Red Rose Football Blog (Number 47)

 

Red Rose Football Blog Edition 47

September 11th 2017

Red Rose Player of the Week

James Tarkowski; Burnley

The temptation when choosing players for an award is to go with strikers. They capture the headlines and receive all the congratulations. Success however, with the exception perhaps of a Barcelona, Real Madrid or in the glory days of Manchester United (Best, Law and Charlton et al) is based on a strong defence and for this reason my nomination this week is a centre back. Tarkowski (pictured below) is of mixed Polish/English descent and his early career was spent in the lower reaches of the Football League. A Manchester boy, he served his apprenticeship at Oldham Athletic before Brentford lured him south. Burnley paid money for him in January 2016 but he was an understudy to Mee and Keane until the latter’s sale to Everton this summer. He has grabbed the spare centre back berth with both hands and at 6’3” tall and tough as old boots, he was able to physically match the handful that is Christian Benteke and secure the points for Burnley against Crystal Palace.

Red Rose County Local Football Heroes

      Graham Alexander; Preston North End

Born in Coventry and eligible to play for Scotland, this defensive player was certainly not a one-club man. In fact by the time he arrived at Deepdale, he was pushing 30 and had already chalked up 311 league appearances at Scunthorpe United and Luton Town. That he should then go on to amass a further 372 games in two stints at Preston North End, interspersed with 154 up the road at Burnley is truly remarkable.  He was mainly a lower league player but he did manage a season in the Premier League at Turf Moor in the 2009-10 season. In fact he is the 6^th oldest goal scorer in this elite league at the age of 38 years and 67 days and was the oldest player to make his Premier League debut. It was at North End however where he was most revered. He signed at the beginning of the 2000-01 season and established himself as a right back of note, although his speciality was the dead-ball kick. In 837 football league games (3^rd highest in English football behind Peter Shilton and Tony Ford), he scored 107 goals, the vast majority being either direct free kicks or from the penalty spot. While he was at Preston, he was an integral part of the team that remained in the championship throughout his time there, initially under David Moyes, then Craig Brown, Billy Davies and Paul Simpson. He made his Scotland debut in 2002 at the age of 30, going on to gain a total of 40 caps. Ironically he left PNE in 2007 because the club was reluctant to give him a further 2 year contract because of his age. To confound them, he made a further 154 league appearances for Burnley, including 33 in their one season stay in the Premier League, memorably scoring his 100^th league goal against Arsenal from the penalty spot. He returned to Deepdale for one final throw of the dice in 2011, making 18 more appearances and being appointed temporary co-manager with David Unsworth following the sacking of Phil Brown. He announced he would retire at the end of the season, having celebrated his 40^th birthday and although he had not played for a few weeks, the new manager Graham Westley brought him on for the last 10 minutes of the final game of the season against Charlton Athletic. PNE were 2-1 down during time added on when they were awarded a free kick just outside the area. Up stepped Alexander and with the ultimate touch of his career, smashed the ball into the Charlton net to salvage a draw. It was a fitting end for this Red Rose County local hero who has of course gone on to show his worth as a manager, gaining promotion for Fleetwood Town and almost taking Scunthorpe United into the Championship last season.

