Away From The Numbers

Tackling The Tackling Problem

2012-01-08T21:45:00.000Z

Modern day football feels completely unrecognizable at times from the game when I was growing up.

Now I know I'm a bitter and twisted, old fashioned football fan. I even have the When Saturday Comes t-shirt to prove it. In blue.

I'm a grump. A cynic. Stuck in my ways and don't like change. Pro lower league, grassroots football and anti the money men that are ruining our game at the top (and sometimes bottom) levels.

All this is true. I wouldn't even begin to deny it.

That said, I'm surely not alone in wanting something done to stop all the tinkering in modern day football that takes all of the raw passion and aggression out of it.

"Cleaning the game up" is also ruining it.

Players should be allowed to tackle and tackle hard. No one wants to see players injured. Ok, not strictly true. There are some I would gladly like to see snapped.

Why the modern day change in what is classed as an acceptable tackle? Was there so many career ending injuries that made the authorities feel there was a need to stamp out robust tackles? Of course there wasn't.

Today's sending off of Vincent Kompany in the Manc FA Cup derby is a prime example of the outcome of a game, and a player, suffering because of the ridiculous new laws.

Now, I'm no fan of either Manchester side, so there's no bias there. I just wanted to see a classic Cup tie. In some ways I did. Man City certainly gave it a spirited fightback in the second half, but the sending off deprived us of what could have been.

Maybe eleven v eleven wouldn't have provided us with five goals, but in most games, such a sending off will see the team down and out.

Up to around two years ago, Kompany's tackle wouldn't even have raised an eyebrow or a shout of ire, and neither should it have. He won the ball fair and square and made no contact with the opposing player.

Fair play to Nani, he didn't make anything of it at the initial moment of the tackle. And he's one of the most obnoxious, moaning cunts in the English game.

Of course, he soon joined in the protestations as Rooney, Wellbeck and Carrick rushed to the referee to demand red. Rooney, in particular, was gesturing for a card. Where was his, if the laws of the game are being so strictly adhered to then?

Was Kompany's tackle reckless? Out of control? Dangering the opponent? No. None of those.

The fact that his feet were off the ground and could have been deemed to be in a scissor movement are what seemed to be what sealed his fate.

It's frankly ridiculous. We're turning the game into one for pansies. Billy Bremner must be turning in his grave.

Watch some Match of the Days from that period and work out how many players would have been left on the pitch under modern day rules. Leeds united certainly wouldn't have been so successful, as most of their players would have been sent off and suspended.

Who is it that's wanting this sanitisation of the game today? It's certainly not the fans.

I'm all for sending offs for tackles that fly in with reckless abandon from behind, but 50-50 balls are there to be won.

If one player wants to fly in and one wants to shit out, then that's football. If both want to go crunching in, then that's also football.

Don't spoil our enjoyment by seeing matches ruined by reducing players on the pitch. Don't turn our game into nothing more than kids level of ferocity.

The time to fightback and tackle the ridiculous tackling issue needs to start now.

No wonder fans are deserting the current game in their droves. Not many want to pay to watch boring, tippy tappy games.

Save our game, before in a few year's time we are watching something which doesn't resemble what most of us grew up watching.

As Fergie Flops, Should Sir Alex Have Quit At The Top?

2011-12-08T07:01:00.000Z

The 2011/12 season is starting to become an annus horribilis for Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United.

Weakly crashing out of the Carling Cup and the Champions League in the space of seven days, and chasing down their Manc rivals in the Premiership title race with a string of stuttering performances, is not what the spoilt United fans are used to.

And neither is Fergie.

When you add United drawing City in the Third Round of the FA Cup next month, it’s not inconceivable that Man U could finish the season trophyless.

There is the good old Europa League to aim for now, although I look forward to Fergie playing the kids and crashing out of that at the earliest opportunity.

What a difference a year makes.

United’s 12th Premier League title was secured by nine points and they seemed to be putting together another squad of amazingly talented kids. The future looked as rosy as Ferguson’s cheeks.

Ferguson will be 70 years old in 23 days time. At his age, and with 37 major career trophies to his name, should Fergie have got out when he was ahead and quit at the top?

Obviously I’ve never been in any sort of similar position. All I know is that I can’t wait to retire.

I’ve always been puzzled by players who play on past when they should. I know there’s the whole missing of the game and not knowing what to do with themselves. That’s a buzz I’ll never know to fully judge.

Long term managers also know no other life. It’s what they love doing.

Outside of football, I feel the same about actors who make really shitty films when they don’t need any more cash.

Why would you not go and enjoy your money and rest on your laurels, knowing full well that the legacy you’ve left behind will stand the test of time?

Why risk tarnishing it and going out on a low point in your career?

Let’s look at this from the viewpoint of another sport I closely follow – gridiron, American football, throwball, call it what you like. Let’s be more precise, Canadian Football and the CFL (Canadian Football League).

My team is the Vancouver based BC Lions. They’ve just won their sixth Grey Cup (Canada’s equivalent to the Superbowl).

I know most of you don’t care about such a sport, but bear with me. There is a point!

The Lions Head Coach, Wally Buono, has the best winning record as a coach in CFL’s long history and this was his fifth Grey Cup triumph, and ninth final appearance. The win for the Lions came in their own home hosting stadium, becoming only the third team achieve this feat.

Buono is 61 years old, 62 in February. He has a good eight years on Sir Alex, but after the triumph he has retired as Head Coach.

There’s not going to be anything better than what he achieved this season, so why not go out on the top? Several of the veteran players have/will be doing the same.

Back to proper football now, and so Fergie should have done the same thing as Buono last May.

I know football is in his blood. He would probably happily coach till he dropped down dead. One of his mentors, Jock Stein, did just that and you could arguably say he died doing what he loved most.

It’s not my, or anyone’s decision to make, just Ferguson’s. But will he make the correct decision at the right time?

I’m no Man United fan, far from it, but with all that Sir Alex has achieved in the game, I’d like to see him retire on a high.

Maybe he still will win a Premiership, FA Cup and Europa League treble.

If he turns this season around and does that, then that surely must be the tipping point for his retiral.

Let’s just hope he doesn’t keep going on till he drops or until people start to say he’s lost it. This season is his hardest in a long time, but of course, Man United are experts at the second half of the season revival.

It would be horrible to see arguably Scotland’s greatest football manager bow out after a season of despair and failure.

If the past seven days are anything to go by, then he has possibly his toughest five months of his managerial career ahead, as he looks to salvage some pride and keep his reputation in tact.

That’s just as important as silverware.

English Premiership Becoming More Of A Turn Off Than Turn On

2011-12-07T21:45:00.000Z

Anyone that knows AFTN, and regular readers of this blog in particular, will know that we're not the greatest fans of top flight football at the best of times, or rather the mechanics behind the business end of it all.

As East Fife fans, I think it's naturally in our DNA to love watching lower league and non league football, in the smaller, more intimate environments. Or in other words, games where naebody turns up.

That's not to say we don't enjoy watching games from the English Premiership, because we most certainly do. Or at least did, until this season.

I've been finding it increasingly hard to get excited about this season's Premiership campaign.

For those that don't know, I'm currently a Scottish ex-pat, enjoying life in the new climes of North America. We've covered this fact before in AFTN, so for those that have heard it before, please bear with me.

Over here, we get an abundance of live and as-live football. Every top league you could imagine and also the SPL! European, Mexican, South American, even the A League down in Oz. The English Premiership is obviously the big draw and we get an amazing amount of games.

Every weekend, every game is basically shown in full at some point in the schedule. They draw big audiences. To put it in perspective, the recent MLS Cup final drew half the audience in the evening that a run of the mill EPL game had drawn that morning.

On a Saturday we get the early kick off game live, two or three 3pm kick offs live, and the teatime game live. We also get both the main Sunday games live, unless there's something like a Celtic-Rangers game to be shown instead. All the other games are shown, usually one after the other, in full.

That's a feast of football, of that there is no doubt. Sure it can be a bit of a football overload, and the pain in the ass that is the kick off times can be inconvenient, but hey, that's why PVR's were invented right?

This season though, I've found myself flicking through the TV guides on a Friday night and thinking "You know what? I really don't fancy watching any of these games in full". This results in me not getting up early to watch anything and not recording anything for perusal later.

Instead, I've found myself watching all the Championship games that have been on offer instead.

Even the games I do end up recording, I find myself just fast forwarding through and just watching the goals or any interesting incidents that catch my eye.

Now it’s got nothing to do with the football or entertainment on offer, on the whole. It's just that I can't muster up any excitement about the 20 teams in the Premiership this season.

I'll quantify that by saying right from the off that I'm a West Ham fan, so a lot of my interest went out the window right there and has turned to the Championship, which has been the best English League for excitement for years now anyway, and one which I've always followed closely.

The last few years we had the excitement of watching promoted teams like Hull City, Burnley and Blackpool try (and ultimately fail) to punch above their wait, as they end up in relegation dogfights that have provided twists and turns up to the final kick of the season's ball almost.

When Blackpool went down with the Hammers, I knew the writing was going to be on the wall for me with regards to watching the Premiership this season. Right there you were losing exciting football, underdogs and Ian Holloway.

Sure we have three new promoted clubs, but they're not exactly the underdogs the way the above northern contingent were.

Norwich are kind of blah. I do want them to stay up, as they are an unfashionable club and have a very promising Scottish manager at the helm. I know that when it's getting to the end of the season, if the Canaries find themselves in a relegation battle, that will be enough to get me to tune in, but just not right now. Last season I went out of my way to watch every Blackpool game in full.

The way Norwich are going they could find themselves safe without any need for a dogfight, which is great for them and all smaller clubs with strange aspirations to just stay up.

The same is true with Swansea. I also would love them to avoid the drop, primarily because they're not English!

Then you have last season’s Championship Champions. There is so much to dislike about QPR. They had the big foreign money investment and splashed the cash. Also, how can you cheer on any team that has Queen AND Rangers in their name?!

Existing teams like Wigan, Blackburn and Bolton don't exactly get the juices going when you see the fixture list for the weekend ahead. And if they're playing each other, then just forget it.

At the top, it could get interesting if Spurs keep up their charge. The football they played at the weekend was breathtaking to watch at times. Still hard to like them though.

If Man City run away with the title, which I think they will have all but wrapped up by the end of March, then it's going to be an even less exciting Premier League run in than we get in Scotland most years.

So for now, my disinterest in this season's Premiership will continue.

I will watch games of the top sides battling it out, even though they usually end up just disappointing and not living up to the expectations. I'll tune in for any interesting derbies or games with some player animosity thrown into the mix.

And I’ll sit here hoping above hope that West Ham, Blackpool and an unlikely club like Brighton, fill this season’s three promotion places come May. Not sure I’ll be getting that wish in full.

On the whole though I'm going to be relying on the good old Beeb's 'Match of the Day' to cover the day's games and keep me up to date with all things Premier League.

It's like I've been transported back to my childhood days of the 70's, as I avoid the day's results until I can settle down to watch it.

And you know what? It's been really refreshing.

Video Evidence Great For Justice But Punishments Need To Go Further

2011-12-06T17:50:00.000Z

Watching Sportscene on Sunday evening, one of the weekend debates was obviously about Rangers' Sone Aluko and his apparent dive to win, what turned out to be, a match winning penalty against Dunfermline at Ibrox.

Pundits in the studio and punters online have all had their say on the matter.

To us it looked like Aluko knew exactly what he was doing. He had nowhere to go, he went down theatrically, he won a penalty by embellishment.

Most angles show no contact, one shows the possible slightest of knocks that looked nowhere near enough to send a grown man crashing to the deck the way it did.

The immediate question was whether the SFA would punish Aluko for diving. Today, we got our answer.

The SFA are proposing a two match ban for simulation, and the matter will be heard by a tribunal on Thursday.

Now this is all well and good (and it really is), but the end result of these hearings simply do not go far enough if we are really serious about stamping this blight out of football.

The introduction of video evidence has been a great innovation to the Scottish game and punishes cheats. At least most of the time.

The punishments don't always hold up when clubs end up appealing them, ala Hibs and Gary O'Connor, when a similar incident led to a two match ban first being proposed, then quashed on appeal.

Clearly post-match punishments also serve as no deterrent to players, who are prepared to take the gamble if it earns their clubs vital points. In a lot of ways, you can’t blame them.

Realistically most fans don't care if they win a game due to a dive or an act of cheating. I'd be lying if I said I would. I want the win.

On the other hand, if my team were to lose due to such actions, I would be livid. We're hypocrites. Most of us are if we’re being honest.

When the punishments are handed out later though, they need to be way more far reaching.

Banning a player for a game or two and/or fining the guy, means very little these days. It has to be the clubs themselves that are punished.

Rangers won the game, and all three points, due to Aluko's actions. Those points could be decisive in the Championship race at the end of the season or even the relegation dogfight.

Punishing Rangers, or any club, for their players diving by docking them three points (no matter what the outcome of the game) is way more likely to see these antics curtailed pretty quickly.

Ultimately, I would rather we had video evidence than nothing at all. The alternative is what we had before, with all such players getting off with nothing more than their reputations being tarnished.

If we're ever to stamp this blight out of our game though, then the punishments need to be way more far-reaching.

And I can think of no better way to start that off than by punishing the SPL leaders.

There's the clear message.

No matter who you are or how big a club you are, you WILL be punished in a manner which hurts you.

Premier Sports Aim To Take Interactive Television To A New Level

2011-11-30T08:44:00.000Z

Wrexham take on Darlington at the Racecourse Ground tonight in the Blue Square Premier.

The game is live on Premier Sports, I’m sure you’ll all be watching come 7.45pm.

I would love to be watching live if I could get the channel and wasn’t actually at work when it’s on, so will need to make do with trying to find a download later on.

So what’s so special about this match? It’s just another non league game on a channel that not many of us actually subscribe to, right?

Wrong.

It’s been great to see non league action back on our screens. AFTN would always prefer it to be available on a free to air channel, but beggars can’t be choosers, and with ITV digital and Setanta Sports going tits up and taking football deals with them, then any kind of coverage that lower league and non league football can get in this modern age is very gratefully received here at AFTN Towers.

And Premier Sports do a really good job with it, treating it with respect and giving it decent airtime on their schedule. It's great that they stepped forward and picked up the coverage.

In the battle for our time and footballing mind, the game is primarily up against Man United v Crystal Palace in the quarter finals of the Carling Cup over on Sky Sports and the Europa League tie between Tottenham Hostpur and PAOK Salonika on Channel Five.

I know what game I would pick any day of the week, but that’s me. I’m in the minority I sadly know, although not amongst readers of this blog thankfully.

Premier Sports are adding a new feature to tonight’s broadcast though, and if it’s the success I think it will be, then we could be looking at a new direction for our football commentary.

Sky always like to be cutting edge, and if they see something working elsewhere, you can be sure that they’ll be on it quicker than you know.

For tonight’s game, Premier Sports are going to be going fully interactive, with the commentary teams inviting comments from viewers via Twitter about the game and coverage.

On paper, it’s nothing that we should look at as too groundbreaking in this technological age, but yet it is.

Now we have the chance to let commentators know that they’re spouting inane rubbish and that they should shut up! Or tell them to stop being so obsessed with certain players.

More so though, it will give fans to share their thoughts on the current action, ask questions about decisions, subs, anything you fancy. It should also make for more informative chat and batter during the game, especially during lulls when commentators are just trying to avoid dead air.

Presenters Steve Bower and Alan Snodin will try and read out as many comments as they can during the broadcast. You can get in touch with them at their newly created Twitter account.

Lower league and non league football fans already feel closer to their teams at matches, than their “big team” counterparts. Now they can feel closer to the action whilst watching at home too.

Watch the game, take part and make this experiment the success it deserves to be. You could be shaping the future!

Killie’s Win Over Gers Highlights One Of The Many Things Wrong With Scottish Football

2011-11-29T21:47:00.000Z

Kilmarnock’s 1-0 win over Rugby Park on Sunday was great.

One of the bigot brothers had just got beat and it closed the gap at the top between Rangers, Celtic and Motherwell, to at least add some pretend excitement that we have a two/three horse title race on our hands in Scotland.

At least we don’t have one team walking away it, like it looked like just a few weeks ago.

It should all have been joyous news. Except it isn’t.

Kilmarnock’s win, or rather how the Killie fans and players reacted to it, just highlighted one of the many things wrong with Scottish football.

Watching the game on TV, and then listening to Sunday’s Radio Scotland podcast of the day’s news, the post game reaction was astounding.

Sure it’s always nice to beat one of the Old Firm, and yes, it was Kilmarnock’s first home win over Rangers for an incredible 17 years (and 33 games), but seeing and listening to the jubilation at the final whistle, you would have thought that it was a Cup tie or that Killie had just won the League with the result.

These results should not be unexpected. They should not be treated like a Cup giantkilling shock. Where is your aspiration? What exactly are your goals as a football club? To merely survive in the League and hope for some kind of Cup run every season?

Kilmarnock are Rangers’ peers. At the start of every season, they line up on equal footing with their Glasgow counterparts. Level on points, but clearly with much different aspirations.

Obviously I understand that the likes of Kilmarnock cannot compete financially with the Old Firm and, as such, they can’t compete competitively with them on the pitch over the course of a whole season. And that’s what’s sad about the Scottish game.

Ultimately, what is the actual point of these SPL also-rans’ existence?

One of our top flight teams in this country should not be so excited about beating a team that they have played for three and four times a season for years now.

If this is the pinnacle of your hopes and aspirations, then just give up now.

As an East Fife fan, and supporter of lower league football, I often get people telling me that they just don’t understand how I can watch a club like that. What enjoyment do I get not seeing the “big name” players and experiencing the “big match” atmosphere? What is the point of my team’s existence?

If my alternative was watching a team that every season think to themselves “wouldn’t it be great if we finished third this year” or “wouldn’t it be great if we managed to finish second bottom and avoid relegation”, I don’t think I could get much motivation for going to the games.

Clearly I’m not alone. No wonder crowds are so poor.

Did you see all those empty seats at Rugby Park? Was it the cost? Was it the early Sunday kick-off time? Was it the fact that the game was on TV?

For some fans, these will have been the reasons, but the over-riding reason for many will have been the fact that they didn’t see the point of turning up as they expected Kilmarnock to lose – again.

At least with East Fife and most other SFL clubs we have real hopes, battles and meaningful games every season.

Very few teams in the First and Second Division don’t have realistic hopes/fears of being involved in the promotion and relegation issues at the business end of the season.

The Third is a different matter, but add in a pyramid and relegation and we may have a whole different ball game on our hands.

We might not have the skill, the names or the crowds, but lower league Scottish football at least gives the game some real meaning and I’d rather have that any Saturday of the month.

If one of us beat Rangers, then that IS something to get so excited about.

Let’s give Kilmarnock their moment in the sun though. It’s not every season they beat two big teams in a month.

Rangers were one thing, but we should always remember their struggle in overcoming the odds to beat the ten men of the mighty three time League Cup winners East Fife a few weeks ago.

What a season for them, huh?

Living the dream.

Gary Speed R.I.P.

2011-11-28T19:03:00.000Z

The footballing world was sent into shock yesterday by the death of Welsh manager Gary Speed at the age of 42.

Speed had no connection with any of my teams, but I wanted to pay tribute to a man that was a model professional and a son, husband, father and friend that will be truly missed my many. He was that kind of man. Fans of all teams admired and respected him.

When I woke up on Sunday morning and saw the headline on the BBC website, I just couldn't believe it. Finding out the sad facts behind his death was equally tragic and shocking.

This was a young manager who seemingly had everything going for him, but no-one, not even his closest friends seemed to have any idea of what feelings he was hiding behind his genuinely bubbly public demeanour.

Robbie Savage said it best on last night's 606 Football Phone In on BBC Five Live:

"I just can't understand it. The world was at his feet. I just can't believe it."

As a player, Welshman Speed touched the hearts of many. He had 23 years in the game, turning out for five clubs, and known to millions around the world for his times at Leeds, Everton, Newcastle and Bolton in the Premiership. His 677 appearances brought 103 goals, and he is behind only Ryan Giggs and David James as the player with the most matches played in the top flight of English football.

Capped 85 times by his country, he went from player to captain to manager, and was just starting to see the fruits of his hard work in turning the fortunes of the national team around.

The recent 4-1 defeat of Norway showed that things were starting to fit nicely into place and that performance was already a marked difference from how Wales played against Scotland in the 3-1 Celtic Nations Cup defeat back in May.

It was still very much a work in progress for the Welsh, but moving back into the top 50 in the Fifa rankings made it clear that they were moving in the right direction.

Players were clamouring to play for the Welsh national side again. There was renewed hope and whoever takes over the hot-seat from him will have a great legacy, built by a great servant to his country.

Upon hearing about Speed's death, my thoughts turned to ice hockey. For those readers who don't follow that sport, this may seem strange, but 2011 has been a year that has seen the suicides of a couple of NHL players.

Depression seems to be the link in all of them. It was a disease that some were known to suffer from, but some kept it, and their personal turmoil, hidden out of sight.

We of course don't know yet if Speed was affected by such a thing. Nobody seems to have had any indication that he did. The same was true of my wife's uncle who committed suicide in 2007 and to this day, no one knows why.

Listening to Darren Fletcher and Robbie Savage on BBC Five Live's 606 Football Phone In was so emotional. It was a fitting tribute to Speedo, and must have been so difficult for his close friend Savage to get through the show.

There were laughs. There were tears. There were fond memories. But most of all, there was just so much love for the man. No-one seems to be able to speak highly enough about Gary Speed and that says it all. He was a true gentleman who always had time for everyone.

It just makes it all the more confusing as to why such a talented man took his own life so early.

The show isn't an easy listen, but we urge you all to listen to the Podcast, as there will be no more fitting tribute to the Welshman than the outpouring of emotion therein.

RIP Gary Speed. You will be missed more than you could ever know.

Things You Love To See In Football #9 - Strange Sending Offs

2011-11-25T22:00:00.001Z

We haven't done one of these for what seems like an age and we've had this one up our sleeves for a while now.

Sending offs ruin football matches. We know that's technically true.

As long as it's not one of our guys though then it's fine with me, ruin away!

Some red cards are obvious, some are debatable and some are a real bone of contention that leaves you wondering just what the officials saw that you, and hundreds of others around you, didn't.

Then you have the ones that just beggar belief altogether, and those are the ones we're going to put in the spotlight today.

Bizarre sending offs are fantastic to see and provide much light relief for years to come. As always, so long as it's not affecting your own team.

I'll kick off with one which did affect one of my teams back in April.

Vancouver Whitecaps striker Eric Hassli, had been booked minutes earlier, when the Caps were awarded a penalty.

The Frenchman stepped forward to take and score the kick, when this happened...

Standing behind the goal watching it unfold, I immediately said "fuck, he's off". And yup, he was!

To make matters worse, the Caps were already down to ten men, but they managed to hold on to their 1-0 lead until injury time when opponents New England Revolution fired in an equaliser.

Hassli had also just returned to the line up after being sent off in his previous match!

So even the old double jersey switcheroonie doesn't save you from one of the most ridiculous laws of the game.

Never see why simply taking your jersey off to celebrate is still a bookable offence when no-one seems to want it to be.

Want to see another bizarre sending off for taking your jersey off?

Try this one from a Ukranian Premier League match between Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and Karpaty Lviv:

Again, technically the letter of the law, but come on, where's the commonsense?

The unfortunate player picking up his second booking was Dnipro's Ghanaian defender Samuel Inkoom.

Neymar's bizarre mask sending off is well known, so we won't feature that here. Plus it couldn't have happened to a nicer wanker.

Even when you try to do good, you can still earn the wrath of the referee and see red, as Dorchester Town player-manager Ashley Vickers found out in a Conference South match last season at Havant and Waterlooville:

Borat has a lot to answer for.

Our final clip comes from down under.

I've seen a lot of red cards waved around over the years, but I've never seen one issued for having your penis pierced. Until now!

Some of you may have seen this back in the summer, but it's always worth another chortle.

The incident took place in a lower league reserve game in Melbourne, Australia. Aaron Eccleston of Old Hill Wanderers had a Prince Albert which the cock of a referee took an objection too and sent him off:

The question everybody wants to know when they see this, is how did the ref know he had such a piercing?

Well it came to light after Eccleston had to receive treatment when he took a ball to his balls.

Yes, the ref is within the rules to get jewellery removed, but makes you wonder how many other players (of both sexes) have private piercings that no-one ever gets to know about.

Old Hill still won 3-0. I'm sure wanted to know that for closure!

Do you have some favourite strange sending offs of your own? Share them below...

Fans Must Speak Up To Save Non League Football Show From Axe

2011-11-24T19:03:00.015Z

We’ve said this before in AFTN, but being an exile certainly does make your footballing heart grow fonder. Especially when you add in growing older and getting all misty eyed reminiscent about the footballing days of your youth (not all of which are probably as fondly and accurately remembered as they perhaps played out).

It’s been over four years now since I left Scotland for pastures new across the Atlantic, and it really is true what they say. You don’t realise what you’ve got till it’s gone.

There’s not many things I miss from living in the UK, but going to the football every week is one of them. Especially when going to the football meant going to some really quaint and some really ramshackle grounds on your travels.

And if East Fife got an away draw against non league opposition in the Scottish Cup? Result!

It’s been a huge culture shock for me to go from three figure attendances in the lower reaches of Scottish football to 20,000+ crowds at state of the art, purpose built stadiums full of plastic seats and far too many plastic supporters and, shudder, soccer mums and their annoying kids.

I miss my lower league and non league football. Grassroots football will also be my first love.

Getting your football fix isn’t hard to do in North America. We’ve covered before about the plethora of games and Leagues from around the world that you can watch. It really is overload. Nothing beats going to a live game though and nothing ever will.

Moving away has given me some regrets.

Why did I throw out certain football memorabilia instead of shipping them over? Why did I sell all my childhood subbuteo stuff? And, in particular, why didn’t I do more groundhopping when I had the chance?

I’ve had a long love affair with non league football in the UK, and especially the English pyramid system.

I love the hope every team can have that somehow, one day they could be in the Football League, even when you’re rebuilding a team you’ve watched die in front of your eyes.

