WALES WALES

The year that was
By Mike Hughes

COLD TURKEY

The great thing about writing these things is that fanzine purchase is often dictated by factors other than the quality of the fanzine eg. whether you can get to a game; pay day; the colour (I am advised this is an issue); and so on. So, I rarely feel obliged to look back and see whether anything I’ve written was relevant, true etc. Of course, I got the Poland score wrong but that’s wrong in a good sort of way…pathetic self-justification is the right of all football fans! Anyway, I pulled out Red Pash from a year ago and read with horror my wishes for this year. Just so that you know…

WRONG END OF THE RACE

The things I got wrong were…virtually no older players got dropped; the Welsh public did come out in droves; we managed to neither win nor draw our first qualifying game; the Millennium Stadium was not renamed; 50% of all internationals were not held in Wrexham; no clear links have been established with regard to youth development and the various leagues.

THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER/WETTER

It gets worse…Gareth Owen ends the year barely a Wrexham player let alone an international; Steve Roberts has a nightmare at Under-21 level; the biggest thing to celebrate all year is a clean sheet (as my mother used to say!); 50% of rugby games (any code will do!) are being played in Wrexham, and the Millennium Stadium pitch is constantly being re-laid. 

WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG?

So, in a spirit of refreshing (I hope) honesty (and possibly stupidity) I hold my hand (I fear that one may be about to be chopped off!) up and say that, essentially, the year 2000 was a year in which I managed to get absolutely nothing right whatsoever! Now, don’t take this the wrong way but I’m actually quite glad about that. Take a look through the rest of this fanzine. It’s full of opinions. How many of them proved to be right? Don’t know, don’t care! Football, like life, is all about opinions. Most of them are from people just like me. As long as we can keep out -isms (sexism, racism etc) then if you think you can do better…then start writing; however, I’m not about to give up the ghost just yet! In the meantime, please note that my £10 on Wrexham for the play-offs at 250/1 may be the only thing I get right all year.

POSITIVE TOUCH

Now, what was I supposed to be writing about again? Ah yes! I think I’m right in saying that Wales end the year in a much healthier state than they started it. Giggs is almost a regular; Bellamy continued to impress upon his return; Eddie is back on board; Mark Hughes commands almost universal respect from the media and fans; the FAW appear to have grasped money- making as an organisational concept rather than on an individual basis(!), and we have at least stabilised in the FIFA rankings (albeit in the wrong bit!) So, predictions for 2001…Early next year I promise that this column will appear with subheadings by The Fall and Captain Beefheart; things are looking up for Wales and I will continue to write this until I get something right! Oh, and Happy Christmas and New Year to you all.