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Saturday, July 14, 2007

The season starts early

I was one of the 3,000+ who turned up at Shrewsbury's new stadium to watch Town take on the A-Line Allstars. Because it was their first match at the new ground they couldn't fill it to capacity anyway for safety reasons, but they were hoping for 6,000. Although the first thing you learn in economics a-level is that price determines demand. £12 to see a collection of fading pros and Macclesfield Town trainees is perhaps a bit steep.

Still we could marvel in Gianfranco Zola's silky skills as he deftly swept the ball around League 2 defenders. It looked as if he'd somehow magnetised it to follow his foot obediently, and he could easily be the best player playing at our level if we could somehow tempt him out of retirement. Besides Zola, who is arguably the most skillfull footballer ever to grace Gay Meadow, Graeme Le Saux, Gustavo Poyet, Gianluca Festa and 48-year old Mickey Thomas added a bit of fun and star quality to the occasion. Ex-town legends Mickey Brown, Steve Cross and Tony Kelly also made it onto the pitch.

For those interested in results, Town won 4-0, with two of the goals scored by triallists my die-hard brother had never heard of. But who knows, they just might become household names in Shrewsbury by this time next year.

You can see photos in my Facebook photo album.

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