I love the atmosphere and banter at games, when sometimes you’re in a crowd of just double digits, and in some leagues for midweek matches, single ones. I love the affinity and bond you have with your team. I love the surroundings, the localness of it all and the wonderful history that so many of these Clubs have.

To me, this is proper football.

Pre-season trips to watch East Fife at clubs like Peterlee, Seaham Red Star and Spennymoor piqued my interest in the English non league scene, but I guess my love affair really started when Wimbledon were forced out of the Football League and AFC Wimbledon rose from their ashes.

As a long time member of the Dons Trust, their tale is an inspiration to all fans of lower league and non league football. We don’t need to say much more.

We’ll never forget though the support the Dons gave to our Down With Brown campaign.

The Wombles aside, there’s a number of non league sides that AFTN has been avidly following the fortunes of (for a wide variety of reasons) over the last few years: Cray Wanderers, Kingstonian, Metropolitan Police, Bath City, Newport County, FC United of Manchester, Durham FC and Guernsey FC to name a few.

The last couple of years, AFTN has made an annual pilgrimage back to the UK, not to see friends and family, but to catch some proper football matches.

We always take in a Fife game of course, but we’ve also been trying to get some non league groundhopping done too. Sadly this hasn’t happened this year, but we hope to be back over in April and May to get some end of season and playoff action in.

Maybe I’m some kind of football snob, but I just can’t understand why every football fan doesn’t love, appreciate and attend non league games when they can. In reverse, supporters of the Old Firm and the top English sides will wonder why I want to stand freezing my ass off in rundown surroundings, watching (arguably) inferior football, in front of a handful of people.

They don’t get it and I don’t get them. Neither party is likely to change anytime soon.

It’s been sad to see the spate of non league sides go to the wall in recent seasons. It’s just going to be an increasing trend I fear.

There’s the strange situation where non league football has been killed by the media, but now, more than ever, it needs the media to help it survive.

Sky changed the whole game of football in the UK, but it made far too many people only care about the Premiership and watching games from the comfort of their armchair, whilst they take in a never ending stream of slick graphics, replays and fancy technology.

Non league football needs the exposure that TV and radio can give it though to attract more people through the gates to support local football.

Those fans who have got out to see what non league football is all about have liked what they’ve seen and many have become hooked.

The game needs more fans to do this and it’s been fantastic to see the success of “Non League Day” the last couple of seasons.

It’s also been great to see non league football back on our screens through ESPN. Just a shame that it couldn’t have been picked up by one of the free to air channels, especially a terrestrial one.

Every bit of support counts though.

For me, being so far away from the action, one of the most important tools in recent season to keep me in touch with what’s happening in English non league football has been the BBC’s excellent Non League Football Show podcast.

The whole team have done a great job in bringing non league teams and their issues to the airwaves and to a wider audience.

The publicity they’ve brought to a number of issues have undoubtedly helped many clubs, and although often there has been nothing that can be done to help some plights, they also celebrates the highs of the minnows in FA Cup and League action.

”For the fans, by the fans.” is their tagline, and with host Caroline Barker being a life-long Chelmsford City supporter, it’s not a false claim.

The podcast is a must listen for me, and many others, every week, and I’m saddened to hear that the show is facing the axe from the BBC next year due to huge budget cuts in local radio.

It’s a dreadful situation, especially when you consider some of the absolute tripe that pains our ears every week. You would think that the BBC would actually want to keep and promote one of their few football shows that is not derivative.

Without the “Non League Show” we would not have been kept so well informed about the troubles that have affected a multitude of non league sides, such as Chester, Crawley, Wrexham and a host more.

Dave Anderson, Willie Wordsworth and Dave Watters always give insightful analysis of the pressing matters in the grassroots game and instead of getting rid of a show like this, we should be actively producing more.

As football fans, no matter who we support or what League our teams play in, we cannot allow this show to be axed.

When it was announced last month that the show was facing the axe, a Facebook page was immediately set up to show support, and currently has 1785 members.

The show is produced by BBC London, please take a minute to email them at: yourlondon@bbc.co.uk and let them know how important the ”Non League Football Show” is to grassroots football.

You can also alert the BBC Trust and make your feelings known, not just about the Non League Football Show but also the cuts that will be taking place in BBC radio in general, at: trust.enquiries@bbc.co.uk.

Spread the word about saving the show on Twitter as well, using the hashtag #savethenonleagueshow.

In these days of monotonous unoriginality in football shows, The Non League Football Show is a breath of fresh air.

As the battle for real football lives on, let's hope the show isn't drawing its final breaths.

Pitched To Perfection : The Clamour For Artificial Turf Pitches Grows

2011-11-23T18:06:00.003Z

AFTN are traditionalists. Any regular readers will know that.

You could describe us as grumpy old men, living in the past and not embracing change. Harking back to bygone days that may or may not have existed in quite the glowing light that our memories paint. We prefer to go with traditionalist!

One of those traditions that we have been known to harp on about is that football is meant to be played on grass and we don’t want any of those newfangled artificial pitches.

Ultimately, we still feel that way but our stance has most certainly melted, to the stage where we’re not sure whether there’s more of the snowman or more of a puddle.

I’m of the age that whenever anybody mentions “plastic pitch” to me, my immediate thoughts plunder my memory bank and throws out the horrendous pitches that existed at Stirling Albion’s Annfield Stadium in Scotland and the likes of QPR’s Loftus Road and Luton’s Kennilworth Lane in England.

I never experienced watching a live game at either of those venues south of the border, so that’s probably more media brainwashing with regards to those. I did though have the misfortunes of watching East Fife play at Stirling’s bouncy castle in the late 1980’s.

It was a horrible surface. A sickly green colour that produced uneven bounces and scraped shins and other extremities.

Opposition players hated playing on it, opposing fans hated watching games on it. It gave Stirling a bit of an advantage, playing on the darned thing every other week, but with the kind of bounces you were getting, it was still a bit of a lottery for both sides playing football on it.

Those days are past now, and in the past they must remain. For it’s a whole different ball game with the new, state of the art artificial surfaces that are out there.

So much so, that there’s currently a national debate raging on as to whether this is the only realistic way forward for lower league and non league sides the length and breadth of the UK, with cash strapped sides like Accrington Stanley convincingly arguing that it is.

Football clubs that currently have artificial pitches not only swear by them, many also put them down to keeping their very existence going.

There’s estimates that a Club with an artificial pitch can generate upwards of £100,000 in extra revenue each season. With so many clubs in serious financial peril right now, this is a potential godsend for them and not something that can be turned away.

It could be the difference between continuing to operate and going to the wall.

The installation of an artificial surface lets the pitch be used every day of the year if clubs wanted. It can be used on matchdays, it allows for better training facilities and it can give some sides a bit of a home field advantage.

It guarantees a perfect playing surface for every match, but even more importantly, it guarantees that the match is actually going to take place and bring in much needed revenue. No last minute postponement surprises and the financial worries that brings.

Add in use in all weather conditions, for hours at a time and the fact that it can be rented out to whoever, and it really does make financial sense for clubs to go down this route.

So why aren’t more doing it?

Well, there’s the large six figure cost involved to get the pitch in the first place (you’re looking at around £4-500,000 upwards).

Then there’s the rules that don’t allow it in some competitions (Football League, FA Cup, FA vase to name but three), even though the world’s governing body FIFA sanction their use.

There is still a stigma in the UK about such pitches. Many of us are a little bit stuck too much in our ways and need to embrace the future a little bit better.

These pitches are even commonplace in the likes of Spain. Another footballing hotbed, with passionate fans, but one which also has a better climate than what we’re stuck with in the UK! They go down alright over there.

You just have to look at the last two winters in the UK. Horrendous snow and frost decimated fixtures across the country for weeks upon weeks. Undersoil heating can only do so much and most can’t afford such a luxury anyway. This may make the surface playable, but it can’t do anything about the ruts and divots created by the weather.

East Fife have stated in the past that they were concerned about the sudden stop in vital cashflow, and the financial costs at this time of the year are horrendous for small clubs already struggling to survive.

Every fixture lost, can be another nail in the coffin for some.

East Fife have already talked about installing a state of the art artificial pitch in their proposed new mythical stadium.

When the initial announcement was made, there was a scream of “Noooooooooooooo” echoing around AFTN Towers. Now though, we’ve changed our mind.

Taking all the positive financial aspects out of the equation, what really turned my views round on this subject was experiencing a plastic pitch first hand watching Vancouver Whitecaps in Major League Soccer.

The Whitecaps moved into their new home, at the $563 million renovated BC Place, in October this year.

Since I began watching the Caps in 2007, they always played on a grass pitch at Swangard Stadium. The move to the “big leagues”, meant that this stadium was not an option and a temporary move was made to Empire Field before the permanent move to BC Place.

Empire Field sported an artificial turf and it was awful. The Caps players hated playing on it and actually went away and trained on grass in local parks most of the time. The pitch was also blamed for a number of niggling injuries that the squad endured this season past.

FC Dallas’ Daniel Hernandez can testify to just how crappy the pitch was, catching his studs in it and twisting his leg for a season ending knee injury.

So the warning lights must now be flashing with you and you’re questioning my sanity in saying that I’m warming to artificial pitches after these tales.

There are still some bad surfaces out there, where the problems of old still persist. Get one of the brand spanking new surfaces though, like what has been installed at BC Place, at a cost of around $1.2 million, and the difference is night and day.

The Whitecaps are playing on a new Polytan surface, said to be the closest thing to real grass and earning the highest possible rating from Fifa. It really is hard to tell. The bounces are natural, there’s been no injuries caused by the pitch so far, and the players have been very positive about playing on it.

The Whitecaps also secured two wins on the thing, which was rare enough in 2011!

I’ve slowly been won round.

Clubs need to get income generation from outside of their daily football operations to survive and artificial pitches will do that.

I’ll still always prefer grass, but let’s be honest here, how many clubs can afford to have lush, bowling green pitches these days?

If installing a plastic pitch is going to be the difference between my club, or any club, thriving or dying, then there can only be one decision made.

Let’s hope people like the FA come to same conclusion.

Scottish Cup Minnows Eaten Alive

2011-11-20T19:00:00.000Z

Yesterday's sixteen Scottish Cup ties proved not to be happy hunting grounds for seven of the nine non league sides remaining in the tournament.

As we discussed on Tuesday, year upon year, the FA Cup still has an alluring quality around it, something seriously missing with its Scottish counterpart.

We've pondered in AFTN before as to why the Scottish Cup just never gives off such mystique.

Yesterday's ties basically showed you why.

Whereas the gap between non league and league opponents in England seems to narrow every season, in Scotland, the difference in quality between Scottish League clubs and most non league teams is massive.

Somewhat strangely, but also somewhat expectantly, the smallest gap is between the league sides and the top Junior outfits, demonstrated once again by the only two non league teams remaining coming from the Junior ranks.

All four of the Junior teams admitted to the Cup this season had made it to the Third Round.

Bo'ness United fell 3-0 at home to Division Two leaders Cowdenbeath, whilst Irvine Meadow were on the end of a 6-0 hammering from Division One high flyers Livingston.

Ayrshire Cup specialists, Auchinleck Talbot, were the only non league winners of the round, seeing off fellow non leaguers Vale of Leithen 3-1 at Beechwood Park.

The last of the four Junior teams, Culter from the SJFA North Superleague, were in the Third Round by default, having been reinstated by the SFA when Spartans were thrown out for fielding an ineligible player in their 2-0 Second Round victory.

They certainly made the most of their second chance, holding Division One strugglers Partick Thistle to a 1-1 draw in Peterculter.

The Junior teams apart, the non league sides have struggled once again this season in the competition.

In the Second Round, only Deveronvale ousted a League side, beating Berwick Rangers 4-0 at home. Two other sides, Fraserburgh and Buckie Thistle, took their Third Division opponents to a reply, but both fell short.

From East Fife's point of view, that was great news. Yesterday's Third Round Cup opponents, East Stirling, had dispatched Buckie 4-2 in their replay, and probably gave the Fife a much easier tie than the Highland Leaguers would have provided.

East Fife's 5-0 victory yesterday was five going on around 15. The Shire were one of the worst teams we've had at Bayview in a long time. Great for us, as we now find ourselves in Tuesday's draw and looking forward to hopefully another major Cup run.

The Fife's big win was great, but nothing compared to Airdrie United's embarrassing 11-0 demolition of East of Scotland side Gala Fairydean.

This was more than a league side steamrollering over their non league opponents. This was showing just how lacking in depth the Scottish non league set-up is.

Gala were one of the stronger non leaguers in this year's Cup. They had already banged in some goals themselves, thrashing fellow borders side Hawick Royal Albert 8-1 in the first round and Highland League outfit Golspie Sutherland 5-2 in round two.

I thought we'd seen the last of such hammerings being dished out by League teams at this round of the competition. They were commonplace when I was a lad.

Fluke result? Or another sign that if Scottish football is to develop and grow, we need to have a strong non league system producing quality young players to come through the ranks through a properly organised pyramid system?

East Fife have never lost to non league opposition in the Scottish Cup in their entire history. Many have tried, all have failed.

Let's just hope that we avoid Auchinleck Talbot in the fourth round to keep that record intact.

The Ayrshire men are going to be the team many want to avoid.

At least one side is keeping the non league magic alive in this season's Scottish Cup.

Highland League Basement Battlers An Inspiration To All

2011-11-18T09:35:00.000Z

A remarkable event occurred last Saturday.

No, a Cowden fan didn’t have a shower, that would just be ludicrous. Almost as ridiculous was the fact that Fort William FC actually won a game.

Not only did The Fort get their first three point haul of the season, they also did it away from home, beating the unfortunate Rothes 2-1 at Mackessack Park. That’s a stat that the Speysiders don’t want to have on their record books this season.

The win took Fort William’s points tally to the season up to four, after eleven games. Only 28 points behind league leaders Forres Mechanics now!

As terrible as they are, they weren’t even bottom of the Highland League before this win!

It’s been a long few years if you’re a Fort William fan.

I’ve always kept my eye on them since they joined the Highland League for the 1985/86 season. I still have a lot of their programmes from their debut season. I even got to see East Fife play a pre-season friendly up at Claggan Park in 2000, and they made us very welcome.

They’ve never done great, and have never finished in the top half of the table. Their best season came in their second season, when they finished 11th.

In the last fifteen seasons, they’ve finished bottom on a staggering eleven occasions and, on occasion, by some margin.

The 2008-09 season, in particular, was an all-time low for the Club. Their 28 game record read Won 0, Drawn 1, Lost 27, for a grand total of one point, the lowest points total ever recorded in the Highland League and I would think in any other mid-level league as well.

We’ve featured Fort William in AFTN before, when an American project to take ownership and have fans around the world fund and run the Club was proposed, billing the Club as "America's Team".

Sadly, like most of Fort William’s seasons, it’s come to nothing and the project seems as dead as The Fort’s Highland League Championship hopes.

I don’t really know what it is about the Club that has made them so bad. Maybe their distance from the core of the other Highland League sides, and the closer proximity of top Junior teams, makes it harder to attract the quality players.

For most recent seasons, the Club have had no real peers in the League.

That changed in 2009, when new kids on the block, Strathspey Thistle, joined the Highland League.

Since then, the last three seasons have seen the two sides battle it out for the morale boosting second bottom spot, with both keen to avoid the “Worst Football Club In The Country” tag.

Strathspey had that dubious distinction in their Highland League debut season of 2009/10, when they finished seven points adrift at the bottom.

Last season, Thistle took the avoiding the tag honours, finishing 17th with a total of ten points, one ahead of the hapless Fort William. Both sides recorded just two wins the whole season, with Strathspey finishing with a goal difference of a whopping minus 94 and Fort William with one of a staggering minus 112.

This season has just been a disaster for both teams so far, culminating in their meeting on November 5th at Claggan Park.

Going in to that game both sides had no wins, no draws and no points from their combined total of 21 Highland League matches played.

Something had to give. Someone had to have at least a point by the end of the afternoon.

It was perhaps fitting then that the game ended as a 2-2 draw, with both sides getting their first points of the season and the game garnering much interest the length and breadth of the UK.

The only thing better for both Clubs would be getting their first actual wins of the season and Fort William did just that at Rothes last Saturday.

Danny Mackintosh gave The Fort a 1-0 lead in the 40th minute with, literally, a toe poke. The visitors then doubled their lead with a minute of the half remaining through a fantastic 25 yard free kick into the postage stamp corner from Sean Ellis.

When Rothes pulled a goal back through Stuart Massie with seven minutes remaining, it was real backs to the wall stuff for Fort William, as they hardly had a possession stat to their name in those closing moments.

They held on though and secured a famous victory, to leave Strathspey Thistle as the only winless team in the country, going down 3-1 at home to Fraserburgh the same afternoon.

Fort William manager Danny Conlon was pleased with the progress his team are making:

”We were a wee bit nervous as we are not used to being in the lead.

Defensively we have only lost eight goals in our last five games, Mike has been working really hard on the training ground on the shape and positional sense of the back four and midfield four and we can see the rewards of that.

Before the last two games I felt that if we got 4 points I would be happy so I am delighted with that. It is a long road, I think we are going in the right direction but it all takes time for it to fit into place.

We are working hard, every game I ask for a bit of progress and look for the boys to push on from previous games. Other than in the first half v Strathspey we have done that.”

The current table in the battle not to be the worst of the worst, now sees Fort William with four points and a goal difference of minus 31, to sit in 17th place. Strathspey just have that one solitary point and a goal difference of minus 33.

Both sides can take a bit of hope from looking at Brora Rangers, who are sitting third bottom with ten points, having played more games than both sides below them and having the worst goal difference in the Highland League, at minus 36.

AFTN is full of admiration for both of these sides struggles. It can’t be easy for everyone at the club to turn out and play, manage or support these sides week in, week out.

These are true football people. No glory hunters in sight.

You should remember this the next time you moan about your own club’s plight. Better still, if you find yourself in or near Fort William or Grantown-On-Spey, get along to Claggan Park or Seafield Park and lend your support to these perennial strugglers.

This is real football.

FA Cup Allure Still Alive And Kicking

2011-11-15T19:03:00.035Z

Last weekend was one of my favourite times of the football season.

The first round of the FA Cup is just a magical time, and although this year didn’t produce a plethora of cup shocks by the minnows, it did produce some cracking games, goals and highlights.

763 teams will take part in the Cup this season, by the time the big guns come in to the mix in January.

After months of qualifying games, the first round proper saw 32 non league teams taking part, including eight all non league ties. 17 non league teams now proudly take their place in the second round draw, including the lowest ranked team in round one, Redbridge, but how many will be there once all the replays are decided?

The Ryman League Division One North side, now face a replay against fellow non-leaguers Oxford City for that place in round two and a visit to high-flying, and big spending, Crawley Town.

Another side to watch for in the replays is Stourbridge. You would think that scoring three goals away to ten man Plymouth would have been enough to see them advance, but they conceded a heartbreaking late equaliser, albeit from a cracking goal.

One of the most pleasing aspects of this year’s FA Cup is the number of teams in the draw that have fought back from not just the brink of extinction, but the actual death of the original club itself.

Sadly, in this modern age, the number of clubs having to be wound up and start all over again is growing each year. Seeing the likes of AFC Telford United, FC Halifax Town and, of course, AFC Wimbledon, is inspiration to all football fans who agonisingly see their club die in front of their eyes.

One of the results/highlights I was particularly looking forward to seeing on Saturday was that of Bradford Park Avenue. It’s a name I know from my childhood programme collecting days. Great to see them back. Not so great seeing them get two men sent off and thumped by an amazing 8-1 scoreline by fellow Tier 7 minnows AFC Totton, from the Southern League Premier Division.

My full interest in the FA Cup seldom lasts past round four these days. Even rounds one and two have a slightly less shock appeal than previously.

The gap between the top Conference sides and League Two opposition seems to narrow more each year. League One teams, on the whole, do provide a much sterner test for their non league counterparts. The gulf between the bottom two divisions of English League football does seem to be a step too far for many.

Fleetwood Town beating Wycombe Wanderers, and deservedly, is still a shock, but one which we, and many others, expected.

Even when you see some heavy defeats like the 4-0 ones suffered by Alfreton Town and FC Halifax Town, the scorelines on paper don’t convey the full story of what played out on the pitch.

It was great to see so many of the games broadcast live, or in full on delay, across the world. I did wonder what the American public must have thought when they tuned in Fox Soccer to watch Alfreton Town on Saturday morning.

I loved it. Perfect setting, perfect atmosphere, perfect weather. Just a shame the result wasn't different.

There were some real grounds of character on display and a fair few I want to see on a groundhopping trip at some point in the future.

You can stick Maidenhead United’s York Road ground on that list. It was amazing to think that you were watching TV pictures from a ground that first hosted a FA Cup tie 140 years ago after the club moved there in 1871.

Halifax Town may have risen from the ashes of the original club, but they still play at the Shay and it’s a cracking ground worthy of hosting League football once again.

There’s just something special about seeing any old ground that still has terracing these days.

I always regret not doing more groundhopping when I lived in the UK, especially since some of the grounds that I’d have loved to have seen, like Chesterfield’s Saltergate (another ground that was first used in 1871), are sadly no more.

The usual thing I guess. You don’t realise all the great things on your doorstep till you move away.

Non league football is such a thing with me as well. I always loved it. Watched East Fife on numerous pre-season jaunts to some weird and wonderful places, but never explored all the possibilities fully, due mainly to following the Fife around the country every Saturday.

One thing that’s definitely on my bucket list though is taking some time to watch the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup one year. Right from the very start in August.

Anyone who has read the excellent Real FA Cup website can't want anything else.

One year...

Ogleby Dismissal Kills East Fife In Killie

2011-10-25T21:39:00.001+01:00

Having claimed the scalps of Scottish Premier League sides Dunfermline and Aberdeen in the previous two rounds, Second Division East Fife went in to tonight’s Scottish League Cup Quarter Final, at Kilmarnock’s Rugby Park, with nothing to fear.

East Fife are three times winners of the trophy, but tonight was to be their first national quarter final tie for 39 years and they wanted to make the most of it.

Several hundred fans made the cross country midweek trip, hoping to see another Cup upset from their black and gold heroes and evoke memories of the Fife’s greatest moment – when they defeated Kilmarnock in the 1938 Scottish Cup Final to become the first, and still only, side from outwith the top tier to lift the trophy.

East Fife kicked off the game in front of a very vocal Bayview faithful.

Kilmarnock had the first effort of the game when Liam Kelly shot high and over, from long range.

East Fife certainly didn’t look overawed by their SPL opponents and started to take the game to Kilmarnock, winning the first corner of the game in the 5th minute.

The home side started to turn up the pressure on their lower league visitors and Mark Ridgers had to get down well to save at his near post from Gary Harkins in the 9th minute.

Moments later, Killie had another chance to open the scoring, with the dangerous Paul Heffernan firing narrowly wide.

East Fife weren’t overawed though and Ryan Wallace had a long range effort go just wide in the 15th minute.

The Fife had a lucky escape in the 20th minute when Heffernan broke clear and outpaced the Fife defence before trying to round Mark Ridgers in the Fife goal.

The Bayview stopper did well to force the Irishman wide, allowing the Fife defence to get back and clear the danger.

East Fife came right back and Ryan Wallace broke clear but didn’t have the support to break the deadlock, midway through the half.

There was little to choose between the two sides, with Kilmarnock looking dangerous on the break, but East Fife were having success with the long ball and running at the Killie defence.

The game was becoming a little bit dreary as a pure footballing spectacle, but the on loan Dean Shiels had a chance for the home side in the 37th minute, firing wide from a good position in the box, after some neat build up play by Harkins.

As the game entered the two minutes of stoppage time as disaster struck for East Fife, in what was to prove to be the turning point of the match.

Robert Ogleby went in hard from behind on Rory McKeown, and as the Killie player rolled around in agony, the other Killie players surrounded the referee and after a long delay, the referee eventually produced a second yellow card and sent off Ogleby.

As boos echoed round Rugby Park at the half time whistle, East Fife went in happy with their performance. but knowing that they would have a huge mountain to climb with ten men.

Kilmarnock’s half time team talk must really have kicked some asses, as they came out for the second half all guns blazing.

A Fife defender turned a cross dangerously over the bar, before Danny Buijs hit a strike just over, two minutes in.

The East Fife defence was under intense pressure and Matthew Park hit a cross over the bar that could have gone anywhere, as Kilmarnock went for the jugular.

The home side came the closest yet in the 51st minute, when Heffernan rattled a fierce strike off the post, and the Fife travelling support breathed a huge sigh of relief.

East Fife showed that they could still be a danger though and Wallace saw an effort deflected for a corner after 53 minutes. John Ovenstone had a great chance from the resultant corner, but headed over when anywhere on target could have caused serious problems.

The ten men from Methil withstood the initial bout of Killie pressure and settled back into their game, playing with the passion and organisation of a full strength side.

Kilmarnock seemed devoid of ideas, but substitute David Silva nearly sparked them into life in the 68th minute, hitting inches over.

The deadlock was eventually broken in the 73rd minute when Ridgers failed to hold a Killie corner and Udinese loanee Mahamadou Sissoko was there to bury it from close range and give the SPL side the lead.

After the goal, all you could hear were the Fife supporters, as they tried to lift their black and gold heroes back into the game.

With East Fife having to push forward in search of an equaliser, there were going to be gaps at the back for the Bayview men and Silva nearly exploited one, forcing Ridgers into a great save from a left footed volley with fourteen minutes remaining.

The introduction of Silva had given Kilmarnock some impetus and the Portugese midfielder hit the post with ten minutes remaining.

If the outcome of the game was still in any doubt then Gary Harkins saw an end to that a minute later.

Harkins ran on to a long ball and clinically gave Ridgers no chance to give Killie their second and seal the win.

With the East Fife travelling support chanting “2-0 to the referee”, all that was left for East Fife was to play for pride and try and keep the score to the brace.

And that they did, as Killie were happy to see the game out and claim a semi final berth.

The final whistle signalled an end to a wonderful Cup run for East Fife that saw them claim two well deserved victories over SPL sides and reach their first national quarter-final in a generation.

The guys did themselves and the fans proud tonight and in the previous games. We now need to build on this and make a concerted push for at least a Division Two playoff spot.

