Mixed feelings about Thorn's dismissal.

Sorry, another football blog, and my first post in a month. I really need to find more hours in the day.

Yesterday my beloved Coventry City Fc, I shall pause here to say Play Up Sky Blues, announced the departure of Andy Thorn and the start of a search for our twelfth manager in as many years since dropping through the Premier League trap door.

It was with mixed emotions I received the news from a friend of mine. He started my expressing the belief that the club we both support is a joke and I was quick to agree with him (for a full list of reasons you will need to research the history of the club starting from the day Bryan Richardson said we were going to have a punt). Of course, at this time I was still unaware that we had sacked Thorn, I was just generally agreeing with the notion of Coventry City  being a joke (PUSB) and when he dropped the news that Thorn had been dismissed I can honestly say I wasn't surprised. Many fans have been on his back from the first few games of last season and having been relegated and then starting the new season with three draws the pressure was always going to be there.

The news he had gone was not a surprise in the slightest, not even the timing of the sacking. Conventional wisdom, or common sense, or whatever you want to call it says you either sack him at the end of the season he gets you relegated or you give him a fair crack of the whip in the next season, say ten games, to show he can turn things around. Certainly, once you have decided not to sack him at the end of the season and you have given him full backing to re-build the squad, you wouldn't expect to sack him after just three games. Add to that the transfer window about to close, preventing the new manager any chance to tweak the squad. That would be the worst option of when to dismiss him.

Although not if you are the board of Coventry City FC. When we left the Premier League we kept Strachan for a similar amount of time.

Of course Tim Fisher is right in saying things aren't right, and it has been clear to the fans for a long time that Thorn has limitations as a manager. From the purely footballing side of things I am relieved he is gone, but it still doesn't stop the anger at the timing.

Then there is the issue of the fact I actually like Thorn. I am sure he is the kind of guy that I would happily drink with down my local, he seems genuine. He did a great job as a scout for Coventry City (PUSB). He was loyal, and he guided the team through the most difficult season in our history, and probably one of the more difficult seasons of any team other than Portsmouth. So I can't help but have sympathy for him. I feel somewhere along the line the club (PUSB) has let Thorn down.

Finally there is the thorny issue (pun not intended) of who will replace him. I am happy to see Shaw and Carsley in the caretaker position. They know the players and both have history with the club (OK, both being part of the team that got us relegated from the Premier League isn't a great endorsement but history is history). But I am uncomfortable with appointing somebody with no experience as a manager. We need an experienced hand.

Gary Megson was an early favourite and I had the misfortune to see his West Bromwich Albion team on a number of occasions. To Megson I say a big no. The same can be said for Alex Mcleish. Having almost done the unenviable double of relegating Birmingham City and Aston Villa in consecutive seasons I don't see any advantage.

There are two names that we have been linked with that I would be happy with, Both are unlikely, in my opinion, for different reasons.

Andy Morrell from Wrexham would be my first choice. He is young and hungry as a manager, he hsa done well in the time he has been in charge at Wrexham and he is a former player who I felt was a little unlucky to be played out of position for most of his time with the club. I can't see us approaching him for the simple reason of compensation. Coventry City (PUSB) have well documented financial problems. Whoever we hire will need to be unemployed.

The other name I have heard is Gareth Southgate. I think he is a decent manager and a good guy. He is happy to bring youth though, he was in charge at Middlesbrough when Johnson and Bate etc.. where getting games, and he is also available on a free. But of course, his wages will be higher than most and he already has a job working with the FA and as a commentator. He also doesn't know league one, his playing and managing career have pretty much exclusively been at the top level. He is unlikely to galvanise the fans- I like him but many fans don't share that opinion, and he still has a lot to prove as a manager. But I think he would do a good job,

A lot of the reason for me favouring these two is down to the lack of competition, the vast majority of other candidates are people I really wouldn't like in charge.

And that is another reason that I have mixed feelings about Thorn going, I might not have felt he was manager material but I don't think much of most of the candidates to replace him either.

Whatever happens I wish Thorn luck wherever life takes him, he is a good guy who was not quite up to a very difficult job,

And fingers crossed the CCFC board can make an inspired (or lucky) decision when appointing the new manager.

Play Up Sky Blues!!!

Just a brief not to say I haven't forgotten you, dear blog.

I have been busy on an order beyond all reason of late, starting a new job, planning a number of short children's novels and a series for slightly older young audience. I have enrolled on a Masters programme and I am thinking on a theory of communicative power and also my own moral framework taking inspiration from the king of deontology, Immanuel Kant.

So the blog, sadly, has been neglected. But it is not forgotten. I am planning a big blog about the nature of tolerance shortly, so hopefully that will get me back into the blogging groove.

Until then, sleep tight, fair blog, and await the frog-bloggers kiss.

First grey hair on me noggin...

First of all sorry it has been a while, work and family have kept me away from the keyboard. I did have a brief and irrational fear of keyboards but that was mere procrastination.

The big news since the last blog is this...I have developed the earliest sign of the years catching up on me, the first grey hair on my noggin (for those unfamiliar with this particular colloquialism it means head). The lone white beast that stands out in the deep brown fields of my chest hair is not a sign of age, instead he is a valiant warrior standing proud. And the pedantic amongst you may say that the advancing armies of silver in my beard are technically noggin hairs. To you I say, "pish and posh, you are quibbling over nothings, my good man" (pedant's of the facial hair world are always men, an indisputable fact that cannot be disputed. My personal favourite kind of indisputable fact).

