IAN LADYMAN: Little Penrith are proof of football's power
IAN LADYMAN: Little Penrith are proof of football’s power to unite a community… while Chris Coleman calls it right on Fabian Balbuena’s red card
- Non-league Penrith are proof of football’s power and how things should be run
- Owners of the Big Six presumed they were more important to fans than they are
- Thomas Tuchel will have noted Jorginho’s comments about Frank Lampard
One of the highlights of a week’s holiday in Cumbria was a visit to a little football ground. It belongs to Penrith of the Northern League Division One.
Penrith aren’t currently playing because of the Covid pandemic. Football at that level will not resume until next season at the earliest. But the tiny little stadium, bathed in sunlight off the A66 that shoots east beneath the town, was still a heartening sight in a week when others involved in English football were trying to wrench the game from its moorings.
I have a personal interest in Penrith’s fortunes. My family comes from there. As a kid, I was taken many times to watch the team play at their old ground in the middle of town when I was visiting relatives at Easter and Christmas. My grandad was briefly the sponge man.
Penrith, of the Northern League Division One, are a reminder of the importance of heritage
In the 1980s they had a moment in the spotlight. They beat Chester of the Football League in round one of the FA Cup. Two years later they reached the same stage and lost 9-0 to Burnley. We went to that one. ‘We should have kicked the other way in the first half,’ said my grandad as we walked home up the hill for tea.
Penrith left that ground in 2009 after the land was bought by a supermarket. Shame, but the new place has been built as a replica.
The Main Stand is in the same spot, as is the little terrace that runs for 50 yards or so on the other side. That’s a nice touch, the kind of idea had by people who care about football and what it means to people and communities.
Little Penrith have been going since 1894 and just like the scores of non-league clubs scattered around the country and manned and driven by volunteers and die-hards, it will continue regardless of whatever madness is devised at the very top end of the game. And we should all be heartened by this. For this is what football is, this is the essence of the game in this country.
Owners such as John W Henry may not understand the essence of the game in this country
John W Henry and the Glazers and Stan Kroenke and Sheik Mansour of Abu Dhabi may not understand all this.
They may not see the value of sport played on muddy fields by men and women who have real jobs during the day but who nevertheless remain as important to people in their town as someone like Jordan Henderson is in his.
They may not see the point of a pyramid that offers hope of progress to each and every single member of it, no matter how lowly. But that doesn’t matter because the rest of us do and this is a part of a football heritage and tradition that they simply cannot lay a glove on.
The likes of Stan Kroenke presumed themselves more important to fans than they actually are
Perhaps the biggest of the many mistakes our top clubs made as they tried and failed to create a European Super League last week was to presume themselves more important to their supporters than they actually are. As they desperately tried to save their ridiculous plan, they could almost hear the season tickets burning.
So when the ‘Big Six’ come again with their next selfish scheme — and they will, for sure — then do not be alarmed. It will not spell the end of our days. It just cannot.
The Premier League is important. The Champions League is glamorous. But they do not define us or represent us. Not wholly. Take a look around next time. Proof of life is everywhere.
Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham tenure had some memorable moments
Jose Mourinho’s 18 months at Spurs won’t be remembered for much but there will be some bits to take away.
The moment, for example, he explained to his squad on Christmas Day that his low mood was due to the death of his dog was a stand-out scene of the Amazon documentary about the 2019-20 season. Equally absorbing for all the wrong reasons was footage of the Portuguese moving into his new office on day one.
All managers bring a few personal effects to work when they start. A picture of the family, a book by a great political leader that has never been opened but looks fine on the shelf. Maybe a motivational saying for the wall. Something really obvious like: Winners Don’t Quit.
There were some memorable anecdotes from Jose Mourinho’s spell as Tottenham manager
And, in Mourinho’s case, a large framed print of the moment in February 1988 when Vinnie Jones was caught squeezing the privates of a young Paul Gascoigne at St James’ Park.
Of all the things that leaked from the Tottenham training ground during Mourinho’s season-and-a-half in charge, the significance to their manager of that strangely out of context memento was never revealed. Maybe somebody should just have asked him.
Chris Coleman calls it right on red for Fabian Balbuena
Chris Coleman is a good addition to the Sky commentary team and his summary of Fabian Balbuena’s daft sending-off for West Ham against Chelsea was as appropriate as any.
‘He has just kicked through the ball,’ said Coleman, once a central defender for Fulham and Wales. ‘I don’t think he can get his foot away. The follow through catches him. I have kicked 10,000 footballs and never once, on impact, thought about my follow through.’
And this is the point. If players have to worry about what happens after they simply put their foot through the ball to kick it then the whole art of tackling changes by definition. Football must decide if this is really what it wants.
Chris Coleman was right in his assessment of Fabian Balbuena getting red card for West Ham
Thomas Tuchel will have noted Jorginho’s comments
Chelsea midfielder Jorginho has been quick to put the boot into departed manager Frank Lampard. It’s unlikely Lampard will have noticed the comments. But you can be sure Thomas Tuchel will have.
Thomas Tuchel will have taken note of Jorginho’s comments about ex-manager Frank Lampard
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