DON'T AXE FABIO

I'm not joining the mob screaming for Capello to be fired. Not yet. It is only right that the FA should give themselves two weeks to reflect on the situation. What is key is whether, in that two weeks, Fabio shows he has learned anything. If he doesn't, then fine - time to order the horse's head. But if he shows that he has taken on board lessons from South Africa then the FA would be daft to dismiss him. We'll never get anywhere by throwing coaches overboard every two years. Capello has never had a group of international players away at a tournament before. Now he has, and he knows what to expect next time. That experience will be priceless and the FA must look for evidence that Fabio has taken it on board before making any decision.

A GREAT DAY TO BE A FOOTBALL FAN

It’s polling day in the UK but for some of us the vote that really matters has already been announced.

At one minute past midnight the news was officially released that Chester FC’s supporters organisation, City Fans United, has been awarded the lease of the Deva Stadium by the owners, Cheshire West and Chester Council.

This was not a “gimme.” There was a rival bid from a Danish consortium who had useful support from Jan Molby and Mark Wright. But the council has taken what I believe to be completely the correct option.

Had the Danes succeeded there was a real risk that football would disappear from Chester for ever. Supporters and the public at large have been so enthused by the CFU campaign that it is doubtful that many would have rolled up to see matches staged by a set-up parachuted in from abroad.

The fans can take massive credit. Last August they were angry, disillusioned, and most significantly isolated. Antagonised, then alienated, then scorned by the ill-fated Vaughan regime they felt helpless. But they got together. They held meetings and people turned up in droves. They looked at a future without the great game and didn’t like it. They discovered a real appetite to keep professional football alive.

Clever, sensible, articulate people emerged to lead and organise. Suddenly, things were happening. Lines of communication with the public were established. Money was raised. Outings for kids were organised. All good, positive developments the like of which the dying regime could never have emulated.

Most important of all, a credible business plan was formulated which has convinced the council that the fans are the correct custodians for the future.

Comparing the situation today with that of a year ago, this is a dramatic and astonishing victory for football supporters.

I congratulate CFU and wish them every success. They don’t need me to tell them that the hard work is only just starting. But in the best football tradition, they should take each day as it comes and that means enjoying today to the full, a great day to be a football fan.

PRESTON SLIPS OUT OF THE PICTURE

It was a sad day for the city of Preston on Friday evening when the National Football Museum locked up for the last time. The concrete cavern built into Preston North End's stadium will remain in partial use as a repository for artefacts, but the displays now move to the Urbis Centre in Manchester.
It's a blow for Preston and a blow for the idea that the wealth of a nation should be spread the length and breadth of that nation. Concentrating everything in metropolitan centres is great for the metropolitan folk, but there is more to our country than that. Having the NFM in Preston was part of a wonderfully English pattern in which you can visit St Ives and find a world class art gallery or go to York and find a magnificent railway museum.
The economic reality was different and, in the end, compelling. Not enough visitors came to Preston. The NFM on its own was not enough of a magnet. Manchester will, I am sure, be different. People visit Manchester for many reasons and while there, a good proportion will find their way to the new NFM.
My company did a fair amount of work for the NFM a few years ago, and the work we were asked to do pointed up some of the problems. We filmed the annual Hall of Fame ceremonies in three consecutive years for the Museum's own use, but on no occasion was the event held in Preston! We trekked to Blackpool, to Bolton and to Liverpool to film fabulous events attended by the glitterati of football and many top media people. Why on earth were these people being invited to every which place EXCEPT Preston? The argument was that Preston did not have anywhere big enough to host the event, which for many simply emphasised that Preston was the wrong place for the museum in the first place. But surely the Hall of Fame should have been used as a gilt-edged opportunity to drag the good and the great to the museum itself, even if it meant putting up a giant marquee on the Deepdale car park.
The other weird thing was that the museum didn't seem to know what to do with the footage once we'd filmed it. Every year we not only filmed the presentations and speeches but conducted exclusive one-on-one interviews with the big personalities, everyone from Sepp Blatter to Sir Alex Ferguson to Dixie Dean's daughter Barbara. What use has been made of that footage? They asked us to put together a short promo which was used to attract sponsors but to the best of my knowledge a large amount of exclusive material has never seen the light of day, and probably never will.

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.

WEMBLEY WAY

Off to Wembley today to see England play Egypt and despite all the football I've seen over many years I am really excited about this. It's my first visit to the new Wembley.

First visit to the old Wembley was in the spring of 1967 when my dad took me to see England - reigning world champions - play Spain. I remember gazing up at the massive concrete ramparts. And that was only Jack Charlton. The stadium seemed pretty imposing too. We won, as we tended to in those days.

