This page is mostly journalistic and probably only for people really interested
in football. It is just a report on some matches I have seen "live". I
do hope you enjoy them.
BRENTFORD - BRIGHTON
DERBY - TOTTENHAM
Derby were again buzzing after the appointment of John Gregory as their new manager. I was ready for my second Rams live match of 2002. As it was a pay-per-view match on Sky, was it rescheduled to 12 o’clock noon, and one of the morning trains were full, so we had to leave London St Pancras 7.25 in the morning. To avoid coming too late I stayed the night at a friends' place.
Up
in the morning eager to see the Rams I had a small scare on the underground.
To be that early on a Saturday morning there were loads of people waiting
for the tube. Was there problems on the line? I had no escape ways to
get to the train station! Ouch. A nightmare dawning! Luckily enough
it turned up, and I was on my way.
Arriving Derby with a typical English breakfast. I chose not to include black pudding as a remembrance of disgraceful hotel in scouseland a couple of years ago.
Finally off to the stadium, and the expectation rose for every second. Just like a bondage had gone at the place with the installment of John Gregory as our manager after some really miserable performances, including an exit in the FA Cup at home against Bristol Rovers! When the teams entered, it all erupted. There has never been such noise at Scum Trafford for years. Not even when they scored twice in dying minutes against scousers in the FA Cup a few seasons ago. I am sure!
Finally, after a couple of years struggling to avoid relegation, it looked like a team with confidence and purpose again. Well organized, and for the first 75 minutes Spurs only created a couple of half chances. It was quite even in the first half, but not unfair when speedy Lee Morris scored his first goal for the club. What a way to celebrate his return to the team. Just as speedy as Michael Owen but not the goal scoring touch as him, just as fast as Ryan Giggs, but unfortunately not with the same skill on the ball when running on defenders, but he might prove a revelation with the right guidance, and keeping himself free from injuries. It all exploded!
Needless
to say, but the team went off at half-time to a standing ovation. Fans were
singing “Gregory, Gregory, John-nie Gregory, dyes his hair, we don’t care,
John-nie Gregory”!
First part of second half had the same pattern as the first half, but it slightly changed when Spurs put on Darren Anderton. They moved more forward and got closer to the box, but still couldn’t carve out any great chances. This gave the Rams chances on counter attacks, but they only managed a couple of half chances. Darryl Powell, the football genius, had a thunderbolt shot moving towards the top corner though. It hit Ledley King in his head, and he probably still hurts from this shot. Nothing is more fun than when fans are singing: “Darryl Powell is a football genius, Darryl Powell is football genius….”. What an irony, but he is maybe the player in the Premiership playing with most passion and heart, but his skill and technique on the ball is absolutely terrible. If he just had had some of Vieiras or Keanes skills on the ball, he would have been an outstanding player.
The match went towards the end and Spurs created their best chance of the match. Derby were caught a bit defensively as they should have been awarded a free-kick in the build up, and Teddy Sheringham was alone on the far post with the goal wide open, but all of a sudden a Danny Higginbotham bravely threw himself in the way and blocked the shot!
After that, game over and John Gregory running to the other side of the pitch celebrating the victory, and the fans simply wouldn’t go home. Warren Barton was also there, and even though it looks bleak against relegation, I am confident the club will move on in the future even if we might have to play the likes of Rotherham and Walsall next season. Hopefully we will be able to bounce straight back.
The
day belonged to Derby and their faithful supporters. 90% of the stadium was
filled even stranded next to the bottom of the league when shown live on TV.
Amazing. If that had been Theatre of Scum in the same position, it would at
the most have been half-full.
Come
on you Rams!!!!
I had not intended going to this match as I
originally had other things to do, but a good friend asked me to go as he could
not take his child that week-end. He even fixed me a quite cheap ticket from
a season ticket holder who was not able to attend the match because of work.
I woke up a bit groggy and tired in the morning, and definitely wanted to spend some more time in bed as I had had a headache and sore throat earlier in the week. Did not feel quite prepared for a match, but as soon as I got out of the house the attitude changed. Leaving dirty London for the nice city based in the heart of England.
The train arrived nearly an hour late due to some technical problems, and it was sunny and a bit windy coming to Derby. No time to go into the city center this time having a burger as we should meet up with some other blokes outside the stadium.
The fans were singing the songs in the warm-up, as the expectation was growing. A Derby fan even had brought a Newcastle shirt to honor Warren Barton and Robert Lee (two recent signings), but more of course to stir up the Sunderland fans. That brought some fun until some stewards came and kindly asked him to hide the shirt.
The crowd was ecstatic when the players entered the
pitch. Another “Gregory revival” was expected, and this was a
six-pointer for both sides. The game was very similar to the one against
Spurs. The commitment from the Derby players were extremely good. They gave
it all for each other, but they had some problems with a physical strong
Sunderland side. Except for Kevin Phillips it nearly seemed that all their players
were at least 90 kilos!
