AFTER promotion to a higher division the first rule for any manager must always be to make sure his team don’t immediately go back down.
The best way to do that is, of course, to make sure you’re tough to beat.
I really enjoyed watching Huddersfield Town at Blackpool on Monday night and that was the main thing I took out of the game.
Southern, Clayton, Norwood and Ward, the midfield four, really got through some graft and were a strong physical presence in front of a combative back five.
Blackpool play some very nice football but Town kept things tight, had great delivery from set-pieces and took the points.
You have to be impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of James Vaughan, but I have to say he is an injury waiting to happen.
He puts his body on the line in every single challenge, which is admirable.
But Town will lose him for long periods of the season if he carries on like that.
It was late in the game when he chased a ball into a corner, there was no need for him to take a clattering from the centre half as it was being cleared for a throw, but he put his right ankle in the way.
He didn’t even get a free-kick and hobbled away.
Bryan Robson used to be exactly the same.
I’m sure Town fans are already dreaming of the promised land of the Premier League, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Let’s just enjoy the ride and see where it takes us.
THE Ryder Cup is one of my favourite sporting events.
I was going to back the US to win at Skybet’s odds of 4/6, but I can’t bring myself to sit there for three days and be hoping for the Americans to win.
So I’m on Luke Donald at 11/2 and GMac at 7/1 to be top Europeans.
Six of the last 10 Ryder Cups have been won by a scoreline of 14½-13½.
You can back that at 4/1 at Skybet.
