Sports Rants
Sport is my passion. I’ve followed Man Utd since 1968, not because of the European Cup final but the first game I was taken to was at Old Trafford in ’68. Moving to Melbourne, Australia a friend of a friend got to me before I arrived and convinced me to follow Carlton Football Club for Aussie Rules, and what a disaster that has been and is going to be for the foreseeable future. I’m a Pommie here in Australia so I have lots to rant about sport.
So firstly a few links where I start my sports each day.
And now for the rants!
Man Utd win the Premiership, what next?, Man Utd 4 v Real Madrid 3, Clean up Football, Offside!, Newcastle United 2 v Man Utd 6, Venables claims he was sacked!, Venables Out, and a Good Week for Man Yoo, Sunderland, England Aren’t Scoring from Midfield, England v Australia Man United v Man City, Venables now Lies to Himself. What’s wrong with British Sport, Man United v Chelsea, Football Ruin.
Monday 5th May 2003
Again, this
United side is not a great side, as has been proven against Real Madrid, it’s
just that there’s not much around to challenge them.
They won, because
all their players came back from injury, giving them a strong squad.
Unsung
Neville Savours His Modest Success
They won because
Ruud Van Nistelrooy found his form after looking so dire after injury.
They won because
the defence was solid, with O’Shea and Silvestre looking great, and the
Nevilles, Ferdinand, Brown and Barthez being good enough.
They won because
they started getting their midfield scoring, by letting Giggs come off the wing
and rove, letting Beckham rove, letting Scholes move forward, so that they all
scored crucial goals. And Solskjaer has
been magnificent on the right wing, on the left, and in the centre.
And let’s not
forget for a few games how good Philip Neville and Veron were in midfield.
My concerns are,
that Ferdinand is not worth £30m and
the money could have been spent elsewhere.
Brown is not good enough to be a right back. If they get rid of Barthez they’d better find
someone better, and there’s no guarantee of that as we’ve seen for the last
15years. Veron isn’t cutting it and is a
waste of money, Keane only in the Charlton game on Saturday looked great again,
and was looking for a goal. I hope he
can play that way next season, instead of just as a fifth defender in front of
the back four. That was good enough in Nobby Stiles’s day but not
now. Beckham, who cares. Either he stays and does the good, but not
excellent, job he does. If he were so good he could play in central midfield,
but he can’t.
Finally, the
biggest weakness. If Van Nistelrooy is
injured or loses form, United are stuffed.
What they need is
another player who can hold the ball up with his back to goal. A great goalscorer
would be an added bonus. Forlan is
useless and just a bit player.
My hopes are for.
The route of
United’s success for the last decade has been in the squad and signing players
who don’t get injured or are lucky in not getting injured.
It’s the journey
men like Phil Neville who make the team, just as the Ray Kennedys
and John McGoverns, used to make the great teams of
the 70s and 80s.
Fergie is more a
hyena, a jackal than a lion. He lacks
grace, he lacks some tactical nous, but with all his
limitations he knows how to build a squad and somehow convince the squad
members to stay with the team. He’s
lucky that Giggs, Beckham, the Nevilles, Scholes, and Butt all came along at
the same time and have stuck together, and that Solskjaer has put up with being
a “supersub”
Some great
articles and analysis of United’s season.
Guardian
Unlimited Football | News | United savour taste of the sweetest success
And this one sums
it up best.
“This was not a season when
they ran away with it, like Michael Schumacher and the Ferraris. It was a
season in which Arsenal proved themselves not quite good enough: and who else
should knock them out of their pretensions? Ferguson kept his players from triumphalism, just as he kept them from a spiralling
depression after their defeat in the European Cup. This was a victory of the
hyena rather than the lion: a victory not so much of the top predator but of
the most brutal scavenger. It was victory by klepto-parasitism:
but the point is victory.”
Thursday 24th April 2003
United lost the
game in Spain.
