More Than A Game...

I found out that Dermot (Morgan) had died the day after we filmed this, a show we had already decided would be the last Father Ted. The shock was indescribable. I had to call Arthur (Mathews, "Father Ted"'s co-creator and writer) and tell him and a few days later we had to edit this episode, still reeling. Dermot was great in this episode, probably the best I've ever seen him, and I think on some unconscious level he was keeping himself going until the end of the series (in the same way that people often get sick at the end of a long location shoot). It's still unbelievable to Arthur and me that he's not here anymore.

-- Graham Linehan, 1999

When the news broke to me about Gary Speed's death (on Facebook, of all places!) it was very difficult - nay, impossible - for me not to think of the above quote. Because I'm struggling to recall being as shocked, or staggered, about the death of a famous person since Father Ted star Dermot Morgan collapsed and died the very day after the show finished filming for good. And, in many ways, the quote does relate to Gary Speed. For there he was, with Dan Walker on the BBC's Football Focus merely a day before, in "great form". Just like Dermot Morgan was the day before he lost his life.

Now is not the time to dwell on what could have possibly caused this sudden turn of events. But what I will say is that, to me, he was the Welsh Gareth Southgate - a natural leader, a good, honest pro and a role model to everybody. He was even capable of proving me wrong too, as he overcame a shaky start with our distant black and white neighbours to become a driving force in their midfield during the Bobby Robson years. What's even sadder is that he still had potential to fulfil - there were signs that he was going to do for Wales what Lawrie Sanchez did for Northern Ireland, if not better.

RIP Gary Speed. You will be missed.

(Click here to read a blog by the BBC's Dan Walker which says it better than I ever could.)

Boro's New Badge

I missed most of the Peterborough game today, but heard enough about it to realise that we had surrendered the initiative. Yet again. Now I know our squad isn't the strongest, but... come on. If we really are serious about challenging for promotion we need to be finishing off games like this.

Hence, harsh though this may sound, maybe the following image should be placed on the wall of the dressing room, or become the club's new badge.

I'm joking, of course, but... seriously. These late concessions are getting on mine, and no doubt everyone's, nerves. Am I right?

I'll see if I can come up with a Top Five "Late Concessions" in the Riverside Era before the West Ham match. A match that's now taken on a whole new level of importance.

It's The Hope That Kills You

CHARLOTTE: Seriously, all I want is a boyfriend like you. I mean, you're funny, and you're sweet, and you're kind to me... I think I'd be happy if I had someone in my life just like you.

WILL: Well... what about me?

CHARLOTTE: (Laughs) No, not you! No, someone like you. You're so funny. Not you, obviously...

It's an unusual thought, relating a situation from hit comedy The Inbetweeners to modern football in the lower leagues. But I've somehow managed to do it.

Not too long ago, I'd just watched The Fashion Show episode again (the one at the start of series three, if you're curious) when I came across this interesting piece from The Mirror's Ian Winwood. As a Barnsley fan, he talked about the brilliant goal Victor Moses scored against Barnsley for Crystal Palace nearly two years ago, and also how he was aware that Moses wouldn't be at Palace for much longer. And sure enough, Moses was soon on his way to Wigan. Admittedly, Palace entering administration didn't help matters, but with five goals in eight games, he'd become a hot property anyway, so one of the bigger clubs was bound to snap him up.

Barnsley lost star winger Adam Hammill to Wolves the following season in similar fashion (which is just what Winwood was fearing when he wrote at the time). Just like we had lost our own young Adam, Johnson, to City a year before. And despite improvements to their games (well, alleged in Hammill's case), not to mention lucrative wages, of course, neither Hammill nor Johnson has gotten anywhere near the amount of first team football, and fan worship, that they would have had at Barnsley or Boro respectively.

There's many more examples I could give you. Look at Ziege when he moved to Liverpool. Look at Ross Turnbull, who almost never gets a game at Stamford Bridge. And here is where I give you my analogy - Charlotte is to Will what star players are to smaller clubs.

I'm sure that deep down, Will knows that Charlotte is out of his league. Especially after his previous "encounters" with her. And yet, in the episode that I've mentioned, she convinces him that he has a chance after choosing him to take part in a fashion show, something that he previously condemned for its "exclusive vanity". (See? He chucked his morals out the window for her.) And yet, after everything he's done for her, and everything he supposedly means to her, she effectively tells him he has no chance whatsoever. Then comes the "someone like you" remark, which completes the analogy (read on and you'll see why)...

