2014 will not go down as a vintage year for the Brit Awards, but then again, very few recent award ceremonies have.
The ceremony has always had a reputation of a drink-a-thon for the music industry, while also rewarding bland-yet-commercially successful music, and giving other fodder coveted TV performance slots.
Minor quibbles are therefore magnified into Major Moments, in the absence of a genuine controversy like Jarvis Cocker mooning Michael Jackson in 1995, or unpredictable awards like Keane (somehow) beating Franz Ferdinand to Best Album in 2005.
This magnification effort helps generate coverage, which is a great way for showbiz types to maintain their spotlight long after the corporate circus has moved onto its next destination.
Perhaps this cynical outlook is the best way to describe the speech by the winners of the oh-so rock and roll "MasterCard British Album of the Year in association with the Sun's Bizarre Column" award near the end of this year's ceremony being turned into the biggest storm on Twitter - a storm that has continued relentlessly the day after the show itself.
After his band won their second Brit of the evening, Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner gave a curious speech about how "rock n roll will never die" before dropping his microphone and walking off with his bandmates. This nonchalance to the point of arrogance about the whole thing was at least different to the stale commercialism that preceded it, but for some reason it seemed to anger people, such as Peaches Geldof and half of Twitter.
At the time, it was hard to know what really to think. It was a refreshingly left-field move for him not to copy everyone else with the standard acceptance speech template of thanking several dozen names and their label, but at the same time, it wasn't as hilarious as when he slagged off the Brit School while dressed as a fox-hunter (or one of Mumford & Sons) at the 2008 Brit Awards, only to be cut off by Fearne Cotton just as he seemed to have really gotten going.
While its true rock stars will say their craft will not die, and it was also true rock outsold other genres in 2013, this was not a forum friendly for rock, given his band were the only true out-and-out British rock band nominated for anything. Even then, this was on the back of an album that was possibly their least rock-inspired, in the form of the hip-hop-rock wordsmithery of AM.
Had he made his speech at next week's NME Awards, where Arctic Monkeys are up for what seems like every single award, then he might have gotten away with it. But the more establishment feel to the Brits - a scene Turner would later describe as "not my thing" at the post-show interview - meant it went down like a bit of a lead balloon at the O2 on the night.
The speech itself has divided opinion on social media. Some people thought Turner was a genius for subverting the Brits, while others thought of him as a colossal douchebag. Naturally, colossal douchebag was among the kinder adjectives used to describe Mr. Turner in the wake of his speech.
But it says a lot, sadly, that with the Brits being as bland as eating a whole packet of cream crackers to yourself with no topping, this has become the evening's big talking point.
Twitter has certainly been hard at debate. Even a day after the ceremony and with competition for David Bowie wanting Scotland to stay in the UK, the Brit Awards buzz still concerns the words of drunken wisdom or otherwise that came slowly out of Turner's mouth, and as more people decide to check the video out, it continues the buzzy feedback from going.
Not that the Brit people will be too alarmed. It keeps the ceremony in the public eye, which is handy as the TV ratings showed the 2014 ceremony as the lowest watched Brit Awards ceremony of the 21st century, with an average audience of less than 4.5million people trudging through the unholy mess of a ceremony.
Yet despite this, the viral nature of his speech has guaranteed him and the Brits publicity - something which was presumably the point as it allows further recognition for the band, who are headlining Reading and Leeds Festivals in August, and for the awards themselves, who will be back next year with (hopefully) something approaching entertainment.
Certainly at the least, it was the right kind of PR - something that wouldn't have been organised by MasterCard's inept PR agency, who spent most the day apologising to journalists they were caught offering "tweets-for-access" packages to.
Even though its still ongoing, the controversy all felt unfulfilling. While the speech occasionally touched on points of relevance and intrigue that will have borne some degree of truth, the whole saga of Turner's speech felt like a mildly surprising footnote to the event that has been made to feel like something greater than it was by willing participants on Twitter. And all this long after Turner himself has probably forgotten about it, either via hangover or moving on to his band's next tour.
If this is the best at controversy the Brit Awards have to offer, then it might as well give up pretending it can offer riotous antics now.
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Rumour Overload and Newcastle United
Anyone with a Twitter account will be fully aware of the rumour WWE supremo Vince McMahon wants to buy Newcastle United.
