United City

Truly a United City

2011-09-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

After 4 games, Manchester has two unbeaten teams at the top of England's top division. With a combined goal difference of +27. Re-read that sentence. Yes, that's right. A year is a long time in football, to paraphrase a wise man, but the difference in the way these two teams are playing is surely one of the most impressive things to be drawn to by these statistics.

Last season, despite winning the title, Manchester United won once away all year. They relied heavily on being hard to beat, and scored their usual amount of late goals with their usual "never know when they're beaten" style. City were even more entrenched in not losing, often getting criticised for negative tactics even at home.

This season, it's all changed. I was highly critical of Mancini's cautious style, and everyone hated the way in which United ruthlessly closed down game after game. Now, though, both sides are playing with an attacking fluidity off which even the best teams in Europe would be proud. The credit has to be given to the managers.

Sir Alex Ferguson looks to be well under way with building his 5th or 6th United side. The old guard have pretty much gone (Ryan Giggs being the sole reminder of years gone by). In their place are a very well selected group of young players, who could almost all be in United's first team for another ten years. The recruitment of Smalling, whilst initially baffling, has looked a masterstroke. We all liked the look of Phil Jones, but with his raw edges have already smoothed, he looks like the unflappable Rolls Royce of a defender Rio Ferdinand once was. Ashley Young, a slightly older recruit (a grandfatherly 26), looks like he's been playing with Wayne Rooney for several years, and is now making the most of his undoubted talent in a team which isn't afraid to give him the ball. Rooney himself is enjoying his football again - the smile is back, and the ball again appears glued to his feet. And the Little Pea has returned and is unsurprisingly right amongst the goals.

The best thing for United is however, that despite Paul Scholes retirement, their midfield still dominates anyone they've come across. They can play 4-4-2 with 2 wingers, and be utterly irresistible. Anderson is again showing he has all the talent to be a seriously good midfielder. And Tom Cleverley has made the most of his opportunity, probing and passing away in a Scholes-like fashion until a bad injury yesterday. The question will be who replaces him in the heart of the United Machine. I'm sure Ferguson has an inspiring idea. Or Michael Carrick.

City, on the other hand, had very little need for a rebuilding/replacement programme over the summer. Their recruitment policy had already meant the gears were in place, they just needed time to mesh together, and a little lubrication to free them up. Cue Kun Aguero, already looking like a bargain at £38million (him or the lumbering Andy Caroll for £35m?). Edin Dzeko has had time to settle into the system, and now looks the epitome of the modern leader of the line (Caroll take note). He looks fitter, has great control, links play, and is lethal in the box. He doesn't need to be quick, he has the speed of thought and foot around him of any one from the three of Silva, Nasri, Aguero or the somewhat sheepish Tevez. Watching City ruthlessly cut Spurs apart time and again, and follow it up with a dose of the same against Wigan was a joy for any believer in passing football.

City's strength is the way their players are comfortable with the shape of the team and their role in it. Their defence is solid, with Kompany and Lescott repelling all comers, covered by 2 defensive midfielders, the outstanding De Jong and the immense presence of Yaya Toure. The full backs are fast and powerful, providing width to stretch the opposition, allowing the room for the attacking 3 to move into, whilst a centre forward (Dzeko/Balotelli/Tevez) occupies the centre halves. It must surely have been a frustration for Mancini that he obviously had this plan in his head but didn't yet have the personnel he wanted to play this way.

As good as this all is for English football, my worry is that despite these two modern giants playing this way in the league, there will be an element of caginess creeping back into their games when they inevitably progress to the latter stages of the Champions League. Changing their game to counteract Barcelona has not benefitted United on the two recent occasions they have tried it. I would sincerely hope that whichever of these teams (or Chelsea) eventually face Barcelona, that they continue to play in their own way and let Guardiola worry about their style. Matching up with Barca only allows them to play the way they want. If they had to think about another team's system, and quality, it may make for a different game.

We need to realise that the strength of the English game is the pace and tempo, hopefully the Red and Blue halves of Manchester will demonstrate this to a triumphant conclusion this season.

Thriving Under No Pressure?

2011-09-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

It's that time again. In most major sports, every couple of years, there is some form of major International championships. 2011 is no different, this summer we have proudly sent our Rugby Union teams crusading off to New Zealand in the quest for the holy grail of the Rugby World Cup (RWC).

Although this time there does appear to be a difference. England are travelling, not as holders as they were 4 years ago, but with a somewhat lower weight of expectations. Of course we expect our boys to go over there and show those colonials a stiff upper lip and a resolute defence, but from the point of view of actually winning the tournament, this must be the least pressure these players have faced for several years.

We all know that whenever England sends a team off to a world championships with any expectation, in almost any other sport, it's practically a national characteristic that they'll stutter unconvincingly through the early phases, lurch into the quarter finals to renewed optimism before crashing out dramatically in a choice of one of half a dozen self-inflicted disasters.

This mainly comes from the football team's (still) amazing inability to match hype with talent every 2 summers. However, this has also recently reared its head in Athletics, with a much-hyped Team GB managing to spectacularly shoot itself in the foot, whilst still achieving the "goal" set for it in terms of medals (a paltry 8). The England cricket team pretty much epitomised the stumble and fail model in the recent ODI World Cup, despite a previous impressive, and unlikely, victory in the less vaunted Twenty20 World Cup.

The Rugby World Cup of 2011 has also got off to the same kind of start as England usually bless us with. A ship shod and indisciplined performance against a spirited Argentina had many supporters purely thankful for any win. A demolition of the two minnows in the group, Georgia and Romania, will not serve to mask the deficiencies of this team, but will set up a clash with Scotland to decide who avoids New Zealand in the next round. At the moment, this is as far as most England fans are bothering to look.

Which all perhaps points toward a lack of expectation which can benefit Martin Johnson's team. In 2007, as holders we were crushed by South Africa in the group stages and barely rated comment for the next 3 weeks before upsetting Australia and France only to lose heroically in the final.

It would seem that this inability to live up the intense media scrutiny and hype, causes pressure which your average Englishman doesn't appear to handle well at all. For us amateurs, think of those missed blacks at snooker or pool, those double faults at critical times on the tennis court, or speaking from personal experience, the complete inability to take a penalty kick (happily not just us amateurs). Even the serene Jonny Wilkinson appeared to get the yips at exactly the wrong time yesterday.

We can hope however, that this national trait can actually be beneficial this time; can England without expectation manage to achieve as much as they did in 2007? Surely the team may start to enjoy the freedom to be less predictable than we've seen so far? It must certainly mean that plan B, and perhaps plan C will be developed. Let's allow the flair players (we have a couple) to get their hands on the ball with no fear of failure. And if we lose spectacularly playing high-risk rugby against the likes of Australia or South Africa, let's at least say that's how we want to play and praise their efforts. I know we'd all rather go down in a blaze of glory.

New Year, New Money Worries

2010-01-08T07:41:00.000-08:00

As the Abba song goes, "Money Money Money, must be funny, in a Rich man's world". Football is certainly a tale of two extremes in early 2010. With Rich Man City now able to gamble with their wealth on Patrick Vieira at a reported £100,000 per week, contrast their financial fortunes with the "new skint" of Portsmouth, Cardiff and Notts County who haven't been able to pay their players, have been issued winding up orders and high court writs respectively. Certainly the desperation for success in football has led to some (retrospectively) poor choices being made by each of those three clubs.

Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing, but the alarm bells should certainly have rung loudly for Portsmouth fans with the Comical Ali of football owners, Dr Suleiman Al-Fahim regularly proclaiming that "funds will be in place soon". Methinks he doth protest too much. It does seem strange that the man who got the Abu Dhabi United Group involved with Manchester City was not retained by that new regime. His emergence at Portsmouth over the summer asked more questions than it answered; who was this unshaven, overweight guy dressed like a tramp, looking less like a wealthy Arabic investor and more like the chancer he obviously turned out to be. The board got rid of Al-Fahim, brokering yet another takeover, this time from Saudi Arabian Ali al-Faraj, who has also struggled to find the finance to pay the players, pay off the transfer fees owed to other clubs, and has been unable/unwilling to put the fans in the picture regarding his future financing plans. It does appear that Portsmouth are not so much knocking on the door of the administrators, as battering it down with the sort of oak previously only seen in the Marie Rose.

I wrote some months ago on the subject of Sven's Notts County revolution, and the somewhat mysterious nature of the consortium taking over at Meadow Lane. Little more than 4 months into the experiment, Munto Finance have withdrawn their backing and Notts have descended into chaos. Players weren't paid, rumours were rife that Eriksson would follow his manager Hans Backe out of the revolving door, and the expensively assembled squad looked like being broken up in a huge fire sale. The Chairman, Peter Trembling, who was the mouthpiece for the shadowy Munto operation, has suggested that he has some new investors lined up (a line that Portsmouth fans will be able to relate to), so it remains to be seen if Eriksson remains to see out the season. I would suggest there is little or no chance of that.

Cardiff's problems are much more mysterious, and as a result should really give even more cause for concern. Despite regularly selling off their best players (Ramsay, Chopra, Parry, Johnson to name but a few) netting more than £15m in income and having had a cup final appearance 2 years ago, they have today been issued another winding up order by the Inland Revenue over unpaid tax. The Cardiff Chairman, Peter Ridsdale, has previous for this situation having presided over the meltdown at Leeds which eventually led to two relegations, administration and the sale of their ground. It must be stressed that Cardiff were in a vulnerable position when Ridsdale arrived, and it does appear that he's managed to keep them ticking over, but the rot at the heart of the club seems to be a long-term problem. Even their move to a new ground, with all the commercial advantages that gives, has not eased their woes. Cardiff fans must surely be worried that they'll not see out the season.

There must be something that the football league can do to ensure that clubs don't overstretch themselves (salary caps as in Rugby League?), but there must also be a crackdown in the irresponsible ownership that can lead to such circumstances. The fact that the Notts County owners never publicly declared themselves must be an indicator of the fact that their activities weren't in the interests of the football club.

