Team of the Year

So here it is – the Championship Team of the Year voted by you.

Goalkeeper: Kelvin Davis (Southampton)

Right Back: Graeme Alexander (Burnley)

Left Back: Kyle Walker (Sheffield United)

Centre Back: Clarke Carlisle (Burnley)

Centre Back: Richard Stearman (Wolves)

Right Midfield: Jordi Gomez (Swansea City)

Left Midfield: Robbie Blake (Burnley)

Centre Midfield: Karl Henry (Wolves)

Centre Midfield: Chris Cohen (Nottingham Forest)

Striker: Jason Scotland (Swansea City)

Striker: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (Wolves)

Many surprising inclusions and a far cry from the PFA Team of the Year.

Please leave your thoughts and feelings.

(Champ Corner, Football FanCast, 2009)

Coppell will be missed

Some things are simply too hard to bare, Steve Coppell has left Reading after six years, giving us the best stint of our history. It was on the back of bad form and bad results that what was hard to take. I always thought he would call his time with
Reading on a good note so he can ride off into the sunset and look back knowing he has done well.

Instead, he looks back now at a squad that will be obliterated; it will not be his legacy no more.

Premier League has been and gone and it is Championship football again for another season at least. Ten years ago, even five, I would have bitten Sir John’s hand off for a fourth place finish in the second tier, now to many fans that is not deemed good enough and what fair-weather fans they are. Remember the 6-0 home loss to Bristol Rovers – we could have still been there.

End of an era indeed and an era that, in the future, my grandchildren will get quickly bored of the stories about Stephen’s Hunt winner against Everton, James Harper scarpering through against Liverpool, Glen Little’s chip at Plymouth, I easily go on all day. Coppell was the messiah and the composer of all what was good about Reading, he deserves all the praise he gets, if not more.

What Bill Shankley was to Liverpool, Coppell was to Reading. What Bill Nicholson was to Spurs, Coppell was to Reading. What Sir Matt Busby was to Manchester United, Steve Coppell was to Reading.

Coppell will not be able to boost the trophies the three great men have but his impact was very similar.

He may have only added a Championship Title to our embarrassingly small trophy cabinet but that small token means so much. It speaks volumes. It put us on the map. It made Chelsea hate us. It made Oliver Holt hate us even more. We won plaudits, and more importantly, we proved Mark Lawrenson wrong (insult added to injury, we salute you Robin Friday).

There should be a statue erected outside the stadium, at least; it would give us some much needed football culture, it gave us a history. The Coppell Stadium may be a bit too much. Renaming a stand? Possibly but his work should never be underestimated or forgotten.

I will be forever Coppell and no new man will ever be able to fill his shoes in the slightest. He would be the man that made my dreams come true, made old friends see top flight football for the very first time. Whoever this new man will be, he will have an incredibly hard act to follow.

And good luck to him. Just don’t spoil what has been done.

Hampshire are optmistic

The pre-season lunch was a compelling success as corporate staff were treated to drinks, fine cuisine and a question and answer session with Team Manager Giles White, bowler Billy Taylor and Director of Cricket Tim Tremlett.

White commented on various issues including the advice and guidance given to him by Duncan Fletcher in the recent preseason tour to South Africa. He said, “Fletcher’s appointment is fantastic, he adds a lot to the table. He has spoken about many things; one of them was the use of reverse swing and how to use it effectively.

“Duncan also spoke how Nic (Pothas) and I should interact with each other as he says that the relationship between the coach and captain is vital especially with Nic being our captain until (Dimi) Mascarenhas returns from international duty later on in the season. Fletcher will also be back in July to help us out for the last part of the season.”

Questioned whether his team have enough quality to be successful in all forms of the game, White replied, “We have a strong squad that can be successful in all formats. I want to win something this year and we are very capable of doing that in any of the formats. We have a slight advantage in the LVCC County Championship as Imran Tahir will be able to bowl as many overs as he possibly can rather than being restricted in the Pro40 and Twenty20 competitions.”

White also singled out Nottinghamshire and Durham as two counties that will really challenge Hampshire. He said, “Notts and Durham are two strong teams this year but I feel injuries and international call-ups will play a huge part this season’s outcome.”

But Hampshire will be in the thick of the action as White is adamant that his side can continue the good form that served them well at the end of last season. He said, “There is a buzz in the place and everyone is extremely excited for the season to begin. We have a good squad and we will do well, especially if we can continue our form from the second half of last season.”

