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Monday Comment
This morning Huw Williams reflects on the success of Greece.
What have the Greeks ever done for us?
I don't know what you all thought of the Euro final, but I reckon it showed a lot of what makes football the fantastic game that it is.
A well organised team with a huge spirit and a willingness to run for each other until they dropped, and a fair sprinkling of skill, overcame the favourites. Their supporters overwhelmed the home fans with a barrage of noise and flags and helped to silence them, and Portugal were unable to break down a resolute defence which, no matter how much pressure it was under, never lost its shape or composure.
What's this all got to do with Hereford United then? Supporting a small town team with a great giant-killing history, we should all be able to relate to what Greece achieved on Sunday night. We know from our own experience that sport has no respect for big reputations or notions of superiority. We all hate the attitude of sides who think that they only have to turn up to get the result. In short, we love to see the little guy win, because in football terms, we are the little guy.
Looking forward to next season Greece have given us a brilliant example of how to succeed with limited resources against all the odds (100-1 at the start of the tournament). So we aren't an international side, but we can show a lot of the same characteristics, and did so for much of last season. We were fit, really fit. We had great team spirit, and a willingness to work for each other. We had evolved a way of playing based on skillful use of the ball, and we kept playing it that way, we didn't panic when things weren't working out. Above all we had a pretty shrewd management and coaching team to keep the whole thing going.
Now part of that management team has changed, but everything we read says that Mr. Trewick should be a great candidate to carry on where RO'K left off. There are bound to be setbacks along the way, but any time we get into choppy water we need to be strong, keep the faith, and remember the Greeks.