The curse of the player of the season trophy!

Beware the curse of the player of the season trophy!

It seems to be something of a poisoned chalice of late. Andy Fleming picks up the bauble before the Rushden game, then goes home because he’s not hanging around! Likewise, Marc Williams won it last season and hasn’t scored since, his most notable achievement since the award being a serious injury!

And the season before that? Neil Roberts became the first player of the year to be immediately released!

And it goes on: Steve Evans won it the year before and went on to score six goals from centre back in the following campaign. Unfortunately, three of them were into our own net as we were relegated from the Football League!

What an incredible sequence! Perhaps we need to vote tactically next time; if we’d picked Richard Hope two seasons ago he might have been held hostage for a year by the New Broughton Liberation front and we could have stayed up!

Where There's Strife There's Hope

I'm feeling a little embarrassed by the amusement I initially felt when I read this. Richard Hope being released after just seven fames for Grimsby can hardly be much of a shock to us.

The thing is, at least they only had to put up with him for that short length of time; as a result he won't have damaged them enough to send them to The Conference. The blind faith we showed in the bloke, in the face of constantly inept performances, was a key factor in why we didn't beat the drop.

Louis Arrival to Drive Hope Out?

So how do you convince a player who you're desperate to offload that he should walk away rather than sit on his contract and draw an extra year's salary out of you? Well, you could always sign a player who has recently given him nightmares!

I recall Jefferson Louis as a big, awkward target man, limited in movement but nontheless capable of bamboozling Richard Hope. Hope spent the game against Mansfield at The Racecourse trying to haul him to the floor in the box, incapable of finding another way of dealing with a big lump of a striker, but for some reason the referee turned a blind eye. Karma would get us in the crucial return game when Town took the lead through a penalty conceded when Gareth Evans was blatantly pushed onto the ball. And who scored the penalty? Step forward Mister Louis!

As you can see from this Times article, he has certainly experienced a few things in his life. Richard Hope's close attentions would hardly register.

Scouting Mission

Yesterday's FA Trophy Final was a chance to see what decent Conference sides are like, and it made me feel a little nervous.

I've spent most of my football watching life looking at teams we're going to have to play against, either on TV or live, and I naturally try to imagine what we'd do against them. The Ebbsfleet-Torquay was contested by two decent sides who, in the past, I'd have felt we had a fair chance of beating. That was the past now-last season we had to watch a Wrexham side like no other I've seen. You couldn't confidently predict we'd enjoy success against anyone. And now we have no squad as such. Blue Square have made us second favourites to win the Conference, but you'd have to be crazy to make any sort of judgement on us as no-one knows what our team will be!

Tell you what though, I hope Ebbsfleet's eighteen-year-old striker John Akinde has enjoyed a big money move in the Summer, as I'd be terrified of him having a run at our defence! Especially if we can't offload Richard Hope! Imagine Asafa Powell in a race with Chris Moyles!

The Cull Begins

So the first tranche of players released has been announced, and although there are some sensible decisions (and one which is a blessed relief!) I'm still left with a basic concenr about whether Brian Little's decision-making is what it should be.

Don't get me wrong; I don't think Michael Proctor is God's gift to football. However, he was the only player last season who looked like he'd score goals and please don't try to tell me he wouldn't have some impact in The Conference! Perhaps more confusingly, if Bolland hasn't done enough to be offered a contract then what more could he have done?

The decision to get rid of Aiston's an interesting one. I thought he looked alright personally, and if he's not got what it takes you've got to ask why he was considered good enoug to be given a contract to Summer 2009 just four months ago.

I'm sad to see Sonner and Whitley go. Sonner's injury took the decision out of Little's hands to be sure, and I don't think anyone could make a full judgement on Whitley without seeing him regularly on the training pitch, though I can't help wondering what a full pre-season might have done for him.

The offering of Silvio Spann on a free is inevitable-sadly he always felt like a luxury we could hardly afford, while all I can say about the decision to do the same for Richard Hope is why did Little constantly select him ahead of the likes of Mike Williams when he was lacking?

The Summer was always going to bring some eyebrow-raising decisions. I just hope he's vindicated once the dust settles.

A Few Hard Facts

In league games which Richard Hope has played in this season we have conceded a goal every 58.51 minutes. In league games which Richard Hope has not played in this season we have conceded a goal every 118.71 minutes.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooops

I learned at the weekend that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

One of my favourite moments last season was in a game between Darlington and Bury. A Darlo player crosses the ball into the goalmouth and, in trying to hook the ball over his shoulder to safety, a defender slams it into his own face so hard it bounces into the net. It was an instant blooper DVD classic, but we set the bar a notch higher on Saturday!

The moment Richard Hope and Anthony Williams ran into each other I knew we'd get onto “Match of the Day” that night! Seven intervening hours having anaesthetised the impact of the incident somewhat, I could only smile as Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer mocked us.

However, the next night the BBC did some research and dug out Silvio Spann's howler too! Spann's slip as he took a corner, spooning the ball into the away end, surely set a new standard; we'd provided two classic foul-ups in one match! Danny Baker must rue leaving the gaffe compilation DVD market too soon! Didn't he know we were about to give the genre a much needed shot in the arm?

Nothing's new in football though. My favourite howler was a Darren Wright own goal at Crewe, where he bent the ball past a stranded Mike Salmon into the top corner. That is until we signed the true master of disaster: goalkeeper Vince O'Keefe.

His greatest moment came at Mansfield. We had a free kick on the edge of our own area, a situation which you'd think even O'Keefe could negotiate safely. However, as Phil Hardy tapped the ball to him, O'Keefe decided to look away, the ball went through his legs and a striker walked the ball into the empty net!

That one made it onto the comedy DVDs. A less celebrated but more bizarre incident occurred in a home game against Hereford. A Wrexham attack broke down and the ball was booted up the pitch. There were no outfield players in Wrexham's half as the ball trickled towards O'Keefe, who waited for it on the edge of the area. Again, an innocuous situation, but with O'Keefe danger was always just around the corner! Presumably bored of waiting for the ball to arrive, or misguidedly thinking he was helping the game to flow, he stepped out of the box, picked the ball up, and stepped back into the area! Fantastically, he was filled with indignation when the referee had the temerity to blow for handball!

There were many other classics in his repertoire. I recall him punching a cross into his own net with terrific gusto at Wigan, and scoring a superb own goal against Cambridge: United packed the near post for a corner but overhit the flag-kick. However, O'Keefe caught the ball to his chest, staggered and slowly fell backwards into his own net, all the time clutching it ball tightly as if it were a baby!

At least we haven't hit those depths. Yet.