The players showed on this Cup run just what a good squad we have at Bayview right now. Who knows where the rest of the season will take us.

Mon the Fife.

FINAL SCORE: Kilmarnock 2 – 0 East Fife

ATTENDANCE: 4,029

KILMARNOCK: Anssi Jaakkola, Alex Pursehouse, Mahamadou Sissoko, Manuel Pascali, Rory McKeown (Garry Hay 46), James Fowler (James Dayton 83), Danny Buijs, Liam Kelly (David Silva 59), Dean Shiels, Gary Harkins, Paul Heffernan [Subs Not Used: Kyle Letheren, Zdenek Kroca]

EAST FIFE: Mark Ridgers, Scott Durie, John Ovenstone, David White, Matthew Park, Darren Smith (Paul McQuade 83), Bobby Linn, David Muir, Robert Sloan (Craig Johnstone 54), Robert Ogleby, Ryan Wallace [Subs Not Used: Michael Brown, Andrew Cook, Steven Hislop]

No Viva In Espana

2011-10-12T21:37:00.008+01:00

Heartache and heartbreak.

Two components that come with being a member of the Tartan Army.

You have to give credit to the 15,000 plus Scotland fans that made the trip to Spain.

Scotland were playing a team who had not lost a World Cup or Euro qualifier in 26 matches, had won their last 13 competitive games, had 22 wins in a row on Spanish soil, and had never lost a match in the host city of Alicante.

A victory was never on the cards. A draw was equally as unlikely, but you never know in football.

Although after the first six minute's of yesterday's match, I think we all knew!

Pre-game, the fear was there that we would get hammered. After David Silva's first goal, I really thought the floodgates would open.

The fact they didn't is testament of Scotland's grit, but it was really men against boys out there. We were completely outclassed on that pitch.

The 3-1 defeat, coupled with the Czech's rather fantastic 4-1 win in Lithuania, sent another qualification death knell to Scotland.

That's going to be 14 years and 7 major tournaments that Scotland haven't been at the party. A whole generation don't know the feeling of cheering on Scotland in World Cup or Euros finals. It's enough to bring a tear to a glass eye.

When you look at Scotland's difficult 2014 World Cup qualification section, it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Our current crop of players are simply not good enough. That's one of the main reasons we find ourselves in this sad situation today.

Sure there were the unlucky breaks and the downright cheating of the diving Czech penalty at Hampden. Every team has those in a campaign. You just need to make sure that you've done enough before and after these incidents so that they don't actually affect the outcome. That we didn't do.

Craig Levein's tactics leave a lot to be desired and I am VERY disappointed that he has no plans on stepping down at the end of this campaign. We have shown no real progress during this campaign and the buck stops firmly at his door.

We will never forget that embarrassing 4-6-0 line up against the Czechs that cost us any points over there last year, no matter how much he clearly wants to not talk about it.

That cost us more dearly than the 2-2 debacle at Hampden. It cost us points, respect and any reputation we had left.

There have been some glimpses of hope for the future. Some of the guys coming through look like they have the ability to lift the downhearted spirits.

Craig Mackail-Smith could be the man to lift us out of our neverending lull. He looks the real deal. I've been watching him do the business for the last few season's and on his current form, he could lift Brighton to an unlikely and unexpected Premiership spot by the end of the season.

He can't do it on his own though. Put in average around him and that's how he looks too.

It's great that so many Scots are playing in the English Premiership. They need to regularly play against some of the best players in the world to have any hope of developing their own personal game and competing on the international stage. Get our top guys out of the sham that is the SPL.

When you looked at our bench against Spain last night, there was nothing there that made you excited that we had a game changer to shake things up if/when we needed it.

That's our big weakness right now - depth. It's just not there.

How we get it on the other hand is a whole different ballgame in itself.

But we need to find it. And soon. Or we will forever be stuck in with the minnows in future draws and have any small hopes we have of qualifications extinguished altogether.

We need to rise up and be a competitive footballing nation again - before it's too late and beyond fixing.

The hard work needs to start today.

Read It And Weep: Bayview Folklore Has A New Chapter And It's Far From Being Complete

2011-09-23T15:12:00.000+01:00

So many emotions were going through my head with East Fife’s massive win against Aberdeen at Pittodrie in the Third Round of the Scottish League Cup on Tuesday evening.

The main one was, argggggghhhh, I so wish I was there!

I hope that those who were savoured the moment fully. I’ve not been so envious at missing out on a match since the last round!

It’s not easy being an exile when the Fife are playing bad. Following the results in text form online, wondering what went wrong, were we just unlucky or simply outplayed?

It’s even worse when they’re doing great and producing Cup shocks, as they are rarer!

Tuesday's game was particularly hard as I was stuck in a new building at work which has no internet access yet and I have a PAYG phone with no data plan. Agony!

The first of me having any indication as to the famous victory was a tweet from a mate wondering why I hadn't been on Twitter crowing about the win. At that point, I couldn't wait to get home to find out exactly what had happened and was checking within seconds of getting in the door!

As a hardcore fan, the anguish (and the joy) is pretty much the same whether you saw it play out with your own eyes or not. The love and passion never dies.

I’ve watched East Fife since 1984, from when I was allowed to travel through to scary Methil on my own. My first ever live East Fife game was the Scottish Cup replay win against Hibs at Bayview. You could say it's been pretty much downhill since!

I would probably argue that Tuesday's win against Aberdeen is in fact an even bigger one than that against Hibs - especially since we were away from home and currently languishing at the bottom of the heap in the Second Division.

There’s been highs, there’s been lows and there’s been even darker than that since my love affair started. Results like the Dunfermline one last month only come along once in a while. To now have two giantkilling feats in consecutive rounds is tremendous and who knows, there may be more to come.

Yesterday's quarter final draw wasn't what we had hoped for.

A home tie was the particular hope. I was happy to avoid Celtic, Hibs and Dundee United. I would have loved St Mirren or Ayr. They were my first two choices with Falkirk and Kilmarnock battling it out for choices three and four.

With the Bairns already having put one over on us in the Challenge Cup, I would probably have put Killie in at number 3 and that's who we've got in our first League Cup quarter final in 39 years.

A whole generation, probably two, have never experienced the Fife in a major Cup quarter final. Now we have the chance and the tie is definitely winnable.

A trip to Rugby Park is never top of most fans' dream ties. They will be hard to beat, but I think we've adequately shown in the last two rounds that SPL opposition hold no fear for us.

If we play with the passion and belief that we have in the last two rounds then we can definitely win this tie and then who knows, a Hampden trip and a semi final against the Buddies or Killie's Ayrshire rivals could be our reward. Another winnable tie.

Obviously we can't get too far ahead of ourselves.

Killie won't underestimate us and neither will they be too unhappy at the draw they've got. They will be very confident, but so should we. A giantkilling trilogy is firmly in our grasp.

Robbo will have the players fired up and what's important is that we take as big a travelling support through to Kilmarnock as possible. Never easy for a long midweek trip, but who knows when we will have the opportunity to play at this stage of the competition again, especially with the ridiculous seeding the SFL have put in place.

The players, to a man, deserve all the plaudits they can get for the last two games. They have done the legendary Cup tradition of East Fife proud. They are a credit to the jersey and have already written their names into Bayview folklore.

I truly believe that they will add to their legacy even further come the end of October, but whatever happens, they’ve made us all very proud to be East Fife fans and to call them our black and gold heroes.

It looks highly unlikely that I will be able to make the trip over. If the game was a week later then I could.

I'll definitely be there for the semi though!

Mon the Fife.

Watch East Fife's League Cup Penalty Shoot-Out Win Against Aberdeen

2011-09-22T19:03:00.008+01:00

Arguably the greatest East Fife win of modern times, here's the full penalty shoot-out and post match celebrations from East Fife's win against Aberdeen in the Third Round of the Scottish League Cup at Pittodrie on Tuesday evening.

The match finished 3-3 at the end of normal time. There were no further goals in extra time, before East Fife won the dramatic penalty shoot out 4-3 to clinch their first League Cup quarter final spot in 39 years...

Kilmarnock now await in the quarters at the end of next month.

Will the Fife's giantkilling run continue? Two down already.

No fear.

Mon the Fife.

The AFTN Blog - The Return

2011-09-21T19:03:00.000+01:00

Apologies once again for being so quiet in the blog. Need to get that rectified and back to normal again soon.

A lack of time between writing AFTN Canada and a weekly online column for Vancouver Metro, coupled with work, vacations and following Vancouver Whitecaps around North America have taken its toll!

Although this blog was meant to be the main AFTN blogging output, the Canadian one has proved to be more popular and has been building up a bigger and stronger readership every week, so more efforts were put in to that to the detriment of this blog.

It's also meant that last season and this, I've not been able to write for the East Fife programme, but I also hope to rectify that soon and get back to doing some features and player interviews.

Although East Fife are sitting bottom of the League, the Cup wins show that the signs are there that this could be a very exciting season for the Fife and we want to be there blogging about that and general footballing topics.

In the meantime, I've had a couple of ideas for new features, penned by different guest writers.

If you're interested in doing some writing for AFTN then drop me an email at aftn@hotmail.co.uk

Cheers and we'll hopefully start everything getting back into a bit of the old swing of things this week!

We also hope to work on main AFTN website over the next few months as well, all ready for a New Year relaunch.

Also we really need to get the main AFTN Twitter account in full flow.

Stay tuned and follow us in preparation!

Join The AFTN Fantasy Premier League

2011-08-12T19:03:00.000+01:00

The 2011/12 Premiership season gets underway tomorrow.

I have to say that I'm finding it hard to get an interest this season.

My English team from when I was about 6 years old, West Ham, played terrible last time and got deservedly relegated. My other bright lights from last season, Blackpool, have also gone. What am I meant to do now??!

Since my other English loves, AFC Wimbledon, are still a few years away from the cash cow, it's hard to focus on anything but League Two and the Championship.

None of the Premiership's promoted teams really do it for me, although I will find myself cheering on Swansea City. Celtic brethren and all that.

All that said, it hasn't stopped us running our annual AFTN Premiership Fantasy Football League!

It helps keep my interest and watching, and for those of you whose teams are playing in the Premiership and for those of you who just love it, it's an added bonus and a lot of fun.

We've gone with the official game this year, so as to harvest our readers from both sides of the Atlantic and beyond.

Everyone is welcome to take part, no matter what team you support. In fact, the more the merrier. So tell everyone you know, that AFTN is the place to go.

You can sign up any time, although we will close our private league off to new entrants by the end of August. To get off to the best possible start, make sure your team is entered before the first game kicks off tomorrow.

You have £115 million to spend and a squad of 15 to assemble, so get cracking!

You can sign up at http://fantasy.premierleague.com.

Once you've picked your team, you need to enter the AFTN Private League. The code for that is 1010555-240491.

We'll hopefully come up with a prize for the winner at the end of the season, and will post regular updates on the AFTN Forum.

Good luck!

Things You Love To See In Football #8 - Players Losing It With The Ref

2011-07-30T19:03:00.020+01:00

There's been so many times when I've gone ballistic at a referee. If you're a football fan, it's almost impossible not to have lost it.

If you think the refs are bad in Scotland and the rest of the UK, you should try seeing what they're like in MLS in Canada and the US. That takes ineptitude to a whole new level.

I'm sure we've all seen countless fans losing it. Some players too, but always with a bit of restraint and keeping it to the verbal abuse variety.

There's been a few exceptions.

Who can forget Paolo Di Canio shoving the aptly named referee Paul Alcock when playing for Sheffield Wednesday?

If you have, or have never seen it, then here it is...

A more theatrical fall on the football field would be hard to find. Di Canio got an 11 match ban and a £10,000 fine for that.

Quite mild from one of my all time favourite players and nothing compared to what happens in this Pakistan Premier League football match between the Pakistan Army and Afghan FC Chaman on July 26th.

Afghan FC were leading 2-1 with 15 minutes remaining, when the Army players lost it with the ref...

Let's just be thankful that Army guy didn't have a gun on him!

[*** Thanks to Football Pakistan for bringing this to our attention ***]

River Plate - The Fall Of A South American Giant

2011-06-27T09:34:00.000+01:00

You're not an East Fife fan because you like the glory. Underachievements and relegations have been commonplace in my 28 years of watching the team I love.

I can't imagine what it must have been like as a fan of the Fife in the late 40's and early 50's, when going out at the semi final stage of a major Cup competition was a disappointing result.

It's those glory days that give us belief, hope and expectations and when any success does come along, like the Division Three Championship in 2007/08, it makes those days all the more special.

That's why I love my team and that's why I'll always support them. Those footballing highs and lows have made me the supporter I am today.

If you're a fan of the famous Argentinian club River Plate today, you're experiencing some emotions and despair that are shockingly new to you.

I've never taken much interest in South American club football save for You Tube clips of insane riots and spectacular goals. Several clubs are familiar names but I've never grown up watching any of the games and have no interest in any of the teams.

River Plate's plight this season certainly caught my attention though and yesterday they were relegated to the second tier of Argentinian football for the first time in their 110 year history.

The phrase "how the mighty have fallen" doesn't even begin to do justice to what has happened to one of Argentina's top and most famous of clubs.

Club Atletico River Plate were formed in 1901 and have won a record 33 Argentinian Primera Division League titles (the last of which was just in 2008) and five international titles, including two Copa Libertadores.

Just what went wrong to cause this fall of a true South American giant?

That's the question the fans want the answer to. For neutrals looking in, it all seems so improbable.

To make things worse for the River Plate fans, there may be no easy answers.

River Plate are Argentinian football through and through. Of their 36 man squad, only two were from outside of Argentina. They hit a slump at the wrong time and the team failed to record a win in their last seven Primera Division games.

That run saw them fall into the relegation/promotion playoff place and facing a two legged match with Club Atletico Belgrano.

Belgrano had finished 4th in the National B Division and were looking to play in the top tier for only the fourth spell in their 106 year history.

River Plate were still expected to get themselves out of the hole they had dug themselves in to but were stunned by a 2-0 defeat in the first leg in Cordoba.

With over 50,000 expected in Buenos Aires when they hosted the second leg, there was still more concern than panic stations, as the giants were expected to get at least the two goals they needed to preserve their top tier safety.

I watched the game at 'El Monumental' unfold yesterday and it was an intense and nervy atmosphere from the off. It was also electric for the neutral at home.

When Mariano Pavone opened the scoring for River Plate just six minutes in, it looked like Belgrano would fold in the red hot atmosphere and things would play out as expected.

Despite pressure from the home side, the game remained 1-0 as it reach half-time, but the home crowd were stunned into a mix of silence and tears in the 62nd minute when Belgrano's Guillermo Farre equalised, sending their travelling support into ecstatic scenes.

Pavone then went from hero to villain for River Plate as he had a penalty brilliantly saved in the 70th minute.

With River Plate's fate almost sealed, things within the stadium turned nasty. I would expect nothing less to be honest from what I've seen in the past.

Fans invaded the pitch, police fired back with water cannons and the match was abandoned in the 89th minute.

As the Belgrano players couldn't even get to celebrate with their brave travelling support and had to be ushered off the pitch under a hail of missiles, the River Plate players were reduced to tears as the realisation sank in.

We, as fans, often decry players for not showing passion for our club. The River Plate players certainly showed that they were hurting. I'm sure wondering what the fans were going to do to them also added to those emotions!

The violence continued outside of the stadium after the game, with fans clashing with riot police and several injuries being reported.

As a fan of the underdog, it was great to see Belgrano pull off the shock.

Everyone will be talking about River Plate today but we should also be talking about Belgrano as what they achieved was truly tremendous.

With River Plate rumoured to be around $19 million in debt, the quick return the fans demand may not be forthcoming, as top players will most likely need to be sold.

Aren't you glad that East Fife haven't had 109 years of glory and top flight football?! Must get boring.

The River Plate fans might enjoy their spell in the second tier. Although judging by the post game riots, maybe not.

I'd still rather be an East Fife supporter!

**************************************************

Here's some videos of the day...

Things You Love To See In Football #7 - Goalkeepers Scoring From Open Play (Part 2)

2011-06-24T22:40:00.002+01:00

It's Friday.

That means Friday Fun in AFTN and what better fun can you have than to laugh at a goalkeeping mistake from an English keeper?!

Sometimes I curse my luck that I have two teams to follow now on the international stage that are both under achievers at the big tournaments - Scotland and Canada.

Once in a while they give you something to shout about and the Canadian under-17's have done just that at this month's U17 World Cup in Mexico.

Step forward goalkeeper Quillan Roberts, who scored this fantastically hilarious goal in Wednesday's group game against England:

The look of disbelief on Roberts face is priceless. He really doesn't know what to do to celebrate the historic moment!

What is even more remarkable in this story is that Roberts is the back up keeper and was only playing after the first choice goalie was injured towards the end of the first group game against Uruguay.

As for English goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, he can console himself as now being in the same category as English goalkeeping "greats" like David Seaman, David James and Rob Green when it comes to fucking up in major matches.

Good old England. They never let us down!

Scotland Secure Quarter Final Spot At Cerebral Palsy World Cup

2011-06-23T19:03:00.069+01:00

Scotland's team at the 2011 Cerebral Palsy World Cup are doing the nation proud.

The Scottish team finished second in Group B, after a comprehensive 4-1 victory over Canada in their final group game.

The win came on the back of a 10-0 trashing of Finland two days earlier, as the team bounced back from an opening 5-0 loss to Ukraine in some style.

Here's some highlights of the game in the CPISRA Daily new broadcast from the tournament where it was picked as the 'Match of the Day':

The 2011 CPISRA World Championships are being held from June 17th to July 1st in the Netherlands and they act as the qualifiers for next year's Paralympics in London. With England already crashing out, it looks like Scotland should be at the Paralympics in 2012.

CP football was founded in 1978 and has been part of the Paralympics since 1984, with the World Cup being held every four years. The 2007 finals were held in Brazil, with Russia beating Iran 2-1 in the final and Scotland coming a very respectable 6th.

Matches are 7-a-side, with two thirty minute halves and those competing are affected by non-progressive brain damage such as cerebral palsy, severe head trauma and strokes. There are four different classifications of disability within the criteria and there are restrictions and rules on how many players from each criteria can be on the pitch at any given time.

The Scots now face Brazil in the quarter finals and that in itself will be a daunting task.

The Brazilians drew their first match 2-2 against the host Holland, but then came roaring back with two 10-0 thumpings of Australia and Spain.

You can follow all of the Scotland team's fortunes on the official tournament website.

Good luck to the guys on Saturday. Bring home the World Cup for Scotland.

"Just Say No" Campaign Needed For Scottish Players Considering Playing In Olympics

2011-06-21T20:28:00.022+01:00

And so the 2012 Olympic farce continues apace.

I was quite stunned to read of the British Olympic Association's "historic agreement" for a British football team to take part in next year's London Olympics.

Clearly not as much as the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish football associations who were quick to issue the following statement:

"No discussions took place with any of us, far less [has any] historic agreement been reached. The Football Associations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland reiterate our collective opposition to Team GB participation at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, contrary to the media release issued by the BOA."

"We have been consistently clear in explaining the reason for our stance, principally to protect the identity of each national association. With that in mind, we cannot support nor formally endorse the approach that has been proposed by the Football Association."

Great to hear, but it begs the question, just were the BOA up to or hoping to achieve with their statement?

A genuine miscommunication? Or an attempt to try and force the others governing bodies into accepting what they want to propose?

Either way, good on the SFA for standing up to them and holding firm for the greater good of Scottish football.

I don't consider myself to even be one iota British. It doesn't resonate with me at all.

I have no objection to an English team representing "Britain" in next year's Olympics football. Just do that and get on with it like you've been told to do for many many months now.

There may be an appetite by some in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for our players to take part, but you'll struggle to find too many.

If any Scottish players decide to break ranks and play for a British team, I would be disappointed and could no longer support them to be selected for Scotland. I feel the SFA need to make this clear and not leave it open as they currently have.

With all the behind the scenes stuff that's been going on in football of late, it makes me uncomfortable to think that some figures will put pressure on some of the Scottish, Welsh and Irish lads.

With no legal right to prevent Scottish players from being selected, you can be almost certain that the BOA and English FA will be complete assholes about this and select players from the other three home nations.

It's up to us, the fans, to make it clear to the players that they will lose our support if they choose to go down that road. We need to be organised about this.

The "Just say no" campaign needs to start now.

Warner's Resignation Leaves More Questions Than Answers

2011-06-20T19:03:00.041+01:00

Today's resignation of Fifa vice-president Jack Warner shocked me.

Not because I didn't think he should go, but because I didn't think he would take that route and if he was going to go down, he'd go down all guns blazing and take a few people with him.

I'd love to be in the position to say that he took the honourable way out and it was the right thing to do to save tarnishing Fifa's reputation. Unfortunately I can't.

Fifa's reputation and standing is battered and torn beyond seeming repair right now.

They didn't help themselves after Warner's resignation when they announced:

"As a consequence of Mr Warner's resignation, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained".

Why close them? If you're that certain of innocence and no wrong doing, surely the absolute best way to restore Fifa's image is to prove that.

If they could.

That said. After all the allegations and media coverage into the supposed events, I think any committee investigation that found nothing would have been roundly ridiculed.

As it is, by closing the investigation, they are equally ridiculed.

What a complete mess.

The allegations are that Warner and Qatar's Fifa member, Mohamed Bin Hammam, paid bribes of around $1,000,000 to Carribean associations.

Most of us suspect that there's all these back door deals going on in football all the time. Even with that, when allegations become public it still dismays and shocks.

Since Warner is now "presumed innocent", the attention is still focussing on Bin Hammam.

Will he follow Warner's lead and resign? Will this mean anything for the 2022 World Cup?

Probably not, is the likely answer for both of those questions.

What needs to happen now is an independent investigation into the workings of Fifa (if that is at all possible).

UEFA needs to take the lead in demanding for change and threaten repurcussions if there isn't any.

Only once the fans see that something is actually happening to make things more transparent will any faith be restored in the oversee-ers of our beloved game.

Even that will be a long, slow process, if it is even possible.

Normal Service To Be Restored

2011-06-19T19:03:00.007+01:00

Many apologies to everyone.

AFTN's blog has taken a back seat the last few months, with no updates or anything.

It wasn't the plan. It just happened.

Too much stuff going on elsewhere and concentration on our growing Canadian arm (AFTN Canada) are the main reasons behind this.

Well, we're going to remedy that now and starting this coming week, we'll be back to being pretty much a daily blog once again. We also have a couple of exciting new features coming up in the weeks to come that you can all be a part of.

Also, after being laid off from work a few days ago, I have a lot more spare time on my hands. So if anyone wants or knows of any paid football writing work out there, then please get in touch!

Ok, back to business...

East Fife's Relegation Fears Eased As Unbeaten Run Continues

2011-03-13T10:09:00.001Z

East Fife made it four games unbeaten as they trounced Forfar Athletic 3-0 at Bayview yesterday.

The win saw the Fife make it ten points out of the last twelve available since AFTNgate broke on March 1st. You're welcome! (obviously we're just kidding!)

It was an even, end to end opening but the game changer came early. The 13th minute to be exact, when Forfar's Jamie Bishop saw red for a bad sliding tackle on Matthew Park. Some may argue he was hard done to, but hey, who cares about that as it gave us the huge advantage for the remainder of the game.

And the Fife grabbed that opportunity with both hands.

The Loons held firm for 20 minutes before captain Stevie Hislop broke their resistance and fired the Fife into the lead after some great build up work down the wing from Bobby Linn.

The half had a lively finish with ex Fifer Chris Templeman heading inches wide for Forfar and the Fife responding with a Park effort that crashed off the bar.

Forfar defended resolutely after the interval, but the Fife's patient build up play finally paid dividends with sixteen minutes remaining.

It was a slightly unusual goal, as it was a low drive from Jonny Smart and not one of his trademark headers that added East Fife's second. They all count and with the Fife now two goals to the good, the Bayview faithful could relax.

Bobby Linn added a third with just minutes remaining, firing home from close range after Lloyd Young's effort had been deflected off the post.

3-0, three points and another good all round team performance. Just what you wanted to warm your heart in the snowy gloom.

The win kept East Fife in 5th spot in the Second Division with ten games remaining. That's a ten point cushion on the relegation play-off place, which is currently occupied by Stenhousemuir, and eleven clear of Peterhead at the bottom. Our incredible goal difference is also worth another point.

We don't want to tempt fate but I'm pretty confident that we're now safe and that we've eased any relegation fears. In fact, we can still harbour faint hopes of making the promotion play-offs.

There's no doubting that we're the current form team in the League. A bad run by any of the three teams above us, may just let us in.

Whether we could hold our own in the First Division is a debate to have on another day, but a top three finish in particular would please me as my twenty quid each way bet on us would pay me something out!

Having something to play for is key for us for the remainder of the season. We need to keep the fans engaged and we need to get them coming through the gates and giving the Club some much needed income.

Who knows where these last ten games may see us. Could be a fun ride.

Mon the Fife.

FINAL SCORE: East Fife 3 - 0 Forfar Athletic

EAST FIFE: Brown, McGowan, Ovenstone, Smart, McCulloch, Young (Newbigging 90), Muir, Park, Johnstone, Hislop, Linn [Subs Not Used: Lyness, Durie, Fagan, Cargill]

ATT: 469

Things You Love To See In Football # 6 - Unusual Pitch Invasions

2011-03-11T10:03:00.001Z

After last week's break to celebrate King Kenny's 60th, we're back with the series that was never meant to be a series!

This week - unusual pitch invasions.

Hooligans invading the pitch to taunt the opposition fans are old hat. Nothing to see here, please move on. No, what you want is some unique and unusual invasions of the pitch.

Yes, they are big. Yes, they are clever. But most of all they're very funny. Here's a few that tickled us. I was even at one of them in person...

"You'll never beat Jay Nolly" indeed.

We've featured this one on the blog before but this never gets old. Not every day you see a man in a wheelchair invade the pitch!

I love the way he's hauled off the pitch and fake smacked on the back of the head by his mate.

Finally, we'll leave you with a streaker. Again, not an original sight, but if you haven't aeen this clip already this week, then it's not so much the pitch invasion that's unusual but what happens afterwards. Crazy!

As always, enjoy and mon the Fife.

