I didn’t expect Lincoln City to win Team of the Year. I didn’t really expect Danny Cowley to win Coach of the Year. I’m not going to get all incandescent with rage over a pipe-dream (actually, I’ve just read the full blog back proofing it and it appears I do get quite angry. Sorry). I am however incredibly disappointed with the nominations.
What I really wanted to see was Danny and Nicky in their suits, seeing their names amongst the nominations. The FA Cup is the oldest club competition in the world and they masterminded a feat that hadn’t been replicated in 103 years. As a non-league team we reached the FA Cup Quarter Finals, we went toe to toe with Arsenal in their own back yard and we got there by beating good teams, home and away. It was an achievement, it deserved a little more than a clip of Sean Raggett’s goal.
I don’t care if this blog gets criticism from other clubs or opposing fans, I believe I’m right here. How on earth does Brendan Rogers get nominated for Coach of the Year and Celtic for team of the year? Their achievement was what, winning a league in which their budget is ten times better than anyone else and nobody other than them has won it in a decade? How is that warranting a nomination? I played four games on FIFA 18 on world-class level the other day and I won all four, that was more of a challenge than Celtic face each week. No disrespect but how can a man be nominated for coach of the year when he was so seriously exposed tactically in Europe? Embarrassing.
While we’re on the subject, Chelsea and Conte there too? Do they just nominate the Premier League winners every year to keep the corporation happy? Seriously, with the money and facilities they have, was this really an achievement?
They gave the unsung hero award out to a volunteer and I was touched. It seemed the awards really did celebrate the under dog and I really believed at that point our achievements would warrant a nomination. I didn’t expect us to be on the stage, I didn’t expect too much pandering, just a little snip of us during the nominations to underline what we’d achieved. Even more disgusting is nobody from the club was there, not one person. Harry Kane, who won absolutely nothing at all, is shortlisted for the main award, Sam Allardyce, ousted as England manager in disgrace after 67 days, is sat there too and yet a genuine achievement, a genuine fairy tale is completely ignored? We lasted longer in the FA Cup than he did in the England job for heaven’s sake.
I know it won’t faze Danny or Nicky and I know there will be lots of blinkered fans who expected us to actually win an award, but I’m probably most angry because I sat through an hour of that tosh hoping to see a little snippet, a little nod towards the achievements of a small club from nowhere who made headlines across the world. Instead I saw more coverage of an England cricket side that have basically had their arses handed to them slice by slice over in Australia. I watched more coverage of sporting failure from the last six weeks than I saw of a true Hans Christian Anderson style tale of battling against the odds.
I make no apologies for saying the two school teachers from Essex who battled through the non-league structure to meet with Arsene Wenger as equals deserved to be recognised for their achievements, not because it is my team and not because I bloody love them both, but because that was a sporting achievement. Non-league teams don’t get to FA Cup Quarter Finals, not in 103 years. Celtic however have won in the region of 40 titles in the same period, yet they get nominated and Lincoln don’t? Brendan Rogers gets his mug on TV but our managers can’t even get a seat at the event? I know Danny wasn’t there because he liked a tweet I shared around the same time as the Coach of the Year award was presented. That actually upsets me, that instead of sitting proudly in a nice suit and freshly shorn beard mixing with the most elite of sportsmen and (oddly) Noel Gallagher, he was at home looking at something I’d shared on social media. That’s an injustice, no matter how highly you rate the Stacey West. Noel Gallagher, a man whose main achievement has been covering Beatles records both legitimately and blatantly as well as arguing with his arrogant brother, managed to get to the SPOTY awards but two coaches who genuinely achieved something unparalleled in over a century had to sit at home and watch? Get in the bin.
I’m told usually the public do the nominating for the awards, but this year it was a panel. I’m assuming the panel was made up of Mrs Rodgers, Mrs Conte and the England Women’s Cricket team, all sat at Brendan Rodgers’ house watching videos of Celtic beating Dumbarton 15-0 accompanied by commentary from Brendan explaining how hard it was to keep his players interested after the first ten goals go in. Get in the bin, again.
I know I’ll look back tomorrow and realise this post is as ridiculous as that time my brother wrote to his local MP to complain he was being ripped off by EA Sports because his pack rewards on FIFA were all Watford players, but I’m posting it anyway because I’m sure you’ll find it mildly amusing (that did happen too. He felt that once every so often a rare player should actually be Ronaldo, Messi or someone he’d heard of other than Troy Deeney).
