Yohann Lacroix

Please forgive us for the title of this post, we had to copy and paste from another site, for we had to be sure that we got the spelling correct. We think its the first time we are to have a French national playing for us, but we could be wrong, but we wish him all the best in his brief Sky Blue career. That we need to call on him at all is down to Stephen 'one cap' Carson of the scum and his brutal attack on our second string keeper, Stuarty Addis. This was the second time this season that a keeper of ours was brutally attacked by an opposing player, normally you only see that sort of tackles once in a blue moon, but already it has happened to us twice in half a season, roll on 2014 is all we can say.

As usual we have no idea about injuries or suspensions, but we hope everybody came through the big Boxing Day victory unscathed as such. We are of the opinion that we'll need to be up for this one, as the corresponding fixture when we played Ards at Dixon Park, we didn't start and got no points, in truth we didn't deserve any. But we've come a long way from then and although Ards play on a unnatural surface, 3 G, we think it is, they're are on an horrendous run of defeats, 7 in a row and if we play as we can, we should make that 8 in a row. But a wounded animal fights for its life and no doubt Ards come into that category and they will be up for a fight.

We have an 'ace in the hole', in our talisman Cush. He drew a blank last Thursday at Coleraine, but he'll want to set the record straight tomorrow and get 2014 off to a scoring start. Captain Jenks, who scored a double at Coleraine to take his tally for the season up to half a dozen, will no doubt be anxious to add to his total, in view of the rumours surrounding United and a certain Pistol Pete. Manager Glenn Ferguson, refused to be drawn when asked about significant signings in the transfer window, his comment was, 'watch and see'. It remains to seen if the addition of a 'new' keeper will have much effect on our defence, it'll maybe take a few games for them to get acquainted, but unfortunately we don't have a few games.

Our understanding of the arrangement with Crues and their manager Stephen Baxter, is that Yohann won't play in the Irish cup, for us and he'll be recalled before the end of January. So he needs to hit the ground running, with two matches in three days, Wed & Sat and a possible match with Dungannon Swifts on Tues Jan 14 and  Linfield on Saturday Jan 18 and Crues will probably require him for the League cup final on Sat  Jan 25. Meanwhile we have to sign a keeper for the Irish cup tie against the Welders On Jan 11, if as expected, Dwayne is ruled out for months instead of weeks. Big Wes, our goalkeeping coach has been registered, but in all fairness we don't expect to use him, except in an emergency. So back to tomorrow game, its all systems go for United and Lacroix, lets shag those Scrabo Tower sheep!

This Christmas!

Hows does the Christmas song go, 'we wish it could be Christmas every day' and the old football saying goes, 'I wish we could play you every week', lump these two together and you would have every Sky Blue supporters wish, when we beat the Coleraine scum tomorrow. According to the BT site we haven't beat the scum for 14 games, we think that's 9 defeats and 5 draws, but we'll never have a better chance to set that record straight than tomorrow, the scum have lost their last 7 games in a row. We on the other hand are going quite well and just last Saturday  inflicted the first defeat on top 3 team Crusaders, since August 17 and they played every team in the Irish premiership in that time, some of them twice.

But form as reliable as that is, has no bearing on the result of a derby game, its just down to who wants it and are prepared to graft to get it. We haven't been setting the world alight with our scintillating football, but we've  been grinding out results, by our never-say-die attitude and that has got us points in the last few weeks, when all seemed lost. We must do without our first-choice keeper tomorrow, as Dwayne has a chipped bone in his knee, unfortunate for him as he has just played two games comimg  back from an earlier injury. But luckily we have a more than capable deputy in Stuarty Addis, who was the hero in our victorious County Antrim Shield team last year, saving two penalties in the shoot-out against Linfield, so no worries on that score.

Shane 'Mario' Dolan, who started three matches when Ally was injured and  has been coming on as a sub  recently, was transfer listed this week and will not be in the panel for tomorrows game we understand. Whether our manger, Spike, is laying the groundwork for players coming in at the transfer window, or he is just pruning  dead wood, we have no way of knowing. But its an ill wind that blows nobody any good and MM and Liggie, will be given their chance to at least get a regular place on the bench. We need a striker who's going to score us 10 goals in the 13 matches if we are going get into that coveted top six place and we need our midfielders to chip in regularly to.