Sunderland hardly had a shot on target in the first
half, and I was sure Ravanelli had put the ball in the back of the net with a
bullet of a shot hitting the side netting. The net would probably not have
been strong enough if it had gone in!
The second half was pretty similar as the first one.
Derby keeping up the pressure, but Kevin Philips showed on a couple of
occasions he is a top class striker. He once twisted, turned and shot a
looping shot from about 25 yards out which Andy Oakes just managed to fist
over the bar. Just afterwards Derby had their best chance of the game.
Luciano Zavagno brought the ball forward from a left-back position, crossed
the half-way line inwards, and played Ravanelli on the left. Ravanelli took
his time, and sent an excellent pass back just inside the 16 yard line. With
only the keeper to beat Zavagno shot a clean shot which hit the underside of
the bar, and Christies follow up was saved on the goal line from Claudio
Reyna. The fans just watched in disbelief. How come being so unlucky???
The match went towards its end and you knew it would be a goalless draw, or first team that scored would win. Then suddenly, out of the blue Sunderland stormed forward on the left, the cross got a couple of unlucky deflections before the ball landed in front of Niall Quinn with an open goal in front of him on the far post. Like a friend of mine says: “He could just pee it in!”. Unbelievable, but true and just showing a bitter taste of unluck hitting the side again.
Even though, the fans stayed behind the team and stayed until the final whistle to give the players a standing ovation. If it had been Scum Trafford the fans would have deserted when Quinn scored. Another long train trip back to London was awaiting……..
While being home in my mother country on a couple of weeks holiday I was lucky enough to be able to watch this match "live". Bryne is a small city with about 9000 inhabitants which incredibly have managed to play in the Tippeliga (Norwegian top division) for the last two seasons. It is based on the south/west of Norway 30km south of the footballslum Stavanger.
Rosenborg Trondheim, just as incredible coming from the more northern part of Norway have established themselves as a force in Europe thanks to their brilliant results in the Champions League managing famous victories against the likes of AC Milan, Real Madrid and others. It is the only club reaching the group stages of the Champions League under the new structure (7 seasons on the row I think).
A nice sunny afternoon on Bryne it was time for a league meeting between these two sides. Bryne had got off to a bad start in the league with only 1 point in 4 matches, and Rosenborg also with a bad start in their standard. Their team is not the standard like it used to be, but they should normally win this match quite easy.
I went to the match in good time to meet some friends I haven't seen for a while. First I got the expected stick as Derby had been relegated from the Premiership. In my confident style I told them we will be back stronger than ever!
The match finally kicked off, and I felt it was good to be back among the crowd. I have been there many times, and will be there whenever I am able to. Bryne nearly scored within a minute, but after that it calmed a little bit. Then suddenly after 6 minutes, a lovely pass to Peter Olofsson, and on a 1 to 1 with goallie he keeps his calm and puts the ball in the back of the net. The crowd was in delirium! This is the start we all wanted. Bryne managed to hang onto the lead until half time even though Rosenborg had most of the ball, but they only threatened Bryne's goal once. It was a deserved lead.
We were all waiting with expectation for the 2nd half. Would we manage to hold on? Except a big chance for Rosenborg in the opening minutes it was evenly balanced. Then, suddenly after 70 minutes Bryne stormed forward, and Dejan Pavlovic was put clean through and he easily put the ball out of reach for the goallie and we were two up! Unbelievable! We could make it with only 20 minutes left.
Then, suddenly with 5 minutes to go Rosenborg were
awarded a penalty. Typical, now it will be a tense finish. Bent Skammelsrud
stepped up, but Knut Lillebakk went to his right and saved it. Yeeeeees, now we must hang on.
The match went towards its end, Rosenborg got a consolation goal in added time but as soon
as Bryne kicked off again the referee blew his whistle for full time. Finally,
we had beaten the champions, and we all went home very, very happy.
A beautiful sunny day on a February morning. Everything was settled for a
good day out. I got up early just to be sure to have enough time to see some of
historical Oxford before I had planned to pay the new football stadium a visit.
I got a little shock though when I walked out of the house as it was freezing
cold. Definitely not a day without a skihat!
After having been shivering for nearly 15 minutes on a lonely wait did
the 185 bus to Victoria finally appear. It was early Saturday morning so no
traffic and it went much quicker than normal. So many times you just sit in the
bus wasting your time because of the heavy traffic.
After a quick check on my e-mail on the internet cafe was it time to walk
to Victoria Coach Station. Only 10 quid for a day return is cheap in England
when you travel on your own and you don't book 2-3 weeks in advance. No problems
and no traffic so I arrived on time.
