This is a nice easy entry.
"Couples" - teams of two try and score past a single keeper. Whoever scores progresses to the next round, whichever team fails is knocked out.
Just a small part of the vigorous régime in place at Hanley Park Rangers FC.
Before the need for any analysis of this match becomes almost entirely moot, it seems appropriate to slip a quick entry about Wednesday's Aston Villa vs Reading match in.
Before the match, I was expecting Villa to win relatively comfortably. From the first matches of the season for both teams, I felt that Villa's strong back line and Reading's clumsy one would be the main factors contributing to Martin O'Neill's first three points in B6. And, for all of three minutes, my theory was not disproved.
It was at this time though when Reading's Irish striker Kevin Doyle was in an area of space the size of the Pridnestrovie Moldavskaia Respublica, and unsurprisingly dispatched the header with ease. 1-0 Reading, and for the next twenty five minutes or so, it only looked like increasing. Erk.
But things turned on around twenty-five minutes, and two disallowed goals later, Villa got a deserved penalty after the hapless Ibrahima Sonko tripped and stumbled on a clean through on goal Luke Moore. Inadvertent? Perhaps. But it denied Moore a clear goalscoring opportunity, and the sending off was the inevitable result. A cucumber cool penalty by Angel made it 1-1, and at half time this was the score. The feeling was that it wasn't a question of if Villa would score again, it was a question of how many.
Yet, to Reading's credit, it was far from a walkover. Despite having mucho possession, a new pioneering form of Horizontal Football proved entirely unsuccessful, being as it was a complete waste of time. Observe.
Somehow though, a bit of normal football came, Barry scored, and a deserved 2-1 lead - and ultimately win - came from it. The game I think said more about Reading than it did Villa - they were a very difficult team to play against, and Villa didn't carve too many clear chances out of the game. Also, it was difficult to gauge how good Villa actually were in having all this possession as Reading were down to ten men for most of the possession hungry period.
The opening three games of the season are proving an interesting acid test for Villa, offering three very different tests. A draw at Arsenal has proved that, on a good day, O'Neill's Villa can cope with England's best teams, and defeating Reading suggests that there is little realistic threat of relegation. Tomorrow's game against Newcastle should indicate just how far Villa can progress. Defeating Newcastle would suggest that a top six position might just be within reach, whereas a draw would suggest a solid mid-table finish. I'm expecting a solid 1-1 draw tomorrow.
I will expand in future, but as it's the first day of the season I should probably go public with my predictions. Here's a projected league table, which will leave me liable to ridicule come next May. Particularly with my controversially low placings for Liverpool, Spurs and Wigan, and surprise choices of Newcastle, Everton and Sheffield United to finish above where most are predicting.
1 Chelsea
2 Manchester United
3 Arsenal
4 Liverpool
5 Newcastle
6 Tottenham
7 Everton
8 West Ham
9 Blackburn
10 Aston Villa
11 Charlton
12 Portsmouth
13 Fulham
14 Middlesbrough
15 Sheffield United
16 Bolton
17 Man City
18 Wigan
19 Watford
20 Reading
With the second legs of the Champions League quarter finals coming up, I thought I should spend a few minutes opining on the matches, and what will happen. Part of this comes from an email I sent to Mr Flavell last week.
I have to start with the tie of the round, Milan-Lyon. Many of you will already know that I have a bit of a fetish for Lyon, particularly their Rather Good midfield playmaker Juninho Pernambucano, who has been known to hit one or two half decent free kicks in his time. The tie stands at 0-0, and Lyon do have a tendency to score in their away matches. I think they will score tomorrow, and honestly believe they will either beat or draw with Milan, both of which would put them through. At 4/1 for the Lyon win, it's got to be worth a couple of quid.
Internazionale vs Villarreal is a tie which bores me. There's great examples of why the expansion of the Champions League has been a good thing, and why it's been a bad thing. For me, this is one of the latter. Inter shouldn't even be in Europe this season after the way their fans behaved, and Mr Collina cost Everton their place in the competition, allowing Villarreal to make it through. And the less said about the farcical offside decision at Ibrox in the last round to favour VIllarreal, the better. I don't like either team, and I hope both go out as soon as possible. Inter will make it through though after their first leg win, that's almost certain.
Barcelona vs Benfica is a tie everyone seems to think is over, but I disagree. Barcelona play wonderful football on an aesthetic level, but from what I've seen of them they don't actually seem to do as much with their possession as they should. For a team with as much talent as they have, frequently converting their 60+% of possession in a match into a narrow win or a draw defies belief, and Benfica are the kind of team who might just capitalise on it. They're rugged, determined, and have some talented players. I still fancy Barça to make it through, but rumours that this tie is already over have been greatly overstated…
And Juventus-Arsenal. Enough superlatives have been used to describe Arsenal's performance last week against a below-par and frankly disinterested Juventus team. We still have a very young and inexperienced Arsenal team travelling to play Italy's runaway leaders, and while the two goal cushion is of comfort, you can't help but feel that Arsenal should have finished the tie off once and for all in the first leg. If Juve can get one in the first half hour, then only a vintage Henry performance will save the Arse. I hope they make it through, because when they play well they are the most irresistible team to watch in European club football. My heart says Arsenal to make it through, my head says Juve to take it to extra time and nick it then.
This week one of my most hated people in the world, Florentino Pérez, resigned his position of chairman of Real Madrid. I was, predictably, pleased by this.
Pérez's legacy is decidedly mixed. Despite leaving a squad containing players like Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham, Robinho, and Roberto Carlos, and recently becoming the most profitable football club in the world, the performances on the pitch in recent months have shown the team in a distinctly mediocre light.
Real are no longer the most glamorous team in the Primera Liga, having ceded that title to Barcelona last season. On a European scale, a call from Real no longer means a transfer target is theirs, with Chelsea's moneybags and Barcelona's irresistible swagger.