The real purpose though is for me to say thank you to Danny and Nicky for a wonderful 2017. Whilst the BBC might not think it warrants a mention, it does. Danny once said you don’t bother about the things you can’t affect, only he things you can. Well, you affected me, you affected my club and you’ve restored such pride and dignity in a dying entity that I can barely recognise Lincoln City of 2017. You and the club gave me the sort of memories I wouldn’t have dared to ever dream as possible, you have helped make the years of struggle seem worth it. Without being too melodramatic, you’ve both changed my life. In early 2016 I wrote a blog about a football club only a handful of die-hard fans really cared about, but thanks to the revival and achievements I now do so much more. If you want a trophy I’ll get the missus to knock something up out of paper mache or something. I might even do a live feed while we present it, I’m just not sure I can get Gabby Logan there to mug off your children in front of several million viewers.
Sports Personality of the Year 2017? Whatever. I won’t be wasting my life watching that garbage again next year, that is for sure. I’m pleased both interviews with Mo Farah want awry. That’s karma for Lineker and Balding and, despite my missus telling me otherwise, it is those two I blame most. I used to like Lineker but I’m not buying another bag of Walkers crisps and I won’t support whatever it is Balding does either.
I need a drink.
hear, hear.
I couldn’t agree more re the lack of respect afforded to Danny and Nicky but surely the one great moment of the evening apart from the unsung hero award and the dedication to Bradley Lowrey is the long overdue award to Sir Mo Farah….. I would have liked to see him bask in the limelight for the celebration of the consistent world class sporting achievements made for his country!!!!!
Pitch Petfect as always Gary !
lol what a fantastic rant and i even read it in a very angry voice PMSL love it
spot on,,,,,but we go again,,lcfc red and wite army
I also thought it was disrespectful to some of the sports people we’d lost in 2017. Their faces were shown so briefly sometime 3 at a time and they kept showing The Rag & Bone Man more.
I thought exactly the same as you, so much time wasted on watching the singer while the lost sporting heroes got their picture up for 2 seconds each….very poor
Well said Gary. I haven’t watched spoty for years but I wanted to see the piece about Bradley and it was very moving. The rest of the show , besides seeing Mo’s reaction to winning and the lady who was the unsung hero , was as I thought it would be so I won’t be watching again for a few more years.
The bbc.
More about style than substance nowadays, mores the pity.
I haven’t watched SPOTY for years, I feel vindicated this year more than ever.
Great rant Gary!
Hi Gary, good stuff once again. As for the BBC, I’ve thought they lost the plot on SPOTY a while back and haven’t watched for sometime. As for Celtic and Chelsea – with their budgets they’re not winners in my eyes in fact quite the opposite. BBC just churning out the same old stuff on SPOTY. Imps 4 ever.
I was pleased for Mo, and the awards for the unsung hero and for Bradley were really moving. The rest of the programme was very poor. For a while now it has been clear that the BBC does not really care less about any football below Premiership level.
Great rant Gary, it was spoty on!
Agree, I can’t even play my usual DA role. I am very pleased for Mo but felt like the year Giggs won it in that he deserved it but not for this year, should have had it last year or 2012. Froome (despite what happened last week) has done something only three other cyclists have in history (two tours in a year and going for the third in April), and won his 4th Tour De France. Something no Brit has done more than once. Hamilton just become the most successful racing driver of all time for Britian. Joshua world heavy weight with three belts. Neither in the top three. Peacock is a great athlete but benefitted massively from being on strictly the night before.
And in here somewhere is my point. The public voted, and they voted badly. The BBC just reflect that. In the public’s eye Lincoln are chip paper as much as Sutton’s run is about a pie eater or something. Essex CCC may well have felt similar as double domestic winner against the big money boys (relatively) and they got a passing mention and quick VT.
Highlight of the night was Radcliffe’s coach and husband saying “f’ing Joke” when Mo was announced as the winner.
Me too Gary I was thinking of writing an e-mail to the BBC webpage. I thought we deserved a mention that lasted more than a blink of an eye
Well said Gary I’m not a great football fan and dont go to see Lincoln but i do have great respect for the 2 Cowley brothers and for what they have done for the club you love with such a passion.
