It's somewhat belated I know, but back in December someone asked me to write a sporting review of 2010 for a feature. I don't think it was used, so I thought, waste not want not, I may as well post it here, even if just to bump up my number of posts. Enjoy...
January:
Andy Murray reaches his second grand slam tennis final, but loses out to Roger Federer in straight sets (6-3, 6-4, 7-6), at the Australian Open.
Leeds United pull off an FA Cup shock, as the League 1 side beat old rivals Manchester United, of the Premier League, at Old Trafford in the third round.
Tragedy hits the Africa Cup of Nations before it even gets underway, as the bus of the Togo national team is attacked by gunmen, as it makes its way to the tournament in Angola, leaving three people dead. After much deliberation the team is withdrawn from the tournament by the Togo government, but the competition goes ahead with 15 teams. Egypt eventually lift the trophy, for the third consecutive time, after beating Ghana in the final. It’s their seventh tournament win overall.
February:
Vancouver hosts the Winter Olympics, where Amy Williams brings home Great Britain’s first individual gold medal since Robin Cousins in 1980, by winning the skeleton bob event.
Manchester United defeat Aston Villa at Wembley to win the League Cup.
March:
France win rugby union’s Six Nations, beating all their opponents to take the grand slam.
Rangers beat St Mirren 1-0 to win the Scottish League Cup.
Imperial Commander wins the Cheltenham Gold Cup, ridden by Paddy Brennan and trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies.
April:
A. P. McCoy wins his first ever Grand National, at the 15th attempt, on Don’t Push It, trained by Jonjo O’Neill.
Phil Mickelson wins golf’s US Masters in Augusta, finishing 3 shots clear of Britain’s Lee Westwood.
David Haye successfully defends his WBA world heavyweight title by beating American John Ruiz at Manchester’s MEN Arena.
May:
Chelsea are crowned English Premier League champions. They complete the double a few days later by beating Portsmouth at Wembley to lift the FA Cup.
In Scotland, Rangers take the Premier League title, while Dundee United beat Ross County to win the Scottish Cup.
A month of football finals sees Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan win the Champions League by beating Bayern Munich and Fulham lose out to Athletico Madrid in the Europa League. Domestically, Blackpool win the Championship playoff final, beating Cardiff City, to join football’s top flight for the first time since 1971.
England win the World Twenty20 cricket championship in the West Indies, by beating old adversaries Australia in the final by a convincing 7 wicket margin.
Neil Robertson becomes the first Australian to win the World Snooker Championship, when he beats Graeme Dott in the final at the Crucible. He is also the first player from outside the UK and Ireland to win the title since Canadian Cliff Thorburn in 1980.
June:
The England football team underperforms spectacularly at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Finishing second in their group, with just 5 points, they lose 4-1 to Germany in the second round. Elsewhere in the competition, France fail to make it out of their group, along with the host nation. Also returning home early are the 2006 winners, Italy, who finish below Paraguay and Slovakia in their group.
Wimbledon plays host to the longest tennis match of all time, where John Isner eventually defeats Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68. The match lasts for 11 hours 5 minutes, over 3 days; the fifth set alone is longer than the longest complete match, at 8 hours 11 minutes.
Workforce wins the Epsom Derby, ridden by Ryan Moore. Trainer Sir Michael Stoute was also responsible for Shergar’s victory in the race in 1981.
Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell wins the US Open golf championship at Pebble Beach. He is the first European to win the tournament for 40 years.
July:
Both Wimbledon and the World Cup reach their conclusions this month. Firstly, Andy Murray is beaten in the semi-final at the All England Club, by Rafael Nadal, who goes on to beat Tomás Berdych in a straight sets final win. Berdych himself had beaten defending champion Roger Federer and number 3 seed Novak Djokovic on his way to reaching the final.
A week later, Spain beat the Netherlands 1 - 0 after extra time to win the World Cup final. They are world champions in football for the first time ever.
South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen wins The Open golf Championship at St Andrews.
Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah shine for Great Britain at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona. Ennis wins heptathlon gold, while Farah takes first place in both the 10,000 and 5,000 metres. Britain enjoys its best performance at the tournament, bringing home 19 medals, 6 of them gold.
Ferrari cause controversy in Formula 1, when they issue team orders to Felipe Massa to let his team mate Fernando Alonso pass him, to win the German Grand Prix.
Spain’s Alberto Contador wins the Tour De France for the second consecutive year, his third title overall, having also won in 2007. Britain’s Mark Cavendish wins 5 stages, taking his overall total to 15 in the competition.
