Brazier Hands

Walsall P-P Norwich City

The more time I spend watching football the more convinced I become that the actual 90 minutes when the match takes place are purely incidental when it comes to going to a game. This proves it.

We saw no football. Yet the Norwich supporters who had travelled the 3 hours (4 on a coach) to Walsall on this Bank Holiday Monday still returned to Norfolk with an excellent story to tell.

Every fan of any standing will have at least one or two of these 'the day they called off the game when we were already there' stories.

Given half an hour I could tell you about trips to West Brom and Burnley that ended with a good view of the ground but no actual match.

This Walsall one was ridiculous though. The official word came at 2.15pm but it had been clear there might be a problem for a good 45 minutes before that.

Norwich's manager Paul Lambert and chief exec David McNally had both been on the pitch digging the heels of their smart shoes into the turf, or at least trying to, as they convinced themselves it was too hard and frozen for a game a of football.

The odd site of a dozen or so braziers on the pitch when I arrived at about 12.30 originally convinced me that every effort was being made by Walsall to get the game on. They are now front runners for this seasons 'Best Use of the Youth Team' award. The Sadlers youngsters had spent the morning filling these metal barrels with wood to keep the fires going.

The fact the braziers remained in position an hour before the scheduled kick off was a sure sign we could start packing our bags.

Ref Mark Haywood gave us an interview, trotting out the usual line about 'players safety being the priority'. It's a point you can't argue with - if serious injury was a possibility then yes, the game should be called off. What I would rather have heard though was 'the fans are the priority'. The decision could have been taken mid-morning thus saving those who pay a lot of money to follow their team a whole, fruitless day on the road.

Football is in danger of taking its fans for granted - witness Norwich's FA Cup tie at Carlisle with the ridiculous kick off time of 5.15pm, making a return journey by train impossible. While I know the modern game has sold its soul to TV and cannot afford to turn down their demands with the cash at stake they would do well to remember that TV will only be interested while enough people want to watch the matches at home. They may not be the back page stars or posses valuable 'image rights' but the good old football supporter can only be ridden rough shod over so many times.