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Happy New Year everyone! The U’sual Ramblings #18 arrives on the first day of 2023, which I’m sure we all agree will hopefully be a significant improvement for the U’s than the departing 2022. This time last year the U’s were 20th with 22 points, today we’re 22nd on 17 points — not exactly progress by any measure. A disastrous January 2022 saw the departure of Hayden Mullins, with Wayne Brown taking over and eventually steering the U’s to 15th place in the league. Whilst I have every faith in Matt Bloomfield, and heaven knows we could do with some managerial stability right now, these spirited performances that end with nothing (like Boxing Day) really must come to an end. A key component of that will undoubtedly have to be our transfer window activity, so fingers crossed.
The world outside U’s World Pope Benedict XVI, who in 2013 became the first pope since Gregory XII in 1415 to resign the papacy, citing “lack of strength of mind and body”, passed away yesterday morning at the age of 95. A complex character, and not without some controversy, Joseph Ratzinger grew up in Nazi Germany, and it is a matter of record that he was conscripted into the Hitler Youth. However, often overlooked, all boys were conscripted at the age of 14, and his upbringing was in a strongly anti-nazi family. As Pope, his handling of the Catholic sex abuse cases has been severely criticised, likewise his position on contraception and HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and same-sex marriage. But then he also championed the plight of migrants and refugees and called for nuclear disarmament. It may be based on a fictional encounter, but I would urge anyone to watch The Two Popes based around his decision to resign.
Prince Andrew will no doubt be getting a bit of a sweat on as we enter 2023. Although having paid millions to his sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre, the gagging clause only bought one year of her silence, which expires in February. After that, Giuffre will be free to talk about the case to whomsoever she likes, maybe write a book, commission a stage play, whatever. The Duke of York does of course deny any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, the Windsor household in general is bracing itself for the publication of Prince Harry’s memoir later this month, which is predicted to “sour his troubled relationship with his brother forever” according to the Sunday Times.
Meanwhile across the pond, George Santos is no doubt bracing himself for a stormy start to the new year. The republican congressman-elect has been labelled a complete fraud, with key chapters of his resume exposed as flagrant lies. He was Jewish — lie, he’s Catholic, though he later claimed he meant “Jew-ish”; his mother was in the South Tower on 9/11 — lie; his grandparents had to flee Ukraine to escape the holocaust — lie, they’re from Brazil; that he was a successful property magnate (sounds familiar) — lie; that he was a university graduate — lie; that he worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup — lie; that his company lost four employees in the Pulse nightclub shooting — lie, though he has since revised that claim to clarify they were in the process of being hired. Election officials also want to know how he went from a modest $55k salary two years ago to an estimated wealth of over $11m, and able to loan his own election campaign over $700,000, and particularly where that money came from.
Now, those that defend Santos, or at the very least refuse to condemn him, will state everyone “embellishes” their CV to get a job, and to a degree that may be true, but this isn’t embellishment, this is manufactured lies with a purpose. In the district he has been elected to represent, covering northern Long Island and north-east Queens, these are massive checkbox ticks designed to dupe undecided voters — Jewish, holocaust survivor, 9/11, Goldman Sachs, property magnate, close association with the Pulse nightclub mass shooting etc. What is even more shameful, given he needs every single vote he can garner to be elected Speaker of the House, House Republican Leader Senator Kevin McCarthy has stayed silent on the controversy.
U’s World As mentioned above, all eyes will be on our transfer activity in the days and weeks to come. We’ve already seen some movement, with Matty Longstaff returning to Newcastle United at the end of his loan period, and Cameron Coxe making his loan to Boreham Wood a permanent move. He took a while to win fans over, but I though Coxe had enough about him to establish himself as a first team regular, but it wasn’t to be.
As for Longstaff, although some serious injuries have affected his time at the U’s, I must confess that following the hype around his signature, I was somewhat underwhelmed by what I saw on the pitch. It goes without saying I wish them both well in their football careers going forward. Although with much less of a fanfare, Dan Chesters’ year-long loan from West Ham United has quietly been drawn to a close, Beryly Lubala has likewise returned early to Blackpool, and Charlie Owens back to QPR. In Owens’ case, he only managed three substitute appearances during his time at the club.
At least we got one right
Obviously Matt is clearing the decks to refill the squad this transfer window, but I hope he doesn’t pay too much heed to whoever suggested the previous batch — we’ve only got Appiah left of the last round of recruitment loans, and the rest collectively really haven’t been that good. Whilst I’m not averse to paying some cash for actual signatures, I won’t be at all surprised if we rely heavily (exclusively) on loan agreements.
Stat attack Following on from the TUR#17 stat attack focussing on Boxing Day fixtures, it seems fair to do the same for New Years Day fixtures. Although nowhere close to the number of matches we’ve played on Boxing Day, it’ll come as no surprise that New Years Day fixtures are fairly common — 28 in all, with just 11 at home and the remaining 17 away.
If Boxing Day games weren’t particularly favourable for the U’s, it could be argued that our New Years Day record is marginally better — winning 11 and drawing 8 of the 28 matches. However, before we get giddy with anticipation, it’s also worth bearing in mind that we haven’t won on New Years Day since George Williams’ U’s won 2-1 at the Valley back in 2008. Incidentally, the 21,508 attendance that day was a record for our New Years Day matches.