We sensed that Adam Johnson was out of our league not long after he finally made Stewie's much vaunted place on the left-wing his own. He was a frustrating individual, Jinky was - he blew hot and cold - but he had class. And even though he was in the final year of his contract, I believed that if we could sustain an automatic promotion chase by around January 2010, we might just have been able to persuade him to stay for a little longer. Of course, we were virtually out of the race for the top two by just after Christmas anyway, so you know it can't have taken long for him to make up his mind.

And yet - and yet - you sense that players like he, and Turnbull, would be happy to play for a club like ours. One that has nurtured them, stood by them, and given them first team football - yet isn't able to offer them as much financial security or as big a challenge. Just like Will... for all the love he can give Charlotte, he isn't as much of a challenge to her as the Mark Donovan's of this world.

That's the bottom line in football these days - the money men, or muscle men, always tend to get their way. Sad, but true.

It's even crueller when there's enough promise from the whole team to convince you that your club has a chance of holding on to its best players. As Ian Winwood (and Boro's own Anthony Vickers) have previously said, even when you know, or think you know, that the final act is coming, it is the hope that kills you.

We find ourselves in a similar situation today. Back in late August and early September, when Marvellous Marvin Emnes was on his red-hot scoring streak, rumours of a transfer away from the Riverside began to surface. Thankfully though, he signed a new deal soon after (although what do these "new deals" really mean? Look at Merson and his "commitment to Boro for life" back in '98, and how that turned out). Nowadays we have the Rhys Williams contract situation to contend with. Even though he's committed to the club 'til 2013, talks over a new deal have stalled... and Liverpool and Bolton have been alerted.

But who can say this wasn't inevitable? How can we hope to ward off bids from Premier clubs unless we can maintain Premier ambitions ourselves? And something tells me that unless we can remain on the heels of the top two until at least the end of the year - which these days, is looking less likely - Rolls Rhys will get itchy feet again. Brace yourselves.

* * * * *

I couldn't sign off for the evening without paying tribute to the club, for an article I read this week made me very proud to be a Boro fan.

Former Boro full-back Gary Parkinson has been left paralysed by "locked-in" syndrome, meaning that he can only communicate by blinking. And yet, with the help of Mogga, the coaching staff and his wife Deborah, he has become a talent scout for the club! It is, as Shaun Wilson said on Twitter, a "touch of class" from our manager.

It's also hoped that Parkinson will get his speech back, after an operation on his vocal chords.

For those of you who are interested, the full article can be found here.

* * * * *

Oh, and before I forget, here's the answer to Monday's "game": From left to right, we have Afonso Alves, Gary O'Neil, Mido, Jeremie Aliadiere, Andy Taylor, Mohamed Shawky and David Wheater. Be honest: how many did you get right?

Play The Game...

Evening, folks. Tonight we'll have a bit of fun on the blog.

What you see above is a photo taken the last time I actually went to the Riverside, back in September '08. West Bromwich Albion were a newly promoted side, and we were on a winning run at home. That was when I'd booked my tickets to fly over - unfortunately, what hadn't happened yet was Tuncay damaging his ligaments on international duty. Result? We missed his creativity and work rate, yet we still outplayed them for the majority of the match. But we ended up losing 1-0 - and the victorious manager was, of all people, Tony Mowbray! He must never have thought he'd be sitting in the home dugout a mere two years on. Then again, stranger things may happen yet for Gareth Southgate - read this piece from Saturday's Mirror.

But anyway, back to the fun, so to speak. Can you name the seven players, from left to right, in the picture?

I'll give you a clue - none of them is wearing a Boro shirt today. Have fun!

(Click on the photo for a high-res version of the image.)

Ireland, Ireland... (Or, Going For A Song)

Taking our minds off Blackpool for a few minutes...

I love being a journalist. You're always seeing new or interesting things, or meeting new and interesting people on a day to day basis. And this week, I was lucky enough to get the chance to interview people about Ireland's chances in Euro 2012 next summer.

In my interviews, I came across a few football anoraks. Yet no one actually mentioned Sean St. Ledger. Now, truth be told, he's not the most popular player among Boro fans (indeed, one fan told me that he had "heart attacks" when the ball came into our penalty area), but, lest we forget, he was more than capable of the odd moment of magic when coming forward. Remember his important goals against Coventry and Reading, and his defence splitting pass in that 5-1 win over QPR? Not to mention his first ever Ireland goal against the Italians, which, but for an even later equaliser, would have given him a perfect Ray Houghton moment?