At some point last night, a small US sports news website made claims that the head of WWE saw the Magpies as a way to advance the cause of his WWE brand in the UK market. While this is forgetting the fact WWE do UK arena tours (next one is booked for May) and the thing is shown on Sky Sports regularly, this is a rumour that gained significant traction and interest over the evening.
Before long, there was photoshopped team line-ups of WWE characters lining up in 4-3-3 formation, references to WWE referees, takedowns, steel chairs, rods and all manner of bizarre stuff. Most amusing were also bizarre hypotheses on how a take-over might work, incorporating the weird narrative arcs that has made WWE a huge entertainment product in America.
The problem is that its probably not going to happen. It was rumoured in summer 2011, although dismissed at the time as nonsense, while latest reports indicate Mike Ashley values Newcastle at £330M.
Valuations are always oddly totted up in football. Liverpool cost their owners Fenway Sports Group £300million in 2010, while Fulham were a £200million purchase last summer for Shahid Khan. The recent attempts to value the clubs by a leading sports accountant back in April last year valued Liverpool as a more valuable asset and Fulham as a significantly less expensive one.
The same study had Newcastle valued at £275M - the 7th most valuable club in England, after both Manchester clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool.
In an ordinarily world, there should be punters beating a stick to the St. James' Park door. The club is a valuable brand with a very loyal fanbase and potential for riches in a league that is an orgy of cash greater than any rap video. Couple this with an owner that hasn't seen a game since September, does not seem especially keen on engaging his investment aside from bare minimum loans to help out and is reportedly interested in selling, and it should lead to some interest.
But this interest has not been coming, although not for the want of reporting. Since Ashley first put the club up for sale in September 2008, there have been 13 groups linked with taking over. Some, like local businessman Barry Moat, were closer to happening than others, but ultimately none happened and Ashley has remained in charge at St. James' Park.
The lack of communication between the Magpies board - Ashley or otherwise - and the outside world has led to the blossoming of all manner of rumours alongside that of takeovers.
While takeover rumours are one thing, the manner of all other hypothetical scenarios about the club's current situation have been allowed to stem by a lack of communication from the board apart from standard things, and a lack of belief in the words of manager Alan Pardew.
Among recent rumours include the questions over what, if anything, the role was of Director of Football Joe Kinnear, who was dismissed from his role two days after the Tyne-Wear Derby and three days after the club failed to land a replacement for Yohan Cabaye.
The main idea that has been doing the rounds is the idea that the man once christened JFK by the club's fans was hired to be a patsy to deflect hate away from Ashley and Pardew.
While it is likely, it was also not helped when Pardew himself said he was happy with the work Kinnear did. Its big talk for a man to say he is happy with the work done when his squad is significantly weaker than it should be, given Kinnear is the man who only bought in two loan players and sold Cabaye and the equally useful James Perch without replacements.
Its arguable Kinnear might still be around had the club concluded a deal for Lyon's Clement Grenier, Montpellier's Remy Cabella or one of our other targets by the end of the window. But all managed was a loan move for Borussia Monchengladbach forward Luuk de Jong, who has yet to convince.
Other recent rumours have included the idea the club does not want to be in European competitions, or at least skip the Europa League and go straight into the Champions League. Pardew has previously said it had a huge impact on the club's 2012-13 campaign, and said the quick turnaround teams are expected to perform was not ideal to his team's progression.
This is not a view confined to the men from NE1 - Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino has said he is not interested in reaching the Europa League, and that it should be abolished, while Spurs, Swansea and Wigan have all fired their managers after slow starts hindered by European competition.
It wasn't always this way. Back in 2003-04, Newcastle managed 5th and a UEFA Cup semi-final with very little rotation and genuine misery we couldn't reach the final. Its possible, however, that as players are now expected to cover significantly more miles in games than they were a decade ago, it means its not practical to maintain this full-throttle pace continually.
But at the same time, it feels a little bit gutting that we didn't push on and go "Well, we're here - why not go for it?"
The conspiracy on short-term funding and a lack of interest in Cups due to a perceived lack of investment is also a common one. But this conspiracy is more grounded in reality.
At the club's fans forum meeting at the start of the season, board members said the cup competitions do not represent a priority for them. This is in line with a lack of money put in by Ashley, with the club expected to be self-sufficient on a £20M-a-season investment plus whatever TV, matchday, commercial and transfer income turns up.
The start of the 2012-13 season saw the club expected to push on with just one player bought in to try and help the club's progression. This ultimately proved short-sighted, and left the club struggling for numbers until a belated January splurge.