August:
The IBSA World Blind Football Championships are held on British soil for the first time, when they are hosted by the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford. The tournament is hailed as a big success, with over 2,000 spectators in total watching the action, including near capacity crowds for all of England’s matches. On the pitch, England have to eventually settle for 4th place, after being well beaten by Brazil in the semi-final and narrowly losing out to China in the 3rd/4th place playoff match. Brazil beat Spain in the final to lift the trophy.
Hampshire win the domestic Twenty20 cricket title on their own ground, The Rose Bowl, by losing fewer wickets than Somerset after their scores are tied in a thrilling final.
The test series between England and Pakistan is overshadowed by allegations of corruption. 3 Pakistan players are alleged to have deliberately bowled no-balls at certain points in the match, in exchange for money. England go on to win the series, but the cricket world is shocked by the revelations.
Germany’s Martin Kaymer wins the final golf major of the year, by beating American Bubba Watson in a 3 hole playoff to take the US PGA title at Whistling Straits.
September:
Nottinghamshire win cricket’s County Championship on the final day of the season. They pick up enough bowling bonus points against Lancashire to steel the title from Somerset.
Warwickshire win the CB40 competition by beating Somerset In the final at Lords.
There are major worries about the Commonwealth Games in Delhi as they draw closer. Firstly with the collapse of a footbridge at the compound, then pictures emerge of the athletes’ accommodation, which looks less than sanitary. Officials assure the watching world that everything will be ready in time.
October:
Europe claim victory in a rain affected Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor. US Open champion Graeme McDowell seals the victory for Colin Montgomerie’s team as the final day’s play has to be rescheduled to Monday for the first time in the competition’s history.
The Commonwealth Games get underway in Delhi, but the criticism continues about standards at the event. Despite all the concerns, the games are eventually haled as a success.
Stand-out performances for the home nations include:
2 gold medals for England’s Tom Daley, as he wins the men’s 10 metre platform diving competition along with the 10 metre synchronised competition with diving partner Max Brick.
Swimming gold for Scotland’s Hannah Miley, as she wins the 400 metres women’s individual medley.
2 gold medals for Wales, Dai Greene winning the 400 metres hurdles and Robert Weale winning the lawn bowls competition.
Wigan beat St Helen’s to win rugby league’s Super League grand final at Old Trafford.
November:
After weeks of build-up, David Haye defeats Audley Harrison in the 3rd round to retain his WBA world heavyweight title in a disappointing fight at Manchester’s MEN Arena
Sebastian Vettel becomes the youngest ever Formula 1 world champion, taking the accolade from Lewis Hamilton, by winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. His Red Bull team also win the constructors championship. He is one of 4 drivers still in with a chance of winning the title at the final Grand Prix of an exciting season.
In rugby union’s autumn internationals, England equal their biggest margin of victory over Australia, with an impressive 35 – 18 win at Twickenham. Scotland beat world champions South Africa at Murrayfield, by 21 points to 17.
Meanwhile in the other code, New Zealand complete a shock 16 – 12 victory over Australia to win rugby league’s 4 Nations Tournament in Brisbane.
Great Britain bring home 5 gold medals, across all disciplines, from the World Rowing Championships in New Zealand.
The Ashes get underway down under with the first test match between Australia and England in Brisbane.
December:
The Ashes series continues with the test matches at Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne, before the final match in Sydney at the turn of the year.
---
Additional research: Wikipedia.org, BBC Sport, BBC News, guardian.co.uk,
Monday 7 February 2011
Sunday 6 February 2011
Never A Dull Moment
It’s been over 18 months since I last did any blogging, I’m not sure what happened there, writer’s block or crisis of confidence or whatever, I don’t know, but one thing’s for sure, a lot has gone on at my favourite football club in the meantime.
When I last posted, Hereford United were still mixing with the (relatively) big boys in league 1 (that’s division 3 in real terms). Unfortunately, it was a short lived stay and the club was relegated back to the basement at the first time of asking. Due to the team’s disappointing performance at the higher level, manager Graham Turner decided to fall on his sword and resign from his position with immediate effect, so immediate in fact, that there were still a few games left to play before the end of the season. The chairman accepted Turner’s resignation, the chairman being one Mr G Turner. In 1998, Graham Turner bought the club from it’s previous owners, when it was on the brink of financial ruin, taking on the unenviable task or tasks, of both managing the club and running it, trying to balance the books.
