Romania '93 comes back to haunt

I woke up in a good mood this morning. But it didn't take long to change. I read something that mentioned Wales final match in the Qualifiers for The World Cup in USA 1994.

In the book I'm reading, Tom Humphries of The Irish Times is watching the Republic get the point they needed at Windsor Road in 1993. During that game he hears that "Wales go a goal down, but now they are clawing for air".

The Romania game that he refers to sits lodged in my memory as a traumatic experience which waits to sneak out and smother the few fond memories of my football-watching career.

There have been other disappointments. Lots of them. But for many reasons, that Romania defeat remains the most painful. Probably because it came at a time when I was investing so much of my life in football, but also because of the huge pre-game optimism (remember the Echo's Countdown?"), the swell of public support, the missed penalty, and then finally the tragic death in the stadium which caused me to re-assess my priorities. I was never the same after that match.

I had been gutted before then of course. Joe Jordan and Rudi Glockner have a special place waiting for them in Hell. And I have since become used to defeat, like everyone else who follows Wales. When we lost to Russia in the 2003 play-offs, I was more reflective. This is what I wrote to the WalesAway Mailing List on the morning after the game;

One of the most difficult things about nights like last night, is that it
can often seem like nobody cares as much as you do. It had been one of the best
pre-matches that I can remember. It felt like my life was flashing before me as
I saw face after face of people I know who had been through all of the
disappointments since 1976.

In my block there were people who laughed, people who left with 10 minutes
to go, and people who had quite apparently gone as a "fab midweek jolly", (and I
quote that word for word). I was determined not to be as affected as I was in
'93, but nonetheless felt unable to move on the final whistle, and struggled to
take it all in. We are like the classic gambling addict who is convinced that it
must be red this time, because black has come up 7 times in a row. The casinos
all know that it's still a 50/50 chance.

As I sat there, the stand emptied around me and eventually I made a move to
take my flag down from the railings. I turned round and sitting in the empty
stand 20 rows back I saw a face I recognised. It was a girl that I had met
briefly in Moscow after the first leg, and she was sobbing. Those of you who travel away regularly will recognise the need to share these experiences with somebody who understands. We embraced, and without wanting to get too sentimental - it was
emotional.

We walked together from the stadium in silence. We had a few more tears on
the ramp down to Westgate Street, and I asked her how old she was. She's 23. I
told her patronisingly that she had plenty more nights like this in front of
her, that our day would come, and that it would be all the sweeter for
disappointments like these. "No", she said, "THIS was our day. This was it".

I couldn't argue with that. I don't know her name, but she's a
friend for life because of what happened last night, and if we can take anything
from days like this, it's that sort of companionship and bonding experience.I
know some of you will read that and think that I'm a sentimental twat.You're
probably right, but the past 28 years have been difficult, even for someone like
me who hasn't invested nearly as much as the regularly away supporters. You need
to get something back, and that is the realisation that comradeship is worth
more than football.

OK, a lot of that gush can be put down to post-match blues, but it shows a changed attitude. Gone was the fierce anger, the sense of injustice that followed the Romania game ten years earlier. It had been replaced by a dull defeatism, a complete and utter resignation that Wales will never qualify for a Tournament.

That's what it does to you. Game after game. Scotland '77, Iceland 81', Scotland 85', West Germany 91', Romania 93', Russia 03. If we had won any one of those games, we would have qualified. Six Cup Finals. Didn't win one. Yet we were outplayed only once -Nuremberg in 1991. The rest could have gone either way. We just didn't have the rub of the green.

There - good mood gone. Yours too I expect. Note to journalists - don't mention Romania again. It sets of a chain of thought which ruins our day.