Mediocrity on the pitch has almost inevitably been a result of the slew of managers Perez's Real has heralded at the Bernabeu. His first manager, Vicente del Bosque, was a quiet but respected man in the dressing room, who won Real two European Cups and two league titles in his three years in charge. But del Bosque seemingly lacked something for Pérez, who sacked him and installed Manchester United's assistant manager Professor Carlos Queiroz instead. He was sacked after a trophiless first season. In the eighteen months up to now, Real have had four more managers - Jose Antonio Camacho, Mariano Garcia Ramon, Vanderlei Luxemburgo, and current caretaker Juan Ramon Lopez Caro. No trophies have been won in this period.
Faced with a third successive trophiless season, unprecedented in Real's modern history, Pérez had no option but to resign with dignity, blaming his own galactico culture for the failure to impress. But one (possible apocryphal) tale sums up all the known problems at Pérez's Real Madrid. I'll leave this bit to Sid Lowe.
When Mariano García Remón left Ronaldo on the bench, Pérez asked him: "Who do you think you are to leave Ronaldo out?" García Rémon replied: "The coach." Within days, he was the ex-coach. Too many players simply do not care and those that do care grow more and more frustrated. "This club has lost its soul," one first-teamer privately insisted after Madrid were defeated by Barcelona in November. Now it has lost its emperor. The galactic era is over. Maybe now Real Madrid can become a football team once more.
I dislike many of the things Real Madrid stands for. The "only in Madrid" way they sold their training ground to wipe out their debts. The tapping up of Zidane by Pérez using a napkin (Pérez wrote "Do you want to play for Real Madrid?" in English on a napkin, and passed it across the room to Zidane, who printed "YES" next to it.) Their general self-righteousness. All of these were represented ostentatiously by Pérez, and showed the club up in a bad light.
If new chairman Fernando Martin Alvarez is to be believed, a much more humble Real Madrid will be the product of this change. About time too.
Earlier today Southern Tim posted a blog entry about the whole Eriksson situation. I started writing a comment on his blog, but it was getting too long, so here's an entry all about it instead.
The next time I hear anyone make arguments referring to the Sheikh incident as Eriksson "publically" criticising his players, I will go completely mad. He did not publically criticise his players. As far as anyone is concerned, it was a private conversation.
I too would be appalled if anyone chastised Eriksson for "publically" saying things in this instance. I'd prefer it if they said "publicly", personally. They would still be wrong in this instance, though, and I agree that the criticism in this manner is somewhat unfair. I would argue though that it's poor form for him to offer his opinion in such a manner to someone he's known for not very long at all. That in itself is a breach of confidence on the part of the players. The revelations weren't exactly ground-breaking, but that he started talking about the players at all (and especially Owen, for whom the comments were particularly damaging) isn't too clever. That it came out into the public arena isn't his fault, but if he'd kept schtumm about this in the first place, the situation wouldn't have occurred.
People saying he was a crap England manager… conveniently forget the wins against Germany (5-1 in their back yard in a vital crunch match), Argentina (1-0 in the World Cup and 3-2 in an anything-but-meaningless friendly) or Poland home+away (which no-one seems to notice is actually a bloody impressive pair of qualifying results).
Eriksson's main failing as England manager has been a lack of adaptability and strange tactical choices. A goal down against ten man Brazil, Eriksson might have considered making some substitutions to go for broke, bring someone like Vassell on for someone like Mills and throw everything at them. If he had, and it had failed, it would have disappointed, but would have had a bit of logic to it. Much more than, say, not doing very much at all.
Similar things would be said about the team that sat back on a 1-0 lead against Portugal and (to a lesser extent) France in Euro 2004. While I still think England deserved to win the France game, it took only two mistakes in 85 minutes to ruin the match for England, and against even a limited team like that French one, it was ultimately a bit too risky, especially with the potency of Rooney, Owen, Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes, etc. And given that England only actually attacked for about 15 of the 120 minutes against Portugal, getting a 2-2 result really wasn't that bad.
And 4-5-1 against Northern Ireland doesn't need discussion. That, for me, has far more value than a friendly win over Argentina (especially one where many of their top players had been brought off after an hour). So too does needing a last minute wonder free-kick to scrape a draw against a Greece team that had played England off the park, come to think of it… That Eriksson's England got such a tremendous result in Germany the previous month is to his credit. That they then scraped a draw with Greece and relied on Germany not winning their final match summed much up about his reign to date - so promising, but ultimately a little hollow.
And whoever first suggested Hitzfeld is a loon. Great manager, but there's one glaring issue. You've seen what the English have done to a "neutral" Swede; what on earth would happen to a German?
The point about Hitzfeld's Germanness being an issue is somewhat moot. Eriksson was lauded for his work in the first year, got in trouble for the Ulrika thing, and after the WC it went somewhat downhill. But has this uniquely happened because he's Swedish? No. For references on the media's handling of England managers, a quick look into the files labelled "Taylor, Graham" and "Robson, Robert" might refresh the mind on the fact that, well, the press generally give England managers a hard time anyway. It sadly is part of the job. Hitzfeld's Germanness won't help, for sure (see what I just did?), but he'll be criticised for everything else anyway, so it's hardly too great an extra hindrance. Englishmen (including the tabloids' favourite manager Terry Venables) have been criticised in the past, a Swede has been this time around, and any other nationality will be too.
None of the "potential candidates" articles springing up seem to mention Big Phil Scolari. The man has 1. expressed an interest in the job, 2. won the last world cup, 3. reached the last european championship final, and in the process 4. dumped England out of both those competitions.
Scolari would be an interesting appointment, but on Five Live last night Tim Vickery opined that Scolari would be too controversial because of the things he says. Such as, for example, saying that his teams need to commit more petty fouls to break up opponents' play. That wouldn't go down well with Quite A Lot Of Fans. (If anyone can fill me in as to whether he speaks English too I'd be grateful, as this is something of a requirement for the English national coach.)