It was always a
tall order to score 2 goals and not concede any.
There’s not too
much United could have done for any of the goals.
Sure, Ferdinand
and Barthez could have stopped Ronaldo, but it was a great striker’s goal.
I question that
if Ferdinand couldn’t stop Ronaldo then why pay the £30m for Ferdinand.
What does Ferdinand
give United that Brown, or Johnsen, or Berg wasn’t already giving them.
Admittedly the
United defence looks very solid and flexible this year but I wouldn’t put it
down to Ferdinand.
Why not have
another goodish centre back and buy another midfielder or forward for that
money.
Next,
Vernon. Of course I forgot United have
invested a lot of money in a midfielder.
In retrospect
they chose the wrong midfielder. He’s
done almost nothing for United.
If he’s not fit
to play then he’s not fit to play.
How pissed off
did Beckham look on the bench and when he came.
Mind you I don’t
know where I would have played Beckham had he played, because I preferred
playing Solskjaer.
What I liked
about United was how flexible they were at the back and front.
The started with
Brown on the right, O’Shea on the left, and when Brown was having a nightmare
they brought O’Shea over and moved Silvestre to the left.
Same up
front. Solskjaer was on the right
cutting in, Giggs was in the centre and then moved left.
Beckham was on
the right and moving inside, Van Nistelrooy was everywhere, and Veron was
nowhere.
They missed
Scholes this time round, because Butt and Keane just can’t get on to the edge
of the penalty area.
Not their fault because
they had to keep a close watch on the Real midfield who were brilliant again.
We were undone by
3 great opportunist goals and some great goalkeeping.
Almost but not
quite.
Now for the real
sport.
Check out Tommy
Smyth on ESPN.
Unfortunately
watching here in Australia, I have to listen to this shit from ESPN.
The American
commentator is shit.
He has a set of
“football phrases” that he sprays across the game, but they don’t always fit
what’s happening in the game.
But best of all
is that wanker Tommy Smyth who doesn’t know a thing about football.
Here’s a classic.
They have a call
in, called “The Onion Bag”.
And there’s Tommy
promoting it before and during the game. He’s already made the promotion
pre-game.
And to be a bit
controversial and knowledgeable, he states that Ronaldo is overweight, unfit,
and not properly used by Real.
And what does
Ronaldo do? He scores a hat-trick. Up yours Tommy.
Then during the
game we have Tommy wondering what Fergie is up to no playing 4-4-2, and then
when Fergie later plays 4-4-2 he says he can’t understand what Fergie is
playing at. We also have Tommy questioning the choice of back four when
everyone who follows United, knows that that was back four United were always
going to play for this game.
The guy is
terrible, but what they do is make him look good by publicising some emails
from around the world, by people who don’t really follow the game.
What the ESPN
team didn’t really pick up on, was the flexibility of play from United, the
number of chances they had and the Real goalkeeper keeping them in the game,
and three great opportunist goals from Ronaldo which United couldn’t do much
about.
Other classics
we’ve had from Tommy, is O’Shea having one of the greatest left foots in Irish
football ever.
Just one thing Tommy,
O’Shea is right footed. That doesn’t say
much about Irish football, does it Tommy?
Other classics
include wondering why Solskjaer is playing on the right wing.
Well Tommy, it’s
so that he can cut inside and set up goals for Van Nistelrooy, and score a few
himself.
Oh, so Tommy you
think Solskjaer should play up front with Van Nistelrooy in a classic
4-4-2. I tend to agree, but you need to
do something a bit different at this level of football, Tommy.
In fact listening
to Tommy’s stupidity and lack of knowledge, shows how good United have been for
the last few weeks, and how they’re almost playing total football now.
Giggs isn’t just
playing on his left foot on the left wing.