Where better to start at the home of our greatest rivals, the Coleraine scum and although we have a crap referee, Colin Burns, we are hoping for a 'blood thunder' game, with no quarter ask, or given. Much as we hate  Coleraine, we wouldn't like to see them going down to the Championship, but that doesn't mean we will be showing them any mercy tomorrow, its die dog or crap the licence and that's the way we like it. The weather looks to be biting cold and it promises to a be good game, played in natural grass, the way it should be and the best team will win. Not the best football team, but the team that take their chances and the team that are going try their eye-strings out, so come on Sky Blues, lets shag those ewes, from Windy Hall!

Crues Control!

United, fresh their narrow defeat at the hands (it should be feet), of Crusaders, must do battle with the men from Tigers Bay at the Showgrounds tomorrow in the Dankse Premier league. United came so close to ending the Crues unbeaten run of 23 games and now we have a chance to halt their run of 24 games unbeaten, but this time its going on a real football pitch and its going to be no place for namby pamby's we think. Of course the ref might think otherwise and he might be as biased as that 'love child' the other night, but if we keep our heads we can do it. If we keep playing the football and stringing passes together the Crues will show their frustration and then we will have them.

As usual when it comes to team news, we don't have any, but Marky and Cookie could be both doubtful, as Cookie didn't play on Tuesday and Marky came off injured at halftime, so we may be down to the 'bare bones' defensive wise. But hell, we've been here before and the boys haven't let us down, so we predict they wont let us down tomorrow. Will Fergie change his tactics for tomorrows game? Its anybody's guess, but who's available will dictate who he plays and the tactics he uses. We at 'Sport were wondering if he might bring in Addis for Dwayne in goals, as Dwayne could be blamed for the first goal we conceded on Tuesday night and for giving away a needless corner, which they eventually scored the winner from.

But later on he kept us in the match with a double save when the linesman had 'missed' a blatant offside or did the lino just avert his eyes. A lot people are of the opinion that the ref on Tuesday, Colin Burns, was the worst they ever seen, but we see just as bad week in and week out, but its just not as barefaced as that which Burns did on Tuesday night, but at the end of the day it's what we have grown to expect from Belfast referees. We just have to score more goals than them and even an incompetent love child like that on Tuesday, will not be able to take the points away from us, but he'll try. But we believe we have right on our side and we'll prove tomorrow, so come on Sky Blues, lets shag those paper tigers!

Away Day!

Well we suppose that is a wrong statement, the apt title should be 'away night', but we like 'away day' and on this site, what we like, goes, so there. Having got that off our chest we would like to inform fans about team news, that is if we had any, but like you we are none the wiser. Will Fergie tinker with the team that started at Lurgan on Saturday? It's anybody's guess, we felt sure he was going to bring back Ally on Saturday, but alas we were wrong. Dwayne, played on Saturday and he had a stormer, but Fergie has a policy of starting the 2nd string keeper in cup matches and we won't be surprised if Addis gets the nod, but it would be harsh on Dwayne.

Cookie had to come off at Glenavon and Archie suffered a knee injury early on, so they might both be doubtful and its a good job we have cover in depth. Cush has struggled in last three games, but we need him, for in absence of strikers, he is our only reliable marksman. The novelty of playing Captain Jenks as a target man is starting to look foolhardy, as defenders are coming to grips with his box of tricks and reading him every time, but we have nothing more in our cupboard. Liggie, MM and Dolan are all struggling and they can't hold down  a place in our starting X1. We were saying six weeks ago that Spike was going to have to take a chance on one of them and start him in about 4 or more matches.

But alas he didn't take our advice, he chose to go down the road of converting Jenks to a target man and we are no further forward than we were a month ago. We're still relying on Cush for goals and we bring on the strikers when there's only 20 mins or less to go and expect them to deliver the goods. It takes a very special type of player to do that and we haven't got one, Liggie did deliver a killer blow to tomorrow night's opponents, when coming on a sub, but that 23 matches ago and he hasn't done since. We used to be  dangerous at set-pieces, but now that Cush is taking them, corners and free-kicks come to nothing. No doubt some smart-alec will say the manager says who takes the frees and the corners.