Admittedly, I'm probably being a bit myopic, in that I prefer to remember his forward play rather than his defensive prowess, or lack of it. But I think the real problem was this - he's the kind of ball playing centre half that needs a defensive strongman, like Robert Huth or Richard Dunne, to get the best out of him. And David Wheater just wasn't the answer.

Anyway, we will surely be seeing him at the Euros next summer - and we will also be hearing no end of the team's official song! After all, what's an international tournament without one? A local girl I interviewed said that was probably what she was looking forward to most. And we could do no worse than ask Neil Hannon and Thomas Walsh to pen it. After all, they've already penned a remarkable Alternative Irish National Anthem:

(Lyrics courtesy of The Irish Times.)

Ireland, Ireland, damp sod of earth
Lost on the surf of the North Atlantic.
Ireland, Ireland, mountains and mist,
Vodka and chips, it’s so romantic.

Joyce and Heaney, Beckett and Wilde,
Bill O’Herlihy, Dunphy and Giles,
Evans, Hewson, Mullen and Clayton,
Westlife and Jedward the pride of our nation!

Ireland, Ireland, once we were poor,
Then we were wealthy; now we are poor again.
Cows and horses, donkeys and sheep,
Munster and Leinster, Connacht and ******.

Chinese, Polish, Africans too,
Doing the jobs we don’t want to do.
An Irish stew, a nation of nations,
Working for peanuts in petrol stations.

Ireland, Ireland, you are the best
Place to the west of Wales and Scotland.
Sometimes it’s heaven, sometimes it’s hell,
But I’d rather be Irish than anything else!

What I've Learnt In The Past Few Weeks - And What Boro Haven't (And What I Fear They Never Will...)

So here I am, back to blog after quite an eventful couple of weeks. Eventful in that we've seen a certain Aussie break his long awaited goal drought, Ireland qualify for a major tournament for the first time in a decade (that's brought a smile to everyone's face in these parts, let me tell you, quality of the football be damned) and Boro failing to learn... much.

But first, it's been a bit of an enlightening experience for me too. After the poor response to the Watford Live Commentary, I realised that it didn't work as well as I thought it would - after all, the BBC can offer the exact same service, and Twitter, as my colleague Brandon Arcuicci has rightly pointed out, is more interactive and has access to more information. So I decided it made more sense to set up a Twitter account for Si's Insights and run a live Twitter feed on the right hand side in the blog. I have a feeling it will be especially lively on match days.

And today was one of those days. After the dourness of the Watford match, not to mention the desperately poor attendance at said game, you wouldn't have been surprised if the powers that be at Sky never wanted to cover another Boro match. Well, today's game was everything the Watford game wasn't - exciting, eventful and heart-stopping, with a higher attendance. Oh, and we didn't win.

It was easy to approach today's game with a little trepidation. Our recent record against Blackpool brings back painful memories. There was the massive fall down to earth three days after we thought Gordon Strachan had finally got it right, and then there was Scott McDonald missing a penalty as we collapsed to a spineless defeat at Bloomfield Road later that season. Turned out that for all their spine, Blackpool didn't have as much in the tank as they needed. Their football may have won them many fans, but neither their squad nor their game plan was equipped to last a season in the Premiership.

Just like I feel that neither our squad nor our game plan is good enough to consistently last the full season alongside the automatic promotion challengers. We may be a very different team since Blackpool last played us, and Scott McDonald may be a very different player, but it's not quite amounting to as much as we hoped it might.

I've read some fans saying that they would be more than happy with a play-off place, and that automatic promotion is a pipe dream anyway. But look at it like this - if both the league table and our style of play tantalised us with the promise of automatic promotion, as it has done this season, wouldn't you feel more than a little disappointed if we didn't get it? Wouldn't you be more than a little down if we didn't capitalise on numerous chances to win games that finish in either draws or narrow defeats? Which, let's face it, has happened far too often under both Mowbray and Southgate.

Like today. Despite the more than welcome return to form of Scott McDonald (that's three in two now for the Aussie after none in 12 - and I'll bet you he's lovin' it) the game should have been out of sight long before his second goal. Shades of the Coventry game, where Boro target Lucas Jutkiewicz made our wastefulness pay - and this time, it was Liverpool loanee Jonjo's turn to Shelve (okay, no more bad puns) our chances of victory. After that, we were kind of lucky not to surrender the game to them altogether.