My stand-out professional memory of the old Wembley is my first commentary from there - the 1984 FA Cup Final in which Everton beat Watford 2-0. Funniest moment was the replay of the 1983 final. This was the year Steve Foster, captain of Brighton, went to court to overturn an FA ban which kept him out of the game against Manchester United. Foster lost but without him his team-mates held out for a 0-0 draw. This gave Foster the chance to play in a final after all, only for United to stroll the replay 4-0. "Stevie Foster, Stevie Foster, what a difference you have made!" came the chant from the United end. Wickedly funny.

It was always my dream to see Chester play at Wembley. It used to bug me, as a young fan, that small teams like Skelmersdale Utd had a better chance of appearing at Wembley than we did because they could play in the FA Amateur Cup. Then the Associate Members Cup was invented - aka the Johnstone's Paint Trophy - and I figured this was our big chance.

Well, if it was we never took it. We did reach the Northern Final one year, losing to Mansfield, an event I remember best for the handbrake cable snapping on my much-loved Ford Capri. And there was a famous near-miss when we reached the League Cup semi-final in 1975.

But Wembley is still the place to be and England will just have to cope with the added pressure of carrying all my Wembley dreams from now on.

GOOD DAY FOR EVERTON

At Goodison Park today to see Everton beat Manchester Utd 3-1. It was a really good display by Everton. Their mental composure impressed me most, that and the fantastic confidence of their young players who scored after coming off the bench, Gosling and Rodwell. With Fellaini and Cahill added to the injury list not many of us in the press room thought Everton would stop United, but Everton played with confidence in their own ability, despite conceding the first goal of the game. As a spectacle, this was so much more enjoyable than that aberration that took place a fortnight ago, the Merseyside derby, when there was more premeditated violence than an average mixed martial arts contest.
Rooney was out of touch, certainly not his usual awesome self. David Moyes revealed this week that Rooney rang him up a few months ago to mend fences after using his book to malign Moyes. One or two of my press colleagues wondered if Rooney has mixed feelings now about returning to Goodison - no longer determined to rub blue noses in it. The abuse level from the stands was well down on previous years too. Perhaps the penny has dropped with Evertonians that it isn't a good idea to wind the lad up. Whatever the reason, this was a terrific result for Everton.

RESPECT WAS NOWHERE TO BE SEEN

Just back from Anfield after reporting the Merseyside derby. Liverpool won 1-0 and congratulations to them on winning despite being down to 10 men for most of the game. I was really depressed though by the vicious attitude of players of both teams. I've seen a lot of hard-tackling derbies over many years but this wasn't hard, it was reckless. Kyrgiakos' two-footed tackle put Fellaini out of the game - a disgrace. Carragher set the tone with an appalling tackle on Pienaar in the very first minute - should have been booked but wasn't. Pienaar later put in an equally bad challenge on Mascherano. In the second half Gerrard followed through on Pienaar who was on the deck and soon afterwards Pienaar jumped late into Gerrard and collected a second yellow.

What is the point of George Sefton, Anfield's renowned PA announcer, telling the crowd that LFC will not tolerate racism or homophobia if the players then go about their business with as much respect as back-alley hoodlums?

When the dust has settled Benitez and Moyes need to take a look at themselves and so do their players. This derby match was riveting in the way you can't tear your eyes away from a burning building, but if this was anything to do with the Beautiful Game my name's Pele.

FOOTBALL'S NEW DIMENSION

Forget John Terry (Wayne Bridge only wishes he could) but a more significant long-term story this weekend was the launch of 3D televising of football.

Sky took the plunge at the Arsenal v Manchester United game and the general response from the critics was positive.

You had to be in one of nine selected pubs to watch the 3D images and Kevin Rawlinson of the Independent felt it was worth while. "As Nani chipped in," he wrote, "the ball seemed to shoot out of the screen. It was a little too real."

"Spectacular was the only word for it," raved Alan McKinlay in the Mirror. "At the start it felt like Cesc Fasbregas and Wayne Rooney were shaking hands on the carpet just in front of you."

Frank Wiechula in the Express hailed the "crystal-clear cutting-edge technology" and proclaimed "the way we look at football will never be the same again."

The special black-rimmed specs might take some getting used to. "It looked more like the annual meeting of the Buddy Holly convention," wrote Rawlinson. But how quickly does the future become the past. "As the technology progresses you'll be able to throw the specs away," said McKinlay.

Martin Kelner of the Guardian has probably chucked his away already. He was "mildly underwhelmed" by the experiment, but admitted that seeing the 3D movie Avatar the previous night didn't help. "Football was never designed to compete with interplantary warfare and alien sex." There again, John Terry wasn't playing.

