Show Some Disrespect!

Disrespect. It’s the hottest new word in the sporting dictionary. Everywhere you look, people are taking offence at some perceived breach of etiquette, like we have suddenly been transported back to the days of a gentlemanly code of conduct.   As if modern sport wasn’t pompous enough, the outbreak of the D word has ratcheted it up another level.

Everton accuse Manchester Utd of showing “disrespect” in their offer for Fellaini and Baines (translation: stick another £10m on it and they’re yours). Pardew slams Wenger for making a  “disrespectful ” bid for Cabaye on the day of a game (translation:  call me in the morning).  Rodgers says Suarez shows a “disrespectful” lack of loyalty (translation: let’s see if the scumbag has a sliver of conscience left). Already 606 callers are bandying it around too, or at least the needy ones who try to talk like pundits.

Meanwhile at the Oval, Michael Vaughan accuses England’s players of showing “disrespect” by taking a pee on the pitch after the game (no word yet from the groundsman on that, but he is understood to agree). Stuart Broad hits back by saying those comments are “disrespectful”.  Vaughan faints at this outrageous slur.  This is all part of the disturbing wider trend of sportspeople taking themselves way too seriously, talking as if the responsibility for national security rests on their shoulders, rather than grown men kicking or hitting balls. Guys!  Get over yourselves, or go off a fight a duel or something to satisfy your honour.  

Arsene and Alan meet to settle their differences. 

Pets Corner

The line between real life and spoof news grows ever more blurry. On the eve of Celtic’s return fixture against Shakhtar Karagandy, it was reported that the visitors had been refused permission to make an animal sacrifice before the game.  Apparently this is a regular part of their pre-match preparations back home (somewhere in between a bit of light limbering up, and the final few words from the coach) and had obviously helped them to a 2-0 advantage in the first leg.

I defy you to read that and not instantly picture Borat high fiving his team mates whilst wearing the mankini away strip.  And now struggle to get the image out of your mind.

Perhaps having googled ‘Glasgow football’ it was assumed that a blood soaked ritual would be well received, but they reckoned without the firm hand of UEFA. In an official statement, they said:

“Animal sacrifice is not a part of the beautiful game.”

Phew! Thanks for the clarification.  Although in certain parts of East Northants, they still beg to differ.      

A relieved goat yesterday

Premiership Transfer Window Frenzy Hits New Heights!!!

Just over a three weeks ago we exclusively reported these earth-shattering footballing stories!

Gareth Bale may or may not move to Real Madrid

Wayne Rooney may or may not move to Chelsea

Luis Suarez may or may not move to Arsenal

Cesc Fabregas may or may not move to Manchester United

Any number of other exotically named footballers may or may not move between clubs across Europe

A week later we followed this up with the following, amazing developments!

Gareth Bale may or may not move to Real Madrid.

Wayne Rooney may or may not move to Chelsea.

Luis Suarez may or may not move to Arsenal.

Cesc Fabregas may or may not move to Manchester United

Any number of other exotically named footballers may or may not move between clubs across Europe

And now, with the transfer window inexorably closing, hold onto your hats for the latest mind-boggling update!

Gareth Bale may or may not move to Real Madrid.

Wayne Rooney may or may not move to Chelsea.

Luis Suarez may or may not move to Arsenal.

Cesc Fabregas may or may not move to Manchester United

Any number of other exotically named footballers may or may not move between clubs across Europe

I hope you can stand the excitement, because I know I can't!

"C'mon Bale, piss or get off the pot!"

Desperately trying to see "The Big Picture"

I will never be able to fully express my thanks to the people who have kept the club alive.

I can put up with our reduced circumstances.

As much as I hate seeing us struggling I know there is a bigger picture.

I can just about withstand seeing my team get regularly beaten by clubs who shouldn't even feature on the Poppies radar.

I can even, with gritted teeth, put up with being surrounded by fellow whinging supporters.








I can put up with a lot.  But I'm not sure I can swallow being asked, as we were over the tannoy yesterday, to "Continue supporting the Poppies", by Dave Dunham of all people.

First Impressions of Latimer Park

I would guess that for most of the 789 in attendance, Tuesday night was their first peek at the facilities at our new home. Curiosity perhaps mingled with apprehension – just how basic would it be? I admit to being unsure how I would feel about the experience, but I began to warm to the place immediately. 