For what it's worth, here's the people in order who I'd like to see get the job. Some might be untenable (as Tim mentions, O'Neill being an Irish Catholic might be an issue, however this is England, not Britain, and he never objected to working in England before…) and some might declare themselves unavailable, but let's have a go anyway.
• Ottmar Hitzfeld - one of the top few club managers in terms of success and experience over the last decade.
• Guus Hiddink - international experience with South Korea and Australia, knows the pressure of the big time after working at Real Madrid.
• Martin O'Neill - brilliant manager and motivator.
• Sam Allardyce - wouldn't be so harshly criticised if he was a more refined continental manager as opposed to a big bloke from Dudley. A credible candidate.
• Martin Jol - knows the English game, is honest, doesn't criticise referees.
• Luis Felipe Scolari - good manager, excellent record, but as I don't think he speaks English I can't place him any higher for now.
• Graeme Souness
And here's a googly to make a few people think - the ideal situation would be an Englishman with experience of the continental game. Why not bring Roy Hodgson into the fold in some way, if not only as a Bobby Robson-like wall for someone like Stuart Pearce?
After a bit of a hiatus, I've finally come up with an idea for an entry - a Match of the Day style Goal of the Month competition. With a few disclaimers:
• They aren't all from last month.
• They aren't real goals, they're from Pro Evolution Soccer 5.
• They're all mine, so have a relatively small field to pick from.
Nevertheless, it could be fun, so without further ado, here come the selections. All are me playing as either Barcelona or Brazil:
Videos require Quicktime 7 - had to use this codec to compress videos to be small in size but good quality enough to still see the ball.
Goal 1 - Maxi Lopez, Barcelona vs Argentina.
Goal 2 - Xavi, Barcelona vs Juventus.
Goal 3 - Van Bommel, Barcelona vs Juventus.
Goal 4 - Messi, Barcelona vs Internazionale.
Goal 5 - Puyol, Barcelona vs Internazionale.
Cast your votes as comments please.
In recent weeks, I've decided that Juninho Pernambucano of Lyon and Brazil is the best footballer in the world, and certainly the best free-kick taker. If you don't believe me on the latter point, have a look at this video. It's a bit good.
Click pic to see. Requires Windows Media Player, sadly.
It's worth it if only to see the following reaction from a goalkeeper who has saved a Juninho penalty, only to see his defence stand there like lemons and let him score from the rebound.
Mike's intrepid tour of the North West showed no abatement last night, as a trip to Manchester took him to Old Trafford to wach Manchester United play West Bromwich Albion.
While the temptation to travel to Manchester to watch West Brom play wasn't overwhelming, the desire to actually go to Old Trafford and watch a match was the overriding factor which won the day. Last night was also the first home game after the death of George Best (which I'll get on to later) which was also a game which would go down in the memory for a long while.
Every spectator was issued with an A2 poster of George Best to hold up during the minutes' silence, and the effect was quite impressive. Though the ground was some 20,000 under capacity (48,000 instead of around 68,000) it worked very well, and certainly the noise in the stadium did not suggest anything other than a full house.
As play degenerated in the second half - United were dominant - a twenty minute rendition of a song which almost made me cry (it was Bad Bad, not Good Bad) continued incessantly. It consisted of:
"Number one is Georgie Best,
Number two is Georgie Best,
Number three is Georgie Best,
Number four is Georgie Best,
Number five is Georgie Best,
Number six is Georgie Best,
Number seven is Bryan Robson,
Number eight is Georgie Best,
Number nine is Georgie Best,
Number ten is Georgie Best,
Number eleven is Georgie Best,
Number twelve is Georgie Best
We all live in a Georgie Best world…" ad nauseam.
I had several issues with this song:
• Why is an entire United team full of George Bests (goalkeeper included) considered a positive thing?
• Why does Bryan Robson earn the number seven shirt over George Best, who wore that number for years? And why Robson and not even Eric Cantona, or David Beckham?
• Why does the team have twelve players?
• Did anyone else not realise that it was hideous?
Equally, there was another bizarre song about Eric Cantona which seemed to consist of counting up to four, shouting a lot, and then counting again. If it's the aim of Manchester United to improve young fans' numeracy, it's worked a treat. If it's just a case of pathetic fans, then a plain and simple "oh dear" suffices.
Anyway, this aside it was an enjoyable evening, and I'm glad I went. The tally of grounds I've seen professional football at has increased to eight (Old Trafford, Villa Park, Molineux, Elland Road, Wembley, Parc des Princes, Stade de France, Grimponprez-Jooris).
After the break, have some more pictures.
Continue reading "Manchester United vs West Bromwich Albion" »
Eric Djemba-Djemba is a footballer. Despite being from Cameroon, he plays for Aston Villa.
As requested by Lewis.
I have previously gone on record with my opinion of Sven-Göran Eriksson and do still believe that England would be better served by his resignation. However, this time round, it looks like I'm in 100% agreement with him.
Around this time yesterday, it had been unofficially confirmed that Saturday's match between England and Austria would see a central defensive partnership of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand. I had issues with this. I do not like, and never have liked Rio Ferdinand. My impressions of him as a man are incredibly negative, his inability to accept blame for his idiocy in missing that drugs test was unbelievably arrogant, his contractual arguments with Manchester United over the summer were disgraceful, and what's more he thinks he's a lot better than he really is. Even worse, he also speaks out of only one side of his mouth, which Really Really Annoys Me. Anyway, football.
Despite my dislike of him, I would not disagree with anyone who suggests that, when on form, Rio Ferdinand is an asset to both England and Manchester United. He is a classy ball playing defender who can be relied upon to keep things organised at the back. In recent weeks however, Ferdinand has - by his own admission - been out of form. When Sir Alex Ferguson goes on record as criticising his own defence, you can be sure that Ferdinand had this spelt out to him in no uncertain terms. As the season goes on, Ferdinand will surely improve, but for now, he's a shadow of the player people know he can be. So the very idea of choosing him ahead of Sol Campbell was mystifying.
