The Undertones Choose Derry City

Just brilliant :)

Independent: Derry Stood For More Than Football

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/derry-stood-for-more-than-football-1944007.html://

"Fine them, take points from them, relegate them but don't throw them out of the league. If you do, the league will be the losers. Two and a half decades on, it's once more time for the hand of friendship.
I'm biased because I greatly admire Derry and what the city and the club stand for. Now I'm hoping John Delaney feels the same way."

Frankly, from his statements over the past week or two, I think he does.

Taking Unfair Advantage

There's been plenty said by now I agree with regarding the financial situation at Derry. There was one particular issue I wanted to highlight though.

I personally know plenty of hard-working people who aren't exactly flush with cash at the minute, who have donated money over the past few months, and especially the last few weeks because they were convinced that it would help the club. In the pub a few weeks ago there was a 'lively' debate about it where I said that I wanted to know how much we owed before I'd throw good money after bad, and these fans who had been supporting Derry City since the 1960's, refused to countenance anything other than digging deep to help the team they love regardless of circumstances.

On 30th October we had a campaign for season ticket holders to leave their ticket at home for the final game of the season and pay their way in. A board member "who did not wish to be named" was quoted in the Derry Journal as saying, "I would make a public appeal for anyone with any interest in Derry City Football Club to support tonight's game, our final performance at home this year.

"I would also appeal to our loyal and commitment season ticket holders to leave their season tickets at home and purchase a ticket for the match in an effort to help the club. I would also ask those who attend to support our Programme and Half-Time Draw Committees who continue to work voluntarily in an effort to keep our club afloat." http://www.derryjournal.com/derry-sport/39PIZZA39-SIGNS-OFF.5781334.jp (Derry Journal)

Now think of all of those fans who queued up to pay because it was 'the right thing to do' and because the club had simply asked them to do so. Some gave £10, others £20, others even gave double that. And these aren't rich businessmen we're talking about, but ordinary working class people, people who'd already paid for a season ticket, and a programme, and a shirt; people who in their very enthusiasm, were among the club's best ambassadors and recruiters. People who were happy to give what they could, in the middle of a recession, weeks from Christmas, in an area with sky-high unemployment and equally high job uncertainty.

Fast forward just 5 days and we are told, "It’s thought the club’s current debts could be well in the region of £450,000, with around half of that debt owed to players and staff members."(http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/local/derry-city-not-going-to-the-wall-mcdaid-14548734.html Belfast Telegraph, among others) How the hell did anyone think that the money that came in at that last home game would make any sort of dent in the debts that we owed? The club's board relied entirely on the goodwill of those fans who put money into the club each and every week and used them to squeeze as much as they could out of them, knowing a certain hardcore fan base would always respond if asked to.

I think the fact that we were kept in the dark for so long about the scale of the situation we were in and the fact that the board continued to lie about our position to be deeply troubling, but the fact that they then continued to solicit money from those they knew would give because of their love for the club and the advantage they took from those people is utterly unforgivable. Good riddance to them.

True Blue, True to Form

Fair play Mr Darragh Farrell, who had a response to one Jacqueline Cotter's nauseating comments printed in today's Irish Independent. Jacqueline originally wrote in on Monday:

“As a true blue Manchester City supporter may I offer my sympathies to the rebel army after Cork's defeat on Sunday. Kerry are to Cork what Manchester United are to Manchester City -- a pain in the butt.

But, let's take a lead from the politicians' phrasebook and "be ready for the upturn when it comes", because it will.

Jacqueline Cotter

Skibbereen, Cork”

To which Darragh swiftly replied:

“Jacqueline Cotter from Skibbereen describes herself as a "True blue Manchester City Supporter" (Letters, September 22).

These so called soccer supporters who choose to follow foreign soccer teams are a disgrace. Jacqueline and others like her who support foreign soccer teams should cop themselves on and support their local soccer teams instead.

Jacqueline's local League of Ireland team Cork City nearly went bust this year due in no small part to dwindling attendances.

Perhaps she and others like her should behave like proper soccer fans and start supporting their local team.

Darragh Farrell

Daingean”

Now, it's not that I want to bring up the GAA supporting barstooler stereotype...

"The love that dare not speak its name"

Nice little article from Eamon Sweeney in today's Independent contrasting the passion and the excitement on display in the midweek FAI Cup quarter-finals, which saw three of the top tips for the trophy go crashing out, with the soporific Champions League ties on the same night:

"There is something deeply shallow about the affection of Irish sports fans for English soccer teams. A minority of men and women spend a lot of time and money making the journey across the water to follow their favourite teams. But I find it difficult to take seriously support for a team based on totally arbitrary criteria."

