A Slow Train to Sunderland

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Yes, I know it’s early. But these are the sacrifices we make for our team.

Rather than a few beers after work with my colleagues, followed by a few beers back home with my pals, then a curry, shower and sleep, the normal Friday night, a 12.30 kick off in Sunderland meant an early start this morning.

Instead of being able to wake up at a reasonable time, I am up usual work time. I need to be on the 8:11 from Kings Cross to Sunderland, getting into the City at 11:50. I am already looking forward to the disgusting looks from people as I crack open the 1st can of the morning at 8:11 (I have a rule, never open the can before the train pulls off.)

Sunderland is a bit a of crap trip. An awful city, an awful ground.

It is a bit better this year due to the ticket price reductions. Previously their £45 charge and £60 meant that you had done over a ton before you had even bought any alcoholic beverages. They sit you up in the Gods, the wind rattling towards you. Even in May it is cold.

At least in Newcastle, you get to drink in a decent city before and after, possibility of a night out. Sunderland is bleak. I do wonder what the point of it is. Maybe they should just move all the Calais refugees there? Would be a home from home.

Despite all this, it has often been a legendary train journey. One of them ones that due to it being 3 hours long, by the time you make the journey back you can barely remember your own name. A lot of the great stories of away games travel have come as a result from a trip to Sunderland.

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Back in the day we did actually used to go via Newcastle. This meant a couple of pints before the game in the old O’Neil’s opposite the station, before getting the Metro to Stadium of Light or St Peters.

They have opened up a new route recently which allows you to go direct into Sunderland. Whilst it is quicker and cheaper, it drops you into the middle of Sunderland City centre, a desolate concrete shopping area where every shop is shut, bar 3 Greggs.

Whilst it is an early start for me, at least the 12:30 scheduling (cheers TV companies – always taking into account travelling fans!) means we can be home in time for X-Factor. The train pulling back into Kings Cross at 18:53. Enough time to get back home, put the dinner on, and settle in for a bit of Honey-G.

I am probably making it sound like I am really miserable and not looking forward to today’s trip. Well you’re right. It’s made even worse by the fact that half the travelling support today, and most of the lads I am going with, are heading to Sofia tomorrow for the Champions League game against Ludogorets. So all they will be talking about is how excited they are. Planning what is happening. They will be buzzing.

Meanwhile tomorrow all I am up to is a bit of washing, some cleaning, re-run of X-Factor and some packing in preparation for me to move house. And The life of a 32-year old man. In fact, I have just looked at flights to Sofia. £113. I am tempted. But then I do have work Monday, and have to pick up a new car Thursday.

So yeh, I am off out now. Basically wrote this because I had 15 minutes to spare before meeting my pals at Walthamstow Central. Enjoy your lay in…

Keenos

Is the EFL Cup a ‘rip-off’?

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On BBC Radio 5 live, Ex-Spurs and Newcastle player Chris Waddle declared that the EFL Cup was a “total rip off”. Saying that teams should announce their squad for the cup’s fixtures in advance at the start of the week.

“It would mean that if you’re travelling a long way you’d know that it will be a weaker side and you may not buy a ticket,” Waddle said.

First a foremost, it shows just how out of touch pundits are with fans. Ex-players and journalists who have not had to pay for a ticket for years, and not had to put their hand in their pocked for a train either.

Anyone who does away games will know that you buy your train ticket early doors, taking advantage of Advanced tickets. No one will leave it till the Monday to decide if they want to go to a game based on the team sheet coming out, as you would then face ludicrous train prices.

For example, if the EFL Cup was next week, and a Spurs fan decided to pay their ticket today to Liverpool, the cost would be £153. The cost for November 29th (the QF date) is more than half that amount.

So fans need to plan in advance their travel. They cannot, as Waddle wants us to do, wait until the beginning of the week to decide if they want to go to the game based on the team sheet. Then add in booking the time off work booked at short notice, and you see just how out of touch Waddle is with his comments.

Then you have the clubs. It would be a logistical nightmare.

