Seven Up

Geoff Horsfield has, in the words of the Walker Brothers, “lost that loving feeling” after West Bromwich Albion refused to take him back early from his loan spell at Sheffield United. To add insult to injury, both Sheffield United and Horsfield have been told by The Baggies that the pre-agreed permanent deal that takes effect once the loan period finishes must go ahead unless The Blades can find another club to buy Horsfield for the same value, which is as yet undisclosed.

In all of the years that I have followed football, I cannot recall coming across a similar situation. There have been instances where a manager has signed a player and then been sacked with his replacement not wanting the player and then flogging them to the first suitor that came along. The murky dealings that surrounded Clive Allen’s move to Arsenal and then onto QPR without playing a competitive match for the club. Rumour control had it that Palace would not sell directly to QPR so Arsenal, who wanted Kenny Sansom, approached Palace with a Swap / Cash deal involving Allen and promptly flogged him onto QPR. The great thing about this piece of conjecture is that it has been doing the rounds for a few years and never yet been denied. But then again, it has never been proved either.

Back to Geoffrey. Football is all about confidence, especially in forwards, and his must be shot to bits after this episode. Whilst he is, probably by his own admission, not going to get signed by the big clubs he is a solid player who would do well for a Championship side that is pushing for promotion as opposed to one that is intent on shooting itself in the foot again. We have all been in situations where we think that a job we have just taken is not right but whereas we have the escape route of Contract work, footballers cannot walk into their local branch of Hays and ask them to find work. Having lambasted Agents recently, this is one occasion where corn will truly be earned if he can find a suitable solution for this.

On the subject of confidence, any win away from home boosts the players more than one at home. To score three on your opponents ground marks a good return but to hit seven is spectacular, especially if it is in a big match that could define your season. Even better is that it sends a message to your rivals that you fear no-one, can score against even the tightest of defences and by no means can you be called “chokers”. So A Cultured Left Foot salutes last night’s seven goal heroes Stenhousemuir and wishes them all the best in their push for promotion from Scottish football’s basement division.

Todays Tunes continue through the timeline of The Peel Sessions, depositing us in 1980 at the height of the Two - Tone dominance of all things musical. This lot though are from a band who never signed to the Coventry based label, instead going with their own Go - Feet brand. Birmingham's The Beat, aka The English Beat to our North Atlantic bretheren, have reformed and are touring again. They always struck me as the "poster boys" of the movement, with Dave Wakelings deep voice and blue eyes making him popular with the lasses. These two tracks are from their September 1980 session, Monkey Murders and New Psychedelic Rockers.