NOTTS COUNTY A-A AEK ATHENS
As pre-season friendlies go, yesterday's match with Greek side AEK Athens wasn't without it's drama - you don't really expect a rain storm in the middle of summer that has such ferocity that it can force the abandonment of a football match, but there you go. There is, of course, nothing anyone can do about the clouds deciding to chuck about a week's worth of rain on NG2 in little more than half an hour, but Notts' reaction to an event that they are unlikely to have to deal with again has been shoddy, to say the least. But more on that soon, there is half a football match to report on.
It all went pretty well, too. Athens were not at full strength, featuring such squad numbers as 94 and 99, but still looked tidy on the ball and had plenty of talent in their eleven. Keith Curle, meanwhile, took the opportunity to give starts to plenty of new signings, whilst pointless trialist Tom Williams got another appearance at left back. Notts looked comfortable on the ball from the outset and passed it around with confidence, although seemed to lack a little bit of pace and width going forward, something that will be expected to be offered by new signing Francois Zoko and Jamal Campbell-Ryce. The first chance came when a long Bialkowski kick was flicked on and broke to Jeff Hughes, who found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper but saw his shot brilliantly saved by the Greek. From the resulting corner, Liddle rose highest but conceded a foul after climbing on his defender.
Hughes turned creator soon afterwards after a robust foul on Alan Judge, his inswinging free kick getting the feintest of touches from Neal Bishop and again being clawed away by the Athens stopper, belying his mountainous squad number. The visitors were struggling to get into the game, creating a few openings but overhitting their final through ball on every occasion - although that didn't dapen the spririts of the twenty or so Athens fans who were determined to make the most of their trip to Meadow Lane. Notts had dominated and always seemed likely to score first, something they did when Judge raced on to a Hughes flick on and confidently slotted the ball past the 'keeper and into the near post to notch his second goal of pre-season. Then the rain came and things turned into a bit of a farce. Only Yoann Arquin forcing a fine save with an audacious thirty yard shot broke the scene of players sliding about and puddles beginning to appear on the pitch.
Half time came and the rain didn't relent, as we were treated to the depressing sight of referee Andre Marriner wandering out, throwing a ball high in the air and seeing it just land in a small lake without so much as a little bounce. The abandonment was inevitable, but was bizarrely dragged out for fifteen minutes whilst it continued to rain and Notts' valiant attempts to make the pitch playable consisted of one man poking the wrong area of the playing surface with a pitchfork. There had been another bloke, but he had downed tools and left. Yup, the one time when our pitchforks are truly needed and one of them is left, furlornly lying against an advertising hoarding. I'm honestly not sure why they bothered.
Besides that bizarre spectacle, however, there isn't really much Notts could've done. It was a freak storm and the pitch just wasn't playable - there was clear standing water along much of it, particularly at the Main Stand touchline. There reaction to the events of yesterday, however, have been nothing short of an absolute farce. As is protocol with abandonments, I was expecting the club to offer some sort of token gesture to fans who'd only seen about a third of the football they'd paid for before the conditions and the match became little more than a bit of splashing about before ending altogether. However, a statement on the official site has been released this afternoon stating there'll be nothing of the sort.
If that wasn't enough of a two fingers up to the fans who'd popped down on a Sunday afternoon for a glorified pre-season training session, some of the wording in the statement is absolutely unbelievable. The club "hope that the entertainment offered up in the 45 minutes that were played did offer value for money at the reduced ticket prices." They are genuinely suggesting that fifteen quid represents some sort of value for half of a pre-season friendly. I mean, it could have been a 7-7 draw and that would look pretty expensive for what is a slightly more competitive training session. Pre-season is supposed to be for fitness and shape, not a cash cow. I understand that the club "incurred expense" in hosting the match, but that is the case whenever a game is abandoned. It happens once every couple of years and clubs always offer some compensation to their fans as it is the right thing to do. I mean, we have another friendly coming up tomorrow for which it would be easy to offer half price entry for those who possess Athens tickets. In taking this stance, Notts have broken one of the unwritten laws of football and their statement has basically taken their own fans for morons - it is the equivalent of booting the ball into an empty net when you're supposed to kick it back after an injury.