Friday, September 30, 2005
Blogging dreams...
I had a dream the other night. It wasn't a very nice dream. It was to do with Charlton - my club; our club. It was to do with the jealousy that other clubs and their supporters feel toward our good start to the season. It was a negative dream. It was about how other teams may do anything they can (off the pitch) to stop our club achieving a high league position, not only now, early on the season, but ultimately a high finishing position at the end of this season. My dream knew that Charlton had been "suckered" by Premiership clubs in the past - Stamford Beach, Parker, Samuel, Defoe...you know those stories.
My dream was tied in with some factual news; the clubs shirt sponsor all:sports went into administration on Monday, owing Charlton £650,000, and Barclays Bank over £10m. My dream allowed Charlton to be rocked by the news that Premiership rules concerning administration meant the deduction of ten league points, dropping the club down from 2nd overnight to 15th place in the Premiership table.
My dream went on that their was a Premiership Charter (there may well be something similar that clubs sign up to when they are promoted into the top league these days?) and the dream quoted Rule 14.3 Clause 17 of this charter; a new clause, completely made up in my dream, apparently brought in just over a year ago and signed by all the clubs, which in my dream clearly stated that "should a Premiership member, club, part of the club, or major sponsor...be subject to a complaint being brought (by another member club or the Premier League itself), and upheld by the Premier League Finance Committee...be placed into formal administration (as acknowledged in the Financial Services Act 1995), then that member club shall be deemed to have broken its terms of contract with the Premier League, and shall suffer, subject to appeal, a ten point deduction at the end of the playing season, and shall therefore be deemed to have finished that playing season in a position relevant to having ten less points. All financial, and cause and effect matters arising (i.e. qualification for European places, Carling Cup, or relegation, etc) will be based on the new finishing position".
All of this was made up in my dream; I don't know if there is a charter. I don't know if there is a relevant clause about administration (although I guess there must be). I don't know if there is a Premiership Finance Committee. I don't know if there is a Financial Services Act 1995! All of this was made up in my dream, but imagine if it were true? Imagine the horror!
What isn't made up is that there is a clause in the English football rule books (both Premiership and League) to stop clubs using administration as a way of off-setting large debts, as Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester and other former Premiership clubs have in the recent past. It was initially used in the Football Leagues (Championship, plus Divisions one and two) in 2003/4, and entered into the Premiership rulebook a year later.
Wrexham are the only Football League club to have been charged under this rule in the past (by the League), but it did not affect them substantially, in that they did not get relegated as a result of their ten-point deduction last season. In my dream, however, the clause was "too loose", in need of clarifying, and the wording and interpretation needed "tidying up", due to the current wording being "open to abuse from other, jealous, members."
In my dream, with all:sports, as a major sponsor of Charlton, going into administration, it meant that the rule could be invoked. My dream portrayed that an action was brought by "...three or four clubs from the north-west and/or north-east". My dream speculated that it could have been any one or some of the clubs that had not started the season as well as they would have liked; those that saw Charlton as a small club who should always finish a season below them; those that seemed to think it their right to finish near the top of the league every season (whatever their results), and therefore get into European competition each year. Those teams, in my dream, may have been Liverpool, Manchester United, Everton, Manchester City, Newcastle, and Middlesboro, and such like, any of 18 teams below Charlton at present in fact, teams whose fans are jealous of Charlton's start to this season.
In my dream, Charlton's Managing Director, Peter Varney, was making a statement; he was understandably upset, but said that the club would appeal against the ruling.
When news of all:sports going into administration broke on Monday, Varney was quoted on the official Charlton website as saying "Behind the scenes, we have been working hard to try and protect Charlton's interests in this matter. Now an administrator has been appointed, I will be making contact with them to try and establish the exact position of the company, and how this is likely to affect the club going forward. Once I am in possession of more facts and information, I will hopefully be able to make a further statement." This fitted in with my dream; Varney would be carrying the baton into battle with the Premiership "big" boys once more.
In my dream, Alan Curbishley, the Charlton manager, was contacted and told Sky Sports News "If this is true, I'm flabbergasted. I would be gutted...but nothing in football surprises me that much anymore."
Nothing in football is surprising these days, except maybe Charlton's start to the season.
To finish my story: All the above events seemed real in my dream, so when I woke up I did what I normally do most mornings and went online, checked out the Forever Charlton website, and there it was in a link, in black and white (red and white really); "all:sports dive brings another penalty! Charlton were today rocked by the news that they had been deducted etc etc etc". I knew it was a dream - why on earth would there be a rule concerning administration matters of a club sponsor? It had to be made up; couldn't be true; absolutely ridiculous; load of bull; complete poppycock. I was sure that others would read it and know it wasn't true too. Satirical yes, but true, not on your nelly! But some readers did believe it. Some who read got upset. Some actually thought that other teams could be so jealous that they would actually invoke some made up clause to punish little ol' Charlton, upstarts from South East London. You know how it is in dreams, when they go bad, you tend to wake up...I woke up. I had to delete the story from my website. It was a dream that could never happen for some people, but a nightmare come true for others, including me.