But now, this past Tuesday the 3rd July in the Year 2012 on the Gregorian calender at approximately 7 of the evening clock, while sitting in my car awaiting chips and sausage from my local chippie, while glancing casually in the rear view mirror to see my delightfully youthful visage disaster struck. Upon the left hand side of the aforementioned noggin, two inches above my ear I spotted a flash of blinding light reflecting back into the mirror. Several moments of fearful examination revealed the indisputable fact that it is my first grey hair (the others don't count because they aren't on my noggin, technicalities, see...)

'Tis my 14th straight 21st birthday tomorrow and with the onset of the terrible blight that is hair fade I may have to make plans for next years birthday to be my 22nd.

Penalties...

The only thing England need to learn about taking penalties is you need a big pair of bollocks.

Compare Youngs penalty to Pirlo's? Young hit it harder and in a straighter line. Yet even as they stood to take them I knew Young would miss and Pirlo would score. Why? Because Pirlo looked confident and Young looked like he was afraid of Andy Carroll's reaction if he missed.

It is the same confidence that lets the Italians retain possession. There players aren't better than ours, but they aren't full of fear. When you are full of fear the space looks smaller and you fall deeper and deeper and create the problems that you imagine will happen. We managed to put fear into the Italians in the first 20 minutes but after Pirlo came into the game it calmed them down and we started panicking.

So come on England, everybody says you played with heart but now you need to play with bollocks as well.

Slow down, get a job...

Not much been going on, other than me starting a new full-time (spit) job, working for somebody else.

After a few years being self employed the discipline of doing what I am told is now something I am having to re-learn, but it is nice having a guaranteed pay check at the end of the week. In these times of fiscal uncertainty it is a decision I had to make for my family, who deserve security, ahead of my own interests. That isn't to say I don't intend to carry on trying to sell my creativity, it is just going to occupy less of my time for the next few months.

So I would like to apologise for the slowing down of the blog. I will be writing more regularly again soon, and maybe even on topics people want to read about. But until then I humbly beg for patience from the people who have taken the time to read my humble words.

Hodgsons Army

Sorry, but this is another football blog (albeit my first in a while).

I had the joy of watching 70 minutes of England vs France yesterday and to all those who have doubted the appointment of Hodgson as England manager I put to you this performance proves he is the right man for the job.

Before the tournament people have written England off, and with good reason. A change of manager with only two friendly matches to prepare, Rooney missing for two matches, a host of injuries including Lampard and Barry, two players with a more than reasonable claim to be in the centre of Midfield and let us not forget the existence of John Terry. Oh, how I try to forget the existence of John Terry, the ultimate embarrassment to being English.

Yet watching against the French the England team displayed something they have rarely displayed for most of the last 20 year. Heart. England have always been known as a passionate, committed team and this has made up for our technical weakness against countries which have a more cultured or tactically aware football mentality. Yet since Venables in 1996, other than a brief period under Keegan where he displayed that heart wasn't everything, we have been trying to emulate other European nations in our mentality. Keeping the ball, trying to defend one goal leads, being timid when the game is crying out for courage.

Against the French we showed an awful lot of heart and defensive discipline and organisation. Yes, we fell back into the bad habit of defending deeper and deeper when we had a lead to protect, but other than that 10 minute patch at the end of the first half we looked like a team that could defend all day. The organisation is astounding when you consider that for most of the previous 12 years we had managers who had received their footballing educations in Italy, home of defensive organisation, and we had never looked capable of defending a lead during that time. But it was the return of English heart that was the most wonderful to behold.

Let us not forget that France have now not lost for 22 games, a phenomenal run in international football, and are on form one of the best teams in world football, yet for 90 minutes we matched them and deserved our point. More than that we had several chances to take all 3 points. OK, there were a few scares, but that is something we have to expect from a team with the attacking options of France.

Nobody is yet saying that England are among the favourites for this tournament, but if England can keep showing the never-say-die trenches spirit and add just a little bit more quality going forward then we can at least look forward to leaving the tournament with our heads held high rather than leaving in ignominy and shame.

And looking forward, when Hodgson has the chance to shape his own team, things have a slightly more positive taste than they have for many years.

 Goodbye Golden Generation, hello hope.

Responsible parenting.

There are times when being a responsible parent leaves little to be desired.

While you have to admire the sheer self-centredness of people like the 19 year old who was so upset that her partner was arrested for drunk driving with her baby in the car she got stoned then drove home at midnight, forgetting her baby was strapped into his travel seat on TOP of the car. All credit to her, she noticed the baby was missing when she got home. The jubilee weekend will see pubs across the country welcoming families to join in the festivities. A small number of these families will get totally drunk and will lose forget about their children, other than maybe grabbing a couple of packets of crisps for them to keep them quiet. They will enjoy the weekend.

It was difficult to keep keep these in mind today when I found myself at a pelican crossing in torrential rain. Ever since he has been old enough to walk I have been showing him that you press the button and wait for the green man before you cross. We got caught out today in the rain. It was only a 5 minute walk to the shop so, while my son was in full rain gear including hood, cap and brolly, I was in a thin jacket and hoody. The rain, rather predictably, started when we were half way to the store. By the time we got to the crossing I was soaked, cold and miserable, and my three year old rain excitedly to press the button to cross the road.

There was not a single car in site, there hadn't been all the way up the road. Most people were too sensible to be out in the weather, or if they had ventured out they were in a pub getting drunk with their loved ones. It was sorely tempting to cross the road with him and ignore what I had taught him. It was easy to think about all the drunk families who, in all likelihood, would suffer no ill consequences from their irresponsibility, other than years from now the probability their children will be emulating them.

With these thoughts I looked at him and the temptation went away. I might be teaching him how to cross a road, but being a parent teaches me anew about responsibility everyday.

He didn't choose to come into this world, and the unwritten contract parents sign is to love, protect and nurture our children. Getting rained on is a small price to pay to help him grow up the right way.