Jeffrey Prest reflects on his day out at the football roadshow
“Anyone who’s coming will be here by now,” said a voice behind me. “It’s all over bar the shouting.” It was late on the final day of the BBC Match of the Day Live exhibition and the owner of the voice was either flogging classic football shirts or clichés of a similar ilk. Rest assured, he was selling something.
With huge numbers of fans travelling to France without any hope of getting a ticket, the process is clearly favouring the rich and famous. Without a system change, the streets of Paris could be full of angry fans from all nations. A recipe for disaster?
You'll remember the advert broadcast before the England v Chile friendly in March. After running down a list of the qualities to be found in the England squad, the narration ended in a sneering challenge: “Come on Chile, the boys are waiting.” It could just as easily have been an invitation to a fight as a football match. As a symbol of arrogance headed for a fall (you’ll recall the result too), it was a neat example of how the build-up to this World Cup has gone.
Wednesday 1 The start of Real Madrid's Champions League semi with Borussia Dortmund is held up for seventy-five minutes after one of the goalposts is damaged by Real fans jumping on the adjacent perimeter fencing. Dortmund lose the match 2-0 but may lodge an official complaint with UEFA that could lead to the tie being replayed. In the other game, Juventus beat Monaco 4-1.
Thursday 2 Chelsea are lucky to escape with a 1-0 defeat at Vicenza in the first leg of their Cup-Winners Cup semi final. "We can blame a bit of tiredness. You are never at your best five days after a cup final," says Gianluca loftily. Wembley Stadium has been bought by the English National Stadium Trust backed by the FA. Rebuilding work will start after the 1999 FA Cup Final and might even include proper toilets.
Dear WSC
Richard Darn’s status as WSC’s “Barnsley correspondent” should be thrown into disrepute after his disgraceful defence of Gary Willard. Comments along the lines of “referees are honest men doing a tough job” are Brooking-esque in their blandness and naivety. The question Darn fails to ask is: why do these “innocent errors” never happen to Man Utd at Old Trafford or, indeed, any big club facing small fry on their home turf? Furthermore, why did Willard not err on the side of caution (play it safe with a yellow card if in doubt rather than red) instead of his reckless, irresponsible attitude of “send him off and sod the consequences”. Darn is probably correct to scoff at “conspiracy theories” but he should at least acknowledge the possibility of unconscious bias towards big clubs by referees who are fearful that they may lose their jobs if they upset the FA hierarchy by penalising their golden boys or favouring the inconvenient small clubs who belong in the Nationwide. I don’t believe Gary Willard is corrupt but I do believe he lost the plot on March 28th because he knew Big Brother was watching him.
Jon Harrison, York
Dear WSC
Villa Park, Tuesday March 17th. Villa v Atletico Madrid, UEFA Cup quarter final 2nd leg. After half an hour, Bosnich lies down behind a couple of defenders and Caminero makes it 2-0 on aggregate. The new electronic scoreboards stop urging us to get behind the team, and instead inform us that home shirts are now available in the club shop at 50 per cent off… Dark, dark humour indeed.
Bruce Smith, via email