‘bird feed

By: Martyn | October 20th, 2009

two-face-dc-comics-20080605023632011-000 Due to being stuck in t’mine shaft with only a canary and baa baa black sheep-coloured sedimentary rock for company, I missed Saturday’s 1-1 draw with ~~Richard O’Brien’s~~ Neil Warnock’s Crystal ~~Maze~~ Palace. Therefore, my usual probing tactical analysis will be absent. However, focusing on that which I have seen, namely, the goals. For what feels like the umpteenth time already this campaign, the one we concede just had to be sloppier than Mr Trebus. Danny Butterfield was given the necessary yardage required for one to bung a breakneck ball in, and in spite of there being enough home jersey-wearers in the box to provide table service at a banquet hosted by Prince Phil and Queen Liz, Alan Lee was the only player who attempted to mimic Shamu. A paucity of responsibility and positional perception has permeated those guarding the metaphorical biscuit tin this season.
Thankfully, we partially redeemed this lackadaisicalness with a goal of our own: one worthy of sackfuls of eulogizing superlatives. Matthews, arm movement as precise as one of those guys who waves table tennis rackets to help planes park, throws somewhere between diagonally and straight to the right-veering Chopra. His clever marker-evasion is complemented by a touch of defence-panicking resourcefulness. In he plays Burke, who in turn completes the sheer beautiful systematicness by feeding the onrushing Whittingham to bury with aplomb. With cleverness that’d make MENSA members look daft, touches that put the Impressionists to shame, and ghosting that’d get Spangler and his Parapsychologist pals into their uniforms, the gentlemen involved must be applauded for providing fans with a goal worth the entrance fee alone (and from what I’ve been told, there wasn’t anything else on offer in the course of the 90 minutes tantamount to staking said sum for…)
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Alas, consecutive campaigns and their Bluebirds-Eagles contests will forever be recalled solely for incidents so unsavoury, one would be nuts to consider placing them anywhere on the menu other than the section following the main courses. You’ve all presumably seen the footage/incident first-hand, or heard what went down: so now, we go on what paths the respective sides are choosing to amble. It’s all ultimately boiling down to he-said she-said playground warfare, and while the teachers of the relevant pupils have both unsurprisingly chosen to believe the word of their own “HERE SIR”-answerer, the conclusions with repercussions come down to the headmaster. Palace are taking a risky step in backing Derry: being as the issue involves the thorny topic of racism, it’s akin to entering No Man’s Land and charging at the enemy with all guns blazing. If proven guilty, not only is the grey-haired thug’s reputation soiled, but the club’s as well. Fair play to them though I suppose; taking such a stance means they haven’t declined to sweep the issue under the carpet. However, Neil Warnock and his chairman Simon Jordan operate on the principle of twisted ethics at the best of times, so without wishing to indicate this includes publicly supporting an openly racist employee, mud tends to stick for a reason.
Equally interesting is our own club’s approach post jibe-gate. Most vocal in protestation off-pitch has been a man not involved in the incident – Jay Bothroyd – rather than the presumably duct-taped Chopra. And now, it materialises that the club are declining to take the issue any further. Is this Cardiff City semi-admitting that perhaps Chopra misinterpreted Derry’s utterances? Or alternatively, is it a moral stance: letting a despicable xenophobe persist in his own perverse modes and hoping karma has its way? One hopes (and is quite certain) that we haven’t heard the last of this melee-causer. Answers must be forthcoming, and if necessary, retributions must be cast: even if it involves a serious penalty for our star striker doing deadly damage to hopes of attaining/maintaining racial equality in the sport.
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Warren Feeney was booed upon entering the field on Saturday. I do hope these were directed at Dai Jones for letting us rely on such a useless excuse for a professional, rather than the idiot minority taking umbrage at the fact Feeney supposedly kissed a bit of cloth above his left nipple while on loan at Swansea. Who gives a toss?!
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Josh Magennis, shipped out on loan to the East coast and Grimsby, may have been Robert Kilroy-Silk-style shafted into taking the wrong option by the club. The Cod – a club perennially in quasi-crisis – not only linger near League Two’s trapdoor, but have just bundled their manager Mike Newell overboard. Presuming that it was the former-Luton managing bung-buster who sought to bring the young Ulsterman in, will the employing of a fresh face render Josh surplus to requirements? After all, yesterday’s catch of the day is never today’s. Terrible fish and sea puns aside, perhaps we’ve intentionally cast Magennis into the deep end (sorry… I couldn’t resist) in order to further his development.
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Tonight, the Bluebirds meet Coventry City in a home fixture. The Sky Blues, who’ve done more swooping this weekend than Batman on Gotham City’s criminals are the epitome of coming-or-going indecision. Of the 3 results on offer to clubs in competition, the Midlands-side have sampled one of each in their last trio of matches, most recently a defeat to Sheffield Wednesday during which even Darren Purse scored. Coleman, as always, is under pressure, and the Bluebirds can be grateful that the opposition will be without the talismanic Aron Gunnarsson. While they may trouble our defence with the penetrative chalk n’ cheese duo of Best and Morrison, gaps and general weaknesses in and amongst the defence and midfield regions (coupled with the return of the effervescent McPhail for us) means that a home win should be achievable enough. Whittingham or Burke have the potential to turn Stephen Wright inside out, while their striking option from the bench if in need of a rallying reply is Fred Eastwood. Nevertheless, Bothroyd can expect a physical battle at the hands of Elliot Ward, and Kieran Westwood is the best goalkeeper in this division (along with Wednesday’s Lee Grant).