BAD DAYS AT ANFIELD

I'm not liking the situation at Liverpool FC. When the serving manager attacks one of the club's iconic players it is a bad sign.
Yesterday Rafa Benitez derided Graeme Souness's record as a manager and also had a dig at Jurgen Klinsmann after the two of them criticised Liverpool's performance when losing at home to Fiorentina in midweek.
I watched the analysis delivered by Souness and Klinsmann on Sky and it was compulsive viewing. They could hardly believe the spineless performance Liverpool had delivered and they called it how they saw it. Having seen an equally feeble display by Liverpool at Blackburn a few days earleir, I couldn't disagree with them.
It was certainly extreme for Graeme to describe LFC as being "in meltdown" but let's be honest, the garden is hardly rosy. I've been a huge supporter of Rafa but right now there are too many question marks at the club. On the field no-one can be happy with team selection, transfer policy, and defensive strategy, while off the field there are even more concerns about the club's finances and the new stadium project. It might not be meltdown but it is certainly crumbling round the edges.
I'm reminded of an episode towards the end of Gerard Houllier's reign when he rounded on former LFC legend Alan Kennedy after Alan had voiced criticisms on the radio. Houllier banned Alan from entering the guest lounges at Anfield where he'd been employed to entertain sponsors and guests. This for a man who had twice scored goals that won Liverpool the European Cup.
Not long after that Houllier got the guillotine.
Rafa must be careful. Souness was a magnificent manager for Rangers and did a very good job at Blackburn. He won more for Liverpool than Rafa has. And it certainly isn't the Liverpool way for this kind of falling out to erupt between men who've each earned the respect of a very demanding group of supporters.

RADIO MAGIC

Memorable moment on 5 Live today. Kit Symons, ex pro footballer and now pundit, previewing Portsmouth v Burnley: "This isn't a must-win game. It's game they must win."

TOGETHER IN ELECTRIC DREAMS

I've been reunited with my best mate in broadcasting. He's been away down south for around 10 days and I was worried that he wouldn't make it back in time for our trip to Anfield tomorrow. But he's turned up, freshly scrubbed, all set for the big game.

He's called Glen Sound and he's been with me to football matches all over the country. He was there when Newcastle were relegated on the last day of the season. He was with me when Adebayor set off on that crazy celebration after scoring against Arsenal. And I'm very pleased that he'll be at my side when Liverpool play Manchester City this weekend. He's my voice and my ears, and he comes in a compact little case with a couple of leads, and sockets for microphone and headphones.

This invaluable chum is my ISDN broadcasting kit, manfactured by a company called Glensound based in Kent. I stupidly left the batteries in too long and they began to corrode. So I sent it down to Glensound to be cleaned out and serviced. Heart in mouth in case it didn't make it back in time for my next booking. That's why I despatched it during an international break.

It is one of the downsides of being a freelance that there is no-one else to take responsibility for maintaining your kit. If it doesn't work, you can't blame some faceless engineering department in Shepherds Bush. On the other hand, the upside is that you can always ensure your kit is present and correct. I recall turning up for a late call-out by the BBC to cover a game at Maine Road. The Beeb were supplying the kit which would be delivered to the stadium. Sure enough, when I arrived, there it was. But when I opened it up in the press box, there was one item missing - the microphone.

The ISDN kit, commonplace these days, took over from its bulky predecessor, the COOBE. It stands for Commentator Operated Outside Broadcast Equipment. There was another version called a SOOBE. (Self Operated Outside.....fill in the rest yourself). Like the Glensound, the COOBE could be operated by the reporter alone. It came with mic (well, usually) and headphones. You plugged in to a bulky GPO socket, cranked a handle as if you were starting a 1933 Austin Seven, and with luck someone picked up in the BBC studio. You could then broadcast in microphone quality while hearing the studio in your headphones. The big drawback was that telecom lines had to be booked with the Post Office (later BT) on every occasion, and the lines only went to one destination.

There was a problem one day at Everton. A wire became disconnected from some vital component. I can't recall all the details but I do remember going to the restaurant to borrow a knife and strip back the sheathing to expose the bare wire. Not having a soldering kit to hand, I spent the whole match jamming the wire against the terminal with my thumb to enable me to get on the air.

ISDN technology has made everything more flexible. The kit is smaller, lighter, and you can dial from your seat in the press box anywhere in the world. That is a godsend to freelances servicing more than one client. When it first arrived the system was somewhat fragile. Every reporter was petrified that the connection would suddenly trip out and refuse to reconnect. Today (touch wood) it is much more reliable.