It would now appear that Eriksson has done a complete u-turn, and has told the entire squad that it will be a partnership of Campbell and Terry that is to start against Austria. It's what England need, and might even be a further kick up the backside to bring Ferdinand back to his best form. It was the World Cup in 2002 which earned Rio Ferdinand his move to Manchester United, and for him to merely be a substitute in Germany in nine months time would cap a miserable two years for him.
Whatever happens, and regardless of form, for England to have four undisputed top drawer centre backs (Terry, Carragher, Campbell and Ferdinand) as well as one who could and should join that rank (Woodgate) can only be good for the game. If only the same could be said about full backs and left sided midfielders…
The Premier League have today announced their intention to probe the slump in attendances at Premiership matches so far this season. Instead of waiting until October for the final report, I'd like to do their job for them. The writing has been so clearly on the wall for well over 18 months that I, an absolute nobody in terms of football administration, have penned published articles over this period warning of this very problem (cf.British Institute Newsletters 2003-5 ad infinitum and this blog entry from last month.
The issue for the Premier League is now complex, as their report will require extreme neutrality. Equally, they have their own interests at heart, and therefore many of the pertinent points will be missed, such as:
• Chelsea's monopolisation of the transfer market.
• The overpriced tickets.
• The ridiculous (over)hype football has received since the advent of the Premiership.
• The moribund 4-5-1 formation employed by so many teams.
• The voodoo economics employed by many teams with the money brought in by the Sky Sports television deal (cf. Leeds United, Bradford City).
• Fans actually realising that paying £25+ every other week for 90 minutes of football - and for pretty much every club in the Premiership, chances of them actually winning anything are minimal - is just no longer worth their time, money, and effort.
• A lack of meaningful action at 1500 on most Saturdays makes scheduling Real Life increasingly tricky.
The lack of these almost makes any such report utterly useless, as politics will - once again - get in the way of the restructuring that English football desperately needs. With the EU aiming to break Sky's stranglehold on the complete rights to televise live Premiership football, it is already clear that the next deal for Premiership rights is going to be significantly less than the current one. This leaves clubs with a quandary - invest now and hope to reap the rewards and become a viable match for Chelsea (or Championship rival to Leeds United), or stand still, stagnate, and remain financially viable. Doesn't sound like much fun to me.
There was a letter in the new look Guardian last week which I think summed up football's problems very succinctly. (I am unable to find the letter in the Guardian archive, so excuse my potentially false recollection of the exact words):
Last week I paid for renewals of both my annual golf club membership and my season ticket at my local Football League club. For the first time, the football was more expensive than the golf.
How times change.
Indeed so.
Since Sven-Göran Eriksson was appointed to the post of England manager in 2001, I've been in support. A good manager, very calm and considered, and exactly what the team needed after the débacle of the Keegan regime.
There have been disappointments - notably Brazil 2002 - and poor performances - Macedonia, Wales and Denmark spring to mind - but in general he's not done too much wrong. Last night, this changed.
Losing to Northern Ireland is simply not acceptable. Due to Northern Ireland's odd status as a quasi-Irish quasi-British province, it doesn't grate as much as losing to Wales or Scotland would from the point of view of national pride, but from a pure sporting point of view it's unforgivable.
Northern Ireland are a team who until Saturday hadn't won an international in Belfast since 2001. Their manager Lawrie Sanchez even admitted that they played poorly in ending this record against Azerbaijan. Listed at 116th in the world rankings, they are sandwiched between the mighty El Salvador and Azerbaijan, and are only just ahead of the footballing hotbeds of St Lucia, Hong Kong, and Barbados.
Eriksson must resign.
Congratulations to Northern Ireland. Perhaps the only positive to come out of last night's result is that the wretched Welsh team are occupying the position they deserve in the table - bottom.
I was really disappointed for Everton last night as they were knocked out of the qualifying round of the Champions League, leaving them with the runners up prize of a place in the UEFA Cup. Having lost the first leg 2-1 in Liverpool, Everton needed a good performance to make it through.
Most of the game was very similar to the first leg, with Everton working very hard but without the cutting edge to create real chances, and Villarreal showing a lot of flair, creating many more chances. A first half goal to extend the aggregate lead left Everton needing two goals without reply to force extra time. They duly got the first through a Mikel Arteta free kick, and Duncan Ferguson put the ball in the net from a corner in the last five minutes. Controversially, referee Pierluigi Collina disallowed it, apparently for a foul by Marcus Bent in the box. Replays have shown this decision to be dubious at best, and most observers would surely admit the decision was incredibly harsh, as it appears that Bent's marker, Juan Pablo Sorin, was doing the bulk of the pushing.
It must be incredibly frustrating for Everton to have made such progress to get to this stage last season, then lose on such a controversial decision. It is surely time for football to embrace technology in order to avoid such things happening again. How, I'm not 100% sure, but this decision potentially cost Everton - the team in the ascendancy at the time - up to £10 million. That's a lot of money.
I also feel that Everton have every right to feel disappointed at the draw. I've genuinely never understood seeding systems. I always thought the point of a tournament was to find the best competitor - in which case, other than keeping the best teams for the telly at later stages, why do it? England's third placed team Manchester United had a high seeding and got an easy draw against the Hungarian champions Debrecen. England's fourth placed team were not seeded, and got probably the hardest draw of the lot against Spain's third placed team. Why do people think it makes sense to help the better teams? Manchester United are a great club, who have had huge success both domestically and on a European level in their history - why do they need to be granted an easy draw?
If my team - Aston Villa - scraped into fourth place this season, we'd be unseeded too, and could end up drawing a team like Villarreal, Internazionale, or even Rangers or Celtic. Compared to any seeded team who might have to face the might of the champions of Lithuania, Bulgaria, or maybe even Romania.
If people want the big guns to win every competition, just don't let smaller clubs in. It would at least be more honest than allowing lots of people in, then making it twice as hard as it is for the big guns.
It's that time of year again. Premiership football is almost back, and as seems somewhat traditional, I thought I should at least put a small amount of effort into doing a season preview. Unfortunately it doesn't make happy reading.
