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Green gauges

Many Irish fans seem to think Mick McCarthy's squad did pretty well to reach the last 16. Paul Doyle says they should have higher standards

The Japanese World Cup organising committee voted Ireland’s fans the best of the tournament, and yes, the Green Army spread the word craic with great gusto. But were all Irish supporters a “credit to their nation”? What, for example, are we to make of the 100,000 who gathered with giddy delight in Dublin’s Phoenix Park to greet Mick McCarthy’s “heroes” on their return home? What were these strange folks saying about their country’s ambitions? Perhaps it was something like: “Anything above naked humilation will do for us.”

The wanna bes? – Division Two

WSC readers and fanzine editors weight up the coming season

BLACKPOOL

David Blundell

How will your team do this season? Had Gary Megson stayed as manager I would have tipped us for automatic promotion, but with the unwelcome changes in the summer I would say a play-off place would be a very good result for the new man, Nigel Worthington.

Who is going to be the most important figure at the club this season? Fans would have preferred a diehard Tangerine at the helm, so Nigel Worthington must convince them that he has the club at heart and is not, like Megson, simply looking for another entry on his CV.

If you had to come up with a new piece of merchandise to sell at the club shop what would it be? Our proposed ‘super stadium’ has gone through more changes (over a number of years) than Man United kits, with movable roofs, dual pitches, floating pitches, 20,000 seats, 40,000 seats etc,etc. There could be small replicas of each version for fans to collect, but they’d need a huge amount of shelf space.

Which element of the matchday environment would you most like to change? Any change to the half time entertainment would be welcome – I remember a recent Autoglass Trophy tie when two fans from each side had to remove and replace a car windscreen. Worse, a couple of seasons ago, we bought four of the giants from It’s A Knockout, which would race the full length of the pitch and try to score a goal. The hilarity began to pale thirtieth time around. Thankfully someone broke into the ground and reputedly vandalised them beyond repair, although I am convinced one of them has made occasional appearances for Birmingham City.