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Matthew
Jones |
Bio
I'm Matthew Jones and I've supported Tranmere
since I was five, being lucky enough to see
Rovers in the three F.A. Cup quarter finals and
one League Cup final, as well as countless
wonder matches, including wins over Bolton,
Everton and Southampton.
I live on the
Wirral, but as of September 2009 I've been at
Sheffield Hallam University studying Sports
Development with Coaching. When money allows,
I'm still trying to get to as many Rovers games
as possible and still feel as passionate as ever
about the team.
Favourite
ever player for Rovers: Andy Parkinson -
I grew up watching him terrorise defences with
his pace and skill.
Favourite
Rovers match: Worthington Cup Final; though
we lost, seeing Tranmere play at Wembley, when I
was nine, was just incredible, an experience I
pray I'll get again.
Favourite
Tranmere goal: Andy Parkinson vs.
Middlesbrough |
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13/12/09
Matty's musings
Making the most
of our student neighbours
After
the arrival of Chris Greenacre's blog on the site, which was, by
the way, a delight to read, Richard Ault asked whether any of us
would be interesting in keeping a blog of our own. I jumped at
the chance, as I find writing about the Rovers a brilliant thing
to do, as it's something I really enjoy and I hope you enjoy
reading my blogs over the coming weeks.
Those of you who read the message board will know I've been
around for a while now, since the Rearguard days in fact, though
I have taken a bit of a back seat when it comes to posting these
days. However, I hope that blogs like this help you to get to
know my opinions on Tranmere, and football in general, a bit
better, and hopefully you'll agree with them!
As a Tranmere fan, this season, so far, has been tough viewing.
In a way, I've been lucky that I've been unable to get to a lot
of matches, and I'm therefore not as much in the firing line as
many of you are. Still though, watching Soccer Saturday and
listening to Tranmere World every weekend has not been easy!
However, I never felt like I was missing the Rovers, certainly
not as much as I thought I would. I just seemed very passive to
results, though I still felt a tinge of sadness with every goal
that made it's way through our defence. That was until I
listened to our F.A. Cup game against Leyton Orient, when we
drew 0-0. Listening to that match, all my passion suddenly
returned, and I've wanted to go to matches ever since.
Two weeks later, I made it to Leyton Orient for our league game
against the O's, and although we lost (in devastating fashion,
too, to a Sean Thornton game) it was just great to be back. I've
made it to the Huddersfield game since and now I'm back for
Christmas so I hope to take in plenty of games over the next
month.
I've kept in touch with Rovers through internet, the forums and
radio, and it's certainly great to see how Les Parry has changed
things round for us. Sadly, though not through a lack of trying,
John Barnes just can't cut it as a manager, which is a shame, as
he really wanted to do well for us.
It was time for a change though, and I, like many, was pleased
to see him go, though surprised when Les was appointed. Though
performance appeared to improve, especially our defence, results
didn't, until a few weeks a go. But now the team has got some
confidence, they're beginning to pick up some great results and
some important points.
What's most impressed me though is the way our strikers have
started scoring. Up until a month a go, the likes of Gornell,
Curran and Thomas-Moore couldn't buy a goal. Indeed, the only
player who looked like scoring was Shuker. But recently, we've
turned things around and each of those players has got a couple
of goals to their name. It's goals that are the key to results,
and recently they've started going our way!
Since I moved to Sheffield, I've managed to take in a couple of
Sheffield United games. The club offering six games throughout
the season that cost just £5 for students, a fantastic offer
which adds several thousand on to the gate. This is very similar
to an offer Tranmere gave last season when they offered £5
matches for all and something that, if well marketed, could help
add a few hundred on to the gate.
I heard about the offers for United matches at my Freshers'
week, where United staff were on hand to give out leaflets with
the dates of each £5 match and who they were playing on. I think
it would be really good to see Tranmere do something like this
over in Liverpool, perhaps with a map of how to get to Prenton
Park on the other side, especially with so many students living
just over the water.
Andy Taylor has played in both those matches, a 3-3 draw with
Ipswich Town and a 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest and on both
occasions has put in a solid performance. It's great to see
Andy, a former Tranmere player, doing well in the division above
us after we sold him in the summer, and hopefully he can help
the Blades to promotion over the next couple of years, as I
believe he could one day be good enough to play in the Premier
League.
He's not the only former Tranmere player doing well for himself
either, as this season Chris Dagnall (Rochdale) and Calvin Zola
(Crewe) have set League Two alight with their scoring, and you
can only wonder what it would be like if they had perhaps been
given a bit longer at Prenton Park. You could argue that Zola
was given ample time at Prenton Park, and he never really proved
himself, but now he's had a good run in the Crewe side, he's got
himself plenty of goals and some confidence, so perhaps he just
needed a loan spell out in League Two to get the best out of
him.
Anyway, sorry for rambling on! I hope you enjoyed my first blog.
Until next time,
Matt.
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