Livsy's Plan for Welsh Football

I picked up this post from the Bangor City Citizen's Choice forum .It contains my old mate Livsy's ideas to improve the Welsh Premier League. Now Livsy has been travelling around following Bangor for the past 20 years, the last twelve of which have been played in the Welsh Pyramid. He knows his stuff. So here is the blueprint:

• winter football
• 10 team premiership
• £300K "grant" to each of those ten clubs.
• no promotion or relegation for three seasons to ensure a bit of continuity
• all teams play each other four times so giving 36 league games
• league cup includes the two feeder leagues and Premier clubs come in at third round
• regular audits of all teams accounts to ensure no one is going bust
• clubs limited to a squad of 26 players enabling all clubs to have a fair chance at getting decent players
• no transfer window for Welsh Premier
• Welsh Premier club to get an allocation for each Wales international (like what they do in Rugby) to enable us fans to more easily get tickets and this to be based on 20% of average home attendance
• all clubs to agree admission charge at the beginning of the three year period and fix prices accordingly.

I can't argue too much with any of that, but there are some interesting points raised.

Winter Football - I'm 50/50 on this one. Sometimes when we have a lovely day in May and the coats are off, the kids are playing while we sun ourselves on the terraces, I think that Summer football can't come quickly enough. And there would be undoubted benefits for those who struggle in European football played in June. But there would be ramifications further down the pyramid, and after a World Cup, I've had a gutsfull of football quite frankly.

10 Team Premiership
This makes me very uneasy. I'm a bit of a fascist when it comes to my own ideas about the ideal make-up of the Welsh Premier. I see Livsy's point, in that money would be spread around some elite teams. And those teams would qualify regularly for Europe, and hopefully succeeding, raising our co-efficient and so giving us a bit of an easier ride in the early rounds against lesser teams. I'd like to see the following teams make up the League, but I would rather that it was done through evolution than cherry picking the towns with the highest populations.

Aberystwyth, Bangor City, Barry Town, Bridgend Town, AFC Cardiff, Haverfordwest, Llanelli, Merthyr, Newport, Newtown, Pontypridd Town, Port Talbot United, Rhyl,
AFC Swansea.

14 teams, and unfairly no place for Caersws, or TNS. I'm just not sure that we can support that little triangle of teams in such a sparsely populated area. Merthyr and Newport should come into the Welsh Premiership - there's no doubting that in my mind. But they would disagree strongly, and who can blame them ?

I would hope that Cardiff and Swansea could support a successful junior side, but it would have to be a new side with no existing loyalties. So out go West End and Grange Quins for example.

Apart from that, I agree with Livsy - spread the money around fewer clubs to improve facilities and play European games at home. Games might get a bit stale with no relegation, so I would allow relegation if the feeder team could offer a financial guarantee. And it would be a free-for-all after 3 seasons.

I agree with the ticket allocation. Rugby club members get ticket opportunities from the WRU. It should be the same for football. But don't forget that Cardiff etc. are all members of the FAW, and would expect the Lion's share of tickets.

All in all, a good plan. Livsy for President !

Floyd Landis - the New Maradona ?

Forgive me for straying off topic, but Floyd Landis' incredible performance in the Tour de France can't pass without comment.

On Wedenesday, Landis looked all set to win this year's tour, in the absence of the big hitters like Ullrich and Basso, who had been suspended due to their involvement in a major drugs investigation.

But Landis hit the wall spectacularly. He didn't eat enough, drink enough, or more likely, he suffered from heat stroke in the scorching Alps. He lost about 10 minutes on his rivals and finished a broken man. This has happened before, but rarely does it happen in such a drastic manner. Landis was written off, and odds of 40/1 were available about him recovering to win the Tour.

I can sympathise. I'm ginger , like Landis, and I too have suffered from heatstroke in the Alps. In 1998, I was at the summit of the Galibier when Marco Pantani came out of the mist on the crucial move of that year's tour. It wasn't even sunny at the top that day, but when I came down from that mountain, I couldn't move for the rest of the day, and I was bed-ridden the day after. Surely, there was no way that Landis could even ride his bike, let alone compete?

But ride he did. From nowhere, this old team -mate of Lance Armstrong produced the greatest recovery that the Tour de France has ever seen. He attacked on the first climb, a suicidal move on that mountain stage. There was no way he could stay out front on his own when being pursued by the combined teams of his challengers. Nothing like it had ever been seen.

