Post by monkeytennis on Oct 25, 2010 20:22:49 GMT
Good article, I thought.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/football-league-blog/2010/oct/24/bristol-city-david-james
Eleven weeks in the Championship with Bristol City and I have to say my Premier League bubble has well and truly burst.
As a top-flight footballer you tend to have little awareness of what is going on in the lower leagues. All that wall-to-wall TV coverage of the Premier League can make you forget there is a world of "real football" out there. In the context of my managerial aspirations I am very grateful for the eye-opener. Had I moved straight to the lower leagues as a manager, after a playing career in the Premier League, I know I would have been in for a big shock.
I had a brief spell here in 2003 when West Ham were relegated, but so many elements are different in this league that it can feel as though we're playing a completely different game.
One of the biggest cliches in football is, "you know what to do", but while I know what to do in the Premier League it's almost a different set of rules in the Championship. Even basic moves cause problems. I like to throw the ball out quickly, but my automatic thought of rapid attack sometimes needs suppressing because in this league the players are more used to keepers hoofing it up the other end.
If you could make an analogy the Championship is like some sort of thoroughfare, a stampede of teams desperate to forge a route to the Premier League. And there are days where it really does feel like that. The mistakes seem to determine the results more than individual moments of brilliance.
That's no criticism of the players. For one thing you've only got to look at the ball we're playing with and you'll understand one of the reasons why the game in this league is so different. It's horrible, it's like kicking a shot put around! It definitely has a detrimental effect on the way the game is played and that can't be good for a league competing for attention with the top flight.
Having spent four years at Portsmouth – with the quirks and eccentricities of their facilities – I thought I'd be prepared for anything in the Championship. Wrong. Even in Portsmouth's darkest financial hour the players would fly to a game anywhere north of Birmingham, but here we travel to almost all of our games by coach.
It's those details that really highlight the differences. In the Premier League you want for nothing. Players have 15 pairs of boots, goalkeepers have 15 pairs of gloves. Turn up for training and your boots are clean, everything is done for you. I had to lose that mentality fast when I arrived at Bristol. You bring your own boots in, and you've got to clean them yourself. I slipped up last Saturday because I forgot my boots – luckily I managed to find a box with a few spares, but the only pair in my size were covered in mould. So it was a quick scrub in the sink and then off I went. At times it feels like I've come full circle in my career. I keep finding myself re-enacting the things I did as a youth player for Watford.
How did I end up here? I must confess it wasn't part of the plan. I thought I would either stay with Portsmouth, move to a Premier League club, or go to Scotland. In between thinking about all that there was my wedding to Amanda to organise. Somehow it all converged at a single point: the morning after my stag do.
I received a phone call from an unknown number – I don't usually answer those but I was still drunk and so I picked it up. Much to my astonishment the man on the other end was Steve Coppell. He said: "All right Dave, I'm the Bristol City manager, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in having a look at the club?" If it had been anyone else I would not have considered it, but such was my respect for Steve that Bristol City suddenly became a serious contender. Amanda and I discussed it and we liked the benefits of staying close to home with a shorter commute to work.
The gnawing question was, could I really leave the top flight? One of the biggest heartaches was leaving behind my Premier League appearance and clean-sheet records – these are the things that keep me awake at night. I was seriously torn. But Bristol won me over and off I went.
At first I felt like a foreign object thrown in front of the team. In the early days most conversations started with, "sorry, but my mates wanted me to ask you…" and then it would be something about Wayne Rooney or playing for England. I felt like curiosity of the week. It was very different to joining Portsmouth where Matty Taylor, Richard Hughes and Sean Davis all abused me on my first day. That kind of banter breaks the ice. It's taken a bit longer at Bristol City, but having put a stop to the "celebrity" questions we've began to bond as a team.
I'll be honest, there are days when we get beat and I think: "What am I doing here?", back at the bottom of the table, but I always said I wanted a challenge. I didn't sign for Bristol City to chew the cud and be put out to pasture for the last few years of my football career. I couldn't imagine anything worse.