Fifers Fifth As Fine Form Continues

2011-03-05T22:23:00.009Z

I'm not sure that we can really class two wins on the bounce "a run", but with the up and down season East Fife have had, we're going with it!

The Fife followed up their vital 3-1 win against Peterhead on Tuesday night with a victory by the same scoreline against Alloa Athletic this afternoon at Recreation Park.

The damage was all done in the first half.

Alloa had some great early chances but it was East Fife who ended up taking the lead.

Craig Johnstone fired home a Steven Hislop cross to open the scoring after 34 minutes, then came a rare sight for the black and gold - goals for us in stoppage tme. Two to be precise.

First Alloa's Ross Philp turned a Bobby Linn cross into his own net, then moments later Stoney made it three when he nabbed his second.

Alloa had the Fife on the rack for a lot of the second half but Michael Brown made some tremendous stops in the Fife goal to keep them at bay for most of the half.

The only blip of the afternoon came when Michael McGowan fired home a 66th minute penalty, but this was to only be scant consolation for the Wasps, with the Fife defence holding firm and not allowing them to get back into the game.

It was heavy Alloa pressure as they pushed for more but it was East Fife who had the ball in the net again late on, but Linn's goal was ruled offside.

A great win and some good team performances. It was also nice to see the players applaud the fans at the end after all that's happened this week.

The win catapulted the Fife up the table to fifth, thanks to their superior goal difference. Six points behind Forfar now, with a game against Airdrie looming on Tuesday and then a home game against the Loons next Saturday.

There's a chance we could be sitting in the playoff spots this time next Saturday. After all the crazyness that this week has brought, I don't think any of us expected that.

Mon the Fife.

FINAL SCORE: Alloa Athletic 1 - 3 East Fife

EAST FIFE: Brown, Smart, McGowan, Ovenstone, Park, Young, Muir, McCulloch, Johnstone, Hislop (Fagan 74), Linn [Subs Not Used: Lyness, Durie, Murdoch, Cargill]

ATT: 579

Happy Birthday Kenny Dalglish

2011-03-04T11:01:00.000Z

Legend is a word bandied about all too often in football circles these days.

There is no doubt that Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish deserves that accolade. Oh for someone of that calibre in the Scottish international team today.

30 goals in 102 appearances for Scotland. 230 in 559 appearances for Celtic and Liverpool. All done over four decades. Pure quality.

King Kenny turns 60 today and AFTN wants to pay tribute to the great man.

Some of you may be too young to remember him as a player. He was one of my footballing heroes growing up and this video compilation shows why (sorry that it has such shit music!):

He may be 60 now but he's still showing he has the football knowledge to perform at the highest level and has transformed Liverpool since he replaced Roy Hodgson.

Have a great day Kenny and we'll leave you with one of our favourite football songs. "Sharp As A Needle" by Barmy Army was released in 1988. Taking it's name from a line in a radio commentary about King Kenny, it's a fitting tribute in itself. Enjoy...

Old Firm Shame As Media Quick To Pounce

2011-03-03T20:47:00.000Z

Last night's Old Firm game was carnage!

Three Rangers sending offs, tunnel rammies and coaching staff squaring up to each other. Scotland's shame or great television?

We put a lot of the blame for the problems in the Scottish game at the door of the Old Firm but I think a lot of the reactions to last night's game are a bit over the top. I mean, really, a summit with the First Minister.

Part of the reason that people tune in to the Old Firm games is because they're waiting for the flare ups and the flashpoints. It's car crash TV!

Some of you won't care to watch at all, but those of us that do partake in the bigot brothers television show don't want to see a boring, scoreless game. We want the kind of mayhem we saw last night.

Is it football? Well it's not's the beautiful game. Does it damage Scotland's footballing reputation? I don't even know we have much of a reputation left any more. At least the kind of scenes we saw last night show that there's passion in the Scottish game.

It's even funnier of course when it's the Union Jack wearing dickheads that are getting the brunt of it all. Rangers were a disgrace last night.

I'm amazed it took this many games and these many minutes for El-Hadji Diouf to get his first red card in an Old Firm encounter. Everyone's just been waiting for him to lose it and last night was that night.

I thought referee Calum Murray had a good game and the comments of Rangers chief executive Martin Bain were bang out of order. Did the Old Firm not learn anything from the referees strike earlier in the season? Actually, do they ever learn anything?

We now have people calling for the games to be played behind closed doors. That serves no point at all. You need to keep it off the television and out of the pubs if you want to stop the public disorder that follows the games. The players last night wouldn't have behaved much differently whether there was a crowd in there watching or not.

When you have two clubs and two supports fueled on hatred then what do you expect to get when the team's play.

What all these concerned people should really be looking at is what a shocking state Scottish football is in when the Old Firm end up playing seven games in a season.

Reduce that number and you reduce all the shit that goes with it.

East Fife Players Hit Back At Abuse On AFTN Forum

2011-03-02T23:14:00.010Z

It's not been an easy season for those of an East Fife persuasion. Inconsistancies and a relegation battle seem to be the two main outcomes of a season that promised so much during the freeflowing goalfest that was the pre-season.

My twenty quid bet's out the window, but it's not just the fans that are feeling the frustrations, the players and management are too.

Recent results have seen a barrage of comments and criticism on our forum about the performances we've been seeing and the results we've been getting.

With some players, especially club captain Steven Hislop, being singled out for personal criticism, the players felt that enough was enough and issued a statement in the programme for last night's match against Peterhead:

It is with regret that the captain’s column has been put on hold for this fixture as the team would like to issue a statement to those who are best referred to as the “minority”.

We are concerned that in recent weeks some comments on the AFTN forum have crossed the thin line between strong criticism and personal attack. We all understand and appreciate that the forum allows the fans to express their opinion and have their say but as a team, we firmly consider that some of the posts have become personal and damaging.

We, as a team, know more than anyone that we have under-performed this season. However, the table does not lie and we are where we are due to poor team performances and not individual performances. We win as a team and lose as a team and that is our philosophy. We back each other 100% on and off the park and have a very good camaraderie. Yes we appreciate that there is disappointment when some of us are not in the starting eleven or even the squad of sixteen on match day but we all wish each other the best and want the best for East Fife Football Club and its loyal fans. If a certain player has had a bad game, we all share his disappointment as we are a team. It is up to all of us to ensure that where a team-mate is having a poor game, we still support each other on the pitch. The least we will all give is 100% commitment; we owe that to the supporters.

The team does fully appreciate the support it receives from the vast majority of the fans. We would like to invite any supporters who have concerns about team and individual performances to come to the dressing room either at training or after a match to discuss them with us, as the club operates an “open door” policy.

We accept that in this day and age, a fans forum is part and parcel of football, yet it is unfortunate, as it appears to the team, that certain individuals choose to express their views in anonymity.

The team would also like to make clear that we are in no doubt whatsoever of the manager’s 100% commitment to the club. This has also been highlighted on the AFTN forum and is another issue that has disappointed the team as a whole.

As regards to tonight’s game, all supporters can be assured that the team, whoever is selected in the starting eleven, or who may come on as a substitute, will be doing their upmost to win this match. Your continued support throughout the game will be appreciated as always by the players. Enjoy the game.

Strong stuff but we at AFTN are pleased that the issue has been raised, if a little surprised at what news it has become. It even made the front page of The Courier newspaper today.

We let a lot go on the forum. The forum is self regulated by regular posters (and four moderators, including myself) but sometimes the criticism gets very very strong. There is a fine line between strong criticism and personal abuse. That line varies for different people and if you are the person being attacked then that line is very short indeed.

We have removed some posts over the years where we feel the line has been crossed. We also try to leave threads open so that the players can see that if the original poster is ridiculous with their judgements, then other posters will stick up for the player and show their support. We do this to show him that the majority don't feel that way. Sometimes though, the majority do feel that way.

No one likes to be criticised. I don't. I'm sure you don't. I admit I don't have my job scrutinised and criticised on a public forum.

A lot of flak has been aimed at AFTN over the years. We dish it out so we can take it back. A lot of people tend to forget that AFTN is more than just the forum though. There's a whole website, much of it historical, along with this blog and other social media.

Being a footballer is one of those rare jobs where your performances are always going to be scrutinised publically. We're not saying that makes it right to dish out non stop abuse.

Players and their families reading fan forums have to be aware that they might not like what they read inside and be prepared to read criticism, some of it upsetting to them. I've read a lot worse on other forums than what we've had on AFTN at times.

Steven Hislop has been singled out for a lot of the criticism this season and at some point it's going to get to you. He's only human after all.

Our support have been awful at times over the years for singling out players and making their lives hell, pouncing on their every mistake and poor performance and crucifying the fuck out of them. Last season it was Michael Brown. I'm sure we can all run off a list of names before him as well.

This is not just a problem reserved for the AFTN forum. It's rife at the games and it needs to stop before no players or managers want to have anything to do with the Club.

I've only seen one Fife game this season, so I can't share my views on how Hissy has been playing. If people are paying their money every week to watch the games then I firmly believe that they have a right to express their opinions and I will defend that right and their right to anonymity on the forum to the end.

If people want a forum where they can post under their own name or with a registered sign in, then they already have one. It's on the official Club website.

People want that certain anonymity. The Club need to ask themselves why people aren't happy coming forward with their real name and look at the problem within and the history behind it.

Yes, it can be construed as cowardly. Many regular posters can easily be identified and are known by their user name. The problem lies with those that seem to appear out of the blue with a new username to criticise. They're not always "new". We can trace that. So why don't they feel comfortable criticising under their usual username? Again, a question for the Club to consider.

Some posters do need to take a long hard look at themselves and what they're posting. Everyone should stop and think before they post. If they're being abusive, how would they feel if that was posted about them? I have no problem whatsover with posters being critical and very harsh. Out and out abuse is another thing though and again there's that fine line and where individuals see that line.

Everyone should also remember that no player goes out there to play badly. I'm sure you all have bad days at work. The players, the team and the fans all want the same thing and that's East Fife winning. Do you honestly think that being hypercritical of every little mistake or bad performance is going to make things better?

All this constant criticism will do is to piss of current and potential players. Word will get out and then who's going to want to join us?

It's good that the latest threads has brought this topic to the forefront. All the negativity from certain people starts to wear you down. Even I can't be arsed reading my own forum at times.

It used to be a fun and vibrant place to visit. Let's hope this situation brings some of that back again.

Peterhead Blue As Woeful Run Continues

2011-03-01T23:12:00.028Z

Forget Stamford Bridge. The eyes of the world should have been on a bigger game tonight. It was a match with massive repercussions for the remainder of the season. Sadly only a season low crowd of 314 witnessed it.

East Fife entertained fellow strugglers Peterhead this evening and the 3-1 victory for the Fifers has plunged Peterhead into all sorts of relegation problems. Stenhousemuir's 3-1 victory at home to Ayr though hasn't exactly eased East Fife's own ones yet though either.

It was an excellent, well deserved victory as the players responded to Saturday's woeful performance and the criticism being levelled at some of them. The best way to answer your critics is to give them the two fingers on the football field and that's just what the black and gold did tonight.

I should have put money on underfire captain Steven Hislop getting on the scoresheet this evening. You just knew he'd have been really up for it and he was. Of course the slaggers will take the credit and never give the player any.

Hissy fired the Fife in front after 22 minutes, when he hit home a Bobby Linn cross into the bottom corner.

Boaby doubled the advantage himself ten minutes later, with another long range cracker. He's had a few of those this season and this one was certainly one of the most vital, in a game that East Fife just simply couldn't afford to lose.

It was 2-0 at the interval and the Fife basically wrapped things up nine minutes into the second half, when Linn got his second of the night with another long range effort, a free kick from 20 yards out.

Martin Bavidge pulled one back on 73 minutes, with a great long range strike of his own, but there was to be no dramatic late fightback like at Balmoor a few weeks ago and East Fife coasted to the three points.

The win keeps East Fife out of the relegation zone in 8th place, three points clear of Stenny in the relegation playoff spot. East Fife's superior goal difference basically makes this a four point gap.

Peterhead are now on a run of six games without a win and have fallen two points adrift having played two games more than the Warriors.

It was a fine, spirited team performace. What we needed to see but we need to keep this going.

Mon the Fife.

FINAL SCORE: East Fife 3 - 1 Peterhead

EAST FIFE: Brown, Smart, Muir, Ovenstone, McGowan, Park, Young (Cargill 63), McCulloch, Johnstone, Linn, Hislop [Subs Not Used: Lyness, Fagan, Murdoch, Brewster]

ATT: 314

Footballers Behaving Badly

2011-02-28T09:35:00.000Z

When I was growing up I would have loved to have been a professional football. I'm sure most of us reading this did.

They were our role models. We imitated them in the playgrounds and fields all over the land. We looked up to them. Wanted to be them. But they seemed like they lived in a different world from you altogether. An inaccessible world where you couldn't contact them and apart from the odd Shoot or Match Q&A, you didn't really know much about what they got up to when they weren't playing at 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon.

My personal heroes were Kenny Dalglish for his Scotland exploits and Trevor Brooking for his West Ham ones. I know Trev isn't exactly an exciting, charismatic figure, but when I got his signed autobiography many years ago, I was ecstatic. I got to learn all about him.

Nowadays, twitter and other social media have players more accessible than ever. We know far too much about them. Who really cares what they had for breakfast or what they thought of the latest happenings on TV? Magazines like OK and Heat have turned them into public access figures and the mythos I had of them in my childhood is long gone. I liked it the way it was.

Of course, a lot of the current crop of top footballers are just fame hungry whores and although footballers have never been considered to be the brightest folks in the world, so many of the current batch just appear to be complete dicks.

What goes through their minds? Or have they just lost them and their grip on reality completely?

If it's not the latest sexcapades, it's fights in nightclubs, arrests and kiss and tell stories from other kinds of fame hungry whores.

Occasionally you get a real gem like Clarke Carlisle. Bright, articulate and a credit to the game. Could we possibly clone him.

Were football players always like this or did we just never hear about it? Was it only the likes of bad boys George Best and Rodney Marsh or was everyone at it but just out of the public spotlight?

A lot of the actual action on the pitch has been overshadowed this weekend by two players who are no strangers to making the front pages for all the wrong reasons.

Wayne Rooney and Ashley Cole are tiresome bores. At least Rooney's antics have happened on the pitch this time around.

Mr Potato Head's elbow on Wigan's James McCarthy was truly baffling. What the fuck comes over a player to do that? You can't blame the referee for not seeing it. He was shown to be correctly watching the ball. That's what he's paid to do. Watch the action in the game not the off the ball antics from assholes like Rooney.

Full credit to McCarthy. He could have totally over-reacted. You can't excuse what Rooney did though. In no sane world can that be rationaled off. It's not a witch-hunt on the player like Fergie claims.

If Rooney didn't do stupid things like this, then no one would be going after him in the first place.

If it had been the reverse, there would equally be outrage and a lot of it coming from Sir Alex. Managers should defend their players when they can. This though is undefendable.

Then we have Ashole. No matter what the full ins and outs of the air rifle incident that the News of the World reported involving Ashley Cole and Chelsea, there is one big question in it all. What kind of idiot even brings a fucking air rifle to training?

What good can come out of doing that? What is there ever to gain by bringing one of those into the training ground. Again, it's not a witch-hunt. It's calling a prick a prick.

I just despair.

What makes a lot of footballers these days such assholes? Is it society or is it just them?

I do know one thing. I don't want to be a footballer any more.

Blues Cup Win Good For English Football

2011-02-27T23:27:00.018Z

Birmingham City's dramatic late winner at Wembley this afternoon was a great result for the English game and also the Carling Cup.

The Blues 2-1 victory over Arsenal was pleasing because they were a team that, on the whole, took the competition seriously throughout.

No fielding teams of just kids and fringe players. No performances where it made you wonder if the intention all along was just to lose and avoid the hassle of additional games. No devaluing a trophy with history.

As much as I still despise Alex McLeish for leaving Scotland in the lurch for the cash lure, it was a great Cup campaign by the tortoise headed one. It gives me no pleasure to say well done to him, but I do have to congratulate Birmingham City for a spirited performance and not just trying to sit back and hope to catch their more illustrious opponents on the counter.

The calamity nature of their winning goal was also pleasing to see. I love the whack on the head that the Birmingham player gave Koscielny as they ran off to celebrate. When the final whistle went, you could see just what the win meant to the players and the supporters.

It's a great shot in the arm to the smaller clubs and shows that it's not just the 'big five' that will always win all the silverware.

Hopefully Birmingham's win will be a wake up call to the other in the Premiership that the League Cup should still matter and if you treat it with respect, then look what you might achieve at the end of the day.

Fans want trophies, not just league survival.

Two Steps Forward. One Step Back. Could Be Worse.

2011-02-26T19:03:00.004Z

East Fife were pish today.

1-0 loss. Could have been much worse.

That is all.

FINAL SCORE: East Fife 0 - 1 Airdrie United

EAST FIFE: Brown, Park, Ovenstone, McGowan, Muir, Johnstone, McCulloch, Young, Linn, Wallace (Hislop 50), Hamilton (Fagan 69) [Subs Not Used: Lyness, Smart, Cargill]

ATT: 664

Things You Love To See In Football # 5 - Players Being Smacked In The Face

2011-02-25T09:48:00.001Z

The series that was never meant to be a series continues today with a follow up to number 3 in the series, referee's being hit in the face. The only obvious way to go was with players being hit in the face.

This wasn't the planned topic for today but was inspired by this master fail from Chilean under 20 internationalist Bryan Carrasco in a recent game against Ecuador...

It's great the referee gave the foul against him. Dunno whether a booking followed but he should be embarrassed out of the game after that! I just love the commentators reactions to it all.

Now obviously that was a self inflicted and planned whack to the face. When it's not your player, and even sometimes when it is, we love to see players inadvertantly being smacked in the chops.

Whether it be kicking the ball straight into your own face, like Bury's Chris Brass...

Or standing too close to the person taking a thrown in...

Or if you're Robbie Savage by the ball, your team mates, the opposition and even the referee...

They're all classic things we love to see in football and not just us. I think this musical montage sums it all up rather quite nicely...

Fifers Clear The Ayr

2011-02-24T10:32:00.000Z

We asked Forrest Gump what he thought about watching East Fife this season. "They're like a box of chocolates" he replied. "Because you never know what you're going to get?" we said. "No, because they're fucking bad for your health". We nodded.

What last night's emphatic 4-0 victory over Ayr United at Somerset Park told us more than anything was that we perform best when there's not many Fife fans in attendance!

It was a much needed and surprising victory for the black and gold and a win that lifts them out of the relegation zone, two points clear of a severely struggling Peterhead side and with two games in hand.

The manner of the victory was also pleasing. It was a dominant performance from start to finish. Well maybe not straight from the start. Ayr did look lively in the early exchanges and had a couple of good chances which were way off target. After Jim Hamilton fired the ball home after 31 minutes, there was no looking back for the Fifers.

The opening goal came when Bobby Linn cracked a 20 yard effort off the bar, with Hamilton quickest to react to scramble home the rebound.

New boy Ryan Wallace endeared himself to the Fife faithful in his first full start, adding a second three minutes later when Ayr keeper David Crawford couldn't hold on to a Div Muir effort and Wallace pounced to send East Fife in 2-0 at the half.

The Fife continued the fine work after the break and Hearts loanee Matthew Park added a third on 49 minutes with a breathtaking solo effort that saw him pick the ball up at the half, waltz past four Ayr players and coolly slot home past Crawford.

Ayr hit the post and Hamilton cracked a spectacular 25 yard effort off the bar, before Wallace rounded off the scoring with his second, and the Fife's fourth, on 66 minutes.

A pretty good all round performance. Lloyd Young was looking particularly fine in the middle and the defence look composed. An overall disciplined and workmanlike performance against a very poor Ayr side.

For the 20 or so East Fife fans that made the journey, it was all worthwhile. What we really need to do now though it to actually string a run of wins together. That's been hard to do this season and last, but no better time to do it than now.

Mon the Fife.

FINAL SCORE: Ayr United 0 - 4 East Fife

EAST FIFE: Brown, Durie, Park, Ovenstone, McGowan, Muir (Smart 90), Linn (Fagan 62), Wallace, Hamilton (Hislop 68), Young, Johnstone [Subs Not Used: Collier, Cargill]

ATT: 789

Stirling Albion's Fans Ownership Subject Of New "Blogumentary"

2011-02-22T08:41:00.000Z

East Fife are having a bad season in the Second Division. An up and down season, but at least the more optimistic amongst us can see some kind of hope that we won't be relegated.

Stirling Albion are having a worse season in the First Division, but for their supporters, there's not really any light coming through the end of that particular tunnel. They are just happy to have a team to watch though.

Four points adrift of a soon to be revitalised Ross County, Stirling are firmly rooted to the bottom, with their only hope realistically being in catching the smellies and getting into the relegation playoff place instead of the automatic one.

When Dundee can be docked 25 points for going into administation and then quickly leapfrog you and send you to the foot of the table, you know it's not really going to be your season.

Three league wins all season, a minus 31 goal difference and the players not taking wages are also big clues!

There's not much love lost between the Binos fans and ourselves, so who gives a fuck how badly they're doing?! Our friendly inter-fanzine football team bonding is long over. They took our Toro!

Stirling's off the field problems have been well documented in the past and with the club now being owned and run by the fans, they are held up as the benchmark and way forward by many.

For those that don't know, the Stirling Albion Supporters Trust agreed a £300,000 deal last summer to clear debts and make a one-off payment to the then Chairman, Peter McKenzie. The deal made them the first Scottish senior club to be owned by their fans.

Their on field performance since that time hasn't exactly been a great selling point for those of us who, like myself, want to see more fan ownership in the game, although the debts still hanging around don't help them get out of this mess.

It is the way forward though and the sooner we can have this at East Fife the better. Can't be much worse than an undertaker and a schoolgirl at the helm.

The excellent The Footy Blog have made an interesting "blogumentary" around the Stirling fans' takeover and the problems they are now facing both on and off the pitch. Talking to manager Jocky Scott, player Chris Aitken, a director and a local journalist about how things are going with the team under this new structure, you can see the will to succeed is clearly there.

You can watch the full documentary below. Maybe we'll get one on East Fife's ownership situation next. That's one that is long overdue.

Five Alive For Happy Hammers

2011-02-21T23:45:00.017Z

Just a very short blog today.

As a West Ham fan who has been going through a hellish season, tonight's complete dominance of Burnley in the FA Cup Fifth Round was a joy to see.

Some readers will already know this, but I was lucky enough to be at West Ham's dismantling of Man United in the League Cup back in November. A fantastic night in the snow.

That's two fine Cup demolitions. Why can't we do it in the league? Do we need to play every game under floolights?

Also, what is it about Avram Grant? The man seems to have a magical knack in Cup competitions.

He did wonders with Portsmouth last season. Took us to the brink of a League Cup final place and now the quarters of the FA Cup await.

He even smiled tonight!

Let's hope we don't go the same way as Portsmouth after their Cup final appearance last season. I don't want to pick an FA Cup win over survival in the Premiership.

I'm selfish. I want both.

As a final word of warning though. In the 1988/89 season, West Ham lost in the semi finals and the League Cup and then the quarter finals of the FA Cup. They were then relegated.

Let's hope we're not going to see history repeating itself 22 years later.

FA Cup Romance Hanging On By A Heartstring

2011-02-20T22:57:00.002Z

It was looking like the romance of the FA Cup was going to be over for another year. With all respect to Burnley and Reading, either of those sides going through in the remaining 5th round games wouldn't have been a huge giantkilling shock or create that much of a nationwide buzz.

Left with a pretty much all Premiership quarter final, my interest in the Cup would have been starting to wane for another year, aside from cheering on my own West Ham to lift the trophy at Wembley in May of course.

Then up stepped Leyton Orient's Jonathan Tehoue to add some romance back into my cold heart.

The Orient-Arsenal game wasn't a particular Cup classic but it was good viewing and great to see a ground with character like Brisbane Road on the telly. It's hard to find a ground that stands out too much in these days of all seater plastic stadia but having flats on all four corners and people enoying the game and a beer on their balconies gives Orient that something a little bit different.

Tehoue's goal will be a huge moneyspinner for the O's and comes at a much needed time when they are worrying about their future with West Ham moving into their patch at the new Olympic Stadium in the foreseeable future. They're a great club, with a long history and hopefully their moment in the sun will help raise people's awareness to their current plight.

They may face little hope in the replay at the Emirates, but then that's what Cup football is all about and with Wenger likely to still not risk his top stars, I'm already looking forward to it. The O's will have nothing to lose and will be sure to just go for it.

Just look at Crawley Town. A defensive lapse of concentration at a set piece and the width of the crossbar. That was all that was between the non league side and a place in the FA Cup Shock Hall of Fame. When Fergie comes out and says they deserved a draw, then you know how close they came to that giantkilling feat.

Even with the side Man U had out they should have been way too strong for Crawley. Regular readers of this blog will know what I feel about them but I have to give them full credit for the way they went about their business at Old Trafford yesterday. They defended well, they took the game to the Premiership leaders at times and although they didn't really threaten too much in front of goal until those dramatic closing minutes, they did non league football proud.

Never thought I'd be saying that about Crawley! If only they conducted themselves on and off the pitch in that manner more often.

It was a shame that two fourth round replays had to be settled this weekend. It devalues the competition a little when they can't fit in the replays due to other commitments of the clubs. It also gives ammunition to those that want the FA to do away with replays and have a straight knockout competition. That works great for the League Cup but don't mess with the tradition of the FA Cup. The chance of replays is one of the things that adds to the magic.

The two replays this weekend were good games mind you.

Everton hadn't been at their best but that was one hell of a dramatic late, late show from them. Some of the Chelsea players just didn't look interested from the start. No idea what was going on in Drogba's head early on and Anelka's whole demeanour before, during and after his spot kick was mind boggling. Of course, the fact that Gashley Cole was the villain of the piece just makes the Toffees victory all that sweeter.

The other replay today saw Man City run out 5-0 victors at home to Notts County, in a scoreline that certainly doesn't portray the tale of the tape. If you didn't see the match, County went for it from the off and were unlucky not to take the lead in the opening minutes and then hit the post a little later on before the Premiership moneybags took over. Pity.