So long as you don't leave your batteries in too long.

FA CUP ON THE WEB

Another significant step has been taken today regarding the showing of live football on the internet.

The FA have sanctioned the showing of one FA Cup first round tie via the internet. It will be Oldham v Leeds at 5.15pm on Saturday November 7th. Perform, the company which produced the webstream of England's match in Ukraine recently, are again putting the show together.

This would not have happened but for the demise of Setanta UK who originally held the rights. The FA is being imaginative in its exploration of the new possibilities on offer and the availability of live sport via the internet is bound to increase.

The game can be seen at www.thefa.com

EVERTON STRONGER THAN LIVERPOOL

Liverpool's fourth consecutive defeat has turned the spotlight on the strength of their squad. No Torres or Gerrard, so what are they left with?

Liverpool have a good team when everyone is fit. But I reckon Everton have a better squad.

Don't believe me? Look at the evidence. Let's say this is Liverpool's best team if they're all available and Rafa is thinking straight: Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Carragher, Insua; Kuyt, Mascherano, Aquilani, Riera; Gerrard; Torres.

This is Everton's best team: Howard; Hibbert, Yobo, Jagielka, Baines; Arteta, Neville, Fellaini, Pienaar; Cahill; Yakubu.

OK, having selected those two teams, this is each club's second string - the best way to assess who has better strength in depth.

Liverpool: Cavallieri; Kelly, Kyrgiakos, Agger, Aurelio; Benayoun, Spearing, Lucas, Babel; Voronin, Ngog.
Everton: Nash; Heitiga, Neill, Distin, Baxter; Osman, Rodwell, Bilyaletdinov, Gosling; Anichebe, Saha.

There's nothing to choose between the defences but Everton have a clear edge in midfield in attack. And they still have James Vaughan and Jo available. Liverpool have, er, El Zhar.

TO HULL AND BACK

At Hull v Wigan on Saturday when I was sorry for Wigan, losing 2-1, but very pleased for the Hull boss Phil Brown.

I rate Phil as a good guy and a good coach. OK, he may have overplayed his hand once or twice last season, but he has shown his ability to assemble decent football teams. As luck would have it, I have been assigned to cover the last three of Hull's Premier League games, and Phil's response to defeats in the first two was excellent - changing the training routine, working on the mindset of the dressing room, and shaking up team and tactics to very good effect. Saturday saw Nick Barmby, a Hull lad, recalled to the team and made captain and that seemed to inspire players and crowd alike. The selection of Kevin Kilbane in the problem position of centre-back was unexpected but worked very well.

A few years ago, when they were at Bolton, Phil and Sam Allardyce ran a memorable day for the media. We were all invited to become a Bolton Player for the Day, and put through various fitness exercises which the players go through. These included tai chi, sprinting (!) endurance (!!) and tactical defending. It was great fun and the trouble that Sam and Phil took over giving us that insight into the professional world has stuck with me, even after the strains and humilation of the sprinting exercise wore off.

I hope Phil continues to guide Hull safely up the table.

MOTD LET THEIR MANN DOWN

There was an astonishly bad piece of editing in last night's Match of the Day.

Alistair Mann, commentating on Bolton v Spurs, with the score at 1-1, observed: "You just get the sense that the scorer of the next goal might be Spurs." Moments later we saw the next goal being scored by Bolton.

How the heck was that comment by Alistair left in?

There was nothing wrong with his piece of speculation. In the context of a 90-minute commentary it's fine. But when that 90 minutes is later edited down to seven or eight minutes, the VT editor and the producer have the chance to tidy up anything which, when viewed in the context of the edit, is clearly out of place.

Alistair was entitled to expect much more professional treatment.

GOOD NEWS IN A TOUGH ENVIRONMENT

It's nice to be able to report something positive from that beleaguered outpost of footballing turmoil known as Chester City FC. For the last couple of weeks I've been working with three other Chester fans to set up a Former Players Association for the ex-players of the club.

The other fans are a bit more than simply fans. They are Gary Talbot, our legendary goal-getter from the 1960s who once scored 33 goals in one season, Grenville Millington, our goalkeeper in the 1974-75 season when we reached the semi-finals of the League Cup anbd won promotion, and Chas Sumner, Chester's club historian and statistician.

The four of us met at the Shrewsbury Arms, just outside Chester, to discuss setting up an FPA and by the time we broke up the Association was formed. The aims are to give ex-players the opportunity to get together, raise some cash for charity, and give fans a focal point for paying tribute to their heroes.

