmness and some impressive diplomacy. Mike Read, I can only apologise for the actions of a moron.


(1) A man who endeared himself to Cardiff fans by holding up a banner depicting a man in a jack shirt taking a leak on a Cardiff shirt, along with the inestimable Lee Trundle. That’s Lee Trundle, who appears to have been born to fulfil the role of annoying Cardiff City fans and waddling around thinking he’s great at football when he’s actually fat, slow and nowhere near any good.

Paying the penalty…

My sporting week has been one distinctly influenced by penalties. A last minute (97th minute!) winner for Cardiff City midweek, followed by a last minute penalty miss by Stephen Jones against Ireland on Saturday and then a penalty conceded by City in the first 25 minutes of the Sheffield United game, with an associated sending off, that basically destroyed our chances for the match (the fact that I thought Gyepes won the ball fairly with a great tackle is here nor there).

I suppose this reminded me that sport and sporting success can exist on the thinnest of margins at times. It means that when the chances are presented for you, you need to take them with both hands. Though it helps if you’ve got an incompetent ref presenting chances for you, doesn’t it Sheffield? (Bitter? Me? No!!).

Inevitably we look at the what ifs. If Ross McCormack had missed on Wednesday then City would have a disappointing draw with Watford and another waste of one of our games in hand. Instead of the thrilling victory that meant I barely slept on Wednesday night because I was so hyper after the match.

If Jones had slotted that admittedly very difficult penalty on Saturday then Irish eyes wouldn’t have been smiling and Wales would have come 2nd in the 6 nations instead of 4th. And we’d have got to play pantomime villain for denying the Irish a grand slam, maintaining their reputation as bottlers on a par with the South African cricket team.

Had Cotterill missed for Sheffield United yesterday then City would have had the option of playing a backs to the wall rearguard action to hold out for a 0-0 draw, rather than having to chase an equaliser leaving gaps all over the pitch. Though this would not have been helped by Ross McCormack getting sent off (I’m not entirely sure what for, the angle was bad from the Grange End where I was standing, and have decided to write this before reading the match reports).

As I said, thin margins indeed.