Existing on what we earn would be easier if it wasn't for the fact that, as financial figures showed, the club's matchday and commercial income has halved since Ashley turned up in 2007. It would be easier if we had this shortfall - a fair bit of which would be made up by the millions of free advertising SportsDirect and associated brands have been receiving on the club's billboards.
Its commercial income is not helped by the reported monetary that the club earns less from its sponsorship deal with Wonga.com then it had done with its existing deal from Virgin Money, although as no official disclosure has been coming, it allows for the continuation of rumour.
One further conspiracy theory, as outlined in club fanzine The Mag, is that Alan Pardew's 8-year deal is part of the club's attempt to find new owners, with Ashley deciding a new owner can back him or sack him so Pardew can keep the club ticking over in the Premier League until his departure, and someone else can decide what to do with him.
As noted by the Daily Mirror's North-East correspondent, the ambivalence of Ashley has been the main thing keeping Pardew in employment at St. James' Park at a time when the club appear to be coasting to the finish line. A more trigger-happy owner would have most likely opted to change by now.
Conjecture and misinformation is rampant around the club. The lack of communication and disclosure coupled to an information-hungry and dissatisfied fanbase has allowed weird theorems to run rampant.
Last night saw this taken to its extreme, with the WWE takeover rumour despite the likelihood that the only time (if ever) Tynesiders will see Vince McMahon in the city will be when the WWE people arrive at Newcastle Arena for a show in May.
The lack of information even seems to have impacted on journalists. The Sunday Express has been banned from St. James' Park after the club essentially described a story on Pardew being reportedly one game from the sack as made up.
But with no information on what the truth is, this means the rumour mill has been allowed to run wild, spouting all sorts of crackpot theories that may or may not have resemblance to reality at NE1. As well, it means the aura of the club is shrouded in mystery, and just seems that nobody in any capacity has any knowledge of what is going on.
The sooner truth happens one way or another is probably best for all concerned with the Newcastle United fans, commentators and possibly the management, employees and playing squad as well.
At some point last night, a small US sports news website made claims that the head of WWE saw the Magpies as a way to advance the cause of his WWE brand in the UK market. While this is forgetting the fact WWE do UK arena tours (next one is booked for May) and the thing is shown on Sky Sports regularly, this is a rumour that gained significant traction and interest over the evening.
Before long, there was photoshopped team line-ups of WWE characters lining up in 4-3-3 formation, references to WWE referees, takedowns, steel chairs, rods and all manner of bizarre stuff. Most amusing were also bizarre hypotheses on how a take-over might work, incorporating the weird narrative arcs that has made WWE a huge entertainment product in America.
The problem is that its probably not going to happen. It was rumoured in summer 2011, although dismissed at the time as nonsense, while latest reports indicate Mike Ashley values Newcastle at £330M.
Valuations are always oddly totted up in football. Liverpool cost their owners Fenway Sports Group £300million in 2010, while Fulham were a £200million purchase last summer for Shahid Khan. The recent attempts to value the clubs by a leading sports accountant back in April last year valued Liverpool as a more valuable asset and Fulham as a significantly less expensive one.
The same study had Newcastle valued at £275M - the 7th most valuable club in England, after both Manchester clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool.
In an ordinarily world, there should be punters beating a stick to the St. James' Park door. The club is a valuable brand with a very loyal fanbase and potential for riches in a league that is an orgy of cash greater than any rap video. Couple this with an owner that hasn't seen a game since September, does not seem especially keen on engaging his investment aside from bare minimum loans to help out and is reportedly interested in selling, and it should lead to some interest.
But this interest has not been coming, although not for the want of reporting. Since Ashley first put the club up for sale in September 2008, there have been 13 groups linked with taking over. Some, like local businessman Barry Moat, were closer to happening than others, but ultimately none happened and Ashley has remained in charge at St. James' Park.
The lack of communication between the Magpies board - Ashley or otherwise - and the outside world has led to the blossoming of all manner of rumours alongside that of takeovers.
While takeover rumours are one thing, the manner of all other hypothetical scenarios about the club's current situation have been allowed to stem by a lack of communication from the board apart from standard things, and a lack of belief in the words of manager Alan Pardew.
Among recent rumours include the questions over what, if anything, the role was of Director of Football Joe Kinnear, who was dismissed from his role two days after the Tyne-Wear Derby and three days after the club failed to land a replacement for Yohan Cabaye.
