I never thought I'd live to see the day again but Mossley are back in the Reporter. After a couple of weeks with nothng more than a solitary mention in the upcoming fixtures list there are reports on both of this weeks games; the one for the Burscough match being a lenghty one too.
Of course this means that space has to be made and it's Ashton United who suffer with their match at home to Kendal going unreported on. Then again, given that the attendance for the fixture only climbed above the 100 mark thanks to the travelling support and a fair few neutrals, I doubt that Ashton fans are particularly interested in what went on either.
For the third week running the Roy Oldham XI make the back page with manager John Reed starting his annual 'we're not good enough' rant earlier than usual. It also contains the snippet of information that assistant manager Mark Atkins was so angry with their performance against Workington that he 'ripped pre-match plans off the changing room wall.' The man's an animal...
Next to it there's a press release from Setanta regarding their contract to show National Conference games on TV from next season. This is only noteworthy for the fact that the paper has tried to pass it off as a piece about the the three local Conference North clubs by slotting in a paragraph at the end containing their names and adding a picture of Dave Pace.
And because we like to keep a count of these things, a Stalybridge match report is accompanied by a large photo of the squad for the second time in three weeks.
But it's not in the sports pages of the Reporter where the fun is to be had. For that we must turn to the front cover where they're desperately trying to make a mountain out of something that isn't even a molehill. The story is that in an interview with local artist Tony Husband (cartoonist in Private Eye and, some of you may remember the comic, Oink) on Radio Manchester, host Anthony H. Wilson referred to Hyde as being the 'centre of evil'.
In a tactic that tabloids are fond of using they've tried to make it out that it somehow denegrates the numerous victims of the Moors Murderers and Harold Shipman and tars Hyde's inhabitants, even though any individual with their head screwed on knows that it doesn't. The story descends into some BBC bashing but at no point do they demand action or an apology from the publication that the 'centre of evil' quote was being paraphrased from - The Sun, despite Tony Husband telling them that's where it originated. Then the BBC's an easier and safer target than News Corporation isn't it?
But what's the most offensive: the 'centre of evil' comment or the fact that a local newspaper has seemingly sensationalised it with a larger than usual banner headline and big photos of the three killers on the front page in order to increase sales?
And besides, we all know the 'centre of evil' is the Tameside Council chamber...
Speaking of which if you turn to page 107 of the Reporter you'll find the annual list of what each councillor earned over the course of the year covering April 05 - March 06. Read it and weep*.
Hyde United manager Steve Waywell is the focus of the Advertiser's back page story, claiming that 3 points out of 15 and hovering around the bottom of the table isn't as bad as it seems. Like the Stalybridge story mentioned above this is turning into an annual event as well and only comes out when you can start to hear knives being sharpened on the terraces of Ewen Fields. And what can you say to his assertation that if they win their next three games they'll be in a better position apart from, "Well, duhhhh!"
Elsewhere the Evening News has gone back to believing that non-league football in the area doesn't exist outside the Conference divisions, FCUB and whoever FCUB are playing. The Oldham Chronicle made Ryan "Iron Head" Bowen's altercation with the pitch surround a front half of the paper news story and the Non-League Paper increased the risks of their offices being invaded by FCUB's knuckle dragging element by printing another letter critical of their club.
That's it for another week and if you've read up to this point - thank you and well done! Not many manage to do it.
* If you haven't got a paper to hand and want to know; the Roy Oldham and wife got (combined) over £70,000 of your taxes. And don't forget that the list doesn't cover other perks like travel allowances, meals, etc.
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