Performances of the last week

Hands up if you bet on Manchester City beating Liverpool 5-0. I thought so, not a single hand in sight. At first glance, it appears to be a Premier League result which sets a marker to the rest of the field. And it may well be that the “Sky Blues” will go on and return the title to the Etihad for the first time since 2014., but once again a crucial game of football was decided by a refereeing judgement. “City” were already a goal up, Aguero having waltzed around the keeper to finish coolly, when Sadio Mane chased a through ball which had split the home defence. In trying to flick the ball over the onrushing Ederson who was forced to try to clear with his head because the ball had not quite reached the 18 yard line, Mane’s high foot made contact with the keeper’s head and the Brazilian appeared to be seriously hurt. Because of the wording of the law, it was a difficult decision for referee Jon Moss, but Mane was soon on his way to an early bath, the game being ruined as an equal contest. Manchester City are an irresistible attacking force for eleven men to defend against when they are on song. With 10 men it is virtually impossible, especially when the “Reds” have a less than water-tight back four and goalkeeper. As a result, Liverpool crashed to their worst defeat since Juergen Klopp took over nearly 2 years ago, Jesus and Sane each helping themselves to a couple of goals. Was it a sending off offence? Possibly yes (according to the rule book) but there was no intention on the part of the Senegalese to maim. It was scarcely reckless and he would have been given a torrid time by pundits like Shearer if he had given the keeper a free clearing header. If only we had a sin bin. Fifteen minutes in the cooler would have been a fair and just punishment and the game would not have suffered, but it takes an eternity for football’s governing bodies to introduce regulations which other sports quickly (and successfully) take on board. It was another 3 points for Burnley, moving into the top 7 as a result of a somewhat fortuitous 1-0 win over pointless Crystal Palace. New signing Chris Wood made it 2 out of 2, seizing on to a miss directed back pass to score within 3 minutes, but they then generally surrendered possession to a hard working but  blunt edged “Palace” side. Burnley will not worry about the 35-65 percentage possession deficit. This is the way they play, but they were reliant on centre backs Tarkowski and Mee to keep the threat posed by Christian Benteke at bay. It will be another long season for Sean Dyche’s men, but they will be delighted with their start.  

Before Saturday’s fixture, Preston North End had scored a Championship Divisional low two goals and conceded a Divisional low one goal. Nearly 13,000 fans turned up at Deepdale on Saturday to witness the 6^th game of the season and were rewarded for their patience with 1-1 draw, this time against Barnsley. “North End” are nobody’s push-over and have a formidable home record. Neutrals said it was an interesting and at times exciting game, but fans want to see goals and “PNE” are simply not delivering. Manager Alex Neil is possibly fairly content with a current 11^th spot in the table and was no doubt pleased that new signing Sean Maguire from the League of Ireland club Cork City was on target but training this week will surely concentrate on hitting the back of the net. Incidentally veteran midfield player Paul Gallagher (pictured below) made his 500^th appearance in all competitions spaced across 6 different clubs and the top 3 tiers of the English game. Only one of the 7 Red Rose County clubs in League 1 was a winner on Saturday, a rejuvenated Blackburn Rovers winning 3-0 at Rochdale. This is now three on the trot for the Ewood Park club in spite of both outstanding centre backs Mulgrew and Lenihan being out injured. The “Rovers” had far too much class and far too much ability for a struggling “Dale” side which cannot buy a win this season. Consequently they occupy a place in the bottom 4 whereas Blackburn, helped by goals from Smallwood, Antonsson and Danny Graham, have now cruised effortlessly into the top ten. It is getting better every week for Accrington Stanley. Carlisle United could have provided dangerous opposition but an inevitable opener from Billy Kee and two sublime finishes from Sean McConville gave the unusually large crowd of 2,120 plenty to cheer about, not least that “Stanley” now occupy the runners-up spot in League 2.

AFC Fylde continue to find life tough in the National League, but they are nothing if not fighters. Bromley, from the South London borough of the same name, seemed in total control, leading 2-0 after 50 minutes. The “Coasters” however refused to lie down and goals from Serhat Tasdemir and goal machine Danny Rowe gained them a well-earned point which keeps them 3 points clear of the relegation places. In the National League North, three of our five clubs were on the winning side. Pride of place goes to Salford City who toppled Brackley from top spot after a 2-0 victory. Leading scorer Jack Redshaw (pictured below), recently signed from Blackpool, scored both goals either side of the half time break and the “Ammies” are now joint top with Harrogate Town, looking extremely serious contenders for promotion. Chorley, after a shaky start have moved into the top half of the table following a third consecutive win, this time at bottom of the league North Ferriby. Jason Walker and Josh Wilson, joint leading scorers, shared the goals. It was celebration time at Curzon Ashton as they defeated FC United of Manchester 1-0, their first ever victory over their Greater Manchester rivals. The Ashton side is now in 16^th position with 12 points from 10 games, 5 points clear of “FC” who are perilously close to a bottom 3 spot.

