TT BLOG

Clive Hayward – @Byehorse

Boothy’s Bets

The club announced on Thursday that Austen Booth has been charged by the FA for misconduct, having been alleged to have made nearly 300 football bets over a four year period.

English Football is now heavily reliant on sponsorship from gambling firms, but there are firm rules in place banning players as far down the pyramid as the Southern League from having a flutter.

There are good reasons for this. Most obviously, insider knowledge can obviously give footballers what is often perceived to be an unfair advantage. Heaven forbid that the bookies would lose money over a little known injury crisis at Frome Town! But of course there are serious concerns about possible match-fixing and manipulation of spot markets.

Boothy probably knows he’s done wrong. He was 19 at the time of what appears to have been his first offence. It was good to hear that United will be supporting him at what will obviously be a worrying time for him. Hopefully he won’t get hammered for his indiscretions and any ban won’t be too long. You’d like to think the process won’t be allowed to drag on for too long and he will soon be able to put it behind him. Maybe football’s legal brains can then focus on sorting out Man City’s future.

Olympics

I’ve often felt that the longish period before the Athletics starts is a bit of a “phoney-war” period.

There’s only so much swimming you can watch, despite Becky Adlington’s entertaining attempts to engage fans of other sports.

But there are so many events on view that by the law of averages something will grab our attention.

My favourites so far have probably been on two wheels.

At the start of the week we had the Mountain Bike races, with GB’s Tour de France rider Tom Pidcock overcoming a puncture to reel in a gold with a fantastic tree-swerving manoeuvre.

But the absolute highlight has been the BMX. It is absolutely insane, with the general idea being to ride as hard as possible up slopes as near vertical as makes no difference and then to chuck the bike around in mid-air with the ability to catch it again being very important. In the men’s final a fancied Frenchman chucked himself on the deck early and the contest was between the consistently brilliant Keiran Reilly from Gateshead (yes, really!) and Jose Torres Gil, who was born in mountainous Bolivia but represents Argentina. Jose edged a thrilling contest.

City (h)

On a Grecian-hot Tuesday night, we managed a barnstorming final 15 minutes that sent another big Torquay crowd home happy: a 2-2 draw being salvaged after we had looked outclassed for long periods against our League One neighbours.

The good times keep rolling. If Carlsberg did pre-season friendlies a cloudless sky, a stunning sunset and an injury time Exeter own goal past our old keeper would be key components! I didn’t feel at all sorry for Shaun MacDonald but he did a great job for us and it’s nice to see him having the career his attitude and ability deserve.

In his post-match interview Paul Wotton said that he had learned a lot from the game and now had more “clarity” about certain things. He must surely have been referring to strengths and weaknesses in central defence. Strong second halves by Jordan Dyer and Sam Dreyer must surely see them inked in for Enfield next Saturday.

The Cove

I’m keener on dodgy pies than prawn sandwiches, but I really enjoyed the hospitality in the renamed and rejuvenated function room. The club were kind enough to invite ‘Paint Up Plainmoor’ volunteers for a hot buffet supper before the match. My attendance at the work parties has been pretty minimal but someone had put a word in and it was great to get another dose of the Westcott/Bowes-Cavanagh charisma. Trust Chair and soon-to-be-board-member Nick Broderick also spoke well.

Much appreciated.