Another season, another lesson in how to patronise northern football fans
Friday August 14th, 2009
It's like looking in a mirror (Pic: Terry Wha, some rights reserved)
It's like looking in a mirror (Pic: Terry Wha, some rights reserved)
By ‘eck, The Guardian thinks we all wear flat caps and work down mines…
Regular readers from last season will know Manny Road is not a huge fan of match previews. I attempted to hijack the ridiculous notion that stats and facts based on past events have any bearing on upcoming matches with the regular ‘… things you didn’t need to know about Bolton Wanderers v Team X‘ series.
Manny Road won’t be doing that this season, partly because I think I made my point, but mainly because I’ve got better things to do on a Saturday morning (like sleeping off hangovers, for example) than trawling through endless, tedious football fan sites reading anodyne facts about how many times Kevin Davies has used his enormous backside to win a free-kick.You can read this nonsense for yourselves over at NewsNow.
Besides, it’s a little dispiriting when you make the effort and all you get back is abuse from Wigan fans who have clearly had a sense of humour bypass.
Nevertheless, I did think it was worth bringing the thoughts of The Guardian to your attention, given that they made such a hash of their predictions last year.
Firstly, I should give credit where it’s due and say that The Guardian’s Daniel Taylor was the only football writer I could find who had the balls to step away from the comfort zone of the ‘Megson has done a good job with the resources on offer’ party line that seems to have been agreed by most pundits. Taylor even touched on some of the ideas Manny Road has been banging on about for months:
Megson, it must be said, is not a man to inspire a sense of great excitement, chewing his gum, looking angry, with a reputation for ostracising any players he thinks have crossed him. He has none of the stardust or charisma that some fans seem to think is essential. He does not inspire an element of fantasy.
It’s just a shame that the same paper had this to say in a separate preview:
If they had three wishes
1 Sam Allardyce
2 Return of the Charleston – they won the FA Cup three times in the 20s
3 To play Arsenal under rugby league rules
What a typical fan says
“It’s a man’s game so shut it, Wenger.”
And if you think that’s patronising, they went on…
If they want to get ahead they could wear an … Ecky-Thump cap
Outmoded Lancashire establishment, a triumph of substance over style that repels allcomers, especially fancy dans, with surprisingly effective improvised weapon. Baffling to southerners it remains unsurprisingly efficient in rough conditions. Constantly tipped for imminent extinction it soldiers on oblivious to all progressive trends. Liable to provoke pain in the neck.
Perhaps next year’s preview will read:
What a typical fan says
“The Guardian? I wouldn’t wipe my arse with it.”
In the spirit of hypocricsy and two-facedness that is, of course, the hallmark of any self-respecting journalist, Manny Road did agree to write a pre-season preview for ESPN, although they don’t appear to have published it yet. Perhaps my response to the question ‘Which three teams do you think will get relegated this season?’ (Manny Road’s answer: ‘In an ideal world, Manchester United, Manchester United Reserves and the Manchester United Youth Team’) wasn’t quite anodyne enough.
I’m taking it as a compliment, but will be sure to alert you all to it either here, or on Manny Road’s Twitter feed, should ESPN decide to re-write my nonsense and turn me in to a proper pundit, hackneyed cliches and all.
UPDATE: Just got an email from ESPN saying they have used my interview. You can read my ramblings here.
If you’d like to offer any predictions for the coming season, slag Manny Road off for being a miserable git (as is rapidly becoming the norm) or disprove the theory that the sense of humour gene never made it to Wigan, feel free to leave your views below…
BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Megson, Kevin Davies, Sam Allardyce
4 Comments to Another season, another lesson in how to patronise northern football fans
Hang one, you mean we DONT play Arsenal under rugby league rules? 
HeywoodWandererAugust 15, 2009
After today’s performance I would just like to apologise to MannyRoad, whilst eating on my humble pie. Poor tactics, poor team selection, poor signings, poor use of substitutions. Megson out, Manny road has every right to be negative.
DobblelightAugust 17, 2009
Foreboding, forewarning, foreseeable , fooorr the love of Christ…. were the pre season friendlies not a taster enough of things to come , Megson out now!
Sunderland are no world beaters but with a new striker, Steve Bruce at the helm, and a board willing to invest in the clubs future, at least their long suffering fans can see the light as opposed to the very dark tunnel we are about to enter into this season. Even Hull looked slick on day one …..oh my God, what am I saying!
paulAugust 20, 2009
I am not convinced that Megson knows what he is doing, he tend to talk the talk and not implement the tactics. He knows alot about the politics of the game but I am not sure about the tactics required. All the loaness last season were waste of time and not the way forward, I was surprised that he watched the reserves as he never does.
Vas te has not been supported by Megson at all except from the other trainers etc, If you are to sell players for soo cheap and they can still contribute at the top level, so why are you selling him (McCann). Even the position he is playing the players are not helpful as we all know
He has signed hard woking men (not sure about their skills or creativity) and left out the most important aspects (midfield and attack). I also assume that he cannot get over the fact that he paid too much for Elmander to allow others time to blend with the team. Obadeyi has been an inspiration with the reserves but 7-10 minutes before final whistle will not help him with the first team (I’m sure he would have scored more goals that our big money striker).
We played the whole pre-season with just limited players that Megson wants and he did not give time to other player (how can he get to have a back up plan or style).
Alot of the players are not happy (very good source) except 4-5 players, we cannot have a team like this and it is ovious with Gretar over the weekend. I can name up to 7 players that are not happy but I am concerned about how to make them happy and not adding more to their problems (as megson would bounce on them)
Megson, pls listen to others and support your players (not all those comments you are making about some players) those comments dont bind teams, they divide teams.
Leave a comment
Useful links
Tags
Search Manny Road
August 14, 2009