MICHAEL PEARLMAN SAYS: Let the good times roll again at County (From South Wales Argus)

MICHAEL PEARLMAN SAYS: Let the good times roll again at County

12:59pm Thursday 25th June 2009

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THINGS are progressing beautifully at Newport County ahead of a pre-season that incredibly begins tomorrow.

The soap opera of last season which made County more like a Sky One fictional side with a conveyer belt of new players, is thankfully a distant memory as the Exiles prepare for a season with a squad that has improved beyond recognition since the turn of the year.

Consistency and quality are the only requirements for success on the field in non-league football, yet only clubs well organised off the field can truly expect to mount a serious promotion push.

I can’t believe that I am writing this, but on and off the field County look exceptionally well set.

When a certain I Radio man who is often less than optimistic about the future tells me that he believes County will WIN the Blue Square South next term, it becomes impossible to ignore the fact that supporters believe the club is firmly on the right track.

All credit goes to Matt Southall for orchestrating the revolution off the field, County are suddenly well-drilled, pulling in the right direction and not reliant on the money of just a handful of backers.

The appointment of Tim Harris is working out nicely. I have read supporters questioning what it is that Tim is doing off the field – where his responsibilities end and Dean Holdsworth’s begin – but the two are working closely and have only had good things to say about one another.

The Exiles have secured training facilities for the new campaign at Caldicot, have possibly their best ever set of pre-season games in place and well over a month ahead of the new season, almost have their squad entirely in place.

The manager chooses the players to sign, Tim Harris provides advice and helps to secure the signings. Everyone is aware of their own responsibilities.

It was only right to point out that Deano was exceptionally hit and miss in the transfer market last term, going through over 50 players, but he was always going to take time in finding his feet, especially as he inherited such a mess.

He deserves the credit for ensuring key personnel stayed at the club and he has done fantastically in terms of player acquisition.

The boss knew the players he wanted well before the end of the campaign and almost all of the names he mentioned as targets have been persuaded to sign.

Team Bath skipper Gary Warren provides the Exiles with a trio of quality central defenders and competition in that area of the field for the first time since Ian Hillier was injured last term.

Scott Rogers, Wayne Turk, Charlie Henry and the soon to arrive attacking midfielder give him tremendous options in a unit already blessed with the talents of Danny Rose, Sam Foley and Nathan Davies.

And no longer will the jewel in the crown Craig Reid be County’s only striking option. Dave Gilroy’s arrival is as close as a Conference South side can get to guaranteed goals.

There are still one or two arrivals to come and pre-season should be hugely exciting, the Exiles really are going places this term and will be privately targeting the playoffs as the bare minimum for the season ahead.

Watching the BBC this week and you can almost see the pained expression on John McEnroe’s face every time he is asked the same infuriating question.

Tim Henman’s face betrays a man happy to be having the question asked of him, rather than about him.

Greg Rusedski just looks confused. But all of the ex-professionals lining up to bring expert analysis from Wimbledon know that they’ve still got about another 100 opportunities to explain that yes, Andy Murray can win Wimbledon.

His lofty position in the upper echelons of the sport have almost skewed the entire tournament, rather than hoping for British success we are expecting it, the minimum expectation on Murray in the absence of the supreme Rafa Nadal is that he makes the final against Roger Federer.

We’d be far better served (if you’ll excuse the typically awful pun) by hoping for Murray success and expecting the usual Wimbledon heartbreak that Tiger Tim trademarked.

Murray is a fantastic talent and it’s difficult to imagine when we’ll see the likes of him again, he’s young enough to win many massive tournaments in the next five years or so.

Tennis, as is proved by the Hooray Henry’s contributing such insight on the BBC’s outside broadcasts, is and will be for the foreseeable future a sport for the rich.

Kids in Britain don’t, by and large, get to play tennis in schools. It’s basic economics, you can only get a maximum of four kids at a time onto a court and Comprehensive Schools simply don’t have the resources to make that cost effective, not when 20 or 30 kids at a time can play football, rugby or try athletics in the summer.

Tennis clubs are targeting kids more, but a culture still remains whereby two highly-talented teens might be forced to abandon a match halfway through if four 55-year old members without an ounce of ability between them decide they want the court.

That is how tennis is and as such, we’d be better served not putting extreme pressure on Murray and the likes of Laura Robson. We should just be grateful that they are here for now.

I fail to see the good in Setanta going up the wall after it ceased transmitting on Tuesday evening.

While the Premier League and its armchair supporters can brush off the loss with a mere shrug of the shoulders and look forward to watching the games on ESPN (providing of course you have Sky), many others are affected horribly by the Irish company heading into administration.

Its demise means an unquestionable blow to a myriad of sports, yet certain people seem to be determined to revel in the broadcaster all but disappearing (Setanta Ireland remains), resenting the very notion of paying any extra to watch sport.

It’s somewhat understandable that people feel that way if they are already shelling out for Sky, but I feel it’s a case of misdirected ire.

Setanta has had a big impact with a number of sports and on top of that list would be boxing.

It has shown tremendous support to the sport, particularly domestically and the bottom line is, less British boxing will now be televised, hitting all involved in the fight game in the pockets.

And what of non-league football?

County are lucky not to have to rely on the funds provided by Setanta, but other Conference South and North clubs will take a horrendous hit in losing the funds provided by a TV company willing and able to show football that Sky simply don’t care about.

Rather than revelling in what has happened to Setanta, fingers should be pointed at the terrestrial channels that turned their backs on boxing and cricket to fight it out over the billionaires playground of Formula One.

Despite Amir Khan fights regularly attracting viewing figures in excess of five million, neither ITV nor the BBC have any commitment to show boxing as things stand. The Premier League might be OK with Disney money replacing that of Setanta money, but other sports are going to suffer, not to mention the 200 ex-employees now out of work.

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