Even England's most successful clubs, Manchester United and Liverpool, aren't immune. Significant debts were placed upon them both by their new "owners" who mortgaged the clubs and their future incomes to the banks in order to have a fashionable Premier League toy. I remember in the 1980s, one of the major London banks had the power of life or death over Spurs, but chose to allow them to continue to dig themselves out of their financial hole as they didn't want to be known as the bank who killed a famous football club. The current financial climate means that this almost certainly won't be the situation this time around, so the loans secured on these two famous clubs must be a source of concern.

It seems that the haves are now proportionally richer, and the have-nots are ever nearer extinction. I completed a football league survey several months ago where one question addressed "what should the priority be for The Football League". One option, and the answer I selected, was "ensuring the survival of the 92 football league teams". I've previously blogged about how the fall through the divisions can affect teams, and the threat of administration is currently hovering over several clubs. Southampton and, Darlington started the new season with points penalties for entering administration, but there are also several league clubs under transfer embargos, including Portsmouth, due to financial irregularities.

If nothing is done to safeguard the future of the football league, we'll eventually end up seeing American Football style franchises, the playthings of billionaires in major cities, with the smaller towns reduced to watching primarily amateur teams. That would be return to how football first started. Maybe not a bad thing...

Tiny Tom and the fake blood

2009-08-26T05:16:00.000-07:00

In response to the revealing of the final judgement and transcript of the Bloodgate affair, I thought it only right to publish a verdicty myself. The following also appeared on the bbc website.

Having followed this debacle pretty much throughout, I was looking forward to hearing the "whole story". First up I'd have to say that Tom Williams comes out of this rather less covered in glory than he'd have hoped by coming clean/shopping his colleagues and employers.

As Simon Austin on bbc.co.uk points out, Harlequins offered him financial inducements not to fully disclose, but I for one would have thought that everything he has revealed (his blackmail of the club for a mortgage pay off included) should have resulted in a longer ban rather than a reduction. When this wasn't forthcoming he blew the whole story out of the water which seems like a criminal case to answer if Harlequins want to pursue this (which I guess they won't).

Not that it matters, as I'm sure he'll not be playing in the premiership for quite a while - I can't think of any team wanting to touch him. For someone who was told he was "on the fringes of England squad", he seemed quite prepared to knife in the back the guy who'd got him there. He comes across as a bit of a weasel with no backbone. As a professional, and a grown adult more to the point, he had the option to say no, and if the coach then wouldn't pick him, move to another club because he was "on the fringes of the England squad". It all seems like excuses and a poor attempt to save his own skin, which will hopefully have ruined his career as much as a year ban would have.

At least Dean Richards has taken his medicine, which sadly may be career-ending. All the Quins fans who've jumped on the bandwagon to talk about him as a domineering ogre have conveniently forgotten where they were when he took over, and where he has led them to. You can't have it both ways folks - good cop obviously doesn't work, but bad cop managed a great deal of success, both at Leicester and Quins.

It's a shame Richards got involved in this, as I think he'd have made a great England coach, but I would suggest that as this seems to be the tip of an iceberg, a 3 year ban does seeem excessive. I would argue that it was a case of a streetwise coach exploiting a loophole in the laws which needs to be closed. This is no different in my opinion to Batsmen in cricket being offered the light and taking it when it's still fine for play, or a football manager getting a 5th player sent off or injured to get the game abandoned (I think Sheff Utd did this once).

It seems like English Rugby needs a clean up after this blood letting, but I'm absolutely positive that we're not on our own.

Magpies and shiny things

2009-08-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

Finally, the start of the new football season has arrived, and men everywhere can stop annoying their wives and girlfriends and enjoy control over the remote control again.

Obviously the main areas of interest over the summer have revolved around finances. Those clubs with money and those clubs feeling the strain of having none. For every Manchester City there is a Portsmouth, for every Notts County, a Chester City. The summer has seen some intriguing developments, but surely none more astounding than the arrival of the Munto consortium in Nottingham, offering Sven Goran Eriksson the chance to end his exile from club football.

I've previously mentioned the decline of Notts County, from the top tier of English football in the mid-1980s, to almost going out of the football league and out of business several times since 2000. As a football fan there are two things to think about in the Notts County equation. Firstly, what are the implications for the team themselves, and secondly, what does this mean for the game as a whole.

The Notts County team finished near the bottom of the entire 92 team league pyramid last season, but seems to have been picked specifically for the potential they have. They are the 2nd team in a major city so have a large potential audience, have a ground much larger than most of the teams in the division above, were owned by a fan group and therefore had no chance of any major cash injection, and most importantly were so low that the only way was indeed "up".

Whatever your view of Sven Goran Eriksson, and I for one would consider him a one-dimensional tactician as a manager, he certainly has the contacts you would need when looking to re-build a club. It's interesting that he's seen fit to join such a project, regardless of the £2m salary, which I'm sure he doesn't need anyway after his England pay-off. He's rumoured to have taken shares, a seat on the board and a performance related contract.

The incumbent manager Ian MacParland has, for now, retained his job in charge of what, at league 2 level at least, is an all-star equivalent of Manchester City squad. Their strikeforce alone were all plying their trade 2 leagues above just season ago, which is apparent from 9 goals in their first 2 league games.

It will be interesting to see how MacParland fares if results start to go a little awry, or Notts aren't running away with the league come Christmas. Come to think of it, the case will be almost identical for Mark Hughes if City aren't achieving their goals by transfer window time. Undoubtedly both clubs will have the finance in place to make extensive signings to strengthen the charge for play-offs/promotion or European places (or even the title), and will want to make sure the right man is in place to carry them onwards. It is difficult to see how either could fail with bottomless pits of cash to spend, but there will still be a test of their respective coaching abilities.

Strangely a stated objective of Munto is to get Notts back in the Championship within 5 years. Strange because it's not overly ambitious, if anything it's somewhat conservative, but it does seem that the UAE backers are looking to rebuild the club as a whole rather than gloss over the longstanding cracks with superficial (and transient) signings.

Whatever happens with Eriksson, and however long he stays, the spotlight shining on Notts County has almost certainly saved the world's oldest football league club from the ignominy of relegation to the blue square premier or administration. Who would have thought that they'd be mentioning Pavel Nedved and Luis Figo in the same breath as the magpies.

Whilst a new generation of football fans in Nottingham will randomly grow up enjoying the glitz of the black and white half of town for a few years, it can't be a bad thing for football if one more club is saved from going out of existence, and more clubs benefit from Notts being able to throw a few Emirati pounds around.

Lions roar at last

2009-07-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

Finallly, a Test victory for the British and Irish Lions to celebrate. Despite a slightly under-strength South African team, the squad can feel justifiably proud of their performance, and can also banish the doubts which have recently surfaced about the value of the Lions tour, and the fears for its future.

The success in the final test followed a determined and disciplined performance, punctuated by some of the fast handling and running rugby we craved. Within the duration of the tour, players fortunes have radically changed. The World Player of the Year, Shane WIlliams, has seemingly emerged form the purgatory which followed the award, which should be great news for Wales.

The emergence of a new Irish superstar seems assured after Rob Kearney's 2 superb performances at Full Back. The verve he brings to the attack with his choice of running lines is impressive, and his rock steady ability under the high ball settled the nerves. He even added try scoring ability and a massive boot, all of which would make him the stand out star of the tour in many opinions.

The two first choice centres were also excellent, O'Driscoll and Roberts were in a different class to their Springbok counterparts and Tommy Bowe again impressed with his elegant style. So in terms of the backs, a reasonable success. Certainly the tourists were able to score tries fairly easily against the world champions.

Not far behind in the success stakes would be Simon Shaw, the monstrous England second row, whose inclusion in the second test squad added power and aggression to the Lions, helping to counteract the Boks forwards, disrupting the rolling maul. Gethin Jenkins and Adam Jones also made a huge difference in the scrum, and were dynamic in broken play. Mike Phillips had a decent enough time at Scrum Half, admittedly outplayed by the awesome Fourie Du Preez, but serviced his backs well enough.

The problem for the Lions has been in the forwards, who seemed less than cohesive as a unit. The lineout caused concern, especially the inability to disrupt Victor Matfield's dominance which allowed Du Preez quick and easy ball. The well documented scrum problems may have been laid at the door of Lee Mears and Phil Vickery, but it would appear that it was purely symptomatic of the overall power problem. The back row didn't do enough in the loose, and the Boks ruled the ruck seemingly unchallenged. Andy Powell may feel a little unlucky not to have even made a bench spot - although his problems with losing the ball in contact in a couple of warm up games will have counted against him, and Martyn WIlliams played well when he came on, so could he have replaced Wallace at an earlier stage?

Finally it would be a fair time to assess Paul O'Connell's captaincy. The leadership of a Lions tour is a prestigious appointment, but with it comes significant responsibility. It did at times appear that O'Connell retreated into his shell somewhat under the weight of expectation, and the players needed more from him. Certainly Brian O'Driscoll played much more like a captain, filling the void which O'Connell seemed to leave. Happily, O'Connell stepped up to the plate in the 3rd Test, and the players followed to gain a terrific victory.

Picking a team to win

2009-06-05T19:13:00.000-07:00

Listening to Fabio Capello refuting claims that England squad players have come to blows in training makes the average England fan start to sit up and take notice.

Matthew Upson/Gary Cahill vs Gareth Barry (dependent on who you listen to) is something you've never seen or heard before in an England training camp. It seems a strange thing to say but it's starting to seem like England players actually want to contest a shirt.

We're going to have a change of keeper. Thankfully. Rob Green deserves his chance for 2 excellent seasons; Paul Robinson will hopefully get back to being one of the best in the world, but Scott Carson needs lessons in concentration. Seems like a decent contest with 3 great keepers stopping David James ever filling that gap again.

Centre half will also be different; Rio Ferdinand seems never to be 100% fit these days, which will eventually allow either the admirable Phil Jagielka (long term after current knee injury), Cahill (for now?) or more likely Joleon Lescott to play alongside Terry. Full backs offer the now much more relaxed Ashley Cole, or Wayne Bridge (who seems to have regressed at City), with the Glen Johnson project, which still offers doubts, ahead of Gary Neville's steadiness.

The midfield picks itself; Beckham, Lampard, Barry, Gerrard. Gareth Barry being totally wasted but effective in a holding role; with Steven Gerrard being allowed to play wherever he wants. David Beckham is still the best English right sided midfielder, with the athleticism to track back, and the desire to do so. Frank Lampard's drive as Chelsea vice-captain will mean that we have 5 Captains on the field, which is something Manchester United sadly lacked recently.

