There was no end of footballing disgruntlement in the air and on the box over the last few days, none more so, perhaps, than at Turner’s Cross on Friday night when Cork City supporters displayed their displeasure with the running of the club by lobbing toilet rolls on to the pitch before their FAI Cup semi-final against St Patrick’s Athletic.
The night actually ended with them being flushed with success after they produced the mother, father, auntie and uncle of all shocks, beating Pat’s 3-0, a scenario Peter Collins didn’t see coming due to the “unnecessary distraction” of the toilet rolls. Alan Cawley didn’t disagree. It was, he said, “a counterproductive” protest.
Kenny Cunningham, though, was on the supporters’ side, believing they had a right to protest if they felt aggrieved. In that sense, Kenny showed he was a man of the people, as he did when he revealed he knew loo rolls were expensive. Show us one other current or ex-professional footballer who is aware of this fact? Go on, just one?
“Me ma would be loving it if she was here, I couldn’t keep her off the pitch there with her Aldi bag, stuffing it with toilet roll – not cheap, Des.” Des Curran’s silence was telling. He might ply his trade at commentating, but how often has he gasped at the cost of a 12-pack of lavatory tissue?
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For those of us who once walked through the players’ car park at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, Kenny being a man of the people came at no surprise. BMWs, Mercedes, Porsches, Ferraris, Aston Martins, Hummers, Bugattis, Lamborghinis and then a jalopy that looked as ritzy as Del Boy’s “New York, Paris and Peckham” three-wheeler. Kenny’s? Yup.
Ange Postecoglou would strike you as being familiar with the real world, too, although after failing to win any of his first seven games in charge of Nottingham Forest, Sky opted not to ask him about the price of toilet rolls after his side’s 2-0 defeat at Newcastle on Sunday.
He was defiant, as Postecoglou tends to be, even though his own supporters – his own! – were singing “You’re getting sacked in the morning” for the second time in a week. “I love what I do,” he said. “I could be sitting on the couch watching you guys – depending who’s on, probably on mute – but I prefer to be here.”
The thing is if Postecoglou had been sitting on his couch on Sunday watching football on Sky, he’d have ended up discombobulated. Welcome to the world of Multiview where you can (supposedly) watch four Premier League games at the same time.
Now, it could very well be that some of us were not working this technology correctly, but when Multiview was clicked on this here telly, we got two lads nattering over one match, before they took us to the other three every time anyone as much as scratched an ear lobe.
So, having been watching Everton you ended up wondering why Jack Grealish was suddenly playing for Burnley and why Wolves had changed from their gold-and-black strip into claret and blue midway through the second half.
Then when you could take no more of the confusion, you switch back to Sky’s main channel in the hope of being able to focus on a single game, but you find David Jones and Jamie Carragher channel-hopping on their giant telly, Conor Coady standing there with a “WTF” look on his face.
If this is the brave new world of football broadcasting, you’d be pining for the lily-livered auld one.
Also – and this is where you need to send thoughts and prayers – some of us were also keeping an eye on the women’s English second division, where most of our Irish players do their thing, all of which were being broadcast live on YouTube. So, between that and Multiview, that was 10 live games all at the very same time.
Hmm, sensing a lack of sympathy here, like that isn’t actually work, but to quote Pee Flynn: “Try it some time.”
