Andy Sinton blasts ‘brainless’ FA over Shropshire Senior Cup
Tuesday 19th April 2011, 11:46AM BST.
Furious AFC Telford United boss Andy Sinton has blasted the “brainless” decision to stage the Shropshire Senior Cup final with Shrewsbury Town in the thick of the big promotion run-in.
Both sides are pushing to go up, with Shrewsbury in with a decent chance of automatic promotion from League Two and Telford looking to make it through the Blue Square Bet North play-offs.
But they are being forced to fit the Senior Cup final into their busy schedule, the county’s top two going head-to-head at the Greenhous Meadow a week tomorrow – meaning both clubs must play four games in eight days from Saturday.
“It’s an absolutely ridiculous decision,” said Sinton.
“I might get myself into trouble, but whoever has made it needs their brains looking at.
“The Shropshire Senior Cup should be a really prestigious competition.
“But Shrewsbury won’t want to play it now as they have bigger fish to fry and I won’t be sending my first team so it might be two youth teams.
“That de-values the whole concept and I’m sure if I was paying £8 or £10 to watch it, I don’t want to be doing that to watch two youth teams.”
Sinton believes officials at the Shropshire FA should have looked at other alternatives in order to give both Shrewsbury and Telford the best possible chance of achieving their prime objection – promotion.
But he insists the side he eventually names will be competitive, even if it is missing the majority of his first team regulars.
“They must be able to come up with some sort of a solution,” he added. “Play it in the summer, cancel it for a year or pull Shrewsbury and Telford out and let two of the lesser sides contest it for one year.
“I know for a fact Graham Turner (the Shrewsbury boss) won’t want to play it.
“I won’t want to play it but if I’m forced to then I will send out some sort of side to try and win it.”
By CHRIS HUDSON
UK Sport
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both pull out then..
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Four games in eight days? Oh poor them. They should try a real job instead of moaning about playing games more often than they like. Mr Sinton is new to the county. I suggest he learns a little more about the place before making such insults to people who have many years of good work on their record.
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Good work?
Monkeys would do a better job of running the shropshire FA.
It’s not to do with 4 games in 8 days, it’s more to it being the play off run in. And as for real jobs, they are all part time players – they have full time jobs too.
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Tristram – he maybe new but he certainly knows what he’s going on about. Both clubs are representing the counties football interests in a very competitive way. Each has a very good chance of going up. SFA have put added pressure on both clubs with the timing of this fixture. Not the actions of an FA with their finger on the pulse if you ask me. Completley detrimental to the success of both clubs involved
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Yes, Tristram, four games in eight days as well as holding down full-time jobs in AFC Telford’s case, being only semi-professional.
No need for your petty lecture about ‘real jobs’, the AFC Telford players have them. I think if you ask fans from either side they’ll agree the Shropshire FA’s stance regarding this fixture has been ludicrously incompetent, not to mention fans of Market Drayton Town, who thought they would be playing only when AFC Telford intimated they might pull out, only to be turfed back out again.
Your comment regarding “people who have many years of good work on their record” sounds suspiciously like the words of someone with a vested interest. Do you work for the Shropshire FA, perhaps?
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years of good work, your having a laugh, clearly the shropshire FA is run by an near retirement bunch of pencil pushers, who have no idea of what goes on in the day to day life of a football club. Otherwise anyone with a brain could see that this fixture should take place at the end or beg of a season…
Sinton has every right to comment, Taylor would do the same but these are his future retirement home buddies
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Both sides should pull out and leave the SFA out of pocket.
In reply to Tristram, AFC Telford players are not a professsional side, many of them have fulltime jobs which start at 6am. So THEY do have real jobs as well unlike the Shrewsbuty players.
A lot of fans are boycotting this match because of the “brainless” decision by the SFA>
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#2 Tristram Ffertyle
It’s just that type of attitude that makes Shropshire FA a laughing stock. “Mr Sinton is new to the County” and “he should learn a little more about the place” are typical of the type of small minded, self importance often shown by the fa.
Sintons only crime is telling people in Shropshire what they actually already know.
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In case “Tristram Ffertyle” doesn’t know, the Telford players DO have proper jobs, as well as playing football.
The decision to play the game at this stage of the season is insane, Sinton is correct.
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The Senior cup should stay a pre season match and teams like Market Drayton, Shifnal Town, Bridgnorth Town and Ludlow Town should all be involved.
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I suppose this is a sign of the times. Recently, an 80 year old lady, collecting for help for heroes on her birthday, had all the money stolen. That article attracted 2 comments. This piece, about a football match of minor importance, attracts 10 comments.
No wonder the UK is in such a state when grown men put more store in a trivial issue like this than to theft from war heroes.
Ye gods, grow up for pities sake.
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This season it’s just one game for Shropshire FA to organise in this competition because they’ve excluded all the other sides in the County. They’ve had all season to schedule it with tons of notice but choose to drop it into the middle of both squads’ important play off run-ins. What planet are they on? Just two teams devalues what is one of the oldest football cup competitions in the world, how out of touch can they be? Look no further than Staffordshire to see how to run it with all the major County teams – and copy how they schedule the games too as sorting out one fixture seems too big a job judging by the foul up. There’s and ok’d saying about a brewery that springs to mind…
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@ Colin D, You should have seen the comments some bloke with too much time on his hands kept putting on about some chap who’d turned his shed into a pub the other day..
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I like the way Colin D has added a comment on here to say he disagrees with people making comments..
Irony.
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The Shropshire FA cronies just want their money from this match and too enjoy the a*** licking hospitality.
Spencer: the clubs cannot pull out as this will result in them being excluded from other FA tournaments.
Andy Sinton is not devaluing the competition the Shropshire FA is by forcing it to take place at a critical stage of the season. Hopefully nobody will go and leave the Shropshire FA with egg on their face.
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@spencer. Sorry spencer, I must have missed that somehow. A shed into a pub????? What a waste of money.
Luke, I do not disagree with people making comments, everyone is entitled to his/her opinion, but, we don’t have to agree with that opinion. I was making a comparison between two reports, one, totally disgusting, and the other, (football), totally irrelevant, and the attention both attracted from the public.
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town are putting out a modest team, with their groundsman in goal, their 2 club doctors and chaplain in defence, midfield graham turner, john trewin 3 youth players and up front matty harrold and roland wycherley. any subs will appear as they come in the ground. the shrews can play silly beggers as well as the fa. floreat salopia
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11 – Colin
How is this a ‘sign of the times’? Just because more people have commented does not mean people are taking it more seriously – in any the event most of the comments are provoked by comment number 2 which is just utter nonsense.
There is no relation between the amount of comments and how serious people consider the robbery, it’s for the Police to deal with the robbery not ‘grown men’ who read the articles on the site.
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