Policing at QPR
As I walked away from Loftus Road last Tuesday, I was surprised at how many police were on duty.
Obviously, it was because there was a large and angry crowd with a history of violence between the two teams, it was necessary to have this sort of presence of the boys in blue.
But the crowd was 10,000 or so, the Ipswich supporters were their usual well-behaved bunch, everybody seemed to be talking to each other as they walked towards the Tube, I didn’t see anybody who was the least bit drunk and it was all rather cold. Would you really want aggro on a very cold day? Possibly, it would be a way of warming up.
So do the Met just treat all matches the same and send it everything including the kitchen sink and the cavalry, when quite frankly they should be used for something more important than a peaceful football match. Should I for instance report the police to the RSPCA for getting the horses out unnecessarily on a cold night?
The was one unsavoury incident though. The QPR supporters did slag off their club’s owner.
Ipswich at QPR
Last night was the first time this season, that I’d seen Ipswich win. I must admit I was there when they beat Coventry, but I left immediately Coventry equalised, so didn’t actually see the win. I was also at Shrewsbury, when they won in the Carling Cup, but that was on penalties.
I’d never been to Loftus Road before, but I certainly enjoyed the visit. It is a compact ground with good views tucked away behind Shepherd’s Bush. I think though now that the crowd are better behaved than they were years ago, when someone chucked a dummy hand grenade being the opposing goalkeeper. Apparently, he ran very fast.
But as supposedly one of the richest clubs in England, if not the world, the ungrateful crowd really didn’t appreciate the match, giving Flavio Briatore some typical football humour. I’ve just read Briatore’s bio on Wikipedia. I can’t be all true! Can it? Wikipedia doesn’t always get it right.
Note in the pictures, one shows the immaculate minute’s silence for someone who did a lot for QPR.
Timekeeping
There have been a lot of complaints recently about referees in football. There always have been, but some, including Alex Ferguson, have been extremely vocal lately.
We had another incident on Saturday at Ipswich. Town were leading 2-1, when four minutes were indicated by the fourth official. I was nervy about Ipswich conceding another goal to Coventry, so I judged the extra minutes on my watch.
Inevitably Coventry scored. The BBC shows it on their match report as being scored at five minutes and two seconds after the ninety minutes.
I left moaning about the referee’s timekeeping, as I felt he should have blown earlier.
But then Pablo Counago scored for Ipswich another seventy seconds later, to restore their lead.
The most extraordinary thing was that the BBC timed the match as ending just one second short of nine minutes after the ninety minutes.
I know two goals were scored, someone was booked and there was a substitution, but that surely doesn’t add up to five minutes. The only thing that you might say, is that the mini-match at the end, didn’t alter who won or the goal difference.
Surely, we should go to an independent timekeeper and a clock that everybody could see start and stop. Then there would be no arguments. Except I suspect from one high-profile manager. To be fair to both managers on Saturday; Roy Keane and Chris Coleman, they took it all with fairly good grace.
But then with Haiti in the news, football is almost irrelevant and a welcome distraction.
Italian Style
I have made comments about the sacking of Mark Hughes at Manchester City, but I’ll admit I have a sneaking admiration for his replacement, Roberto Mancini. I still don’t want to see them make the top four of the Premiership.
He has a certain style, reminiscent of Francesco da Mosta, who has made some wonderful programs for the BBC.
I’d love to know where he got the cashmere scarf in blue and white he wears. One in royal blue and white would do me for Ipswich Town.
The Internet is a mine of information. There’s one here.
Crystal Palace 3 – Ipswich 1
Selhurst Park is a dump. It looks like it’s been nicked from all sorts of places and to me sums up why as a North Londoner, you rarely venture far south of the River. Whoever’s idea it was to put the river in the centre of London had a good one, as it creates a proper barrier between what is worth seeing and what is not. Selhurst Park is definitely in the once seen, why did you bother category.
Selhurst Park
This picture shows the bad view from the visitors’ stand, but it doesn’t do justice to the old wooden seats, the cramped conditions, the bad screen and the general dereliction of most of the ground. The pitch wasn’t good either.
The football was ruined by the sending off of Jon Stead. The foul was bad, but as he’d just been upended by a Palace player I suspect, he was too angry to think about what he was doing. It was the sort of foul though, that some referees would have been lenient with.
So I left a few minutes before the end and struggled to get back to civilisation, eventually taking a bus and then a train from Penge. And that was cold, but then all trains south of the Thames seem to be much colder than those north of the river.
I’ve now woken up and found I have a splinter in my palm. From those dreaded wooden seats no doubt!
Ipswich Win in Cardiff
Phew! Two late goals, but they did it, by two to one.
Apparently, we had a bit of luck. About time to!
Delia Goes up in My Estimation
As an Ipswich supporter, I’m not a fan of Delia Smith, because of her Norwich connections.
But she did go up in my estimation on Thursday, when she was promoting her new book and talking about football in League One on Radio 5 Live. She made the statement that she’d rather go to Hartlepool than Chelsea to support Norwich. She also said she had nothing against the fans of Chelsea, but that she had to wait for an hour before she could leave because of the security surrounding Abramovich and his entourage.
If I was the Chairman of a football club and they had treated me like that, then I wouldn’t go.
A Missed Opportunity to be Miserable
I had thought about going to Middlesborough today to watch Ipswich. I’ve not been to the Riverside and I wanted to check out some local history and prove once and for all that my family is not related to Lord Byron.
Luckily I didn’t as Town lost by three goals to one.
Ipswich 1 – Crystal Palace 3
Not a lot to say about this, but they really are in a pickle this year.
It seems to have got worse since David Norris was injured at Coventry.
The Anonymous Widower 