Up front, Wayne Rooney and Peter Crouch should be pairing number 1, rather than Crouch being plan b) long ball, as under previous managers. Capello is brave enough to change his mind about Crouch and vocalise his new opinion. Rooney having the freedom to run off Crouch's hold-up ability should really make England's link play prosper.

I'm still optimistic that England under Capello can still improve the way they keep possession. The way England pass the ball and don't give it away for the first half hour is starting to look superb. What we need to learn is how to do the same whilst killing off a game. Then we might win something, with a proper manager involved.

False Dawn 2?

2009-06-04T04:32:00.000-07:00

The British and Irish Lions 74-10 annihilation of the Golden (formerly Gauteng) Lions evoked memories of the same game 12 years ago when Jon Bentley’s try kick-started the Lions ultimately successful tour. Suddenly all the naysayers from the weekend’s stuttering win in Rustenburg have changed their tune.

There’s now a feeling that the Lions can take on the world champions in their own Highveld back yards and upset the odds. A tall order for a scratch side against a team with such strength in depth as the Boks, but a possibility nonetheless.

Much rests on the emerging midfield partnership of Brian O’Driscoll and Jamie Roberts. Their combination of guile and power in attack is balanced by them both being quality defensive operators, stopping the opposition centres crossing the gain line.

The fly half and centres berths are where the Lions seem to have an edge – Francois Steyn is unpredictable as a number 10, and can be overconfident and get isolated when in the centre. Stephen Jones would be my fly half for his steady hand and underrated eye for a gap, plus his unflappable kicking.

A back row of Heaslip at Number 8 with David Wallace and Tom Croft roaming on the flanks should be a good counter to the Boks such as Juan Smith and Pierre Spies who are certainly in the Croft school of pacy back rowers. Lee Mears makes an impression far larger than his actual size, and may well be at the front of the queue for the hooker berth, whilst the dynamic Gethin Jenkins and old head Phil Vickery battered the Lions around the fringes sand look to be in pole position for the first test.

The second row battle for lineout supremacy will be critical, with Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha practically unbeatable on their own throw and adept at disrupting opponents ball. Paul O’Connell and whoever his partner is (Alun Wynn Jones?) will have to compete to at least ensure they don’t get clean ball.

It certainly seems to be one of the most together Lions tours for a while – the way in which players seem to know where their team-mates are already bodes well for the way in which they’ll have to stick together when the Boks get physical.

I for one am looking forward to it, and feel the Lions can pull it off. If they win the first test – a fast go-forward start will do it – then we can take the series.

False Dawn 1?

2009-06-04T04:21:00.000-07:00

England cricket teams and false dawns. The two seem to go hand in hand. In the run up to an Ashes series in England, a wave of optimism is hardly news, but now England have had a couple of comprehensive wins against a poor West indies side plus a couple of limited overs thrashes, it now appears we are even capable of winning the World Twenty20 as well!

Some of the positivity in the England camp will certainly be stemming from the new group of Australian Ashes tourists. No Hayden, Warne, McGrath, Langer, or Gilchrist – a group of experienced winners. A noticeable lack of a front-line spinner. No Andrew Symonds. All major plusses which England will have appreciated.

On the down side, Mitchell Johnson and Phil Hughes have both been in fine form and a fit again Brett Lee is a proposition no England batsman will look forward to with much relish. Ricky Ponting's options are now far more limited, but he is too canny a captain to make the same mistakes twice, and desperately wants a series win in England.

There is an argument to say that the ECB have done themselves no favours allowing players such as the prodigious batsman Hughes to spend time acclimatising at Middlesex; but this is certainly a double edged sword as county bowlers (and the England analysts) will have had a chance to get a good look at his technique in English conditions when the ball swings.

With Ravi Bopara now seemingly as important to England as Kevin Pietersen, James Anderson the new Darren Gough alongside Stuart Broad in the bowling attack, it certainly seems England have gamebreakers where once they had plodders.

It certainly looks like an interesting summer for England, there seems very little chance we’ll win the Twenty20 tournament (look for South Africa or India) as we don’t innovate enough, but if the above mentioned players are backed up by Alastair Cook playing his immovable best, and a few wickets from Graeme Swann on turning pitches (prepared for no Aussie spinner), there is a good chance we can get something out of the Ashes. With the now usual one test appearance from Flintoff, surely the sky's the limit?

A lesson for the master

2009-05-28T02:40:00.000-07:00

It’s a special team that can win a treble of trophies. Sir Alex Ferguson knows what it takes to stay the course on three fronts, and last night Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona demonstrated, in winning the Champions League Final, why they are currently the most special team on the planet (and Andres Iniesta possibly the best player, even at less than 100% fitness).

It has to be said that the United team that was put out last night was soundly beaten, both physically and tactically. Too many players looked out of sorts and floated on the periphery of the game. Ferdinand and Vidic flailed around as if they’d never played together. Anderson looked nervous and never seemed to recover his composure after his awful early air-shot. Wayne Rooney barely had a kick in the Barca half, he spent so much time galloping back after Carles Puyol (surely this should have been roles reversed). Even the seemingly indefatigable Ji-Sung Park seemed off the pace. The game just passed Ryan Giggs by completely.

After his tactical masterclass against Arsenal, Ferguson looked to get the same high tempo start that would rip into his opponents. For 10 minutes it looked like it might work. Then Barca settled into their rhythm and started to pick their way through the United midfield at will.

Guardiola’s tactics were spot on, he knew his team would be better going forward, and also realised what United’s fairly predictable personnel, formation and tactics were going to be, so adopted a simple ruse to use their strength against them.

During the first half, Barca keeper Victor Valdes often had the ball as United attacks floundered on a final poor pass. But instead of a long throw out or a kick, he rolled it out to a defender standing inside his own area. Guardiola had obviously realised that with Rooney, Ronaldo, Park, Anderson and Giggs being encouraged to press the ball at a high tempo, they would immediately push up, leaving a gap occupied solely by Michael Carrick. It was into this gap that Iniesta and Xavi constantly drifted, completely unmarked, and free to angle pass after pass into the heart of the United defence. The much vaunted contest between Messi and Evra never materialised, purely because Messi and Henry just came inside to thrive on the huge amount of possession that the two midfielders had.

It seems strange that having seen Chelsea play almost the perfect game against Barca at Stamford Bridge, where they had one shot on target in 95 minutes, Ferguson didn’t realise he needed to fill his midfield with the types of players who would deny Iniesta, Messi and Xavi time and space on the ball. Ryan Giggs, Anderson and Michael Carrick are certainly not the personnel for this task, and instead they gave Barca the freedom of the Stadio Olimpico.

The head to head between the dynamic forwards never materialised, Barca’s triumvirate of Henry, Messi and Eto’o added their 98th and 99th goals of the season, whilst United’s Fab Four barely managed a shot on target after the first ten minutes. Certainly Victor Valdes would have anticipated a much busier evening.

A victory for the Barcelona is a victory for the style in which they play. Sticking to their attacking principles and relying on the fact that they will always score (apart from against Chelsea in the Camp Nou) is a fine philosophy, and is now backed up by a fairly solid defence (even missing 3 first choice players).

Allowed to play their own game, the difference between the sides was the midfield dominance of Iniesta and Xavi. If ever Ferguson has been taught a lesson, it is that the finest teams in Europe need forward thinking creative midfielders who can pick a pass. Paul Scholes was pretty much the epitome of this role, but it’s now obvious (even to him from recent interviews) that his time has passed. Carrick is not this type of player, Giggs is also too old, and Anderson lacks finesse (strangely for a Brazilian). I would imagine Ferguson will go shopping for a new midfielder or two in the summer (Franck Ribery would cheer up most United fans). He will also be acutely aware he never replaced Roy Keane's battling prowess or leadership - not one United player seemed capable of rousing them from the trance Barca had them in. A fit Owen Hargreaves would be a massive benefit (as good as a new signing) if he can turn up on time.

Ferguson was magnanimous in defeat last night, and conceded that the best team had won. It must be seen as a victory for Guardiola, who has rebuilt the Catalan side, stripping out the superstars who had fell into a comfort zone (Deco and Ronaldinho), and relying on an influential spine of players who have come up through the famous Barcelona youth system. Namely Valdes, Puyol, Pique, Busquets, Iniesta, Xavi, and Messi. Of the starting 11 last night, Barca had paid fees for only Henry, Eto’o Sylvinho and Toure (and Pique when he returned from United). Sir Alex would have been similarly proud in 1999 with his “kids”.

Hatton vs Pacquiao: The Fallout

2009-05-08T05:57:00.000-07:00

This is a response to a really good blog written by Sky Sports Adam Smith regarding Hatton's preparation for the fight. http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/0,25212,13841_5298489,00.html

A few of us were saying the way the fight started that Hatton didin't look comfortable with the Southpaw style, something which we've not seen too often. As soon as that first right hook went in and it seemed a total shock to Ricky, we were starting to get worried, and within the next few seconds we were proved right. here's a right hook. And another. Fancy another? Ok, and goodnight.

I can't believe that nobody in the Hatton camp decided enough was enough with Mayweather and his "training"; having watched a fair bit of 24/7 the guy's his own biggest fan. And not the sharpest tool in the shed if some of the stuff he came out with is anything to go by. The bit about not using southpaw pads is shameful - and if Lee Beard stood by and let this happen there's no way he'll be coaching Hatton if he carries on.

In contrast Freddie Roach was ultra professional and obviously a student of the fight game - the hours he spent watching Hatton on film are summed up by the comment he made about him cocking his hand when he's about to throw. Read him like a book. Congratulations to Pacquiao and Roach, tactically superb.

I'd like to see Ricky have one last fight at the MEN, if the medics reckon he's up to it. He had no movement and was there to be hit all night with his hands down. We've seen what happens to fighters who let themselves get hit. Freddie Roach being one. I think a British title fight might be an idea, or maybe an up and coming Brit like Kell Brook. Although it'll never happen, he'll end up with some journeyman he can tear to bits then call it a day.

