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Things that make me go Wow parts 3 and 4

Things that make me go Wow parts 1 and 2

This will be a new feature on my blog, which should keep it being updated a bit more regular.

The reason we watch sports are to see those moments of brilliance which take our breath away, and today I have seen two. 

One occurred a couple of days ago, and one last night, If you follow me on Twitter or have me as a friend on facebook you'll probably know seeing as i've spoke about it quite a bit.

Both occurred in the NBA (playing up to the slogan "where amazing happens") and both involved Los Angeles Clippers games.

I shall start with the one that happened a few days ago, in the game between the Clippers and the Denver Nuggets.

With 4.0 seconds left in the 3rd Quarter the ball is inbounded toCorey Brewer of the Nuggets, who throws up a shot to try and beat the buzzer. The ball goes nowhere near the basket but falls perfect for Rudy fernandez who provides this moment of genius

 

The Second is last nights event, which took over Twitter, and had nearly everyone involved trending worldwide. It was a show of brute force and absolute dominance.

Over to you Blake Griffin...

Transfer Deadline Day Madness

Firstly, Welcome back, it's been a long time since I posted anything, and a lot has happened since.

Firstly, I got engaged in New York in October, I also have a new Twitter handle (@TheBoyBert) after my old account just seemingly stopped existing for some bizarre reason.

But that's enough about me, lets get on with what i want to talk about...

January 31st is usually one of the most anticipated days of the football season, since the introduction of the January Transfer window, fans across the nation have been tuning into Sky Sports News and furiously refreshing fans forums to get the latest news on who their club is signing (or in my beloved Coventry City's case - selling)

This is the day that provided us the Fernando Torres - Andy Carroll - Luis Suarez Saga, It has brought players such as Robinho and Andrei Arshavin (although that deal was completed in February due to poor weather conditions, Arsenal fans are probably wishing that the F.A didn't help them by granting them extra time these days) into the Premier League, We've had the Dimitar Berbatov to Man City United episode,  We get the "Such and such has been spotted at an airport heading to someones training ground rumours", and most famously,we've had the "Nacho Novo signs for Coventry, lets put it on the website and announce it to the BBC",

"wait whats that, we aren't signing him, oh, whats gone on here then?"

"I'm not sure but lets pretend it never happened and never talk about it again"

My Personal favourite deadline day rumour was one I made up on twitter, and informed a few people it was an experiment to see how quick it could make it on to fans forums, it was Clive Platt going to Leicester.

This was picked up by local DJ and "supposed man in the know" Stuart Linell, who tweeted it as his own rumour that he had heard from a Club insider. A few days later this even made the Coventry Telegraph who had a big interview with Clive, who obviously dismissed it as the nonsense it was.

This year however, Deadline day has a cruel, and in my opinion unfair, twist.with 36 of the 92 league clubs in the English divisions playing games tonight.

Surely this gives the other 56 an advantage to complete any late signings, as well as being in a better position to snap up any players who only become available at the last minute.

Its also surely unfair on managers who could lose players key to their plans just hours before their games this evening?

Teams that have to travel to away games are even more of a disadvantage, as they have less time to secure any deals, before having to travel to their game, and then travelling back as the deadline passes.

Sure you can argue that deals should be done by now, but players don't always become available until late on in the window, and teams playing tonight could easily miss out.

There is no need for the games top be being played tonight, They should've been scheduled for a different week, or even 24 hours later, fans could be travelling to see their team, paying good money in the process, and then seeing a patched up team as they've lost their best player, and weren't able to get their replacement signed in time for the game.

Why Sammy must stay...

Last week was a bad week for Sky Blues fans, further revelations of just how dire our financial position is.

News of taking out a mortgage against next seasons season ticket income, simply to pay the wages for June and avoid another transfer embargo is quite frankly and embarrassing situation for us to find ourselves in. Granted the wages for June would have included high earners such as King, Westwood, Carsley, Mcindoe et al, but it does raise questions about how serious the attempts to re-sign King, Westwood and Gunnarsson were (three of the better players in a squad that only finished 17th last season).

Once this news was public, it seemed obvious that clubs would begin to circle and think they could get our players on the cheap, and on Friday morning Sky Sports broke the story that Leeds were interested in Sammy Clingan, our captain, our playmaker, our set piece taker, and quite frankly our best player.

