|
Club Call Hanging on the telephone
Where’s the news? Red Passion sensed that the occasion of the FA Cup 4th Round draw would be a good juncture to spent a few more k on a bit of hot soccer chat and info. So, six hours after the balls emerged out of the hat, we phoned Huddersfield and we phoned Wrexham for enlightenment and maybe just a bit of reaction. We should have known better… 0891 121635 (Huddersfield) No mention of the draw – even with a full six hours to update the service. Initially there was lots of silence and the boss Peter Jackson, who hopes to be in the Premiership next year, just saying he was ‘knackered’ after the 3rd Round QPR match. As the phone call progressed – it lasted 3 minutes 44 seconds in all – other things emerged: the defensive ‘magnificence’ of Town at Loftus Road (Jackson emphasised that the combined age of his two centre-halves was only 39), the crucial importance of the goal scored by ‘Big Chief’ Wayne Allison at QPR, and the manager’s belief that a decent FA Cup run could be the ‘icing on the cake’ of Huddersfield’s cup run. The three-and-three-quarter minutes of Terriers chit-chat also revealed that the QPR cup tie was held up for 14 minutes because of a freak hail storm (bizarre). There was also an in-depth match report and a breezy (for once) trawl through the two team line-ups. Jackson also emphasised Huddersfield’s innate desire for a glamorous big club at home (‘we need the cash,’ said Jackson, very honestly). In the end though, they got Wrexham, but you wouldn’t have known it from the phone call. And then the line went dead… 0891 121642 (Wrexham) Unbelievably this call lasted 24 (twenty-four) minutes and 43 seconds. It went through the Scunthorpe game in minute detail, then went back to the Preston game, and then, just for good measure, went through the Preston game again. We hung up before they ended up back in August – after having dissected November, October and September as well… This call saw Mr Flynn at his very best: Yes, Wrexham had earned their (undoubted) luck against Scunthorpe; No, the opposition didn’t deserve a penalty for Carey’s ‘mis-timed’ penalty-box tackle; and of course, he never comments on, or criticises, referees’ decisions. Our Leader also sounded a bit rattled in places. He wasn’t sure whether the interviewer’s christian name was ‘Les’ or ‘John’ and seemed to totally neglect the fact that Cartwright looked very much to blame for Scunthorpe’s third goal (you remember – that epic 40-yard chip-cum-lob) and that the new Wrexham no.1 had been very lucky to see a Scunthorpe ‘goal’ disallowed for ‘pushing’ and ‘hand-ball’ in the area (Cartwright in fact had seemed extremely surprised to get a free-kick awarded in his favour). After what seemed like at least four hours on the Scunthorpe game, the Clubcall people moved on to Preston away. For this game the reporter was a Liverpudlian who kept on threatening to sneeze. He also referred to his notes a little too literally; hence the length of the call as a whole. The seemingly flu-ridden broadcaster had been very impressed by Cooke (‘he never stopped working’) and wanted to credit Connolly with Wrexham’s only strike (surely it was an own goal?). He was also just a little bit economical with the truth: no mention of the HUGE defensive cock-up that led to PNE’s opening goal; and was Rush really in contention for the Man of the Match gong at Deepdale? But still, no mention of the 4th Round cup draw… Peter Davies
|
|
|