First Impression

Immediately on landing at Johannesburg, I am hit by a wall of “2010”. Everywhere you look there are billboards, adverts and sponsors proudly proclaiming that the World Cup is coming to Africa. There appears a real willingness among the residents to show off all the best parts of their country to the world. Everything is geared towards “Twenty-Ten”, new train lines are being hastily constructed to reduce the reliance of the car, the highways are being expanded to six lanes to cope with the increased burden they’ll have to support in June, but most of all, security is of the uppermost importance.

For the tourist, this is fantastic news, assuming your willing to pay the extra rand for the benefit. So keen is everyone to avoid the bad press that would follow any tourist trouble that you almost feel forbidden to do anything even vaguely dangerous, which includes taking public transport. So I in backpacker mode, trying to keep costs to a minimum felt obliged to take a taxi from J’burg to Pretoria for the princely sum of 350 rand (about £30), and even that had to be haggled down from 450. The very thought of me even considering any other option horrified the locals- “You can’t do that, you’ll be robbed”, they warned. 

Whether this is just a veneer of concern for your wellbeing that vanishes as soon as you leave the confines of the airport remains to be seen, but certainly as first impressions go it was a positive, albeit a more expensive, one. How deep that 2010 veneer runs will be interesting to note as my African adventure meanders on…

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On another (more British) note, as my Lufthansa flight started to descend into Munich, the captain cheerily informed us that the current temperature in the Bavarian capital was -5°C! Did nooo get an agenda about that, kitted out as I was with about 4 pairs of shorts but nothing more than a light jumper on the keeping warm front.

2009: The Year of the Graduate

With an ever-increasing number of school leavers flooding off to university, but with graduate opportunities seemingly fewer and farther between, the graduation saturation point must be fast approaching. This year alone, up to 40,000 new graduates will still be unemployed come the turn of the year. Yet the myth is still peddled that a university education is the key to unlocking the gateway to everyone's dream job. However, the reality is somewhat starker. Rather than a degree throwing off the shackles of working in the service industry or going from temp job to temp job that provided essential funding for further education, that same degree begins to appear like a millstone around the graduate's shoulders as he still finds himself going cap in hand to recruitment agencies, willing to take whatever they offer, but this time saddled with burdensome debts.

Tony Blair's Labour Party was famously ushered into power on the back of a manifesto that screamed “Education; Education; Education”, and in their 12 years in Government there has been a substantial rise in both the number of universities and the number of people choosing to pursue further education. Although we haven't yet reached the magic figure of 50 percent of school leavers choosing the university option, that reality is not far off.

However, surely it is now time to rethink this blind pursuit of providing university for everyone. Today, we have built up a perception that without a degree, you are almost a second class citizen, and anyone that works with their hands rather than with a computer must be inferior. Conversely, those in possession of degrees feel they must be on exorbitant salaries. But with almost half of young people now going to university, degrees are becoming increasingly devalued. Now, rather than making you stand out from a crowd, a degree has almost become a minimum requirement for job hopefuls- and an expensive one at that!

So 2009 has seen 260,000 new graduates pouring out onto an already over-burdened job market. Thousands are competing for one or two positions within companies that often reward the efforts of applicants by not even providing them with the common courtesy of a generic rejection or an acknowledgement of receipt. Thus, the hopefuls are left in limbo wondering and waiting before the slow realization dawns on them that they have been unsuccessful once again. The whole process can be demoralising, especially having worked for three or more years to reach this point, our bright young things having their dreams dashed and knocked back on an almost daily basis.

The culture has to change.

University should return to being a place of academic excellence rather than merely an expected norm. The derogatory stance towards manual work has to change to a point where it is considered a viable alternative to academia.

2009 has been the year of the ox: apt given the thick skins that this year's graduates have had to develop.

Arsenal brush aside Celtic in Champions League play-off

Arsenal assured their place in this season's Champions League group stages with a commanding 3-1 win over Celtic at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners were without their captain Cesc Fabregas who was missing with a hamstring injury but still to the chance to rest Robin Van Persie, knowing that Celtic faced an uphill task to progress after last week's 2-0 defeat at Parkhead.

Although Eduardo da Silva poked the ball just wide early on, the balance of play was fairly even for the majority of the opening stages, with attempts on goal from both sides few and far between.

Despite their two-goal advantage, Arsene Wenger's boys were far from their fluent best with Celtic's midfield duo of Scotts Brown and McDonald working hard to disrupt the English side's rhythm.

