Where have all the Derbies gone?

This season’s line up of 24 clubs provides little opportunity for true local derbies. In the past, the level will have witnessed many a Forest versus County, Charlton versus Millwall and Watford versus Luton battle. The roster is far from entirely bereft, however – so why do today’s fixtures not treat us to an all Sheffield battle or a Cardiff-Swansea match up?

These are tricky days on which to travel, with a number of train services not running and booking a half way affordable advance ticket in the light of the weather a decidedly risky venture. In all truth, the last thing I wish to do is spend seven hours on a train at yuletide – memories of aborted boxing day trips to Watford, Luton and Bristol Rovers still hang heavy. Do the authorities expect Pilgims’ fans to catch a fishing boat via Lundy Island and on to the Welsh capital in order to make a 1pm kick off today? More common sense please.

Rob Langham

Rob Langham is co-founder of the defiantly non-partisan football league blog, The Two Unfortunates, a website that occasionally strays into covering issues of wider importance. He's 50 and lives in Oxford while retaining his boyhood support of Reading FC. He tweets as @twounfortunates and has written for a number of websites and publications including The Inside Left, When Saturday Comes, In Bed with Maradona, Futbolgrad and The Blizzard as well as being nominated for the Football Supporters' Federation Blogger of the Year Award in 2013.