The outstanding performance in the Northern Premier League was Lancaster City’s 2-0 win over table-toppers Shaw Lane at the Giant Axe. Goals from Craig Carney and Hannu Tam keep the “Dolly Blues” in title contention in their first season back in Tier 7 since financial problems caused them to seek administration following the disastrous 2006-07 season. To win automatic promotion, they will have to leap over Warrington Town who moved back to the top after a 4-2 victory over Yorkshire’s Farsley Celtic. A Tony Gray double and goals from Connor Hughes and Sean Williams helped the “Yellows” on their way at Cantilever Park against top six opposition. There were important wins for two of our struggling sides in the Northern Premier League 1 North. Clitheroe had made a poor start to the new term, but they managed to hang on for a 2-1 win at bottom of the table Goole AFC. Radcliffe Borough had been bottom but 2 goals from Thomas Owens helped them to their first points following a 3-2 home victory over Tadcaster Albion. Mossley defeated Prescot Cables 2-0 in an all Red Rose County fixture, stalling the Merseysiders’ charge up the table but Ramsbottom United took the plaudits, beating Trafford 3-1 to move into 2^nd place, a point behind leaders South Shields. Heavy rain in the Lancashire area played havoc with the FA Vase Preliminary Round ties but there were emphatic wins for West Didsbury & Chorlton, 6-1 winners over an outclassed AFC Blackpool from the league below and Charnock Richard who went one better, thrashing Selby Town from the Northern Counties East League 1 by a 7-1 margin. Litherland REMYCA also progressed to the next round with a surprisingly close 1-0 victory over Ashton Town, the Wigan club relegated to the Tier 11 Cheshire League at the end of last season.

Games to look forward to this week

Champions’ League games begin this week, the first of 6 fixtures in mini-leagues of 4 clubs. Our three representatives are all in action and all three ought to win. Manchester United entertain FC Basel from Switzerland on Tuesday, whilst Liverpool are at home to Spain’s Sevilla on Wednesday. On the same evening, Manchester City make the relatively short European journey to Feyenoord in Holland and all three have been drawn into groups with a low degree of difficulty. Something will have to go seriously wrong if any of them miss out on qualification for the last 16. On Thursday, Everton fly off to Atalanta, one of the less well known opponents in the Europa League. The “Toffees” have struggled so far this campaign and Lyon are in their group. A point at least will be an essential requirement for Koeman’s side from their visit to this Northern Italian club which finished 4^th last season in Seria A.

In the weekend’s Premier League fixtures, Burnley travel to Liverpool. The “Reds” will be desperate to re-float their league campaign, but Burnley will be their usual obdurate self. The first goal will be the key to the game. If the “Clarets” nick it, a tense and frustrating afternoon is in store for the Anfield faithful, but if Liverpool score first and Burnley have to chase the game, there could be goals aplenty. Another problem for the Turf Moor side is that they are without their captain and inspirational goalkeeper Tom Heaton (pictured below); possibly until the turn of the year, having dislocated a shoulder in Saturday’s game v Crystal Palace. Manchester City have no cakewalk either. An away trip to a much improved Watford, occupying the 4^th Champions’ League place as of Sunday evening, could just test the capabilities of their defence without the yet again injured Vincent Kompany, their only natural leader.  Manchester United, sharing the top spot with their city rivals, are at home to Everton in the late Sunday afternoon slot. Jose Mourinho has assembled probably the physically strongest squad in the league and they will surely be too powerful for the Goodison side.