The main idea that has been doing the rounds is the idea that the man once christened JFK by the club's fans was hired to be a patsy to deflect hate away from Ashley and Pardew.
While it is likely, it was also not helped when Pardew himself said he was happy with the work Kinnear did. Its big talk for a man to say he is happy with the work done when his squad is significantly weaker than it should be, given Kinnear is the man who only bought in two loan players and sold Cabaye and the equally useful James Perch without replacements.
Its arguable Kinnear might still be around had the club concluded a deal for Lyon's Clement Grenier, Montpellier's Remy Cabella or one of our other targets by the end of the window. But all managed was a loan move for Borussia Monchengladbach forward Luuk de Jong, who has yet to convince.
Other recent rumours have included the idea the club does not want to be in European competitions, or at least skip the Europa League and go straight into the Champions League. Pardew has previously said it had a huge impact on the club's 2012-13 campaign, and said the quick turnaround teams are expected to perform was not ideal to his team's progression.
This is not a view confined to the men from NE1 - Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino has said he is not interested in reaching the Europa League, and that it should be abolished, while Spurs, Swansea and Wigan have all fired their managers after slow starts hindered by European competition.
It wasn't always this way. Back in 2003-04, Newcastle managed 5th and a UEFA Cup semi-final with very little rotation and genuine misery we couldn't reach the final. Its possible, however, that as players are now expected to cover significantly more miles in games than they were a decade ago, it means its not practical to maintain this full-throttle pace continually.
But at the same time, it feels a little bit gutting that we didn't push on and go "Well, we're here - why not go for it?"
The conspiracy on short-term funding and a lack of interest in Cups due to a perceived lack of investment is also a common one. But this conspiracy is more grounded in reality.
At the club's fans forum meeting at the start of the season, board members said the cup competitions do not represent a priority for them. This is in line with a lack of money put in by Ashley, with the club expected to be self-sufficient on a £20M-a-season investment plus whatever TV, matchday, commercial and transfer income turns up.
The start of the 2012-13 season saw the club expected to push on with just one player bought in to try and help the club's progression. This ultimately proved short-sighted, and left the club struggling for numbers until a belated January splurge.
Existing on what we earn would be easier if it wasn't for the fact that, as financial figures showed, the club's matchday and commercial income has halved since Ashley turned up in 2007. It would be easier if we had this shortfall - a fair bit of which would be made up by the millions of free advertising SportsDirect and associated brands have been receiving on the club's billboards.
Its commercial income is not helped by the reported monetary that the club earns less from its sponsorship deal with Wonga.com then it had done with its existing deal from Virgin Money, although as no official disclosure has been coming, it allows for the continuation of rumour.
One further conspiracy theory, as outlined in club fanzine The Mag, is that Alan Pardew's 8-year deal is part of the club's attempt to find new owners, with Ashley deciding a new owner can back him or sack him so Pardew can keep the club ticking over in the Premier League until his departure, and someone else can decide what to do with him.
As noted by the Daily Mirror's North-East correspondent, the ambivalence of Ashley has been the main thing keeping Pardew in employment at St. James' Park at a time when the club appear to be coasting to the finish line. A more trigger-happy owner would have most likely opted to change by now.
Conjecture and misinformation is rampant around the club. The lack of communication and disclosure coupled to an information-hungry and dissatisfied fanbase has allowed weird theorems to run rampant.
Last night saw this taken to its extreme, with the WWE takeover rumour despite the likelihood that the only time (if ever) Tynesiders will see Vince McMahon in the city will be when the WWE people arrive at Newcastle Arena for a show in May.
The lack of information even seems to have impacted on journalists. The Sunday Express has been banned from St. James' Park after the club essentially described a story on Pardew being reportedly one game from the sack as made up.
But with no information on what the truth is, this means the rumour mill has been allowed to run wild, spouting all sorts of crackpot theories that may or may not have resemblance to reality at NE1. As well, it means the aura of the club is shrouded in mystery, and just seems that nobody in any capacity has any knowledge of what is going on.
The sooner truth happens one way or another is probably best for all concerned with the Newcastle United fans, commentators and possibly the management, employees and playing squad as well.
Thursday, 13 February 2014
Is Newcastle's Season Now Pointless?
For many Newcastle United supporters, Boxing Day feels a world away now.
After a 5-1 demolishing of (9-man) Stoke City, the Toon sat 6th in the Barclays Premier League table and seemingly well-poised to try and make a push for a return to European football - perhaps even an unlikely Champions League challenge.
