 The U'sual Ramblings #27Written by wessex_exile on Sunday, 12th Mar 2023 14:39 [i]The U’sual Ramblings #27[/i] arrives on the morning of Ben Garner’s debut home game as Head Coach of Colchester United Football Club. During the week Ben added a number of faces to his backroom staff, but more on that later. We face, in Stockport County, yet another a very difficult fixture in a run of what have been very difficult fixtures, and they keep coming too, with the U’s away at runaway leaders Leyton Orient next up. Although points have been a rare commodity for the last few weeks, still we maintain a reasonably healthy nine point safety margin from the dreaded non-league trapdoor, and with those below us slowly using up their games in hand. We can certainly take heart from the performance at Valley Parade, if not the result. But then again, as has been mentioned already, the three points Tom Eastman snatched from the Bantams back in August probably wasn’t deserved, just as their three points last Saturday wasn’t deserved, so maybe honours even?  [b]© Colchester United Football Club[/b] [b]The world outside U’s World[/b]
 First off, Gary Lineker is right, as a proportion of our population and based on 2012-21 data, we receive far fewer refugees seeking asylum than many other EU countries, and less than half of the total EU average. Most claiming outrage, however, have specifically picked up on his reference to Germany in the 30s, and that of course includes Suella Braverman. Yes, the same Suella Braverman who is now facing significant backlash after claiming in her Daily Mail article that there were “[i]…likely billions more eager to come here if possible[/i]â€. Take note, [b]billions[/b]. It’s worth also highlighting quite what the new bill states, including: [i]1) To stop anyone arriving in a small boat from subsequently claiming asylum; The top ten playlist for any authoritarian regime throughout history, and that of course includes the rise of Nazism in 1930s Germany, always includes an appeal to populism and nationalism, invariably focussing on the demonisation and persecution of migrants and refugees through the use of inflammatory language. Expressions like “invasionâ€, “floodâ€, “swarm†and such like are common, designed to fuel resurgence in nationalism and intolerance. Moreover, in almost every case, this is a tactic designed to distract from the much greater problems in a country. In the UK, we have rivers literally full of sh’t, a cost-of-living crisis, empty supermarket shelves, strikes breaking out across the UK, the ongoing disaster that is Brexit, rampant invasion – but what does the government want you to focus on, the arrival of desperate refugees willing to risk life and limb for the chance of a better future in the UK. More worrying, another one on all authoritarian regime playlists is control of information at home and misinformation abroad, and we see it being played out here. Under intense pressure from the government, and already under considerable fire from commentators on all sides for their apparent right-wing bias (Question Time is a very good case in point), the BBC have decided to try and silence dissenting voice Gary Lineker, and for now at least relieved him of his duties as the Match of the Day presenter. In a show of unity and solidarity the BBC probably weren’t expecting, fellow pundits Ian Wright, Alan Shearer, Alex Scott, Jermaine Jenus, Micah Richards and others have all announced they are not prepared to step in. Match of the Day commentator Steve Wilson and his colleagues have announced they too will step down from tonight’s broadcast, and managers and players from all 12 Premier League clubs involved in matches today are boycotting the programme and will not accept interview requests. Tonight, the show will be broadcast without a studio panel of pundits. Is this a BBC policy issue, or an issue of freedom of speech? Mostly the latter to be honest – Gary Lineker was using his personnel account, not the MOTD account, and this isn’t the first time he has offered his opinion of questions of ethics and morality, and not the first time he’s received a rap on the knuckles for it either. However, it is one of the first times he’s so strongly directed his moral injustice at the government and, using the BBC as their stick to beat him with, they’re having none of it. It is sadly predictable that those who hold the most unsavoury views on the downtrodden and oppressed in society demand their freedom of speech to express those views, then through cancel-culture try and silence the rights of any who would offer a dissenting voice.
 [b]Today, I’m Gary Lineker[/b] [b]U’s World[/b] In an interview on Col U TV during the week, Ben Garner stated he didn’t know Graham Stack that well, but that he came highly recommended by many (not least Karl Duguid on one of the unofficial Col U Facebook groups). Graham Stack is a bit of a legend for those that know his somewhat mercurial history, particularly his time as the no. 2 goalkeeper in Arsene Wenger’s 2003/04 title winning and undefeated Arsenal side, despite never playing a minute of league football. This Twitter thread, actually retweeted by Stack himself, is well worth a read if you want to know more.
After a long playing career, including seven appearances for the Republic of Ireland U21s, his time at Highbury, and dominated by four years at Barnet, Stack took up the goalkeeper coaching role at Cardiff City, but lost on in February when new manager Sabri Lamouchi brought in his own coaching team. I know little about his coaching credentials, but I’m sure he’ll do wonders for team spirit in the dressing room. In addition to Scott Marshall and Graham Stack, Ben Garner has also recruited Jake Marques from Crawley Town as First Team Analyst. This must be particularly galling for Crawley Town, as they’d only just signed Jake themselves (again from Charlton). All’s fair in love and war I guess, good to see us doing the poaching for once.