Solskjaer has been very good and been both on the right wing and in the
area. Scholes has put himself in the
thick of it. O’Shea can play anywhere,
and so can Silvestre. The only problem
is Keane and Veron, which puts too much on Butt. It’s Keane and Veron who aren’t showing the
flexibility that the rest of team are.
And it’s here in midfield that Real Madrid have been so brilliant over
the two games.
Mind you United
have scored the goals they needed to win it, but they conceded 2 goals too
many.
Saturday 19th April 2003
It’s time to
clean up football.
I’m sick of the
play acting and diving.
I’m sick of the
deliberate, cynical and dangerous fouls.
I’m sick of shirt
pulling.
I’m sick of
mangers only seeing the good in their team and evil in other teams.
Let’s start with
the easy one.
Shirt
pulling. Shirt pulling should be an
immediate booking offence, and if it impedes a goal being scored then it’s a
sending off offence.
There’s not such
thing as accidental shirt pulling. It’s
a wilful act that’s the easiest to spot.
Next. Fergie and Man Utd. If Fergie wants to be remembered as a great
manager and remembered with fond affection then he’d better clean up his act.
He lacks grace,
and at this stage, he’s not likely to gain it.
He has one final chance to clean up Man Utd and lead by example. Stop the diving of his team, stop the
deliberate fouls, and then let other teams follow his example. What’s he got to lose? He’s won all the
trophies he can, so to be remembered as the manager who cleaned the game up
would really be something.
And this can be
taken a stage further by showing a bit more objectivity when things go for or
against another team.
Things like, “We
were lucky” “Our goal was offside.” “We
shouldn’t have done that.”
We will have
forgotten Fergie in 5 years time. We’ll miss the success but he will not be
remembered with fond affection.
Tommy Docherty
will be more fondly remembered than Fergie!
Why is it that
most other top sports use technology, but not football.
All controversial
acts going on the pitch should be scrutinised.
And if linesmen can’t
call offisides properly or see off the ball incidents or help the referee
better then it’s time for the reply, or more officials on the pitch.
And finally, I
think the wrong fouls are penalised.
Retaliation should be downgraded as an offence. If someone puts an elbow in your face, you
should be entitled to kick the living shit out of perpetrator, if the referee
isn’t going to protect you. The same
with foul language and abuse. Who gives
a fuck about players using foul and abusive language, compared with dangerous
fouls.
The biggest
problem is diving, and intent from a player committing the foul and the player
falling down.
I don’t know what
the answer is, but we can do better than this.
BBC SPORT | WORLD CUP | Brazil v Turkey |
Rivaldo fined by Fifa
And how can a
manger defend it?
BBC SPORT | WORLD CUP | Brazil v Turkey |
Scolari defends Rivaldo
We the spectator
and TV pundit are beginning to lose our patience and interest in the game.
It’s not that we
want to see “bigger” games. I’m just as
happy watching Man Utd v Southampton, as Man Utd v Bayern Munich.
What we want is
less bullshit and more honesty.
Thursday 17th April 2003
I’m fuming!
Ok, so mistakes
are made, and they balance up, but the offside by Henry for the second Arsenal
goal was a disgrace.
It’s standard
park football.
The defenders
push up forcing the forwards to move with them.
Any attempt by
the other team to ping the ball in, is offside.
Henry stepped
onside after the ball was played, and he was coming from an offside position in
case there was any doubt.
How difficult is
it for a linesman (and let’s be clear they are linesmen and not assistant
referees or referee’s assistants) to see that a forward is offside? I’m really mad at that one.
And of course if
the line of vision is too wide between the forward and his team-mate deep in
the other half kicking the ball, then it’s about time they changed the offside
law, and admitted that linesmen can’t see both events at the same time so it’s
a game of pure luck.
How can defenders
defend with skill if fuckwit linesmen can’t run a line properly?
This is a
spectator sport, attempting to be decided on skill not luck.
Which brings us
to Campbell’s sending off.
From the
linesman’s view it did look like a heavy elbow.