Sure, it hadn't been all plain sailing - a random and inexplicable home defeat to Hull City was irritating, while another derby defeat led to agitation for supporters - but it seemed as though there was momentum going for a decent charge.
Even despite defeat by Arsenal three days later, it still seemed on, and that performance did show potential, with a lucky free-kick and awful marking the only division between the two teams.
Had 2014 seem this form maintained, its possible the Toon could be in the fourth place race. But as we all know, this is as far from the case as possible.
So far, 2014 has been a repeated series of kicks in the balls for Magpies fans. The team have only scored in two games this year, been knocked out of the FA Cup by the team that currently sit second-bottom of the Premier League, sold their best player, bought no replacement and seen an unrelenting deterioration of performances across the board.
The one victory so far in 2014 for the Magpies was a superb 3-1 win at West Ham, which was quickly followed by the sale of Yohan Cabaye. Meanwhile all home games so far have not gone so well. The 2-0 home defeat by Manchester City was partially not helped by amateur refereeing and a failure to keep calm in the wake of it, but the 3-0 demolition at home by Sunderland was a horror-show from top to bottom.
That afternoon saw absolutely nothing go right, with no sense of tactics, effort or interest in the clash - something Sunderland duly punished.
Last night's 4-0 catastrophe at home to Spurs was the curdled buttercream icing on the mouldy cake. By the end, there were ridiculous scenes as Spurs players by the bucketload queued up to try and get a goal, with the entire team having seemingly stopped caring.
Apathy seems to be on the rise amongst fans, along with venom and agitation towards the forever-unpopular owner Mike Ashley, and the manager Alan Pardew, with the Pardew-out crowd gaining further traction.
Outsiders to the club think this is harsh, given this is a season that has already yielded away wins at Manchester United and Spurs.
But this is overlooking the continuous PR bollocks he comes up with to help divert attention away from those above, which keeps the party line in check and unquestioned. You get the feeling Pardew may want to actually say more than just that, but this is all that he says - even before questionable tactical choices both before and after Cabaye.
To his credit, they have improved on the 2012-13 season, where Pardew didn't seem to know what he was doing from the word go. After all, it started started with attempts to play Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba in roles where they impeded one another, before reverting to the previous year's tactic with players in differing roles they didn't adjust to, and then on to a wild guesswork of a tactic that almost yielded relegation.
More recently, however, tactics appear not to function as well, while motivation, ambition and attempts to play football don't seem present, or at least present in all the players.
Players are certainly providing problems. Moussa Sissoko seems very little like the galloping midfield presence people first assumed he would be, while Davide Santon has seen all pretence of form collapse. Elsewhere, Cisse is continuing his lack of form, Hatem Ben Arfa has lost his footballing imagination, Vurnon Anita seems swamped without Cheik Tiote, and one clean sheet since Steven Taylor was given starts hints at just how much the injured Fabricio Coloccini is missed.
When even stellar performers like Tim Krul, Mathieu Debuchy and Yoann Gouffran are struggling to have impacts, stuff really is flying in painful batches.
Something is really going wrong badly, and it is reaching the point where, with 12 games to go, there is little riding on Newcastle's season.
This self-destruction means Newcastle are not going anywhere near the European place race, while the accumulation of points in the first half of the campaign means that relegation is a very unlikely option, barring some sort of bizarre conspiracy of results for everyone below and an even more cataclysmic loss of form.
With Europe and relegation unlikely, it means Newcastle are now the only real team stuck in midtable with nowhere to go. This begs the question if the only thing left is simply gliding to the finish line, with little more than obligation riding on the remaining games of the 2013-14 season.
Such a nature will only encourage greater fan apathy and agitation, but as long as the top-half place is guaranteed, and a boycott is not arranged to impact on ticket and merchandise money, then the board clearly will not give a toss.
That is the big tragedy of the season. In December it hinted so much promise that it could be an unexpected special surprise, and under an encouraging board, it could have been. But the current board is the perfect example of one that stifles reaching for the stars, and if the players decide this is enough for them, then next season could be a painful ride.
After a 5-1 demolishing of (9-man) Stoke City, the Toon sat 6th in the Barclays Premier League table and seemingly well-poised to try and make a push for a return to European football - perhaps even an unlikely Champions League challenge.