I love pro cycling. It moves me like no other sport. Or rather, it used to. When my hero, Marco Pantani flew past me that day on the Galibier, I wept. This was one of the historic Tour moments. And I was there. It was the greatest mountain performance since the days of Bartoli, and Coppi.

Like this year's race, the start had been rocked by a drugs investigation that implicated some major riders. That was the year of the great Festina EPO scandal. Pantani's main rival, Richard Virenque had also wept, as he protested his innocence after his team's soigneur Willy Voigt had been found in a car full of needles and drugs. He later wept as he admitted his guilt. Surely, the rest of the riders were clean under that sort of scrutiny?

Unfortunately not. Pantani was also later found out. He failed EPO tests in the late nineties, and I felt cheated. I had invested emotionally and felt like a complete mug. How could I trust professional cycling after that ? Pantani died last year in drug-riddled desolation. Several young riders have died with unexplained heart conditions in recent years, but still it goes on. It is now hard to watch this amazing race without some cynycism. Can you believe that what you are seeing is the result of bravery, training and honest endeavour?

Lance Armstrong dominated the race after Pantani's demise. Armstrong had suffered from cancer, so surely he would avoid drugs ? Not according to Emma O'Reilly a soigneur with Armstrong's US Postal Squad. She claimed that Armstrong had asked her to dispose of bags full of needles after one Tour.

In a seperate incident, other witnesses have also claimed that Armstrong admitted to drug use. The French newspaper, L'Equipe, claims that Armstrong would have failed a drugs test during the 1999 tour after his urine was tested using new methods in 2004.

Until recently, Landis was a loyal domestique to Armstrong in the Discovery team. His Tour finishes were mediocre and he felt that he needed to move out of Armstrong's shadow. He joined Phonak as a team leader and finished 9th last year.

He took charge of this year's race with a strong performance in the Time Trial. Until Wednesday, he seemed sure to win. But then came the big hammer, and he disappeared down the ranking to 11th.

His comeback yesterday was extraordinary. Really extraordinary. Almost unbelievable.

And when he finished after that superhuman effort, did he flop over the line? Did he collapse with exhaustion like so many great climbers before him ? Not this hero. He clenched a fist and bounced around aggressively in a manner not dissimilar to Diego Maradona, celebrating his goal for Argentina in the 1994 World Cup Finals.

These people. Where do they get the energy from ?

TNS 0-1 MyPa

Farewell then, The New Saints. Is it worth it ? Is it worth maintaining a full-time squad, to walk the Welsh Premiership, only to play like the rest of them when it counts?

TNS were pretty bad last night. Ken McKenna said that it was pre-season, and that they played like it was a pre-season game.

"I'm paid to manage, not to get involved in politics, but if the FAW want
to give Welsh Premier teams a chance in Europe, they have got to look at
changing the season, otherwise it's just a waste of time."

That's been a common complaint from the defeated Welsh teams. Change the season and all will be well. They have a point, but the reality is that our standard of football is just not good enough to compete against teams packed with international players. That's no criticism. That's just the way it is.

UEFA don't help. The stringent ground requirements meant that both TNS and Carmarthen have to play European games at Newtown, and Llanelli will take over Stradey Park for an evening. It doesn't make much sense. I've been to Newtown, and as nice as it is, the surface and facilities are no better than Stebonheath Park.

Still, Leighton James lightened the mood last night, when he mistakenly referred to the team as "All Saints". And a glum looking Mike Harris still wears awful shirts.

Before the game Harris had criticised his team, saying that he'd be angry not to beat such a poor side. McKenna had stepped in with a more respectful appraisal of their opponents. Now that they're out, without putting up much of a fight, will Mike Harris change his assessment, or will he change his manager?

Koumas Tug-of-War

I've got a soft spot for Bryan Robson - Hackney Marshes. Boom boom!