As for highs and lows, you have to go back to our very first New Years Day fixture in 1938, when Ted Davis’ U’s overcame Barry 6-1 at Layer Road, although Bobby Roberts ran it a very close second when the U’s battered Newport County 5-0 in 1977, also at Layer Road. Low points have been fortunately less emphatic, Jim Smith losing 4-1 at the Valley in 1975, and two 3-0 defeats for Roger Brown at home to Scunthorpe United in 1988, and Joe Dunne at Crawley Town in 2013.
Incidentally, Crawley are our most common New Years Day opponent, playing them on no less that four separate occasions: the last three New Years Days on the trot, and all four in the last six matches on this day. We’ve played today’s opponents Swindon Town twice already on this day, both at the County Ground, losing 2-1 in 1986, but winning 3-0 in 2005 under Phil Parkinson. The latter I’ve already featured in When Saturday Comes #15.
Match of the Day Southampton v Colchester United 16th March 2007 Coca-Cola Championship (Tier 2) Attendance 18,736
Match of the Day for this blog, and we return to the random memorabilia match selector, which has gladly gone back to our glory days in the Championship under Geraint Williams, and a Friday evening fixture at St Mary’s. Not too convenient for the travelling faithful, but this particular exile had no issues whatsoever with the Friday night fixture.
Following the departure of talismanic manager Phil Parkinson to league rivals Hull City, our first season in the Championship had been going far better than most pundits predicted. Despite four defeats and just two draws in our previous six games, the U’s were still in tenth place and in reach of the Premier League play-offs. Jamie Cureton was on fire, scoring freely alongside big Chris Iwelumo — who wasn’t doing too bad either, including four against Parkie’s Hull City on his return to Layer Road.
With Karl Duguid out with a knee injury sustained in our Tuesday evening 2-0 defeat at Hillsborough, Geraint Williams’ U’s lined up that evening:
13..Dean Gerken 3….John White (22. Matthew Mills 76’) 5….Wayne Brown 12..Pat Baldwin 18..Chris Barker 14..Richard Garcia 10..Kem Izzet 6….Kevin Watson 4….Johnnie Jackson 8….Jamie Cureton (15. Jamie Guy 89’) 11..Chris Iwelumo
Although Southampton had suffered a slump in form through February and the first half of March, they were still three places and seven points ahead of the U’s. With their line-up that evening including the likes of Bartosz Bialowski in goal, Chris Baird, a young Gareth Bale, Jermaine Wright and Bradley Wright-Phillips, it was obvious this would be a tough match. The choice of referee, Mr T Kettle of Berkshire, didn’t exactly inspire hope either.
Despite the game being screened on Sky (hence the Friday evening kick-off) I reckon there must have been about 400 loud and proud supporters who made the journey to the South Coast that evening. We didn’t have long to wait for something to celebrate either, when after just four minutes Iwelumo crossed from the wing for Jamie Cureton to expertly fire past Bialowski to give the U’s a 1-0 lead and prompt utter carnage in the away section.
Although danger man Marek Saganowski, who had been giving our defence a difficult time, managed to equalise for the Saints on 26 minutes, it didn’t last long. The Southampton supporters to our left and right were still jeering and giving us the bird as less than sixty seconds later Jamie Cureton restored our lead with a stunning world class volley.
Although the Saints supporters had tried a lame “you’re not singing anymore” after Saganowski’s equaliser, in truth the U’s support simply hadn’t stopped singing from the opening whistle, and following Cureton’s volley, wouldn’t stop singing until well after the final whistle. Honestly, it was both a delight and a privilege to be part of it, with one particular rendition of “Georgie Williams Blue ‘n’ White army” that must have lasted a full ten minutes or more. Shirts were off and being swung around heads, just constant bedlam that drowned out anything the Southampton support had to offer. Given Southampton were managed by George Burley at the time, that gave the evening another edge, and a certain other song did also feature prominently.
On the pitch, it wasn’t so much that we shut up shop and simply tried to defend our lead. It was more about placing the onus on Southampton to come at is, and if necessary through us, if they wanted to get anything from the game. The backline and midfield were constantly snappy at the ankles of our more illustrious opponents, and Dean Gerken was having the game of his life between the sticks, keeping pretty much everything that got past the defence out. Even then, Curo and big Chris were still a constant threat up front, and we really could have had more, including a clear penalty that Mr Kettle saw fit not to award.
Although Burley made three changes second half, bringing on Jhon Viafar, Grzegorz Rasiak and Leon Best, nothing was going to deny the U’s their victory that evening, as the U’s went toe to toe with Southampton showing all in attendance and the Sky audience watching on that we were there on merit. And as Mr Kettle’s final whistle blew we erupted in celebration, bringing our winless streak to an end and our getting our promotion challenge back on track.
This result would mark the beginning of a run of form for the U’s that lasted all the way through to the penultimate game of the season at Stoke City kept the U’s in with a genuine chance of the play-offs. Sadly it wasn’t to be, but still 10th place in our first season in the Championship was something to be immensely proud of.
Southampton did make the play-offs, but were knocked out be eventual winners Derby County in the semi-final, to gain promotion alongside champions Sunderland and runner-up Birmingham City. At the other end, dear friends Southend United were relegated straight back to League One, alongside Luton Town and Leeds United, the latter with a 10 point deduction for going into administration, though they would have been relegated even without that.
Up the U’s!
There’s not so much of a highlights reel, more a compilation of action clips from the game, on YouTube.
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