FAN ZONE
TUST's Chair, Nick Brodrick's column in this week's Herald Express - updated for the latest news.
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ENGLAND’S HARD DAYS NIGHT AS SPAIN PROVE SUPERIOR
WHO WOULD YOU PICK TO BE THE NEXT ENGLAND MANAGER?
UNITED’S PRE-SEASON PREPARATIONS CONTINUE BUILDING UP FITNESS
As if the mood in the south-west wasn’t already gloomy, Monday, in the middle of what is laughingly called summer, turned into a wet and miserable day. This is, of course, if you were an England fan hoping that, finally, football was coming home.
But 58 years since England won the World Cup in 1966 and 653 matches later the country is still waiting for a trophy.
It might have been ‘Hey Jude’ during the group stages but England’s defeat was more of ‘A Hard Days Night’. Spain were clearly the stand-out team of Euro 2024 winning all seven of their fixtures putting out sides like Germany, France and Italy.
Sadly Southgate’s side hit a Berlin wall as Spain grabbed a late winner to crush English hopes.
Now, inevitably it seems, the blame game has begun. You only have to look at the posts on social media to see what fans feel. You’re either a Gareth Southgate supporter or you feel his time is up.
For his supporters Southgate’s record is pretty impressive as the last six years indicate: 2018 World Cup semi-final, 2019 Nations League semi-final, 2020 Euro final, 2022 World Cup quarter-final, 2024 Euro final.
His detractors highlight his negativity and reluctance to use his flair players. The squad contained the top English players who when playing for their clubs perform quite differently. Why weren’t Watkins and Palmer used from the start and Gordon too?
Football is a sport full of opinions but in the end it comes down to the manager and trust. Do you trust the man in charge? Well, it only took a couple of days before Southgate decided to end his reign.
There is talk of a knighthood so maybe that would be a fitting ending.
Now the papers and social media are awash with suggestions about who should be next in charge, should the person be English? There are plenty of names but who should it be?
What’s your opinion? Contact: fanszone.tu@gmail.com.
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England’s loss has rather overshadowed Torquay’s opening pre-season friendly at Buckland’s VX3 stadium on Friday night. Despite the rain it was a decent work out in front of a record crowd of 1,781 as the two sides first of all showed the battle of the kits - Buckland in their new VX3 shirts and United in their new VX3 away kit already selling well from the recently re-opened club shop after a make over.
As manager Paul Wotton emphasised it was important to get pitch time into the players’ legs. He summed it up, “Good night, no drama.”
United moved on to the next friendly at Tavistock on Wednesday, a comfortable 4-0 win, as the squad up their match fitness with the opening of the National South season on August 10 the goal, a home fixture against Enfield Town.
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Who are Enfield, the Towners? Formed on June 23 2001 Enfield, who play at the Queen Elizabeth II stadium, were promoted from the Isthmian League to move into National South. They were the first fully supporter-owned club in the country.
Their mission statement says, ‘Our vision is to be an inclusive club for all, a football and social centre for the community with a range of teams playing at the highest sustainable levels possible.’
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Regular readers of this column know that TUST has played a prominent role in the introduction of the Football Governance Bill which, with cross-party support, was progressing through Parliament before the General Election put a stop to it becoming law.
However, the new Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy has confirmed the Government will follow through with its commitment to introduce an independent football regulator and it was included in the King’s Speech on Wednesday.
She also seems keen to ensure grass-roots football receives the funding it deserves; interesting times ahead.
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Last week the National League announced a new midweek cup competition between National League teams and Premier League Under-21 sides. The format, which will start in November, will see 16 clubs from Step 1 enter along with 16 academy sides in an EFL Trophy-style cup. Group games will only be National League v Premier League - a total of four games - with the top two from each qualifying for the quarter-finals.
National League clubs will host the group and knock-out games up until the final. Games will be streamed on National League TV.
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A few of last season’s squad have found new clubs: Aaron Jarvis (Yeovil), Brett McGavin (Yeovil), Jack Stobbs (Buxton), Ethon Archer (Cheltenham), Rhys Lovett (Welling) and Arkell Jude-Boyd (Cheltenham).
Paint Up Plainmoor continues apace with more outside work planned this week.
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