Post by Macmoish on Aug 13, 2010 14:51:38 GMT
Football League
THE CHRIS CHARLES BLOG 2
Posted on: 13.08.2010
Hello and welcome to my second blog for the Football League site.
They say a week is a long time in football, but for Bristol City fans it must seem like a lifetime.
As the Robins prepared to kick off against Millwall in the Championship last Saturday, a combination of new boss Steve Coppell and marquee signing David James had people suddenly talking of promotion.
But a 3-0 hammering by the Lions, followed by a Carling Cup exit at Southend quickly dampened the spirits and then the unthinkable happened, as Coppell quit his post after just 112 days. Still, that's 79 days more than he managed at Man City.
I'm sure Bristol City fans have been calling him a few names over the past couple of days, although Reliant Robin is possibly not one of them.
A few days earlier, City midfielder Lee Johnson was speaking about the new management team at Ashton Gate and how relieved he was dad Gary was no longer in charge.
"I love not having the pressure of being the manager's son," he admitted. "But I always knew when I had done well for him because he would give me an extra roast potato at Sunday lunch!"
If dad, who had a winning start with Peterborough, is reading this, Johnson junior might be looking at beans on toast this weekend.
Meanwhile, James and his hair settled into life outside the top tier. The keeper revealed: "Some of my team-mates aren't too happy with the barnet, but there you go. A few of them are way past growing this so I make sure I give it back!"
I'm sure Jamo's wind-ups and the departure of Coppell - once described as a "balding gnome" by a Daily Mail journalist after Nigella Lawson revealed she had a dream about the then Reading manager - are purely coincidental.
As for my lot, I was going to bask in the rare glory of seeing them topping the table but as I explained last week, my musings have a habit of becoming exercises in self-deprecation.
And so it proved on a wet Tuesday night at Loftus Road as early Championship leaders QPR reverted to type and were blown away by Port Vale in the first round of the Carling Cup.
Robbie Williams will be kicking himself that he didn't manage to persuade his new bride to spend day three of their honeymoon watching his beloved team triumph 3-1, but on this evidence he should flog his Chelsea box and get down to Vale Park asap.
Robbie's boys were good value for their win ('Take That!' screamed The Sun), while Rangers, quite simply, were minging in the rain. "I couldn't even blame the ref," groaned manager Neil Warnock afterwards.
QPR were one of six Championship clubs beaten by League 2 opposition - joining Bristol City, Nottingham Forest, Coventry, Derby and Doncaster in the hall of shame.
I've got nothing against Doncaster, but I was particularly pleased with Accrington's triumph at the Keepmoat, achieved despite Donny chairman John Ryan's battle-cry that he was "armed and ready" with a vuvuzela.
As a football-mad kid I was fascinated by Accrington's rags-to-riches story - and their cult status grew further with the famous "Accrington Stanley? Who are they?" milk adverts in the 80s.
Stanley boss John Coleman, 47, showed he's still down with the kids by revealing this week that he chooses the music they play in the dressing room.
"If we were to play a slow type of football it would be Radiohead's Creep, but if we were looking to play at a quicker tempo it would be A Punk by Vampire Weekend," he said.
It'll be interesting to see what tune he picks for Stanley's plum Carling Cup tie at Newcastle, although I've a hunch PJ & Duncan's Le's Get Ready To Rumble won't be making the shortlist.
Accrington are relative veterans in League 2 compared to Stevenage and Oxford, who both opened their campaign with creditable draws. The U's then went on to hammer Bristol Rovers 6-1 in the cup
My memories of Stevenage are quite literally clouded - it was always raining when I passed through as a child on the way to visit relatives - but it's all sunshine these days, most of it coming from manager Graham Westley's behind, according to the assistant groundsman John Ryder, who compared him to Jose Mourinho.
In League 1, promotion favourites Southampton were knocked off their perch by Peter Reid's Plymouth, to the delight of the travelling fans, one of whom was milking it for all its worth - well, he was dressed as a cow at the time. I'm not joking.
The Sun refused to mention Southampton in their match report, headlining it 'Opposition 0 Plymouth 1', because of the club's current ban on photographers from the stadium.