From the front it
looked like Campbell had stuck his arm out and accidentally caught Solskjaer.
Who knows if
Solskjaer was playing up.
The point is that
players who stick their arms out and back, and players who hold on to shirts
are committing offences that are immediately at least bookable, especially
shirt pulling which should be an automatic booking because there’s no doubt
about the intent. Campbell was probably
a bit unlucky and should have received a booking or at worst a one game ban.
I guess it was
the right result in the end. Arsenal
don’t look the complete side, but they have some very good and dangerous
players. United faded and looked tired
in the second half. They also don’t get
up on their man against top sides.
Neville was out of position when Cole came through, yet again, and
O’Shea is looking like the better player.
Good to see Giggs fired up. It’s
a tough one choosing between Beckham and Solskjaer. Solskjaer will lead to more
goals, but one thing is Beckham’s favour is he tracks back and will have made
Cole’s life more difficult, and Neville plays better when Beckham is
around. Butt and Keane are getting
stronger with every game now that they’re back from injury.
The Blackburn
game at home, and Arsenal’s away game at Middlesbrough are about even.
Blackburn are a
dangerous form side.
Blackburn home,
Real Madrid home, Spurs away, Charlton home, Everton away. Tricky.
Arsenal have, Middlesbrough
away, Bolton away, Leeds home, Southampton home, Sunderland away, and then the
F.A Cup final after the Premiership.
I think it’s
really going to twist and turn. Maybe
Arsenal will lose to Middlesbrough, and then I can see them winning all their
other games. United could well draw
quite a few of their games. It’s up to
United, how badly they want it, and how injury free they stay. Fergie is right. This will be their greatest Championship win.
Other than the first one and the Treble of course!
Saturday 12th April 2003
I hate Newcastle.
I hate Shearer.
My curse on
Newcastle is that Shearer becomes their manager ASAP.
Man United played
brilliantly, even before they conceded the first goal which was unstoppable.
Man Yoo looked
sharp. Excellent at the back with
Neville out and O’Shea in.
Giggs had more
flexibility playing in the centre, which means he can cut inside and shoot with
his left foot, from a right/central position.
Though Solskjaer
wasn’t crossing the ball as well as Beckham, he gave United more attacking
options, and really was the catalyst to winning.
He scored a
fantastic goal and created Scholes’s goal.
Shearer is a
dirty bastard. We’ve always hated
him. He elbowed Keane in the back of the
head, and his tackle on Silvestre was outrageous.
He’s a nothing
kind of guy with no opinion.
What I hate most
about Newcastle are their supporters who believe football owes them something,
and they think they know about the game, but have never seen a winning team
play, so how would they know.
At least Arsenal,
Liverpool, and even Everton have a pedigree of winning championships.
I’m pissed off
that United conceded a second goal, because they were equal on goal difference
with Arsenal, I think, and it was folly to send on Blanc as the third
substitute so early. Oh well. I’m so pleased we really stuffed Newcastle.
Is this the
future of Man United, Nevilleless, Beckhamless, Giggs playing a cameo role up
front, O’Shea and Brown as the future, Solskjaer giving us more scoring
options? For me the shopping list should
include, another forward who can hold the ball up. A forward with something a bit different, a
Sheringham or Di Canio type, right and left wingers who can cross the ball
instead of overhitting it, and also cut inside to score goals, and finally,
another hard midfielder and of course ideally a very skilful midfielder, the
kind of midfielder that Veron and Beckham clearly aren’t. I’d like to see Fergie experiment with a few
of the defenders moving into midfield.
I’d like to see O’Shea and Silvestre given a go alongside Butt. I do not want to see any midfielders,
including Keane, pushed back into the back line. It never works.
Sunday 23rd March 2003
So Terry Venables claims he didn’t
leave by mutual consent but was sacked.
Well when we’re
talking about the difference in millions of dollars/pounds, it’s hardly surprising
there’s now a difference of opinion.
