My Faultering Crystal Ball...

Since I started writing this blog I've written two articles about football. One of them was predicting FA Cup romance for my beloved Aldershot Town. The other was discussing the doom and gloom surrounding my Spanish team FC Cartagena. Well, since they were written Aldershot were involved in a romantic FA Cup story, the only problem being that we were on the recieveing end of it following a 2-0 defeat at Conference South side Dover. In Spain Cartagena scored two late goals to beat table topping Real Betis 2-1 and have since won 3 and have drawn 1 and find themselves in a play off spot in the Segunda Division. It's time to discuss football again and I hope that my gut feeling is wide of the mark for a third time.

Since my last Aldershot-related posting on 17th November, The Shots have played 4, won 1 and lost 3, scoring twice, conceding 6 and being humiliated in the Cup in the process. As you'd expect with a run of results like this we've slid down the table and our "best ever squad" is just 3 points clear of the bottom two. This isn't the first time that I've seen Aldershot go on a bad run, but the feeling of apathy and discontent from the supporters seems stronger this time than in the past. Why is this?

In the main, it's the style of football. Having a team who can play short passes between each other until the cows come home is all well and good. Having a lot of the ball in the opposition half is good. Not conceding many goals is good. Creating next to nothing and scoring even less is a big problem and has been all season.

I recall saying during our first home game of the season against Southend United that we looked short up front - Everything seemed to go through Morgan and looking at the rest of the team, it was hard to see where any goals would come from. Donnelly, Hudson, Soares and Sandell all chipped in with goals and their replacements don't look like scoring anywhere near the required amount. Even Morgan's been off form for most of the season and the fact that we've managed just 16 goals in 19 league games says it all.

This lack of goals, coupled with the abysmal set pieces, the boring build up play and poor results has made watching Aldershot matches boring. At the start of the season I felt we were unlucky and was confident that we'd get it together and start winning games. "We're very close to having a very good team" I told people, but as the season's worn on it's become apparent that we haven't been unlucky, we haven't just had "one of those days" - We have real problems in the team and something needs to be done.

It's all too predictable. A bright start, good build up, few chances, we go a goal down, we give up. This routine was getting very tiresome, especially during the defeats against Cheltenham, Macclesfield and Chesterfield... But a worrying thing for me is that even when we beat Morecambe, I still found the game to be dull and came away from the game feeling quite flat. Despite this, I still had faith in Kevin Dillon to turn it around, I felt that we could pull out enough decent results to finish in the top 10. I'm not that bothered by the style of play if it's getting us results, but over the last couple of months this just hasn't been the case and the gutless defeat at Dover tipped me and many others over the edge.

No fight, no passion, no desire, no ideas and no hope. That freezing cold afternoon at The Crabble summed up our season and we had absolutley no excuses. It was that afternoon which rammed home the point that there are real problems within our team, with both the players and management. The scenes in the away end as Dover slotted home a stoppage time penalty will be with me for a long time. Not since the end of George Borg's time have I seen the Shots support turn on the team and manager like that and personally I've never been so angry after a game. Since my first Aldershot game in '97 I've seen 4 managers in charge of the team and I've only booed the team off twice (Barnet and Dover away) and both times they've been during Dillon's reign.

The emotions after the Dover debacle were stark contrast to the scenes at Rotherham's Don Valley Stadium two weeks later, following another predictable defeat. The performance was typical of a Kevin Dillon side, but at full time there was no booing, no abuse, no barracking or any reaction what-so-ever from the hardy few who travelled to South Yorkshire that afternoon. Much like the players, the fans seemed to greet the result with an acceptance that defeat was an inevitability. It was a numb feeling and a worrying one too.

Despite all of this, I'm not worried for our Football League status. We have a kind fixture schedule (weather permitting) and our next six games are against teams in the lower half, starting with a home game with Lincoln City on Saturday. It's this run of games that will determine which way our season goes - We could be out of danger and hobbling along to a mid-table finish, or we could be dragged in the mire and scrapping for our lives.

Whatever happens, Dillon's contract is up in the summer and I can't see it being renewed. I just hope that the damage is minimal after he's gone and I don't have to travel to Barrow, Histon or Southport next season.

Troubled Times In Cartagena

FC Cartagena had their best ever season in 2009/10, finishing 5th in the Segunda Division and only 6 points from promotion to La Liga. Cartagena had been in the top 3 for most of the season, but poor form late on in the season saw promotion slip away from them as Real Sociedad, Levante and Hercules took their place amongst Spain's elite. Cartagena's next opponents, Real Betis, missed out on head-to-head on the last day of the season.

On Saturday the two teams who came so close to promotion meet at Estadio Cartagonova, with one team bouncing back from the disappointment much better than the other. With 12 games gone Real Betis are 5 points clear at the top of the league, with 9 wins, 2 draws and only 1 loss so far. The Seville-based side were relegated from La Liga in 2008/09 and were strongly tipped to bounce back last season. Spain's 6th best supported club didn't quite manage it, but look set to put things right this time around.