Both Preston North End and Bolton Wanderers have away fixtures in the Championship. “North End” have the easier task at a completely mis-firing Birmingham City, but the “Wanderers” have to travel to Ipswich. Both will face sides with a wealth of managerial experience, but whereas Harry Rednapp has been unable to build upon the great escape that he engineered in May with the “Brummies”, Mick McCarthy’s “Tractormen” have made an extremely strong start to this campaign. With 3 consecutive losses behind them and only 2 points to show for their efforts so far, Bolton are in desperate trouble. Let us hope that their Board does not have the trigger-happy instincts of their counterparts at Crystal Palace, for Phil Parkinson (pictured below) worked so hard to achieve promotion last term. With the current financial position at the Macron, no-one can guarantee safety so why sack a boss who has shown that, given half a chance, he can make the most of what is a terribly difficult situation. In League 1, Blackburn Rovers appear to have the easiest task as they attempt to continue their winning run, the minnows of AFC Wimbledon providing the opposition. Bottom of the table Oldham Athletic have by far the most problematic fixture, but at least they are at home to shock leaders Shrewsbury Town. Both Blackpool (home to Oxford United) and Wigan Athletic (hosting Bristol Rovers) will have to be at their best to continue their promotion pushes whilst anything can happen when Fleetwood Town travel to meet the unpredictable Portsmouth. Bury will have to fight tooth and nail to take the points away from Plymouth Argyle at Gigg Lane and Rochdale will have to find punch up front if they are to trouble the inconsistent Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire. In League 2, Morecambe may be able to garner much needed points when they welcome Newport County and Accrington Stanley will fancy their chances of hitting top spot by overcoming 23^rd placed Chesterfield in Derbyshire. In the National League, Barrow can surely put some distance between themselves and the relegation spots by defeating the hapless Torquay United but AFC Fylde have a difficult journey down to the South Coast to take on Eastleigh.

The National League North clubs enter the FA Cup at the 2^nd Qualifying Round stage and the tastiest match-up is at Salford where York are the visitors; a real “Tale of Two Cities”. There is an all Northern Premier League meeting between two in form sides, Lancaster City from the Premier and Droylsden, now topping the League 1 North table. Finally, Ashton Athletic, the sole Tier 9 representative from the North West Counties Premier League travel across the Pennines to Bradford to meet the Tier 9 Albion Sports from the Northern Counties East League.

There are a number of Northern Premier League 1 North fixtures, the most interesting being at Mossley where the home side take on the much improved Ramsbottom United, now sitting in the runners-up position. Likewise there is a virtually full North West Counties fixture list and Bootle, desperate to make up ground on the leaders, are away to Northwich Victoria, a club which has definitely seen better days. The game of the day in Division 1 sees Litherland REMYCA welcoming Whitchurch Alport in a 3^rd v 2^nd clash.

Post Weekend Musings

I am not certain if this story has ever been authenticated and it goes back to the days when the number of the shirt stayed with the position and not with the player as it does today. Bolton Wanderers had a tough competitor called Peter Nicholson (pictured below) who made 352 league starts between 1971 and 1982, playing mainly in the number 2 shirt. He was however a manager’s dream in that he would play wherever he was asked, giving his all in every game. It is claimed that he actually started at least one Bolton game in every single outfield position; i.e. he wore every shirt from 2-11. Is that a record? I don’t honestly know and I don’t know where to begin looking for evidence, but if anyone knows of any other………….?

Way back at the start of the current millennium, Juventus paid Parma an astronomical £33 million for Gianluigi Buffon, a then world record for a goalkeeper. That “Juve” have had their money’s worth is undisputable. He may be the greatest goalkeeper who ever lived, but I wonder if we will be making a similar comment about Ederson Moraes in 2033. By that time, the Brazilian, signed by Manchester City from Benfica for a new world record £34.8 million, will be the same age as Buffon is now. If he is then still at the Etihad, he will have proved himself to be as great a “keeper” as the Italian. Now that is really a dream worth chasing.

The Red Rose County has 4 clubs involved in Europe this coming season. Here are the groups in which they are involved.

Competition	Team	Opponent 1	Opponent 2	Opponent 3
Champions’ League	Manchester City	Feyenoord	Shaktar Donetsk	Napoli
Champions’ League	Liverpool	Sevilla	Spartak Moscow	NK Maribor
Champions’ League	Manchester United	FC Basel	CSKA Moscow	Benfica
Europa League	Everton	Atalanta	Lyon	Apollon Limassol

If ever there was evidence needed that the English game is competitive from top to bottom, one only needs to start searching for clubs with a 100% record. It will not take long to compile the list because with just 4 fixtures completed in the Premier League and mainly 6 in Tiers 2, 3 and 4, there is exactly zero. Should you wish to include the 3 Divisions of the National League (Premier, 1 North and 1 South), there is not a 100% record in sight either. Competitive football is what we have in this country.