Rumours of a bid vary from a paltry £200k upto £1million, but quite frankly we can not afford to let him go, and whilst Andy Thorns suggestion that he is not for sale was good to hear, I and many others do not trust this board to do the right thing.

The have a history of incredible short-term fixes, and if Leeds do offer cash then i believe they will take it, in another attempt to cover a couple of months losses.

In his two seasons at the club, Clingan has made 62 league appearances, scoring 5 goals, all in his first season, however he was taken off Free-kick duties (where the majority of his goals came from) whilst Marlon King was at the club.

Those 62 games have seen us rack up 79 points, averaged out over a season of 46 games would see us get roughly 59 points which would have seen us placed 13th in Clingans first season here, and 16th last season, both times higher than we finished, and positions I'm sure most city fans would be happy with for the upcoming season.

Of the 62 games, we have won 19, giving Clingan a success rate of 30.6%, and drawn 21 (33.8 %).

Compare these figures to when Clingan has been out of the team either through injury, or the bizarre fact of Aidy Boothroyd seemingly preferring Michael Doyle at the start of last season, and it shows what could be in store if we were to sell...

Clingan has missed 30 league games, since signing for the club, during these 30 games we have amassed just 28 points, averaged out over a season this record would see us get 43 points. this would have seen us relegated into League one in 2009/10, or surviving by a single point last season.

When Clingan misses games our win percentage drops to just 26.7 %, and we draw just 23.3%, and any budding mathematicians should therefore see we have lost exactly half the games where we have been missing the Northern Irish international.

These figures paint a poor picture of what life would be like without Clingan, and so I beg SISU to look at the longer-term future for once, and to turn down any bids for Sammy, as if he goes i fear the club will soon follow

Gone Aidy, gone

It was a big shock, when i logged on to the BBC website this morning and upped popped a yellow flash bar informing me that Coventry City had relieve Aidy Boothroyd of his managerial duties with immediate effect.

After the initial shock i began feeling disappointed. This is after all the man who led us to our best ever star since being in this division, the man who said all the right things, and at the right time. He instilled a bit of a presence for the club, and on December 4th. we beat Middlesbrough 1-0 and were 5th in the league. Everything was going well.  Since then it has been a complete disaster.

When Boothroyd was appointed, I was initially disappointed, his long-ball reputation exceeded him, and his Colchester side had just suffered an alarming slump, not winning in their final 10 games of the previous season, going from automatic promotion contenders, to missing out on the play-offs.

His early signings did little to inspire,

Mcsheffrey, despite being a fans favourite had struggled to get into the Leeds team whilst on loan in League 1 last year.

Roy O'Donovan was released by the club a few years ago being deemed not good enough.

Richard Keogh, despite getting Carlisle's player of the season, was making a big step up.

Stephen O'Halloran joined despite not having played competitive football for 2 years

After signing these Boothroyd claimed he had been looking at them whilst at Colchester, immediately this disappointed me as Colchester were obiviously a league lower than the city.

Also coming in were highly rated Everton youngster Lukas Jutkiewicz, who excited everyone after they saw THAT goal for Motherwell last year, and Lee Carsley - who split fans down the middle, one camp saying he was too old, the other saying he was exactly what was needed, ironically Carsleys performance when fit still split the fans into those camps, the record without him in the team speaks volumes.
 
On the eve of the new season, AB brought in Clive Platt. Most fans were horrified with this signing and saw it as confirmation that Hoofroyd would be living upto the dubious moniker. 


Aidy's final signing permanent signing was the one that caused the most controversy, Marlon King. whilst there is no doubting King's quality, he hasn't exactly helped our form when in the team.

This isnt to say it's the signings fault. Mcsheffrey, Carsley, Keogh, Jutkiewicz and Platt all played their part in the early season success, whilst King has been the only highlight in the side recenty (red cards aside)

Despite the initial disappointment of Aidy being appointed, he soon won me over, speaking well, and talking a lot of sense, and showing genuine excitement to be here and passion for the job in hand.

The early season form also provided encouragement, breaking hoodoos such as Bristol City (well until last week anyway) and Ipswich, and whilst there was the tendency to go long, there was also some decent football being played too, despite what the nay-sayers are saying, and i genuinely thought we were finally making progress.

Boothroyd seemed to have eliminated the soft underbelly which he first spoke of when joining, teams were complaning about playing us, and our physicality. We seemed to be getting a bit of a "no-one likes us, we don't care mentality" and I for one was enjoying the ride, and because of this, i was initially disappointed by this mornings news.

