Last night Liverpool and Chelsea played out a draw in the Champions League as a late own goal handed Avram Grant and his blue boys a lifeline. There has surely never been so much unrest at both clubs going into a European semi-final and so much uncertainty with the fans. Liverpool are being ripped apart by Hicks and Gillett while Chelsea are “underachieving” under Grant.
It’s a shame to see the focus so much off the actual game and so much on the terraces as we saw George Gillet, Tom Hicks, Rick Parry and Grant all squirming in their seats. Meanwhile, a few miles south and something far less publicised last night was going on that really is threatening a football club.
Wrexham’s 2-0 defeat at Hereford ended their 87 year existence in the football league and condemned them to non-league football. The welsh side have never really recovered from the ten point deduction that cruelly robbed them of a League One place a couple of seasons ago and it’s been downhill ever since then.
Brian Little is one of the better managers and football people out there and it remains to be seen as to whether he’ll stick with the club. It’s a shame to see that he couldn’t manage to turn things around at the Dragons and I’m sure their fans will be hoping he hangs on and gives non league a go.
Relegation could be a financial nightmare for them and you have to have a heart of stone to not feel sorry for the sides dropping out of the league at this stage of the season. Boston United’s plight meant that they couldn’t even start in the conference and were dropped down two leagues into the abyss and there are a million other stories that go unnoticed to the average fan of a top flight side.
So Liverpool and Chelsea fans out there take a look down a few leagues (yes, a league called League Two really does exist!) and then compare your problems to Wrexham fans. Maybe then you will appreciate that you’re actually in not too bad a state!
It’s a shame to see the focus so much off the actual game and so much on the terraces as we saw George Gillet, Tom Hicks, Rick Parry and Grant all squirming in their seats. Meanwhile, a few miles south and something far less publicised last night was going on that really is threatening a football club.
Wrexham’s 2-0 defeat at Hereford ended their 87 year existence in the football league and condemned them to non-league football. The welsh side have never really recovered from the ten point deduction that cruelly robbed them of a League One place a couple of seasons ago and it’s been downhill ever since then.
Brian Little is one of the better managers and football people out there and it remains to be seen as to whether he’ll stick with the club. It’s a shame to see that he couldn’t manage to turn things around at the Dragons and I’m sure their fans will be hoping he hangs on and gives non league a go.
Relegation could be a financial nightmare for them and you have to have a heart of stone to not feel sorry for the sides dropping out of the league at this stage of the season. Boston United’s plight meant that they couldn’t even start in the conference and were dropped down two leagues into the abyss and there are a million other stories that go unnoticed to the average fan of a top flight side.
So Liverpool and Chelsea fans out there take a look down a few leagues (yes, a league called League Two really does exist!) and then compare your problems to Wrexham fans. Maybe then you will appreciate that you’re actually in not too bad a state!
1 comment:
Interesting. It's more a case of supporting to your own expectations I think.
Chelsea and Liverpool fans won't ignore the plight of Wrexham. As we've seen with Nottingham Forest and Leeds, decades down the line the mighty can fall, and the fall is greater the higher you get.
In the here and now, though, Chelsea's "unperforming" is the rough equivalent of relegation from League Two. While for the latter the heartache is unbearable, for Chelsea the pain of having to scrape home a (rather undeserved) 1-1 draw makes us once again pine for the Special One.
The two teams pains are both to be held in perspective - while pulling out your nostril hairs repeatedly isn't near as bad as the agony of childbirth, it still really, really hurts.
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