Given Venables’s
track record with money, does that surprise anyone? Entirely predictable.
So we can work
out that either Ridsdale or Venables is lying.
Venables doesn’t
have a very good track record in these situations, but I’d have thought
Ridsdale sacked him.
But look at it
this way. Venables has a track record of
leaving clubs in trouble, and there always being a fight over money afterwards.
Ridsdale showed
no loyalty to O’Leary.
So it’s hardly
surprising that Leeds failed under Venables, the club sold too many players,
and now they’re going to fight over compensation.
And where does
appointing Peter Reid come into it? Hey,
why not go the whole hog and re-appoint Howard Wilkinson. I hear he’s available!
Peter Reid could
probably do a good job with some clubs, but not with Leeds in this situation.
I’d have stuck
with Venables until the end of the season, unless he was really pissing off all
the players.
When will
Chairmen learn that the route of success is consistently sticking with the same
manager.
They should have
stuck with O’Leary. It’s rare to find a
manger better than the one you currently have.
And of course if
you appoint a bad manager, you should resign as well as sacking the bad
manager!
United win 3-0
against Fulham and go top. Over to you
Arsenal!
Saturday 22nd March 2003
As predicted Venables has
left by “mutual consent”.
I wonder how much money that
means?
So was it Venables’s fault,
Ridsdale and the Leeds board who don’t know how to manage a club, or the
players.
And fancy appointing Peter
Reid for a relegation fight. I’m not
sure about that one.
I wonder how many football
clubs that are publicly owned, appoint managers to make the share price look good
after sacking a manager.
It seems to me that’s what,
Leeds keep doing, Newcastle, and Sunderland.
Sure Venables had a lot of
players pulled from under him, but you think the money he spent on Barmby could
have been used to save one of those players.
And he’d pissed off most of
the players he sold, before he sold them, and the ones he’s sold since, put
Leeds in the position they’re now in.
Venables is over-rated and
just when we were about to find that out, he leaves again, blaming lack of
finances yet again, and leaving yet another club in a near bankrupt state.
So Venables is out, Arsenal
are out, Newcastle are out, Liverpool are out, and United will go top if they
beat Fulham today.
Real Madrid in the quarter
final. I’m not too hopeful about that one,
because I think United will sit too far back when playing against Real Madrid,
and pay the price.
Miracles will need to happen
just as they did in 1999. When you think about it, if they make the final at
Old Trafford, the next two rounds are their semi-final and final, because I
doubt they’d lose the final at Old Trafford!!
Friday 14th March 2003
If you’re going to sack a
manager then make sure you appoint one better, otherwise don’t sack them.
That applies as much to Alec
Ferguson, David O’Leary/Terry Venables, as it does to Sunderland with Peter
Reid, Howard Wilkinson, and now Mick McCarthy.
By all accounts, most of the
emails I’ve read from Sunderland fans, they were glad to get rid of Peter Reid.
But does anyone think
appointing Howard Wilkinson was a good idea?
Well they won’t now.
And Mick McCarthy is even
worse.
Have a read of this.
Is he the motivator or
tactician that can keep them up?
No Way.
If Sunderland go down, does
Mick McCarthy have a track record of bringing teams back up?
No Way.
So why have Sunderland
appointed him?
They’re about to go the way
of Man City after they sacked Peter Reid.
Sunderland have gone wrong
when they believed they were anything other than a mid table Premiership team.
And sacking manager after
manager just ain’t going to cut it.
And unlike Norwich,
Leicester, Southampton, Coventry, and Ipswich, Sunderland don’t have a good
track record of appointing good managers.
It remains to be seen how
Leeds will do under Venables, but will they do any better than O’Leary
did? I doubt it.
And Man United should watch
out. I’ve lost a bit of patience with Ferguson,
I don’t like the man, I think he lacks grace, and he’s let the squad dwindle
whilst he thought and fought over retirement, but to get rid of him without a
better replacement would be very dangerous.