Cartagena, on the other hand are currently in 14th place after suffering a 3-0 loss at 19th place Huelva Recreativo last week. Los Albinegros have failed to live up to expectation thus far, picking up only 4 wins and are currently only 4 points clear of the drop zone. Cartagena's chairman slammed the players after last week's loss, but assured manager Juan Ignacio Martinez that he still has the full backing of the club's hierarchy. Despite this, the pressure is certainly mounting from the ever more deserted stands of Estadio Cartagonova. Around 8,000 season tickets were sold during the summer, but only around 7,000 turned up for the recent home match with Granada - Around 3,000 down on last season's average attendance.

Playing host to Real Betis should be one of the biggest matches for any second tier side - Betis are a club with the 37th highest attendances in Europe, have a stadium that holds 52,000 and played Champions League football just 5 years ago. They look set to get back to where they feel they belong in Spain's football pecking order and will provide a very stern test for JIM's under fire side, who have struggled to cope with the loss of big players such as goalkeeper Ruben, who was sold to Malaga for €1.3m and Enrique De Lucas who left to join Celta Vigo.

This is the season that Cartagena finally stepped out of the shadows of their more illustrious neighbours, Real Murcia, who were relegated to Spain's 3rd tier last season. A 4-1 victory for Cartagena at Nuevo Condomina was a clear sign of the power shift in the region, but with Murcia currently top of the Segunda B and Cartagena looking nervously over their shoulders, things could well revert to the norm.

Don't Worry Will, Your Wedding's On Us...

There's been a huge piece of news come out this week, not really surprising but certainly very important for our country. No, it's not about Ireland being in financial meltdown, England losing again, or the floods in Cornwall. Two people in their late 20's are getting married, it's sure to be a grand affair in Westminster, with no expense spared on the ceremony, the reception, honey moon and all the thrills and spills that go with it. The happy couple don't need to worry about it - We'll pick up the bill.

At a time when the country is trying to get itself out of recession, cuts are being made left, right and centre and plenty of people are either struggling to hold on to their jobs, or struggling to get back into work, how the hell can anyone seriously justify the tax payer shelling out £20m on a fucking wedding?!

In the last financial year the Royal family cost the tax payer £38.2m, for general living costs, the salaries of their workers, their palace, their holidays and all the rest of it. Spoon fed by the state, without having worked a day in their lives. In this day and age, can we really justify this? As I said earlier, things are tough for the people and the government are having to make cuts in almost every department (including the monarchy, who's had a reduction of 7.9% from the previous financial year) and there's still millions upon millions being spent on a family of people, who at the end of the day are people just like you and I. Although none of them have never lifted a finger in their lives and have been bought up with a silver spoon in their mouths.

A good example to follow would be that of Spain, a country in a worse financial state than ourselves, where their monarchy have had their budget cut by 9%, which means they will now cost the Spanish economy £6.8m - Peanuts compared to the monarchy here.

People will argue that the Royals bring in a level of tourism to justify the expenditure, but when more people are visiting Legoland than Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, you need to seriously ask yourself if this claim is true? Also, would tourism really decline if the Monarchy no longer existed? The Palace of Versailles in France attracts over 10 million visitors per year, despite the fact that the French monarchy fell in 1848.

So as the media go into hysteria over-drive and people get genuinely excited over the prospect of a wedding between two 28 year olds that none of them have met or have any connections with and the government set up a committee to go about planning the ceremony and we have a bank holiday to "celebrate", spare a thought to the next public services worker who has their pay cut, or the next council office worker made redundant or as another school has to make cuts to the education of the future generation as the economy ploughs tens of millions into this event and every other Royal activity. Is this an expense that can really be justified?

The Magic of the FA Cup, 47 Years Later...

Year after year the FA Cup throws up shocks, changes lives, gets people talking and puts provincial clubs such as Hereford United, Shrewsbury Town, Yeovil Town, Havant & Waterlooville, Histon, Burton Albion and co. on the footballing map as they all enjoy a day in the sun. It's the only cup competition in which Exeter City can play Manchester United and Scarborough host Chelsea, these money spinning cup ties can change the course of a club's history forever.

If we go back to December 2004, to Exeter City to be precise. They're enduring their second season in the Conference, without two pennies to rub together and with a very bleak future ahead. They're then drawn away to Manchester United in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, a match worth millions to the club. They then turned up at Old Trafford and had the audacity to draw 0-0, before losing 2-0 at St James' Park. Fast forward to today and Exeter City are a club thriving. Promotion to League Two was achieved via the play offs in 2008 and they followed that up with a second consecutive promotion. After surviving on the last day of the season they're currently holding their own in England's 3rd tier, with crowds up and the wind in their sails, they really are a club on the up. Obviously their manager and the players ultimately bring success to the club, or any club for that matter, but none of this was imaginable 5 years back, but with a big slice of luck in the FA Cup draw they received a pay day which built a solid foundation for a decent sized club to be built upon.