He also makes a good point when he talks about how it often seems that it's not enough for people to merely ignore the league, but that they also feel the need to deride it and sneer at it. Maybe this is down to a certain guilt or embarrassment they feel when confronted with the domestic league? It reminds me of the truckers' scene in Bill Maher's excellent Religulous: people just don't like uncomfortable reminders of their own illogicality, especially when they often know it deep down themselves- it tends to make them hit out in defence.

Click here for the full article.

Playing the Blame Game

Another week, another PR own goal at the Brandywell, with City's kneejerk reaction to one overblown headline in a local tabloid the latest in a string of recent embarrassing headlines. The item centred on comments ex-winger Paddy McCourt made to a reporter for the Derry News in which he criticised the board for not releasing midfielder Kevin Deery to pursue a move across the Channel.

The original story did little more than prompt seasoned local observers to shrug resignedly at another sensationalist story from a sensationalist rag. For context, this is a 'newspaper' that once had to run a front page apology for publishing doctored images of Pope Benedict XVI apparently holding a glass of beer and a pretzel instead of a chalice and communion. Yet instead of taking the criticism on the proverbial or making a statement defending themselves, the club took the foolhardy step of banishing the paper, it's employees, and with them the moral high-ground, to the sidelines. It's a stupid decision and it fully merits all the criticism it gets.

Come Monday, and said rag was able to run with the back page headline, “Gagged!” to describe the treatment meted out to them by the club. And just a day later Roy Greenslade was blogging about it on The Guardian website: “This is but the latest example of such bans. Others who have fallen out with their local clubs include The News (Portsmouth) and the Croydon Advertiser (Crystal Palace). Hartlepool United banned both The Northern Echo and the Hartlepool Mail for a two-month period until October last year. When will clubs learn to take the rough with the smooth?”

It should be pointed out here that this is a paper that reports fairly extensively on Derry matches and that often carries features and interviews on the team. Noone at The Times (or even the Derry Journal) have even been quivering in their boots by the quality of the writing or the editing, but with the club seemingly unwilling or incapable of carrying out basic self-promotion in the past, the decision to ban a source of regular free publicity seems an odd one, to say the least. What next, banning any paper reporting on a Derry City defeat? The Candystripes have not only shot the messenger but also themselves in the foot.

There is a suggestion that the ban could have been retaliation for the newspaper's inability to keep it's promise of sponsorship money earlier in the season but if that was the case, why take action now, when that action will only be associated in people's minds with a critical headline? Surely if a statement needed to be made that badly it should have been made at the time?

It's a childish rebuke and it smacks of a club in crisis, and one which would appear from the outside at least to find it easy apportioning blame to anyone but themselves: an official statement last week warned that, “Many will sit back and say ‘I told you so’ with a certain amount of glee-” surely a swipe at those who had previously hinted at the potential for financial trouble. It's Wizard of Oz tactics- attempting to distract and deflect attention to anywhere but the club itself.

But no, everything is just fine, nothing is wrong and for God's sake don't listen to those who say anything different. In fact, just in case you're tempted to, we'll ban them anyway. Then we won't have to hear anything bad, will we?

Bray Wanderers 0-1 Derry City

90th minute winners are part of the mythology of football. Every football fan can recall the games that went down to virtually the last kick, with the goal either coming 'at last' or else out of nowhere as the game appeared to be heading to it's prescribed conclusion. It's part of the thrill of football that goals have such a high value, making them a stronger currency than say, a rugby try, or a wicket in cricket and to score one at the very end of a game, when the opposition has no time to respond is utter joy.

Take last night for example; just as Bray and Derry seemed to be heading for a dull draw last night, just as the 'beat the traffic' brigade were vacating their seats, just as both managers will have been preparing their post-match talks, up stepped Gareth McGlynn to condemn Bray to defeat, hand the Candystripes the spoils, and change the game. It's a definitive act, a sucker blow; one moment you have a solitary point from a game, the next you might as well have won 5-0 as all three points are coming your way.

Derry haven't had the best of times at the Carlisle Grounds in recent years. As every League of Ireland fan knows, Bray Wanderers' home ground is the officially the coldest place in Ireland and the memory of April's 1-1 draw and last year's defeats here did little to warm any red and white clad supporters taking their seats last night.

