Tony Scully - Update

Tony Scully is still at Crawley Town. Three games into his current stop off on the conference circuit Tone is staying put.

Three full sets of ninety minutes under his belt, no goals to report. As Tony's arrival has co-incided with the new appointment of John Hollins, there has been a very visible up turn in the club's fotunes. Saturday saw them seeing off Stevenage Borough to take them into round two of the FA Trophy.

Exciting times. I'll keep you posted

Caption: Scully,during his Notts County period.

How very dare you!

For some reason I am reminded of Catherine Tate's brilliant comic invention Colin Faye – “the camp guy who is mortally offended when people assume he's gay" whenever I visit the FC United of Manchester website.

FC United was a stroke of genius taking the battle against the Double Glazers and demonstrating that the fans are bigger than the corporate greed that scars and fuels our beautiful game.

Unfortunately to the outside world they behave and act in exactly the same way Manchester United fans have done, since their team started winning things again in the 90's. As a new club, run by the fans for the fans, they are treading the same sorry money laundering steps of their alma mater.

The anitdote to all that commercial filth we fans endure, still offers home and away shirts (a 3rd strip can only be a season away) at £29. They still seek sponsorship, yet they show a sensitivity to their reviled past by drawing a line at corporate hospitality.

The hastily contrived season has not been without it's teething problems, Home opposition used only to handfuls of fans for these grass roots fayre have been forced by the league management committee into providing safe accommodation for the massed ranks of FCM away support.

Often home games have been relocated to nearby "super" stadia to manage this growing phenomena. All of which might be quite sweet if it wasn't for the "politburo-like" worded news items on the club website, demanding that everything be sorted to the satisfaction of the new non-league royalty.

"Do you know who we are?" The Moore & Co Construction Solicitors League Division 2 is fast learning to jump to a new tune.

Last Thursday saw the Manchester Evening News Job pages bristle with an interesting opportunity for every aspiring corporate wannabe. FC United (with an enticing carrot of £25,000 p.a.) are looking for their first Chief Executive. If you are looking for gainful employment at the moment follow this link. Peter Kenyon, I suspect, will not be applying but reading between the lines FCM have a "fair employment" policy (natch) and that usually means by the fairly tightly specified job spec, they already have somebody lined up internally.

I was bit surprised not to see the line - Peter Ridsdale need not apply - Newton Heath Aquatic Supplies can forget about their Christmas bonus just yet.

Harry has a nice house - latest

I forked out the £3.70 to get FREE the Rich List article that highlighted Harry Redknapp is worth £6 million.

Far from gun-running to and importing coke from latin-america "H" has a really tasty manor in a posh street in Poole, which is probably worth most of that £6 million, reading between the lines.

4-4-2 have done a lovely job in "outing" the rich and the mega rich. It's full of goodies on the rich and the filthy rich. I was particularly taken with the pen pictures drawn of Man City's resident pockets David Makin and John Wardle. Having worked for these guys in the mid 90's I have to say they are/were very interesting inidividuals, not particluarly nice but interesting nonetheless.

Perhaps I'll go on the record about their interesting attitudes to people of colour in the future, after it's gone through our legal department. Needless to say a company whose reputation and brand, that was built on it's urban clientele, was not fully supported by the dynamic duo's choice of vocabulary. Put it this way Sisoko would have been upset, Di Canio not so offended.

Flash Harry

Harry Redhnapp is worth £6 million.



Can you believe that

From where on earth can you amass that kind of money, with such a low key playing career during the mean days of football and managing clubs that historically would be described as unfashionable - adj. media term for poor.

It would very interesting to find out

Picture from Bob Dunning's excellent 70-71 Football site

Psycho

It is not long since Stuart Pearce was made the manager at Manchester City towards the fag end of last season. He inherited an unenviable position. Witness what happened to Joe Royle and Kevin Keegan and there was also the inevitable sale of one of city's greatest potential youth products - Shaun Wright-Phillips. Few would have been as positive in picking up what appeared a broken poisoned chalice.

But looking back at this early stage it is testament to the qualities of this fiercest of former players that things are looking very good. The sale of Wright Phillips has given City the kind of boost that Wayne Rooney’s departure gave to Everton a season before. But whereas Everton’s trail of 1-0 victims saw them grind themselves up to the unfamiliar heights European contention City appear to developing an attractive brand of more open football with youth emerging in every department of the pitch.

Saturday I was at the City of Manchester stadium to see at close hand (well it was two or three rows from the back of the Colin Bell Stand, actually) what is making the city fans drool when in past seasons there has been that terminable sense of self-loathing that has been keeping them warm.

To be honest as a game it had all the qualities of an Everton 1-0 yawn from last season. Liverpool arrived with a neat passing game and fairly obvious desire to use Peter Crouch as much as possible. Gerrard was everywhere and a rusty looking Didi Hamann provided some Teutonic back bone to the midfield. City were a match for Liverpool’s clipped passing game but rarely showed the bite or passion shown in the home side’s technical area.

After the events of the previous home game against Blackburn Rovers where Pearce had twice came onto the field to inject some much need pace into proceeding, Psycho was choosing to imitate a deranged Marcel Marceau stopping himself violently at the point his body was about to leave his imaginary Blaine-like Perspex box. He really was like a caged animal and should be the subject of a small David Attenborough natural history series on the soon to be launched digital station BBC 9.

Obviously it is too early to be putting Stuart Pearce in the frame for the next holder of the England Manager’s post…. sorry I’m just getting a message in my left ear that it isn’t too early at all. In fact watch as premature media hype sends Stuart down the John Gregory blind alley of managerial oblivion.

Let’s just say, good manager, good values, good team and fingers crossed for the future.

George Best - substituted 1pm 25-11-2005

God bless you George. You made a lot of people very happy. R.I.P.

Today Crawley Town - Tomorrow .... well somewhere else I guess

Thursday's teletext page 323 - the bit that tells you about the poor people's news - heralded the capture of tricky winger Tony Scully by Crawley Town boss John Hollins. Hollins picked up the post recently when Graham Rix hit lucky at Hearts.

Tony Scully's career is one of those bi products of the infamous Bosman ruling. Another bi-product is obviously Michael Ballack touting round his expensive ass for £150,000 a week - but more of that at a later date I'm sure.

Scully has played for an awful lot of clubs in a career that goes back as far as the 2nd December 1993 when he signed as a trainee for Crystal Palace. So next Friday when he celebrates 12 years as a professional footballer he will have happy memories of the banter and camaraderie in no less than 15 different dressing rooms in the league and conference arena.

This is surely no record as there are many players who are not being actively pursued with cheque books who arrive at the end of their increasingly shorter length contracts, looking for their next pay cheque.

I remember being very excited in the late nineties when my team bought Tony, as he was highly starred as a dynamic winger with all the tricks and turns that set fans pulses racing. A personal highlight of his time in my life was a glorious 76th minute goal in the 6-0 demolition of Crystal Palace (ironically his first ex-club). It was a last match of the season survival clash that saved our bacon.

Which raises the point, that with so many ex clubs and so many opportunities to "go back to the old place and stick it up them" why he has only managed 13 goals. And surely it is that crazy irony makes football the beautiful game it is.

Tony Scully will be making 15th club debut tomorrow at home to Gravesend - he hasn't been there, yet - our thoughts will be with him.

thekingorama@googlemail.com