Arsenal have one of the best ticket booking systems around. Imagine 60,000 people logging on at 9am on a Monday morning to buy their tickets. The system would crash. And clubs who still use paper tickets rather than membership cards, it would be impossible for them to post out tickets on a Monday to guarantee them getting to the fan on a Tuesday.

Again, Waddle would not know this, he has not bought a ticket for a match in decades.

So we have an out-of-touch pundit who does not pay for his own tickets, does not pay for his own trains, has everything organised for him by whoever is paying for his comments, fighting on behalf of fans rights.

Why does he not talk about the likes of Sky & BT leaving it so long to decide what games they are going to show on TV? Meaning, like with the Man City v Arsenal game, cheaper advanced tickets are sold out before the game is moved. Why does he not pipe up about Arsenal fans having to travel to Burnley on a Sunday evening with no way home? Or a trip to Everton being scheduled on a Tuesday night?

Where was Chris Waddle when Everton fans had to travel to London to face Crystal Palace on a Friday night. With no way home. Or Burnley having to travel to Watford the following Monday. He is surprisingly quiet when it comes to how fans are mistreated by TV companies and scheduling. But why would he bite off the hand that feeds him.

Instead Waddle talks about how clubs treat fans poorly due to putting out changed line ups for the League Cup.

Before the Arsenal game, I stuck this up on the SheWore Facebook page:

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Yes, I was disappointed by the amount of changes (it was actually 71, not 80) and I even suggested cancelling the competition, or making it under-23 only. But that does not mean that I think it is a rip off.

Playing youth sides, reserve sides, in the League Cup is nothing new. You do not travel to Nottingham Forest or Sheffield Wednesday on a mid-weeker expecting Arsene Wenger to put out Arsenal’s strongest line up.

In-fact, weakened sides is what often makes the competition more interesting for fans. The likes of Jack Wilshere & Cesc Fabregas made their break through in the competition.

Fabregas made his debut in the competition in 2003/04, scored his first goal for Arsenal that season, and all 3 appearances in red & white came in the League Cup. The next year he played over 40 times in the first team.

Jack Wilshire also made his first start in the League Cup (his 2nd appearance for Arsenal overall having played 6 minutes against Blackburn previously). In 2008/2009 he started 3 times for Arsenal. All were in the League Cup. Like Fabregas, he also scored his first goal.

The League Cup is now a big part of a players development.

In last seasons disappointing 3-0 loss to Sheffield Wednesday, the Arsenal number 45 making his debut was a chap called Alex Iwobi. Who would have predicted a year later people would be asking why Alex Iwobi is playing in the 2nd string in the League Cup once more?

This years competition has given the chance to the likes of Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Chris Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Who knows where all 3 might be next year?

Fans go into the League Cup knowing their side will be putting out a weaker XI. But it is the chance to see a youngster in a senior game that gets the fans excited, the reason why the turn up. They certainly do not feel cheated when the side is named, as Waddle would have you believe.

For the Reading game, Arsenal, as always, charged fans £10 lower / £20 upper for adults. And kids got in for £5 lower / £10 upper. Likewise, Nottingham Forest reduced their prices to just £20 when Arsenal visited them earlier in the season.

The majority of sides already offer massively discounted ticket prices for the League Cup, recognising the fact that there will be wholesale changes to line ups.

Now if Arsenal were to charge the normal £33-£60-odd prices for a League Cup game to watch a rotated side, then yes, I would feel ripped off. But they do not. And the majority of clubs do not.

Once again, it shows how horribly out of touch Waddle is. He probably could not even tell the BBC how much Arsenal, Liverpool, or other sides charged their fans this week. He is probably not aware that a father could take two kids to the game for £20.

Does Chris Waddle complain that fans of semi-professional Halifax Town are ripping of their fans?

Tickets for the National League North side – the 6th step on the football pyramid – are £16 for adults, £13 for concessions, and £5 for under 12’s. So on Tuesday night, you could have been watching Halifax Town play FC United of Manchester for the same price as you could have watched Arsenal against Reading. Who is really being ripped off?

The fact is, whilst the EFL has its problems, it is a brilliant opportunity to take kids, watch some young talent (and established stars – the Arsenal XI contained 5 players capped by their countries) and have a good evening out with the family at the football. Especially taking into account this week has been half term.