Never give up, never go out

2009-05-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

On the back of two fascinating Champions League semi-finals, I feel it's certainly worth taking a look at the tactics of the coaches in order to compare the worth of the two victorious teams.

United vs Arsenal was reasonably well poised from the first leg, mainly due to Manuel Almunia's heroics at Old Trafford. There was always a possibility that Arsenal's young guns could appear in the mood to play that fantastic free-flowing football which from time to time we've seen this year.

Tellingly for the rest of the European game, and especially Barca and Chelsea, Sir Alex Ferguson completely read the way in which Arsenal would line up and deployed the phenomenon that is Cristiano Ronaldo straight down the middle to terrorise Kolo Toure and Johan Djorou, allowing Wayne Rooney to roam and thread the through balls. Immediately setting about the home team with powerful and pacy thrusts, United put Arsenal's youngsters on the back foot before they'd even begun to get even the remotest attacking idea. Two goals in the space of 3 minutes knocked the stuffing out of Arsenal, with even Wenger's face being resigned to defeat as he held his head in his hands.

11 minutes in and game, set, match Ferguson. Garry Kasparov would have been proud. Sizing up your opponents strengths and turning them into weaknesses is a mark of a tactical master, something Ferguson has never been appreciated for, as was alluded to in commentary last night. Realising the youthful exuberance of Arsenal was also a weakness was simple, working out the tactics to exploit it more of a masterstroke. As he approaches retirement, is there a chance that he's getting even better?

I'm sure Guus Hiddink would certainly have applauded Ferguson's tactics, particularly in light of Chelsea's suffocation of Barcelona at the Camp Nou. The Chelsea boss realised that allowing Barcelona's one touch maestros to "wall pass" their way through the middle of the park would have resulted in carnage - with Iniesta, Henry, Messi and Eto'o getting through at the (fairly)ponderous Chelsea centre halves. Instead Hiddink played an athletic and powerful formation through the centre, which forced Barca to go wide and play crosses in to the aerial strength of Essien, Ballack, Terry and Alex.

Tonight's second leg was 2 minutes away from being ultimate confirmation of Hiddink's managerial nous, with Chelsea restricting the best footballing side in Europe (apologies United) to pot shots and not one test of Petr Cech in 92 minutes. With a far more positive outlook in the home leg, Chelsea can feel particularly hard done to, as they could have been awarded 3 or 4 penalties, and seen Barca out of sight in the rear-view mirror if Drogba had his finishing boots on.

The same team, this time deployed to negate the threat of Alves and Messi worked entirely. Hiddink has even managed to make Florent Malouda look like a hardworking midfielder, rather than the winger-lite he had become under the last 2 managers. Essien looks like he's one of the best players on the planet, Drogba bullied the centre halves like the player of old, and Terry and Alex looked totally comfortable in such a way that Carvalho didn't appear to be missed.

It's a real shame that Hiddink and Ferguson won't come face to face in the final, although Pep Guardiola will really have learned a lesson from Hiddink - being able to adapt your team's tactics to the opposition is a talent that sometimes even Arsene Wenger struggles with. Having more than plan A is a neccessity, and Ferguson will have realised that Barca currently don't appear to have plan B. Their first shot on target flew past Cech, breaking Chelsea hearts in a game they will feel should have been theirs.

The Champions League final should be an technically impressive game, particularly if Barca allow United time to construct from deep. And a large pitch in Rome should suit both teams, so a fairly open game could be on the cards. The decisive factors may be the fact that Barca will be missing 2 speedy fullbacks through suspension, and that Rooney managed to avoid the same. United's power and pace around the Barca defensive third should prove too much. Prediction time, which in this blog is an inconsistent art, I say 2-1 United.

Boxing clever

2009-03-31T14:02:00.000-07:00

In the next couple of months, there are two major boxing matches featuring British world champions. Ricky Hatton and Carl Froch both defend their titles against experienced world title campaigners, namely Manny Pacquiao and Jermaine Taylor. These should be two fantastic fights, and essential viewing for any boxing fan worth their salt.

With the well judged retirement of Joe Calzaghe, these two fighters will continue to carry the flag for British fighting across to the mass markets in the United States. However both are now into their their thirties, and the search is surely now on for the next few Brits to set the world alight.

It's still unclear if Amir Khan has disappeared up his own backside so far that his undoubted talent will ever be fulfilled; the Barrera fight taught us nothing, and was little more than a PR exercise. It can only be hoped he doesn't go the way of Audley Harrison, another who believed his own publicity and the yes men around him far too much, and not what his own jaw told him.

David Haye has a great chance of making it big, but runs the risk of his jaw being found out by one or other of the Klitschko brothers. It would be a shame to see Haye disappear, boxing needs characters like him, and his undoubted talents would have seen him top the division without the Klitschkos looming large.

David Price, the Olympic Super-Heavyweight medallist has kicked off his pro career with a decent win, but has a lot of miles to cover before he can get in the ring with anyone of any quality.

South Yorkshire stylist Kell Brook, another product off the Brendan Ingle production line, has massive potential, and an exciting style which the American TV matchmakers will love. He may be the next to make it big, and fingers crossed could be the welterweight successor to Hatton, as long as he doesn't get overconfident.

Jamie Moore, another Northern fighter, has a big chance with his next fight due to be a world title shot. Moore has been around a while, with only his fight of the year against Matthew Macklin a couple of years ago to show so far for his undoubted strength and courage. Again the American market will love his all action, go forward style, coupled with the fact that he can be hurt (as Macklin showed).

There are a few hungry fighters coming to the forefront, and Sky Sports must get a lot of credit for continuing to offer them an opportunity on Friday Fight Night. Long may it continue, and let's hope that at least a couple manage to show the Americans that British boxing is still punching its weight.

A step forward?

2009-03-31T13:25:00.000-07:00

England somehow managed, in the course of a comprehensive victory in the friendly match against Slovakia on Saturday, to suffer injuries to 3 different target men. This could be seen as a real problem; to lose one is unlucky two is sloppy, but a third seems careless.

In fact there is an argument to say that this week we've found out something important about Capello's England. There have been headlines all week touting a potential recall for Michael Owen, but this is really a red herring. Capello knows his own mind, and has shown the confidence in his own plans (and perhaps the pigheadedness) not to fold at the noisy opposition from the press.

The same pressure that would lead Sven Goran Eriksson to bizarrely take Theo Walcott to sit on the bench for the world cup is not entertained by Capello. He picks the team. He decides the formation, and best of all, he has the ability to adapt his system, something Eriksson always lacked. Plan B, C a and D were employed on Saturday. Plan E is bringing Agbonlahor into the squad.

It's refreshing to see an England manager stick to his guns. He found room for Gerrard and Lampard, got the best out of a rampaging Rooney (despite suggesting he was slightly crazy), and used Beckham intelligently. Admittedly Slovakia offered very little, but it's important to note how England retained their shape, didn't panic and continued to play their way, and waited for the goals to come. It may be that Ukraine have learned from Slovakia's approach, but if they sit back and defend then England should win comfortably. They certainly won't be concerned about Shevchenko's pace on the counter-attack.

If we are confident, then there is a big opportunity for Capello to get Ben Foster in the team again. David James, as I've suggested before, is definitely not the future for England, and as far as this blogger is concerned, is way past being the present too. A game which England "should win" was Scott Carson's downfall (Croatia) but Foster has already won the Carling Cup at Wembley for United so obviously has the big match temperament.

But I wouldn't presume to tell Capello his job, so we'll have to cross our fingers. He appears like a man who knows not to take unnecessary risks. The defence and midfield are settled, Rooney picks himself but needs a regular partner. That's both ends of the pitch where there is an opportunity. And who's to say a fit Michael Owen won't burst back onto the scene (when he finally manages to leave Newcastle).

Anyway, it does appear that Capello is living up to his billing. We can only hope that his players continue to live up to theirs. If they do, and Gerrard and Rooney remain fit, then there is a chance we can match some of the best.

January Transfer Blunder

2009-02-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

Officially it's just under an hour to the end of the January transfer window, which may or may not be extended due to the heavy snow which has engulfed England.

Quite frankly, who cares? The transfer window has come to epitomise everything rotten in the state of football today. Player power, agents' greed, "sources" creating rumours of interest in order to engineer a move for their players, and clubs publicly announcing nothing is happening whilst attempting to unsettle their targets in order to pull off "a major coup".

The transfer window was intended to provide a levelling of the playing field, but has only succeeded in forcing clubs to pay overinflated fees and wages for the players they think will help them retain premiership status. In real terms this means mortgaging the future income of the club - TV rights or parachute payments (for those unlucky few). I remember that Derby County's signing of Fabrizio Ravanelli prior to our initial relegation in 2001/2 put the club in hock for his wages for 2 years after he left, and Paul Jewell's signing of Robbie Savage in the transfer window last season on vastly inflated wages has meant it's impossible to get him off the wage bill.

I'd like to return to the old days of the transfer "market" rather than the fire-sale it has become. Clubs could structure their purchases rather than panic buying which can cripple clubs for years. It would also mean that richer club wouldn't find it as easy to hold a smaller club to ransom by making an offer and waiting them out (see dealings between Manchester City and Blackburn over Roque Santa Cruz).

I'm sure in years past, when a club wanted to sign a player, they made an approach to his club and were either granted permission to talk to him or not. End of story. Now we have rumours that players have threatened to strike if not allowed to move (Bellamy at West Ham allegedly), agents concocting fantastic "stories" in order to stimulate movement such as Newcastle wanting to swap Martins for Bent at Spurs, and massively over-priced players being held in virtual tug of wars as the rumours start (Wigan's Antonio Valencia).

Tottenham would appear to be the most active club in this window, in an attempt to repair the damage inflicted by Juande Ramos' ill-fated reign. The presumed re-signing of Robbie Keane from Liverpool (for £5million less than they sold him for) is one of the most well reported yet now most annoying stories. Likewise the Arshavin to Arsenal tale. Both clubs initially declared nothing was happening whilst they discuss terms with the agent of the players involved, and they similarly play a game of brinkmanship, playing current and prospective clubs against each other to fatten their own slice of the transfer pie.