As a top-flight footballer you tend to have little awareness of what is going on in the lower leagues. All that wall-to-wall TV coverage of the Premier League can make you forget there is a world of "real football" out there. In the context of my managerial aspirations I am very grateful for the eye-opener. Had I moved straight to the lower leagues as a manager, after a playing career in the Premier League, I know I would have been in for a big shock.
I had a brief spell here in 2003 when West Ham were relegated, but so many elements are different in this league that it can feel as though we're playing a completely different game.
One of the biggest cliches in football is, "you know what to do", but while I know what to do in the Premier League it's almost a different set of rules in the Championship. Even basic moves cause problems. I like to throw the ball out quickly, but my automatic thought of rapid attack sometimes needs suppressing because in this league the players are more used to keepers hoofing it up the other end.
If you could make an analogy the Championship is like some sort of thoroughfare, a stampede of teams desperate to forge a route to the Premier League. And there are days where it really does feel like that. The mistakes seem to determine the results more than individual moments of brilliance.
That's no criticism of the players. For one thing you've only got to look at the ball we're playing with and you'll understand one of the reasons why the game in this league is so different. It's horrible, it's like kicking a shot put around! It definitely has a detrimental effect on the way the game is played and that can't be good for a league competing for attention with the top flight.
Having spent four years at Portsmouth – with the quirks and eccentricities of their facilities – I thought I'd be prepared for anything in the Championship. Wrong. Even in Portsmouth's darkest financial hour the players would fly to a game anywhere north of Birmingham, but here we travel to almost all of our games by coach.
It's those details that really highlight the differences. In the Premier League you want for nothing. Players have 15 pairs of boots, goalkeepers have 15 pairs of gloves. Turn up for training and your boots are clean, everything is done for you. I had to lose that mentality fast when I arrived at Bristol. You bring your own boots in, and you've got to clean them yourself. I slipped up last Saturday because I forgot my boots – luckily I managed to find a box with a few spares, but the only pair in my size were covered in mould. So it was a quick scrub in the sink and then off I went. At times it feels like I've come full circle in my career. I keep finding myself re-enacting the things I did as a youth player for Watford.
How did I end up here? I must confess it wasn't part of the plan. I thought I would either stay with Portsmouth, move to a Premier League club, or go to Scotland. In between thinking about all that there was my wedding to Amanda to organise. Somehow it all converged at a single point: the morning after my stag do.
I received a phone call from an unknown number – I don't usually answer those but I was still drunk and so I picked it up. Much to my astonishment the man on the other end was Steve Coppell. He said: "All right Dave, I'm the Bristol City manager, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in having a look at the club?" If it had been anyone else I would not have considered it, but such was my respect for Steve that Bristol City suddenly became a serious contender. Amanda and I discussed it and we liked the benefits of staying close to home with a shorter commute to work.
The gnawing question was, could I really leave the top flight? One of the biggest heartaches was leaving behind my Premier League appearance and clean-sheet records – these are the things that keep me awake at night. I was seriously torn. But Bristol won me over and off I went.
At first I felt like a foreign object thrown in front of the team. In the early days most conversations started with, "sorry, but my mates wanted me to ask you…" and then it would be something about Wayne Rooney or playing for England. I felt like curiosity of the week. It was very different to joining Portsmouth where Matty Taylor, Richard Hughes and Sean Davis all abused me on my first day. That kind of banter breaks the ice. It's taken a bit longer at Bristol City, but having put a stop to the "celebrity" questions we've began to bond as a team.
I'll be honest, there are days when we get beat and I think: "What am I doing here?", back at the bottom of the table, but I always said I wanted a challenge. I didn't sign for Bristol City to chew the cud and be put out to pasture for the last few years of my football career. I couldn't imagine anything worse.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/football-league-blog/2010/oct/24/bristol-city-david-james