Sure, it hadn't been all plain sailing - a random and inexplicable home defeat to Hull City was irritating, while another derby defeat led to agitation for supporters - but it seemed as though there was momentum going for a decent charge.
Even despite defeat by Arsenal three days later, it still seemed on, and that performance did show potential, with a lucky free-kick and awful marking the only division between the two teams.
Had 2014 seem this form maintained, its possible the Toon could be in the fourth place race. But as we all know, this is as far from the case as possible.
So far, 2014 has been a repeated series of kicks in the balls for Magpies fans. The team have only scored in two games this year, been knocked out of the FA Cup by the team that currently sit second-bottom of the Premier League, sold their best player, bought no replacement and seen an unrelenting deterioration of performances across the board.
The one victory so far in 2014 for the Magpies was a superb 3-1 win at West Ham, which was quickly followed by the sale of Yohan Cabaye. Meanwhile all home games so far have not gone so well. The 2-0 home defeat by Manchester City was partially not helped by amateur refereeing and a failure to keep calm in the wake of it, but the 3-0 demolition at home by Sunderland was a horror-show from top to bottom.
That afternoon saw absolutely nothing go right, with no sense of tactics, effort or interest in the clash - something Sunderland duly punished.
Last night's 4-0 catastrophe at home to Spurs was the curdled buttercream icing on the mouldy cake. By the end, there were ridiculous scenes as Spurs players by the bucketload queued up to try and get a goal, with the entire team having seemingly stopped caring.
Apathy seems to be on the rise amongst fans, along with venom and agitation towards the forever-unpopular owner Mike Ashley, and the manager Alan Pardew, with the Pardew-out crowd gaining further traction.
Outsiders to the club think this is harsh, given this is a season that has already yielded away wins at Manchester United and Spurs.
But this is overlooking the continuous PR bollocks he comes up with to help divert attention away from those above, which keeps the party line in check and unquestioned. You get the feeling Pardew may want to actually say more than just that, but this is all that he says - even before questionable tactical choices both before and after Cabaye.
To his credit, they have improved on the 2012-13 season, where Pardew didn't seem to know what he was doing from the word go. After all, it started started with attempts to play Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba in roles where they impeded one another, before reverting to the previous year's tactic with players in differing roles they didn't adjust to, and then on to a wild guesswork of a tactic that almost yielded relegation.
More recently, however, tactics appear not to function as well, while motivation, ambition and attempts to play football don't seem present, or at least present in all the players.
Players are certainly providing problems. Moussa Sissoko seems very little like the galloping midfield presence people first assumed he would be, while Davide Santon has seen all pretence of form collapse. Elsewhere, Cisse is continuing his lack of form, Hatem Ben Arfa has lost his footballing imagination, Vurnon Anita seems swamped without Cheik Tiote, and one clean sheet since Steven Taylor was given starts hints at just how much the injured Fabricio Coloccini is missed.
When even stellar performers like Tim Krul, Mathieu Debuchy and Yoann Gouffran are struggling to have impacts, stuff really is flying in painful batches.
Something is really going wrong badly, and it is reaching the point where, with 12 games to go, there is little riding on Newcastle's season.
This self-destruction means Newcastle are not going anywhere near the European place race, while the accumulation of points in the first half of the campaign means that relegation is a very unlikely option, barring some sort of bizarre conspiracy of results for everyone below and an even more cataclysmic loss of form.
With Europe and relegation unlikely, it means Newcastle are now the only real team stuck in midtable with nowhere to go. This begs the question if the only thing left is simply gliding to the finish line, with little more than obligation riding on the remaining games of the 2013-14 season.
Such a nature will only encourage greater fan apathy and agitation, but as long as the top-half place is guaranteed, and a boycott is not arranged to impact on ticket and merchandise money, then the board clearly will not give a toss.
That is the big tragedy of the season. In December it hinted so much promise that it could be an unexpected special surprise, and under an encouraging board, it could have been. But the current board is the perfect example of one that stifles reaching for the stars, and if the players decide this is enough for them, then next season could be a painful ride.
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Frank Turner at The O2 arena - Live Review
Well who'd have thought, that after all, Frank Turner would wind up playing rooms as big enough as this one?
Granted, the O2 is not fill to bursting, but it is an impressive sign of how much the singer's fanbase has grown through his ridiculous work ethic to the point where he has enough fans to book this room. Not so long ago, Shepherd's Bush Empire was considered a huge gig by this ensemble, yet now, his career has led him to being on this stage in front of one of the biggest audiences the capital can offer.