So far, the one club in the Premier League who could be satisfied with their activity so far should be Wigan. If they get £15million for the wantaway Valencia, as well as sealing deals for the talented N'Zogbia and Rodallega, then I would consider Steve Bruce's work well done. And Mido seems like he can do the Heskey role in the short term, which means the £3.5million from Villa should be an added bonus on someone who was out of contract in the summer.

Watching the news tickers revealing the latest denials and non-stories has become all too monotonous a pursuit - the initial optimism has been tempered by loan deal after loan deal in order to bring in ANY player. Come on FIFA and Premier League, let's go back to the better old days, where you could get genuinely excited by the sniff of a transfer deal rather than wishing it would all end asap!

Out of second chances

2008-11-15T02:55:00.001-08:00

England are out of the World Cup. A sentence not unfamiliar to many sports fans in this country. In this case it's the Rugby League World Cup which has seen the latest English underperformance.

Minutes after the final hooter, I think is a good time to reflect on a thoroughly disappointing tournament. Reaching the World Cup semi-final sounds like an achievement on paper, but in reality this disguises the fact that England only actually won one game out of four in the tournament.

Having scraped past Papua New Guinea, been humiliated by the Australians and surrendered to New Zealand last week, there was a degree of hope for redemption in this semi-final.

This was erased comprehensively by New Zealand this morning, by 32-22, again serving to disguise the fact that England were a distant second best. The Kiwis should have been 20 or more points to the good if it wasn't for a couple of lapses in concentration and a gift of points. Danny McGuire's two opportunist tries were off the back of the Kiwis dropping off in defence, and Martin Gleeson's late score was off an individual error. Truth is, we were not good enough.

So what has made us look so poor? In Superleague's comfort zone, and the last 4 or 5 World Club Challenges we've looked like world beaters.

England were technically inferior throughout the tournament, and failed to accomplish many of the fundamental points of the game. Handling errors, uncompleted sets of tackles, dozens of unforced errors, poorly judged and directed kicking and a high penalty count contributed massively. The two teams who have dominated Superleague for the last 5 years provided all the half backs and mainline kickers, but none of the could manage to turn the opposition around on enough occasions.

There have been questions around the choice of referees for this world cup, complaints from the pundits have been around the way in which the antipodean referees allow the teams to slow the speed of the play the ball. England have given away so many soft penalties in this world cup, including interference at the play the ball, yet the opposition seem to have been given far more time as they lie on and don't look to be interfering. Smart play?

The fact is that these are all symptoms, rather than the root of the problems.

I previously questioned whether the players who had recently battled through the Grand Final would be in shape and form to compete in this tournament. It does appear that a few of the St Helens members of the squad had their confidence destroyed by their defeat by Leeds in the Grand Final, and retreated into their shells. Leon Pryce barely managed a break in the games he played, despite Sky Sports Phil Clarke's continued vocal support. Paul Wellens, said by many to be the best full back in the world, looked barely a shadow of the Superleague lynchpin. The worst offender however, would have to be Superleague's top try scorer, Ade Gardner. A seasoned GB international, Gardner has made error after error in defence, and had no confidence going forward.

We can't blame the St Helens players alone, it is a team effort and that team is picked by the coach. Much as it pains me to say, the former Leeds coach Tony Smith will now be under intense media pressure. His selections in the week of the Semi Final have been strange to say the least. He picked a 19 man squad for the game, left out Gardner and Danny McGuire, weirdly after Gardner's comments that he was looking forward to playing. Then Smith announced a 17 man matchday squad which gave both Gardner and McGuire a start (the latter fully justified on Pryce's lack of form). There was no place in the 17 for Lee Smith, the winger who grabbed a hat-trick in the first game, and has not played since. Inexplicable decisions.

There must be some examination of the way in which Superleague works, both in terms of players, and interpretation of the rules. The comparison with the NRL is strong in terms of the best club sides, but the strength of the competition as a whole is far removed. For example, how many players from the worst teams in each competition made the 3 strongest squads? Isaac Luke, the new star of Kiwi rugby, plays for possibly the worst team in the NRL for the last 5 years. Contrast that with the European game. Similarly the style of play is different, and the NRL's running game from dummy half has been massively evident in the NZ and Australian sides, which our second markers have struggled to cope with.

We're never likely to win the World Cup if we cannot combat the dynamism of the opposition dummy halves and half backs. We also need to ensure our game has the same strength in depth as the NRL, which would mean trying to cut down on the number of foreign imports. The NRL has very few imports from the UK, and therefore breeds Australian and New Zealand qualified talent. The RFL need to redress this balance.

On a final positive note, our player of the tournament has to be the maverick Martin Gleeson, who gave his all and strained to break the line every time he had the ball. Interestingly Gleeson is due to move to the NRL in 2010. Closely followed by Rob Burrow who constantly punches above his weight. Outside these two, it's difficult to pick anyone who looked like they could break the line. Jamie Peacock, James Graham and Adrian Morley battled on as always, and made the hard yards, only for the players outside them to drop the ball, go too soon or pass forward.

Anyway, it's roll on Martin Johnson's England, hopefully we can redeem ourselves against the Wallabies at Twickenham this afternoon!

Speedway for the layman + Aces to Crumple?

2008-10-24T03:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a long overdue first on my United City blog, a post about one of the most exciting but most under-rated spectator sports in the UK, namely Speedway. As a sport I've fairly recently got into (thanks to Sky Sports it must be said), I think it's about time I write something to illustrate what I find so interesting about it.

To the uninitiated few this may at first seem like a strange 4 lap procession around a tiny and shabby looking track (often dog racing tracks!) on a motorbike that can't seem to go in a straight line. In reality the subtle skills of the riders, and their downright craziness in some cases, makes for some thrilling racing.

4 riders (2 from each team) line up on the starting line, the tapes go up and they jam their throttles open in a drag race to the first left hand corner. The leader through the first corner often wins so it's down to who keeps the bike on the deck and holds their nerve, whilst making a sliding turn and avoiding the barriers around the outside. With 3 points for a win, 2 for second and a single point for third, and 15 races in all, you can get some incredibly close matches, or absolute mismatches.

The way in which the British Elite league and the world championship work in parallel also makes for interesting sub plots throughout the season. The weekly rounds of the Elite league are usually weeknights, often Monday for Belle Vue, and then the world title rounds are Grand Prixes held across Europe at weekends - in the same way as Formula One.

A big issue for British Speedway is that we've not had a World Champion since Mark Loram in 2000. There are a few promising riders coming through, but the fact that not one Brit has qualified to automatically get a ride in the GP series next year doesn't bode well. There are a couple (Harris and Nicholls) who should get picked (much like the Ryder cup wildcards), but the situation needs to improve - it reflects badly on the UK as a Speedway competition.

This decline in British Speedway is highlighted in a recent piece of news affecting my local team. Manchester's Belle Vue Aces, the most famous name in the UK's Speedway competition. They've had some of the world's great riders in their side across the years, winning British titles and seeing their riders become World Champions.

The latest in the line of supremely talented riders to grace Belle Vue's stadium is the Australian Jason Crump. Twice world champion in his first spell with the Aces, Crump returned this year in time to prop up an ailing side which couldn't seem to put the same squad of riders out for 2 races on the bounce.

It's been announced that we won't be seeing Crump race in the UK Elite League next year, he feels he's racing too much (competing for teams in Poland and Sweden as well), and needs to cut down if he's to reclaim his World title. The fact that the UK ride is the one to jettison is a major blow for the Aces and British Speedway as a whole.

The Aces will have to build a stronger team now they don't have Crump to rely on for 12 points a meeting, and UK Speedway will have to work out how to claw back ground on the Scandinavian nations, (Denmark's Nicki Pedersen dominated the last 2 world championship GP series), and ensure that our stars have the opportunity to flourish on the world stage.

For what it's worth, from a personal perspective, I have no issue with Crump, he's a fantastic rider and seems a down to earth character, so will (hopefully) deservedly reclaim the title next year.

Cream floats to the top

2008-10-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

It's still early in the autumn, but perhaps we've already seen one of the most important events of the season so far.

For the first time in a long time, Liverpool have started to do what Manchester United have managed for 15 years - to leave with something after a game they should lose. Wigan today pushed Benitez's outfit probably as far as anyone they had faced thus far this season, and yet somehow the Reds left with the 3 points that everyone (myself included) had expected at start of play, despite twice trailing at home.

Is this the sign of a new mentally toughened Liverpool, and more importantly, realistic challengers for Big Phil's Chelsea to confront? It does appear that the Blues have gone back to being the Mourinho style unstoppable juggernaut. With Ronaldo out of the picture for a short time (thankfully) it does seem that United haven't quite clicked into gear yet, and the two title pretenders have taken a flying start. Even if United win their game in hand following the inevitable crushing of WBA tonight (Rooney to bag a hatful anyone?), they'll still be trailing by 3 points at this early stage.

This should make for a fascinating autumn and winter, as the weather closes in and the pitches get heavy, we'll see if the likes of Deco and Bosingwa still look settled and whether Fergie's outfit do their usual winter charge. I'm sure Scolari's approach won't change, he's far too canny a manager to start second guessing the conditions. He's has taken Chelsea onwards without much of an overhaul, most managers would have given their right arm for the squad at Stamford Bridge, and he has quietly got on with things, taking the Blues to the top of the table with very little even making the news. And Liverpool are finally (perhaps) living up to their star studded squad. Another season of 3rd or 4th in the Premisership and Champions League qualification surely won't be tolerated by Anfield fans or board.

Anyway , it's all good news for the premiership - vive la difference!

The long road from Old Trafford to Townsville

2008-10-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

As anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis will know, last Saturday saw my current favourite sporting event take place - The Superleague Grand Final at Old Trafford.

A terrific game in appalling conditions saw the Leeds Rhinos overturn the thrashing they'd received 2 weeks previously to record their first back-to-back championship in the Superleague era at the expense of a St Helens side who looked they'd played one game too many.

The significance of this game, and the reason for the title of this post, is that 15 of the 24 man England squad for the upcoming World Cup will be made up from players from these two sides. The remainder are a collection from Warrington, Hull, Wigan and one from Harlequins.

England's first World Cup game kicks off on 25th October, against Papua New Guinea in Townsville, home of the North Queensland Cowboys. The RFL have arranged a warm up game against Wales on Friday night which coach Tony Smith agrees is a good sharpener for those members of the squad who've not played for a few weeks - actually only 9 players.