It is always a bit of an excitement coming to a new place. On the bus on
the way in to the centre you look at different buildings, watching the people in
the street giving you an image on what kind of life they normally have there.
The first thing on my mind was just to find out where the buses going to
the football stadium departed. Just to be sure and avoid the dreadful thing of
arriving late for the game. It was just on the main street coming out of the
coach station so it was really easy to find.
In the beginning I just hung around in the streets enjoying the sun.
People were not so stressed here as they use to be in London. All you see there
is overcrowded streets and people "pushing" themselves forward all the
time. One thing was the same though: All japanese tourists walking around with
maps and photo cameras! That is the same wherever you travel in the world!
I was just walking around looking at many of the old famous buildings and
parks around. Some of them were just beautiful. Just a pity it was so cold and
that I did not have time for more. It must be a wonderful sight on a warm, nice
day during the summer.
Suddenly it came to my mind that Man Utd were playing Arsenal in the 5th
round of FA Cup, and the match was live on BBC. As I walked towards one of the
markets just off the main street did I enter a pub to have a little glimpse just
before half time. The pub was overcrowded. On the inner part did they watch
rugby, and on the part closest to the entrance did they watch football. To my
delight did I see that Arsenal were 1 up. Nothing is better than watching Alex
Ferguson rather embarrassed and stupid on the sideline chewing his gum. I
watched until halftime, watched the replay of the deflected goal from Edu and
Ryan Giggs extraordinary miss when he shot over the bar on a point blank goal
from 15 yards. I had a smile on my face. Went to the toilet for a pee and headed
for the street again.
It was just half an hour till I was to catch the bus. Another half an
hour wandering around before I went to the bus stop. A typical English football
fan was sitting there on the stop dressed with the Oxford shirt in expectancy
for the match. The strange thing was that the bus never turned up. We just
expected it was late. Suddenly the supporter picked up the mobile phone to call
a friend and after a couple of minutes on the phone he just walked away. What is
happening? I just stood there calmly and waited for a few more minutes but
nothing happened. Bus after bus passed by but not the 601 I was expecting. Then
suddenly the silence was broken. A man with an old Oxford skihat walked along
and said the match was postponed. It was due to the frost at night, and the
pitch was not playable.
It was no shock, but it was a real disappointment. I just walked away
from the bus stop heading back to the pub to watch the rest of Man Utd vs.
Arsenal match. When I entered the pub again I saw to my delight that Arsenal had
gone 2 up, and it was only 15 minutes left of play.
I bought myself a small drink, and Arsenal seemed to be in total control
of the match. United did not create anything. Then van Nistelrooy on the edge of
the penalty area falls over. Is it a penalty or? The referee awards a free-kick
just outside the area. To me it looked like one of his normal dives, and the
replay showed it clearly. Arsenal player did not touch him at all. What a
theatrical clown this Dutchman is. He does this all the time but always seems to
escape yellow cards.
A few minutes later Wiltord is played through from a magnificent Henry
pass. He is clearly tackled from behind for one of the most obvious penalties
but the referee just waves play on. Amazing how Man Utd for some reasons always
have the decisions in their favour but this time it at least did not have any
effect on the final score.
Arsenal were in total control against a toothless Man Utd team and easily
booked a place among the last 8. Will it be another finale between Arsenal and
Chelsea unless they will play each other in the quarter- or semifinale?
I sensed I was tired and disappointed now from the postponed match and
just headed back to the coach station for the bus back to London. I was
definitely not in the mood to see more places around, so I will just let it be
for another time. I was so tired I fell asleep for a while on the way back, and
that was really good.
Back in London where there only people to see. An estimated 1.000.000
people had taken part in the march against war on Iraq. It must have been one of
the biggest demonstrations ever. I just walked to internet cafe to check some
travelling, and most importantly today’s football results. To my delight could
I see that my beloved Derby had gone from 1 down and were now 2-1 up against
Sheffield Wednesday even though Warren Barton had been sent off midway through
the 1st half.
Only about 10 minutes left of the match and my credit expired. Ooops, I
just had to stick another quid in to renew. When I finally got onto the internet
Sheffield Wednesday had equalised! No, not another disappointment. According to
reports where they now pushing 10 men Derby backwards and had a glorious
opportunity to win the match. They hit the post before Lee Grant made a
spectacular save on the rebound. It all finished 2-2 and I lurked out of the
cafe back to the flat to have a quiet evening. I could not cope with more
disappointment at the time.
All in all, as I write this later in the evening and look back has it not been a bad day. It just did not go as you expected but you have to make the most of it when things go wrong. If I just had stayed home doing nothing would probably have been even worse.
A long eagerly wait was over. I had not been to a "live"
footballmatch for nearly 2 months! This was due to my long holiday back home in
Norway. If you do not know, but there are no matches to attend in Norway from
beginning December to late February. A week before I was to take off to England
again did I phone a friend of mine who was able to get me a ticket. As normal,
did I go along with his son.