No, seriously, I don't like him. He wasn't the first manager to mistrust Robert Earnshaw, but I think that he resented the Zambian imp more than most. There were times when his treatment of Earnshaw went beyond perverse. When West Brom couldn't score, which was quite often, Earnie would stay on the bench as erm... Geoff Horsfield took the field. That says a lot about Robson's mentality - Horsfield over Earnshaw.

And now we have the Jason Koumas affair. It goes like this.

Koumas is a very talented player, but he has some issues. He's great at Championship level, but hasn't quite cut it in the Premiership. It seems that our Jase is happier standing out amongst journeymen, than he is testing himself against the best. This was signposted earlier on in his career when he turned down Everton to stay with Tranmere.

Robson dropped him. He would have dropped him at some point anyway because he didn't suit Albion's tactics which were to pack everyone behind the ball and hope that one of those fancy dan forwards people would do their stuff. On their own.

So Koumas went to Cardiff on loan. Unfortunately, the Welsh club were already 30 million pounds in debt and were in the middle of stringent cutbacks on the playing staff. A year or two earlier and they might have paid 5 million for him.

Koumas enjoyed his time at Cardiff. He was given the freedom of the pitch and was probably worth 10-15 points to the team over the course of the season. Any club in the Championship would have wanted him, and plenty tried to buy him. But he liked Cardiff and it seemed that a permanent deal was on the cards. West Brom quoted a fee £1.5 million with an extra £500k in add-ons.

But Cardiff no longer had £2 million to spend. Their plans for a new stadium still haven't been approved. They are at the end of a long financial process and need to demonstrate to the auditors that they will not overspend on players, because there's a shopping mall to be built.

It seems that they have offered West Brom a million up front with another £500k based on appearances (the number of appearances remains suspiciously secret). The remaining £500k is triggered by Cardiff reaching the playoffs.

West Brom unsurprisingly rejected this offer. I suppose that when you set a price of £1.5 million and then someone offers you less, it's up to you if you want to reject it. It seems that they have no faith that Cardiff will reach the playoffs, and who can blame them ?. And remember, this is the club that immediately dropped midfield regular Gareth Whalley when he was one game away from triggering his bonus payment.

But Koumas threw his teddy down and skipped training in a major sulk. West Brom fined him. And will keep fining him for every day he turns up. They called Koumas "unprofessional" which is unarguable.

Cardiff sulked as well, and released one of their famously bizarre statements on their official website, which included the following sentence.

"Cardif City have done the impossible to get Jason"

They went on to criticise Albions's stance:

'So WBA have no real offer from anyone. They turn down a lot of money to sell
for what they asked for but on different payment terms. They turn down a lot of
money to loan. A player's livelihood and career may be ruined. Where is the
logic in that?'

Hmmm. £30 million in debt. Peter Ridsdale in charge, and they are questioning the financial acument of other clubs ? A club who sold Earnshaw, Kavanagh, Collins and Gabbidon for peanuts, whose Chairman once predicted that West Brom would become their feeder club?
I suspect that the Baggies can live without their advice.

West Brom countered with this statement on www.wba.co.uk:

'We quite properly expect Jason to meet the obligations of his contract, for
which he is handsomely paid."

Too right. Wales expect him to turn up regularly too, but he doesn't. Not if his cat is feeling under the weather, or he has some ironing to do.

Whisper it, but there are a few Cardiff fans who wouldn't be too disappointed if the deal falls through. Would they get another season out of him were he not on loan ? How long before he starts abusing his Cardiff contract like he is doing at West Brom ? How long can his pets stay illness free ?

I suspect that a deal will be struck before the deadline. But for now, the name-calling and strop-throwing is a mild entertainment to fill the columns before the season begins.

Meanwhile, South Wales Echo's Chief Sports Reporter Terry Phillips is in North America, writing a tour diary.

"The Bluebirds media officer was in the pool early this morning. I went to
the gym. Jamal Easter missed the bus and we all a laughed. I met a bloke who
knew Robin Friday. "

Poor old Terry. What wouldn't he give to be covering the Koumas affair ?"