At the same time, Southampton were capitalising mercilessly on a Brighton sending off to move even further away from the chasing pack, and Big Sam's substitutes were turning a defeat into a win for the Hammers at Coventry. They can bring on Cole and Piquonne while we can bring on Nimely and Ogbeche. Proven Premiership forwards against unproven goalscorers at any English level. That seems to be the difference, folks.

Yeah, I know I said a few weeks ago that running the Saints and West Ham close is probably the best we'll be able to do - but it's so frustrating when the team hint that they might, might just prove me wrong.

And, of course, every late goal we concede brings back memories of the previous one. In fact, me and Brandon Arcuicci have been delving into the list of players who have broken Boro hearts with late goals in recent years. The list is, frankly, endless. But I think I can come up with a Top Five, by, say, Monday? All suggestions are welcome...

* * * * *

As a post script, I'll spare a thought for poor ex-Boro man Brad Jones, who lost his four-year-old son to leukaemia yesterday. My thoughts are with him and his family at this difficult time.

Here's a link to an emotional interview with Brad and partner Dani on the Liverpool website, that took place last month.

RIP Luca Jones.

Can Boro Sting The Hornets? - LIVE

20.06 That's it, I'm signing off for now. Feel free to comment on whether you agree or disagree with the below. See you soon!

20.03 THE BEST TWEETS...

untypicalboro:  "A scrappy win but back into 3rd and 3 points clear with a third of the season gone. You'd have snapped hands off in August for that."

simoninusa: "I can't help thinking how lucky we are to have Mogga. We would have drawn or lost this under Strachan.... We struggled because we defended too deep and invited them to attack."

mogganaut04: "Need more options up front. Ogbeche is not the answer."

spwright25: "You know it's been a poor match when the crowd getting evacuated gets shown more then any football action."

19.19 No doubt Mogga will say there's still much work to be done... and on tonight's evidence, I definitely agree.

19.17 AND THAT'S IT! A Bonfire night victory for the lads as Boro inflict Watford's fourth successive away defeat on them. It wasn't pretty, we never really looked like adding a second goal, we looked vulnerable for far too long and, on top of all that, our goal should never have stood. But a win's a win - and we'll definitely take that going into the break.

FULL TIME: Boro 1 (McDonald 41'), Watford 0

19.15 YELLOW CARD (Watford): Jonathan Hogg.

19.12 SUBSTITUTION (Watford): Forsyth for Hodson.

19.11 FOUR MINUTES ADDED TIME

19.11 Determined football from Boro leads to Tony Mc winning a corner...

19.10 PHEW. Yeates' delivery was just too long.

19.08 Two and a half minutes left. Very much on the back foot....

19.07 And then he sets the record straight with a fine ball for Robbo, who... slips.

19.06 Awfully naive touch from Marvin there in the area. That's not the Emnes we've known this season...

19.04 YELLOW CARD: Barry Robson. His 7th of the season. Not a good 33rd birthday present (yep, it's in two days...).

19.04 SUBSTITUTION (Watford): Jenkins for Buaben.

19.02 Into the last ten. For me, we're still looking far too vulnerable.

19.00 Ack. I thought Tony Mc had kept it in...

18.57 And Loach spills Bennett's long cross, and... and he spills Tony Mc's cross, and...  it's back to the half-way line.

18.56 OOOOHH. Good shot from Emnes following Haroun's deflected pull-back. Too close to Loach though.

18.55 Every time I see Sean Dyche, I get reminded of that semi-final back in 1997... and his goal...

18.54 Good Watford spell. But Hodson balloons it from distance to take the pressure off for a bit.

18.51 SUBSTITUTION. No double for Scott Mc today, alas... But the Bartman, Ogbeche, is getting a chance to prove himself.

18.51 And as I speak... good endeavour from Rhys Williams forces a spillage from Loach to Haroun ten yards out. Alas, he balloons it.

18.50 I applaud all the good Boro pressure, but we're looking very vulnerable.

18.48 SUBSTITUTION (Watford): Beattie for Iwelumo.

18.47 Haroun concedes a corner.

From Lizzayx on Twitter: "Zemmama has gone straight down the tunnel after being brought off. He looks gutted."

18.43 Nothing comes of it. But let's try again... and a half decent spell of pressure from Robbo's 2nd corner ends in a Watford throw deep in their own half.

