A lesson in how
NOT to steward a football match
Wigan 1 Burnley 1, 27 November 1999
Cozzo
The day started with Mr Benyon rolling round on
the floor at Euston trying to retrieve his wallet, which had somehow slipped from his
normally vice-like grip. It ended with Smiffy trying not to end up the floor at Euston, as
he seemed to have mysteriously lost his sense of balance and the use of his legs as he
disappeared across the concourse. (I think that Strongbow bloke had fired a few too many
arrows at him on the train on the way back.)
In between, we had a great time, which involved
meeting a guy on the train who is working for Burnley; a chilli sausage (with mash, mushy
peas and gravy, of course) and beer from plastic glasses at The Orwell at Wigan Pier; lots
of Banks beer and a meeting with an old school friend at The Swan and Railway, plus a
stroll along the canal to visit the JJB stadium, to see an excellent game and some
eccentric stewarding.
Not surprisingly, as it was a ground tick, the
trip was well supported and everybody was in good spirits as we left Euston despite the
presence of a few of our near neighbours at the other end of the carriage. Concern centred
on whether Cookey would be fit after being taken off at half-time in the Reading bore draw
on Wednesday and how if we played as badly we were likely to get stuffed. Optimism said we
hadn't had two bad performances and results in a row; pessimism was just a nagging feeling
at the back of my mind that not much was likely to have changed from Wednesday.
The guy who works for Burnley just happened to
be sat amongst us and when he made himself known revealed that he been brought in to work
with Ray Ingleby to set up the financial services side of the club to bring in extra
revenue. He was an interesting chap who was very positive about Ingleby and his support of
the club (he now goes to almost every game) and the fact that he is in it for Burnley and
not to make money for himself. He was also very positive about the direction the club is
moving in and the changes that Barry Kilby and Andrew Watson have brought in. More money
may be made available to Stan in the New Year if we need to strengthen the squad for a big
promotion push which is nice to hear after all the doom and gloom of the recent accounts
and lack of money.
It was obvious when we arrived at Wigan that
there were a LOT of Burnley fans about, as it was still early and we were already
outnumbering the locals. The atmosphere was one of anticipation rather than anything
sinister but unfortunately we have to be a little wary as it is never far away where some
of our fans are concerned, as we were to see later. In the pubs, however, it was fine,
although quite why The Orwell think they need to issue plastic glasses after 1pm I'm not
sure. Especially as those that were in before then simply kept refilling their old ones
from the plastic ones!
The stroll along the canal was fine and we got
to the JJB stadium about quarter to three as we knew it was unreserved seating. However,
even as we approached the ground we could see through the gap in the corner of the stadium
that the Burnley end was already quite full. The car park at the ground and some of the
surrounding roads are not finished, including one road which looks ok until you realise it
just stops at the edge of the canal. The stadium itself is reasonably impressive from the
outside and once inside the view is good and the pitch looks as good as any that I've
seen. However between the outside and inside it does look like a hastily assembled Meccano
set and the number of toilets and refreshment stalls for 5,000 people is pitiful.
As we suspected the seating was already quite
full so we made our way up to the back and managed to get a few seats together, but it was
already obvious that with the number of people still streaming in there wasn't going to be
enough room. The trouble is that if you have unreserved seating people don't fill it up
efficiently. One or two seats are often left between groups of people and these are not
easy to see or fill up, so it looks full but it isn't. The problem with reserved seating
is that arguments start as people are in the wrong seats and it always happens just in
front of me just as the game is starting.
The capacity had been reduced because Burnley
refused to move the game to Sunday. Apparently it's something to do with the unfinished
roads, but it seemed a hell of a lot better than last year's trip to the Madjeski, so
obviously the Wigan police are a bit tougher than their counterparts in Reading. Anyway,
this meant that the stand to our left had not been opened, so as it soon became obvious
that not all the Burnley fans would be able to find seats in our stand, the powers that be
decided to allow fans into the vacant stand.
By this time the game had kicked off, but for
some strange reason the stewards expected the Clarets fans to sit in the corner nearest to
us. Note that I say 'expected' as they didn't put any stewards in the stand to restrict
where the fans could go. Unsurprisingly, as soon as the fans got into the stand they
started running the length of the stand towards the Wigan fans who were in the stand
behind the other goal. We had then had the spectacle of a handful of stewards and police
trying to move a couple of hundred fans back along the stand. After half an hour and
having moved them only one set of seats along and unrolled several bits of netting, they
gave up. How I would have loved something like this at Reading on Wednesday where it would
kept me entertained. Instead it only managed to occasionally distract me from a superb
first half performance from the Clarets.
Cookey had been passed fit and the team was the
same as that at Reading, with Little on the left and Mullin on the right. Armstrong was
filling in again at left back. From the first minute the Clarets played at a high tempo,
never allowing Wigan time on the ball. Mellon and Cook, both of whom were poor on
Wednesday, were snapping at the heels of the Wigan midfield and really putting them under
pressure. They controlled the midfield, and Thomas and Davis were keeping Howarth and
Barlow in check on the few occasions that Wigan managed to get the ball forward. Even
then, it was normally a long ball from the back as they hardly managed to put two passes
together. They were rattled; Burnley were on top and forcing a string of corners and
building the pressure.