Sometimes dreams do come true; in Charlton's case, the dreams we had fifteen years ago have been surpassed as we stare in awe at our magnificent all-seater stadium, our position in the Premiership league table, the admiration which is given to our manager and board of directors. I hope more of my dreams for Charlton come true, but not the one I had the other night, please.
My dream was tied in with some factual news; the clubs shirt sponsor all:sports went into administration on Monday, owing Charlton £650,000, and Barclays Bank over £10m. My dream allowed Charlton to be rocked by the news that Premiership rules concerning administration meant the deduction of ten league points, dropping the club down from 2nd overnight to 15th place in the Premiership table.
My dream went on that their was a Premiership Charter (there may well be something similar that clubs sign up to when they are promoted into the top league these days?) and the dream quoted Rule 14.3 Clause 17 of this charter; a new clause, completely made up in my dream, apparently brought in just over a year ago and signed by all the clubs, which in my dream clearly stated that "should a Premiership member, club, part of the club, or major sponsor...be subject to a complaint being brought (by another member club or the Premier League itself), and upheld by the Premier League Finance Committee...be placed into formal administration (as acknowledged in the Financial Services Act 1995), then that member club shall be deemed to have broken its terms of contract with the Premier League, and shall suffer, subject to appeal, a ten point deduction at the end of the playing season, and shall therefore be deemed to have finished that playing season in a position relevant to having ten less points. All financial, and cause and effect matters arising (i.e. qualification for European places, Carling Cup, or relegation, etc) will be based on the new finishing position".
All of this was made up in my dream; I don't know if there is a charter. I don't know if there is a relevant clause about administration (although I guess there must be). I don't know if there is a Premiership Finance Committee. I don't know if there is a Financial Services Act 1995! All of this was made up in my dream, but imagine if it were true? Imagine the horror!
What isn't made up is that there is a clause in the English football rule books (both Premiership and League) to stop clubs using administration as a way of off-setting large debts, as Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester and other former Premiership clubs have in the recent past. It was initially used in the Football Leagues (Championship, plus Divisions one and two) in 2003/4, and entered into the Premiership rulebook a year later.
Wrexham are the only Football League club to have been charged under this rule in the past (by the League), but it did not affect them substantially, in that they did not get relegated as a result of their ten-point deduction last season. In my dream, however, the clause was "too loose", in need of clarifying, and the wording and interpretation needed "tidying up", due to the current wording being "open to abuse from other, jealous, members."
In my dream, with all:sports, as a major sponsor of Charlton, going into administration, it meant that the rule could be invoked. My dream portrayed that an action was brought by "...three or four clubs from the north-west and/or north-east". My dream speculated that it could have been any one or some of the clubs that had not started the season as well as they would have liked; those that saw Charlton as a small club who should always finish a season below them; those that seemed to think it their right to finish near the top of the league every season (whatever their results), and therefore get into European competition each year. Those teams, in my dream, may have been Liverpool, Manchester United, Everton, Manchester City, Newcastle, and Middlesboro, and such like, any of 18 teams below Charlton at present in fact, teams whose fans are jealous of Charlton's start to this season.
In my dream, Charlton's Managing Director, Peter Varney, was making a statement; he was understandably upset, but said that the club would appeal against the ruling.
When news of all:sports going into administration broke on Monday, Varney was quoted on the official Charlton website as saying "Behind the scenes, we have been working hard to try and protect Charlton's interests in this matter. Now an administrator has been appointed, I will be making contact with them to try and establish the exact position of the company, and how this is likely to affect the club going forward. Once I am in possession of more facts and information, I will hopefully be able to make a further statement." This fitted in with my dream; Varney would be carrying the baton into battle with the Premiership "big" boys once more.
In my dream, Alan Curbishley, the Charlton manager, was contacted and told Sky Sports News "If this is true, I'm flabbergasted. I would be gutted...but nothing in football surprises me that much anymore."
Nothing in football is surprising these days, except maybe Charlton's start to the season.
To finish my story: All the above events seemed real in my dream, so when I woke up I did what I normally do most mornings and went online, checked out the Forever Charlton website, and there it was in a link, in black and white (red and white really); "all:sports dive brings another penalty! Charlton were today rocked by the news that they had been deducted etc etc etc". I knew it was a dream - why on earth would there be a rule concerning administration matters of a club sponsor? It had to be made up; couldn't be true; absolutely ridiculous; load of bull; complete poppycock. I was sure that others would read it and know it wasn't true too. Satirical yes, but true, not on your nelly! But some readers did believe it. Some who read got upset. Some actually thought that other teams could be so jealous that they would actually invoke some made up clause to punish little ol' Charlton, upstarts from South East London. You know how it is in dreams, when they go bad, you tend to wake up...I woke up. I had to delete the story from my website. It was a dream that could never happen for some people, but a nightmare come true for others, including me.
Sometimes dreams do come true; in Charlton's case, the dreams we had fifteen years ago have been surpassed as we stare in awe at our magnificent all-seater stadium, our position in the Premiership league table, the admiration which is given to our manager and board of directors. I hope more of my dreams for Charlton come true, but not the one I had the other night, please.