I agree with most of this and can’t even be Devil’s A. However Mo being the winner this year rather than 2016 or 2012 was a shock, the fact the 4 time Tour De France winner and one of only three men to win two tours (maybe three) in the same year, and the most successful motor racing driver in Britain, and three belt world champion boxer weren’t even in the top three was a massive shock. So it is not just the BBC getting it wrong.
Essex CCC could rightly be upset they were just a quick mention after they did the double this year despite being at a huge financial disadvantage.
All that matters is that we have those memories from that season.
Fantastic! Gary, you have put into words, Every thought, belief and emotion I felt watching that trashy excuse of sporting celebration last night. The BBC, like match of the day, national newspapers and most all media, cannot see that the REAL endeavour, talent, dedication and excitement, is in fact not in the premier league, but in places like (but not exclusively to) Sincil Bank. Well done Gary.
Completely spot on, Gary. I stopped watching SPOTY years ago, too much self-indulgent crap and it annoys me how the Beeb seem to think Gary Lineker is the king of broadcasting or something (and pay him accordingly). They set the agenda too much with regards news and sport and push the PC side of things to the enth degree, where they have to have one of this, one of thousand one of the other in order to fill their required quotas.
One only has to look at their sport news items, where hugely popular sports like darts and snooker barely get a mention, but then they carry reports on womens rugby and suchlike.
I mean, look at Brexit. The vast majority of the population are sick to the back teeth of the whole thing, but they constantly go on about it virtually every day of the year. Who cares?
Only watched because somebody on social media said the Cowleys were spotted in liverpool.Sadly the decline of the BBC (sports) is reflected in the decline of this once good programme.
Superb rant. It builds beautifully. Loved you bringing Walkers Crisps into the mix! You’ve spoken before about lazy journalism and this is the same thing really.
Not to forget their choice of you guessed it Manchester united replay to be televised I think it was versus Wigan in the FA Cup or should I say Manchester united reserves. How predictable the once great BBC have become. Reminds me of the pathetic descision of the Christmas market team of SNOWFLAKES.
Absolutely spot on. It used to be one of the highlights of the year, has deteriorated in direct correlation to the lack of coverage they give to all sports. The fact that they do have rights to the FA Cup – and make a big deal about it makes it even more shameful. Women’s cricket team was a nod to PC, agree totally with the other comments about the lack of respect to the deceased, Mo Farah decision was a joke- surely Pearlie, Joshua and even Hamilton all had much greater claims, and as for lifetime achievement- great athlete but she’s nowhere near 40 – some lifetime! Did enjoy unsung hero (East Midlands have now won the last 3) and Bradley Lowery extremely moving, otherwise crap. Did think it was quite poetic that Celtic got absolutely stuffed yesterday! UTI
Women’s cricket being PC is a bit off. They won the cricket world cup in a hugely dramatic fashion.
Also Farah was voted for, not a decision.
Great point on Celtic though! I loved that
Mo Farah/ dodgy coach ,obviously a rigged vote. Great blog though. Lincoln city were great,had never heard of them before but will follow them with great interest from now on. Keep up the righteous work Gary. P.s.where is Lincoln.?
Spoty on Gary, it was all underwhelming thank goodness Mo finally got recognised.
So Pleased for the lady from Hinkley and the piece on Bradley,but a snippet for all our achievements should have been on or at least show the Rheady/Barton incident as one of the funniest of 2017.
Anyway we imps , the club and most of all the Cowleys know just what we achieved so many others recognise it, just a shame those twerps at the Beeb didn’t.
Maybe you are only allowed one team with the initials LCFC to win team of the year and that decision was probably made by Mr big ears.
Totally agree Gary, the SPOTY team awards always has the premiership winners nominated for as long as I can remember Yawn . The BBC only has premiership highlights so they have to have the prem winners nominated.When they show F A Cup games it’s Man Utd at least 2 times .There was only 3 proper awards , overseas – unsung hero – special award for Bradley lowery . The rest were fairly predictable
Don’t think I care, and Danny & co surely won’t. The programme was truly rubbish, unceremonious ‘blink and you missed it’ sprint through most events and useless padding and waffle otherwise, I wouldn’t even say it was style over substance as it has precious little style. Its not sour grapes, it was dire, only the Bradley Lowery award rose above the dross and his parents the real heroes.
Younger viewers won’t believe it but it used to be good once. Messrs Bough, Coleman, Hill etc will be turning in their graves.