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SEZ LES - Is Premier League just too easy for the chosen few?
THERE'S either been a freak start to the Premier League or the run of 6-0 scorelines might go some way to dispelling the theory that it's the world's most competitive league.
Are we now seeing such a gulf in class that such scorelines are going to become fairly common-place when the top sides meet the rest?
There's talk of Premier League 1 and 2 one day but we've probably already got it within the division itself. Anyway, the Premier League's first ever 6-0 winners were... Sheffield United!
It was in the Premier League's first season and came in March 1993. On the receiving end were Tottenham Hotspur.
Scorers for United were Ian Bryson 2, Franz Carr, Brian Deane, Paul Rogers and an own goal.
And the attendance on that Tuesday evening... 16,654. So, perhaps we shouldn't grumble too much about the attendances these days.
On that subject, there have been one or two comments already about gates being down across the country. When the credit crunch began to bite last year, the warning throughout football was that the real impact would be felt this season. Wednesday dropped more than 4,000 on their opening day crowd; Rotherham just scraped above 3,000 last Saturday; there was comment at Donny because they had less than 10,000 for their first home game.
We'd better get used to it. Lower gates are becoming the norm, people uncertain about their job are tightening their belts. And that doesn't include throwing 20 quid plus at football. And it will get worse - wait until the weather turns and more cuts kick in.
One way to get the fans in is to score plenty of goals. But don't expect as many as one man saw last Saturday. Steve Thornber, Rotherham United's Head of Youth, saw the club's Youth team enjoy a 9-5 win over York City last Saturday morning and then headed off to Don Valley in the afternoon for the 6-4 win for the first team over Cheltenham. That's 24 in all! Incidentally, good news to come out of the morning game will serve as an inspiration to any young player who suffers a serious injury. Young Miller Harry Lord suffered a broken leg last season, a devastating blow for a teenager trying to make an impact.
Well, Harry's back - and netted a hat-trick in that 9-5 game.
Glance at the fixtures or the league table in the country's leading red top tabloid and you'll have a chuckle. For example, this week in the fixtures it says...Bristol Rovers v South Coast Team.
Look at the League One table and there, below Rochdale and above Leyton Orient is... South Coast Team. Yes, they refuse to name them and I'm not going to argue otherwise. The unidentified club decided at the start of this season they would ban all press photographers and would send out their own pictures from the home games. Whoever had this brainless idea, hasn't a clue. What next, ban all media and submit your own reports, Pravda style, telling of great deeds and derring-do in your latest home defeat?
There'll certainly be a first at Hollings Lane Rec, Thrybergh, on Sunday. Well, I'm on fairly secure ground in saying a World Cup Final referee hasn't reffed there before! Could be another first as well - Howard Webb might be the first ref to get clapped on to the pitch! People will find it amazing that his next appointment after refereeing the World Cup Final should be with a bunch of Sunday League footballers in a second round tie in the Rotherham Charity Cup.
But, just like footballers begin their pre-season build-up with low-key friendlies, so Howard will be glad to get back to 90 minutes running and whistling after his break as part of his preparation for a Premier League return which is scheduled for September 11.
The long-established Rotherham Charity Cup - which began in 1889 and has raised many thousands over the years for local good causes including topping 50,000 in the past 20 years alone - supplies a nice Webb anecdote.
As an up-and-coming young (24-year-old) referee, he was chosen to ref the Rotherham Charity Cup Final in 1995 - a prestige appointment for a local showpiece occasion staged on Millmoor.
As it was the 100th final, the organisers were given a watch by local jewellers Mason's (who supplied the magnificent cup back in 1889) to present to the Man of the Match in that 1995 final.
They invited then Millers manager Phil Henson to nominate the man of the match and, in all sincerity, he was so taken in by the performance of the young referee that night that he nominated Howard! He didn't get it though - Phil was asked to choose a player!
Got a view? Leave a comment below.
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Weather for Sheffield
Friday 10 February 2012
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