Popular Post Lord Snooty Posted August 21, 2017 Popular Post Share Posted August 21, 2017 Yes, yes, I know it's a fraction early. Better being 5 minutes early than an hour late though. As anyone foolish enough to have backed Growl in the 3:15 at Rippon will tell you... BOLTON - V - THE WEDNESDAY League Cup So for tonight we travel to... Bolton in the league cup. "....a landskip of long streets , tall chimneys and rubbish dumps .."John Betjeman(c) Still, you make of it what you can. Football is mainly about what's in your brain anyway. Which might explain the content of much of this site..... But really, honestly it's as much fun as we want it to be. People think it's only the second round of a nothing cup. But memories are made of all games, not just the fancy ones. Believe me. You'll remember losing 5-1 at Stevenage as much as you'll remember losing 5-1 to Manchester United! Yes, I know the domestic cups are scoffed at by some. And there's a generation of kids for who it's got no meaning whatsoever. Not helped of course by teams not taking it seriously , the actual draws this year taking farce to a whole new level and it being named something that sounds like a tropical disease. Nevertheless, I have a soft spot for The Peoples Cup , a phrase more recently commandeered by the FA in their re-branding of the FA Cup in an attempt to try and bring back some of the magic.But it was a title originally linked to the magnificent three handled piece of domestic silverware that we won in 1991. The League Cup competition was established at a time when match day attendances were dwindling. The league had lost 1 million spectators compared to the previous season in the year this cup started. (Though in the days before electronic scanners and such you do wonder how accurate the figures are. I remember a game when I was was a lad. There wasn't a square inch free in the ground. I remember being surprised when the Official attendance was a given as 56 and more surprised still to see the turnstile operator gliding off home at 3:15 in a Bentley S3 Continental ) Anyway... It was a time when tensions between the Football League and the Football Association were high. The biggest disagreement was how revenue was shared between the clubs. Sound familiar? Nothing changes, does it! The original idea for the Cup came from Stanley Rous (an man who did a huge amount for the game, but had, in his early years a moustache that was an affront to man and God!. Probably harked back to his days as a referee) However in 1961 Rous was to became the head of FIFA and it was Football League Secretary Alan Hardaker (whose name is given to the man of the match trophy for the final ) who really pushed it through. During the late 1950s, the majority of senior English clubs equipped their grounds with floodlights. This opened up the opportunity to exploit weekday evenings throughout the winter and earn the clubs a few more bob. The League Cup was introduced in the 1960–61 season specifically as a mid-week floodlit tournament. However, the new founded League Cup was criticised by the better-endowed clubs. (Stop sniggering at the back!) The Times'correspondent at the time felt that the League Cup was a step in the wrong direction; the European Cup had been formed five years prior to the League Cup and the correspondent felt an additional domestic competition was a backward step for English football The Times published on 30 May 1960:"Where a drastic reduction is required in an attempt to raise quality, no doubt quantity and a further spread of mediocrity will be the dose. Where men like Count Bernabeu with his wider horizons, think in terms of a European-league for the future in which a lead could surely now be given jointly by our leaders, the Football League propose next season to implement their useless Football League Cup to be played in midweek. It gets the players, the clubs and the public nowhere." So, more games , less quality was the argument against. And he might have made a valid point there 57 years ago that still stands! And that talk of a European League which is surely still being talked about now by Europe's Goliaths.... a journalist with a bit of knowledge. Whatever next... Sixteen clubs opposed the competition's creation, thirty-one approved it. Attendances were averaged around the 10,000 mark. Simply put...The big clubs didn't take it seriously. As witnessed by the fact that Rochdale and our neighbours Toytown were among early finalists. Hardaker though was a hard-headed type. Oh yes. He was determined that people would take the cup seriously and so he went to UEFA and told them that he wanted the league cup winners to get a place in one of their European Competitions. UEFA said "non!" So he threatened to pull English Clubs out of European competition! They had to take his threat seriously too, because he'd done it before ,trying to stop Chelsea taking part in the 1955 European Cup warning them there'd be "Too many wogs and Dagoes" . An unscrupulous and lazy lot. This, from a chap who was sacked by his own father as a young man in the family haulage firm, for playing Dominoes for money when he should have been working! Whether the clubs knew he had threatened to pull them out was a different matter. However , whether they knew or not, it did the trick. UEFA granted the winners a place in the fairs Cup (To put this in context for you younger fellows ,after lots of f*cking about this was the forerunner of the Europa League). UEFA stuck their own caveat in during the negotiations though. The place in the European competition would only be applicable if ........................a First Division team won the cup! Quite frankly didn't want risk Barcelona, Roma et al having to face the prospect of a midweek trip to Spotland or Millmoor that would make todays "rainy night in Stoke" seem like a stroll in the park. Poor old QPR and Swindon Town who won in it in 67 and 69 respectively .They didn't get to play the European big boys! Hardaker also got the finals moved to Wembley. Suddenly with the chance of a Wembley final and a place in Europe all the big knobs who had previously knocked it back all started entering the competition. All except Manchester United who didnt play in it until 1968. Everton pulled out in 1970 so they could concentrate on the European Cup. Having the Champions not enter angered Hardaker and he made playing in it compulsory for all teams the year after. You see, I told you he was a keen fecker! And so, with tickets often cheaper than league games and easier to get hold of than for the FA Cup, numbers grew. The cup was accepted and became known as the peoples cup...like I say, until the FA stole the phrase for their own cup the other year. Thinking no one would remember where it was first used. Well I remember you b'stards! And now everyone that has read this knows too, so it doesn't matter if you have me taken out, Dyke! You can send your assassins round to finish me off. I care not one jot. Not now, because a legion of Owlstalkers know the truth and will keep it alive! What are you going to do. Kill all of us?! Sorry. Bit distracted . Where was I? Oh yes. So the competition grew stronger and stronger. The scousers