Following his resignation, from his manager’s job, Turner’s number 2, John Trewick was installed as the club’s new manager and promptly did no better at all, which was of course no great surprise, as he had the same squad of very average players to work with, a squad who already knew that the club would be in the division below next season.
A summer of speculation and signings ensued before we were all set to go again, back in the 4th tier with Mr Trewick at the helm. Expectations were relatively high, not least because Trewick had been touted as the man to take Hereford straight back up to league 1 (division 3… remember), all be it by the man who had installed him as manager. You can imagine the disappointment then, when, by early March, the bulls found themselves very much in a battle at the wrong end of the table. Following some head-scratchingly odd tactical decisions, which led to some dreadful results, relegation was a terrifyingly real possibility. A 2-0 home defeat to Macclesfield was the final straw and, on the following Monday, John ‘Tucker’ Trewick was relieved of his managerial duties. So who did the chairman (Graham Turner… remember) turn to, to make sure the club didn’t fall back into the conference? He turned to 1 Mr G Turner. That’s right, the chairman was the manager again, whilst still also the chairman. After little sign of improvement, results did start to pick up and the club moved away from the dreaded relegation spots and into the far less nail-biting territory of mid-table obscurity.
But the twists and turns don’t end there. Having made sure that Hereford United would be a football league club again the following season, the chairman and manager decided he wanted to stop doing both jobs and put his majority shareholding up for sale. On the last day of the season, Turner ended his 15 year stay with the club, 12 of them as chairman, with a home win and the speculation started as to who would buy the club.
After a couple of weeks it became apparent that there were no Arab sheikhs or Russian oil tycoons about to come in and purchase a small 4th division football club. Then, finally, after what felt like a lifetime, on June 4th, the bulls’ new chairman was named as David Keyte. Keyte, a local businessman and one time player for Hereford’s reserve side, revealed that he would be assisted by new vice chairman Tim Russon, best known in the area as a reporter on ITV’s Central News, regularly covering the on and off field exploits of Hereford United. The pair wasted no time in stamping their mark on the club. Their first task was to appoint a new manager. 18 days after they were revealed as the new owners, Keyte and Russon appointed Simon Davey as the new manager of the club. Davey had pedigree, having managed Barnsley in the championship (2nd division). His most notable achievement while he was with the ‘tykes’ was reaching the FA cup semi-final, knocking out first Liverpool at Anfield, then Chelsea at Oakwell, in front of their own fans. There was however, a bit of a cloud over Davey’s appointment. Just 2 months earlier, he had taken the job as manager of Darlington, a position which he allegedly resigned from via email, while he was in the USA at the end of the season. The Darlington chairman certainly had plenty to say on the matter, none of it complimentary towards either Hereford or Davey.
Nevertheless, Davey got on with the job in hand, namely assembling a squad of players, having inherited just 7 from the previous season. Things moved on a pace and before we knew it, hundreds of us were on our way to Crewe for the first match of the new season. More than 900 bulls fans assembled at Gresty Road, home of Crewe Alexandra, to witness what was to be a fairytale start for the new regime. A 1-0 win, thanks to a goal from new signing and new captain, Janos Kovacs, gave Davey his first 3 points as Hereford United manager. But the honeymoon was to be
short-lived…
By the beginning of October, after 10 league games, that opening day win at Crewe was still the only one the bulls had achieved. Added to it was 1 home draw against Gillingham, to give the club a grand total of 4 points, enough to see them sitting rock bottom of the league. Action needed to be taken and, to the credit of the new owners, it was. Simon Davey was sacked as manager of Hereford United the Monday after a 2-0 defeat at Barnet. But what now? Who would be trusted with the job of overseeing team matters? Of course… the physio.
Jamie Pitman has a long standing relationship with Hereford United, going back around 15 years. He first joined the club as a player in 1996 and was part of the team that dropped out of the football league in 1997, before joining Yeovil the following year. In 2002 he re-joined the club for another 4 seasons, culminating with victory in the conference playoff final, which saw the club return to the football league. He didn’t get chance to play for the club in the league again, as he was released after the promotion season. However after just 2 years away, playing for Gloucestershire side Forest Green Rovers, where he was also assistant manager for a short time, he returned to Hereford once more, this time as the club’s physiotherapist. Pitman then, seemed the obvious choice to take temporary charge of team affairs while the club searched for a new permanent manager. Form took an almost immediate turn for the better under Pitman, with a creditable home draw against league leaders Port Vale, which saw a vastly improved team performance. Then came a quite remarkable game at Northampton. By half time at Sixfields, home of Northampton Town, it looked as though normal service had been resumed, with United already 3-0 down. But Jamie Pitman wasn’t going to have that and, an incredible turnaround, the likes of which I’ve certainly never seen before, saw Hereford score 4 goals in 19 second half minutes without reply to win the game. Whatever was to happen for the rest of the season, Pitman and his Hereford side had cemented their place in the history books, in fact, they had written a new page.