18.42 On the other hand, Haroun's determination - just seen it there now - has always impressed me. Bennett wins a corner, Robson will take...

18.41 Has Zemmama ever shown himself capable of going for ninety minutes?

18.40 SUBSTITUTION: Zemmama off, Haroun on.

18.39 Good opportunism from Scott Mc, robbing the Watford skipper. Sadly the finish lacked power.

18.38 Good block from Dickinson. Boro living dangerously there. Break was poor, but at least the ball's out of danger.

18.36 Steele showing more nerves of... well... steel in the penalty area. Good sign. Apparently he's been with Boro since the age of 13, that's loyalty for you...

18.33 And... I'm back. Five minutes into the second half, no change to the scoreline. Just found the attendance in 14,366 - thanks barcuicci - very poor.

18.16 Kind of reminiscent of our failure to deliver against Cardiff, in front of the BBC cameras...

From BoroOffside on Twitter: "Is it just me, or do Boro games on TV make you slightly more nervy than normal?"

HALF-TIME Boro 1, Watford 0

18.11 Apologies, Barry Robson... I missed your part in our goal. Although Scott Mc was clearly offside, so that's got to be a let off.

18.10 OOOOHH! Almost a freak goal from Zemmama there... His cross cum shot nearly ending up in the net. Bennett's gone down with a head injury.

18.09 Games will get harder to win as the season goes on... would you take this as a final score?

18.06 A somewhat fortuitous goal, but confidence is flowing through the side... and a smile's on Mogga's face.

18.04 YEEESSSSS! If anyone needed a goal... Scott McDonald, taking advantage of brilliant work by Zemmama, who refused to give up when the ball seemed out of play before delivering the incisive pass. 1-0 Boro. Although that goal had more than a hint of offside about it...

18.02 Good break leads to Tony Mc winning a throw... and again, the cross is over hit.

18.01 OOOH! Close call. Marvellous Marvin just misses an over hit cross. In fairness, Hodson watched it well.

18.00 Half chances at either end, but difficult to tell when a goal's gonna come...

17.55 Turns out it was a false alarm. Never mind, the fans haven't missed a thing.

17.54 Fire at the Riverside? Play's going ahead, but one area of the stadium is being cleared of supporters.

17.51 Size of crowd still a massive cause for concern. It looks especially bad in front of the Sky cameras. Watford come close.

17.50 Disappointing FK from Tony Mc. Not too long ago I proclaimed him a dead-ball specialist...

17.49 Promising break, but again it leads to nothing. All huff and puff with no end product... the last four Harry Potter movies, anyone?

17.48 Counter attacks are going nowhere, Watford look more incisive. Mogga looks... bewildered.

17.45 Another near miss, from a corner, has shown a worrying sign that the tide is beginning to turn.

17.44 Well done Steele... and he hasn't had a save to make yet! Iwelumo was determined to prove a point.

17.43 Yeates took a knock earlier. Nice reminder of his old stamping ground, I guess. I still think he was mistreated at Boro... Mogga could have made something of him.

17.42 Verdict so far... lots of promising pressure, a few chances, but Watford are soaking it all up. This could be another Coventry, where we're made to pay for our wastefulness. Touch wood...

17.40 Great pass from Rhys to Emnes... alas, he forgets about unselfishness and skies it. Robbo was better placed.

17.38 Promising break from the lads... but Tony Mc's foul ends it.

17.37 Last time we were both in the Premier League, the result was a 4-1 Boro win. Wishful thinking that we'll win be the same scoreline. Scott Mc is no Viduka.

17.34 Marvin's also come close. Just heard that it's been more than two years since Watford won here... but as you know, stats count for nothing.

17.30 And just as I type, Scott Mc has a chance. If anyone needed a goal...

17.29 Robbo's recent form has convinced me we could use him as an emergency forward... but only if it came to that! Come to think of it, maybe he could teach Scott McDonald a thing or two?

17.26 Barry Robson has come very close, just firing wide... and now he's forced a save from Loach. We may be favourites, but just two wins at home all season isn't a good omen...

17.24 We're underway. There's quite a few ambitious predictions on the MFC Facebook page, going as far as a 4-0 win with a Marvellous Marvin double. Personally, I think 2-1 would be more realistic.

17.21 And the Power Game starts up... in front of another low crowd. We may be waiting forever for the halcyon days of the 1990's to return.