The NRL Grand Final was also at the weekend, and the surprise winners, Manly, and finalists and former champions the Melbourne Storm, have only supplied 10 players to the Australian squad. The first choice 17 will surely not include many of these players, as the Sea Eagles came from pretty much nowhere and the Aussie squad is fairly settled already.

Which raises the interesting question - will the best prepared team be the one who's had the most recent and arduous Grand Final, or the team that had the most players eliminated in the early rounds. I'd suggest that a rest before the World Cup would be a good thing - but 6 or 7 weeks may be too much. The battle hardened Englishmen have some gamebreakers, and some real in form players to rival the ageing Aussie stars, and a core of hungry new faces keen to prove their worth.

In that respect, I think England have never had a better chance to turn the Australians over on their own turf, and coupled with a weaker New Zealand, I might risk a few pence on Jamie Peacock's men to do something special. Whatever happens, I can't wait.

Superleague highlights!

2008-09-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

If you've read anything of my previous posts, you'll know that I'm a big Rugby League fan, although this does take a back seat to my love of football most of the time, this weekend has been one of the exceptions.

Friday night saw St Helens take on my team Leeds at Knowsley Road. It was a straight shoot-out with the winners going through to the Grand Final at Old Trafford a week on Saturday. It seemed like a fairly close match-up as well, with St Helens only pipping Leeds to the top of the league by a single point.

On the day however, the team in Red and White were awesome, they powered out of the blocks and kept their foot firmly on the accelerator til close to the end to rack up 38 points. Leeds missed opportunities early on and were punished, which is something they can't afford to do if they want to get any further this season. A comprehensive performance against the reigning champions will have done no harm to Saints' confidence, and has also left Leeds with a potentially demoralising result to digest ahead of the qualifying semi final on Friday.

In that game Leeds face a Wigan side with their tails up. After a great win away against Les Catalans in Perpignan, Brian Noble's side must be filled with confidence. They've had some great results at Headingley in recent years, but their best games against the Rhinos have all been at the JJB, so they'll have to battle against one more obstacle if they're to make an unlikely Grand Final appearance.

I'd fancy Leeds to be too strong at home and set up a repeat of last year's Grand Final. My money would be a narrow Rhinos win, something in the 10 point area, purely on the basis that Wigan had saved their best for the trip to France, and it must surely have taken it out of them. Whatever the result, and whoever gets to the final on October 4th, I'd recommend it as the best sporting day out in the country.

Walcott - the power and the pace.

2008-09-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

By leaving out any mention of Theo Walcott's amazing hat-trick against Croatia in my last post, I felt I'd give a little more emphasis to events since then for this post.

What we're seen since that night of emergence is potentially a microcosm of Walcott's immediate future. Time and space in a premiership game by virtue of Arsenal's superiority, as opposed to the clatterings he received in the Champions League against Kiev. Defenders across Europe will have awoken to the headlines of England's new great hope, and decided to take action.

There are two things that might happen here; one would be that Walcott gets kicked out of the game, or the other thing would be that he uses this to his advantage. He needs to watch an experienced wide attacker at work - it's just a shame Thierry Henry isn't at the Emirates any more. I offer one master class in wide play that I saw recently, namely City's Martin Petrov ripping West Ham to shreds. His movement off the full back, who tried gamely to kick him up in the air was impressive, and a lesson to any young player.

Walcott should develop into a much more fearsome attacker, and more central, than Petrov, purely on the basis of his finishing. Hopefully my prediction of pre-season, that Walcott's emergence into the Arsenal first team will be cemented this season, comes true. Since seeing Walcott for Southampton in the Championship a couple of years ago, I've really thought that if he stays fit he could be the next great talent to emerge.

It would be nice to see him playing and scoring in Wenger's side - if Nicholas Bendtner can play then Walcott should have no problems. Let's do something we don't do too often in this country, back this talent and not expect too much too soon.

England's brave new world beaters

2008-09-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

The dust has well and truly settled on the schizophrenic performances by England against Andorra and Croatia, and I'm still at a bit of a loss as to what, if anything we've learned.

Capello certainly puts out a team to keep hold of the ball. That much is certain, and against Croatia, England did that far better than they have done for a number of years. We also know that he has come to terms with the fact that good as Wayne Rooney is, he mustn't play up front on his own, and is much better in the slightly withdrawn "Number 10" as the continentals term it. David James is not the answer to England's goalkeeping question, his decision making is still too unpredictable - plus by the time the next world cup comes around he'll be approx 40 - and we all remember Peter Shilton in 1990....

Finally we've learned, as I think I may have mentioned a few times now, that John Terry has been living on his reputation for far too long. After being turned by the scoring machine that is Milan Baros against the Czechs, Terry was again made to look a lumbering oaf against Croatia. His appalling dying swan act after Modric beat him to the ball for the Croat goal (and Terry pulled out of the challenge) looked like the last act of a man who sees the game is passing him by. He should consider how to get back to the form which made him one of Europe's most admired centre halves, rather than the man who now puts a glint in the eye of the striker who finds themselves playing against him. I'm sure Scolari will have some ideas, but Terry should start watching those videos of the Mourinho side of 3 years ago for an idea of who he was.

Which leads us to the conundrum who should lead England. Frank Lampard gave one of his better performances for England recently, but surely isn't enough to keep Gerrard out. Barry seems to be a fixture, as well as Stevie G's new best friend, so it seems he's in. Rio Ferdinand is a certainty, so I'd say it should be between the Liverpool and United players. Gerrard's inspirational displays for Liverpool should tip the scales in his favour - I've never seen a centre half run the game like Gerrard can.

Until the next England display kills all optimism, I for one might fancy watching England again - having turned away from the second half of the Andorra debacle, I was impressed by an away performance against a side with a fairly fearsome reputation.

Either we're now back into the group of favourites for the world cup, or it's another false dawn. You never know with England. Despite us including 8 players from the "best 2 teams in Europe" last season, we cannot seem to find that consistency.

Come on Fabio, keep the English end up for more than just 1 game.

Chuckle Chuckle Barry

2008-08-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

I'm often told that you should take 5 minutes before you write. Usually this seems a great bit of advice, particularly to a blogger without an editor.

Sometimes however, something happens that changes your rules. Tonight I heard a football pundit discussing the saga of Gareth Barry's potential transfer to Liverpool(again). I felt I had to say something....so I blogged instead.

The general debate started with Liverpool's midfield. Which was a position of fun; and interesting, particularly if you read the last blog on this site.

Apparently, Liverpool's world class holding midfielder Javier Mascherano, £17m ish, will dedicate his (potential) olympic gold medal to Rafa Benitez. In the meantime, said manager is/was trying to sell the European Championship winning playmaker Xabi Alonso to Juventus for £17m ish. Which will, apparently, fund the purchase of, yep, you've guessed it, England's second choice holding midfielder, Gareth Barry, for £more than he's worth.00p.

Hands up anyone who thinks Barry (good player as he is) is a better player than Alonso! And more to the point, less likely to give the ball away. Mascherano is a superb player in that position, so the question is...who wants Barry? Benitez or Gerrard? Interesting.

Owen Hargreaves cost about £17m, and has played when fit, but at least Ferguson has him in mind. Michael Carrick, who I must admit I've unjustly criticised since he went to United, plays a more important role but a a similar cost. What price Gerrard; as Fergie once said, he'd be the player he'd like to sign, but he knew he'd never go to United.

I am, however, slightly confused by the way in which value is judged,; how can we suggest that the members of England's New Glorious One Man Football Team are worth anything unless they can play together?

I'm sure these are lessons I learned in school.

A losing draw with Bouncing Czechs

2008-08-20T14:00:00.001-07:00

As an England fan, as well as a committed (or perhaps should be) Derby County fan, it was with a mixture of interest and trepidation I planned my evening's viewing tonight. England vs Czech Republic at Wembley was an interesting friendly ahead of the Andorra world cup qualifier, and more relevantly, the formidable Croatians in Zagreb in 3 weeks.

Which England would turn up? The promised brave new world of Capello, or the lambs to the slaughter that capitulated so meekly to Croatia at home.

The answer, it appears, should have been obvious from the team selection. With once again the old "stalwarts" of Beckham, Lampard and Gerrard picked across the midfield, with Barry anchoring and Wayne Rooney becalmed somewhere in the outside left position, England lacked direction and the ability to open up defences. Even worse they were so immobile that the Czechs could move through them with short interpassing.

The first 5 minutes seemed positive, England kept the ball reasonably well, and created a couple of nice moves. Then the demons returned, the players tried to play a killer pass and the Czechs got on the ball with confidence.

A team with the ability to increase the pace of the game at will and counter-attack after the opposition over-commit is great to watch. It's a shame that tonight that team wasn't England.

With the exception of Gerrard, who seems to have taken the Beckham mantle of one-man team and inspirational leader, the midfield were ineffective. No-one ever managed to get into a useful support position for Rooney, not even that little fella who was on the team sheet to play up with him. Anyone any idea where Jermain Defoe went?

Anyway, one of Steve MacLaren, and his Guru Sven's, major failings was the inability to make a tactical change to alter the course of the game. Sadly, even in a friendly such as this, Capello couldn't pull the rabbit out of the hat. His changes at least changed the shape of the team, but also raised questions as to why several of the players didn't start.

England should be looking at a team that can develop together rather than one that is stifled at birth by overbearing older relatives. The Lampard experiment has surely run its course, David Beckham's great service to his country must come to an end, and David James should never keep goal for England whilst there is a selection of younger keepers who'll need the experience of playing in such games. John Terry isn't half the player he was, reliant on Carvalho's steadiness to hold together a slightly fragile Chelsea back line, and Rooney urgently needs a strike partner, but more importantly a position to play in.

Gerrard is England captain in all but name, his displays for Liverpool continue to impress whilst Peter Crouch, a more than useful asset at International level, and goalscoring foil for Rooney, wasn't even in the squad. I mean, Emile Heskey and Defoe are not really prolific - Crouch has more than both combined in Internationals. Real decisions need to be made!

Below is my idea of what may have been an England team for tonight's game, Andorra (and possibly Croatia), playing 442 or 451. Based on form, and not reputations.