In a week in which Turner said his ultimate dream would be to one day headline Reading and Leeds Festivals, shows like this are the perfect way to see whether or not he could one day cut it in such in such company as this year's headliners Blink-182 and Arctic Monkeys.
On this example, he certainly looks like he's building something big up.
Its a largely minimal production on display - a tarp of the new album cover and the usual large box of lights. Certainly, there's nothing like the upteem costume changes Taylor Swift managed last night, and nor is there a guest slot from Emelie Sande, though that's not really that bad a thing.
Instead, we get a strong collection of songs from the word go. Turner and his backing band The Sleeping Souls go straight into bat with the pulsing Photosynthesis, one of his biggest-known tunes and one with a majorly catchy hook.
It immediately brings us into the evening's entertainment. There's also early crowd participation as, almost unspoken, the audience crouch down during the song's lull before rising up and dancing madly for the rush into the chorus.
As starts to gigs go, this is an immaculate one. The start keeps going, with a few faster new songs like Plain Sailing Weather and Losing Days interspersed with the oldies Peggy Sang The Blues and the acoustic-punk hurricane of Try This at Home.
Its intriguing to see many people still knowing a number of the oldies, with an early outing for second album song Reasons Not To Be An Idiot getting the bulk of the moshpit moving.
This is followed up by recent hit The Way I Tend To Be, which has still been doing the rounds, and is still a good pop song, or at least the nearest this set strays to such genres.
Following that up is one of the night's highlights, as Turner serenades the venue with a gorgeous solo acoustic version of I Am Disappeared.
That song is an impressive show-off of Turner's solo ability and of his vocal range, as well as providing a good singalong amongst a crowd full of devoted followers.
It also provides a break for Turner's backing band - including two hyperactive fellows on electric guitar/mandolin and bass respectively - who have spent the first part of the show playing their leader's material with lots of passion and energy that helps carry the songs in this enormous cavern of a room.
Their return seems them opt for a double bass - or a wardrobe with strings as Turner quips - for a few run-through of oldies, culminating in a crazy story of Turner being dumped by the subject of the earnest To Take You Home, and a healthy singalong for Wessex Boy.
A few songs down the line sees Turner relinquish guitar during Polaroid Picture, with the string being handed over to understudy Dan Allen, who deputised for Turner on guitar during the 2013 tour after the singer suffered two slipped back disks.
He does well enough to fill in, which also allows for a spot of crowdsurfing and high-fiving the front row during One Foot Before The Other.
And while the heavy-rock version of Long Live the Queen felt oddly flat, there's still big hitters such as The Road, If Ever I Stray and Recovery - the latter of which unites the whole stadium in jumping jacks and dancing - to keep the momentum going.
On paper, the haunting atmospherics of Broken Piano seems a strange choice to end upon, but it works, with drummer Nigel Powell's rhythms bringing the song shuddering to a halt and pyrotechnics also being deployed.
It seemed to have bought the curtain down on a delightful evening, but there's still time for three more songs, starting with a singalong for old tune The Ballad of Me and My Friends and continuing the vocals for the rock n roll salute of I Still Believe.
At first glance, Four Simple Words - a mixture of tumbling piano, heavy rock riff, indie chorus and waltz section - seems a bizarre choice to bring down the curtain for good. But instead, its a wonderful conclusion, and one that suitably bring down the curtain on the evening.
There were certainly a variety of emotions - humour at the odd witty one-liner, empathy, excitement and above all, being impressed Turner has not only made it to a room the size of the O2, but looked at home playing in it.
Certainly, it hints at promise that the rooms Turner books to accommodate his increasing-in-size fanbase might need to be bigger. Or at least that he could completely fill all the seats in this house.
4/5
This show had two opening support acts of long-time friends of Turner. First on was acoustic act Beans of Toast, comprised of a solo singer who regaled the crowd with a brief set of songs that did well to combine comedy, real world facts and interesting political points.
He was followed on stage by Celtic seven-piece Flogging Molly, who bought up a consistently fast tempo and an impressive number of songs that fully utilised their array of instruments to supplement the core guitar-bass-drums configuration. The band certainly get kudos for being possibly the first act to perform a show at the O2 arena introduced by a tin whistle solo.