Once the shock and worn off and my head cleared about the decision I cant say the disappointment remained as much.

One win in 16 games is enough for any manager to lose their job. Yes, I know their were restraints on the squad, and we couldn't improve in January, but if finances were that tight, then why were players such as O'Donovan signed, and if he was good enough to be signed and worth the wages, why wasnt he given a chance at any point, especially on Saturday, when Eastwood was strolling round looking ridiculoudly unbothered bb anything going on on the pitch. Who knows, maybe he'd have stuck his toe out and connected with the one Freddie watched go wide and we'd have rescued a point, as well as Aidy's job?

Okay so we'd have had to finish the game with 10 after Crainie's injury, and Clarke wouldn't have been there to clear Fryatts effort off the line, but surely he was worth a go? If not why sign him? I know he wont be on the biggest of wages, but it would've provided some slight relief on the budget.

There was also the strange decision to recall Mcindoe from his loan spell at MK Dons. He was in the shop window there, playing games, and MK would've no doubt been paying some contribution to his wages, aidy said we recalled him in order to sell him, why not make MK Dons pay his wages until a deal was sorted and then recall him? I realise there is a risk of him getting injured whilst playing, but surely there's a risk of him getting injured whilst training back with us too?

Then there is the performances, this season i have left before the end of games more times than ever before. Against Forest, I left for the casino after 60 mins after having enough, against Bristol City I lasted 35 min before going to get a beer, as i walked up to a TV after getting served, the were sticking the penalty away, I drank my beer and went to the Casino at half time.

On Saturday I was tempted to do the same, but not once did I think sacking Boothroyd was the answer, but now he's gone then maybe it was?


The next appointment will be vital. The crowds are drifting away and becoming more and more disillusioned with the clubs owners.

We need a manaager who can come in and win the fans back quickly, yet out of the list of potential candidates, I just don't see anyone who is a realistic target and could perform such a miracle.

Sport... It aint what it used to be

I grew up with the impression that the whole objective of sport was to win things, to perform to the best of your ability, Medals and glory were what you worked towards, whether it was a pre-season game, or a world cup final, fans still wanted their teams to win, to be the best, to be honoured.

Quite possibly the only sport in the world where success is punished, through a multitude of ways, and failure is rewarded, is Speedway.
Firstly teams that do well are usually torn apart at the end of the season due to the average system. The averages system is designed to ensure all teams have an equal chance at the start of the season, rather than the richest teams having all the best riders, and the poorest teams having the worst. All good in theory... Except the richest teams are still usually fighting it out for success.

The problem is speedway is that continued the points average limit for team building has consistently lowered, therefore weakening not only the successful teams, but the product as a whole. 

By building to the lowest common denominator every year it has driven fans away who aren't prepared to be spending the same amount of money, or more, on a weaker product. I understand that promoters are trying to cut costs in order to keep the clubs afloat, but have gone about it in the wrong way. Reducing the number of meetings or heats in a meeting would cut costs.

But it's not just on a team level where success is punished. Riders that have a bad season are more attractive next season, due to their lower averages, than riders who performed above their ability.  These riders, because of being more in demand can then push their wage demands up, and ride for the highest bidder, invariably the richer clubs, who then get riders who everyone knows can perform better than last season, and therefore the richer clubs go on to be successful again.

In every sport there are going to be winners and losers, clubs should be doing all they can to become winners, not drag the losers down. Look at the NBA for example.

Last week it was the trade deadline, and my team, the New York Knicks, traded away players who had played a key role in the season so far, and 2 others who hadnt performed much, in order to get one superstar, a former all star heading towards the end of his career, 3 players who aren't expected to feature much and one who has already been released.

They did this in the hope that the superstar, and his aging buddy can become key piece's in a team that will challenge for the title.

Not to be outdone, local rivals New Jersey Nets (who are incidentally playing in London tomorrow and Saturday), the team with the worst record in the league traded away 2 players, one of which was the number 3 pick in this years draft, for one of the best players in their division, as a way to improve and challenge for the play-offs, if they reach the play-offs then they can build further as they will be more enticing to free agents.

By making a play for top caliber players it has built up excitement around both teams, brought fans back to the arenas, meaning tickets can be sold at a higher price, meaning more income for the teams.

Maybe, just maybe it would be worth British speedway teams trying to improve their product in a similar way in order to get the fans back, create a buzz about the sport, and then go from strength to strength