The game we were least looking forward to over the weekend was the all Premiership clash between Fulham and Bolton. As it turned out, it provided the WTF moment of the seven cup ties with the second half flare up between Fulham's Chris Baird and Bolton's Martin Petrov.

It was hilarious to watch the whole thing play out at the top of the screen with referee Stuart Atwell absolutely clueless as to what was going on directly behind his back. An elbow, some pushes and he missed it all. Luckily the lino saw it, or clearly didn't despite his long chat with the ref, since both players only got yellow when Baird at least should have been shown red. Kind of summed up the officials afternoon mind you as they could spot blatant shirt pulling throughout the first half either.

Let's just hope that if we end up with a FA Cup all Premiership quarter final line up, we'll still get all the drama and enjoyment. If it's like the Premier League week in and week out, then I'm not so sure we will.

Fifers Fire Blanks But Earn Point

2011-02-19T21:32:00.013Z

The worry that a lot of East Fife fans have at the moment is where are the goals going to be coming from for the remainder of the season.

After today's performance, that's not going to change any time soon by the looks of it.

There's not too much to say about today's game. East Fife didn't play badly, they just lacked a killer touch in front of goal and once again failed to take full advantage of the opposition going down to ten men.

Brechin edged the first half and Rory McAllister was proving a handful for the Fife defence, causing Michael Brown to make a few fine saves and stops. Despite the pressure, the great thing to see was that the defence held firm.

East Fife had their own chances, the best of which was a John Ovenstone header which was tipped over early on.

The second half was end to end stuff and East Fife edged this one. Both teams were creating chances and when Dougie Hill was sent off after 63 minutes for retaliation, the Fife faithful saw their chance to turn the screw and land all three points.

Not to be though and although we had some great chances to win it, Brechin were to have to best when McAllister broke through in the final minute but shot wide.

After Tuesday night's woeful performance as least we steadied the ship. No goals conceded but we need to turn it around at the other end of we won't be leaving that relegation playoff spot any time soon.

Mon the Fife.

FINAL SCORE: East Fife 0 - 0 Brechin City

EAST FIFE: Brown, Durie, Park, Ovenstone, McGowan, Muir, Linn, Hamilton, Hislop (Wallace 74), Young, Johnstone [Subs not used: Smart, Fagan, Cargill, Lyness]

ATT: 526

Things You Love To See In Football #4 - Very Early Sending Offs (As Long As It's Not For Your Team!)

2011-02-18T10:37:00.001Z

Back for another instalment. Things we love to see in football, just so long as if it's a misfortune, it's not happening to our side.

Early sendings offs are great and the earlier the better. They don't come that much earlier than the fate that befell Ebbsfleet United goalkeeper Preston Edwards in the Blue Square South match against Farnborough two weeks ago.

The video for the incident has become a You Tube phenomenon, so you may have already seen it. We wanted to keep it till our Friday Fun section though to air it in the blog.

Edwards was sent off after just ten seconds when he brought down a Farnborough player following a horrendous backpass. You have to feel for him, as it's the defender's error all the way:

To make matters worse for Ebbsfleet, they didn't have a substitute goalie on the bench so 18 year old midfield, Tom Phipp, had to go in the goal for basically the entire game. He only let in three goals as Ebbsfleet went down 3-0 and nearly saved Bradley Bubb's penalty from the resulting sending off.

Edwards sending off is thought to be the quickest early bath for a goalkeeper but the record for the fastest sending off ever appears to go to Chippenham Town's David Pratt, who was sent off in a Southern League Premier Division game after only THREE seconds for a lunge on a Bashley player in December 2008. Aptly named.

Football Shorts # 3

2011-02-17T23:09:00.027Z

So King Kenny has finally got to manage Liverpool in a European competition (even if it is just the pointless UEFA Europa League). The Heysel tragedy and the subsequent European ban, meant he never got the chance to do that in the late 80's and early 90's. You'd think that after a 20 year wait, he'd come up with something a little bit more exciting than the 0-0 bore draw against Sparta Prague. I'm always harping on about the return to the 80's and 90's set up for the European competitions. They at least tried to replicate the cagey cagey approach of them on the pitch tonight. When the most exciting thing to happen was pretty much a stoppage of play when a flare came on the pitch, then maybe another 20 year wait is in order.

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Staying in Europe, Rangers made it a fantastic one win in 16 attempts (qualifiers excluded) after their 1-1 draw against Sporting Lisbon tonight. It's not too bad a result against a quality side I guess, but should we just not bother with European competitions in Scotland for a while? I would say it's just getting depressing, but when it's Rangers that are fucking up, it's more hilarious than saddening. Still not a good reflection on the Scottish game though.

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Last word on European competitions for today and a follow up to the whole Gattuso Is A Head Case story from yesterday that everyone's been talking about. The Milan nutter has been charged with "gross unsporting conduct" by UEFA and could just face a one match ban, although by assaulting someone off the pitch he is likely to face at least three. With his previous track record they really should throw the book at him. Possibly a book about how to deal with spoilt children or on anger management.

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Ross County appointed their third manager of the season today and it's a great appointment for them. Jimmy Calderwood has joined them, as he tries to help them out of the relegation playoff place in the Scottish First Division. With Cowdenbeath above them, that shouldn't prove too difficult. Three managers in a season is crazy, although if John Robertson keeps getting some of the abuse he's getting at East Fife, we may find ourselves in the same boat before too much longer.

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We meant to cover this last time, but Clyde made one of the most interesting managerial appointments of the season when Jim Duffy and the legendary Chic Charnley took over the reigns of the Third Division side. Sitting ten points adrift at the bottom they can't exactly take them any lower, so with no pressure on them, it'll be interesting to see what they achieve. They've already secured four points from their first six available and with the addition of veteran former Scottish international Charlie Miller, who I would have gladly taken at Bayview, it's shaping up to be an exciting season run-in for the long suffering Broadwood faithful. Probably just in time before they end up with no fans left.

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The FA Cup is back on Saturday and all eyes will be on a team that AFTN loathe - Crawley Town. When the draw was made we said it put us in a difficult position. As an AFC Wimbledon fan, I hate the way that Crawley have gone about getting to where they are. The spend, spend, spend approach is great when it's your side doing it, we'll admit in a complete two faced way. Crawley Town and their fans are particularly obnoxious off the pitch though. This story about one of their "fans" who is now banned for life for taunting Man U over the Munich air disaster didn't surprise us. Nastly little bunch some of them down there. Every club has it's dickheads. Crawley has more than most and in their boss, Steve Evans, they have one of the biggest of all. Still don't know if I can find it in my heart not to root for a non league side against a Premiership one, and especially Man U. What a tough call. Damn you draw!

Gattuso Loses Control Again

2011-02-16T09:16:00.000Z

"We were both speaking Scottish"

Who'd have thought that would be the quote of the Champions League games this week?!

Yes, the UEFA Champions League For The Rich is back and some of the games actually have me excited for that rarity of occasions.

I won't bore you all again with how I feel about the Champions League and the death of the proper European Cup. Search the blog, click the label tags and you can find all that out.

Last night's game between Spurs and AC Milan though piqued my interest. Well it did more than that. It was a game I was looking forward to seeing. Harry Redknapp has his lads playing some pretty fine stuff in Europe this season. Would never want them to win the thing of course, heavens forbid, but they've livened up some dull weekly rounds and deserve a lot of credit.

The game at the San Siro against the Serie A leaders wasn't a classic though. Had me fast forwarding through bits as the usual CL dullness crept in. Gennaro Gattuso certainly livened up proceedings though, fucking wee asshole that he is.

I've no idea what came over him, but he's a disgrace, as were Milan in a number of areas.

Gattuso should have seen red for the first square up with Tottenham coach, and Scotland legend, Joe Jordan. Having his hands round his throat was bad enough, but the after match headbutt on the 59 years old was incredible to watch. I had to play it back a couple of times as I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

For an old guy though, Jordan looked like he wanted to rip the wee nyaff's head off. He deserved to. Joe showed amazing restraint in not skelping him one off the pus. I'd have backed big Joe in a fight with him too.

There's no truth to the rumours that UEFA are wanting to charge Jordan with bringing the game into disrepute for not immediately falling to the ground, clutching his face like he's been shot. If the incident had been in the reverse, the Italian would have been convulsing on the ground like Ian Curtis at a Joy Division gig.

There is no doubt that Gattuso is going to be punished. He's already missing the next game, but he's going to be missing a lot more besides that. Gattuso's temper has let him down before and he never seems to show any signs of maturity.

In 2003, he slapped Ajax striker Zlatan Ibrahimović (ironically now his team-mate at the San Siro) in the face with the back of his hand, earning him a red card and a ban.

When Jordan and Gattuso were having their verbal altercation, I was wondering whether it would have been in Italian or Scottish. Couldn't quite lip read to find out.

Joe Jordan spent two seasons with AC Milan, scoring 12 goals in 52 appearances from 1981 to 1983. Gattuso played just over a season with Rangers in Scotland, scoring just 7 goals and falling out of favour quite quickly.

Turns out they were speaking Scottish!

"I lost control. There is no excuse for what I did. I take my responsibilities for that. I was nervous. We were both speaking Scottish, something that I learned when I played in his home city of Glasgow, but I can't tell you what we said".

Judging by what played out, I'm pretty sure a Glasgow Kiss was mentioned somewhere in there.

Gattuso's actions were just part of an overall disgraceful show by Milan.

It all started with Mathieu Flamini's horror tackle on Vedran Corluka, which was lucky not to leave the Spurs player with a broken ankle. How that was just a booking is beyond me. Feet clearly off the ground and he jumped in two footed. Once a Gooner, always a goon obviously.

The most hilarious, disgraceful incident though came from Milan's Alexandre Pato. After Ibrahimović correctly had a late goal disallowed for the 'i Rossoneri', Pato lost it running up to the linesman and screaming abuse after abuse at him, all the time whilst his "respect" patch on his sleeve was in full flow. He won't have got the irony.

All in all, not a great couple of day's for Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi.

*** These incidents are always way better to listen to with an excited commentator in a foreign language! ***

Optimists Left Shaking Heads As Miserable Fifers Fall Back Into Relegation Mix

2011-02-15T23:09:00.026Z

East Fife are like some sort of reverse Chumbawumba at the moment. We get up and then we get knocked down again.

I don't know why we bother even trying to be optimistic. We get our hopes raised then East Fife turn in a performance like tonight's shattering all that built up confidence as they send themselves back into the Scottish Second Division relegation mix. Incredible.

Taking a look at the AFTN forum right now would leave you calling the Samaritans right after. I think some of our support are already in the queue.

In our second big season defining game in the space of four days, East Fife went down at home to fellow strugglers Dumbarton. It was a comfortable 3-1 win for the Sons and one which saw them leapfrog the Fife and send us back into the relegation playoff spot, in front of a pitifully low crowd of just 392.

It could have been different had Bobby Linn converted a Bobby Linn penalty late on, but I'm not sure that even that would have given us the push that we needed to grab at least a point.

We said on Saturday that the turning point then was an early enforced substitution. This worked in a positive way, but this time it was the opposite. When Robert Sloan was forced off after just 8 minutes, we seemed to lose all ability to create and attack.

Patrick Walker and Mark Gilhaney fired Dumbarton ahead after 17 and 23 minutes. Michael Park pulled one back just before half time for the Fife but the teams should have been going in level if he'd converted another easy chance.

Andrew Geggan wrapped up the points on 55 but it was never that much in doubt.

We still have games in hand, but I'd rather have points in the bag. Our already stretched squad will struggle to cope with what feels like a never ending two games a week schedule.

It's still incredible to see that we're sitting second bottom with the fourth best goal difference in the Division and the only team in the bottom sixth with a plus record. If we keep showing the lack of fire like we did tonight then that's not going to be lasting too much longer.

Who'd be an East Fife fan?

FINAL SCORE: East Fife 1 - 3 Dumbarton

EAST FIFE: Brown, Durie, McCulloch, Ovenstone, McGowan, Muir, Linn, Young, Sloan (Fagan 8), Hamilton (Hislop 63), Park (Johnstone 63) [Subs Not Used: Lyness, Smart]

ATT: 392

Bad Referees Exist At All Levels (And Don't We Just Love It When It's Not Our Team Involved!)

2011-02-14T12:03:00.000Z

We haven't featured much non-league stuff in the blog recently, so we'll change that today.

Refereeing decisions, controversy and football are all unhappy bedfellows. Every level, at pitches up and down the country and across the world, every weekend. Someone, somewhere is screaming at a referee because he's got it wrong.

I always wonder just what makes someone want to be a referee. Never come up with an answer that fully satisfies me!

As neutrals, we all love the controversy and seeing the ref and the officials get it wrong. When it happens to your team though, you're lucky not to have a coronary.

We found this great balls-up from the FA Trophy 3rd Round match between Blyth Spartans and Droylsden at the start of this month.

Unbelievable Jeff.

I know it's not big and it's not clever to abuse the officials (ahem) but the look of fear on these guys faces is priceless. I thought the lino was going to shit himself! I particularly love the shaking of the tunnel, which of course no-one at AFTN would ever do or condone!

The fact that Droylsden's Ciaran Kilheeney punched away Michael Tait's goalbound header and then went on to score the equalising goal is the kind of thing you wouldn't believe in a TV drama. Justice was served in the replay though with Blyth Spartans running out 4-0 winners.

It all got me thinking what was the worst refereeing decision I've seen. Apart from Don McVicar's seven minutes of stoppage time against Dundee United in 1991, I can't think right now what the worst decision I've seen in person has been. Please jog my memory or share yours.

Most comical wrong decision was Scotland hero Mauricio Espinosa's decision not to award England that goal in South Africa last summer. Still chuckle at the mere thought.

I think I have to go with this refereeing decision as my all time favourite worst one. To some, it will be the first time of you seeing this. To others, you already know it as an all-time classic. It comes at 1 minute and 15 seconds in:

All these years later and I still have to laugh. Even if you don't award Dundee United the goal, it's at least a penalty! The guy hands the ball back to the goalie!

Good old Les Mottram, your refereeing spirit clearly lives on today.

Happy Valentine's Day to refs everywhere. We love to hate you.

Football Shorts # 2

2011-02-13T23:26:00.004Z

Another weekend in the Premiership and another stunning multi goal comeback. Thankfully for my team, West Ham, this time. 3-0 down at the half to West Brom, the Hammers looked buried so deeply that not even Burke and Hare could get them out. A stunning three goal comeback, which also saw them hit the woodwork at least three times, certainly gave them a survival lifeline, just as it was looking like the Olympic Stadium would be the best Championship grounds going - and one of the emptiest.

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The Premiership relegation battle is shaping up to be mouthwatering. Everyone from Stoke in 9th place down must now be worried about going on a streak that could spell relegation and possible financial disaster for them. Nine points separate the bottom twelve sides, with only six separating 9th place and the last relegation one in 18th. Really can't wait to see how this plays out and as long as West Ham and Blackpool don't end up in the bottom three, then I'll be more than happy. The top's down to a two horse race now at best, so screw that and let's just watch the action at the bottom.

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What has happened to Ashley Young? I used to be such an admirer of his. Cracking wee player. So skillful. Yesterday though, against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road, he spent the game moaning, timewasting and diving about all over the place. He picked up one yellow card, but could easily have had four. What a waste of his talents, unless he's trying to wangle a summer move to Chelsea.

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Everyone is talking about Wayne Rooney's wondergoal in the Manc derby, and rightly so. Not a fan of him as a player or a person, but what a peach! There was a fantastic goal scored this weekend by a Scottish player although not as many of you will have seen it. Robert Snodgrass, fresh from winning his first international cap midweek, scored a beautiful goal which showed some amazing ball control. Try and find it online. It's not up on You Tube yet that we could see. Scotland are definitely building up an exciting squad of depth at the moment.

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The Championship is once again turning out to be the most exciting of the four English divisions. A fantastic match this afternoon, with an electic atmosphere to match, between the two sides that I think will be going up automatically come May, Queens Park Rangers and Nottingham Forest. A 1-1 draw full of incidents and with two teams that knew what was at stake but didn't let that get in the way of some entertaining football. Just what you want from a Sunday afternoon game and not the usual Premiership bore. Can't be happy about QPR going up though. Can't want any club that has both Queen and Rangers in their name!

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What is it about referee Mark Clattenburg, who the ref in the QPR-Forest game? He just seems to attract trouble and controversy. We're not saying he's always wrong either, because he's usually not. It's just he seems to be in the centre of things week after week like some kind of bizarre magnet. Could do without his trademark "go away" shout and armwave though.

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Finally, a huge well done to Glenrothes Juniors who triumphed 2-1 over Arthurlie at Warout Stadium on Saturday to move into the 5th round of the Scottish Junior Cup. Before being deemed "big enough" to go and watch East Fife in big bad Methil, my Granddad used to take me to watch the Glens up till his death in 1980. Still tried to get to their games at the end of the season or if I wasn't following the Fife away. Still gives me a tingle being at Warout watching them and my mind always goes back there whenever I smell liniment, as that smell always seemed to be in the air. Standing with my granddad, watching hard tackling football, then home for tea before settling down to watch Doctor Who and the Generation Game. Childhood footballing memories are made of such things.

Fifers Are The Warriors At Ochilview

2011-02-12T19:08:00.038Z

You know you're not having a good season when the six pointers come early. At least we've waited till February and it turned out to be worth the wait.

With East Fife rooted bottom of the Scottish Second Division, today's game at Ochilview against the team one point and one place above us was massive.

No understatement. No hyperbole. This was a must win game for East Fife for the confidence factor as much as the points one.

And the lads came up trumps, with East Fife fairly easily dispatching Stenhousemuir 2-0, with a fine all round performance, another clean sheet and amazingly our first away league win of the season.

East Fife were deserving of the win, against the team that have become our whipping boys at Bayview in recent times, but it was scrappy at times. Some would argue that the turning point came in the 19th minute, when Stevie Hislop had to go off injured and Lloyd Young came on. Many have been crying out for Young to have a regular starting spot once again and his performance today will have added to that number.

Young gave the Fife the lead on the stroke of half time, firing home after a nice build up. Lloyd then set up Bobby Linn three minutes into the second half, for the Boabster to double the advantage as he rounded the keeper and put it away from a tight angle.

Stenny were reduced to ten men on 63 minutes when Stevie Murray was sent packing for kicking out at Jim Hamilton. After that East Fife made it home to the three points, despite being under some pressure from the weakened Warriors.

Young had a good game, but praise also has to go to Dylan McGowan and Michael Brown for some solid defending and goalkeeping. The defence on the whole looked a lot tighter and inspired more confidence. Another clean sheet will help too. In the middle Robert Sloan and Div Muir are forming a great partnership. We just need a prolific one up front and some optimism may start to creep back into the black and gold faithful.

The win lifted East Fife up two places to eighth, with another huge game coming up on Tuesday at home to 9th placed Dumbarton. A win there would open up a three point gap on the relegation playoff spot with three games in hand and a five point gap on bottom spot with two games in hand over Stenny.

With East Fife having at least two games in hand on all of those in the bottom six, this would set us up for at least a more comfortable run in to the season, albeit a meaningless one.

Mon the Fife.

FINAL SCORE: Stenhousemuir 0 - 2 East Fife

EAST FIFE: Brown, Durie, Ovenstone, McGowan, McCulloch, Linn, Sloan, Muir, Johnstone (Park 73), Hislop (Young 19), Hamilton. [Subs Not Used: Lyness, Smart, Fagan]

ATT: 590

AFTN'S Top Ten Lists: Our Top Ten Suggestions To Make Women's Football More Entertaining

2011-02-11T11:11:00.000Z

With the 2011 Monkey Tennis World Cup taking place in Germany in July and Valentine's Day coming up on Monday, it's all about the ladies in AFTN today, as we bring you our top ten ways we think we could make women's football more entertaining.

Here to help ladies :

(10) New Rules for goalies - save a penalty, win the shoes of the girl that took it

(9) Games only to be played in the rain

(8) Eleven girls. Ten strips.

(7) If a player misses an easy chance, announcer gets to tell her that her bum looks big

(6) Did somebody say half time pillow fight???

(5) Substitutes warm up by riding around on giant dildos on wheels

(4) Sole shirt sponsorship deal with French Connection UK

(3) Losing captain has to go on a date with John Terry

(2) Conceding a free kick results in loss of possession - and shorts

(1) Twenty-two girls. One cup.

McCarthy's International Quandary Shows Up Ridiculous Rules

2011-02-10T23:40:00.034Z

It used to be so much simpler. As a footballer, you knew you were Scottish, English or Irish and who you'd play for internationally.

Then came all the grandparent loopholes and residency rules and countries like the Republic of Ireland exploited them to the full. Owen Coyle - Irish internationalist. Gtf.

Obviously Scotland has benefitted too. Two of the star performers in last night's win over Northern Ireland, Kris Commons and Phil Bardsley, were both born in England and you'd not mistake them for Scottish in any shape or form if you just heard them talk.

On the flip side, there's not really any top players who we've missed out on because they turned their back on Scotland to play for one of our Celtic neighbours. It's countries like Canada who seem to miss out on players for this reason. It's almost treason as far as I'm concerned.

Now for those of you reading this who are not in Canada, you may be surprised to know that English international Owen Hargreaves is a Canuck. He chose to play for England and not Canada. I know, can you imagine?! Another lesser known player, Teal Bunbury, chose to play for the US and not Canada. That would be like someone choosing England over Scotland. The plus side for Canadian fans is that he has a fucking ridiculous name to be one of your star players.

The reason we're talking about all of this today of course is due to the situation that arose this week with Wigan Athletic's James McCarthy.

McCarthy was born in Glasgow. He promised his Irish born grandfather, not long before he passed, that he would play internationally for the Republic of Ireland if the opportunity arose. It did.

He's been capped at under 17, 18, 19 and 21 levels for Ireland, as well as earning a friendly cap as a sub for the full squad against Brazil last February.

McCarthy was selected for the Republic's Nations Cup squad this week and was likely to play against Wales on Tuesday night. He pulled out of the squad before the game and this has led to intense media speculation that he will be changing his allegiance and waiting for a call up to play for the country of his birth, Scotland.

Now, I know Scotland are set to benefit from getting a young, talented and highly thought of fully fledged Scottish player in their international ranks, but the situation is farcical. If it had happened in reverse, I'd be fuming.

Under FIFA rules, youth team and friendly appearances don't count. Only competitive games. It's ridiculous. Once a player makes his mind up who he's playing for (sigh) and once he's been selected for that country, especially at under 21 or full level, then that should be the country he represents. Don't go changing because you've had second thoughts.

McCarthy should have been playing for Scotland from the start. That said, you can't fault a young lad for wanting to keep a promise to his granddad. I respect him for that decision but once made it's one that he has to stick to.

The countries that are going to get most shafted by these rules are the smaller ones. If you're picked for say Andorra and then Spain or Portugal come a calling and you can change, then most players will take that option.

McCarthy is saying that he won't be rushed into his decision. The easy way to get round it is for the SFA to just come out and say they won't select him.

At a time where the Scottish national team is in full re-build, that would be a brave decision to make. But the right one.

Scotland Impress In Celtic Nations Cup

2011-02-09T23:18:00.052Z

It may have only been against a pretty depleted Northern Ireland squad, but Scotland made a tremendous start to their 2011 Celtic Nations Cup campaign at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin this evening.

They ran out 3 - 0 winners, and it was the performance as much as the result that's boosted the spirits of the Tartan Army.

The first half in particular was one of the best from a Scottish international side for many a year. Two goals and a slew of close calls, including a penalty that should have been awarded. Good stuff.

The second half fizzled out a little, but it was job done by then, as Scotland recorded their first win over Northern Ireland in 19 years.

There were a number of fine individual performances too.

Kris Commons looked sharp and now that he's moved to Celtic, I think we'll see his international career flourish. We could finally have the attacking threat we've been badly needing for the last few years.

Sunderland's Phil Bardsley had a strong, attacking first half and James McArthur's goal was a peach. Clearly meant as a cross, his chip into the top left hand corner of the Irish net was as deft a touch as you'll see. "The proverbial postage stamp", Sky commentator Bill Leslie proclaimed. I'd hate to see the state of the letters he addresses then.

We've not been a huge fan of Kenny Miller in the past but we have to fully commend him tonight. As captain, he led by example. Making the trip over from Turkey also impressed. Would he have made the trip had he still been at Ibrox?

With most of the Scotland starting eleven coming from players plying their trade in the English Premiership and most the Northern Irish ones bizarrely coming from the Scottish one, the gulf in class was very clear. Pretty much like the gulf in the two Leagues themselves.

Having this strong weekly competition for the players is what we've been missing for a while now. For too long, our top players have been in just the SPL and the Championship. This move up in class can only help the national side and it's already showing.

We've been critical of Craig Levein's reign so far. Obviously if we're being honest, the fact he's a Cowden wanker will always have something to do with that. You can't take too much from tonight's game due to the threadbare nature of the opposition but we've struggled against similar quality very recently. The signs are there though that he's starting to stamp his style on the squad and the players are responding. It's nice to see us playing a passing game, even though it was pissing down throughout. The players are starting the gel and seem like they actually care about playing for the jersey. All we can ask is that they give all they've got for the navy blue.

We don't want to get carried away but we've had so little to cheer about in recent years, that we'll take any crumb we can and build the best damn sandwich out of it.

There may have only been a crowd of 18,742, a little less than last night's game between the Republic of Ireland hosts and Wales, but the atmosphere was way better.

The travelling Tartan Army was in full voice and it was great to have the banter between the two sets of fans. "You can stick your Union Jack up your arse" indeed. Sad bastards that they are. It's been missing for a long time in a competitive match.

You can argue that the Nations Cup is just glorified friendlies, but whenever you have the four Celtic nations together in anything, it's going to be competitive.

Joint top of the league though and looking forward to the remaining two games in May. C'mon.

Celtic Nations Cup Not Off To Most Auspicious Start

2011-02-08T23:46:00.021Z

The inaugural Nations Cup got underway in Dublin tonight.

The opening game in the round robin tournament saw the hosts Ireland triumph over Wales, thanks to a fine second half display.

I'd been looking forward to the tournament, hankering as I have been for many years for the return of the end of season Home Internationals. It's a stepping stone to getting these games back on the calendar and the signs have been promising so far.