Granted, the O2 is not fill to bursting, but it is an impressive sign of how much the singer's fanbase has grown through his ridiculous work ethic to the point where he has enough fans to book this room. Not so long ago, Shepherd's Bush Empire was considered a huge gig by this ensemble, yet now, his career has led him to being on this stage in front of one of the biggest audiences the capital can offer.
In a week in which Turner said his ultimate dream would be to one day headline Reading and Leeds Festivals, shows like this are the perfect way to see whether or not he could one day cut it in such in such company as this year's headliners Blink-182 and Arctic Monkeys.
On this example, he certainly looks like he's building something big up.
Its a largely minimal production on display - a tarp of the new album cover and the usual large box of lights. Certainly, there's nothing like the upteem costume changes Taylor Swift managed last night, and nor is there a guest slot from Emelie Sande, though that's not really that bad a thing.
Instead, we get a strong collection of songs from the word go. Turner and his backing band The Sleeping Souls go straight into bat with the pulsing Photosynthesis, one of his biggest-known tunes and one with a majorly catchy hook.
It immediately brings us into the evening's entertainment. There's also early crowd participation as, almost unspoken, the audience crouch down during the song's lull before rising up and dancing madly for the rush into the chorus.
As starts to gigs go, this is an immaculate one. The start keeps going, with a few faster new songs like Plain Sailing Weather and Losing Days interspersed with the oldies Peggy Sang The Blues and the acoustic-punk hurricane of Try This at Home.
Its intriguing to see many people still knowing a number of the oldies, with an early outing for second album song Reasons Not To Be An Idiot getting the bulk of the moshpit moving.
This is followed up by recent hit The Way I Tend To Be, which has still been doing the rounds, and is still a good pop song, or at least the nearest this set strays to such genres.
Following that up is one of the night's highlights, as Turner serenades the venue with a gorgeous solo acoustic version of I Am Disappeared.
That song is an impressive show-off of Turner's solo ability and of his vocal range, as well as providing a good singalong amongst a crowd full of devoted followers.
It also provides a break for Turner's backing band - including two hyperactive fellows on electric guitar/mandolin and bass respectively - who have spent the first part of the show playing their leader's material with lots of passion and energy that helps carry the songs in this enormous cavern of a room.
Their return seems them opt for a double bass - or a wardrobe with strings as Turner quips - for a few run-through of oldies, culminating in a crazy story of Turner being dumped by the subject of the earnest To Take You Home, and a healthy singalong for Wessex Boy.
A few songs down the line sees Turner relinquish guitar during Polaroid Picture, with the string being handed over to understudy Dan Allen, who deputised for Turner on guitar during the 2013 tour after the singer suffered two slipped back disks.
He does well enough to fill in, which also allows for a spot of crowdsurfing and high-fiving the front row during One Foot Before The Other.
And while the heavy-rock version of Long Live the Queen felt oddly flat, there's still big hitters such as The Road, If Ever I Stray and Recovery - the latter of which unites the whole stadium in jumping jacks and dancing - to keep the momentum going.
On paper, the haunting atmospherics of Broken Piano seems a strange choice to end upon, but it works, with drummer Nigel Powell's rhythms bringing the song shuddering to a halt and pyrotechnics also being deployed.
It seemed to have bought the curtain down on a delightful evening, but there's still time for three more songs, starting with a singalong for old tune The Ballad of Me and My Friends and continuing the vocals for the rock n roll salute of I Still Believe.
At first glance, Four Simple Words - a mixture of tumbling piano, heavy rock riff, indie chorus and waltz section - seems a bizarre choice to bring down the curtain for good. But instead, its a wonderful conclusion, and one that suitably bring down the curtain on the evening.
There were certainly a variety of emotions - humour at the odd witty one-liner, empathy, excitement and above all, being impressed Turner has not only made it to a room the size of the O2, but looked at home playing in it.
Certainly, it hints at promise that the rooms Turner books to accommodate his increasing-in-size fanbase might need to be bigger. Or at least that he could completely fill all the seats in this house.
4/5
This show had two opening support acts of long-time friends of Turner. First on was acoustic act Beans of Toast, comprised of a solo singer who regaled the crowd with a brief set of songs that did well to combine comedy, real world facts and interesting political points.
He was followed on stage by Celtic seven-piece Flogging Molly, who bought up a consistently fast tempo and an impressive number of songs that fully utilised their array of instruments to supplement the core guitar-bass-drums configuration. The band certainly get kudos for being possibly the first act to perform a show at the O2 arena introduced by a tin whistle solo.
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