Wigan, Wembley and Bryan Douglas

I am delighted that Wiggin won the FA Cup but it now looks like they're going down. I can't see them taking more than a point off Arsenal and goal difference will sink them if they draw and then beat Villa.
Growing up, Wiggin was strictly a Rugby League town and a great one at that. It's been a bit odd to see the rise of the footie club - but a gratifying one. The only time I ever was in the old Wembley stadium was to see Rugby League finals. There was a tradition of a northern invasion of London for the weekend of the RL finals; one in which I know that I participated but the details of which remain fuzzy. But I do remember the sense of occasion that Wembley inspired somehow.
Which is a segue into David Whelan's story. Whelan is the owner of Wigan FC and it turns out that he broke his leg playing in the 1962 FA Cup Final against Wolves. That's the first Final of which I have any memories. At the time there was the "wembley hoodoo" of which Whelan was exhibit "A": i.e. for several years teams had to play a man down due to injury. Shortly after subs were introduced but at the time it was part of the the mystique of the FA Cup final and Wembley's hallowed energy-sapping turf was part of that. This was an era when everone watched - there was a well-known effect on the electric system; millions of households switching on electric kettles ar half time to make a cuppa.
That Blackburn side contained a player now unjustly forgotten. Bryan Douglas was a pint-sized magician. Even Best couldn't juggle the ball like Douglas but Best had more speed. A player like Douglas now would be a sensation . A different era.

Hail the Bradman of British Football Managers!!

Sralex has announced his retirement and I confess that I did not anticipate this. He is as clearly in another league to other managers as Bradman is to cricketers except that cricket has the unique international dimension. As much as I would like to say that he's the supreme manager, bar none, I don't think that his astounding record in English football can be easliy compared to other nations. As a United fan, I'm also pleased with his choice of succcessor, David Moyes. I'm expecting more great things. On a sentimental note, I like to think that he restored Busby's legacy. I've written in other posts of Busby's moral achievement and in the almost two decades after the 1968 European Cup triumph United had lost a lot of the lustre.
Sir Matt Busby was a very different personality than Sir Alex Ferguson but what they shared was an unquenchable passion for football. David Moyes seems to sshare this. Good luck to him.

Quietly Flows the Don Some thoughts that reinforce the uniqueness of the Don. When I survey great players at other sports I do not see the gulf that exists between Bradman and all other cricketers, including Sobers. Right now the Master's is on and almost all of the pundits are back on the Tiger bandwagon. Irrespective of whether he wins this week or if he supasses Nicklaus he 's not that much better than Nicklaus or Palmer, Player, Snead, Hogan, Nelson, Hagen, Jones etc.. (For what it's worth I'm taking Lee Westwood; I saw some of the Bay Hill & Doral tourneys and whereas Woods' 10 and 20 footers all seemed to go in Westwood's just stayed out - time for statistics to take over). Jordan was probably the best to play basketball but, from what I've heard, he wasn't head and shoulders above, inter alia, Russell, Chamberlin, Johnson and the current Bryant or James. Similarly, I get no sense of consensus over greatest quarterbacks. As I watch today's best footballers it seems to me that here's another case where there's a group of players for whom a case can be made but no-one inarguably better. Paranthetically, football is becoming somwhat captive to spurious statistics. I just heard someone on the radio waxing eloquent about Xavi, in today's 1-1 game vs PSG, completing 94 of 94 passes. Sure completing passes is important but it's not the only thing. It's easy to complete 10 yard sideways passes; not so easy to thread the ball between the centre-backs. I think Xavi is a great player but no better than players who would not have such a high completion percentage had that stat been kept in their era. I'm thinking of Liam Brady or Pat Crerand or Ryan Giggs. Brady might only complete one pass in some games (I exaggerate) but that pass would change the game. Exhibit A - the 1979 Cup Final.