won it most and loved their trips to Europe. But then one day they played in a dilapidated old stadium, they charged some Italians, there was some fighting and 39 people died. Though it's a bit of a landmine topic so we'll skip ahead. ... ...the knobs who were fighting got English Clubs banned from Europe fully and partially for 10 years. Wednesday would have been in Europe in '86 and 91. And what would Europe have made of having of Fash the Bash ,Vinnie Jones and the rest of the Wimbledon brutes in the Cup winners cup?! Yes, this competition has a spot in my heart. Not least since we lifted the fine old trophy in 1991! And whilst it's extra fixtures are seen as a pain in the arris, ruining our clubs chances in Europe and no doubt will at some stage be blamed for our failure to secure at second World Cup win. I still have time for it. And lest we forget the Cup itself, a magnificent piece of silverware! It's not a cheap looking piece of glitzy looking tat like the Premier League trophy. Oh no! Its a classic three handled beauty, crafted in a timeless Georgian style. It is, quite simply, a masterpiece. And it would be, for It was made by Mappin & Webb Whose origins, I'm sure you all know, or bloody well should, trace back to 1775, when Jonathan Mappin opened his silversmith workshop in Sheffield. As late as 1998 the cup was still being repaired for and restored in Sheffield every year in a small shop at the junction of Woodseats and Abbeydale Road. This cup is intrinsically linked to this town and I for one don't go along with all this "sticking the kids in" routine. Lord, no! I want us puttint a good stront side out , a side giving it all to get a result. Getting to Wembley and bringing my cup home!! So now you know, don't let me catch anyone giving it the old Mickey Mouse bit, or there will be trouble! Which all brings us, in a round about way , to Bolton tonight! They will be putting the kids in ( if they have any) as they have a game on friday. On the other hand. The company thst owns a third of their shares has just gone under. They might need needs cup run. Who knows? Will former Owl Gary Madine play? That's Madine by the way. "Ma- dine" .As in in 'come dine with me'. Poor fecker. No one ever calling him by his proper name. I think it must be one of the great feelings to hear your name chanted by a thronging KOP. But it must take a bit of the edge off it a bit if they pronounce your name wrong. Still. ..it had to be mis-sung it for it to rhyme. Gary Maddeeen Goal machine I suppose we could have sung his name correctly and put the internation on the second word to fit. Gary mah- dine Goal ma- shiiiiiiiiiiiiiine But that starts to sound a bit Oasis to me and I've always thought the Gallagher boy a bit of an oaf. So yes. Old Gary. Stuck with Mad-eeeen. Correct decision arrived at, if not correct pronunciation. Of course there's more to Bolton than Gary Madine. Chubby comedian Peter Kay . Fred Dibner of chimney climbing fame . Glass jawed boxer Amir Khan and of course TV host and sex-text-pest ,Vernon Kay. (6"4) Of course, Vernon looks taller than he is because of the cut of his suits. But I'm willing to wager that at the height of his fame, Mathew Kelly of Game for a Laugh and one time chum of dead TV trickster Jeremy Beadle was taller. I dont doubt it would be close. But I think Kellys beard made his neck look shorter. I reckon he nicks it. He's got to be 6"5 minimum. 6"7 at his 1980's peak. Anyway.... Must dash, Daisy is here with my drink. CHIN CHIN! COME ON WEDNESDAY 3 4 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauli Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 (edited) First! Edited August 21, 2017 by pauli 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleeder Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Crikey... you're quick off the mark. Nice one! 2-0 Us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
33 Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Wow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PopePiusX Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Who made John Betjeman captain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauli Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 You did, your Popefullness. You did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauli Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Late night mods being idle tarts again. Pin the OMDT you fuckpedals! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronio Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Nice one Snoots. Hope we get a decent cup run this year. COME ON WEDNESDAY!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ash60s Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 M'lord u did good again! I'll take a 2-1 win for us and into the hat for next round Trot on Bolton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauli Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 It could be incredible. Just you, a cup and a slowly vibrating Gary Madine... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PopePiusX Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Come friendly bombs and fall on Bolton It isn't fit for humans now Neither was it before really Bolton tho 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offalyowl Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Give some fringe players and youngsters a run when we are beating them 3 nil at half time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weshallovercome Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 Well done m'lord, very informative, a top effort........doffed caps and tugged forelocks abound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Sl-OWL-ly Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 Sorry Sire but I was starting to nod about half way through so skipped to the bottom.. The WEDNESDAY boys to win!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal M Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 1 hour ago, pauli said: Late night mods being idle tarts again. Pin the OMDT you fuckpedals! We pin when we like. I move a lot of concrete on the QVC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmowl Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 Superb stuff Snoots. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanikowskiSWFC Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 Well done, m'lord. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trumbullowl Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 Brilliant OMDT, really the best. Brought back memories of watching the Don Rogers final. Well done Alan H! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlandished Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 Why's Daisy Duke only got one of her jugs out on her tray? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank_Lucas Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 Far too early for all that, you certainly do like an essay or two snoots one-day I promise to finish one of your fine articles. Wednesday win 4-0 with big Dave playing up front. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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