It's the sort of story that every lower league club dreams of happening to them one day and it's these possibilities that make the FA Cup so exciting for fans of these clubs. My earliest memory of the FA Cup was in 1998 when my beloved Aldershot Town, then of the Ryman Premier, were at home to Conference side Hednesford. The visitors took the lead, before a late Gary Abbott goal forced a replay. The Shots travelled away and beat their higher placed opponents, setting up a 2nd round tie with Exeter - The first time that we had played a Football League team in competitive action since re-forming in 1992. The following season Aldershot had navigated their way through 3 qualifying rounds and landed a home game against then 3rd Division leaders Brighton & Hove Albion. A sell out crowd of 7,500 was there to see it, as were the Match of the Day cameras. Brighton ran out 6-2 winners in the end, but the buzz of excitement surrounding that day will stay with me forever. During my early days following The Shots, the regular visitors to The Rec were Heybridge Swifts, Sutton United, Carshalton Athletic and the 4 men and a dog that followed them. Suddenly we were up against a proper club, with a large away following and for the first time in  my life I experienced what felt like "proper" football at The Rec. This is what the FA Cup is all about.

Although as the years have gone by, I've got older, been around the block a few more times and seen more FA Cup let downs than I care to remember, the magic of the Cup has seemed to have been avoiding Aldershot. Infact, 47 seasons have gone by since Aldershot's most famous FA Cup moment, in January 1964. Aston Villa were the opponents - A true giant of English football at that time. Record time FA Cup winners, multiple time champions of England, a well supported club playing at a huge ground in a major city and a team that had never been beaten by lower league opposition in the FA Cup. Aldershot, a team that had joined the Football League in 1932 and had never played higher than the basement league should be no problem, surely? Well, a 0-0 draw at Villa Park forced a replay at The Rec on 8th January 1964, where The Shots ran out 2-1 winners. A truly fantastic achievement and it must still rank as a favourite memory for anyone who was lucky enough to have been there that night. In today's money, that'd be equivalent to Morecambe turning over Liverpool!

Has much happened since then? Well, not really. A 1-0 defeat at Liverpool in 1971, a couple of runs to the 5th Round where the dream was ended by Carlisle and Shrewsbury respectively and a 3-0 win over then 1st Division Oxford, between multiple defeats by non-league opposition, is about as good as it's got. The "new" club hasn't faired much better either, infact, in the 12 years I've been watching The Shots the best it's got was a 3rd round defeat at then League One Blackpool. That was the only time we've reached the 3rd round since re-forming, with Round 2 generally being our glass ceiling. I've seen defeats at this stage against Exeter, Hartlepool, Scunthorpe, Colchester, Millwall and Tranmere. I think it's pretty easy to see why I can never get too caught up the excitement when FA Cup time comes around.

This season was no different, I fully expected a dull, uninspiring draw, in which we'd have little chance of winning. I wasn't wrong and we were drawn away to League One Brentford. Everyone knew this sort of tie would come up, it was just a saving grace that it was local and that Griffin Park is a decent venue. So, a thousand travelled from North Hampshire to West London for the match, determined to enjoy a good day, even if no one expected much on the pitch. As it happened, the players surpassed expectation and took a first half lead through Wade Small, the away support rejoiced and we started to think we might actually win this... Then moments later it was 1-1. In the end, that was how it stayed and it could be argued that we did enough to win the match. We were all glad and slightly surprised by the result, but there was an underlying feeling that we should have won the match and that we may have missed our chance.

The 2nd round draw paired us or Brentford with a trip to Dover Athletic, a cracking draw and one that presented the winners of the replay with a very good chance of reaching the 3rd round.

Going into the replay, it reminded me of last season when we hosted League One Tranmere Rovers in the 2nd Round, knowing that a win would be rewarded with a home tie against Wolves. There was a big crowd that night, big expectation and plenty of excitement... Along with the inevitable let down and a 2-1 defeat. This time around, the build up was a bit more muted as we remembered what happened last season. Even as I sat on the platform at Frimley Station in the freezing cold waiting for my train, I had a "can't be arsed" feeling about the whole thing. A late night, freezing my balls off, a probable defeat and a waste of time. I'd been in this position too many times in the past.

The fans had certainly learned lessons from last year and it seemed the manager had too. Setting up with an attacking trio of McGlashan, Small and Morgan, Aldershot took the game to Brentford and opened the scoring with only 8 minutes on the clock, with another Wade Small goal. The East Bank went mental, then as it died down we all remembered what happened 10 days ago and we awaited the Brentford onslaught. It never came. Aldershot's defence was comfortable throughout, with Jamie Young not really having much to do all night. It wasn't until the 4th official's board went up to signal 3 added minutes that I and others around me really believed what we were seeing. The match ended with Aldershot playing keep ball and toying with the Bees. The referee blew his whistle to the delight and slight disbelief of the 3,000+ home supporters in the ground.

Aldershot's first FA Cup win against higher league opposition since October 2000, when Aldershot beat then Conference side Dover has set up a 2nd round tie against that same team. This time the roles are reversed and we go to The Crabble two leagues higher and knowing that it's the best chance we've had of reaching the 3rd round in years. With a potential money spinning tie awaiting the winners, this could finally be our day in the sun. I always knew the magic of the Cup existed, but is it on it's way to Aldershot 47 years later?