For the past two seasons, I have argued that the Premiership as a competition is in serious danger of losing the interest of the casual fan. With the average ticket price at Premiership grounds well over £25, you'd have to think that fans are forking out for some of the best entertainment around. The problem is that outside of the top clubs, most of the league has almost no chance of winning anything of note.
Only the delusional would claim that any team other than Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester United will win the Premiership this season (indeed, some would claim a choice other than Chelsea is lunacy) and more than likely there will be a large gap between these three and the rest. The battle of the mid-table has become the focus for most of the leagues fans, as established clubs like Liverpool, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Manchester City, Everton and Tottenham look to gain the chance of qualifying for the Champions League.
Last season saw Chelsea win the league by well over ten points, with fourth placed Everton mathematically closer to relegation than to the championship. The top four positions were cemented by the final day, and the only glimmers of excitement came from the UEFA Cup decider between Manchester City and Middlesbrough, and the (frankly remarkable) relegation battle which saw the worst team I've ever seen, Southampton, finally return to the level they deserve to be at.
The problem with all of this is that apart from a few clubs such as Wigan, West Brom and Sunderland - for whom survival would mean a brilliant season - there is very little to aspire to. Without motivation, the packed stadia we're used to seeing are soon going to disappear. For years at Villa Park, we have seen attendances a full 15,000 below the 45,000 capacity at smaller games, because a sizeable number of the hardcore fans feel that the club has stagnated under the chairmanship of Doug Ellis. They argue that buying a season ticket would be idiocy when they feel that the club cannot progress under his leadership. It worries me that once the penny drops that once fans of great clubs like Everton, Manchester City and Newcastle realise that they have no chance of winning the title again in the next 20 years or more, faith will be lost, ticket sales will go down, and the gap between the haves and the have nots will grow even larger.
It seems inevitable to me that unless every Premiership club is bought by a billionaire and run as a plaything, this situation is going to remain largely unchanged for the next generation. And it saddens me.
I'm trying to get excited about the new season, I really am, but it's just not gripping me like it used to. It's almost certain that Villa will finish in a mediocre mid-table position, without too much threat of qualifying for Europe, nor too much fear of relegation.
Chelsea will win the title again, Arsenal a closer second, Manyoo third but a shadow of their former selves. An improved Spurs will be serious challengers for fourth spot, and Everton will face a season of bottom half travails after last season's successful league position. Sunderland will go straight back down, with two of Wigan, Fulham, West Ham and Portsmouth joining them. Souness will last the season, but I predict the Glazers will force Ferguson out.
For what it's worth, here's what I predicted for last season on 12 July 2004:
Chelsea will not figure in the top two this season, the battle for the top will be between Arsenal and Manyoo, with Liverpool threatening to interfere but failing come about April. Those four teams will complete the top four, however.
Almost entirely wrong.
This season will see the end for Robson at Newcastle, as he fails to take them to the UEFA Cup spot they consider a minimum. The teams to battle for that spot will be Aston Villa, Middlesbrough and Tottenham, the latter two will be much improved over last season and will pull a few surprises through the season.
Not bad, though I didn't think Robson would go as early as he did.
Relegation will be between West Brom, Norwich, Palace and Manchester City, who will see Keegan leave at some point in the next year.
A little pessimistic for Citeh, but as Flavell and Andrew will attest, I did say that Southampton would go down before the game on the first day of last season based on their pre-season purchases.
Anyone who has paid any attention to football this week will know that Celtic have had an appalling start to their season. Nine goals conceded in two games has seen them almost certainly knocked out of Europe and dropping two points today against Motherwell. Their new boss Gordon Strachan is already under pressure from many quarters to resign.
This is irrelevant though, as Gordon Strachan is a genius. Maybe not at management - the jury is very much out on him still - but when it comes to talking to the media, Strachan is one of the funniest people out there at it. The Torygraph have published a few of his best ones today, which I feel compelled to pass on to you all now.
Reporter: "So Gordon, in what areas do you think Middlesbrough were better than you today?"
Strachan: "What areas? Maybe that big green one out there."
Reporter: "Gordon, you must be delighted with that result."
Strachan: "You're spot on. You can read me like a book."
Reporter: "Do you think you're the right man to turn things around here at Southampton?"
Strachan: "No. I was asked if I thought I was the right man for the job and I said 'No, I think they should have got George Graham because I'm useless.'"
Reporter: "Gordon, can we have a quick word please?"
Strachan: "Velocity."
I hope that he sticks around football for a long time, because we need to hear more of those works of genius in the future.
How the BBC reported the move.
It's such a shame. For the past two seasons, Shaun Wright-Phillips has been one of the most exciting players in the Premiership. At times, SWP carried a mediocre Manchester City team almost single-handedly, and was set up to become one of the country's best players for years to come.
Inevitably, the 'big clubs' coveted such a player, and at some point he was surely going to move on. City needed the cash (£60m+ in debt, don't own their own stadium) and the player is attracted to the prospect of more money, European football, and realistic chances of winning trophies. So he goes to Chelsea.
Chelsea, the great cultivator of players, who have bought brilliant players such as Crespo, Veron, Geremi and Parker in the last two years, and wasted them. Parker takes almost exactly the same role as SWP, that of a frighteningly good prospect who wanted to further his career. Problem was, he never played.
Next season, Chelsea are going to have a ridiculously strong midfield to choose from. Pick any four from Lampard, Robben, Cole, Makelele, Wright-Phillips, Tiago, Duff, Geremi, Jarosik, and seemingly also Essien. I fail to see where they're going to fit Essien in, let alone Wright-Phillips.
For England's sake in the upcoming World Cup - surely our most realistic chance of winning it since 1998, and the last World Cup in Europe until at least 2014 - I hope SWP gets enough games to prove that he is worthy to dethrone Beckham of his right midfield spot. I'd put a small amount of money though on his getting no more than twenty league games next season, minimal involvement in the Champions League, and his leaving Chelsea for a smaller 'big club' - an Everton, Villa, or Newcastle - within eighteen months.
