I'll have to wait and see whether I'm cheered or booed

David Artell / David Artell / 18 October 2007 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet

Morecambe's no-nonsense defender on going back to your old club, England's troubles and doing it for the kids

It will be a strange occasion on Saturday as I will be going back to my hometown club to play against them for the first time. I spent six successful and thoroughly enjoyable years at Rotherham, the highlight being back-to-back promotions to the Championship. I haven't been to see a match at Millmoor for over four years in which time they have built a new stand as well as had a high turnover of players, so things will have changed dramatically. I'm hoping for a good reception from the fans but you never know. In the two games against my former clubs this season, the Chester fans gave me a great reception whereas the Mansfield fans booed me.

Either way I'll enjoy the game a bit more than usual and hope I'm unpopular with my family due to the fact my dad and sister both work for the club on match days. They will have divided loyalties and might not be speaking to me come 4.45pm on Saturday!

The response of the crowd to players varies dramatically and due to the size of the crowds in League 2 you tend to hear a lot of what is said/directed at you. Although Premiership players say they don't hear the crowd, (which in my experience is true as whenever I've played in front of a large crowd you just get noise and cannot hear individual comments), when you're playing in front of 3000 people you can hear everything- good and bad. Most things supporters say are laughable and you have to try hard not to laugh and lose concentration although there are times when you can have a bit of friendly banter back (but only when you're winning comfortably).

A couple of weeks ago we started to go into schools to coach youngsters for a couple of hours. It's all part of trying to get more children to pester their parents to come and watch us on a Saturday. We have eight lads going to four schools on a Monday and the same on a Thursday. You get told which school you have to attend and if you don't turn up you get fined! The coaching has to be done and you realise you're making some child's day but getting in at 7 o'clock the day before a game isn't ideal (as is the case if you're coaching on a Monday and there's a game Tuesday). To be fair, the gaffer tries to arrange it so the lads who are playing don't have to do it the day before a game but because of the size of the squad this isn't always possible.

After watching England produce a display that warranted more than they got in Moscow it will be interesting to see how the players respond for their clubs at the weekend. There's nothing worse than feeling that you deserved more from a game and having to endure a long trip back home thinking about it. The travelling won't stop once they get back to England either for the likes of Frank Lampard, as Chelsea are at Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Although players in League 2 tend to get more time with their families, international players spend a lot of time away from their families (although if England don't qualify the likes of Lampard will get to spend a bit more time with them next summer). I'm sure the WAG's wont miss their other halves too much as it probably gives them an excuse to go shoe and handbag shopping.

Two teams whose players won't be travelling that far on Saturday are the two Liverpool clubs as it's the Merseyside derby. Derby matches are difficult games to predict but Everton at 3.9 seems very generous after last year's emphatic 3-0 victory at Goodison Park. After five sendings off in the last five meetings, the side that keeps eleven men on the field could go along way to victory.

David Artell plays for Morecambe FC:

http://www.morecambefc.com/community.htm

Tags: David Artell, football betting, Merseyside Derby, Morecambe