I use the term 'seats' here in rather a loose way, much like many of the plastic arrangements themselves: Bray appear to have extended their welcome to their Northern rivals by having the red seats sprayed in white dust to match their colours. Anyone who managed to find a seat that wasn't already cracked or falling apart was rewarded with a layer of dirt on their clothes.

Stephen Kenny and his bench were presumably greeted with cleaner seats but it's a pretty good bet they sat just as uncomfortably, the morning papers reporting on the fact that staff at the club will receive just 25% of their wages this month in an effort to ease the club's growing financial problems. It was a poor game, in keeping with the subdued atmosphere with the ball spending much of the night getting an aeriel view of the Bray coastline and surrounding amusements.

Eddie McCallion came close to getting a rare goal in the first half when his superb long range effort crashed off the crossbar and Mark Farren followed suit just a few seconds later but while Derry had most of the ball, they struggled to create very many clear cut chances. Thankfully, McGlynn was on hand to header past Chris O'Connor just when it seemed Bray had done enough. Relief all around, with that on the faces of Kenny and his playing staff, particularly welcome. The handshakes and hugs all round were ample evidence of how much of a trial the last few weeks have been.

The win doesn't dispel the clouds that hang over the Brandywell at the moment, but the club's third league win on the trot did ensure that something positive came from the week and moves them up to third in the table. Just how important third place and its attendant financial benefits are may only be known at the season's end; it can only be hoped we aren't relying on our placing to be able to pay our players.

Bray Wanderers 0-1 Derry City pictures

Chasing the Dream

Thursday night last was a disappointing one for League of Ireland fans following St. Patrick’s Athletic’s 3-0 defeat to Steaua Bucharest in Romania. While defeat to the former European Cup winners and current 32nd ranked team in Europe was no shame, the manner of the Saints’ second half capitulation following a creditable scoreless first 45 minutes must have rankled with players and fans alike.

A frustrated John Cleese famously remarks in his 1986 film Clockwise, “It’s not the despair…I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand,” and both St. Pats and LOI fans could be forgiven for experiencing the same during the Europe League play-off game. Much of football’s allure is that, stripped of the money, the glitz, and the fanfare, 11 players take the field against 11 players regardless of any off-field chasm between the teams, and while the home side were massive favourites for the tie, the thought of being just 180 minutes away from a place in the mythical group stages of a European competition is enough to have even the most pessimistic supporter daring to dream.

Heavy favourites though Steaua might be, Irish hopes were raised by the manner in which Jeff Kenna’s side had progressed, disposing of the Maltese side Valletta and, even more impressively, Krylya Sovetov of Russia, despite being 3-0 down at one point in the second leg in Samara. Not only that, but the Inchicore outfit would play the match in Romania behind closed doors following a fans display of racist banners, sparing them the intimidating atmosphere of a typical Steaua Bucharest home game (and presumably the unfamiliar sight of 20,000 people at a football match).

No League of Ireland side has ever progressed through three rounds of European competition, and even if not every one of the fans who packed into McDowell’s pub on Thursday night was aware of that statistic, they were certainly aware of the historical achievement it would be to progress through a tie against the semi-finalists of just three years ago. Festooned with flags and pendants from previous European conquests, and adjacent to the Richmond Park pitch, the pub could accurately be described as the beating heartbeat of the Saints, and those gathered anxiously waited to see if there would be cause to nail another spoil of war to the wood behind the taps.

With anything between E1-2m at stake for the winners, as well as the massive increase in profile it was hard to escape the feeling that progress for the Saints would mean much more to the club and their league than it would for their opponents. An injection of that sort of cash would assure any Irish club’s medium term future and more romantically, the thought of seeing St. Pats playing a guaranteed five games against sides like AS Roma, Zenit St, Petersburg, Valencia and PSV Eindhoven is an impossibly seductive one.

At times it was a surreal experience. With the match inexplicably not being broadcast on Irish television, St. Pats fans and interested observers were forced to follow the game on an internet stream that grew progressively more stuttering as the evening wore on. The build up to a Damian Lynch shot on 78 minutes happened in a series of two second clips, the ball stopping in mid-pass to him and then, excruciatingly, just after the Dublin man’s low shot, leaving most of Inchicore in disbelieving suspense.

In the end the Romanians were able to move up several gears at critical moments and without an away goal it would be a miracle the like of which even this (supposed) land of saints would never have seen before were Kenna’s charges to progress on Thursday. So the dream appears to be over for another year and although it’s a matter of some debate whether Irish sides will perform as well next season as they have in the last few given anticipated cutbacks, one can only hope that at least one side manages to have that flirtation with greatness that may yet turn into a full scale relationship. Until then, we can dream.