THE VOLCANO AND ME

Funny how a news story takes on a whole new perspective when you find yourself caught up in it.
Even so, I thought Sky's response to the genuinely breaking news of the volcano ash cloud was pretty feeble.
We were staying outside Albufeira on the south coast of Portugal when the story, as it were, blew up. That Thursday evening we were glued to the hotel TV which had Sky News, anxious for information. But Sky were obsessed with the build-up to the first of the political leaders' debates and didn't seem able to change gear to reflect a genuine story spilling out all over the northern hemisphere.
"Breaking News" said a graphic. We all sat up. "Gordon Brown Leaves Hotel," it continued. We shook our heads.
As for BBC World, the channel is great if you are into Far East money markets. But like Sky, hard, detailed, factual reporting of the crisis that left thousands of Brits stranded far from home was difficult to spot.
This lack of definite information made the task of getting home much harder. It was stressful not knowing what to do for the best. Outside a local bar they were quickly advertising coach transport to Calais for 350 euros. I didn't fancy that too much, especially as no-one knew how long people would then have to wait at Calais. Eventually we got a booking on the overnight ferry from Santander in northern Spain. This entailed a day-long, 1000-km drive which we achieved with time in hand thanks to the remarkably-clear motorways in Portugal and Spain. As the picture (top) shows, we visited places we didn't expect when we hopped on easyjet two weeks earlier. The biggest problem was the car hire company Sixt's initial refusal to allow us to take our hire car out of Portugal, followed by a demand for over 1000 euros because the car was being handed back in a different country. This has happened to countless other people and is an absolute disgrace. In the European Union there is no way that people should be penalised like this, especially at a time of crisis. What are the politicians doing about that?
At Santander someone who presumably already had a car booked onto the ferry had stuck up a notice reading: 1700 euros - I will drive you home. I don't know if he had any takers but some weary traveller had scrawled underneath: "Hardly the Dunkirk spirit"! The second picture is of the packed terminal of Brittany Ferries at Santander.
It took us three days to get home but we made it and it was a great relief to return to English soil on St George's Day. The extra days in the sun were certainly no picnic. It is not a pleasant situation, not to know how or when you can go home. And anyway, it wasn't very sunny.

DAY THE FANS GOT MAD AS HELL

Very good piece by the Guardian's David Conn today on the lesson that football can learn from Chester's demise. It's also really heartening to see so many messages of support posted by readers of David's piece.

RUMBLINGS FROM THE GRAVE

So what is it like when your football club has been killed off? Surprisingly, it is proving quite uplifting. Not the initial stage of course, the o-my-god-what-will-we-do-on Saturdays-now phase, not the will-anyone-notice-we've-gone phase, and certainly not the underwhelming sight of those clubs still alive squabbling over the points they took off us before our demise, like mangey hyenas fighting over fleshless bones.

We've experienced all that and it hasn't taken long to leave it in the past. Let them fight over our points, the bastards. OK, maybe some of us haven't left it all behind just yet!

But the feeling of liberation is terrific. Chester City (in case you were wondering) doesn't have to cope with a regime which was seemingly hellbent on self destruction any more. That episode is history. Now we are seeing a new club emerge from the rubble, and it's happening amazingly quickly.

Months before the official liquidation of the club supporters saw what was going to happen. They've been preparing since August for the probability that a new club would have to be created. Now a raft of positive moves are being made, from talking to the local council about using the Deva Stadium to preparing an application to the FA to raising money to signing up volunteers and on and on.

Already the fans have dispelled any notion that somehow being a fan prevents you from running a football club. City Fans United already have fund-raising and communication systems that the previous gang couldn't even dream of. Money is coming in, loyalty is being inspired and enthusiasm is being regenerated.

The chances of a new club kicking off next season are improving by the day.

One interesting barometer is the fans' online forum Devachat. For months any thread would barely surive a handful of posts before bickering and insults would grind it into the mud. Now, articulate and informative threads are the order of the day, with fans debating topics like the new name for the club, the colours of the shirt, the badge, ticket prices and so on. People feel a clear sense of ownership now, and engagement, and there isn't even a team on the pitch yet! It underlines what was missing for so long beforehand.

Incredibly, far from being a terrible time to support a football club, it is a wonderful time.

WHO CARES? WE DO!

Nice to hear one of the most famous pieces of TV sports commentary this morning - Barry Davies's commentary on Great Britain's hockey team scoring against West Germany in the 1988 Olympics.

"Where were the Germans? But frankly, who cares?" This ahead of England playing Germany in the hockey World Cup later today.

Shame that Five Live presenters Nicky Campbell and Shelagh Fogarty started talking over the very lines that made it famous.

THE AXE FALLS

I've just had a phone call from Radio City telling me that Chester City FC has been wound up in the High Court. Have done a quick interview for them in which I quoted the words of that one-time left-winger Oliver Cromwell who described the execution of King Charles I as a sad necessity. Old Noll should have been around today. Now it's onwards with a new club, hopefully to be run by the fans and playing at the Deva.

Long live the revolution.

CLIPBOARDS AT THE READY!

Everton Tigers basketball team created a little bit of sporting history. Their match against Newcastle was the first time I have seen a clipboard used in a mass demonstration as a symbol of derision.

Clipboards of course are familiar at sports events. In my experience they are usually used as a hostile weapons by parking attendants. They appear when you roll up at some farflung sporting outpost, late and stressed. Stopping you at the entrance to the car park, ensuring that your car is obstructing passing traffic, the grumpy gateman will flourish his clipboard ostentatiously, scrutinise it like Fergie and his wristwatch, and then announce that my name isn't on the list.

At the Tigers game clipboards were brandished with even more enthusiasm than this. These were inside the arena, held up by supporters. They didn't quite have the impact of scarlet flares at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome but they did make their presence felt.

It turned out that one of the Newcastle players, with the enviable name of Fabulous, had got into trouble for seizing a coach's clipboard and throwing it into the crowd. So the Tigers fans taunted him with stationery. All good fun. Unfortunately it didn't distract Fabulous and co from winning the game.

PUNCHING THEIR WEIGHT

Looks like Liverpool will be getting its own Boxing Academy. At the Town Hall, where I was co-hosting the annual Liverpool Sports Awards, the council leader Warren Bradley happened to mention that a boxing academy is his next ambition now that the city has a string of upgraded sports centres, a running stadium, an indoor tennis centre, an Olympic aquatic centre and a gymnastics centre which is turning out a string of international stars. He wouldn't go into detail, but it is clearly an item on the agenda.

Meanwhile a former council leader, Mike Storey, wants Liverpool to have a Year of Sport to follow on from the Capital of Culture. Mike is now the Lord Mayor so I wouldn't bet against it haoppening.

Maybe it'll coincide with the opening of the Boxing Academy.