‘Respect the Fans’ Campaign

Not all Evertonians were as lucky as this lot...

Back in April when the ticket allocations for the 2009 FA Cup Final between Everton and Chelsea were announced, I wrote a post about the idiocy of the FA. This was because they gave Everton and Chelsea each 25,000 tickets to the game while giving the remaining 40,000 to members of the FA’s Football Family. This, frankly, was ridiculous and unfair because it meant that some of the hardcore season ticket holders of both clubs would miss out on seeing their club in the biggest domestic cup final in world sport.

And it’s not a new thing either. For years the FA has been giving far too many tickets to its pals and forcing fans of the clubs who are actually involved in the matches at Wembley to buy tickets at extortionate prices through ticket touts, which is where many of those 40,000 tickets will have ended up. As I mentioned, I wrote about this back in April and you can find the article here, but I’ve just come across the ‘Respect the Fans‘ campaign which is well worth your attention and your support.

The Sinking Ship of Setanta Sports

Why the demise of the Irish broadcaster is evocative of the modern evolution of football.

With advertising like this, how could they fail?

While the Confederations Cup and the European Under-21 Championships are doing a good job of distracting us from wave upon wave of ridiculous transfer rumours which look destined to continue throughout the summer, it is worth noting that some actual news is still abound in the football world and shouldn’t be forgotten. I speak primarily of the demise of the Setanta Sports TV channel, who look to be on the brink of administration after failing to meet numerous payments to footballing bodies and whose allocation of broadcasting packages have reverted to the governing bodies, to be auctioned off afresh.

While never a Setanta subscriber in my days in England I nevertheless feel that it’s a shame to see them go down the pan. Not only did they provide some competition for Sky but they also ensured that ESPN were kept out of the English market, which has only been a good thing in my opinion as their coverage is awful, Americanised and excessively advert ridden. More than that though, Setanta, started by two Irish blokes in a pub, was a throwback to the ‘good old days’ of football, when it wasn’t quite so corporate. And it’s demise also suggests that to break the dominance of established success is nigh on impossible, which could be bad news for Manchester City…

A Footballing Monopoly

Roman Abramovich's favourite board-game?

As I jumped madly around the living room 25 seconds into Saturday’s FA Cup Final, screaming incoherent words down my brothers ear and the phone line that connected me to my Dad who, in Nelson, was doing something equally inexplicable as a direct result of a ball thousands of miles away connecting with a net, I had the wonderful feeling that my joy was shared by almost everyone who feels passionately about English football.

Because unless you are a Chelsea or a Liverpool fan, you probably wanted Everton to win the Cup Final. That’s because Everton and Chelsea are in many ways, precise polar opposites. Yes, both play in a blue home strip, but otherwise, Chelsea are a corporate monster buying up footballing success like stocks on Wall St. while Everton are an old-fashioned, hard working and absolutely flat-out broke sports club.

FA Cup Final: Picture Special

Time for a game of 'Spot the Chelsea Fan' (Click to enlarge)

While Chelsea may have been victorious on the pitch in the 2009 FA Cup Final, I think it was clear who won the vocal battle between the two sets of fans. The Blue half of merseyside hit London in force and throughout the game kept up an epic noise level, even after going a goal down they were still admirably roaring their team forward, and it is a shame that such superb support could not have been rewarded with a victory.

When Everton overcame United in the semi-final it was suggested that they created the best atmosphere that the new Wembley has yet seen and probably surpassed that yesterday, to the point where Setanta’s post match interview with Frank Lampard was almost drowned out by the defiant Evertonians. My correspondants at the game said before the match that it was a sea of Evertonains and that the Chelsea fans were hard to spot, and in that sense I think this photo sums it up. I can only find one Chelsea fan in there, let me know if you find more!

So here’s to Evertonains, the fans who deserved to win the cup, and the best fans in the world.

Ps. For my full match reaction, see the previous post.

FA Cup Final: Reaction

It started so well for Everton and Hibbert (right) as Saha (left) gave them an early lead, but it wasn't to be.

I’m man enough to admit that Everton didn’t do enough to win the Cup Final. It hurts me to say that, and I’m incredibly proud to be an Evertonian all the same, because after the season we’ve had, it’s miraculous that we made the final at all. We got the perfect start, but if anything that possibly cost us as it got Chelsea going from the off, whereas had we frustrated them from the off and snuck one later on, we may have hung on.