Green (West Ham)

A Cole (Chelsea)

Ferdinand (Man Utd)

Woodgate (Spurs)

Brown (Man Utd)

Barry (A Villa)

J Cole (Chelsea)

Gerrard (L'pool)

A Young (A Villa)

Rooney (Man Utd)

Crouch (Portsmouth)

Hopefully the pace and confidence on the ball of this unit might mean we have a cutting edge, as well as the ability of Peter Crouch to provide more than an outlet for long balls. Perhaps that is what Capello sees him as - rather than having stereotypical "good touch for a big man" - which means he's loath to pick him. And also we saw that the David Bentley fan club obviously doesn't yet contain Fabio - its primary member is still D Bentley.

It's time that Capello began to rebuild England, rather than shore up the badly cracked facade. At least playing the Czechs, then a hapless Andorra team might have given a few players the experience they need.

Disappointing the home support at Wembley is a trap that Capello must not fall into - England must win friendlies, or at least prove they've learned something from them. What tonight proved was that we still know certain players still don't do it in an England shirt. Time to give a chance to those that might.

Failing to invest in success

2008-08-19T12:21:00.000-07:00

Amateur sports are the bedrock of the Britain's success in the current olympics. That's what the government will undoubtedly be saying following the success of our athletes. New Labour will be crowing with delight as our olympians strike gold after gold with 2012 in London yet to come.

I'd like to get my retaliation in first and suggest that the Olympic situation is in spite of, rather than because of, the way the British government (both national and local) gets involved in sport.

The cycling team have been backed by UK Sport, funded by Lottery money, and organised by fantastic performance directors. The rowers are the product of years of coaching in Universities across the country, to the point where private sponsorship is the norm. Sailing is a massive leisure sport in certain areas, where Britain has traditionally competed if not been world beaters. The evidence against any form of sudden massive improvement due to government policy is the fact that the majority of track athletes have barely made it into their semi finals (apologies to our new 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu).

Amateur sport in Britain is in a pretty unhealthy state. Sports grounds are becoming scarcer, and more importantly more expensive every year. Without wanting to get into the realms of Sky Sports populist investigation into the state of amateur football, it is a problem that is in evidence in many of the UK's favourite pastimes.

There is a fantastic set of facilities at Sportcity, where the cyclists are based, but there is little advertising that these are available to the general public. The council surely has an obligation to the payers of council tax to ensure that their leisure needs are cared for, along with their desire to see every street in Manchester dug up once a year.

If you play football in any of the Manchester leagues, you'll know that every year you must find more and more money to pay for a pitch, whilst also paying the FA, referee, Uncle Tom Cobleigh and all. The state of the council pitches is laughable, we regularly turn up to find they've not been mown, lines unpainted, pitches so poorly drained as to be unplayable or in some cases, the posts so sunken into the ground as to make them little more than 5 a side goals.

If the government really want us to believe they don't want us to win the title of the most obese nation on earth, then they need to make sure that the amateur sportsmen (of all sports) get the maximum opportunity to participate, and not be ruled out on the basis that they can't afford all the top gear or a multi-million pound stadium. Lottery grants to improve local sports facilities would be a step in the right direction, and as important for our local communities as any campaign against knives.

Fortune telling 2008/9

2008-08-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

It's a week to the start of the Premiership season, and finally the will he won't he saga of Cristiano Ronaldo's potential move to Real Madrid has ended.

The next question is whether or not United will have the firepower to retain their title. Their title rivals Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool have recruited to some extent, leaving United as the only one of the top 4 not to have significantly invested over the summer. Spurs have outspent all of their rivals combined, going for broke (literally) and blowing huge sums on the likes of David Bentley, Luka Modric, Gio Dos Santos and Heurelho Gomes. Significantly they haven't replaced Robbie Keane, and must surely have another option lined up for when Dimitar Berbatov makes his protracted (but inevitable) move to United. Question is, what will this mean for the top 4?

The experienced heads at United and Chelsea should, in theory, ensure that these two are the main protagonists in the title race, but what of the others?

Liverpool's bumbling pursuit of Gareth Barry has only served to unsettle that player and cheese off another - the calming influence of Xabi Alonso won't be as great now he's been hawked round half of Europe in order to make room for Barry - surely not a better player? Robbie Keane looks a good signing but perhaps not the decisive match winner required to take the weight off Gerrard and Torres. 20 goals from Keane might make some difference but don't expect miracles. A settled (ish) back 4 is a benefit, but it's converting draws into victories that may make the difference. They'll be closer than last season, I feel 10 points max from the winners, and 3rd place. Rafa still hasn't the mastery of the premiership he enjoys in Europe.

Arsenal have made one or two interesting signings, (especially Samir Nasri) but I think their best new player may be an often overlooked existing one. It's about time Theo Walcott got a run in the team, and with Alex Hleb's defection to Barca, there may be a regular first team place for him. Certainly his pre-season form has suggested he has matured and doesn't panic when in the final third. Anyway, it'd be nice to see an English player in the most stylish team in the land! Arsenal could either destroy teams with their counter-attacking or suffer some hammerings if they concede early. Certainly they miss a top keeper and experienced back up in defence. 4th place for them - don't expect many draws!

Exciting though they appear to be, the signings at Spurs don't appear to be enough to drastically change their fotunes. I think a 4th place would be a major step forward, perhaps a bridge too far - it's just a matter of whether they have the patience to give the manager time to create a confident team. It's all well and good when they're battering hapless Roma 5-0 in a pre-season game, but when they're under the cosh at Old Trafford or being outmuscled at Stamford Bridge, what will the response be? Last season appeared to be over before it began for the men from the Lane, and must be considered a blip based on the players they have. Robinson may have gone, but Gomes certainly isn't the great keeper £9m would buy. Expect more from Spurs, but not too much yet.

Anyway, I think relegation might be more clear cut - much as it pains me, I expect Stoke City, Hull City and WBA to descend immediately back whence they came. The two flies in their parachute payment ointments may be Fulham and Wigan who seem to think volume of signings equates to points. I anticipate them struggling once again - even Andy Johnson and the irrepressible Jimmy Bullard can't make that much difference, surely. Of the 3 newly promoted teams, I think Stoke may have the best chance of upsetting a few people, a partisan Britannia Stadium crowd and a muscular approach may upset the likes of Arsenal's foreign legion.

Money for Auld Firm - The Euro Vase

2008-08-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

It's still August, and before a ball has been kicked in the Domestic leagues in most of Europe, Glasgow Rangers are already out of European competition, courtesy of an away defeat to FC Kaunas of Lithuania last night. Great news for those of us in Manchester who were party to their travelling "fans" antics last year.

The questions this raises are far more important than the trivial issues that have been voiced so far regarding the impact of Rangers missing out on the £12 million their rivals Celtic will get for just reaching the Champions League group stages.

What we should be asking ourselves is how a team finishing 2nd in their Domestic league (and last season reaching the UEFA cup final) can find themselves cast out of Europe by a team from a place where the national sport is basketball .

And how on earth can this remotely value the UEFA cup and Scottish league when Aston Villa look likely to qualify for that competition with ease through the Intertoto Cup despite finishing only 6th in the English Premiership. And Liverpool will no doubt qualify for the Champions League through one tie again, despite finishing only 4th.

A drastic overhaul of European competition is required, making sense of the handicapping system known as the co-efficient, used by UEFA to determine at what level each team (who aren't Champions of the country) join the competition.

The old cup winners cup at least provided interest for those sides who had a knockout pedigree, and meant they wouldn't get drawn against a top 4 side who'd dropped out of the Champions League - as per Rangers last year. The UEFA cup is a joke, with intelligible group stages requiring 1 win from 4 games to get through in some cases. How this is meant to convince punters a meaningful competition is taking place is beyond me.

At any rate, The Champions League, in its current format, becomes more successful every year and the fat cats get ever fatter. What we need to think of is how to encourage new competition in the closed shop of the top 4. Look at what happened to Leeds after Champions League funding was missed out upon? Who's to say that an Arsenal or Liverpool wouldn't find themselves in a similar spot if they had a difficult draw in qualifying. British teams have always rated the home league championship as the main point of the season - but there is a worry that a top 4 slot is now the main prize and the riches of Europe have replaced the glory of lifting the Championship in May. I'd love to see a return to those days of touch and go championships and less emphasis on ensuring qualification for continental competitions.

An unhelpful hand

2008-07-24T06:39:00.000-07:00

The bad news this week is that the scheduled fight between Roy Jones Jr and our own Joe Calzaghe has been pushed back to November 8th, after Joe again damaged his hand in training. We're told it's a wrist injury, but with his history of hand trouble this can't be good news going into the rign with the ever-durable Jones. Again that lack of knockout power should be in evidence as against Hopkins. Plus Jones is only 3 years older so won't be sluggish as B-Hop. Hmmmm. Borefest or Calzaghe to get beaten up?

The only really interesting thing about this match-up is that Jones has suggested that they have 2 weigh-ins in order to fight for all Calzaghe's titles. The first weigh in is to be for Super Middleweight to get them under the limit for Calzaghe's 2 titles, then put on a couple of pounds quickly (water intake apparently) in order to then be also classed as light heavyweights and contest Calzaghe's "The Ring Magazine" light heavy title. Great gimmick in concept, and a surefire crowd puller, but with Jones having won a Heavyweight title in the not too distant past, this appears to be a dead end for Calzaghe's career.

Anyway, we've now got a September date with Amir Khan to look forward to - let's hope his new (Cuban) trainer makes him watch some real boxers in action and convinces him that if he actually got in the ring with a world champion at the moment, he'd be eating through a straw for weeks.

Ricky Hatton has what looks like (from last performance) a relatively straightforward tangle with the wierd Paulie Malignaggi in Vegas to look forward to - let's hope he turns up with the same stupid haircut! I think with Hatton's "miles on the clock" he needs to be looking at the final career defining fight - we've got Tszyu fight and Mayweather so far, one more great fight should see him call it quits. A fight with Manny Pacquiao would be brutal; going on his recent demolition job on David Diaz it may be a great test for Hatton but a great spectacle - and as Hatton has never ducked anyone it may be on the cards.