Good Luck Sunderland, enjoy
your stay in Div 1 (or 2), and you only have yourselves to blame.
Why are so many chairman and
boards of directors crap at running a football club?
Friday 14th Feb 2003
Following on from yesterday,
I realise the problem with England’s football.
They’re not scoring enough
goals form midfield.
It’s simple as that.
It would be even better if
the defenders were also scoring more from midfield.
Looking at the stats for
England from last few years from 1998.
England Players - Recent Squad Members
Beckham, 10 goals in over 50
appearances.
Not good enough.
And when did Scholes last
score?
The team is too reliant on
Michael Owen.
If his form dips or he’s
injured then we’re stuffed.
It’s all well and good having
Gerard or Lampard in, but how many goals are they going to score?
There’s a strong case for
Rooney going straight into the side just on his goals scored this season.
Who’s going to play alongside
Owen to score more goals?
Who’s going to play on the
left to score goals?
Campbell and Ferdinand need
to score more goals from set pieces.
Who do we have at full back
that can bag a few?
Mind you England have
conceded a lot of goals recently.
So the other way is to become
a boring no goals conceded type team!
If that’s what you want,
that’s what you’ll get.
Thursday 13th Feb 2003
England were a disgrace in
the first half, and Australia played well.
No creativity, closed down easily,
all credit to Australia.
Beattie looked terrible. Did nothing up front, and worse, when he
tracked back he was a liability.
He shouldn’t have been
marking Popovic.
One of the big defenders
should have taken that responsibility.
Also, as Man United find out
to their cost often with Zola, you can’t just zone mark a player like Kewell
who speeds across the defence in set pieces.
Owen was off form, Neville
was shit, Beckham did nothing as per usual, Lampard why?, Scholes didn’t have
enough room, David James why?, Dyer did nothing with pace so why have him
in. I’m not sure if Ferdinand made an
error or was fouled on the ball with Kewell.
That doesn’t leave much good does it?
What I like about Ericsson is
he studies and applies the psychology of the game and clearly thought that
playing as many West Ham players as possible, at Upton Park would work. It didn’t.
In the first half the England team didn’t look up for it. They weren’t fired up. Sometimes it also needs a player of great
skill to calm them down and then fire them up. We don’t have that player in the
team. I don’t even know what I would
change with the team.
I’d have Robinson in for
James.
I’m not sure that Mills would
be better than Neville, who has been playing well for United and linking up
with Beckham.
I certainly wouldn’t have
Lampard. And I hear that Gareth Barry is the form man in left midfield.
Why not give him a chance and
let him cover Ashley Cole when he overlaps.
Maybe Rooney is the
answer. He has a Gascoigne air about
him.
It’s the forwards I have a
problem with. I don’t know what to
suggest.
Many teams, including
Australia with Viduka, have poor forwards and get their goals from elsewhere.
England don’t currently have
many goals coming from their midfield, except Scholes occasionally.
That’s the weakness of having
Beckham. He doesn’t score many goals
from open play.
The England set pieces aren’t
worked well enough for Campbell and Ferdinand to score, the full backs aren’t
world class enough to score, and there’s no-one on the left with a left foot to
score. So who’s going to score the
goals?
The back five are good enough
as long as they work who’s marking who in set pieces.
Just pick any two forwards
and hope.
It’s the midfield that needs
sorting out with some goal scoring players, and more movement across the field
away from their set positions.
The only other way is to have
five at the back and world class full-backs who get forward, and when they do
they can actually cross the ball or cut inside.
When does Beckham ever cut
inside and take the ball through?
It’s a mess.
I saw Australia play France
and Uruguay twice, and they looked very average except for Kewell.
What it told me was just how
good France and Uruguay were.
England are currently miles off,
because they have no world class players in midfield or up front.
Beckham is over rated.
