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I think its somewhat ironic that the major benefit of Alloa's pitch was shown in the same week as Mark McGhee was sacked, given that he slaughtered that pitch earlier in the season.



Pitch 1 McGhee 0

I do hope they supplied macaroni pies for a certain frozen, vegetarian reporter Jim. If not I hope the tea was good.

Seriously though the decision to call off the card was correct. Travelling fans have to be considered. I'm a rural postie in Moray. Got to my last door at 4.30 pm in the pitch-dark.

Conditions were rubbish.

With a blog which waxes lyrical about the playing surface, it must have taken some skill to choose an accompanying photograph which omits to show any part of the non-grass upon which the two teams were playing.

Wow what a low key blog after the one defending Dundee cheating their creditors and the 'annual' Celtic vindictive pursuit of the refs because its just not faor that they don't win every game..and now Alloa? Hmmm.

Fair play to them getting the game on in the snowy wastes. Sort of sad though the dons vs tic game was cancelled as I'm sure that would have given us all an opportunity to laugh at the dandy dons again after spending more money on sacking managers than hiring players..what are they like..

"... as supermarket shelves emptied quicker than my living-room when Wagner appeared on X Factor." Did Chick write this?
Anyway, well done Alloa for getting the match on. Too bad more clubs didn't take the same initiative. I suppose the "big teams" have logistics problems as well, having to bus all those supporters from places like Dundee, Perth, Edinburgh, etc.
If everybody brought a shovel to the grounds on match day, I'm sure pitches would be cleared in short order. Though hundreds of Shire supporters waving shovels might not be a good idea.

What a waste of space this blog is.
A team that plays on a plastic pitch manages to get their game on, well done Alloa, but has Spence given any thought to the weather, travel conditions for fans and, most importantly, warnings about only travelling if an emergcy which were in force in some parts of the country ?
Thought not !!

Well done Alloa but hardly "showing up the rest of football".

Jim,


I don't know how you have the patience and restraint to spend time writing really good blogs only to read the strangely negative comments.

Well done to Alloa Chairman Mike Mulraney for being one of the few characters in Scottish football to take a positive & pro-active attitude towards the game, Alloa have been reaping the benefits for a while & look set to reap even more in the future. Achieved not by paying guys disproportionate wages (like Livingston, Gretna or Dundee) but by boosting the infrastructure at the club. They can now afford better players because they have earned it via the pitch & other intiatives, a more sustainable way of running a club. Hopefully the Alloa fans are delighted.

Good blog as usual Jim, and thanks for ignoring the "big-boys" hard luck stories this week & concentrating on the good guys instead!!

Yeah thanks for ignoring the big boys stories (that are pretty few and far between anyway over the course of a season) and concentrating on Alloa.

Lots of talking points I'm sure.

Not sure how they showed up the rest of football. They had an obvious advantage when it came to the playing surface and there were obviously no dangers for spectators in the area around the stadium.

If that had been the position at other stadiums across the country, then other games would have gone ahead.

So after 48hrs and 10 posts - half of which are having a poke at the topic, is it time to move on? I am sure the 658 poor souls who head to Alloa on an average Saturday will be glad of the mention. I know its a slow news week but that suggests to me a great chance to look forward... Transfer window? Will McGhee be the last managerial casualty of the season? State of our grounds (Tynecastle falling down).

Anything but this...

Nice to see an attempt to put a positive slant on things amidst the tales of woe.

Also good to hear the efforts made by Alloa’s board to provide transport for visiting supporters.

Resilience and self reliance. Maybe it will spread to the rest of the central belt!

Thanks Jim, keep it up.

Notice that Mr. Spence appears to respond only to favourable posts, wonder what he'll have to say next week if the weather again makes travel unsafe.
No one has a problem with applauding Aloas efforts but would it have been safe for the fans travelling to Aberdeen or Ibrox or the other SPL grounds?
Less daft headlines and perhaps an indepth analysis of the latest shenagins at Dundee, isn't that what he's supposed to do ?

What next?

Wee Jimmy from the other side of Alloa made it to the game on his ski's from across Dumayat via Castle Campbell and just caught the last bovril handed to him in a golden cup by the chairman?

The club then called Phineas & Ferb and they built Jimmy a ski lift to get him back home. Smashing.

@11 - As one of the "poor souls" who regularly attends Alloa matches I do indeed appreciate Jim coming to the Recs on Saturday and featuring the club on the blog this week. Alloa's progress under Mike Mulraney over the past few years has seen the club becoming a real community hub and a model for others in the SFL and SPL. Sadly we haven't heard much about that in the national media with their Old Firm obsession. Quite staggering that on the truly unique occasion when Alloa were the only game on Scotland that Uriah Heep still sees fit to complain here about the game getting some coverage. A look forward to the transfer window?? Don't worry mate, no doubt the media will be full of the SPL and the associated alleged refereeing conspiracies, poppies and sectarian songs again soon enough.

Keep up the good work Jim.