The upturn in form continued under Pitman and the team went 7 games without losing, securing their first home win of the season, all be it against much lower graded opposition in the form of Kent league side Hythe Town in the FA cup. They also finally managed to climb out of the dreaded relegation zone at the beginning of November, although by the end of the month, they were back in it again as the unbeaten run gave way to a losing one. The run up to Christmas saw league defeats at Lincoln, Shrewsbury (that hurt) and Bradford, before a run of postponements due to bitterly cold weather meant they didn’t play again until boxing day, where they lost once more away at Wycombe.
However, the turn of the year brought about another change in fortune for Pitman’s men, as they went on another unbeaten run, winning 4 and drawing 1 of their first 5 games of the year, booking an FA cup tie at Sheffield Wednesday in the process, more of which in another post to come. Even after being swept aside by the higher ranked Wednesday side, Hereford won their next league game, the following Tuesday, away at Torquay, to keep the great run in the league going.
Unfortunately, this latest run came to an end just yesterday (Saturday 5th Feb), with a 1-0 home defeat to Lincoln City. But that should have brought you bang up to date with the roller coaster ride that has been the last 18 months supporting Hereford United. Jamie Pitman has been given the manager’s job until the end of the season. He was assisted for a short time by veteran coach Lenny Lawrence, before he was lured away by Crystal Palace. So what will the last 3 months of the season bring? Well, quite frankly, your guess is as good as mine, but I’m fairly sure, there will never be a dull moment.
When I last posted, Hereford United were still mixing with the (relatively) big boys in league 1 (that’s division 3 in real terms). Unfortunately, it was a short lived stay and the club was relegated back to the basement at the first time of asking. Due to the team’s disappointing performance at the higher level, manager Graham Turner decided to fall on his sword and resign from his position with immediate effect, so immediate in fact, that there were still a few games left to play before the end of the season. The chairman accepted Turner’s resignation, the chairman being one Mr G Turner. In 1998, Graham Turner bought the club from it’s previous owners, when it was on the brink of financial ruin, taking on the unenviable task or tasks, of both managing the club and running it, trying to balance the books.
Following his resignation, from his manager’s job, Turner’s number 2, John Trewick was installed as the club’s new manager and promptly did no better at all, which was of course no great surprise, as he had the same squad of very average players to work with, a squad who already knew that the club would be in the division below next season.
A summer of speculation and signings ensued before we were all set to go again, back in the 4th tier with Mr Trewick at the helm. Expectations were relatively high, not least because Trewick had been touted as the man to take Hereford straight back up to league 1 (division 3… remember), all be it by the man who had installed him as manager. You can imagine the disappointment then, when, by early March, the bulls found themselves very much in a battle at the wrong end of the table. Following some head-scratchingly odd tactical decisions, which led to some dreadful results, relegation was a terrifyingly real possibility. A 2-0 home defeat to Macclesfield was the final straw and, on the following Monday, John ‘Tucker’ Trewick was relieved of his managerial duties. So who did the chairman (Graham Turner… remember) turn to, to make sure the club didn’t fall back into the conference? He turned to 1 Mr G Turner. That’s right, the chairman was the manager again, whilst still also the chairman. After little sign of improvement, results did start to pick up and the club moved away from the dreaded relegation spots and into the far less nail-biting territory of mid-table obscurity.
But the twists and turns don’t end there. Having made sure that Hereford United would be a football league club again the following season, the chairman and manager decided he wanted to stop doing both jobs and put his majority shareholding up for sale. On the last day of the season, Turner ended his 15 year stay with the club, 12 of them as chairman, with a home win and the speculation started as to who would buy the club.