If it is, he needs to have a rethink, we must have forced half a dozen corners on Saturday and we never troubled the Glenavon defence with one of them. We seem to have changed our policy when we are defending set-pieces too, Captain Jenks is not coming back to help our defence and with the 'big men' on the Crues side tomorrow night his help could be crucial. Crues manager Stephen Baxter made some changes to his team when we played them in the Shield semi-final and we only hope he treats us as lightly tomorrow night and we will have a chance. Baxter has his eye on the league but we on the other hand have all to play for and if we get to the final ,who knows what could happen. Come on Sky Blues, let's rumble!

Hot'n Cold!

We just noticed, we've reached the halfway stage in the Dankse premiership and nobody's mentioned it, but the league table is starting to take on a familiar look. The four Belfast clubs, Crues, Blues, Reds and Glens are starting to pull away from the rest of us. Portadown, in fifth place seems to be the only club outside the city that has a chance to catch them. That is not to say if another club further down the league were to go on a winning run, they couldn't win the league, potentially they are 57 points out there, but it would take a major transformation in any clubs make-up for that to happen and we haven't seen any omens of that event.

When we played tomorrow's opponents in the first match of the season and they beat us so convincingly, we wondered if we were seeing the birth of such a team, but alas it has all fizzled out in the cold realities of the Irish league. Going into tomorrow's game, Glenavon are just 2 points better off than ourselves (25-23) and a win for the Sky Blues could move us up at least a place or maybe if results go our way, two or even three places. But we're getting ahead of ourselves here, we blow hot or cold, there's no in-between with us, we either win, or we lose.

If you look at our position in the league, you will see that out of the 19 games we've have played, we won 7, lost 10 and only drew 2. If we could reverse that form in the other19 matches we have to play yet, we hazard a guess that we would be in the heralded top six place, that we so much covet. That has to our aim for the second half of the league, garner more points from the remaining fixtures than we did the first time around, starting out with a result tomorrow at Mourneview Park. The weather forecast is not too promising, gale force winds, but we have the players to deal with that.

Thommo, fresh his one game ban should start and Ally could be added to the starting line-up and we'll have our first choice keeper Dwayne, in out team for the first time in 2 months. With Cookie and Captain Jenks we have a wealth of experience playing in all sorts of weather and we have players like, Tony K , Sparky and the classy JT, who are able to adapt to anything. With Cush, getting fitter with every match, it promises to be a good game and lets hope we get the right result. With freak conditions it could be a freak result, but from experience, it seldom is, so come on Sky Blues, lets shag those Mourneviewers!

Red Flag!

United won't need any red flags to get them going tomorrow at Shamrock Park, against Portadown, they have enough incentive already, trying to keep their unbeaten run going. We fully realise that our unbeaten record is still in it's infancy (4 games), but big trees from little acorns grow and it would be nice if we could keep it going for another game at least. Ports fans will not need any reminding that this 'run' started off when United beat them comprehensively in a league cup match at  Showgrounds on Tuesday November 12. Nor will they need reminding of the score, 4-0 in the Sky Blues favour.

One of the architects of that league cup victory, Thommo,  is unavailable due to suspension and another one, Cookie Munster, must be rated doubtful, as he was rumoured to have a broken a toe against the Ducks last Saturday. In the absence of Thommo, Spike could maybe move Captain Jenks back into midfield and if Ally's fit, he could play with Mario, Liggie or MM, taking the Captain's place at striker. If Ally's not fit, he would have to shuffle the pack a bit more and could elect to go with a 4,4,2 formation, but like the Iron lady, Spike not known for one to change tactics, but needs must.

If Cookie doesn't make it, Spike could play Archie alongside JT, with Ruddy taking Archie's place or he could have Marky reverting to central defence, with Tony K taking over his position and Gavin filling Tony's position. The enigma that is Alan D could be a surprise selection for Thommo's place in the side, but we feel sure that Fergie will not want to gamble on such an inconsistent player as Alan D has turned out to be. When he first signed for the Sky Blues he was like a breath of fresh air, but so far this season he has been a shadow of that player and we cannot afford to carry any passengers.

