Latics are just too nice...
Date published: 19 September 2013
says Chronicle Latics man Matthew Chambers
THERE never was a golden age of good manners in sport.
From WG Grace in 1882 to the infamous ‘Bodyline’ series of 1932-33, from the many ball-tampering scandals to the recent talk of applying silicone strips to bats, even cricket has hardly been much of a gentlemen’s game.
In football too, the boundaries of good form have constantly being tested; gamesmanship has always existed.
Athletic’s problem right now — a costly one, too — is that as a team they are pleasant. Too pleasant. There is too much Corinthian spirit about them.
David Mellor shouldn’t have retaliated and kicked out at Lee Frecklington at the New York Stadium on Saturday. Frecklington was smart, getting his little dig in with subtlety. Mellor was not.
Athletic are a young side who have suffered at the hands of those players well-versed in orchestrating an advantage through borderline means.
Look at the penalties conceded this season. Three players over the age of 34 have won spot-kicks against Athletic.
Lee Hughes felt a nudge from Jonathan Grounds and crumpled to the floor. Ryan Lowe fell into Mark Oxley’s outstretched arms as they went for the same ball, and Kevin Davies got in front of James Wesolowski, felt contact and went to ground.
None were dives, as such. Ashley Young was castigated for his fall in the area for Manchester United against Crystal Palace at the weekend. The only difference between that and the three above examples is that he wasn’t quite able to lure his opponent into providing sufficient contact to go down ‘legally’.
You won’t find many managers admitting as much, but outsmarting the referee as well as the
opposition is part of the sport.
Like it or not, Athletic are at a disadvantage if they don’t join in. Who would complain if Adam Rooney took a tumble in the box against Crewe, just like Young and won a penalty award from one of League One’s substandard referees?
WG Grace would approve. So too, you suspect, would Lee Johnson. It’s part of the game and it always has been.