Approaching the ground, there was for the first time since Rockingham Road a sense that we were back in familiar surroundings – semi home territory at least, and people were approaching on foot rather than car being the only option. A queue snaked to the turnstile block, adjacent to a clubhouse that looked inviting, and inside there was something of a reunion atmosphere as the Poppy fraternity gathered in greater numbers than expected.

Along what I guess we’ll call the Pop Side, the little stands add character and the temporary one at the end provided a reasonable view, with space to replace it with a larger one if there is sufficient demand.  With the tents in between, the waft of cooking and spectators clutching pints it felt a bit like watching a festival cricket match – no bad thing.  Obviously a warm summer evening is a far cry from a wet night in November but it was possible to imagine how the facilities could be improved before the weather turns – a bit more cover, and maybe a walkway behind the stands before the grass gets churned up by more pairs of feet than LP is used to.

In the longer term, I wonder if anything can be usefully cannibalised from Rockingham Road, before the wrecking ball moves in. Could there be a viable covered end from the materials that make up the ‘Mark English Stand’?  Are the Cowper Street slabs reusable, or the tea huts? It would be nice if some part of RR could be transplanted – even if it is just the clock!

After the experience of the last two years, playing at grounds that though well appointed and modern never felt remotely ‘ours’, this ramshackle arena, backing onto houses not industrial units or fields, is closer in spirit to scruffy old Rockingham Road.  A few hundred spectators lining the pitch on three sides will feel like a crowd, rather than being exposed in the wide open spaces of Nene Park or Corby. This is our home for the foreseeable, and it’s ok, it’s intimate and relatively accessible. Most importantly, it’s a place to regroup and see where the future takes us.           

Poppies fans get jitters shock!

Well, two games, two defeats and it's already clear we need to be a bit cannier to get anywhere in this division.  We need the elusive formula of experienced heads and willing young legs that the better clubs at Southern League level seem to find.  And, judging by some of the reactions of our jittery supporters since Tuesday night, we need to find this formula quickly!

Never a group to over-react (!) we have had to put up with the usual Poppies supporter freak-out to a reverse.  The usual phrases have been heard, and read on our various forums - "Worse game ever", "Worse team ever".  "Going down again".  "Embarrassment", Humiliated", "Disgrace."  Those last three all featured in one particularly spiky post on Poppynet by one of our more schizophrenic supporters, and he wasn't even at the game!

I recall reading similar comments when we were pissing Conference North, reaching the fourth round of the FA Cup, and finishing in the top 6 of Conference National.  We had a fully professional squad, the majority of which are currently earning their corn quite comfortably in the Football League.  We wallowed in the success only funded by access to Imraan's bottomless company credit card, and still often squealed like flapping nancies whenever non-entities like Luton Town or Cambridge United managed to deny us 3-points!

Thankfully, calmer heads are starting to prevail.  It's a bad start to the season, but, as far as I can remember, no-one has ever gone down after two games.  Yes, we weren't very good and were beaten by a team who played an effective system.  Yes, our team is not as good as ones we can all remember.  None of us want to be in this league, or at Latimer Park particularly.

But this is the team we've got, and this is the league we're playing at.  And playing at Latimer is by far a better prospect than Nonce or Steal Parks.  Rome wasn't built in a day, but somehow, because we're Kettering Town Football Club, all too often we expect things to come to us quickly or easily.  Well, clearly they won't.  Just because the club still exists we aren't guaranteed to win every game and every league.  We're at rock bottom and any climb back up the divisions is going to take time and yes, we may even have the odd defeat mixed in there. 

And I appreciate that may come as a shock to some people.

Nervous? You bet!

I'm feeling nervous before tonight's game for the first time in years.  The past couple of seasons have been more a case of managing our decline and merely fulfilling fixtures.  Results have often been secondary to getting (up to) 11 fit men on the field of play.

Now we've reached a level where we should start fighting back.  We've got a settled ownership and management structure in place.  We're back in the Borough.  If we haven't yet hit rock bottom, I'm not sure I can get my head around what that state might be!  The fightback has to start here.

But what if it doesn't.  What if we're still not good enough?  Will the few stay-awayers who dip their toe back into Poppyland tonight find the shock of not being good anymore too distressing?  Do we have a good enough team to compete, even at this level?  Will we all manage to get parked at the ground?  Will we be looking at attendances of 150 as we suffered last year during those bitter Corby evenings?

At this stage of the season there shouldn't be many "must win" games, but I fear this will be one of them.  We may only get a single chance to convince enough of our former and floating fans to give the Poppies a go again.  And that chance is tonight.

Is it too much of a stretch to say this is our most important game since being ousted from Rockingham Road?