Both of the North Londoners goals last week having an element of fortune about them, tonight's opener continued that lucky trend. Eduardo went down after minimal contact between himself and Artur Boruc in the 28th minute but did enough to convince the Spanish referee to award the home side a penalty, much to the Celtic 'keeper's obvious fury. The Croatian striker then dusted himself down to calmly slot his spot kick past the Polish international stopper.

McDonald thought he had equalised after tapping in a clever ball behind the Arsenal defence from Marc-Antoine Fortune. However, the goal was disallowed as he was rightly adjudged to have been offside.

Just before half-time, Eduardo was in the thick of the action again, with his curled effort having Boruc at full stretch. From the resulting corner, Niklas Bendtner should have done better than head wide when unmarked at the back post.

After the interval, Wenger seemed to have encouraged his team to go out and express themselves more, safe in the knowledge that they had a three-goal cushion to fall back on.

The Gunners' trademark fluidity and fluency was clearly in evidence in the 53rd minute as Emmanuel Eboue finished off a delightful Arsenal move firing home right footed to score his first European goal.

If the tie was not already over, then the second goal on the night and fourth on aggregate certainly ended the game as a contest. Soon after, Tony Mowbray, the Celtic manager, withdrew Aiden McGeady and Shaun Maloney, no doubt with half an eye on the Bhoys weekend fixture against unbeaten Hibernian.

Andrey Arshavin then slotted in a third goal in the 74th minute, almost immediately after coming on as a substitute, underlying the home side's second half dominance.

From then on, the Scottish side knew they were condemned to the consolation prize of the Europa League and began to look very tired and drained. Chances and openings presented themselves more regularly for Arsenal, whose youthful midfield drove them on in search of a fourth goal.

There was to be no fourth goal, in fact it was the Glaswegians who scored a spectacular consolation goal through Massimo Donati. With the very last kick of the game, the Italian midfielder volleyed home a diagonal ball, to score a goal that was reminiscent of Paulo di Canio's flying volley for West Ham some years ago. It was a fitting reward for the Bhoys' loyal supporters to take with them on the long trip home on a night when they saw their team exit the Champions League with more of a whimper than a bang. But the Scots will feel aggrieved at the nature of the home side's opening goal that set Arsenal on their way.

Despite conceding late on, the Gunners could content themselves that they had done more than enough to progress and can now look forward to taking their place in tomorrow's draw in Monaco for the Champions League group stages.

Cobblers Preview

Last season ended on a crushing note, being comprehensively outplayed by a better footballing unit, then the main pre-occupation of early summer was whether our pacy winger who can score goals would seal his dream move to Spain. But unfortunately that is where the similarities between the Cobblers and Manchester United end. Ikechi Anya did convince Sevilla to sign him in one of the more surprising transfers of the summer but without the £80 million price tag of the Madeiran show pony.

2009-10 season sees Northampton Town once again in the lowest tier of league football after last season’s relegation from League One, despite a goal difference that hovered around zero throughout the year- surely something of a first. (Best goal difference to still be relegated?) This inevitably saw some of the first team’s better players seek pastures new, most notably Jason Crowe who has consistently been one of the best performers at the club, the only surprise being that he hadn’t moved on earlier. However a good bulk of the squad remains and with some astute additions in the shape of John Curtis and Steve Guinan to add experience to the existing youth as well as Foxes’ reject Billy McKay who has impressed in pre-season and could form a neat blend of pace and power with Bayo Akinfenwa, last season’s chief marksman, hope exists around Sixfields that our stay in League Two may be just a brief sojourn.

If on the field, the squad appears to be coming together nicely under the helm of Stuart Gray, who was sensibly retained as manager despite our fall from the third tier, off the field concerns dominate discussions. Northampton Borough Council’s collective dragging of heels about Chairman Cadoza’s planned retail expansion of the stadium and surrounding area has left many fans feeling frustrated and Cardoza unwilling to plough any more cash into the club until the uncertainty surrounding the area is resolved. For now it seems that “Sixseats” will continue to be the butt of many away fans. Away fans that will be coming from the likes of Burton and Aldershot rather than Charlton and Southampton, a prospect that seemed remote when at the turn of the year, the Cobblers were happily ensconced in their traditional lower mid table position that contented our limited ambition. Gone too are the local derbies with Peterborough making strides under the other Ferguson and Rushden and Diamonds’ fall once their Dr. Marten’s money vanished being as rapid as their rise with it. The “local” rival now is newly arrived Burton Albion, some 70 miles up the motorway. It doesn’t exactly set the pulses racing.

2009/10 will be a season of adjustment and no doubt frustration too, thinking what might have been but as the season draws closer and that horrible day away at Leeds becomes ever more distant, optimism slowly starts to creep in that Gray can bring some sunshine back to Northampton and return the Town straight back into League One.