Saints are using their own snappers to supply newspapers and agencies on "normal commercial terms", so hats off to The Plymouth Herald who got round it by using cartoonist Chris Robinson to give his interpretation of events at St Mary's.
Moving on and goal of the week had to be John Bostock's 35-yard sizzler for Hull on his debut against Swansea. "It was one of those goals you dream of scoring as a kid," said Bostock, who's 18.
Sadly we're rather short of chants, stadium announcements and the like this week as no-one has sent me any (sniff). You know the score - email me at chris.charles@football-league.co.uk or follow me on twitter.com/chris__charles - you know it makes sense.
However, I did manage to pick up a few after trawling club forums - the best named of which was undoubtedly Yeovil's 'Ciderspace'.
First up were the Bournemouth fans who taunted Southampton with chants of "There's only one Harry Redknapp!" during their cup tie, while my fellow supporters greeted Antonio German's appearance off the bench against Barnsley with the ditty: "There's only one decent German!" (I think my Auntie Gilla might have something to say about that.)
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace marked the exciting debut of two-goal teenager Wilfried Zaha by serenading him with: "That's the way, Zaha, Zaha, we like it." during the 3-2 win over Leicester.
Alternative suggestions on Holmesdale.net included: "Knowing me, knowing you - Zaha" and "Que Zaha Zaha, he's like a Ferrari car, or maybe a Wonderbra, que Zaha, Zaha." (Not sure if that last one will catch on.)
Leeds fans have gone down the Manchester United route by turning a chant used to taunt them into their own anthem, bellowing out "We're not famous anymore!" against Derby.
And finally, after Matt Fryatt's double for Leicester in the Carling Cup, surely there's one chant just waiting to happen (if it hasn't already)…."I predict a Fryatt". I'll get my coat.
Have a good weekend one and all - and may the three points be with (most) of you.
To contact Chris with an interesting story/quote/chant to share, then email him on chris.charles@football-league.co.uk or contact him via Twitter at twitter.com/chris__charles.
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www.football-league.co.uk/page/ChrisCharlesBlog/0,,10794~2121181,00.html
THE CHRIS CHARLES BLOG 2
Posted on: 13.08.2010
Hello and welcome to my second blog for the Football League site.
They say a week is a long time in football, but for Bristol City fans it must seem like a lifetime.
As the Robins prepared to kick off against Millwall in the Championship last Saturday, a combination of new boss Steve Coppell and marquee signing David James had people suddenly talking of promotion.
But a 3-0 hammering by the Lions, followed by a Carling Cup exit at Southend quickly dampened the spirits and then the unthinkable happened, as Coppell quit his post after just 112 days. Still, that's 79 days more than he managed at Man City.
I'm sure Bristol City fans have been calling him a few names over the past couple of days, although Reliant Robin is possibly not one of them.
A few days earlier, City midfielder Lee Johnson was speaking about the new management team at Ashton Gate and how relieved he was dad Gary was no longer in charge.
"I love not having the pressure of being the manager's son," he admitted. "But I always knew when I had done well for him because he would give me an extra roast potato at Sunday lunch!"
If dad, who had a winning start with Peterborough, is reading this, Johnson junior might be looking at beans on toast this weekend.
Meanwhile, James and his hair settled into life outside the top tier. The keeper revealed: "Some of my team-mates aren't too happy with the barnet, but there you go. A few of them are way past growing this so I make sure I give it back!"
I'm sure Jamo's wind-ups and the departure of Coppell - once described as a "balding gnome" by a Daily Mail journalist after Nigella Lawson revealed she had a dream about the then Reading manager - are purely coincidental.
As for my lot, I was going to bask in the rare glory of seeing them topping the table but as I explained last week, my musings have a habit of becoming exercises in self-deprecation.
And so it proved on a wet Tuesday night at Loftus Road as early Championship leaders QPR reverted to type and were blown away by Port Vale in the first round of the Carling Cup.
Robbie Williams will be kicking himself that he didn't manage to persuade his new bride to spend day three of their honeymoon watching his beloved team triumph 3-1, but on this evidence he should flog his Chelsea box and get down to Vale Park asap.
