To Coyne A Phrase

Sad day for the supping club

I’VE reflected before in this column about the worrying demise of so many traditional pubs.

Those of you who know me will be aware that public houses are very close to my heart and the closing down of any hostelry is likely to leave me in a gloomy frame of mind.

Imagine my horror then to see a group of them being sold off at the same time.

The latest auction from Birmingham-based property consultancy CPBigwood has a bevy of boozers for sale and it would take a leap of faith to imagine many of them being retained as pubs.

At its auction at Villa Park in Birmingham the following local pubs and clubs will be going under the hammer:

The Armouries (formerly The Dun Cow), Birmingham Road, Stratford-upon-Avon

The Cross Keys, 14 Stratford Road, Alcester

The Red Lion, Billington Lane, Derrington, Staffordshire

The Eagle & Child, 2 Apedale Road, Chesterton, Staffordshire

The Swan, Coltham Road, Willenhall

The Dog Inn, 5 Lichfield Street, Burton-on-Trent

The Spread Eagle, High Street, Polesworth, North Warwickshire

The former Handsworth Central Working Men’s Club, 68 Nineveh Road, Handsworth, Birmingham

The former Cannock Royal British Legion Club, 21 Stafford Road, Cannock.

I don’t know any of these establishments personally but I imagine they all had their glory days when laughter rang out, music played and the banter flowed over a glass or two.

The Government, to its credit, has taken action recently to try and help failing pubs – making it easier for them to be taken over by the local community.

The scale of the problem and the speed of closures seem to be such, though, that a whole range of measures may need to be taken to save one of Britain’s greatest institutions.

Any thoughts?

Wasps sting Tigers’ tails

THE arrival of rugby club Wasps has certainly added something to the West Midlands sporting scene.

I’m sure southern-based fans of the, former, London club aren’t universally delighted with the trek they now have to make up to Coventry for their home games but from a selfish perspective a successful sports team is always welcome (perhaps we could persuade one of the top German football clubs to relocate to the area).

I haven’t had the chance to take in one of Wasps’games at the Ricoh Arena as yet but I gather from those that have that’s it’s a cracking day out and the size of the crowds Wasps are attracting would seem to reinforce this.

I would imagine that they will start making an impression on the corporate hospitality side of things as well if they haven’t already.

With due respect to Worcester Warriors, who have unfortunately flitted between the top two divisions, Leicester Tigers have had the market to themselves in this part of the world until now, attracting a lot of fans to their games from the West Midlands.

Cheekily the Tigers took out some advertising outside the Ricoh recently saying ‘on your doorstep since 1880’.

Not to be outdone, a group of Wasps fans clubbed together to respond by paying for an advertising hoarding in Leicester with the message ‘bringing exciting European rugby to the Midlands since 2014’.

How very civilised to express your differences via messages on advertsing hoardings.

I hope the fans of Coventry City and Leicester City follow suit next time they are in the same division.

It’s certainly preferable to ‘let’s meet at the service station for a scrap’.

Management issues

TALKING of sport (as I usually am) someone at Aston Villa finally worked out that the cost in lost TV revenue from being relegated is far great than paying off failing manager Paul Lambert.

Whoever gave Lambert a lengthy contract extension in September on the back of a few good results deserves shooting but we are where we are and Villa fans need to look to the future.

The talk is all about a new manager but one name with an excellent pedigree hasn’t been mentioned much thus far despite the fact he is a Villa fan – a fact that isn’t widely known.

Our man – let’s call him Paul 2 – has worked on the coaching staff at some of Europe’s most successful clubs.

He moved up to the Solihull/Dorridge area when he was a youngster. His family relocated from London when his brother Neil signed for West Brom.

Paul 2 started attending a local school and made a group of friends who were all avid Villa fans. Paul 2 soon joined them on their regular trips to Villa Park and even started going to away games.

Coming from a football family he played non-league football himself and then went into coaching after he left school, training at Chelsea before taking jobs at Fulham and Blackburn.

He then returned to Chelsea where his potential was spotted by the manager at the time, Carlo Ancelotti.

His career since has has seen him follow Ancelotti to PSG and then to Spain where he is now based.

His name? Paul Clement. His current role? Assistant to Carlo Ancelotti at European champions Real Madrid.

Quite a nice thought isn’t it Villa fans? If he could be persuaded to come to Birmingham B6, perhaps he wouldn’t mind bringing a couple of Real’s players with him – specifically the Welsh and Portuguese ones.

Have a great weekend.