Just as I was beginning to think that we needed
to score whilst we were in command as they were bound to come back at us, Wigan managed
their first attack which resulted in a pitifully weak shot from outside the box, which
Crichton collected easily. Cue hoots of derision from the Clarets faithful which were
almost as loud as the cheers when their fans made themselves heard for the first time
after ten minutes of the game.
Just over twenty minutes gone and Wigan had
barely got out of their half but we needed to score. Their keeper came for a cross which
was half cleared to Glen Little on the left corner of the box, from where he hooked it
straight back into the six yard box. Andy Payton rose and nodded the ball in from close
range as the keeper was still trying to regain his ground. Cue exuberant celebrations in
the North Stand and the handful in the West (?) Stand, but it was no more than we
deserved. Would we sit back now? Would they come back at us? Not a bit of it. The Clarets
continued to press and cause the Wigan defence all sorts of problems without ever really
testing their keeper too much.
I was looking at the clock and thinking about
half-time when disaster struck. Little gave one of their players too much room to cross
the ball, a flick on and Haworth turned smartly to put the ball past Davis and Crichton.
If Payton had scored it, we would have been raving about it as a great goalscorer's goal.
It was, but it didn't make it any easier to take that we had dominated the half and yet
went in level.
Throughout the first half, the stewards seemed
to be performing some bizarre pantomime which involved collecting in small huddles in the
various corners of the ground. Firstly between the Clarets and Wigan fans at the bottom
right of our stand where a few Wigan fans collected to try to bait the Burnley fans; then
at the bottom left of our stand as they tried to file the fans into the previously empty
stand; and finally, after a quick run down the length of the stand, they gathered at the
far end between the Burnley and Wigan fans. They then took to unrolling long lengths of
net down the gangways between the seats, firstly at the far end of the stand to our left,
which they used to move the Clarets fans back a bit and then at the near end of the same
stand. I think the idea was to move all the fans back towards our end and then keep them
confined. Phrases about horses, bolted and stable doors come to mind. In the end they gave
up.
Half-time allowed us the entertainment of
'oohing' sarcastically at their £400 draw and seeing that Wigan don't have any decent
ex-players, so they had to get Andy Gregory (rugby player) to do the draw. What a shame it
wasn't Andy Farrell. At this point I ought to give a warning to those people who like to
sit in the home stand. The Wigan fans noted who went up when Burnley scored and one or two
were set upon later. Be sensible!
The second half was much more even. They created
a number of good chances, of which Barlow on two occasions unusually failed to make the
most. Liddell was causing problems down the right where Armstrong was struggling to cope
with his pace. Generally the rearguard was holding firm, Crichton had little to save and
was catching confidently. Branch replaced Armstrong at left back and his extra pace
limited the threat down that side. Burnley still had their moments going forward. At a
Wigan corner, both Payton and Sam Ellis called Little up to give a two-on-two if we
managed break. When Branch got the ball and played it for Little to chase, it looked like
he was going to get away from the full back until he was pulled back. Little managed to
keep the ball, but I think without the foul he could probably have gone clean through.
Instead he managed to work a cross which Payton missed by only a couple of inches, when
any contact at all would probably have been a goal, as he was only three or four yards
out.
To me, the fact that the referee played
advantage does not mean that he should let the defender off a booking. He did. In the
first half he booked Paul Cook for a clumsy challenge from behind, but let one of their
defenders off when he took Andy Cooke out in he centre circle, when the ball was three
yards away. That was one of only two free kicks Cookey got. For some reason referees do
not give him anything unless it is really obvious and even then not always. The number of
times he gets pushed in the back, held or tackled from behind and gets nothing is quite
staggering. Perhaps he has upset too many of them in the past?
Quarter of an hour to go and Cookey made way for
Alan Lee. He hasn't really been given much of a chance so far, but we have to look at him
as a player for the future. Cookey took a while to settle after he got his chance in the
first team and we should be equally patient with Lee. At only 20, he's not going to be as
strong as the more senior players, so he will occasionally get knocked off the ball and it
will take a while to get the pace of the game especially when only coming on as a
substitute. I like the look of him as he's shown some nice touches and awareness on the
brief appearances he has had.
On this occasion he could have won the game in
the last minute. He linked up well with Payton on the edge of the box and when Payton
crossed he had a free header, which he directed down to the keeper's left but not quite
far enough away from him or with sufficient power, and the keeper saved. The good thing
was that there wasn't any stage at which Burnley settled for a point. No late
substitutions and camping on the edge of the box for a few tense minutes. It was positive
from beginning to end and we could have a strong claim to have been the better team over
the ninety minutes, and therefore slightly less satisfied with a point.
As for the players, it was impossible to find a
poor performance and difficult to find an average performance. Woody's votes will tell the
story of a good team performance with lots of players (including Branchy) picking up
points. For me, Mellon showed what he is capable of when he puts his mind to it and he
must now keep the standard up. Paul Cook was also excellent and Andy Payton and Cookey
both worked extremely hard. Davis and Thomas were as solid as ever and coped well with two
excellent forwards. With the other results not going too badly, we are now in a situation
where two wins in our next two games, both at home, would really get the ball rolling.
We've played the best in the division and shown that we can not only live with them but
out-play them.
Team: Crichton,
West, Armstrong (Branch 60), Thomas, Davis, Mellon, Cook, Little, Mullin, Cooke (Lee 71),
Payton. Subs not used: Brass, Jepson, Johnrose.
London Clarets Man
of the Match: (1) Paul Cook, (2) Glen Little.
Links - The Auto cup game, the
home game and this game last season
