Woohoo, what a turnup – Treble Winning Unitedâ„¢ 1 WFC 1.
OK so it was a draw, but we could – and possibly should – have taken all three points. Obviously Drillo’s “we going to get massacred” mind games payed off, because I don’t recall us attacking quite so much away from SP in a long time (especially at somewhere like OT). I won’t bore you with the facts of the game, other websites will do that better, but if this doesn’t kickstart our season nothing will. We seemed to have regained that verve that we don’t seem to have had since maybe even 1990 – OK, so the Mancs were missing Beckham, but they still had an excellent first 11 and besides, if they’re that good, surely they won’t miss Posh Porker that much.
As for us, the whole team played well. Even Blackwell had a good game, shocking I know (though I thought he was a little at fault for the Manc goal). Clearly, having Trond in there has improved us no end, and with luck he’ll be our lynchpin for many a year to come. Hartson had a blinder, though doubtless some muppet will bitch that he’s not scoring and we should sell him (along with bringing back JK etc), but I think the performance has shut a load of people up. And not before time too.
And as for Walid Badir, well……. come to think of it, everyone had a good game – Sully especially, Andy Roberts got stuck in, and even good old Duncan Jupp showed that he should be playing right midfield (coincidentally, did anyone else notice that as soon as Juppy came on our right side became extremely solid? Remember when KC and Wazza played in a similar sort of way and we were invincible down the right? And given that anthology can we expect to see Jupp sold for £4m?). The only thing we missed was a win. Oh well, can’t have everything.
Of course, Drillo still ain’t 100% satisfied, which is good because it means he thinks we can improve. Jesus, did we really fall that badly under JK? Indeed, one radio commentator pointed out that if Drillo thinks that we can improve on that performance then we really will be a force to reckon with in the future. Excellent. KC also hints that the lads were a bit disappointed that we didn’t win. Now, when he was Newk manager, Kevin Keegan said that there will become a time when Newk will go to Old Trafford, get a draw and come away disappointed. Maybe the same is happening here…(of course, we’ll probably lose to Cardiff now, but some things never change)
Spoke to Sam on the way back, and here’s something unpalatable – he’s still mega keen on buying up SP, claiming there’s no other sites available, which, until somebody proves to me otherwise, I still find incredibly hard to believe. Well, actually, I’m lying – there’s a site in Dartford which we can have (that’s Dartford, as in Kent. Yes, I thought so too), or Gatwick is still possible. However, he said that Gatport is “hard” to get, though I think that a campaign to get us to Gatport should be a priority no matter how hard it is (who knows, a bit of public pressure…..).
Interestingly enough, SH’s basis that we are after SP is assuming that Palace goes bust, which he believes is a huge possiblity. There are three major flaws in this argument. One, it assumes that Palace really will go bust, which may or may not happen (though given some of the stories I’ve heard, it could well happen).
Second, it assumes that Croydonians will automatically want to see us providing Palace go bust, which as I explained in “Grounds Of Complaint” is a rather dangerous assumption to make. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, would Ron Noades sell him the freehold? Don’t forget, Uncle Ron is supposedly mega pissed off that SH has sold PL to be a supermarket (which is semi-true – Safeway own PL but aren’t actually getting anywhere with the planning application, hmm….), and it is thought that he wants to sell it back to Palace.
Additionally, it’s said that SH and Uncle Ron aren’t really best of friends, and as we all know Uncle Ron can be a pretty spiteful man when he wants to be. So, is SH being rather optimistic (I use the term “optimistic” very loosely)? And isn’t this rather short-sighted of SH to assume that buying SP will solve our problems?
One thing to note about all this, which may give some cause for comfort, is that in 1991, before we sold out to SP, SH was plugging verbatim moving to QPR’s ground, which of course didn’t happen. Now, SH is making similar noises about SP, and as we all know SH is not exactly the sort of guy to go round publically with what he really intends to do. For those with longer memories, do you recall the utter mess that was happening before we left PL? You know, one day we were staying at Plough Lane, then we were going to QPR, then Fulham had made us an offer, then Beddington Lane came up etc etc? Why does this all sound familiar?
Also, isn’t the area around SP about as bad as Plough Lane was for getting stuff redeveloped? Remember the “new” Main Stand that Uncle Ron was going to build? And isn’t half of Sam’s reluctance to look for a new site based on the attitude of local councils? Methinks that SH is heading for a massive fall over SP, trouble is he’ll probably take the club down with him. Hope he realises that.
SH also mentioned that we are very likely to lose Neil Ardley and Michael Hughes. Now, Neal Ardley has gotten into a right strop recently, so looks like he’ll be off soon, but Michael Hughes reportedly withdrew from the squad after he found out that he wasn’t going to be playing, claiming a groin injury. Now, SH noted that Hughsie’s attitude has deteriorated recently, and as Man U showed, he’s not indispensable. Maybe he’s on his way? Remember, SH does not take kindly to slackers, and neither does Drillo….