Robbie's boys were good value for their win ('Take That!' screamed The Sun), while Rangers, quite simply, were minging in the rain. "I couldn't even blame the ref," groaned manager Neil Warnock afterwards.
QPR were one of six Championship clubs beaten by League 2 opposition - joining Bristol City, Nottingham Forest, Coventry, Derby and Doncaster in the hall of shame.
I've got nothing against Doncaster, but I was particularly pleased with Accrington's triumph at the Keepmoat, achieved despite Donny chairman John Ryan's battle-cry that he was "armed and ready" with a vuvuzela.
As a football-mad kid I was fascinated by Accrington's rags-to-riches story - and their cult status grew further with the famous "Accrington Stanley? Who are they?" milk adverts in the 80s.
Stanley boss John Coleman, 47, showed he's still down with the kids by revealing this week that he chooses the music they play in the dressing room.
"If we were to play a slow type of football it would be Radiohead's Creep, but if we were looking to play at a quicker tempo it would be A Punk by Vampire Weekend," he said.
It'll be interesting to see what tune he picks for Stanley's plum Carling Cup tie at Newcastle, although I've a hunch PJ & Duncan's Le's Get Ready To Rumble won't be making the shortlist.
Accrington are relative veterans in League 2 compared to Stevenage and Oxford, who both opened their campaign with creditable draws. The U's then went on to hammer Bristol Rovers 6-1 in the cup
My memories of Stevenage are quite literally clouded - it was always raining when I passed through as a child on the way to visit relatives - but it's all sunshine these days, most of it coming from manager Graham Westley's behind, according to the assistant groundsman John Ryder, who compared him to Jose Mourinho.
In League 1, promotion favourites Southampton were knocked off their perch by Peter Reid's Plymouth, to the delight of the travelling fans, one of whom was milking it for all its worth - well, he was dressed as a cow at the time. I'm not joking.
The Sun refused to mention Southampton in their match report, headlining it 'Opposition 0 Plymouth 1', because of the club's current ban on photographers from the stadium.
Saints are using their own snappers to supply newspapers and agencies on "normal commercial terms", so hats off to The Plymouth Herald who got round it by using cartoonist Chris Robinson to give his interpretation of events at St Mary's.
Moving on and goal of the week had to be John Bostock's 35-yard sizzler for Hull on his debut against Swansea. "It was one of those goals you dream of scoring as a kid," said Bostock, who's 18.
Sadly we're rather short of chants, stadium announcements and the like this week as no-one has sent me any (sniff). You know the score - email me at chris.charles@football-league.co.uk or follow me on twitter.com/chris__charles - you know it makes sense.
However, I did manage to pick up a few after trawling club forums - the best named of which was undoubtedly Yeovil's 'Ciderspace'.
First up were the Bournemouth fans who taunted Southampton with chants of "There's only one Harry Redknapp!" during their cup tie, while my fellow supporters greeted Antonio German's appearance off the bench against Barnsley with the ditty: "There's only one decent German!" (I think my Auntie Gilla might have something to say about that.)
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace marked the exciting debut of two-goal teenager Wilfried Zaha by serenading him with: "That's the way, Zaha, Zaha, we like it." during the 3-2 win over Leicester.
Alternative suggestions on Holmesdale.net included: "Knowing me, knowing you - Zaha" and "Que Zaha Zaha, he's like a Ferrari car, or maybe a Wonderbra, que Zaha, Zaha." (Not sure if that last one will catch on.)
Leeds fans have gone down the Manchester United route by turning a chant used to taunt them into their own anthem, bellowing out "We're not famous anymore!" against Derby.
And finally, after Matt Fryatt's double for Leicester in the Carling Cup, surely there's one chant just waiting to happen (if it hasn't already)…."I predict a Fryatt". I'll get my coat.
Have a good weekend one and all - and may the three points be with (most) of you.
To contact Chris with an interesting story/quote/chant to share, then email him on chris.charles@football-league.co.uk or contact him via Twitter at twitter.com/chris__charles.
RSS RSS SendSend BookmarkBo
www.football-league.co.uk/page/ChrisCharlesBlog/0,,10794~2121181,00.html