Quiz of the Week (Answers at the foot of the Blog)

1        The 1999 Champions’ League Final was rather unique in that each side had a goalkeeper as captain; Oliver Kahn and which other keeper?

2        Jim Iley (pictured as a Newcastle United player) was manager of which Red Rose County club when they were relegated into the then 3^rd Division (Tier 3) for the first time in its history in 1979?

3        Which midfielder played 84 times for Everton and gained 3 England caps, was sold to Manchester City for £12million and then to Sunderland for £10million, a club at which he is now struggling?

4        Which former player was manager of Burnley the day they survived relegation from the Football League, defeating Leyton Orient on the final day of the 1986-87 season?  

5        Which Yorkshire born defender made 42 league appearances for Preston North End in the 2016-17 season, scoring 4 goals?

6        Bolton Wanderers were sponsored in a variety of ways from 1990-2014 by which kit manufacturer which was founded and based in the town?

7        In 1999, Liverpool sold Steve McManaman (pictured) to which European Club where he won 2 Champions’ League medals?

8        Who is the manager of the Northern Ireland national side which has won its last 5 World Cup qualification games?

9        Of the 5 all-time Premier League leading goal scorers, only one has scored all of his goals for the same club, doing so between 1999 and 2007 plus one more he scored whilst on loan in 2012. Who is he?

10    Graham Jones, who holds the record for most goals scored in a season at Wigan Athletic, is now assistant head coach for which European national side, one which has already qualified for Russia 2018?

Red Rose County Non-league Club of the Week

AFC Liverpool

Back in 2007, the city of Liverpool suffered more than most from the financial meltdown which hit the western world. Employment was difficult to find and those that did were generally paid low wages. The city has always been extremely working class but take away the work and you had a large conurbation wondering where the next meal was coming from. It became an easy target for drug pushers and the crime that inevitably goes hand in hand with it. Aspects of the city immune from the credit crunch were the football clubs. With TV money becoming awash in the game and the successful players from the Red half of the city earning more per week than the total benefit being paid into a small housing estate, the cost of watching their heroes rapidly escalated to the point where the poorer folk simply could not afford a ticket. As a result busker/folk singer/social and community music festival organiser Alun Parry gathered together a group of like-minded people to form a football club which was not a rival to Anfield. It did however give those who wanted to support a city club, bearing its name and playing in an all red kit, a chance to do so at prices they could afford. Thus the infant AFC Liverpool was born but because of the lack of anything resembling a soccer stadium within the city, apart from at either end of Stanley Park, the club had to play on the Prescot Cables pitch situated in the neighbouring borough of Knowsley. Competing well in the North West Counties League 1 for three seasons, they were promoted to the Premier Division in 2011 which is where they remain. After a shaky first campaign, they have become known as a mid-table outfit, although after six games of the current season, they are sitting in a comfortable 6^th place. Three years ago they left Prescot and now ground share with Marine at Rossett Park in Crosby, this time within the Borough of Sefton. The manager is Chris Stammers (pictured), experienced at this level of the game, and he

will try hard to put pressure on the two Runcorn clubs who are threatening to run away with league. I prefer to see clubs working their way upwards, slowly but surely from the grass roots level within the football pyramid system rather than  being parachuted in at a decent level of the game without proving their worth on the pitch; usually because they have a strong committee, resources, finance….in short a solid infrastructure. But with the game in the city of Liverpool stagnant at Tier 11 because of a lack of appropriate venues, I can see that there was a need for AFC Liverpool. If only they could channel their resources into building a football ground within the city.

Quiz Answers:  1 Peter Schmeichel, 2 Blackburn Rovers, 3 Jack Rodwell, 4 Brian Miller, 5 Tom Clarke, 6 Reebok, 7 Real Madrid, 8 Michael O’Neill, 9 Thierry Henry, 10 Belgium.