After a couple of weeks it became apparent that there were no Arab sheikhs or Russian oil tycoons about to come in and purchase a small 4th division football club. Then, finally, after what felt like a lifetime, on June 4th, the bulls’ new chairman was named as David Keyte. Keyte, a local businessman and one time player for Hereford’s reserve side, revealed that he would be assisted by new vice chairman Tim Russon, best known in the area as a reporter on ITV’s Central News, regularly covering the on and off field exploits of Hereford United. The pair wasted no time in stamping their mark on the club. Their first task was to appoint a new manager. 18 days after they were revealed as the new owners, Keyte and Russon appointed Simon Davey as the new manager of the club. Davey had pedigree, having managed Barnsley in the championship (2nd division). His most notable achievement while he was with the ‘tykes’ was reaching the FA cup semi-final, knocking out first Liverpool at Anfield, then Chelsea at Oakwell, in front of their own fans. There was however, a bit of a cloud over Davey’s appointment. Just 2 months earlier, he had taken the job as manager of Darlington, a position which he allegedly resigned from via email, while he was in the USA at the end of the season. The Darlington chairman certainly had plenty to say on the matter, none of it complimentary towards either Hereford or Davey.
Nevertheless, Davey got on with the job in hand, namely assembling a squad of players, having inherited just 7 from the previous season. Things moved on a pace and before we knew it, hundreds of us were on our way to Crewe for the first match of the new season. More than 900 bulls fans assembled at Gresty Road, home of Crewe Alexandra, to witness what was to be a fairytale start for the new regime. A 1-0 win, thanks to a goal from new signing and new captain, Janos Kovacs, gave Davey his first 3 points as Hereford United manager. But the honeymoon was to be
short-lived…
By the beginning of October, after 10 league games, that opening day win at Crewe was still the only one the bulls had achieved. Added to it was 1 home draw against Gillingham, to give the club a grand total of 4 points, enough to see them sitting rock bottom of the league. Action needed to be taken and, to the credit of the new owners, it was. Simon Davey was sacked as manager of Hereford United the Monday after a 2-0 defeat at Barnet. But what now? Who would be trusted with the job of overseeing team matters? Of course… the physio.
Jamie Pitman has a long standing relationship with Hereford United, going back around 15 years. He first joined the club as a player in 1996 and was part of the team that dropped out of the football league in 1997, before joining Yeovil the following year. In 2002 he re-joined the club for another 4 seasons, culminating with victory in the conference playoff final, which saw the club return to the football league. He didn’t get chance to play for the club in the league again, as he was released after the promotion season. However after just 2 years away, playing for Gloucestershire side Forest Green Rovers, where he was also assistant manager for a short time, he returned to Hereford once more, this time as the club’s physiotherapist. Pitman then, seemed the obvious choice to take temporary charge of team affairs while the club searched for a new permanent manager. Form took an almost immediate turn for the better under Pitman, with a creditable home draw against league leaders Port Vale, which saw a vastly improved team performance. Then came a quite remarkable game at Northampton. By half time at Sixfields, home of Northampton Town, it looked as though normal service had been resumed, with United already 3-0 down. But Jamie Pitman wasn’t going to have that and, an incredible turnaround, the likes of which I’ve certainly never seen before, saw Hereford score 4 goals in 19 second half minutes without reply to win the game. Whatever was to happen for the rest of the season, Pitman and his Hereford side had cemented their place in the history books, in fact, they had written a new page.
The upturn in form continued under Pitman and the team went 7 games without losing, securing their first home win of the season, all be it against much lower graded opposition in the form of Kent league side Hythe Town in the FA cup. They also finally managed to climb out of the dreaded relegation zone at the beginning of November, although by the end of the month, they were back in it again as the unbeaten run gave way to a losing one. The run up to Christmas saw league defeats at Lincoln, Shrewsbury (that hurt) and Bradford, before a run of postponements due to bitterly cold weather meant they didn’t play again until boxing day, where they lost once more away at Wycombe.
However, the turn of the year brought about another change in fortune for Pitman’s men, as they went on another unbeaten run, winning 4 and drawing 1 of their first 5 games of the year, booking an FA cup tie at Sheffield Wednesday in the process, more of which in another post to come. Even after being swept aside by the higher ranked Wednesday side, Hereford won their next league game, the following Tuesday, away at Torquay, to keep the great run in the league going.
Unfortunately, this latest run came to an end just yesterday (Saturday 5th Feb), with a 1-0 home defeat to Lincoln City. But that should have brought you bang up to date with the roller coaster ride that has been the last 18 months supporting Hereford United. Jamie Pitman has been given the manager’s job until the end of the season. He was assisted for a short time by veteran coach Lenny Lawrence, before he was lured away by Crystal Palace. So what will the last 3 months of the season bring? Well, quite frankly, your guess is as good as mine, but I’m fairly sure, there will never be a dull moment.
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