We met up at Waterloo station at 11.30 Saturday morning. We went to buy
tickets in a hurry as the first train was due to leave in 10 minutes time. The
only problem was that there were no fast trains due to engineering work so we
had to take a stop train. It took ages and we arrived Fratton around 1 hour
before the match was to start. Not more else to do than a little, some chips, a
quick look around in the club shop if there was any revolutionary new since last
time. Then we had to head for the turnstiles to give a warm welcome to our
heroes.
The stadium was much older and old-fashioned than I thought. Luckily
enough no rain as the away end was uncovered. Portsmouth was flying high on the
table while Derby so far have had a rather disappointing season. They were at
least expected to challenge for a play-off spot, but that were some points away.
If they were to achieve that goal they really have to get some wins under their
belt.
The match was a sell-out. Portsmouth had sold all their tickets a week in
advance, as Derby only were allocated 1100 tickets had they also all been gone.
The atmosphere was good and we were all set for a big match.
Many Rams supporters were interested in watching Yakubu Ayegbeni. This
Nigerian 'wonderkid' was five weeks on trial with Derby in the Summer before the
season, but he was not granted a work permit. This was now ok as he had married
a portuguese woman. He was only on loan on Portsmouth, but with a view of £4.000.000
transfer when the season was over.
We had hardly managed to be seated before Portsmouth grabbed their first
goal. Warren Barton doing some errors led in Ayegbeni down the left, his cross
was met by Paul Merson who blasted it against the crossbar, but he managed to
bundle home the rebound. What a disappointment! And the worst was still to come!
Portsmouth really played attacking and offensive football. It looked as
though they could score any time. It was not long until Kevin Harper Harper
found space down the left, crossed and who else than 'wonderkid' Yakubu blasted
the ball into the Rams net. What a player to miss out on.
On 33 minutes Matthew Taylor suddenly had half the ground on his own
before easily putting the ball in the back in the back of the net. From our
point of view did it look a very suspicious offside on 3 players, but the goal
stood. Nothing we could do. It was really an embarrassment even though Derby did
not play that bad. Infact, they played a lot better than they had done earlier
in the season against much worse opposition than Portsmouth. They were in my
view a lot better than many of the Premiershipclubs I watched last season.
Combination of Merson, Taylor and Ayegbeni were just class!
Derby managed to hold on unto half time. Where was this to end? I wish I
had stayed home, but I was at least able to visit a new ground so I am reaching
40 different grounds in Great Britain.
The 2nd half was much better from Derby's point of view. After just a
couple of minutes Lee Morris shot just wide on their best chance of the match.
The little Georgian, Giorgi Kinkladze, slowly started to show his quality. He
took the ball from his own half, skinned a couple of players, before a beautiful
nutmeg but his shot was just saved by Shaka Hislop. The ball fell nicely in the
feet of Lee Morris who could shoot the ball into an empty net. A little ray of
hope. If Kinkladze had scored himself would it have been one of the goals of the
season. Some of the best I’ve seen since Maradona scoring the stunner for
Argentina against England.
Kinkladze got more and more involved in the match. Another dazzling run
before he released Lee Morris who struck his shot well, but a brilliant save
from Hislop prevented two quick goals., That would have been some comeback!
Kinkladze dominated more and more. Another combination between him and
Morris set up Izale McLeod. He managed to get round the goallie but his weak
shot was saved on the goalline. Warren Barton got the rebound and when he was
trying to shoot he was 'bundled' over. The referee awarded a penalty. Still
hope, and Kinkladze scored easily. New hope. We had pegged back two goals and
there was still half an hour to go. I started to believe we could win it.
After this neither teams created anything. Then on 73 minutes Portsmouth
suddenly hit back. Another blunder from Derby on their own half where they too
easily gave away the ball. Paul Merson said thank you very much, passed
beautifully to Todorov who had no players nowhere near him, and easily scored
against an advancing Lee Grant in the Derby goal. This was game over!
Derby never threatened after this, and Portsmouth added two more goals.
First a cracking shot from Ayegbeni (yes, him again!) before Todorov also scored
a second on a rebound after a brilliant save from Lee Grant to make it a
humiliating scoreline of 6-2. It did not make things better considering their
striking genius we were so close to sign before the season. Ayegbeni is an Emile
Heskey type of player, it is just that he so much more. His pace is electric, he
shoots with both feet and is a constant threat to any defence. What a bargain he
would have been for us for 2 million quid.
Nevertheless, it was time to head home, and fortunately was the home
journey much quicker. After a change in Winchester did we get onto an intercity
train reducing travelling time by an hour. An unforgettable day was nearing its
end.