 [b]First Team Analyst? Think Moneyball…[/b] …and finally, and in celebration, it must he highlighted that our very own Junior Tchamadeu has been awarded the EFL Young Player of the Month award for January. Junior was ever-present in all six matches in January, scoring twice in the process, and helping gain 13 points out of a possible 18 for the U’s, very much laying the foundations for where we are now. Well done Junior, thoroughly deserved!
 [b]Cheer up son, it might never happen[/b] 😊[b] © Colchester United Football Club[/b] [b]Stat attack[/b] For those of you who are thinking, hang on, but we’ve had 53 managers prior to Ben Garner, this doesn’t add up, four caretaker managers – Steve Foley in his first spell, Steve Whitton in his first spell, Richard Hall and David Wright – weren’t in post long enough for a home fixture, and good old Ron Meades didn’t have any games at all. The best result is easy, Ted Davis’s 6-1 victory over Bath City back in September 1937, our very first game at Layer Road, followed by Mike Walker’s 4-0 victory over Preston North End in April 1986, albeit this was actually Mike’s third game in charge following successive away fixtures (both of which he drew). We’ve never really been battered on the home debut for a new manager, probably the worst result being surprisingly for George Burley in August 1994, losing 3-1 to Torquay United. Northampton Town are our most common opponent for a new manager’s home debut, appearing four times in all, with Hartlepool second with three matches. Interestingly, Stockport County are amongst a clutch of clubs who have featured twice for a new manager’s home debut, so they are set to move into equal second today. Incidentally, we lost both of those Stockport games 1-0 at Layer Road, In May 1982 under Allan Hunter, and January 1990 under Mick Mills. Let’s hope we can buck that trend today. [b]Match of the Day
 [i]Match of the Day[/i] for this blog, and the memorabilia archive random match selector goes back to December 2007, and our second season in the Championship, which obviously wasn’t going that well. Although briefly in the play-off zone back in August after our stunning 3-0 victory at Preston North End, thereafter it had been a gradual slide down the table to the very edge of the relegation zone. I therefore travelled over to Ninian Park on that windswept damp afternoon very much more in hope than expectation. To be honest, Geraint Williams had been performing heroics just keeping us still in contention for avoiding the drop for so long, and his U’s lined up that afternoon: 1….Dean Gerken Although struggling themselves in the Championship, the Bluebirds under manager Dave Jones at the time had players of the quality of, for instance, Kasper Schmeichel and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink at their disposal, so none of the estimated 350-400 travelling supporters were expecting anything but a tough ride that afternoon. We weren’t proved wrong, with the U’s penned in against a free-flowing Cardiff City for much of the first half. However, given the U’s had a habit of not conceding a hatful of goals that season, even in defeat, and the defence stuck grimly to their task for the entire first half, frustrating the Cardiff City attack at every opportunity, even if we were creating little if nothing at all up front. And then, on the stroke of half-time, a miracle happened. For once the U’s found themselves on the front foot, and as a loose ball found its way to Johnnie Jackson, he made no mistake from close-range, smashing it past Schmeichel to give the U’s an unlikely half-time lead, and send the away support ballistic in celebration.
 And that was the focus of the half-time discussion – could we continue to frustrate the Cardiff City attack, get their vociferous crowd on their backs, and sneak out of Wales having stolen three points? Sadly not. The second half started with more of the same, the U’s penned in their own half trying to stem wave after wave of attack from Cardiff City. Eventually, on 57 minutes the pressure told, with Stephen Thompson bringing the Bluebirds level at 1-1. Five minutes later it was 2-1, with Peter Whittingham getting the second for Cardiff, and our dreams of snatching something from the game turned more to how to avoid a right thumping (on and off the pitch). To be fair, for the next ten minutes or so the U’s actually raised their game, and did genuinely start giving Cardiff City a decent run for their money. Post-match, George did comment “[i]we were in with a shout at 2-1 but for the first time we didn't really have the power to come back which was very disappointing[/i]â€. That spirit was finally broken by none other than Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, scoring Cardiff’s third on 66 minutes. George shuffled his pack, replacing the tiring Duguid with Pat Baldwin, but to no avail, and a few minutes later it was four, this time from the ignominy of an Adam Virgo own goal. We were done, and subsequent substitutions bringing on Clive Platt and Danny Granville could do anything about, as the U’s slumped to their worst defeat of the season so far. [b]Cardiff City 4 (Stephen Thompson 52’; Peter Whittingham 57’; Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink 66’; Adam Virgo 70’og) Colchester United 1 (Johnnie Jackson 73’)[/b] Trudging back to the station with my coat firmly buttoned over my U’s shirt, and trying to look reasonably cheerful, the current table showed we had slipped into the relegation zone for the first time. We wouldn’t get out of it again that season and were relegated alongside Leicester City and Scunthorpe United. Cardiff City rallied somewhat following that result and finished only six points outside the play-offs. Fortunately, I can’t find a highlights reel on YouTube… [b]Up the U’s![/b] [i][b]Blog credits:[/b] Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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