liv4now website - Page 1
SEPTEMBER 2001:
Dublin. Boateng. Huckerby. Keane. Whelan. MacAllister. Hadji. Hartson. And now, Chris Kirkland. Will the last CCFC star to leave the building please switch the light off please? But - the chairman would like to stress! - CCFC are not a selling club. And Victoria Beckham never mimes....
And do you notice anything about the above list? Not one defender! And there-in lies the problem - when it comes to the back four, GS hasn't got a clue! Williams and Shaw even look out of their depth in Division One - and the Premiership wages they are paid can't be helping the clubs situation either. The sooner `The Player Formerly Known As Tomas Gustafsson' is in the first team the better! And Gary Breen on crutches is a better option than PW or RS! They've not got an accurate pass between them. As hard as he tries, Mo Konjic cannot defend the entire defensive area on his own....
CCFC supporters never expected Division One to be easy, but it would be a bit easier if we stopped selling off anybody with any footballing ability - with the exception of poor old Magnus Hedman, who looks to have had his sentence extended following the sale of CK! And had Everton offered a decent sum of money for somebody rated as one of the best in the world (Toldo, Fiorentina to Inter, �16,400,000; Frey, Inter to Parma, �13million; Buffon, Parma to Juventus, �32.6million; even Richard Wright, Ipswich to Arsenal, �6million - and Everton think that a �1 million downpayment, plus payments based on appearances upto the value of �3.5 million is reasonable? Two words spring to mind - seven letters, with three `f's' in....!), even he wouldn't be here!
The club are penniless, groundless, and on the pitch, clueless. I'm not Lee Carsley's greatest fan, but he has been the most consistent player over the first four matches, and as a consequence, he looks likely to be the next player out of the club....! The club is stumbling from one disaster to another, and there is a huge air of pessimism hanging over the club while Richardson and Strachan are in charge. And GS seems to have one of the safest jobs in football, as the club could not afford to sack him, even if they wanted too .... and despite once claimimg he would walk away when the fun went out of the game, he's still very much still with us. Our chairman and manager do have a real bad habit of forgetting the promises they have made....
Those that think wanting GS out so early in the season is a knee-jerk reaction to a poor start are wrong! The first few years under GS's leadership seemed okay, but the last two have been a disaster. Our three biggest tests during pre-season saw us manage only severely deflected goal in 270 minutes of football, and with the exception of a very professional display versus Stockport, nothing looks to have changed at the start of this season....
JUNE 2001:
Where once we sat proudly between Chelsea and Derby in our footballing divisions alphabet, we now sit between Burnley and Crewe - and suddenly the realisation that we REALLY were relegated has hit home! And where once we would have been looking forward to the next seasons fixture list coming out, to see when we would be playing the Manchester Uniteds, Liverpools, and Arsenals of this world, we now await confirmation of when we will be visiting Gillingham, Grimsby and Rotherham (somebody recently worked out that it cost Rotherham a mere �250,000 to get into Division One - how many millions did it cost CCFC?!?!)....
Last season was a disaster from start to finish. From the opening game (with a nightmare CCFC performance, rather than the performance of such quality Middlesboro supporters thought theirs was, that had their supporters thinking their season was going to be something special - wrong!), to the dour send-off that was CCFC versus Bradford (wake me up when it's finished please....). CCFC's football was of the worst quality I have ever seen in 34 years as a CCFC fan (though admittedly the first 9 months of those 34 years were from in the womb, so I didn't actually see much....!). I would like to think (and to quote `D:Ream'!) things can only get better. I would like to....
What team CCFC will actually still have to put out next season is anyone's guess (as well as who will actually be the chairman too....). CCFC's (supposed) best players are all being linked with other clubs (while the rubbish looks likely to stay), and most of the talk as to who we look likely to bring in revolves around CCFC old-boys (Huckerby, Dublin, Whelan, and Kevin Gallacher (who is at a price we can afford - nothing!!)). There are some decent bargains around that could do a job for CCFC, but so far we haven't been linked with any of them - just Villa deadwood....
I always have been, and - like most people who choose CCFC as their team - always will support CCFC, but the club are not doing to much to inspire confidence for next season (Selling/swapping the luxury that is Mr Hadji is a good start (though rumours of a straight swap for Joachim disturb me - JJ and �2 million+ sounds like a better deal!!)). Division One is full of sleeping giants (so they say!), so CCFC will have to show all the qualities that they failed to show last season if they are to prove the bookies right and return to the Premiership at the first attempt....
As a consequence of being relegated, there has been a slight change to the `Sky Blue Song'. The final few lines now read: Grimsby or Rotherham, Crewe or anyone (Anyone!), We shouldn't be playing them, But thanks to Strachan and Richardson, We're now in Division One!, City! City!
APRIL 2001:
Just when you think it's all over bar the shouting, CCFC decide to join in....
Wales showed it three times, and now CCFC have once - get the ball to John Hartson, and he'll more than likely score! Some people still claim he's a couple of pies overweight, but I couldn't care less if he performs as he has done in his last three games! (Unfit? Three games in eight days, and still running in the 90th minute of the third one? Blimey, I can't wait 'til he's 100%!). Like Sean Goater (but with ability!), feed him and he will score!
Admittedly against Derby the football wasn't pretty, but I think 101% of CCFC fans would settle for performances uglier than Ed De Goey and Peter Beardsley's love-child - as long as there was three points to show for it at the end of each match! The least CCFC fans expect from their team is grit and determination, and we saw eleven players - instead of the normal three or four - displaying that characteristic last Saturday. Maybe we'll concentrate on how to play pretty football again IF we survive....
Boro', Man. City and CCFC all have to play Ipswich, Leicester and Manchester United, so those three teams could be the key to deciding who does eventually go down. Saturday April 14th (the day CCFC play runaway leaders Manchester United) is not a day I look forward to with great enthusiasm .... though maybe United's strikers will be as charitable as Derby's were! I won't hold my breath on that one though....
Despite the undoubted ability he has, Hadji's ban (for disgracefully spitting at a Derby player) could help CCFC in their battle against the drop. You can count his decent performances on the fingers of one finger(!) this season, so replacing the luxury that is Mr. Hadji with somebody more likely to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in can only benefit the team (I'm only a phone-call away Mr. Strachan....). Steven McPhee would have been a good option (as he seems to have nearly every necessary attribute to make the grade....), but for some stupid reason we've allowed him to go to St. Mirren on loan, with a view to selling him for peanuts....
Hadji's captains' armband should now be handed to Gary Breen, as he is virtually running the show anyway! To those people that think CCFC are heading towards Division One because we usually buy players from there, I would like to remind them that GB came from there, and he is world class! (Disagree? Ask the Dutch and Portugese forwards that have faced him in World Cup matches!). As the song says, `We All Dream Of A Team of Gary Breens....' - and if we had one/eleven, we certainly wouldn't be fighting relegation again!
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