Sunday 9th Feb 2003
United are 1-0 up at half
time.
I must say I’m very impressed
with United’s flexibility.
I’ve not seen them play like this
for years.
Beckham is cutting inside and
sometimes playing central midfield.
Neville is overlapping into
Beckham’s usual position.
Giggs is playing left,
centre, deep and across on the right.
Scholes is coming from deep.
Silvestre and Keane are
raking passes.
And Van Nistelrooy is
slotting them in.
And Veron tracked back with
real pace.
Veron has lost the ball a few
times, but other than that I can’t fault United.
Excellent display so far.
And tactically astute. They really have got their act together and
give themselves lots of options.
A nightmare to mark and play
against.
Berkovic is having yet
another great game against United, and Anelka always looks like something might
happen.
Shit 1-1. United just didn’t do enough in the second
half to win it, and they started to run out of steam having played so well in
the first half.
I thought the second half was
even, and City nicked an equaliser.
Three players unmarked in the
United area.
Monday 3rd Feb 2003
I’m loving watching the
self-destruction of Leeds.
Where to start?
Angry Venables Considering Position
Well what a surprise.
Of course Terry, you wouldn’t
actually resign because you wouldn’t want to jeopardise your big pay-off.
You’ll do just enough to the
get the sack and take the big payout.
What did you really
expect? If Leeds and Ridsdale treated
O’Leary, a perfectly good manager the way they did then they’re not going to
treat you any better.
And as for Leeds. Appointing Venables? What did you really expect?
I’ll tell you. A manager who will find any excuse except
himself, for failure.
It’s the oldest management
trick in the book. “You didn’t give me
enough money to buy players.”
Look at Venables’ recent
track record. He’s a walking disaster,
bankrupting clubs in his wake.
It’s such fun to watch.
Leeds and Venables deserve
each other!
Monday 19th January 2003
At 16 my Dad died, the week he died I didn’t play for our first XI
team. Another player took my place, and
I never played for the first XI again, they effectively dropped me because my
Dad had died. They put this same
goalkeeper who replaced me, forward for
the U18 trial 18 months later, but I was told I could also have a trial. I was in London the previous day, so I drove
up overnight to make it for the trial. I
turned up. The same teacher (who was now
at another school) who selected me to play for the North of England at U15
level, and in all reality if we’d had another country to play, I would have
been the England U15 goalkeeper (they told me that when we played the South of
England and drew 3-3), now refused to let me have a trial because it was one
player per school. I think he made that
one up on seeing me turn up for the trial.
I tried to reason with him. At
least give me a trial. I was the U15
goalkeeper, and I made it from Cheshire into the North of England team (and he
knew I would have been the England goalkeeper because he was the one who told
me I had a good game at the time and he was one of the current England
goalkeepers). Just give me a chance to
prove myself. If I’m no good in the
trial then don’t pick me. No, one per
team. But I’ve just driven up from
London overnight for this trial. No, one
per team.
I left close to tears.
My heart was never in lacrosse again, and I gave it up when I left
school.
And I think my story is typical of British sport.
No coaching, amateurish, elitist, no encouragement, no fun, and no sense
of promoting team spirit.
No wonder the Americans and Aussies kick our butts at most sports,
because the lay the basis of success at the grass routes.
The Brits of course being elitist think the route of success is having schools
of excellence! Typical; and even more
elitist.
The root of success is in the grass roots!
Get the parents to show up for games and start it from there.
That’s the key difference between UK sport and Aussie/American sports.
The parents showing up.
And the more I think about this and look into that’s the key isn’t it.
The parents.
Behind most sporting greats are well known parents.
Not usually pushy parents but encouraging parents.
In all the sports I ever played the parents were nowhere to be seen.
In fact it was an embarrassment to have a parent there.
Lacrosse and tennis, I don’t think I hardly ever saw a parent there.
And I guess it’s the same with most British sports.