Like a young players first game for Arsenal being the League Cup, I wonder how many fathers have taken their sons for their first game in the League Cup this season, or previous seasons.

Maybe Waddle, before spouting rubbish, should have got out of his cosy BBC studio and gone to Arsenal, Liverpool or Leeds on Tuesday and asked the fans as the left do you feel ripped off? I bet no fan would have replied yes.

So Chris Waddle, you’re out of touch and talk a lot of twaddle. Maybe if you actually paid for a ticket, or a train, you would understand the real problems that fans have on a normal game day. Rotated squads for the cut-price EFL Cup is the least of fans complaints these days.

Keenos

League Cup Draw, Arsenal in for Left Back?, Pep Guardiola & West Ham Fighting

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League Cup Draw

So we got Southampton at home. A bit of a tame draw. Bit of a dull draw. But still a game we should win. And it is another chance for cheap tickets. For dads to take their sons.

I would expect us to play a few more 1st team players. Maybe have the likes of Alexis Sanchez on the bench ready to come on if needed. With the teams that are left in the competition, the League Cup is a trophy we could win this season.

A trip to Wembley in February? Yes please.

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Arsenal in for Left Back?

Arsenal have reportedly been keeping tabs on Hull City left back Josh Tymon. I have no idea who he is. But after a summer of reportedly chasing a new left sided defender, it does not surprise me that he could potentially be joining in January.

In recent months, we have been linked with Swiss international Ricardo Rodríguez and Leicester City youngster Ben Chilwell.

With the form and age of both Nacho Monreal & Kieran Gibbs, I thought over the summer we might move one on, and sign a teenage left back to slowly blood him in over the next couple of years, like what happened with Hector Bellerin.

A move did not materialise for Chilwell (or the more senior Rodriguez), but it would not surprise me if we snapped up Tymon in January and left him at Hull City for the remainder of the season to get game time.

5 Things We Learned

Post Reading, many a blog was written (at the last count Arsenal had 3574364 blogs, and nearly as many podcasts). One of the best was Arsenal Vs Reading: 5 Things We Learned by PainInTheArsenal. A top read and good summary of the game and what we can take out of it.

Whilst I am at it, have a read of my thoughts on Tuesday’s win – The Good, The Bad, The Ugly of Arsenal’s win over Reading.

Pep Guardiola

Whilst Arsenal went 12 games without defeat after their League Cup victory over Reading, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are now 6 games without a win.

This is the first time in Guardiola’s career he is managed in a league where there are more than just a handful of decent teams; and it is perhaps starting to show.

At Barcelona and Bayern Munich, most weekends opponents rolled over and played dead. 5-0 & 6-0 victories were fairly common. Barcelona would only have 4 tough(ish) games a season, against the 2 Madrid sides. At Munich their biggest opponent was the complacency that came in having won the league in March.

Guardiola is struggling with his team, but he is a top manager and I am sure will come through it. What it shows is that the Premier League is the toughest league in the world, with battles every weekend. New foreign managers coming into this league often do not realise that.

West Ham Fighting

I will be honest, when the League Cup draw was happening, the tie I wanted was West Ham v Arsenal. The best game in recent years that I have been to recently – for result & atmosphere – was Spurs away in the League Cup last year. It was a riot. West Ham would be similar.

With all seater stadiums, no alcohol in front of the pitch, no smoking and no swearing, football has become sanitised. The fighting between West Ham and Chelsea, and other sides this season, has been no more than handbags. I am seeing people saying they are scared to take their sons, and it is 2016 not 1986. Well the scenes we are seeing are tame. A minority. Get over yourselves.

The biggest problem is not those throwing a few chairs, but those recording those throwing a few chairs. They do this for RT’s on Twitter, for YouTube hits. They are grasses. The police use this evidence found online to pick out people and prosecute fans. So put the phones away, stop grassing each other up.

I am buzzing for December 3rd. It might not be the old Upton Park Ground (where the atmosphere was often electric and the walk into and out of the stadium tense) but it will be a top day out!

Keenos