When the alternative was to join Arsène Wenger at Arsenal, whose squad has evolved during his tenure, and would surely have made SWP one of the team's key players, this could go down as one of the Worst Moves Ever. On va voir.
Well it's official - the 2012 Olympic Games will be held in London.
It goes without saying that I was delighted with this decision, and to have the games in England will be fantastic. For me, it underlines one of the key things that a lot of people don't like to admit - that London is one of the biggest assets this country has, and its prestige and respected nature is frequently untapped.
For some unknown reason, of the three previous UK Olympics bids had been to host the summer games, two were for Manchester, and one for Birmingham. Unsurprisingly, these cities weren't attractive to the global membership of the IOC. But once we got a good team and our biggest city asset together, we get the games. There is a lesson to be learnt here.
Looking back at the voting patterns in today's election, it's actually quite interesting to see the way it panned out. The first round of voting is always a bit of a game of poker, as the IOC are keen to avoid any one bid being shamed by getting a horrifically low number of votes. This time round, the weakest bid was Moscow, and it's thought that there was pressure on a few supporters of London and Paris to give their first round vote to Moscow. After this though, it's a bit strange the way it transpired:
First round
London 22
Paris 21
Madrid 20
New York 19
Moscow 15
Second round
Madrid 32 +12
London 27 +5
Paris 25 +4
New York 16 -3
That's right, New York actually lost votes between the first and second round. Were there sympathy votes for New York in the first round too? It also appears that a huge chunk of the Moscow votes were from Madrid supporters.
Third round
London 39 +12
Paris 33 +8
Madrid 31 -1
As expected, the bulk of New York's voters transferred to London, and the newly eligible US IOC members seemingly voted London too. What's that about two nations divided by a common language?
What's interesting though is the loss of a vote for Madrid. Why change your mind between rounds two and three?
Fourth round
London 54 +16
Paris 50 +17
Surprisingly, Madrid's voters were split - it had been widely predicted that they would favour Paris. Reports of a deal between the London and Madrid teams to favour each other if they should go out early in an attempt to beat Paris are seemingly true.
For what it's worth, I was surprised but relieved for two reasons - firstly, of course, that London won, but secondly that Paris didn't. That might sound bizarre, but here's my reasoning. Paris' bid was technically excellent - it has the infrastructure, it has the glamour, and it has the will. However what their bid lacked was substance. Their final pitch consisted of a 45 minute film by Luc Besson which sold the traditional story of Paris: magnificent architecture, stylistic excellence, and the French joie de vivre. This of course is fine. But look at the smaller details of the bid.
Most of Paris' events were to be held in the northern parts and suburbs of the city, which are among the most deprived areas in the country. This is very similar to the London bid. However, London's plans are to regenerate the area. Build infrastructure for the area. Give these people something to aspire to. Paris plans proposed minimal regeneration. Its entire bid - much like the city itself - relied on past glories and delusions of grandeur rather than facing up to its shortcomings and doing something about them.
Had they done this, Paris would have been a worthy winner, and I would congratulate them heartliy on their victory.
As it stands though, Paris lost, London beat them - could it be much better?
Maria Sharapova - a dream for marketing people all over the world.
Earlier this week, a minor brouhaha erupted between UEFA bigwig Lennart Johansson and the world of women's football, as he said the following to Radio Five Live:
"If you see a girl playing on the ground they're sweaty and they rainy weather they come out of the dressing room lovely looking… that would sell."
Now here, Mr Johansson does sound like a bit of a lecherous old fool. His precise choice of words is a little peculiar. However, the context in which he said it must be noted. Immediately before this sentence, he said the following:
"Turn to the sponsors, turn to the articles used by ladies, and not just have sponsors like adidas."
So, in a nutshell, what Mr Johansson is saying is:
• Women's football is different to men's football.
• Branding it the same way as the men's game will not attract new sponsors or spectators.
• Branding it as a more feminine/elegant/pure alternative is The Way Forward.
I don't see a problem with this. For a moment, let's compare it to another sport where sex differences aren't considered much of an issue - tennis. Traditionally, men's tennis is the more powerful game, much faster, and with longer games. Women's tennis though is slower, some would argue more technical, and more to do with strategy than brute force. 'Personalities' in the game are also treated differently. Let's compare two of the stars of the tennis world at the moment - Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick. Both are on adverts a lot at the moment, with Sharapova advertising deodorant, and Roddick American Express. This is not in any way sexist. Sharapova is an exceptional athlete, a superb player, and also incredibly elegant - some would call her a role model. For top women footballers to be able to get similar acclamation can only be a good thing for the game.
Listen to Johansson's interview and it's quite clear what he's talking about. (Real Player required).
It's summer, and I know that without football and before the Ashes, sports stories are scarce, but this is a total non-story.
Well Arsenal just won the FA Cup Final on penalties.
I congratulate them for possibly the most pyrrhic victory I've seen since today's opponents, Manchester United, won the European Cup against Bayern Munich in 1999. Conservative estimates suggest that United deserved to win today's match by about 43 goals: Arsenal only had one meaningful shot on goal.
I won't speak out against penalties, as both teams knew the format before the game. It's just a shame that United didn't have a little more of the luck virus during today's game, as Arsenal winning that trophy after that performance is nothing short of a scandal.
Sometimes it's clear that the best team on the day isn't always going to win.
Woo - an email I sent containing the jism* of this blog entry was read out on 6-0-6. :-)
NB: jist.
In a fit of boredom recently, I've decided on a great way to enhance the Football Manager 2005 experience. I am still very much enjoying my game with Rochdale, where I'm about to retain my League One status for the second season, but it's got a bit dry. So in comes the Zero Point Challenge.
As the title suggests, the aim of the game is to obtain zero points over the season. This is not all there is to it, though. In full, the challenge goes thusly:
• Begin a game with any club of your choice in Football Manager 2005, and play one full season.
