England’s uninspiring Euro 2016 draw could prove costly for FA

Posted on February 26, 2014 by The False Nine

Patrick Fletcher shares some thoughts on the FA’s reaction to the recent Euro 2016 draw…

Maybe the Gods were looking down on Greg Dyke as he brought his finger across his throat to indicate his despair at England’s nightmare World Cup draw in December. Maybe they took pity on the hardships he faced that day, and maybe they contrived to right those wrongs on Sunday and give England what could hardly be a more straightforward qualifying group for Euro 2016.

Their work will be no more appreciated, though, and this time Dyke will be turning his throat-slitting gesture away from himself and towards the heavens. Indeed, the draw was seen as too straightforward by FA representatives in Nice, who sat stone-faced as images of empty Wembley seats set alarm bells ringing. Their fear is that the clashes thrown up, against the likes of San Marino and Estonia, will not be enticing enough to fill the £757m stadium, on which £277m is still owed. If the concern pre-draw had been ‘go easy on us this time’, the sentiment afterwards was no doubt: ‘not that easy’. Continue reading →

Wrexham FC: A Personal Love Letter to my Hometown Club

Posted on May 20, 2013 by James Dutton

In a world of super-clubs, global fan bases and billionaire hobbyist owners, the bond between a man and his local club remains something unique and, dare we say it, beautiful. James Dutton counts the ways he loves thee, Wrexham FC…

It has now been over two weeks since Wembley, and one of the most agonizing moments I have ever experienced in football. I still see it so vividly, the ball hooked up into the balmy May sky towards the Wrexham goal. I see Dave Artell, furiously back-peddling but with all the energy and purpose of a 32-year old non-league footballer who had played 270 minutes of football in 10 days.

Immediately, it was evident that something was not right. The centre-back looked in control, yet misjudged the flight of the ball – his mental tiredness, as well as aching limbs, betraying the significance of the occasion as the clock ticked down on the Blue Square Bet Premier play off final.

It was a fatal misjudgment. Instead of connecting to head clear, he succeeded in only flicking the ball onto Christian Jolley, the man who combined a short sleeved shirt with gloves in May, who rode off the desperate efforts of the otherwise colossal Martin Riley to dink the ball over the onrushing Chris Maxwell.

The rest is now history. Wrexham toiled, but with just five minutes remaining it was a brutal sucker punch. The second goal, the gloss the scoreline barely deserved, was a classic breakaway goal.

And so in the final five minutes of the 49th league game of their season, Wrexham’s hopes of promotion back to the Football League after a five-year exodus were extinguished. For the third successive year. Continue reading →

Wembley overkill: finding a venue for Arsenal and Chelsea’s third place play-off

Posted on May 17, 2013 by David Wild

With the real possibility of a 3rd place play-off looming over the final day of the Premier League season, David Wild compares the potential venues beyond the FA’s grey, white arched elephant…

The sun rises, glinting in the sky like a ball of chipped topaz as the shadows cast by two twin towers gently sprawl across the fresh cut grass. A nation’s anticipation builds to a crescendo as football’s answer to Christmas morning caresses the masses into a frenzy of excitement. Cup final day at Wembley.

Or so it once was. Wembley was once the preserve of FA cup finals, the venue for heady, intoxicating European trophy deciders and a treasured haven for the national team. Now it plays host to such illustrious games as Wigan V Millwall in the FA cup semi final and could soon see a third place Champions League playoff between Arsenal and Chelsea.

To pay off the massive £798m behemoth the FA entered into a devil’s pact. We would see an increased number of games played in the reincarnation of one of football’s biggest stadiums to recoup its cost. The price of this is that we here at The False Nine now feel that there is something of an over saturation of Wembley football. Continue reading →

149 Years in the Making – Wrexham FC at Wembley

Posted on March 26, 2013 by James Dutton

The False Nine editor James Dutton was at Wembley on Sunday, reporting on the FA Trophy final for Wrexham.com. Here he gives his thoughts on the implications of a 4-1 penalty shoot out victory over Grimsby Town for his hometown club Wrexham…

An astonishing day, so befitting of a club that has fought for its very survival. As Johnny Hunt saw his final spot kick send the outstanding James McKeown the wrong way, the Wrexham end erupted. An outpouring of jubilation and relief, so alien to this historic club during its recent murky past, wrenched away the ghosts of financial gloom that threatened to destroy Wales’ oldest footballing establishment.

As captain Dean Keates held aloft the FA Trophy, the demons of the club’s recent history were extinguished, banished into the beyond. This was Wrexham’s day in the sun.

No set of football supporters deserve it more; ‘stand up if you own your club’ they chorused during a pedestrian first half. Continue reading →

Has Welsh Football ever had it so good?

Posted on February 25, 2013 by James Dutton

In the wake of Swansea’s glorious League Cup triumph, The False Nine editor James Dutton explores the state of the Welsh game…

As the dust settles on Swansea’s emphatic Capital One Cup victory over the unlikely opposition of Bradford City, Blue Square Conference leaders Wrexham are due to travel to Wembley next month for the FA Trophy Final. Cardiff City sit eight points clear at the summit of the Championship with a game in hand, whilst Newport County sit just two points behind their North Walian countrymen, also with a game in hand.

Swansea’s meteoric rise from the basement of the Football League pyramid in 2004 to the heady heights of the Premier League, and now League Cup winners just nine years later, is an astounding tale. Next year the Swans will be playing European football; a chance for Welsh football to showcase its burgeoning ascension on the continent. Continue reading →

Another False Dawn for England?

Posted on February 9, 2013 by James Dutton

The False Nine editor, James Dutton, looks into Theo Walcott’s claim that this is the best England squad in his time with the national side…

So Theo Walcott has claimed this is the best England squad he’s been part of.

It certainly is a bold claim from the Arsenal forward. After all, this is the same Walcott who was plucked from Arsenal’s reserves by Sven Goran Eriksson at the age of 16 and invited to experience, first hand, England’s 2006 World Cup debacle. WAGs, metatarsals and prima donnas dominated the headlines, whilst poor little Theo was forced to watch on helpless. Continue reading →

Bantams Set for Swansong at Wembley

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Scott Jenkins

The False Nine’s Scott Jenkins praises the remarkable stories of this year’s Capital One Cup finalists: Bradford City and Swansea City…

It’s 24^th January 2000 and the Manic Street Preachers are Number 1 in the music charts in the UK. The world is rejoicing as the Millennium Bug hasn’t surfaced and robots have not taken over the land. Carlos Roa has just retired from goalkeeping duties at Real Mallorca due to his Adventist beliefs however. Continue reading →

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