The club may be on its knees at the moment, but it hasn't always been like that and it's good to reflect on great days and happy memories. Who knows, it might inspire better days in the future.

Work to build on that decison at the Shrewsbury Arms is racing ahead and we now want anyone who has played a first team game for Chester to contact us and sign up via our website: www.formerchesterplayers.com

The picture shows Gary and Grenville in front, and Paul Baker of our generous sponsors UKS Transglobal and Chas at the back.

Big thanks to the Rev Harry Ross, of Everton's FPA, for his encouragement and advice.

FOOTBALL'S MOST POTENT FORCE

I was at Anfield on Saturday for Liverpool's Premier League match with Hull. It struck me that Liverpool and their fans have done a wonderful and dignified job of keeping alive the memory of the 96 supporters who died at Hillsborough. It is over 20 years since that disaster and the promises made at the time have been kept to the letter. Before the game on Saturday George Sefton, the club's long-serving announcer with that wonderful, gravelly bass voice, played a recording of the unofficial Anfield anthem "Fields of Anny Road" which includes a verse dedicated to the Hillsborough victims and the ongoing fight for justice. Outside the Shankly Gates the floral tributes at the Hillsborough Memorial were as fresh and plentiful as ever. No pathetic plastic wrappers which tend to be all that's left by roadside crash scenes after the first few weeks, these tributes are constantly refreshed. The vast majority of the students who've just enrolled on my university course were not even born when Hillsborough happened but the fierce commitment of Liverpool supporters means that their generation is fully aware of what took place and why it matters.

Football as a culture is very good at protecting and honouring its own, in a positive way. Liverpool fans have been just as consistent in their support of Michael Shields. Their campaign, in which the club itself played no small part, prevented the Shields case from falling off the agenda, much as Jack Straw might have wished otherwise.

It's not just Liverpool. I found the tribute to Sir Bobby Robson at the Ipswich v Newcastle match moving and memorable. Laura Wright sang My Way beautifully and the way the crowd joined in made an even more special moment.

Fans and clubs spend a lot of time at each other's throats, but when they all sing from the same hymn sheet they can create a very potent force.

PETER REID STEALS THE SHOW

When a new kid moves into the street it's always a cause of gossip, and the arrival of a new presence in the TV football market is no different.
Generally, the columnists have given ESPN a positive reception although Martin Kelner in The Guardian complained that there was "scarcely a whiff of innovation." Oliver Holt in the Daily Mirror described presenter Ray Stubbs as "excellent" but Giles Smith in The Times was unimpressed by the set, describing it as "somewhere between the interior of a building society and the inside of a dishwasher."
The man who caught the critics' eye though was none of the players in Everton v Arsenal but Peter Reid in the pundit's role. "The world's first made-for-HD sideburns," was Smith's description, while Kelner reckoned that Reid's "patchy grey mutton-chop sideburns make him look either like a Dickens character or the new face of Special Brew."
High Definition is one of TV's latest advances but it does few favours to anyone with a less-than-perfect complexion. Smith used this to neat effect: "Who would have thought that Reid's facial hair would end up driving HD set-top box sales? But that's football in the 21st century."

KEOWN TAKES NO PRISONERS

At Molineux on Saturday where Wolves lost 0-2 to West Ham. Wolves lacked composure at both ends of the field while West Ham, without being outstanding, produced a tidy display and had a bit too much class.
Talking to Martin Keown in the press room beforehand. We were watching TV pictures of Hull v Chelsea and Martin was bemused that several of the press guys were taking no notice. "Maybe they're completing their preparation for this one," I suggested. "Should have done it before," growled Keown. The spirit of the Highbury back four lives on.
John Motson was the BBC commentator at this one. It's his 39th season, he told me, which means he's only one ahead of me. My first season as a professional sports reporter was 1971-72 when my debut was Rochdale Reserves v Southport Reserves and a skinny young lad called Peter Withe couldn't get a game in Southport's second string. A few years later he won the European Cup with Aston Villa.

SKY'S THE WINNER - FOR NOW

There's no doubt that the real winner in the ESPN takeover of Setanta's UK rights is Sky. Where will viewers access ESPN's matches next season? Via the Sky platform. Who will produce the match coverage for ESPN? Sky Sports. This is surely not the outcome that the European Commission was looking for when it tried to enforce elements of competition in the sports rights market.
But maybe Sky should not brag too loud or too long. ESPN plans to use its new foothold in the UK market to introduce a load of American TV sport which we don't have. It will not stop with football. And as part of the Disney organisation, ESPN has resources that Setanta could only dream about. When the next round of bidding for Premier League bundles comes along, Sky will face a much tougher opponent.