Captain Gobby!

My second game in charge officially of a Hucknall Rangers match was against recognised opponents in New Venture. This was a team that we had played a fair few times over the past couple of seasons and every game was a close affair. They'd got the better of us once last season, whilst we'd had experience of victory against them, so it was assumed this tie would be just as difficult and could go either way.

Venture turned up late to the point where it looked as though they wouldn't make it for the allowed time, which is 45 minutes after the arranged kick off time and with Leon, the Hucknall manager not able to get hold of the opposition, the points let set to go to the home side. However, just a few minutes before the deadline, they rolled into the car park apologetically as there had been issues with the team meaning a bare 11 had been able to turn up and without a manager.

I spoke to the captain who had asked for some time to warm up and then we were good to go. He sounded a decent chap, someone I could get on with and wouldn' get much aggro from in the game but how wrong can I be?! Hucknall had taken an early lead and this had gotten his back up and shortly after he was fending off the pressure in his own box from Jimmy, Hucknall's winger who is one of the smallest senior players you're likely to come up against. I'd seen Jimmy put his hand in the lower back of the Venture captain but there was no pressure applied so there was nothing to call and so I was surprised to see him fall to the floor whilst appealing for a push. I'd waved him up and said there was nothing in it but he protested. I foolishly commented that Jimmy was only 'this big' (whilst indicating the height with my hand of someone about 3 foot nothing) which really got his back up. I didn't think he'd take it to heart and so for the entire game he used my comments against every decision I made. He was constantly on at me and I had tried to apologise but he was having none of it. There was nothing else I could do so I left him to his whineing.

His verbal torrents continued and began quickly to take the focus of the match away from his teammates who on numerous occasions asked him to shut up and get on with the game, which he took no notice of. Hucknall used this to their advantage and raced into a 4-1 half time lead. Whilst I was being accused of being totally against New Venture, their goal incedently came from a penalty which I had awarded for handball against a Hucknall defender.

He continued his protests during half time so I took him to one side to try to apologise for my comment again but he continued moaning so I simply said that I was't prepared to just take his mouth for the next 45 minutes so if he couldn't speak to me properly I would have no hesitation but to caution him. The Hucknall management had told me to get him in the book if he persists and not to take it but I simply said it was in their favour and I was happy to have him chewing my ear off if it made him feel better, I didn't mind.

The second half started as the first had ended, Hucknall dominant and Venture's captain moaning. Hucknall made it 5-1 and soon after I called the captain over and enough was enough, he was in the book. This kept him quite quiet for the rest of the game, he picked up again in the last 5 minutes but I wasn't going to send him off. I did feel for his side having no real leadership as their manager had let them down and they had no subs etc but this was no excuse for his behaviour. They pulled one back late on for 5-2 before Hucknall went 6-2 up. The way the game had gone was obviously haveing an effect on the other Venture players and soon after the 6th Hucknall goal, I did have to send one packing after he violently kicked out at a Hucknall player after losing the ball. It was vicious and I had no hesitation showing him the red but I was surprised to see his shock at the colour of the card.

Near the end of the game, I noticed the Venture captain on the floor holding his jaw and he made out that a Hucknall defender had struck him. In any other circumstance I would have believed him and tried to find anyone else to back his story up before dealing with the defender but on this occasion I knew he was pulling a fast one. I spoke to the linesman on the near side who said he hadn't been struck, but this was a Hucknall representative so I expected no less. I thought I would get more from Leon, the Hucknall manager but in an Arsene Wenger approach, he didn't see it! I could only then speak to the player in question who said he hadn't punched him but that the captain had been making reference to the fact that he was Polish and so he'd simply pushed him away. I gave him a caution for admitting a push but as I hadn;t seen it, this was purely for the Venture captains benefit and I didn't submit the caution after the game.

The game ended 6-3 as an admittedly soft penalty was awarded to New Venture with time almost out and the game finally ended. The captain then surprised all by turning into Mr Nice Guy and apologising for his behaviour and then tried to get out of his caution. He asked whether I would send it in, which I said of course. This annoyed him and he tried to plead with me insisting that I send the red in for violent conduct but not his. I wasn't going to back down and simply said it was going in to which he replied he was going to complain about my performance to which I was happy with and even offered him the email address of who it would need to go to. Needless to say, he didn't take it!