• Your team must obtain zero league points all season.
• Your team must lose every cup tie and friendly.
• Your team must score no goals in any game, even uncompetitive ones.
• You must avoid the sack.
I have started my games with everyone's least favourite team, the MK Dons.
This is the formation my team are playing.
These are my results thus far this season.
My right sided midfielder, goalkeeper Scott Bevan, is having issues adapting to his new role (note average rating).
The Guardian published a story yesterday which was ostensibly a match report about their win over West Ham United at the weekend. What it did contain, however, was a few paragraphs that haven't been mentioned on the radio or the television at all, and are somewhat shocking.
According to a former Leeds executive, Chris Middleton, the Yorkshire-based consortium that owned the club for most of the past year was so desperate to reduce the club's wage bill that increasingly outlandish discussions took place about how to get rid of the most expensive players.
Middleton claims that he and Simon Morris, a former Leeds director and still a major shareholder, discussed spiking Michael Duberry's Parmesan cheese with drugs and arranging for Manchester United fans to break Gary Kelly's legs in a pub car park. Morris, denied the allegations and unsurprisingly called them "outrageous and unsubstantiated" and dubbed Middleton "a rogue former employer who has grievances." Middleton said the club tried to sack him but he resigned. No other Leeds directors are said to be involved in the plot.
It could well be that other media outlets are avoiding this story because of the potential of publishing libellous comments about the former Leeds board, though in my experience, this story looks legally watertight. Either way, it's without a doubt one of the most alarming - yet also fascinating - stories I've read this football season.
I'm not sure if I'm the only sane one left, but the coverage of the England vs Spain match in the aftermath of the racist noises has left a lot to be desired.
Firstly, and rightly, there's been criticism of the Spanish crowd and their manager Luis Aragones. No complaints.
There's been condemnation of Rooney's idiocy. No complaints.
There have been many people saying that England should have left the pitch in protest at the chants. Excuse me? What the hell are these people talking about? We're talking about a game which vilified Cantona for attacking a fan who verbally abused him, a game which vilified di Canio for pushing a referee over, a game which made a laughing stock of Ferdinand for forgetting a drugs test, and - more pertinently - a villain of Alpay for saying a few things to Beckham, whose 'saintly' behaviour in ignoring him was praised.
Whenever a player is sent off for reacting to some verbals, he's criticised by the press for acting like a child. Now they're suggesting the whole team act like children because of abuse from the crowd. If they'd walked off the pitch, they'd have been absolutely slaughtered.
It's thanks to the thick skinnedness of pioneers in the English game like Regis, Cunningham, Fashanu - the list goes on - that the reaction to such events disgusts us so much. To show that this affects us lets the racists win.
Why so few (if any) have questioned the appalling performance put on in Madrid is another question. The reaction to this is so hypocritical - especially from the tabloid press - it's beyond a joke.
Football Manager 2005 arrived today, with thanks to Play who somehow sold it to me for half of the RRP.
While it's a football management game with quite a few new features, the best feature for me is that the same CD contains both the PC and Mac versions. Legendary stuff. Many many thanks to SI Games. Here's to several sleepless nights.
England’s 2-0 win over Wales yesterday brought up a few points I didn’t see or hear discussed in any of the media outlets I consulted, so here’s a few of the points to make.
• Rooney needs to learn to pass. Against Fenerbahce last week, there was one situation where he had gone past the keeper, but was in a poor shooting position, with RVN in the box waiting for the pass for an almost certain goal. Rooney shot excellently but hit the post, so was forgiven. Yesterday in that position, with three England players in the box, he shot, had it saved, and his team mates were a tad narked. Against Wales, it didn’t really matter, but imagine if that had been in the knockout stages of a major competition. He’s young, he’s still learning, but passing is not an optional skill. All strikers need a certain level of selfishness, but this should only apply when there’s actually a viable goalscoring attempt, with no team mate in a drastically better position.
• Wales aren’t really very good. They’ve now not won in nine games, and that win against Italy aside, Mark Hughes has not been that great a Welsh national manager. They’ll do well to get anywhere near second place in the group.
• There shouldn’t have been a minutes silence for Kenneth Bigley. As sad as his death was, he took the risk of going to a warzone for potential capital gain. His death is no more or less tragic than that of anyone killed in the escalating chaos in Iraq. While the reception of it was shameful, it shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Note – I understand that this point would not be made publicly in respect for the family, so no blaming the media for this one.
And the World’s Most Overhyped team, France, proved beyond doubt last night that they’re, well, overhyped and overrated. Ireland should have won by at least two goals, and were unlucky not to. Here’s hoping their legend will end with failure to qualify for the next World Cup.
It looks like what I said about Real was more accurate than even I thought. Today their coach Jose Camacho resigned claiming he didn't have the confidence of the players - and this is after three league matches (and an admittedly appalling 0-3 loss away at Bayer Leverkusen).
Sid Lowe's column on this in the Guardian is as illuminating as usual. Definitely worth a read.
An interesting, but not entirely surprising piece from today's Guardian Football pages reveals the insane system in place at Real Madrid, one of the world's leading football clubs:
"Ever aware of the need to balance bad PR with good, Real Madrid yesterday announced that Jonathan Woodgate was close to a return to fitness.
The announcement, on the club's website after Real Madrid's 3-0 humiliation in Germany on Wednesday, said the £14m defender had undergone a scan on his torn left thigh which gave him the all-clear. It added that he would rejoin training with his team-mates "in the next few days".
This echoes the claims made when Woodgate signed from Newcastle, but Madrid sources have confirmed the player is further away from full fitness than yesterday's communique suggests and the club president Florentino Pérez would like.
When Woodgate was unveiled on August 21, Pérez insisted Madrid's latest Englishman would play within two or three weeks, but despite yesterday's announcement Woodgate will not appear against Espanyol tomorrow night - he will not even travel. Nor will he be available for the following three games.
It appears that Woodgate, who has not kicked a ball for almost five months, is likely to make his debut on October 2, at the earliest.