I hope that that admittance will help to show that in my following complaints about Howard Webb I’m not being bitter and making excuses for our defeat: we weren’t the best team and so we didn’t win, simple as that. No, my complaint of Howard Webb is rather that he ruined the game completely and absolutely for Tony Hibbert. Hibbert, our longest serving player, a born and bred Evertonian was playing in the biggest game of his career and fulfilling his boyhood dream, but Webb completely spoilt it for him, and I think that is tragic.

FA Cup Final: Preview

One thing's for sure, the ribbons on the Cup will be blue and white...

It’s Cup Final Day. I’ve always loved Cup final day, it always gives me a bit of a tingly feeling, even though this is only the second time that Everton have been involved in it in my twenty years of life so far. It is just so steeped in tradition, it’s the oldest competition in football, and it’s just so iconic. Winning the FA Cup is a big thing, and even though people have talked about it being devalued in recent years, that’s rubbish. The whole world will watch the Cup Final, and that means something.

I’d intended on writing a proper, full prediction for the game today, in a similar vein to my Semi-Final previews, but to be honest, I don’t think I could. I’m just so hyped up, there’s no way I could write objectively because there’s no way on today of all days, that I can suppress my massive desire for Everton to win the Cup. I was six years old last time we were in this position, and yet that still stands as my greatest footballing memory.

Microphones: A Refereeing Solution

Referee Ovrebo is surrounded by outraged Chelsea players at the final whistle.

Having watched the great Champions League semi-final 2nd leg between Chelsea and Barcelona this morning, I was pleased to see that the standard of attacking play was as high as we had hoped for, and I was gutted for Chelsea, to come so close after playing so well, only to see it all slip away at the very last second, was harsh. Worse though, was the refereeing, and both sides can feel hard done by after another shambolic refereeing performance, following on from yesterday’s game.

It is such a shame that such a good game of football will ultimately be remembered not for two great goals, not for some heroic defending from Chelsea, some persistent attacking from Barca and for the result, which is of course always remembered, but instead for the tragic refereeing that plagued it. It’s becoming an all too familiar trend, and it needs to be addressed. Fear not though, for (as Baldrick would say) I have a cunning plan…

The FA Cup Final: A Three-Way Divide

An ideal Wembley, but surely it should be filled with real fans?

The joy of seeing Everton reach the FA Cup Final for the first time in fourteen years still hasn’t worn off, but even in the face of such a great achievement, I still have to marvel at the incredible stupidity of the English FA. Seeing the ticket allocations for the Final on the 30th of May was a sobering moment, as even though I almost certainly can’t attend, marooned in New Zealand as I am, I feel it is only just that the hardcore season ticket holders of both clubs should have the privilege of watching their teams play at Wembley in the final of the world’s most prestigious domestic competition.

However, because the FA have allocated each team just 25,000 tickets each for the Final in May, that is not going to happen. Despite Wembley having a capacity of about 90,000, the FA has decided that only just over half of the supporters in the stadium should have any emotional involvement with the teams on the pitch. The others will be made up of representatives from ‘regional associations’ and basically, old pals of the bigwigs.

Everton 0-0 Manchester United; Everton win 4-2 on Penalties

FA Cup Semi-Final Reaction

I have now been awake for almost 24 hours straight. In New Zealand the semi-final kicked off at 3am on Monday morning and I could not go to bed due to nervous excitement before the match. Now I can’t go to bed because of the adrenaline coursing through my body after that dramatic win. So I will attempt to channel some of that out into this blog and give my reaction to a nerve-wracking FA Cup Semi-Final. As always, bias may sneak in because my heart is as blue as blue, but I have tried to be objective and fair. At the end of the day though, Everton are in the final and that’s what counts!!!

FA Cup Semi-Final Previews

This weekend sees the attention of the nation swivel to Wembley to witness the two FA Cup Semi-Finals of 2009. Last season’s FA Cup fixtures seemed to epitomise the phrase ‘the magic of the Cup’ and eventually Portesmouth emerged the victors in the first final I can remember that didn’t feature one of the so called ‘big four’.

This year though has seen a return to the typical dominance of the bigger clubs and the semi-finals see Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal joined by Everton, who eliminated both Liverpool and Aston Villa en route to the final and are steadily closing the gap between themselves and the ‘big four’. So we should have some really cracking semi-finals to watch this weekend, but which two sides will earn the right to return to Wembley and contest the oldest Cup final in football?