Hopefully we don't find this tournament having a detrimental effect on the return of the Home Internationals though and being used a reason to say the fans don't care.

The fans are cleary not into the Nations Cup at the moment. Only 19,783 turned out to watch first game. Aviva Stadium was just over a third full and the atmosphere was flatter than some reserve games, which hopefully this tournament won't become. As Scotland prepare to take on Northern Ireland, I shudder to think what tomorrow's attendance is going to be.

Playing the Cup at this time of year doesn't help either the tournament or the enthusiasm for it. Having it as an end of season spectacle, in better weather and when more managers are likely to be more willing to release players, should be how they look to proceed in future years. If it indeed lasts that long.

Another aspect which doesn't help the credibility is the fact that teams can make SIX substitutions. It devalues the tournament and makes it no more than a glorified friendly and the fans of the three non hosting nations aren't exactly going to go to a lot of time, expense and effort to support that.

One of the biggest complaints fans have about friendly matches is the ridiculous substitutions aspect.

The Nations Cup had the potential to be a great thing. I'd been looking forward to it since it's announcement. It may get better, but for now it all just seems a bit flat and pointless and a good opportunity gone to waste.

Old Firm In Great Advert For Scottish Football Shock

2011-02-07T11:02:00.002Z

I can't really believe I'm saying this but yesterday's Old Firm Scottish Cup tie was a great advert for Scottish football!

I watched four games yesterday and each one should have been a cracker.

As a West Ham fan, watching them feebly fail in a vital relegation clash didn't raise the excitement. Fernando Torres didn't end up with a broken leg in his first game for Chelski against his old Pool team-mates and after Saturday's escapades in the Premiership, that was a first half of lacklustre proportions. Even the usually fiery Welsh derby between Swansea and Cardiff went off without a bang.

Thankfully the Old Firm saved the day and served up the best game of the afternoon. It was a match I'd happily watch again and if they can serve up the same in the replay next month then I'll be extremely happy.

If you strip out the sectarianism bullshit that still surrounds the fixture, and the fact that the big two kill the Scottish game as much as they help it, you're not usually left with a lot except pure hatred.

Hatred in football is not a bad thing. Don't let people tell you it is. I'd always argue that the game needs it to fully thrive. A plain hatred of your rivals though, not what race, colour or religion they are. You also need to have decent football on display to back this up.

The Fifth Round clash at Ibrox was a scintillating affair, with football being what is being talked about and not refereeing controversies.

Every season I watch the SPL kick off in the hope that someone is going to challenge the Old Firm and that all of the clubs, but especially Celtic and Rangers, actually decide to bring through Scottish talent and not Irish and European.

I'm usually disappointed and not least by the football on display.

I've found myself watching more SPL action this season though than in recent years. The horrorshows of Hibernian and McGhee era Aberdeen have helped. You just didn't know what's been coming next with those two. Hearts have been a breath of fresh air this season, but are now sadly looking like they've faded and fallen away and will have to settle for third spot. The Hearts-Hibs New Years Day derby match was a terrific game, played in an electric atmosphere. Overall, there's been some great goals and some great games. Pity the crowds seem to be dwindling all over.

No matter what goes on elsewhere though, everything is overshadowed by the Old Firm and it always will be. Today's meeting was the 391st Old Firm derby we were told, with the 2-2 draw meaning that the Glasgow rivals will be playing each other for a record seven times this season. I'm sure there will be enough hate to go round.

Celtic impressed me no end and if the SPL title isn't heading to Parkhead way come May then I'll be amazed. They are simply a much better all round team than Rangers at the moment. I find it staggering that Rangers are still going to go top if they can win their two games in hand.

Neil Lennon may be despised by many, but he has Celtic playing some nice football at the moment and his decision to go for it with his attacking substitution midway through the second half turned the game, showing some tactical nuance too. If there had been extra time yesterday then Celtic would now be in the hat for the next round.

For those that think that the Scottish game is just all kick and rush, then their performance today would have put many in the Premiership to shame. Long may it continue. We've had some bad years in Scottish football and if a team can win the SPL by playing some football that makes you want to watch them, then that's a start of the comeback.

I have to end by covering my three favourite things from yesterday's game.

Steven Naismith is an absolute prick for taking that dive in the box right in front of the referee. Second booking and off he went. Great to see a ref not afraid to fully punish the player for doing that. If only more were so brave. Can't believe only two players saw red.

I absolutely LOVED Scott Brown's celebration right in the face of El Hadji Diouff. Well worth getting a booking for that. Diouff's moved to the perfect club. A cunt surrounded by dicks. Perfect fit.

Final word goes to Celtic's Green Brigade supporters group. They've been much talked about this season, but they have brought a terrific atmosphere to the terraces in Scotland. More fans need to take note of what they're doing. We need more tifo, more style and more noise in the Scottish game. I've been enjoying that kind of atmosphere for the last three years in Vancouver and loving every minute of it. At a time when fans are voting with their feet and staying away, this is the kind of atmosphere that will bring them back.

Plus any fans that can turn Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" into a terracing classic, deserve all the praise they can get.

Maybe the signs are there that the death of Scottish football has been greatly exaggerated. All they need to do now is a dramatic overhaul off the pitch.

Football Shorts # 1

2011-02-06T10:02:00.000Z

*** Well what a Saturday that was in the Premiership. 8 games, 41 goals, 7 of them penalties. Two eight goal games and a seven goal game in there. Fantastic stuff. Possibly the best day of EPL action ever. Still don't feel it's the "best league in the world" but yesterday it made a strong case.

*** Everyone is talking about the Newcastle-Arsenal game of course. Best comeback I've seen since Mali stunned Angola with a similar four goal comeback in last year's African Nations Cup. Mali's was better though as there were two goals in injury time. Plus I don't have a deep hatred of Mali brainwashed into me by my best mate and my old boss, who are both Mackems.

*** Hard to say who had the biggest nightmare moment in the above game. Arsenal's Abou Diaby, who's incredible act of arseholeness arguably cost them two vital points, or the officials who gave Newcastle a penalty that wasn't and didn't give them a goal that was or the stupid Newcastle fans that left early. Have to give it to the latter. You'd not get over walking out of a game like that for a while. That's why you shouldn't leave early. I stayed to the end of that notorious 7-1 drubbing of the Fife by Raith in 1987. Looking back, even if I was still there today, I don't think we'd have tied things up.

*** I think it's fair to say that the Lino in the Toon game had a mare. Trevor Massey. Good job it wasn't his namesake Sian. Maybe we owe her an apology. Must be the surname.

*** Blackpool need to get some wins going again soon. Great performance once again from them but that counts for nothing if you leave empty handed. You have a horrible feeling they're going to do a Burnley and fall just short. Hopefully not but at four points off the relegation places and 12 points away from the magical figure of 40 points that many talk about, it's looking like a tough ask ahead of them. I think the fourth bottom team is going to need more than those 40 points this season.

*** Moving away from the Premiership, Barcelona notched up a record breaking 16th consecutive win in La Liga, with a 3-0 victory over Atletico Madrid. Ten points clear, one loss all season, unbeaten away from home with only four goals conceded. Almost flawless football. Real Madrid must be looking on in envy. They spend all that money on big name flops and still can't win anything. Win for the good guys.

*** Uefa has reminded clubs that new financial regulations will be rigorously enforced come the 2012/13 season. Clubs must break even over a rolling period of three years. We will be interested and delighted if they do get tough on the worse offenders. On the day that Chelsea signed Fernando Torres for the obscene amount of £50 million, they announced losses for the year to June 2010 of £70.9 million. In what universe does that make any sense?

*** After last weekend's FA Cup excitement, the Scottish Cup was a severe letdown yesterday. Is there anything we can ever do to make it exciting, epsecially once your team has crashed out? With the last non-league side, Buckie Thistle, going out 2-0 at home to Brechin City yesterday, there's nothing much left to excite. I'll watch this afternoons bigot brothers derby, but you're always watching that for non footballing reasons and the hope that there's gonna be a big rammy. At least one of the bastards won't be in the final.

*** In the Scottish Junior Cup, my home town team, Glenrothes, are having no luck with the weather. Having finally got their third round match at home to Tranent played at the eighth attempt last week (which they won 3-0), their mouthwatering fourth round tie at home to Arthurlie fell foul of the rain yesterday. With several other third round ties still trying to be played, this years final could fall into 2012. It's like watching the Fife Cup.

*** And finally to all my readers of a non black and gold persuasion, spare a thought for East Fife. It was only after I posted the blog yesterday that I realised that not only are we the only club in the bottom six that have a plus goal difference, we're also still the highest scorers in the league and two points away from safety. Is there any other league in the world where this is likely to be the case? It could only happen to us.

East Fife Reach Rock Bottom

2011-02-05T21:56:00.017Z

It's no longer our pessimism. It's now official. East Fife are in the shit.

With a free Saturday due to Ayr United's continuation in the Scottish Cup, the black and gold kept themselves busy with a 5-1 defeat against a Hearts XI at Bayview.

As our strong line up went down to a bunch of fringe players and youth team guys, more concerning stuff was playing out at Alloa Athletic's Recreation Park.

Bottom side Dumbarton, who have turned to their youth set up to try and kick-start their season, edged a five goal thriller to lift themselves off the bottom of the Scottish Second Division and send East Fife crashing to the basement in their place.

We're now firmly in a relegation dogfight for the second season running.

Sure we have games in hand over the two sides directly above us. Two on second bottom Stenhousemuir and three on the now third bottom Sons. I'd rather have the points in the bag than the games in hand.

The fact that we have a defence with more gaping holes than a Cowden prostitute, means we can't rely on taking anything from these matches.

It's such a frustrating season. We can hold our own, but without taking points, from the likes of Livingston and then we draw blanks and can't take our chances in games like Tuesday nights match at Forfar.

When you look at the fact that Ayr and Brechin are sitting in second and third spots, having played the same number of games but with nearly double our points total, you see just how far we've fallen off the pace.

On the plus side, we have half a season of games still to play out and it's quite scary that we have no firm idea as to just how they will.

Things You Love To See In Football #3 - Referees Being Hit In The Face

2011-02-04T10:10:00.005Z

We never meant for this to become a running series, but it's proved popular, so here's another.

Following on from 'Goalkeepers Scoring' and 'Dogs On The Pitch', here's another one of our favourites things we love to see in football - goalkeepers being hit in the face or head by the ball.

And if it knocks them flying, then all the better!

Here's three cracking examples of this art form in action...

The last game features the classic crowd "wahey". Love the "knock a bit of fucking sense into you" shout from a wag in the crowd.

This game was a Bangor City home game from November 2006. Two years later...

Don't think Clandeboye Park will be top of many refs places to officiate!

Have a great weekend.

Classy Stevie Shoots The Craw

2011-02-02T22:24:00.008Z

Stevie Crawford gained a lot of respect in his time at Bayview.

Joining the Fife in July 2008, the former Scottish internationalist probably never thought that 8 months later he would be replacing the guy that signed his as gaffer.

He was joining the Third Division champions but as things went from bad to worse on the pitch for the team, manager Dave Baikie resigned in April the following year. Stevie was first appointed caretaker manager and then got the job permanently but didn't really manage to turn around the Fife's on-field fortunes.

With a 2009/10 season seeing the Fife narrowly avoiding the relegation playoffs on the last day of the season, Stevie continued to have the support of the Fife faithful. We knew he needed time. We knew he had the right ideas. The Craw obviously didn't think they were working though and when he resigned earlier this season, it came as a shock to most down Bayview way.

What was an even bigger shock was that Stevie decided to stay on as a player and help the Fife cause. He was already a respected figure at the Club and this just put him up further in most people's estimation.

Leaving East Fife in the recent transfer window, Stevie has gone to Cowdenbeath and taken a big wage off the overall weekly bill. As classy as ever, Stevie left with a great parting message:

"I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone connected to East
Fife F.C during my spell at the club as both a player and a manager.
Thanks to the board for giving me my first chance in management and
all the admin staff and volunteers for their help as well during my
time in charge. I would also like to thank the players, Jason Dair, Scott Crabbe,
David Westwood, Gordon Forrest and Brian McNeill for all their efforts.

A special mention to Monty, Jim Berry and Dave Marshall for the way they look after the playing surface. It's up there with the best in Scotland.

Thanks to the supporters for their support throughout my time at the
club. I will keep a close eye on results from now on and wish the club
all the best for the rest of this season and in the years ahead.

The team is in very good hands with Robbo and Jukey and I am sure
their experience will be invaluable to the club over the next few
months.

Thanks again to everyone,
Best wishes"

Nice words Stevie. We wish you well personally but obviously can't wish the Cowden scum to do well at the same time.

Stevie's playing career with the Fife saw him net 10 goals in 50 games. In a fine spell this season, it's sad to see him go but at least he's left with his head held high.

It's Official - The World Of Football Has Gone Insane

2011-02-01T22:35:00.004Z

Yesterday's last minute frenzy before the transfer window closed was amazing.

We complained last year about the lack of activity and how boring it had all become. This year couldn't have been further removed from that and it was all strangely rivetting in the process.

I can't believe how much enjoyment I got from watching text updates at work on the ticker! That could just be because I need to get out more, I will admit that.

English Premier League clubs are reported to have have spent a staggering £225 million in the transfer window, an increase of £50 million from the previous record of three years ago.

When you consider how many people in the UK and throughout the world are struggling because of the recession this is mind-blowing. Actually it's obscene.

That's also just the teams from the Premiership remember.

Somewhere, someone hasn't been able to pay their electricity bill today or been able to afford food and Liverpool have just spent £35 million on a player that has only scored 32 senior career goals, played only 91 games and is currently injured. That figure is also what Vancouver Whitecaps paid MLS to get the 17th 'franchise' in 2009. That's a whole club.

Carroll has a talent but there is no way on earth that he is worth that sort of money. It's a transfer record for a UK player moving between English clubs. For how long? How much money would the likes of Dalglish, Rush or Law have been worth if their prime had been the current market?

Carroll has been highly critical of the move himself, in a bizarre turn of events.

He is reported to have said that he had been "pushed out the door" by Newcastle United Chairman Mike Ashley, although earlier reports from the Toon said he had handed in a transfer request when the first bid was turned down. If I was a club chairman and someone offered me that kind of money for a player not yet fully proven at the top level, I'd bite their hand off and considering Ashley had struggled to sell the whole club for £100 million not that long ago, he must be cock-a-hoop today.

The Newcastle fans certainly won't be. At least they won't hate Carroll for leaving his home team. He's now guaranteed a great reception whenever he returns to St James Park. What he gets from the Liverpool support we'll see soon enough.

Better than Fernando Torres will get from the travelling Reds support at Chelsea at the weekend anyway. By belittling Liverpool's "big club" status, he turned the broken hearts he'd left behind into ones repaired and filled with hate.

I'm not a Liverpool fan but he really has come across as a bit of a wanker over it all. Wonder what odds I can get on him getting injured in the forthcoming grudge match.

The whole Torres saga did give us our favourite story from the proceedings though!

The other player we were carefully watching was Charlie Adam.

He was almost the forgotten man after all the big name comings and goings and, much to Blackpool's relief, he will remain a Seasider till May at least.

Liverpool were knocked back and a last minute attempt from Tottenham to snag him apparently fell through because of two missing signatures from Blackpool board members. Good for them!

Losing him in the death throes of the transfer window would have killed Blackpool. They'd be struggling to replace him anyway but not at that late stage and this is now the problem that Newcastle faced.

It's ok having all the money in the bank but if you can't spend it and the team on the pitch is suffering as a result, is it worth it?

You know you're getting old when you can clearly remember the news generated by Trevor Francis' £1 million transfer in 1979. Nowadays, that wouldn't get you much.

Who knows where it will all stop but it needs to before we're left with only the top sides and then where will all their transfers come from?

Transfer Frenzy Bypasses Bayview

2011-01-31T23:59:00.010Z

It may have been a day of twists and turns on the last day of the transfer window (more on that tomorrow), but someone seemed to forget to tell that to good people down Bayview way.

There was one piece of shocking news first thing though. Former gaffer, Stevie Crawford has left East Fife to move along the Kingdom to Cowdenbeath.

Now it may be due to my distance away from the Fife at the moment, but I truly never saw that coming. Some did. Stevie was the last remnant of the Willie Gray spending era and East Fife clearly needed to get those wages of our books. Now we have, leaving a gap in our striking department, the size of the usual gap in our defence.

We wish Craw all the best, as he completes his tour of the Kingdom by moving along to the Fife's in-bred neighbours.

It really does come to something though when we're losing good players to the like of Cowdenbeath. How far we've fallen.

Same is true with Clubs like Brechin, who were rumoured to be in for Bobby Linn.

The Fife faithful have breathed a huge sigh of relief though since it would appear, pending any announcements not being made public yet, that we've managed to retain Boaby's services till the end of the season.

Between our catastrophic defence, the loss of our top loan players and the loss of our consistant scorer from recent games, losing Linn on top of all of that could have been the final nail in our relegation coffin.

Failing to strengthen the defence still might be.

We do have the possibility of adding freed players and maybe another loanee, but John Robertson has to plug that defence somehow.

Robbo's lack of movement in the transfer department could also be an indication that he isn't planning on hanging around past the end of the season and the Club didn't want him to build the team for yet another new manager.

Or it could just be we have no money to bring in anyone new.

Whatever it is, it just means we have a long three and a half months ahead of us on a road that nobody knows where it's leading.

FA Cup Action Delivers Again Thanks To Lower League Sides

2011-01-30T22:29:00.002Z

Well that's another weekend of FA Cup action over.

An old joke about the Scotland national team is good on paper, shit on grass. Turns out this weekend's fourth round matches were the opposite of that. I didn't think it was a very exciting draw when the balls came out of the pot a few weeks ago. There didn't seem to be any real chances of decent shocks or games that would have you on the edge of your seat. How wrong I was!

Crawley Town are the talk of the round, of course. And so they should be, just not for all the reasons that have folk fawning all over them though.

The Torquay-Crawley game was the tie of the round. What a cracking match. Real football at a real football ground. I was really hoping that it would go to a replay as I could definitely have watched another 90 minutes of it. There's not a lot of games these days that leave me disappointed that it finishes, but this had it all.

A Cup "upset", sending offs, two penalties awarded, two penalties being saved, needle, flying tackles, end to end action. Everything you want from a football match, including the woodwork coming into play. If you haven't seen it, find it to download somewhere.

Crawley's 1-0 win is technically a Cup shock. They're the first non league side to reach the Fifth Round since Kidderminster Harriers in 1994 and only the sixth side since the second world war. They're far from being your normal non league side though. No non league side has made the sixth round and thankfully it looks like Crawley won't be the first as we'd never hear the end of it from them. If they do beat Manchester United at Old Trafford though then I would give them all the plaudits they deserve.

From nearly going bust two years ago, to the huge cash investment, to where they are today. It's a great story and for me, a grumpy old traditionalist, sums up a lot of what's wrong with football. Just plough in money to buy success and then become arrogant assholes with it.

That said, Crawley are a very professional set up on the pitch and they play some nice football when they choose to just do that. They should go up from the Conference as champions this season. I'm hoping this Cup run will catch up with them and allow my AFC Wimbledon to go up the easy way, but with the players at their disposal, you can't see past them just now.

I don't want to be two faced about it. East Fife won the Third Division Championship in 2007/08 thanks to Willie Gray's big cash influx. It's not that, per se that I dislike Crawley for. It's their attitude to their new found fame and status.

They're a hard Club to like. Their fans have become hugely arrogant and in their manager Steve Evans, they have one of the most unlikeable bosses in the game today. The way the players have been acting on the pitch is also disgusting and it was on full display at Plainmoor yesterday. Feigning injuries, kicking out at opposition players, timewasting. Believing the hype a little bit too much me thinks. They're not Billy Big Boots, they're just big fish in a small pond, for now, and they really need someone to bring them back down to earth with a bump and remember where they were two years ago. Failing to go up this season would do just nicely.

Can't believe I'd ever not want a non league Club to pull off Cup shocks but there you go. What their win and Cup run does do though is to boost the non league football scene and hopefully it will help some fans check out their local teams and boost the game there. It really is where it's at in England!

The atmosphere at Plainmoor was fantastic. It was real football at a proper football ground and so was Stevenage's game at Broadhall Way against Reading.

Stevenage were the story of the last round for me and they fought so hard in their fourth round tie, falling agonisingly to a late goal from the Championship side.

The Stevenage fans were tremendous throughout and it was another case of what football should be about. Forget your Premiership sides, this was fantastic stuff. I watched five of the games yesterday and these two were easily the most entertaining. Just a shame they never got the live TV audience to see them and they wanted to focus on the bigger sides.

Leyton Orient were one of the other lower league heroes, clipping the wings of high flying Championship promotion chasers Swansea City, whilst Brighton looked impressive against Watford. Elsewhere it seemed to be a case of so near and yet so far. Coventry and Huddersfield will be kicking themselves for seeing their chances of a Cup shock slip away to late goals from their Premiership rivals, whilst Notts County may feel that their best chance of an upset against big spending Man City has now gone, but they'll fight for their lives in the replay in Manchester.

Finally, we have three candidates in the "What The Hell Were They Thinking About?" category over the weekend.

In third place, Arsenal's Sebastien Squillaci, who must have known he was going to see red for blatantly taking out Huddersfield's Jack Hunt. Nearly cost his side the game or given them a replay they just wouldn't have wanted.

The runner-up goes to Torquay United's Chris Zebroski for one of the worst handball's you'll ever see. Why did he do it? What good could come of punching the ball away in your own box? Although the subsequent penalty wasn't scored, his dismissal ultimately cost them a place in the fifth round and it could have been the Gulls going to Old Trafford in the next round.

The winner though has to go to Swansea City's Darren Pratley who decided to chest home Scott Sinclair's goalbound effort from an offside position on the goal-line. Living up to the Prat part of his name wonderfully, as his side crashed out 2-1.

So once again the FA Cup has delivered a fine weekend of action. The Fifth Round draw looks way more exciting on paper than the fourth round one. I'm pretty sure it's going to live up to it's billing on grass as well.

Fife Frailities To The Fore Once More

2011-01-29T22:56:00.066Z

Livingston are one of those teams we hate.

They killed Meadowbank, play in a plastic stadium to plastic fans and we haven't managed to beat the fuckers since 1998.

You can now add to this that we've played them twice this month and we've lost to them twice thanks to horrific last ten minute collapses.

What it boils down to is what we've known from pre-season. Our defence is shit.

Top scorers in the division with 39 goals, second worse defensive record with 36. Add in the two Cup maulings from Aberdeen and Queen of the South and it's dire stuff.

John Robertson has two days left of the transfer window to try and get something sorted out as this could take us down come May.

Today's game started where the last encounter left off, with Livingston scoring. It only took Keaghan Jacobs 35 seconds to get the League leaders off the mark before a 25 yard cracker from Liam Fox doubled their lead on 12 minutes. The build up to second goal aided by poor Fife defending and it was starting to look like another awayday for the calculators could be in store.

Full credit to East Fife though. A number of Fife teams of the past would have put their heads down and just given in there and then. We've all seen it over the years.

Livingston ended up dominating the first quarter of an hour and the last ten of the game, but East Fife were in the ascendancy for the rest of the match. As has been the case so often this season, it was Bobby Linn who raised Fife hopes when he cracked home a 30 yard free kick on 28 minutes, which went through Livi keeper Tony Bullock's hands, to send the leaders in with a 2-1 lead at the break.

And this lead was to hold for most of the second half before the Fife pressure got results.

Former gaffer Stevie Crawford tied things up when he drilled home from the edge of the box on 72 minutes after a quick Fife break and some neat interplay with Jim Hamilton.

The Fife nearly took the lead minutes later but a deflected effort crashed off the bar for a corner. From the resultant corner, the ball eventually fell to Div Muir and he volleyed home from 16 yards out to send the players and the travelling Fife support into raptures and a much deserved win looked to be on the cards.

Eleven days ago, ten man Livi broke Fife hearts with goals in the 82nd and 87th minutes. Today it was 82 and 89, but at least they had their full complement this time and Fife legend Kenny Deuchar wasn't the one doing the damage. Scant consolation but I'll take any I can.

Bobby Barr tied things up with a nice solo goal and his trickery left the Fife defence standing. Jacobs then got the last minute winner to go with his first minute opener and it was more terrible defending that led to it.

A through ball split the Fife back four wide open before John Ovenstone dived in way too early in an attempt to tackle Jacobs, allowing him to skip past and fire home from a very tight angle. You also have to question Michael Brown for allowing the ball to squeeze in.

The result leaves East Fife in the relegation playoff spot, but with games in hand and the only team in the bottom five with a plus goal difference.

The two games against Livingston have shown the Fife support what the team can do at the right end of the park. Keep that going and we should be safe, even with a defence that leaks more than a sieve at times.

It's going to be tight though. I think we can forget any thoughts of making the promotion playoffs and that's a good thing as this defence could ship double figures in the First and I can't see much money being available to strengthen.

John Robertson has us playing some nice football but we need to get the wheels back on our bus pretty soon and starting Tuesday night at Forfar would be perfect.

Mon the Fife.

EAST FIFE: Brown, Durie, Ovenstone, McGowan, Smart (Fagan 83), Muir, Linn, Hamilton, Hislop (Crawford 70), Sloan, Johnstone (Young 65) [Subs Not Used: Lyness, Weir]

ATT: 1,340

Things You Love To See In Football #2 - A Dog On The Pitch

2011-01-28T09:03:00.004Z

There's some things you just love to see in football. In last week's Friday Fun section, we looked at goalies scoring. But you can't talk about such things without mentioning dogs on the pitch. Even men with steel hearts love to see a dog on the pitch.

The trouble is these days you never see a dog on the pitch (to quote the legendary Half Man Half Biscuit - twice).

I haven't seen a dog on a football pitch since that time I accidentally stumbled across the Raith v Cowden Ladies match. Lots of rovers on display and a few howlers too.

The question that always puzzled me was how did people get dogs into the ground in the first place? It's hard enough trying to get a snack into a game these days.

This week's FF section has two videos of dogging delight.

