Manx Football Blog One: Ch-ch-changes
NICE HAIR: Spurs fan and occasional song singer David Bowie
The Blog is back for the 2012-13 season
MANX football’s latest gripping instalment got under way on Saturday with the first round of league matches in the 2012-13 season.
Although it seems like just a blink of an eye since we were bidding adieu to the 2011-12 chapter, much has occurred the ever-whirling world of Manx football over the intervening summer months.
If the close season of 2012 was to have a theme tune to sum it up Spurs fan David Bowie’s 1972 hit ‘Changes’ would probably be as apt as any.
The transfer merry-go-round whipped its self into a frenzy as if propelled by the freakishly quick limbs of Usain Bolt himself. In total 134 decided it was time to pack their shin pads and showcase their footballing skills at pastures new.
There were also changes a plenty in the 26 island club’s first team managerial hot seats. Nearly half have new incumbents at the helm going into the new campaign, with six clubs making a change at the top in the Canada Life Premier League alone.
Gary Sansbury (Castletown), Brian Gartland (DHSOB), Ken Hedley (Gymns), Rick Holden (Peel), Brian Carney (Ramsey) and Sam Kenny (St Mary’s) have all taken up the reigns at their respective clubs, with Messrs Gartland, Holden and Kenny charged with the task of wrestling Manx football’s balance of power away from Chris Bass Sr’s Grand Slam winning St George’s.
There’s also been a change in Manx football’s top job, with Steve Burns replacing the retired Kevin Manning as island supremo.
Manning’s 15 years and 110-game spell in charge is the most successful period the national side has enjoyed to date and the Liverpudlian rightly deserves the plaudits and tributes he has received since he stepped down at the end of last month.
Burns, who had been one one of Manning’s assistants since 2007, officially starts his new role on September 1, but will have to wait a while for his first senior game in charge with the Men’s fixture calendar empty until next year when the Inter-League cup starts once again.
This gives plenty of time for players to impress and it may be that a new-look squad embarks on the island’s latest bid for Uefa Regions in April.
One thing that doesn’t seem to have Ch-ch-changed is St George’s winning habit. With the chasing pack reinforcing their ranks in the summer transfer window, it was levelled by some that this was the season that Geordies could be challenged for the silverware they have monopolised in recent years. However, it’s been business as usual for the Glencrutchery Road juggernaut so far with victories against St Mary’s, in the Charity Shield, and Castletown in their opening Premier League encounter on Wednesday evening. The latter stretches Chris Bass Sr’s run of unbeaten top flight matches to 52, just three shy of Peel’s record sequence of 55 set in the 1970s.
{http://www.iomtoday.co.im/sport/football-news/st-george-s-set-to-face-old-foes-peel-1-4858605 |Ironically the pair meet on Saturday|Saturday’s top-flight preview}, with the latter no doubt eager to defend the proud benchmark set by their footballing forefathers. The Blog will be at Fortress Glencrutchery Road so those of you of a Twitter persuasion should keep an eye on @manxfootyblog for updates. I’m giddy at the thought!
Click back next week to see which pop star of yesteryear will be tenuously linked to a random strand of Manx football.
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Weather for Isle of Man
Saturday 18 May 2013
Today
Heavy rain
Temperature: 8 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 8 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: East