@16 Mr Wasp - Apologies is you thought my dig was in any way aimed at the folks at Alloa. It was in fact aimed at Mr Spence who under normal circumstances would not have given that match a second thought far less travelled to the game or used any of his considerable airtime or blog space to give it coverage. Secondly - I am a regular user of blogs and you can tell when a blog hits the mark but when half the meagre number of posts are about the topic, experience tells me its going nowhere. Either you hit the mainstream, regular punter to build a degree of loyalty to a site or you pitch it at the niche groups giving a voice to the smaller communities of interest. Either is fine but it can't be both...
I am also pragmatic. My local team get no more support than Alloa and to be honest I came to terms with the media years ago. - Their job is to sell newspapers or attract viewer numbers. Having checked, there were more people paid to get into Parkhead at Celtics last home game that came to my team matches in the last season and a half. I use blogs like this to participate in wider debates - state of the SPL / SFL and Scottish football in general. In fact my posts on the last topic pleaded regularly to get the debate focused on the football and not the nonsense which I suspect neither you nor I have any time for.

#17
Their job is to sell newspapers or attract viewer numbers. Having checked, there were more people paid to get into Parkhead at Celtics last home game that came to my team matches in the last season and a half.
---------------------------------------------------
With statements like that you'll just attract the non-OF fans with chips on their shoulders about media coverage, who will argue that people actually do want to read about their clubs if only newspapers would write about them.

Mr. Spence,
Thanks for your comments and please accept my apologies for not replying sooner, I 've been busy clearing paths and helping neighbours.

My complaint was mainly directed at the idiotic headline which implied that Alloa has somehow managed to do something that the rest of Scotttish football had failed to do but should have done.
That is factually incorrect.

I congratulated Alloa on the work they did getting the game on, helped by the plastic pitch, and in no way criticised them.

I object to your comments regarding me however.
I am older than you and also delivered milk in the morning before going to school. I also make a 300 mile round trip to attend home matches in the SPL and it does make sense to take advice from and be guided by the authorities when it comes to travelling on match days.
I'm pleased that the roads from Dundee to Alloa were fine but they certainly weren't from Northumberland and it would have been reckless and irresponsible of me to travel.

If I adopted your attitude I would be assuming that the SPL are right to question the police advice to call off games this weekend because there is supposed to be a thaw coming. This doesn't mean that all roads are going to be back to pristine condition or take into account abandoned vehicles or artic conditions that may be encountered on journeys home.

I have no problem with people making up their own mind as to whether to travel or not but I object to being questioned by someone who got paid for travelling a relatively modest distance and then appeared to criticise the rest of the football world for not doing the same.

I look forward to your response.

Jim Spence @ 18

Like in your response to morbhoy you have chosen to both put words in my mouth and to reinforce my point about your paid interest. Firstly, at no point did I suggest anything about your being press ganged to look beyond the SPL. For what its worth I listen to your show and as someone who spent many years in Dryburgh have seen more Lochee Utd matches than I care to mention. I understand and respect your diverse views. However, sweeping statement or not, I suspect that had we a full football card last week we would not have been discussing or blogging about Alloa's pitch. Secondly, in responding to the point you take the opportunity to reference your show tonight (helpfully giving the time and even the radio band) which reinforces my point that you are a professional media personality and as such driven to attract an audience - failure to do so would undoubtedly have its own consequences.

Like you I don't mind either criticism or examining alternative viewpoints but lets at least keep the points constructive.

Good news is that at least the thread is a bit more interesting - have a good show.

I suspect morbhoy was referring to the standfirst on the SPL page, rather than the headline ("Alloa showed up the rest of football by getting the game on amid winter gloom").

I didn't think it made much sense either, unless it's a claim that all clubs in Scotland should be playing on plastic (as well as ignoring police advice not to travel: fair enough several hundred heading to Recreation Park, but how would Strathclyde Police feel if Celtic told 50,000 they could ignore police advice and travel en-masse in these conditions?).

PS. I do like your blogs Jim, and am looking forward to your thoughts on Brown and Knox at the Dons.

Of course Jim is "a professional media personality" that is why he has a blog on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ website! Duuuuhhhh.....

I for one am delighted there are more insightful blogs from people at the coalface (Jim, Jack Ross, Chris Jardine) telling us about football life from outwith the ugly sisters of Scottish football. More of the real game please, lads!!

Thanks markrp,#24, that's exactly what I was complaining about and apologies to Jim Spence if the headline on the blog did not say that although I think it may have done originally.

Final thought, if it's Jim Spence's blog, why doesn't he write headline also ?

That smacks of footballers claiming they were misquoted on their own website, don't you think?

#26
The OF are part of the 'real' game as you put it just as much as anyone else.

Jim hardly writes about any of the OF as it is.

And 3 blogs dedicated to the smaller teams in the game seems excessive, very boring, and as you can tell by the number of posts, unattractive. 1 post from an Alloa fan on this blog tells its own story.

If anything that is probably an arguement for better coverage of the issues involving the biggest clubs, and which doesn't read like the tabloid rubbish that most people read.

All this user's posts have been removed.Why?