17.16 Now, now, Tim, let's not get carried away. We've done that too often in the past.

From timmov on Twitter: "All aboard the Mogganaut for 3 more promotion pushing points!"

17.06 For the record, Iwelumo's least favourite moment in front of goal is still fresh in the memory. Relive it here.

17.04 Opposition facts. I wonder what reception Boro old boy Mark Yeates will get? Whether Chris Iwelumo will make another horror miss? And whether Craig Beattie will come back to haunt us? It's all up in the air...

16.57 Teams:
Boro: Steele, McMahon, Williams, Bates, McManus, Bennett, Zemmama, Bailey, Robson, McDonald, Emnes.
Subs: Arca, Martin, Smallwood, Haroun, Ogbeche.

Watford: Loach, Hodson, Dickinson, Mariappa, Nosworthy, Yeates, Buaben, Hogg, Deeney, Iwelumo, Sordell.
Subs: Gilmartin, Mirfin, Forsyth, Jenkins, Beattie.

16.54 Well, I'm sure you're not the only one, Attila, but we'll keep you posted! That's right, thanks to Twitter, radio, television and basically any updating service you can think of, I'm running a live blog here for our evening match against Watford. Remember, this blog is still in its infancy, so I don't know how often I'll be able to do this. But it's worth a try, after all...

From AttilaTheSmog on Twitter: "Absolutely mortified to be missing the match tonight, at a fireworks display. Please keep me posted."

It's Not The End Of The World As We Know It... And We'll Be Fine

As I get this blog up and running, it looks like we Boro fans can afford to smile again. We made a very welcome return to winning ways on Tuesday night.

But is this really a return to form after Saturday's reality check, or is this only a temporary respite? The way things are going at the minute, I'm thinking it could be the latter.

Nothing from last night's victory convinced me that (a) our momentum hadn't gone and (b) we might not be strong enough for automatic promotion after all. Painful as it is to admit, the 3-0 scoreline on Saturday flattered us. But for Steele it might have been double that, or worse. Matthew Bates was a shadow of the leader we know he can be. What exactly was he doing in the run up to that third goal? And our attacking "prowess" brought back memories of the worst of the Strachan days. Let's just say that at the moment, McDonald's to goal-scoring what his namesake is to fine food.

It's tempting to say that the Moggalution has merely brought us back full circle from the final days of Gareth's reign, if not worse. The stats are frighteningly similar: Five wins out of the first seven games, followed by 2 league wins in the next 8 (okay, it was 2 in the next 6 two years ago), low attendances, a thin squad, over-reliance on one player in attack (for Johnson, read Emnes), a sobering hammering from fellow "promotion challengers"... it gives you a bit of deja vu, doesn't it?

But that would be a disservice to all the good work Mogga has done in restoring our faith in the team. (I don't need to discuss that here - this says it all.) No, all the Saints game illustrated is exactly what the West Brom thrashing illustrated two years ago - we're a good side, we're just not quite as good as we think we are.

It's really a bit like Northern Ireland, isn't it? Inspired by David Healy's unexpectedly rich scoring streak, they ran the heavyweights Spain and Sweden right to the wire in qualification for Euro 2008. Now thanks to a similar streak from Emnes, we're doing the same to Southampton and West Ham regarding the automatic promotion places.

And alas, like Northern Ireland, running them close is probably all we'll be able to do. Can we boast a fluidity, or home record, to match Southampton's? And do we have the resources, or the fan base, to lure the Kevin Nolan's, John Carew's and Carlton Cole's of this world to play in the Championship? While it's true that West Ham's inconsistency gives us a bit of hope, there's surely too much quality in their side for them to miss out on the top two.

Of course, only time will tell if I'm right. Onwards and upwards.

* * * * *

There's little I can say about Doncaster's Billy Sharp that hasn't already been said, both eloquently and poignantly, by the Evening Gazette's Anthony Vickers in his own blog.

But if I was to find words most appropriate for the tragedy, they would come from a Facebook status update, tipped off to me by Liam Marshall on the MFC Facebook page. I'll paraphrase slightly.

"Look at Carlos Tevez... £250,000 a week, refuses to play because he doesn't feel up to it. Now contrast him with Billy Sharp... £10,000 a week, yet played two days after the tragic loss of his two day old son. We need more footballers like the latter and less like the former."

It's at times like these you realise football is only a game.

RIP Louie Sharp.