There are characters in every pub in Ireland – and quite possibly around the globe – of which one of the following will undoubtedly be said at least once. Whether the subject thereof is aware of same or not. “You might as well be pouring water into a barrel of sawdust” or “You may as well be pouring drink into a hollow log”.
Taken in the context of what you will read hereafter, it could be taken to imply an individual just downing pints without taking time to savour or or even taste them. Inference being that if you can’t employ either of the adjectives above to a given situation, is there any real point in doing so?
That train of thought came back to mind in recent days with all the conjecture surrounding Manchester City being found guilty of a staggering 115 mismanagement charges in relation to the financials of the club throughout much of the time benchmarked by their dominance of English football.
Now, depending on which piece of the voluminous coverage you ingest, it may seemingly date back as far as the time the blue moon first rose in 2011, but I don’t think I’d swallow that one – even as an ardent United fan.
If only because if there was something dodgy about that first title for City I would find it hard to believe that Alex Ferguson wouldn’t have been on it like flies round a cow dung.
Even if there was though, I would probably concur with Wayne Rooney’s angle that he wouldn’t be in favour of titles being defrocked and awarded elsewhere retrospectively.
Yes, I realise the irony of my stance in view of past incidents involving both St Peters Dunboyne and Meath, but, as the old saying goes, if I knew then what I know now my attitude to both scenarios would have been different then too.
Hindsight plus 20:20 vision and all that. However – and I am cognisant that there will be those who will say the following is commensurate to contrasting apples and oranges – at least it was only one match which was contentious in the two cases close to home.
Even if one was to include the reality that there’s a very strong probability that the Manchester City players throughout all the years concerned would have had no idea of or involvement in the impropriety in which their employers were up to their necks in, to go after titles retrospectively smacks of desperation and a terrible drop in standards for a club like Manchester United. Or Liverpool either in all honesty.
For either of those great sporting institutions they would represent very hollow victories indeed. And, as was hinted at above, you might find trash stuffed in a hollow log but little else!
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