Exceptions might be Football and Rugby.
And guess what? Those might be the
sports that England are good at!
Think sportsperson. Think parent.
My observation of Aussie sports is that it’s not much different to the UK
except it’s an accepted part of sport here that parent take their kids to play
sport and stay to watch. I’ve not
observed that so much in UK sport. It’s
about grass roots and encouraging as many people as possible to play sport and
to do away with elitism that has plagued so much of British sport over the
centuries.
But of course the Brits think by setting up centres of excellence that
will make British sport great again.
No. It continues the elitism, and
squashes the individualism.
And it’s self perpetuating.
Until England has great football team again, it won’t encourage
generations of footballers to become great and believe they can do it.
The same with Tennis, Rugby, Cricket, Swimming.
Parent Power.
Sunday 18th January 2003
Last shot of the game in the
93rd minute and Forlan scores in the roof of the net. Sweet.
Chelsea looked the better
side in the first half.
They were very good and
United were lacking something.
That changed round in the
second half which was United’s
Solskjaer hit the post, and
the Chelsea goalie, Cudicini, pulled off two amazing
saves.
It could have gone either way
and was heading for a 1-1 draw, but the Man Yoo luck has come back.
I just don’t rate Forlan but
he’s produced crucial goals at the right time.
United’s defence has always
looked shaky against Chelsea.
I don’t know what it is but they
just never seem to be able to mark Zola who always is good at cutting across a
defence.
Gudjohnsen looked great. Fantastic passing, great pace, good
positioning, and dropping deep when he needed to.
I wouldn’t be surprised if
United tried to sign him. He looks like a United player.
All credit to Giggs who came
on in the second half and really gave it a go, looking like the player of old
with a bit of pace and trying to go past players.
I don’t think that United
have been that good for all these last 10 years, just that other teams that
challenge haven’t been consistent enough, and when they are they win the
Championship. United do what they keep
doing which is being good enough. If someone wants to come along and take the
Championship off them it’s there for the taking. It’s up to Arsenal to stay up there.
Beckham looked better than
I’ve seen him play for ages. Most of his
passes were finally finding their mark.
Chelsea could have scored the
winner. But they didn’t.
Joy.
Friday 17th January 2003
Am I missing something here?
You have income coming in.
And you have expenditure going out.
You may have a higher risk strategy which generates more income, but you make sure you can cover the risk if you fail.
BBC SPORT | Football | Teams | Fulham | Questions hanging over Fulham
How come some football chairmen don’t know how to run a football club?
It can’t be that difficult can it?
I know there’s the added threat of relegation and the bonus of promotion and European qualification that make a football business more extreme than a normal business. Lord knows why football clubs are on Stock Exchange, let alone why people would gamble in investing in them.
It makes me wonder about these chairman who come into football, if they know how to run a business or just got lucky.
The markets they were in that made them successful were infinite.
A football club is finite. There’s only so much income you can make.
Sure you can maximise it and become more successful but it’s still finite.
So what the hell is going on with Fulham?
If you spend so much money on a club, then surely you have the money to cover it?
What is it with all these ground selling and sharing schemes?
A club has to play at a ground, so the ground can’t be treated as a pure asset to be mortgaged off.
Maybe it’s the contracts of players that screw things up.
Surely though you just accept that managers don’t know how to manage finances and they’ll ask for what they can get and at some point you say no.
You look at what a player can do for a club at best, what if they don’t produce or get injured, and you assess and cover the risk.
So what were Fulham up to and what are they up to now.
What does Al-Fayed think he was getting into?
Best case scenario?
Worst case scenario?
If you put players on short term contracts and you’re successful then they’ll want to stay anyway.
If they only play for the money then you don’t want them at your club anyway.
Fulham at best are a mid table Premiership team with maybe a European qualification in them, so cut the cloth accordingly and if you gamble make sure you have the money to lose the gamble.
I don’t get it.
First Rant over.