And club insiders have revealed that while Pérez is desperate for Woodgate to make his debut, medical staff insist the president's initial timescale was never realistic. They have also admitted fears about his long-term fitness.
The latest scan shows the immediate muscle tear itself has now healed but, having missed so many months, doctors have been working not only on the injury but also on Woodgate's muscle strength and elasticity, as well as his cardiovascular resistance.
Woodgate has suffered three muscle tears in the same area and instead of recovering fully, scar tissue has developed, leaving "pockets" in the muscle.
Woodgate passed a Madrid medical but, as one insider put it, that was a "Florentino Pérez medical" - the same test that Ronaldo flew through and Gabriel Milito, the man the president thought too expensive for a centre-back, mysteriously did not."
It's been well known ever since Mr Perez first became Real Madrid president that the signings the club made were more about the commercial side of the club than the footballing side. His collection of so called galacticos were bought as so-called 'presents' for his managers. While it's unlikely (m)any managers would complain at having his squad bolstered with players of the undoubted class of Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham and Owen, the loss of such players in recent years as Hierro, Karanka, Geremi, and - most notably - Makelele were ultimately not accounted for.
Take, for example, last season's sales and purchases. The major signing was, as we all know, England captain David Beckham. At the same time, they lost Hierro, Makelele, and decided to loan prolific striker Fernando Morientes to Monaco. Suddenly, their defence is porous, their midfield lacks spine, and an off-form Raül is being propped up by the magnificent Ronaldo and supersub Javier Portillo. Last season turned into an unmitigated disaster for Real, with no trophies, third place in La Liga behind fellow overhyped 'superclub' Barcelona, and humiliated in the Champions League quarter finals by a Morientes-led AS Monaco.
Perez's strategy for last season was a total failure, as has been shown up with the signing of defenders Walter Samuel and the aforementioned Woodgate, which, the above article aside, seem perfectly logical signings. He's also done a total U-turn with his striking strategy, which suddenly seems absurdly overstocked with Raül, Ronaldo, Morientes and Owen. It's happened before, but one could be forgiven for thinking that Perez has seen the error of his ways, and after re-election he has taken the true needs of the club to heart.
Then stories like this pop up. It's inconceivable that a club of the stature of Real Madrid sign a player with such grave doubts as to his long term fitness. Anyone remember Ruud van Nistelrooy's initial medical at Manchester United in the summer of 2000? Deal signed and sealed except for a medical, but there was a problem with van Nistelrooy's knee that was described by his (then) current club PSV Eindhoven as, if my memory serves me, 'miniscule'. The next day, he breaks down in training at PSV, and Manchester United saved themselves something in the region of £25 million, and bought him the next summer when he passed their stringent medical tests. What if, because of poor medical tests, Woodgate faced a similar fate?
This farce is not what a club like Real Madrid should be about. For as long as Perez is in control, it seems they won't attain it. For a club of their stature, this is both sad and undeserved, but for as long as he's at the club, I wish them as much misfortune as possible. The man's arrogance, self-centredness, and plain ignorance at the way things should be done deserves no further reward.
The question remains - why the hell did Real's members vote him in again this summer?
Graeme Souness has today become the new manager of Newcastle United, and will take over on Monday. I'm as bemused by this as I was by the events leading up to Bobby Robson's sacking.
Souness' management career has been somewhat mixed. A very successful spell at Rangers and a great start at Blackburn contrast wildly with a poor time at Liverpool and Torino, and mediocre spells at Galatasaray, Southampton, and Benfica. Why do Newcastle want Souness?
I can understand the desire to get a disciplinarian in, and Souness isn't the type to accept nonsense from anyone. In the short term, I consider this to be a good appointment. Long term though, it does seem a real backward step, especially considering the alternatives out there that would certainly have been interested - notably Gordon Strachan, Ottmar Hitzfeld, and Terry Venables. Whether the former two were considered is a matter for discussion, but Venables was certainly considered, as he confirmed over the weekend.
Fans of the club seem to have taken it poorly - a Newcastle poster on Villa Talk has said that people are selling their season tickets for a fraction of their true value - he bought a £469 ticket for £100, he claims - such is their dejection at this appointment.
In the long term, I cannot disagree. (Though not enough to force me to want to make a £369 loss…)
I've been somewhat bemused by the way things have been going at Newcastle United in the last few days. While rumours of serious disaccord in the dressing room had plagued the club for months, a series of increasingly bizarre events have confused many.
It started with manager Bobby Robson being informed of this being his final year in the job by a reporter from Sky Sports, severely undermining him on national television. Chairman Freddy Shepherd clearly didn't think it was necessary to inform his manager of this.
Shortly afterwards, star centre-back Jonathan Woodgate was sold to Real Madrid for £13m, seemingly with no replacement lined up. Approaches for Rangers' Jean-Alain Boumsong and Celtic's Bobo Balde were quickly rebuffed, with the Toon's current rearguard looking seriously short of personnel.
Which explains perfectly, of course, why Newcastle's main transfer target at the moment is none other than Everton's vice girl specialist and occasional goalscorer Wayne Rooney. While it's increasingly likely that Rooney will end up at Manchester United, were this deal to come off, Rooney would join four excellent strikers already there with Shearer, Bellamy, Kluivert and Ameobi.
And having gained two points from four games, scoring six but conceding nine in the process, the club today announced the departure (or sacking, depending on which way you read it) of Sir Bobby with immediate effect. A sad end for one of English football's most honourable men, his undermining in recent weeks by both his chairman and his players has been nothing short of scandalous.
Can anyone claim that Robson's sacking and his dropping of Alan Shearer in Saturday's 4-2 defeat to Aston Villa were purely coincidence? Whoever comes in (unless it's Shearer himself) to replace Robson will surely have to win over the Shearer influence to stand any chance of success.
Early names in the hat for his replacement include Alan Shearer, Steve Bruce, Martin O'Neill, David Moyes and David O'Leary.