In July the Sun is Hot

Manager Head coach Dowie and some of his players in Valencia on Friday

Valencia 3 Charlton 1

As I mentioned last night, I couldn't find anything about this match until I followed a link on the Charlton web page which led to me to BBC Radio London, and finally to ex-Charlton favourite Scott Minto and an unidentified commentator, reporting from the Mestalla at half time in this match, which kicked off late.

When I tuned in, the commentator (who was very good, I just never found out his name) was interviewing Richard Murray about an agreement signed between the two clubs, both of which are sponsored by Llanera, a Spanish property group.

Scott Minto and the commentator went on talking about this agreement for quite some time, as the second half did not begin till about ten minutes to twelve. This was due to the completion of a rock opera which had started a couple of hours before kick-off, for Charlton's visit was just part of a long open-day at Valencia, in which the players were presented to the fans; the official club photos were taken; the rock opera was performed, and the Valencia regional anthem was sung by a well-known singer, at least according to the Spanish paper El Mundo, on whose website I read this story.

I had been listening to the commentator for a long time before I discovered that the half-time score was Valencia 2 Charlton 0, and the commentator's explanation for this, which was that it was hot. As there seemed to be no sign of the game restarting, the commentator began to talk to Minto some more about the agreement, which as far as I could tell, might mean Charlton reserve and youth players having a season now and again with Valencia's youths, and vice versa. They both seemed to think this would be a Good Thing, though the more I think of it I can't really see why.

It was hot here in Madrid, too, and I opted to lie down in my bedroom, where there is an air-cooling machine, and continue reading a novel, rather than listen to the second half commentary.

I kept an eye on the clock though, and at about 12.35 I came back through here and tuned in again, just in time to catch the very end of the game; Gonzalo Sorondo had pulled one back for Charlton, and Charlton had been much more determined and gritty, but Valencia had got their third as a result of a rather unfortunate bounce about five minutes from the end. And anyway, it was very hot, and so Charlton could be excused somewhat, and the commentator and Scott Minto both thought that Iain Dowie could be well pleased with his players.

I am beginning to wonder; I didn't, as I hinted yesterday, think of Hibs as true Premiership level opponents, yet Charlton lost there, and while Valencia are a top side in a top league, if Charlton have any pretensions to improving, they might have done better.

However I have not been able to find out more. The Observer doesn't mention the game at all; the BBC page finally put a report on after lunch today, but it isn't a report, just a couple of sentences which anyone in possession of the score, names of scorers and times of the goals, plus a little background information, can put together. So we learn that "ex-Liverpool" player Morientes scored first, and that Silva scored at the end, but there is no mention of the unfortunate bounce.

El Mundo had a description of the evening - the photos, and the presentation of the players, and the rock opera, before ending with: "El acto se cerró con la interpretación del himno de la Comunitat Valenciana por parte del cantante Javier Vila." (The event closed with a rendition of the Anthem of the Comunitat (autonomous region) of Valencia by the singer Javier Vila). And if you believe El Mundo, everyone presumably went home. But they didn't, even though it was hot. But el Mundo made no mention of any football being played, and not a single mention of Charlton flying over from London, or the agreement, or anything. I know it was the Madrid edition of the page, but even so.

My title is a line from the extremely amusing "Song of the Weather", written and first performed in 1963 by Michael Flanders and Donald Swann. The song consists of couplets bemoaning the English weather month by month, and each line was sung alternately. Thus for July, Swann (I think) sang the line I have used as a title, and then:

FLANDERS: Is it shining?
SWANN: No it's not!

Full lyrics here, if you're interested.

And of course the point is that the sun wasn't shining during the match last night, and the temperature was probably around 77 - 80 degrees (Fahrenheit, which I prefer to use - it's a free country and although friends and acquaintances get very cross with me for using it, and tell me that the young people won't understand it, I don't care, and anyway they use it in the USA, and if young people want to know what I mean they can look it up, as I have had to do for years with Centigrade figures until I finally took the trouble to learn the whole lot by heart), so the Charlton players can't have suffered that much, and it is a myth, too that just because you live in a hot country, you feel the heat less. You get better at shutting it out of your life, of course, but it still feels hot, and it is July, after all.

So I reckon that Valencia, one of the best teams in what some consider to be a better league than the English Premiership, were worth their victory and no excuses.