First up is a match from the 1995 playoffs between York City and Bristol Rovers. The commentary on this is pure gold:

The dog was obviously a Rover. If it had been a City fan then surely it would have been a yorkie.

Ok, before I get my coat, here's a montage of canine capers, all set to the backdrop of Half Man Half Biscuit's "Even Men With Steel Hearts Love To See A Dog On The Pitch".

Enjoy...

Social Media Is Football's New Key Player

2011-01-27T08:51:00.000Z

I often wonder what a lot of the old footballing legends make of the current crop of players and the game in general today.

Not with regards to the talent and skill on display, as you can argue till you're blue in the face as to whether your side's 1950's legend was better than the 1990's one with no conclusive answer. No, it's more their behaviour off the pitch and just how they conduct themselves and communicate with the fans and the world these days.

Many aspects of modern day football will be unrecognisable to the game that they were involved in and that's certainly not all bad. Far from it. There's no doubting that football's changed in all regards and many of the changes are for the better.

The internet changed the game hugely. It beggars belief as to how I managed to produce 38 printed issues of the AFTN fanzine without having the host of material available to resource at my fingertips that I have today. Now, AFTN as a website is the resource to all things East Fife itself.

The internet killed much of the importance of the printed media due to the quickness and instantaneous way it can communicate results, action and information to people all over the world. No more excitement in picking up the sporting pink paper to find that afternoon's scores on the way home from the match when you can get texts and tweets all afternoon long to keep you in the loop. Some papers still manage to have the scoops that generate the internet traffic and writings themselves, but they're often not the good kind of footballing story.

The way we live changes so fast and even blogs, websites and general news sites are now finding themselves outdone and second to the news by the current rash of social media sites, only this time the news and stories are coming straight from the horses mouth.

Players seem to want to cut out the middleman and become the reporters of their own lives, with Facebook and primarily Twitter being the mediums of choice.

Facebook has brought the players so much closer to the fans. You can actually officially have them as your friends. It's something I mostly choose not to do. I make a few exceptions for the guys I know read and enjoy AFTN. The rest, well they're not my friends. They're people I watch on the pitch every week and who bring me joy and break my heart in equal measure. Actually, maybe they should all be our friends. They're ticking all the right boxes.

When I was growing up, the thought of having a hero like Kenny Dalglish or Trevor Brooking (West Ham fan you see) giving me one to one updates on their lives would have been the most exciting thing ever. Trevor Brooking's may just have been about him having another cup of tea or cutting the grass, but I'd still have found that exciting.

Now we take it for granted and many betray the trust of "friendship". A lot of footballers have been caught out posting their inner feelings on the game, their manager or the Club on their Facebook, forgetting that not all their friends are what they say they are. Or maybe they do remember that and just don't give a fuck. Said "friend" then posts comments on internet forum, player gets into trouble, everyone suffers.

It happened on AFTN with an East Fife player this season. He was pissed off after a defeat, made some of his thoughts known then the next thing you know it all over my forum from one of his flock. You could say he was just an idiot for posting it in the first place or for accepting fans he doesn't really know as his friends. I truly felt bad for him, mainly due to the fact that at least he was showing he cared about my club.

It seems that every player is on Twitter these days and sharing everything it feels at times. Some are a lot more interesting than others, some are a lot more revealing and some are basically just egotistical wankers, but we still follow them, so who's the stupid one?

The players are scooping the press. They're keeping the fans fully in the loop, something their club is never going to do. The clubs must hate it with a passion.

One of the most famous and prolific tweeters in the game is Robbie Savage. Love him or loathe him, you have to admit he's entertaining.

I fall into the love him category and was excited in some regards when he announced that he had been offered the chance to join my MLS team, Vancouver Whitecaps. I'll admit I was more excited for what he was going to bring to the team and the city off the pitch rather than on it.

Robbie first mooted the interest on his Twitter a couple of months ago, asking if anyone knew what Vancouver was like. He then broke the news that he'd been offered the move, discussed the thought process involved in considering it, hemmed and hawed about the pros and cons of the move to him, his career and his family and then finally announced he wasn't crossing the pond after all and was staying at Derby till the end of the season and to build on his UK media work (Robbie Savage Turns Down Move To Vancouver).

All of this was on his own personal twitter! Imagine how much he'd have written about it if he had more than 140 characters at his disposal.

The Whitecaps made no mention of any of it and must have been mightily pissed off that Savage leaked the details of the whole thing. It was mildly embarrassing and left the Whitecaps fans with more questions than answers about the situation.

We'd have known nothing about it though if it hadn't have been for Twitter. Since it all fell through, I don't know if that's a good thing or not.

A lot of players in football and other sports have already fallen foul of being too open and honest on Twitter and it's only going to get worse.

In the US, Hope Solo a goalkeeper for the women's team Atlanta Beat (I know, it's not a real sport but for the basis of this article let's pretend it is) was fined, suspended for one match and ordered to do 8 hours community service due to comments she made on Twitter about officials. She'd previously been in trouble for other comments she made on the site.

I wonder who the next big name player is going to be to get into trouble for his tweets? Whoever it is, you can be sure it's going to be before this season is out.

More and more clubs are just going to end up banning their players from using social media sites and take away their rights to free speech. I also wouldn't be surprised if Fifa didn't step in to this at some point soon and issue a blanket ban. After all, if you can't celebrate scoring a goal, why would you be allowed to express opinions? Just become unemotional robots.

So make the most of these tweets whilst you can. It won't be long until the next fad comes along to bring the players into your daily lives. Possibly chips in your head or maybe just rocks.

Blackpool Style May Be The Death Of Them, But It's How Things Should Be Done

2011-01-26T09:03:00.034Z

Blackpool's heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to Manchester United in the Premiership last night must have been so hard to take for Ian Holloway and his team.

You can call them brave and applaud their philosophy of continually taking the game to the undefeated League leaders all you want. The only thing that matters to them is that they let a vital point, three in fact, slip away.

Now I know I'm always waxing lyrical about Blackpool and Ollie in the blog this season, but without wanting to bore you all too much, and remembering that this is primarily an East Fife and Scottish football blog and not a Blackpool and Premiership one, we just can't get enough of them here at AFTN Towers.

Blackpool have been a breath of fresh air to this season's Premiership and the best team to watch by far for exciting games.

I love their attitude and attacking play. You're not going to get too many teams playing three up front against Man U, whether you're at home or not.

It's this attacking style that could be the death of them though, which would not only be sad for the club but for football in general.

Going in two up at half time, many teams would have defended for the whole second forty-five, but not the Seasiders. I love this attitude. I commend them, although others would say this was just sheer folly.

At times, they did find themselves defending deeper and deeper, and by looking for the killer third goal, they left themselves short at the back and were punished for it, depriving them of their first win over Man United since 1963.

The defeat still leaves them sitting mid table though. By no means safe, but it's not brown trousers time for them just yet either.

We've gone on ad nauseum already this season about the hope they give to the smaller sides the land over, but they should also inspire all the teams in the Premiership as to how to play the likes of Man U and Chelsea.

Don't sit back. Take the game to them. Play your normal attacking game (if you have one) and you'll ruffle them up, as they don't like it up them and don't know how to respond to it at times. Man U were all over the place defensively in the first half until Sir Alex got hold of them at half time and sorted them out.

The problem in top leagues all over the world, and especially in England and Scotland, is the fear factor. Not so much fear of losing, so many clubs just seem resigned to this fact when they face the top sides, but fear of being gubbed.

What do they really have to lose? Possibly vital goal difference if it all goes horribly wrong but I'd much rather have my team go down fighting, attacking and making me proud, than just sitting back, getting shafted anyway and still facing the drop.

If East Fife were ever to make it to the dizzy heights of the SPL, that's how I'd want them to go about their business, but how many managers are as brave (some would say foolish) as Ian Holloway? Not enough.

Whatever does happen to Blackpool this season, they'll have made their fans proud and given them a season to remember and surely that's what football should be all about.

Charlie Adam And The Plight Of The Smaller Club

2011-01-25T10:44:00.001Z

Anyone who supports one of the smaller top level sides or a lower leagues side will know exactly the quandary that Blackpool now find themselves in with Charlie Adam.

You're a club who it could be argued are punching well above their current weight. You're having your best season for many a year. You've thrown off that "favourites for relegation tag" and are sitting mid-table but still in a potential perilous position. It's all going great and the fans are cock-a-hoop.

Then comes the dreaded transfer window and the bigger clubs are sniffing around your biggest game turner. It's not unexpected, and neither are the miserly offers coming in for your star player.

In Blackpool's case it's made all the harder by the fact that the Club are playing out of their skins just now and what happens with Charlie Adam could affect not only the rest of this season, but their financial situation for many years to come.

For years they've been a selling club, now the fans want them to be a buying one or at the very least, keep hold of their best players.

It's a sad fact of life that the bigger clubs always want a bargain. They know they've got the upper hand and it's almost bullying the smaller sides into making the sale. So many clubs need to bring through players to sell just to survive, but what kind of survival is that really?

Charlie Adam was always going to be a transfer target in this window and the way he has been playing in the last few weeks can only have raised interest even higher. He's been outstanding and inspirational, almost sublime at times.

What has been surprising is the quality of the clubs coming in for him. A move to a team like Liverpool would be a dream for him but full credit to Blackpool for standing firm and turning down Liverpool's reported £4 million offer.

I loved Ian Holloway on Saturday saying stick a one in front of it and then they can talk.

It's a kick in the teeth to the team and the player to make such a bid but only to be expected. I'm sure Charlie Adam doesn't really care for the fee is, he just wants to make the move now and yesterday he put in a transfer request, which again Blackpool did well to turn down immediately.

Charlie Adam was just an average SPL player when he went to the Seasiders. Nothing special. But Ian Holloway, Blackpool and Adam himself changed all that and he's now a hot commodity. Blackpool undoubtedly helped him get to where he is today and Adam undoubtedly did the same for them.

Are they even or does the player owe the Club a thank you by going for the highest amount they can get for him? You'd like to think the latter but does that sentiment still exist these days? In fact, did it ever?

It's not just a plain and simple case of selling Adam and banking the cash for Blackpool.

If they hold out till the summer, Adam's star should be shining brighter and he may get an even better move and for a higher fee. Then again, he could go off the boil, Liverpool lose interest and he ends up somewhere like Wigan or Fulham. Not exactly as glamourous.

The most important aspect of all this though is what will happen to Blackpool if they allow Adam to go in this window? Will they freefall? Can they replace him with a quality player for that money, at this time?

The answer to that last question will be no.

The crux of it all is weighing up is getting money just now worth more than what keeping him and staying in the Premiership is worth and of course it isn't. Staying up will be a huge deal for Blackpool and will make them as a club for years to come. Ollie says it's worth £46 million to them if they avoid the drop. Going down and you're not going to have another Portsmouth on your hands, they're too financially savvy for that, but you could be looking at a team that will struggle to reach the dizzy heights of the Prmeirship again for many a year to come.

It's times like this that make it so hard and so frustrsating to support one of the smaller sides, although all the other advantages make up for it.

It's a momentous decision for Blackpool and Liverpool aren't going to give up on their man. The Tangerines don't want to have a moody, upset player on their hands either, possibly disrupting the wonderful team harmony they have at the coming crucial period.

You can't fault Charlie Adam in this. Any player would want to play at a big club and the chance for a Scot to play at Liverpool under King Kenny is a giant lure. Having him there will also be a huge boost to the Scottish national side and that can only be good for us.

So what the eventual outcome going to be?

Well, I see Adam going in the next few days for around £8 million in the end.

As for Blackpool. They'll not have time to find a decent replacement, so their current squad need to raise that bar even higher than they already are to secure their Premiership future.

The way they've gone about this season, you wouldn't back them not to do it.

Will Women Ever Be Accepted In Men's Football?

2011-01-24T09:35:00.000Z

The UK media love a bit of hysteria and whipping up a frenzy from angry minorities. They have got a lot of column inches and airtime to fill after all.

The off camera comments from Sky Sports' Richard Keys and Andy Gray about female lino Sian Massey, who was running the line in the game between Wolves and Liverpool in the Premiership, have been heavily reported over the weekend.

Sexist remarks were made about Massey, another female official from the past and West Ham vice Chairman Karren Brady, with Keys apparently declaring that the game's gone mad.

The comments have created quite a fuss from angry women and modern men.

Calls for condemnation and discipline have been rife, but let's be honest here, they didn't say anything that most men haven't said or thought themselves, plus the important thing to me in all of this is that they were not broadcast, so it's just like you and me having a chat down the pub.

The recording of the comments were passed on to the Mail On Sunday newspaper by an anonymous source - what's to bet it's a woman or someone with an axe to grind. The person that leaked the recording is the person that should be getting disciplined or sacked.

When I was watching the game in question on Saturday, my immediate reaction at Torres' goal, and whether it was offside or not, was to shout out "what are you doing, you stupid cow" and wonder why a woman was being allowed to run the line in a Premiership game. I'm sure I wasn't alone readers. All the replays have shown Massey to be correct in allowing the goal to stand. Well done love (insert smiley face!).

It would be easy to dismiss the whole thing with a sexist gag here and a ridiculous "women should be in the kitchen" remark there, but that would be wrong. Besides, we know that men make the better cooks anyway.

The whole thing does let us talk about the elephant in the room surrounding women in men's football. It IS ok to talk about this you know and in fact we really should.

Yes, it's 2011 and not the dark ages, but let's face facts here, women are always going to struggle to gain acceptance in men's football whether they be officials, managers or even commentators and presenters. I'm not even going to go into the rights and wrongs of that here, it's just fact.

Women have equality in sport, but in most of them the two sexes don't mix, so why is it wrong to keep it that way in football? Why is it bad to say so? Surely that's why there's women's football, just like there's women's tennis, women's golf, women's rugby and so on and so on.

Of course, women's football is a joke, as we've covered before in this blog. I've tried to give it a chance but it's just laughable. Some people like it, some people are passionate about it, but it's mostly in countries where they have no heritage of the game or where it's not understood or taken seriously enough. There are some exceptions to this, but even in countries like Germany or Brazil, the women's game struggles to be taken seriously by the majority.

I was recently reading a copy of 'Shoot' magazine from July 3rd 1971. Alan ball's column for that particular issue ran with the headline "Soccer Must Stay A Man's Game".

Here's some of the column:

"Of course it all started very casually. A few girls get together and decide that anything a man can do, they can do at least as well. It's all very much a novelty at this stage and nobody takes it seriously...

...Once the novelty had worn off, who exactly would go along to watch? Once can imagine men going along to poke fun rather than cheer. To laugh rather than applaud the finer points of play...

...As long as its not taken too seriously and the game played for pure enjoyment, well okay! But the signs are that it is becoming part of a big organisation, with whispers even of a World Cup for women's teams. Surely that is taking things a bit too far!...

...I see that a girl of sixteen has just passed her referee's examinations...And there's no harm at all in the women supporters getting to know a bit more about the game, rather than just the players in it"

Fantastic stuff! It's quite hilarious reading it 40 years later but he does make some good points and you could argue that many men's opinions haven't changed much in those four decades.

Channel 4's excellent "The Manageress" drama 20 years ago hasn't signalled top level women's managers in the men's game either.

Whenever a woman is either a referee or a linesman in a man's game, it puts added pressure on them. People are just waiting for them to make a mistake and pounce on them for it. Can you imagine the uproar there would have been had Massey made the wrong decision on Saturday. It's not right for it to be that way, but it is, so why put them into that situation in the first place? If it's to try and change people's perceptions then why do we need to do that in football when, as we've said above, it's not the case in other sports?

My opinion of women referees and officials is clouded due to the hapless display I witnessed first hand of a hapless Canadian ref called Carol Anne Chenard who completely lost control of a USL Championship match in 2009, probably costing Vancouver Whitecaps the title. It was painful to watch. As chants of "this game's too big for you" rang out around the stadium, the players saw her as weak and harrassed her constantly. Never seen her ref a Caps game since.

I had a disucssion around women commentators recently too and how painful it is to listen to them. Sexist? Stuck in our ways? Too used to male commentators? Whatever the reason, they're not enjoyable to listen to and it just sounds wrong. I can't help that that is how I and many others feel and we shouldn't be made to feel bad or be branded sexist for it.

I'm all for female presenters of the shows. It's a good mix, as long as they're informative and not just there for eye candy.

So instead of villifying Richard Keys and Andy Gray, let's thank them for bringing the subject of women in football out into the open and let's get some serious discussions going as to why football is being singled out to include women in it when other sports aren't.

The Law Is Indeed An Ass When It Comes To Goal Celebrations

2011-01-23T10:34:00.000Z

FIFA's "Laws Of The Game 2010/11" Rule 12 - Fouls and Misconduct (Cautionable Offences) is a complete farce.

"A player is cautioned and shown the yellow card if he commits any of the
following seven offences:

• unsporting behaviour
• dissent by word or action
• persistent infringement of the Laws of the Game
• delaying the restart of play
• failure to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner
kick, free kick or throw-in
• entering or re-entering the field of play without the referee's permission
• deliberately leaving the field of play without the referee's permission"

It is offences 1, 4, 6 and 7 that can all be applied to goal celebrations as West Ham's Frederic Piquionne unfortunately found out to his peril yesterday at Everton's Goodison Park.

Piquionne was sent off for a second bookable offence after putting the Hammers 2-1 up yesterday in the 84th minute. With his team rooted to the bottom of the Premiership and having had a shit start to 2011 both on and off the pitch, you can't help but understand Piqionne's obvious joy and relief at possibly securing three vital points for his side.

Running over to the Hammers jubilant travelling support, he hurdled the advertising hoarding and celebrated with his fellow Irons, receiving a yellow card and his marching orders from referee Walton in the process.

Now obviously I'm biased in this particular incident because I'm a West Ham fan, but putting that aside, I would have felt exactly the same if it has been an Everton player.

It's absolutely ridiculous. Sure you can argue that them's the rules, and it says that it MUST be a booking, but it's one rule almost all football fans the world over would like to get rid off. Walton's hands were tied and it probably cost the Hammers two vital points and who knows, at the end of it all, maybe their Premiership status.

The farce surrounding bookings for goal celebrations stems from FIFA's decision in February 2007 to get tough on this horrible blight to the game. Forget diving, harrassing referees en masse, spitting, reckless challenges. How dare a player show any emotion at all when it comes scoring a goal.

The fans make football. Without us, football would be nothing and FIFA would do well to remember this sometimes. We want nothing more than to celebrate our team scoring a goal and if the player celebrates in with us, then it makes it all the more special. What harm does it do? It delays the game by seconds and as long as there's no incitement of the oppostion support, then why not let it happen. It's not planned. It's natural human spontaneity.

In 2007, it was announced that "FIFA are to take a tougher line with goal celebrations from next season. They are set to agree new legislation next month that will mean a player must be booked if he climbs on to a perimeter fence to celebrate a goal, removes his shirt over his head or covers his head with his shirt. Referees must also show the yellow card for gestures they consider provocative, derisory or inflammatory. This could extend to a player cupping his ear with his hand or even celebrating a goal in front of the opposing supporters.".

The latter is way more of an incitement to oppostion fans than celebrating with your own. We see it almost every week but it's seldom punished but by the letter of the law, it MUST be.

In the "Interpretation of the Laws of the Game and Guidelines for Referees" section in "FIFA's Laws of the Game" document, it is written for section 12 that:

"While it is permissible for a player to demonstrate his joy when a goal has been
scored, the celebration must not be excessive. Reasonable celebrations are allowed, but the practice of choreographed celebrations is not to be encouraged when it results in excessive time-wasting and referees are instructed to intervene in such cases.

A player must be cautioned if:

• in the opinion of the referee, he makes gestures which are provocative, derisory or inflammatory
• he climbs on to a perimeter fence to celebrate a goal being scored
• he removes his shirt or covers his head with his shirt
• he covers his head or face with a mask or other similar item

Leaving the field of play to celebrate a goal is not a cautionable offence in itself
but it is essential that players return to the field of play as soon as possible.
Referees are expected to act in a preventative manner and to exercise common
sense in dealing with the celebration of a goal".

Something has to be done to try and make FIFA see commonsense and relax these rules. It's gone well past the ridiculous stage and high profile fall outs from the law make it look even more so worldwide.

There's little enough joy and fun in football these days and less than many when you're a West Ham fan.

We complain when players don't show passion and commitment to the cause and act like all they care about is picking up their huge wage packets. We want to see that they care about winning as much as the fans every week, then when they do show it, apparently FIFA don't want them to.

Why change the things that are really damaging the game though when you can just clamp down on emotions. Completely fucked up.

Another Saturday And Sweet F.A.

2011-01-22T10:50:00.001Z

It's getting beyond a joke now.

When I was back in Scotland in November, East Fife's game against Ayr United on the 27th was called off due to the referee's strike. If it hadn't have been, the chances were that the weather would have got to it instead. Either way, it deprived me of possibly making the journey to Somerset Park to see the Fife before heading back to my new home.

In the subsequent eight weeks that have now passed, East Fife have had ten games scheduled. They've managed to play three due to the weather and postponements.

It's been soul destroying for the fans being let down at the last minute and not having games to go to. You can only imagine how the players are feeling.

The three games we have had have been bizarre. After all the sterling work of the fans to get the Bayview pitch cleared of snow, we were rewarded by a 6-0 thumping of Stenhousemuir. The four weeks that followed without a game took it's toll in the 6-0 thumping we then got from Aberdeen in the Cup and then ten man Livingston scored two late goals on Tuesday night in a 4-2 League defeat.

At least we're seeing goals when we are playing. Sadly mostly getting picked out of Michael Brown's net.

With Tuesday evening's match at Bayview being passed fit, hopes were expectant that today's crunch game against bottom placed Dumbarton would have no problems going ahead. Sadly more cold weather, more frost and that troublesome area of the Bayview pitch covered by the overhang of the stand have combined to force another postponement.

Aaarrrrggggghhhhhhh.

If you think we've had it bad at East Fife, just along the road at Warout Stadium, Glenrothes Juniors have been having a more hellish time.

My options for watching football on November 27th were between the long trip west to see East Fife at Ayr or stay in my hometown and watch the Glens take on Tranent in the Third Round of the Scottish Junior Cup. I may have plumped for the latter if I'm being totally honest.

Knowing the refs were on strike, my decision was made easy and I was looking forward to seeing my first Glens game for around four years. My grandad always took me there all the time when I was a nipper and I was really looking forward to getting back.

Sadly that game also fell foul of the weather, as have the subsequent SIX attempts to get the match played including this afternoon's scheduled match. They will try again next Saturday though! At this rate I still might get to see the game the next time I come over. Now that would be a story!!

This winter has just been unbelievable.

Unsurprisingly it has led to renewed calls for a winter break and then all the arguments we get from both the for and against camps. What it ultimately boils down to though is that the Scottish weather is so unpredictable that we have no idea when to have a break.

No-one could have predicted it would be so bad in November and I've seen it snow in April and even May before.

Michel Platini has entered into the fray now though, advocating a global adoption of spring to autumn football seasons, with international matches being played in the winter months (somehow!). I'm sure this has nothing to do with the continuing farce of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

This idea should prevent most postponements due to snow and frost in Western Europe but sadly not torrential rain and warthogs on the pitch. It seems to work ok in the likes of Finland, Ireland, Canada and the US.

Having had the 'pleasure' of summer football these last three years, I can tell you that it's not all it's cracked up to be. Standing out in the blistering sun isn't all that more appealing that nearly losing your toes on a cold day at Arbroath. Overall though, it is nicer, but the lack of cracking night games in the dark, under floodlights, is the worst part.

Some of the big players have immediately come out against Platini's plan but something has to be done, and it's getting to the stage that anything's worth a try, because if we have another couple of winters like the last two in Scotland, there's not going to be any football teams left to watch in the first place.

Things You Love To See In Football #1 - Goalkeepers Scoring From Open Play

2011-01-21T09:19:00.003Z

Wednesday 28th February 1990. I remember it well.

The weather had been fairly crappy. I wasn't working and apart from the money I brought in from AFTN fanzine sales, was pretty skint. The prospect of travelling 150 miles and over three hours to watch East Fife take on Stranraer at Stair Park in a rearranged Scottish Second Division match didn't really appeal.

To this day, one of my biggest regrets was not making the long journey to the game that night and not because the Fife came away with a 2-0 win.

Legend has it that there were around 7 East Fife fans at the game. Like the Sex Pistols at the 100 Club, the people that claim to have been there is probably into three figures.

Those lucky punters that were there though saw that rare thing in football - a goal from open play by a goalkeeper. Ray Charles was the Fife hero that night as he blootered a wind assisted kick into the Stranraer net. Oh to have been there to see it.

There's just something special about goalkeepers goals. Everyone loves to see them, well, unless it's against your team of course. The scoring goalie is a hero and you can only imagine that it's one of the worst nightmares for the opposition goalie who lets it in.

The first recorded goal by a goalkeeper from a goal kick was on April 14th 1900, when Charlie Williams scored for Manchester City against Sunderland. I remember seeing footage of Pat Jennings scoring one, but for me, and I'm sure for many of you reading this, the most memorable goalie goal that I've seen was Jimmy Glass' last gasp winner for Carlisle United on the last day of the 1998/99 season. A goal that gave them the 2-1 victory over Plymouth that saved them from relegation from the Football League into the Conference.

FC United of Manchester have made a lot of headlines this season in the FA Cup and they're back in the news again this week, as their goalkeeper Sam Ashton became the latest member of the scoring goalie club last Saturday.

Three minutes into their EvoStik Northern Premier League game away to Retford United and Ashton clears the ball upfield. The ball takes an unfortunate bounce over Retford goalie Luke Herriott's head and into the home teams' net for a goal that Ashton will remember for the rest of his life.

Poor Retford United. They're rock bottom of the League, they lost the game 4-0 and now they have the ignominy of having the opposition goalkeeper scoring against them. To make matters worse for Herriott, he only joined the club the game before from Ossett Albion. He may be wishing he'd stayed there now!

Basking in the afterglow of his wonder goal, Ashton was in top form on the FCUM website:

"It was really windy, Scott McManus passed the ball back and I just wanted to get something on it because the pitch was awful. Then after I hit it I thought, "That's going in that! Their keeper had come out to clear the ball but it bounced over his head and rolled into the empty net. The lads are telling me it was a fluke but it wasn't - I meant it".