Maybe like last week we'll turn up at Shamrock Park, only to be informed that one or more of our players didn't train all week and they are not playing. Omar, when he was on the forum, had said the forum lads (and lassies), had asked for a heads-up on the state of injuries, so they would have an idea who was playing. This idea was put to the 'powers that be' and the silence was deafening and it never materialised. The excuse trotted out to the forumites, was that the management team thought that it would give our opponents an edge, we never heard so much claptrap, well not for a week at least.

We are going need all our players focused on the game tomorrow, as the Ports carved a good victory at the Oval last Monday and they'll want to build on that. Their manager, Ronnie McFall needs no introduction to United fans, we normally get to cheer him off once a season, when he falls foul of the referee, but we are not expecting that tomorrow. But if we frustrate the Ports, as we did on our first two meeting this season, you never know and like his team, when Ronnie gets rattled, a red mist comes over him and he gets the blues. So come Sky Blues, let's shove it to them, let's shag those apple pickers!

Stop Press!!!

The time has arrived and Omar is delighted to share with you an interview with a Sky Blue legend, the 'Ballymena Boy' himself , Norman Clarke. Norman has given a full and frank interview, holding nothing back and telling it as he sees it and his memories are as fresh as they were when he saw United lift the Irish cup in 1958, beating the mighty Linfield at the Oval, 2-0. A few short months later Norman fulfilled his and all Sky Blues fans dream, by making his debut for his beloved United against Cliftonville at Solitude and the rest as they say is history. You can read the first instalment of this interview tomorrow, Tuesday night, exclusively  in Sky Blue Sport, entitled The Norman Clarke Interview, we think it will make for compulsive reading, enjoy!

The inimitable Sammy Patterson (no relation to big Tommy of Seven Towers fame, or Billy of the dry humour), has written an introduction to the interview and we publish it here:

Omar has managed to secure an exclusive interview with Ballymena United legend Norman Clarke. Norman made his first appearance for Ballymena in the 58/59 season, playing on the left wing - making his debut against Cliftonville at the age of only 16. A trophy soon followed in the form of the Ulster Cup in 1960, as Geoff Twentyman's legendary side ran out 3-1 winners in the final against Glenavon. Norman played his part the following season when United came within two points of winning the Irish League.

Norman's talents saw him represent the Irish League at inter-league level, representing Northern Ireland at amateur level and winning two caps at U23 level. Not only this but he quickly attracted interest from across the Irish Sea and was signed by Sunderland in 1962. Unfortunately for Norman and for the Black Cats, the Ballymena Boy suffered a knee injury at the age of 22 which put an end to his professional career.

Norman returned to Warden Street in 1966, as player / caretaker manager. Following six games in the Warden Street hot seat, Norman continued to play for the Sky Blues.

Omar is privileged to secure this exclusive interview, having got to know the Ballymena Boy properly when they were neighbours during Norman's second spell at the Showgrounds. Norman showed his class during regular kick-a-rounds at Smithfield Park (formerly "the dump") with jumpers for goalposts. Norman always gave 100% and certainly gave Omar the run-a-round.

Norman is not only a Ballymena legend but a real gentleman and was kind enough to give a frank and detailed interview by mail from his home in England. I'll not ruin any more of the story, I'll leave it to the man himself. If you're lucky enough to have a copy of his 1997 book "The Ballymena Boy" you can read a lot more about his career. Omar has a copy in pride of place on his book-shelf but he's certainly not keen to lend it out.

A summary of Norman's achievements:
5 Youth Caps
6 Amateur Caps
1 Great Britain Amateur Cap
2 Inter-League Caps
2 U-23 Caps
Ulster Cup Winner
Irish Cup Runner -Up
City Cup Runner-Up

Omar has been frantically transcribing Norman's hand-written manuscripts and anticipates publishing the interview in four parts, as follows:
Part 1: December 3
Part 2: December 10
Part 3: December 17
Part 4: December 24, just in time for Christmas!

I hope you enjoy. Please excuse any inaccuracies or errors above, Omar is relying on memory and Google. Regardless, I dare-say none of this would diminish the message that Norman is a true Sky Blue legend!