Like White, Tim Tremlett was in optimistic mood for the upcoming season as he is convinced this will be a good one for Hampshire Cricket. He said, “We have a realistic chance of winning something this year. We have a few players back that were absent last year, John Crawley missed the last part of the season due to injury and he will be back to do well. The major downfall would be that Dimi (Mascarenhas) will be missing as he will on duty for England for the forthcoming Twenty20 and One Day Internationals.”

He is also happy with how the preseason has gone, “We have had good preparation for the season, we went unbeaten in South Africa, and we have won one and lost one against Glamorgan in the friendlies.”

Billy Taylor also reiterated what his coach had said, “We want to win something this year. The team is in good spirit and we are in a very good shape physically. We are all ultra competitive going into the new season.”

Alexander the Great

Would you believe it if I tell that, the man that has played the most amount of games this season is a 37 year old Scotsman.

Burnley’s Graham Alexander has played no fewer than 51 games and has played in every single minute of those games.

In this run, the right back has also played in an unprecedented three lots of extra time as well. This is equivalent to 4,680 minutes and countless amounts of injury time for the promotion chasers.

He has been coined the marathon man as he shows no signs of slowing down. As Manchester United are the next team on the list with 49 games, it shows how good Burnley have done this season. Nemanja Vidic has made the most appearances for the Red Devils this season and that is only 40 games(three as substitute), compared to Alexander’s 51.

To make Alexander’s record even more astonishing is that he has managed to squeeze in four games for his native Scotland as well. The marathon man indeed.

The former Scunthorpe United, Luton Town and Preston North End player is still loving every minute and has enjoyed cup ties against some of the country’s best. Ties against Tottenham Hotspur, Fulham, Chelsea, Arsenal and West Brom have added to Burnley’s hectic schedule and the list of Alexander’s conquests.

If Burnley were to reach the playoff final there is a prospect of another 10 games before their season is possibly over making Alexander’s games pass the 60 mark.

Burnley have got a good chance to take their chance in the playoffs and if they were promoted, it would be the first time in the Premier League since relegation at the end of the 1975-76 campaign.

If Burnley’s manager Owen Coyle got anything to do by Alexander still could be playing professional football well into his 40s. and good luck to him.

To refer or not to refer?

To refer or not to refer? That is one question that is causing much debating in the Cricket circuit and on recent evidence there do not seem a point.

When you throw your mind back, umpires used to the best judges and the standard of umpiring has been diminishing since the inclusion of TV replays and this referral nonsense.

Before TV replays umpires had to make the difficult choice, their own eyes and initiative where there only point of protocol and on a whole, decisions were better assessed if though may have not been the correct one. Players respected the decision and there was not point in disputing the decision.

The decision was solely on them, they had to make the hard decision, as there was no other way. It was down to them, now with the influx of technology they don’t have to make that difficult decision. Technology should be embraced nevertheless but it needs a clear and defined system in place that works and that can be implemented in all forms of professional cricket.

The inclusion of TV replays has certainly helped to make more right decisions, even though it causes minor disruptions and delays. The third umpire is only there just to make sure that the decision was fully correct or if the umpire missed a close decision.

But this referral fiasco has hindered the flow of cricket and has caused more talking points than anything.

The referral system works particularly well in Tennis, as there is a key indication that the ball is either in or out, there is no two ways about it. Cricket has too many factors for it to be as clear as that.

On reflexion on the West Indies test it is something that the game really could do without. Fortunately for all cricket lovers, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is to assess the controversial new system in May but who knows what that will bring.

Big names in cricket including South African Captain Graeme Smith and Australia Captain Ricky Pointing have both declared their dismay for the system as both would like to see the idea of eradicating really bad decisions but the current system in place leaves a lot to be desired.

The current system of two challenges per innings are allowed as the TV official can use pictures and some of the available Hawkeye Technology.

There was a half-hearted attempt to use the referral system in the Friends Provident Trophy and it was frankly embarrassing. In the end, the captains agreed not to make referrals, and the umpires alike shook hands to protect their fraternity.

No doubt it will be back in county cricket sooner or later, and as much as the cricket purists wishes the system will not be going away.

International Test cricket is pinnacle of cricket and the exposure of the system should have not been highlighted in such an awkward way. It should have went through extensive tests in county cricket before it was inflicted on the main arena but the eagerness of the ICC to make cricket more fashionable prevented common sense as teething problems will always be apparent.

This evidently will be a vital part of the future in cricket but at the moment the future looks a little hazy.