On the way back to Manchester Sam was also heard to be pushing for a goal bonus!

It's been a great season for Ashton. His FA Cup heroics, including the last minute penalty save against Brighton, and now this. Enjoy the goal for yourselves and if you want to find out more about goalscoring goalkeepers, then check out the excellent Goalkeepers Are Different website. Have a fun friday...

New York Cosmos: The Second Coming

2011-01-20T11:09:00.005Z

For those football fans of a certain age, the mere mention of the North American Soccer League conjurs up a whole host of thoughts and opinions and most of them won't be all that flattering.

Ask them to name a team from the League though and for many, the New York Cosmos will be the reply.

The NASL was a curious spectacle in football and one that thankfully we'll probably never see again. The League ran for 17 seasons from 1968 to 1984 and, for a short spell, had big names, glitz, glamour, Americans and Canadians falling over themselves to go to some games and a total disregard to football's heritage and rules.

The memory cheats.

As we get older we start to look back at things with a fondness we never particularly had for them at the time. You just have to look at the love for all things 1980's that has been so prevalent in recent years. The 1980's were shit.

It was an awful decade for football, fashion, a lot of the music, politics, unemployment and life in general. If you were to believe all the stuff about it now, it was the most wonderful time of everyone's life. Try telling that to a miner's family. The 1970's were equally as shit, but at least they had punk!

Some people look back on the NASL now with that fondness. Those in the States feel it was the golden age of North American football, whereas in reality it was a glamourisation and bastardisation of the working man's game. It reached a state that made it almost unrecognisable to the game we were watching week in and week out in the UK in an attempt to get the dumbass Americans to take the game seriously.

The "Americanisation" included 35 yard offside lines, shootouts to decide draws (because someone has to win, it's the American way), playoffs, mini-games to decide drawn playoff games and game clocks that counted down and not up.

It seemed to work as they came out in their thousands to watch. Or so we now believe. The harsh reality of it all was that only a few teams pulled in the really big crowds. Many struggled. The average attendance in the League ranged from a low of 2.930 in 1969 to a high of 14,440 in 1980.

Whilst teams in Chicago, Boston and Hawaii (wtf?!) struggled to draw in more than a few thousand at times, teams like Vancouver Whitecaps, Seattle Sounders, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Minnesota Kicks were pulling in crowds of over 20,000 plus.

All of this pales into insignificance though when compared to the New York Cosmos. Founded in 1971, the Cosmos won 5 Soccer Bowls and 7 Divisional titles in their 14 NASL seasons. Plodding along to crowds in the three and four thousands, they added Pele to their squad in 1975. German legend Franz Beckenbauer and fellow Brazilian here Carlos Alberto joined Pele in New York in 1977 and attendances soared.

For the seven seasons from 1977 to 1983, the Cosmos drew 262,292 fans to their games, a staggering seasonal average of 37,470, peaking at 47,856 in 1978. They were the NASL's hottest ticket and in a sports mad city of baseball and gridiron nuts, the must have ticket in town.

It can be a much overused word nowadays, but they really were a phenomenon, no matter what you think of the validity of the whole NASL.

The interest in football waned in the US, as the big names left, the television coverage dried up, the League over expanded and too many people thought they could make a quick buck by backing the latest 'in thing'.

The NASL folded and New York Cosmons disolved in 1985, leaving football in the US and Canada struggling to recover and it never really has. Hosting the 1994 World Cup and the rise of the MLS (which is still a mickey mouse league in so many ways) have helped and with the addition of Vancouver and Portland (keeping with their NASL heritage names) to the fold from the second tier of the game in North America, the 2011 season could be their biggest and best yet.

The name of the New York Cosmos has always been gone but not forgotten though. Memories, books and the brilliant DVD "Once In A Lifetime" (a must see) keep their legacy alive. They're still the team many people think of when they think of football in the States and they've been dead and buried for 25 years.

But now they're back.

And in true Cosmos style, they're doing things the glamourous way.

The Cosmos name had been kept by the old team's general manager G. Peppe Pinton. He didn't want it devalued or disrespected but when a group wanting to take the team and the name to MLS proved that they would do neither, Pinton sold the name and image rights, paving the way for the return of the famous Cosmos to the North American football scene.

Pele announced the club's return on August 1st last year and was installed as the new Club's honourary president.

Yesterday though saw the Cosmos return to the streets of New York in dramatic style, with some glitzy advertising in Times Square and they backed it up with a dramatic announcement.

Manchester United and French legend Eric Cantona has been made the new Cosmos' Director of Football, with the aim of bringing the Club to Major League Soccer in 2012 or 2013 as the MLS' 20th Club.

They've no ground, they've no players, there's already a team in New York but those little things aren't really going to stop a Club like the New York Cosmos. They have their name!

If they do return, we can only hope it doesn't signal the decline of the MLS and a return to the bad old days of glitz and glamour over sustainability and progress. "It's a wonderful project. It's kind of a mix between football and art" was one of the things Eric chipped in yesterday. Says it all really.

As long as Vancouver Whitecaps can turn them over again on their way to the Championship, as they did in 1979, then that's all that really matters to me.

West Ham's Woes Show No Sign Of Easing

2011-01-19T22:29:00.027Z

It's not easy being a West Ham fan and especially not this season.

Regular readers will know that I've been a West Ham fan since the mid seventies for some unknown reason. It's certainly not for the glory!

Whilst others in my school were cheering on Rangers and Celtic, I had East Fife and whilst others had Liverpool and Man United as their English teams, I had West Ham. All that suffering to bear from such an early age. I'd have been as well just wearing a sign that said "please steal my dinner money".

This season's plight has been one of the worst. Dire, although with some great uplifting moments, then back to even more dire.

November's 5-0 Carling Cup triumph over Man United is already starting to seem like a distant memory to most West Ham fans. My excitement of being able to see it in person at Upton Park makes it still live on. At least I have never seen them lose in person!

Sure, we still have a great shot at making the Carling Cup final, but even winning it will not ease the agony of relegation. The drop is looking ever more likely by the week. There's some result that lifts the gloom, but no consistancy to see us stay out of the relegation zone, whilst other teams seem to at least find some periods of form.

This weekend's debacle seems to have seen the Club hit rock bottom and I'm not talking about the 3-0 (going on 6-0) drubbing by Arsenal that has us still rock bottom.

Whilst on the BBC website on Saturday morning, I was genuinely excited by their "breaking news" that Avram Grant was to be replaced after the game against the Gunners by Martin O'Neill.

It cheered me up no end and even watching the loss play out that afternoon, I was buoyed that it didn't matter too much as we would soon have a manager in place that knew how to get the best out of players, didn't mind a battle, showed passion on the touchline and was charismatic.

O'Neill did wonders at Celtic and I feel he did an excellent job at Aston Villa. If he hadn't resigned before the season started, I don't think you'd be seeing them in the trouble that they're also in right now.

Avram Grant seems like a nice guy, but we all know that sadly nice guys tend to get pissed all over in the current footballing climate. He just doesn't have the demeanour in the dugout that instills an air of confidence to the fans in the stands, looking more suited to a part in one of the classic Universal horror films of the 1930's than a Premiership manager.

He fought well with Portsmouth last season, but the announcement that Grant was now most likely staying in the managerial hotseat till at least the end of the season, could very well be the final death blow to West Ham's surival hopes for this season.

On the plus side, it should stop the endless, almost daily, speculation surrounding his position. That can only help the Club and help everyone involved with it to focus their attentions 100% on avoiding the drop.

We may never know what's happened surrounding O'Neill. Did things move to quickly? Did he not like the news breaking whilst Grant was still in a job? Was there ever any truth to all the rumours in the first place?

Whatever it is, it's a blow and today just signalled further bad news for the Hammers with their plans for moving to the new Olympic Stadium heavily criticised and defender Manuel da Costa being charged with an alleged sexual assault.

It's just been an annus hooribilis for the Hammers that shows no sign of ever ending.

The stadium criticism isn't too worrying as Spurs' proposal has also been criticised heavily. I don't want them to move anyway. I want them to stay at their home. Let's hope they can do that and still maintain their Premiership status in the process.

For if they do go down this season, I don't think they're going to be one of those sides that's going to be coming straight back up again.

King Kenny Comes Back To Haunt East Fife

2011-01-18T23:07:00.036Z

It was always going to happen. We all knew it deep down and we can't act surprised.

East Fife legend Kenny Deuchar came back to East Fife tonight, sadly turning out for another side in black and gold, and helping his new Livingston team to a 4-2 victory over the Fife in dramatic fashion, netting a hat-trick in the process.

Deuchs has made the move Almondvale following his release from Falkirk, where he has spent the season as nothing more than a bit part player on the bench. He's now joined Livingston until the end of next season.

Now the question on the lips of all Fife fans is could we have got him back at Bayview? Did we try? Knowing our current financial plight, I'm guessing no is the answer to both of these questions.

The good doctor's star has started to wane a little bit after his goalscoring exploits with Gretna and his surprise move to the US to play for Real Salt Lake. He's never really set the heather on fire since returning to Scotland. He can still do a job though at the lower level of Scottish football and he showed that this evening to East Fife's peril.

Things were looking good for the Fife, going in at half time one up from a Stevie Crawford goal. Livingston fought back quickly after the break though, with Deuchar tying things up after 57 minutes.

Kenny obviously felt guilty after scoring against us and made amends four minutes later when he brought down Craig Johnstone in the box and Robert Sloan converted the penalty to put the Fife back ahead.

The lead was also only to last four minutes before Deuchar once again fired Livingston level on the 65 minute mark.

East Fife saw their chances of a win increase when Livingston's Mick O'Byrne was sent off with ten minutes remaining. Unfathomably for the Fife though, it was Livingston who turned up the heat in the closing minutes, scoring twice. Iain Russell shot home after 82 minutes before Deuchar completed his hat-trick with a header with three minutes to go. Bastard!

Heartbreaking and infuriating all rolled in to one.

The defeat has sent East Fife back towards the relegation zone, now sitting perilously one point off the play-off spot and three off the bottom, whilst propelling Livingston back to the top of the pile.

The lack of games, the loss of key loan players, the current financial plight of the Club and the mauling at the hands of Aberdeen in the Cup, have shaken the belief of many Fife fans that John Robertson has turned things around and a push for the playoffs was still a possibility.

It's how we respond in the next few games that will shape our season. We need something to get the good feelings back. Let's hope that can start on Saturday at home to bottom placed Dumbarton. A defeat will mean a long four months awaits us.

Mon the Fife.

SPL Clubs Reach Agreement To Speed The Death Of The Lower Leagues

2011-01-17T22:55:00.024Z

The fans didn't want it, we were told that a lot of the Scottish Premier League clubs didn't want it, but the bigot brothers did, so surprise, surprise, we've now got it.

The SPL Clubs todays decided to plough on with the much needed League reconstruction in Scotland, but by adopting the much-loathed and the completely pointless in what was behind calls for this in the first place option of a top tier of ten clubs.

Radical. Well, perhaps in the mid seventies.

So we'll now have a SPL of ten sides and 12 deluded fuckers in the 'Championship', where they can just dream of gaining promotion and playing meaningless matches to dwindling crowds and getting royally fucked in defensive displays against the Old Firm axis of evil, whilst going over budget and facing administration a few years down the road when their 'spend now/face the consequences later' attitude finally catches up with them.

Can't wait.

Only three Clubs backed a 14 club top flight, whilst the fans were crying out for 16 or 18 in attempts to reduce the monotomy of having to play the same sides 4-6 times a season.

What this will mean for the leftover SFL CLubs is anyone's guess at this stage.

Regional leagues, adding in Junior sides, SPL reserve teams playing in what will no doubt become Leagues One and Two. All these option will be on the table, but at the end of it all, it won't stop East Fife having to play Brechin and Arbroath ad nauseum whilst chasing that elusive goal of promotion to the 'Championship' and the chance to be rooted to the bottom of the table for a season, whilst being on the end of 6 and 7 goal drubbings.

When fans started to cry out and force the issue on change, this isn't quite how we saw it.

The bets should start to go down now as to when the first person comes out and says it's not working and we go through reconstruction for the umpteenth time.

Fucking clueless, the lot of them.

Blackpool And West Brom Serve Up A Premiership Cracker

2011-01-15T23:37:00.043Z

I enjoy watching the Premiership. That's a good thing since there so much of it on my television screen these days!

I don't think it's the be all and end all of live football though and as regular readers of this blog will know, we do feel it's full of self-important primadonnas with over-inflated egos who seem to forget there's hunners of cameras on them as they dive and fall all over the place at times.

Then there's the massive fear of failure and the financial consequences, some of which can basically kill a club, not only through relegation but with getting to what we're led to believe is the promised land in the first place. That fear certainly has an impact on some of the football played at times.

You can still give me a lower league or non league match to go and watch live any day of the week.

The "business end", that much overused phrase these days, of the Premiership is usually where most of the action has been at in recent seasons, as the top spot had basically turned into a two horse race that wasn't a whole lot more exciting than watching the Old Firm in Scotland.

This season seems to have seen a transformation in the Premiership though. It's getting pretty darn exciting all over!

The title race could be deemed as a three, four or even a five horse race, depending on how the results go in the next couple of weeks. Who will fill the remaining European spots is anyone's guess and then you have large clubs like Liverpool and Aston Villa in trouble and facing a realistic relegation battle.

There's still been some boring games of course, it is hard to get excited by Wigan at times, and a lot of the ones between the "big four/five" continue to disappoint.

Now that the excitement level has been cranked up in the Premiership though, it needs to continue. The fans will expect nothing less! Well, ok, some won't care as they just want to see Man U and Chelsea on their televisions every weekend.

A lot of this excitement is thanks to Ian Holloway and his Blackpool side. We won't continue our fawning over this but they have shown other small teams that you don't need to be frightened to attack and take the game to the bigger sides.

You'll get the odd thrashing, but you'll get amazing things like doing the double over Liverpool. More importanly, it will get you points. Defensiveness doesn't get you wins and I think some other sides have stood up and taken notice.

Wolves, West Brom and Stoke are other sides that ruffle a few feathers with their no-nonsense style of play.

As an exile at the moment, I get more live football and as-live games than I did in Scotland. This means I get to wake up on a Saturday and a Sunday to a plethora of live games. At times, there are three live 3pm kick off games to choose from on a Saturday.

This has invariably meant that a lot of Blackpool's games have been live for me to see and I've been loving every minute of them. None more so than this afternoon's game between the Tangerines and West Brom.

I would go as far as to say that it's one of the best Premiership football matches I've watched. Try and grab some highlights or the full game if you can.

It was a great advert for the Premiership and was non stop action. Maybe not full of the big names and talents as elsewhere this weekend but the passion and commitment by everyone to a man was a pleasure to see.

I tell you, if every game was played in such a carefree, end to end style then we'd have a much better League on our hands. Every current and wannabe Premiership manager and player should be made to watch it.

Hopefully all this excitement and attacking football can continue but I can't help but feel that come April, when some harsh realiities are starting to sink in with some clubs, the defensiveness and cageyness will be back in droves.

Friday Fun: Theme From Sparta FC

2011-01-14T23:56:00.003Z

Been in a bit of a Fall mood recently. Digging out my old vinyl and CDs, so thought I'd have our first Friday Fun of the year as a football related tune by the Manchester legends.

Here's a video for their "Theme From Sparta FC". Some of you may recognise it as the theme music from the BBC's Final Score programme.

Great name for a supporters group somewhere and some great lyrics for them too:

"We live on blood, We are Sparta FC".

Enjoy!

Refereeing Decisions The Big Story In A Celtic Match Once Again

2011-01-13T19:03:00.040Z

Who'd be a referee at the best of times? Who'd be one in the Scottish Premier League this season, especially when it comes to officiating a Celtic game?

You can't really win when you're a ref. Even if you have a blinder, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't, with a multitude of studio and amrchair pundits just waiting to pick over the carcass of your decisions from every angle possible.

Of course, things aren't helped by the number of refs who have far from a blinder. In fact, them and their linesmen seem to be more blind than anything else.

Every team has had them. Every fan has been made irate by them. You just have to mention the name Don McVicar to an East Fife fan and the bloodvessels on the side of our head will look like they're about to explode and that was coming up to 20 years ago now.

Those infamous seven minutes of injury time that were played at Bayview by Second Division East Fife and Premier League Dundee United in the Scottish Cup in 1991 will never be forgotten by any Fife fan at the game. 1-0 up, ended up drawing 1-1 and then going on to lose the replay at Tannadice 2-1 in extra time. It was heartbreaking and to this day is probably the most heartbroken and depressed I've ever been leaving a football match. Forget the relegations, they were the results of poor seasons, losing a match like that because of the referee is just hard to take.

We abused McVicar to fuck of course in AFTN and how that cunt became the refs chief still baffles us. He can still shove his elastic watch up his arse as far as we're concerned, but we're not bitter!

No death threats were ever issued by East Fife fans to McVicar though. I mean, that would be ridiculous. Despite what happened, it's football and that shit happens. Try telling that to a Celtic fan though.

Willie Collum has been the referee in the news more than most this season. I'm sure he hasn't courted or enjoyed any of it. You think it might spur him on to be a better referee mind you!

Collum, the referee will possibly the most unfortunate name ever in Scottish football, first hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons back in October last year of course. His decision to award Rangers a penalty in the Old Firm game and his general handling of the game had outraged Celtic and led to him receiving death threats.

Mind you, what refereeing decisions haven't seemed to outrage Neil Lennon and Celtic this season, as linesman Steven Craven found out at the cost of his job the same month.

They've not always been wrong to be outraged though, although NOTHING ever merits issuing death threats to anyone over football.

The performance of Collum and his officiating crew in last night's 1-1 draw at New Douglas Park between the Bhoys and Hamilton Accies is likely to be the talking point for the next few days. I wonder how many column inches are going to be written about the situation this time. I know, I know, I'm adding to them with this piece myself.

When the refs went on strike in November it pissed many fans off, myself being one of them, whose trip home to see the Fife take on Ayr at Somerset Park was duly curtailed (although the weather may have got to it, if the strike hadn't).

Why should lower league clubs, who had nothing to do with the abuse and furore this season, be the ones to be punished for the action of some of the big boys?

Despite all this, most of us backed the refs. Yeah they were right to strike. No one should have to put up with some of the abuse they had but it seems to be a story that's never going to go away.

Some of Collum's decisions laat night were woeful. Controversial game and his linos didn't help him out at times.

Now every time Collum is in charge of a Celtic game questions will be asked. Every decision is now going to be scrutinised. Obviously you can't just stop him from taking the helm of these games or a very dangerous precedent will be set, but I just don't what the answer is.

He is human after all and such things are bound to be at the back of his mind somewhere.

It would be most helpful for all involved in Scottish football if all these useless bastards in the middle could just get better in the first place!

Pools Battle Leaves Reds In Hot Water

2011-01-12T23:37:00.014Z

Oh King Kenny, what have you done?

In recent seasons, legends going back to manage Premiership clubs hasn't worked out all that well. Alan Shearer thankfully couldn't save his beloved Newcastle United from being relegated. Going further back, Trevor Brooking made a valiant effort but ultimately couldn't stop his (and my) West Ham United from taking the drop.

Will Kenny Dalglish fare any better?

Realistically, a Club the size of Liverpool, with the players they have and the amount of the season they have left to turn things around shouldn't be anywhere near the bottom three come May. Sitting just three points off it just now though, the League table doesn't make for happy reading for the red side of Liverpool and with a visit to Anfield from the blue side on Sunday looming, it's going to be a cracking derby and more uncomfortable times ahead for King Kenny.

Tonight's match between Blackpool and Liverpool showed two sides with very differing attitudes.

As ourselves and so many others keep harping on, Blackpool have been an inspiration and a breath of fresh air in the Premiership this season. They showed real fight and team spirit to get back into the game and go on and win it 2-1 after going behind to an early goal.

I so hope they can avoid relegation, consolidate and be part of the EPL, whilst playing their brand of exciting, attacking football for many seasons to come.

Charlie Adam was outstanding this evening. Great for Blackpool, great for Scotland. What Ian Holloway has done in scouting the lower leagues and leagues elsewhere and putting together a non-flashy squad is being shown to be a shrewd and successful way of going about things.

Compare that to Liverpool with all their big names, high cost purchases and the distinct lack of being up for a real fight that has been seen in some games of late.

The players there just either don't seem to have the stomach, confidence or the mental resiliance to be where they currently are.

Could this be their downfall? Let's hope so. Would love to see that.

Shame for the legend that is Kenny, but great for football.

Bobby Linn Transfer Rumours A Good Gauge Of East Fife's Ambitions And Status

2011-01-11T23:11:00.026Z

The last couple of years hasn't seen a lot of highs for East Fife. Following the Championship win in 2008, there's been a few good wins, a few vital wins, some fine performances and some breathtaking goals. The problem's been none of these things have come at a consistant enough level to make us have what we could class any of the last three seasons as a successful one.

One of the standouts those has been Bobby Linn. Well, at times anyway. Sometimes, especially last season, Bobby was posted missing in a lot of games. It was frustrating because we all knew what his abilities were and we wondered why were weren't seeing it. Was it the tactics? Was it the player? He's one of those players though that can be quiet all game and then produce that one bit of magic that has all the fans talking about just him for the rest of the week.

This season we've seen the return to the Bobby we know and love. He was on fire pre-season. Banging in goals for fun and hat-tricks galore. He started the season well, scored some breathtaking goals, dipped a little, but is back on form again and was one of the standouts in the weekend gubbing at Pittodrie.

With his form and skill, it's not a surprise that Clubs have come sniffing about Boaby in this transfer window and the rumours are that Falkirk, Dunfermline and a Maltese club have all expressed interest in signing him. He can certainly play at a higher level.

With Bobby being out of contract in the summer and free to move on without a fee on a Bosman, East Fife are faced with a mighty dilemma and it's one that hasn't gone unnoticed by the fans.

The dilemma goes way beyond should we sell him or keep him, it's about East Fife's ambition, hopes for the rest of the season and financial state.

The chances are pretty high that Bobby will go in the summer and if we look for too much money just now, clubs will just wait till then and someone will probably come in and sign him on a pre-contract. We'll get nothing for him out of that.

With that in mind and with the state of many clubs in Scotland at the moment, even selling him now could possibly net only £10,000. A pittance really for a player like Bobby, but it would be the first "decent" money we would have got for selling a player in a long time.

Linn is clearly one of East Fife best assets on the pitch just now and when a club like East Fife has an asset like that, we aren't usually in a position to keep hold of it for that long.

Selling him would dent our push for the promotion playoffs. In fact, it could propel us into the relegation mix once again, especially since our other main goalscorer, Kurtis Byrne, has returned to Hibs at the end of his loan spell. Also what message does it not only give the fans, but also new boss John Robertson about the ambition, or rather the severe lack of it, at the club?

Realistically, I don't want us to get promotion this season as I don't think we're ready for it as a club and it could do more harm than good. Another First Division season of humpings ala Bone era and that could put more fans off for good than bring new ones in. I know Cowden seem to be getting by, but I really don't see us doing that.

I'd much rather have a season for Robbo to lay the base for a proper push next season. I don't was to see us going down though and a player like Linn can prevent that.

Selling Linn for a small five figure fee will also set off even more alarm bells amongst the fanbase about the perilous state of the Club's finances. The AGM accounts and losses made for horrific reading. If we're desperate to lose our best player just to get some money in the coffers then things are truly dire.

So what should East Fife do?

Keep him till the end of the season. Lose him on a free, but secure our Second Division safety, whilst sending a message to the fans that we don't need to sell our best players every time.

If Bobby does go though, then all at AFTN will wish him well in his new haunt. Just as long as it's not at the Rovers of course.

Home Internationals Back On The Agenda For 2013

2011-01-10T22:17:00.028Z

I don't know whether it's just from being an exile now and perhaps being out of the loop at times, but today's announcement that the Home Internationals may be back on the fixtures calendar from 2013 caught me pleasantly by surprise.

Whether there is much substance to the initial murmurs awaits to be seen of course, but the stars may be aligning to make this happen.

With the Nations Cup featuring Scotland, Wales and both Irelands due to commence in Dublin next month, the appetite for more matches between the home nations is bound to be rekindled and whether we like it or not, all the countries need England to take part to make it a real success and a real mouthwatering proposition.

Sure we want Scotland to win every match they play. Sure it's fun to see us get one up on our Celtic neighbours, but there's no feeling in the world like fucking over the English and I'm sure my Welsh and Irish friends would agree with me fully.

The Nations Cup is a mere distraction. Glorified friendlies really. The return of the Home Internationals, epsecially at the end of the season, would be the real deal however.

It's a shame that there's a whole generation out there who have no idea what we're talking about of course. I grew up loving May. The games, the rivalries and sitting down watching the games on the TV with the family.

The original Home Internationals died out for a multitude of reasons. Some countries, and I'm ashamed to say that Scotland were one of them, started to field weaker teams, thus chipping away at the importance of it all. Others, yes you England, had grander ideas and wanted bigger and more glamourous games against the likes of Brazil and Argentina (hence the horrible Rous Cup that existed after Scotland and England decided to ditch the others).

You then had the clash with the more important preparations for World Cups and European Championships. Remember, this was an age where Scotland qualified for such things. I know, I know, it's hard to believe. The complaints about too many games and the threat of hooliganism also cooled the tournaments jets.

Fans have clamoured for a return for years. It's always been the English FA that's seemed to be the most against it, but their stance does seem to be softening now. I'm sure the thought of sold out Wembley games is an appetising prospect to an organisation that's spent a lot of money on a losing World Cup bid.

The initial idea about the return of the tournaments is suggesting a Rugby Six Nations style of alternating home advantage. That's how it's being spun but that's how I remember it being anyway.

I was too young to go to the games the first time around. I was at Hampden for the first leg of the Euro 2000 playoff against England in 1999. That was one hell of an amazing atmosphere. If we can recapture that every season then all the FA's would be foolish not to go for it. I know I'd certainly be tempted to fly back for some of them.

All we can hope for in the meantime is that this comes to fruition and that if it does that the governing bodies and clubs treat it with the respect it deserves. Of course, we all know that that is perhaps just a little bit too much to ask for.