The important thing is that Ricky stays with Billy Graham, the trainer who's guided his career to far. For all Hatton's quality (and personality), he needs to keep his feet on the ground and ignore distractions such as Stand up tours, and Graham will surely keep him focussed.

The fight I really wanted to see looks like a no-goer at the moment, Carl Froch vs Jermain Taylor for the WBC super middleweight title vacated by Calzaghe. It's about time someone "grew a set" and fought Froch, who is the most dangerous fighter in his division, and as a consequence gets ignored by anyone with a title. Froch is relatively young in ring time, but 30 years old and needs to get a shot sooner rather than later. Kelly Pavlik has said he'll fight anyone, so that would be my ideal fight.

Let's get it on!

Seeing the future - reprised

2008-07-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

Well D-Day has passed and the 14 Superleague teams for next season know who they are.

I'd like to say that I was pretty much on the money as far as my 14 choices were (it was fairly predictable) - though Castleford snuck in by the skin of their teeth with a Grade C licence, along with Celtic Crusaders and Salford City Reds. Congratulations to both, especially Salford chairman John Wilkinson who has spent over 20 years - and doubtless a Jamie Peacock sized chunk of his own money - to keep the Reds going in order to see them take their place at the top table with their ambitious new stadium at Barton.

I will say it's a real shame for the people in Widnes especially, with their Chairman Steve O'Conner saving them from administration and ensuring they survived in their great new ground. I think they were unlucky not to be replacing Castleford, expecially with their guarantees of financial solvency and their ground being of a far greater standard than both Cas and Wakefield (and Hull KR arguably).

There is a feeling of bitterness for teams like Leigh that the Celtic Crusaders admission was a fait d'accompli - and it may well be seen as inevitable that a new regional team would get in. the neutral should be pleased for the Crusaders though, with a healthy presence in Superleague, it should mean that Welsh Rugby League thrives anew - like the glory days when Welsh Union players defected wholesale in the 1970s and 1980s. If they could recapture that through the Crusaders development/academy schemes it can only mean good things for the game as a whole - plus a certain Welsh fan I know may be able to dance the caterpillar at another Wales victory over England before too long.

Anyway, whilst there is another 4 months to the Grand Final, the new teams have a great opportunity to recruit effectively, with the reassurance that they won't be relegated if their first season in the top flight doesn't go to plan. Congratulations to the RFL on negotiating a tricky process with the minimum of fuss - in 3 years time there should also be room for expansion of the league and further development into the regions. The National League are already prepared to admit Scottish, Irish or French teams for next season, which gives them a decent 3 year run to the next franchise awards. Forward planning the like of which you don't usually see in sport.

Seeing the future?

2008-07-21T05:24:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the day that Rugby League fans across the country have been waiting for. It's the announcement of the 14 franchises awarded to the successful applicants from the 19 who vied to be in Superleague next year.

From the existing 12 members of Superleague, the only ones I can really see as having a struggle to get a licence would be Wakefield and Castleford. One of these 2 may fall - my money would be on Cas if anyone. That leaves either 2 or 3 new entrants. In terms of the development of the game, we should be hoping both Celtic Crusaders and Toulouse are granted entry, and then one from Halifax, Widnes and Salford. Sadly this appears to be a little too soon for Featherstone's efforts, although their development plans deserve to be considered for next time franchising is reviewed (2 years time I believe).

My Superleague line up for 2009 would be (and this is to be compared to the results announced at 10am tomorrow); www.skysports.com/rugbyleague

Leeds Rhinos
St Helens
Bradford Bulls
Wigan Warriors
Catalan Dragons
Warrington Wolves
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
Harlequins
Hull FC
Hull KR
Huddersfield Giants
+
Celtic Crusaders
Toulouse
Salford City Reds

Apologies to my friends at Halifax, but despite a fine season coming back from all the problems that have beset the club, it may be a bridge too far for one of Rugby League's most historic clubs. I just hope that this doesn't mean the fine up and coming players the Blue Sox have developed can continue to come through whilst they wait to reclaim their rightful place in the top flight.

Football's Black Marketplace

2008-07-21T04:28:00.000-07:00

After a week off in the sunshine - my pre-season break is now over - I've come back armed with a ranting topic.

I've been in Portugal, a country rich in football tradition and home to some of the world's great players (Eusebio, Futre, Figo, Rui Costa, Ronaldo etc). The Portuguese are mad for Ronaldo, with shirts, flags, banners etc covering stalls everywhere, almost like a 35 degree version of Warwick Road near Old Trafford. With one subtle difference. Replica shirts.

We should all remember the fairly recent court cases where Umbro, JJB, United and The FA all got their knuckles rapped for price rigging on replica kits. There are, however, very clear controls on what can be sold, how much and where. For example you won't find many cheap/knocked off replica shirts anywhere near Old Trafford, as there is an (unspoken?) uneasy truce between the clubs and vendors, where they produce t-shirts and scarves with club motifs, but no replica shirts. This means that if you want a United shirt, or England shirt, you need to go to an official retailer. The teams would be within their rights to get trading standards or the police to close down anyone violating this peace.

Portugal's version of this is that anyone with a wheelbarrow and a screen printing press in their garage can start knocking out dodgy shirts (to locals and tourists) whilst the police obviously have no interest and wander past without batting an eyelid.

I'd guess that the fact that Portugal turns a blind eye to the fakes industry probably means that the official shirt prices need to be lower than they are over here. Which begs the question, are we supporting the kit manufacturer's profits by paying over the odds in a non-competitive market.

The UK replica shirt market is one of the main features of "Rip off Britain" (The Sun says). £45 for a Home shirt is about average - even for a club like mine (Derby County) who aren't even in the Premiership. The prices are protected by law, rather than market forces, and the punter is the one who misses out rather than the two main kit manufacturers (Nike and Adidas) who control most of the top tier marketplace. The argument is that the quality needs to be controlled, but for a 17 year old on minimum wage (£3.40), a Home shirt of their choice is effectively 2 full days wages before any form of tax. Add to that the escalating cost of a matchday ticket, and you're into the realms of 4 days pay (almost a week) to see your team and wear their colours. Before you buy your food for the week!

Let me make clear that I'm not advocating the illegal production of football shirts; nasty print quality, logos that wash off and cheap shirts that shrink or discolour are not what we want, but a level of realism from the manufacturers should see the costs reduced in order to return this game to its roots. The working man's game. If he can't afford to support his team, what future do we have?

Franchising for the fans

2008-07-03T03:13:00.000-07:00

July 22nd 2008. An important date in the history of sport in this country. But how so, you may ask?

The answer is that July 22nd is the date that the 14 Superleague franchises will be awarded. The 14 teams that will make up Superleague next season will no longer be decded by promotion and relegation, rather by the allocation of franchise status, and a piece of the TV rights pie that goes with it. Imagine the Premiership becoming a closed shop to the Championship teams, unless you were deemed worthy to join them. There are, however, some critical differences.

The selection process has been ongoing for best part of a year now since the 19 candidates put together their business plans and submitted themselves to scrutiny by the independent panel of adjudicators. 10 clear criteria are the basis of the judgement, items such as is your stadium fit for the top level, are you financially solvent, and is your average crowd over 10,000. More importantly, as Rugby League seeks to expand itself into untapped goldmines of France and South Wales, criteria such as homegrown players and any other team within 20 miles are also considered vital.

Why is this so important - surely Rugby League is a minority sport in the UK?

Superleague has, since the advent of summer rugby, been a leader in terms of marketing. The Premiership dominates our conciousness, but has to do very little to keep us engaged. The RFL, who run Superleague, have managed to turn a predominantly northern, flat cap and whippets game into a glitzy (sometimes) and marketable asset, whilst boosting the standard of play and attracting some of the world's top players. All in a sport with strict salary cap guidelines on spending no more than 80% of your income on salary, and surviving on average crowds of approx 10,000. There are no billionaire owners, and even if there were, they would be prevented from going out and buying the Shevchenkos of the world by the regulations and salary cap.

If you've ever been to a game of Rugby League, you'll know the atmosphere is second to none, it's family friendly, you can stand up on the terraces with a pint and there's no trouble. Ring any bells? I'd suggest this is where football was in the late 1970s and 80s. Superleague are trying to keep this as the main selling point, obviously alongside their fast and furious games. For this they deserve congratulations.

One of the main benefits of no relegation is that coaches are not under as much pressure, and can (and do) allow their young talent to break through, rather than relying on substandard journeymen from abroad. Leeds Rhinos, one of the shoe-ins for a franchise award, played 15 homegrown players in the squad of 17 for their game last weekend, after losing 6 first teamers to the England team the same weekend. And still won! Can you imagine a league where David Bentley doesn't feel he had to leave Arsenal to get a game, or lower teams filling their ranks with unknown scandinavians as they're cheaper than their English equivalents?

A franchise system may be mooted as a future plan for the bloated plutocrats of the Premiership, but suffice to say there's no way in which it would be so well managed, and universally accepted, as the Rugby League version.

For those who are lost for something to do in the close (football) season, you could do worse than adopt your local Rugby League team - Salford City Reds in the Manchester area - and get nostalgic for run down terraces where you can enjoy a pie and a pint.

It's Nad-al over for another year

2008-07-03T03:11:00.000-07:00

Well that's Wimbledon for another year (yes I know we're not even at semi-finals day yet). One fantastic game to get expectation building up then the usual trauma of our great white hope being ruthlessly annihilated by a serial Slam winner.

Rafa Nadal looked like he had the shots to beat anyone - that is anyone other than the King of the grass courts in his natty cream cardigan. It would be unimaginable for Federer to lose to Nadal on grass - the major bastion of his dominance. And the way he brushed aside Ancic, the last man to beat him on this surface, his inexorable march to the title looks assured.

Will Pimms keep until next year?

Murray is mint

2008-07-01T06:36:00.000-07:00

I've got to take a quick time out from my (so far) football themed posts to congratulate Andy Murray on a fantastic comeback to reach the quarter finals of Wilmbledon. Where he'll now get mullered by Rafa Nadal, but you can't have everything.

It's often that we watch British players and teams imploding when the going gets tough - or perhaps ranting, raving and blaming anyone other than themselves. At 21, Andy murray displayed maturity and self discipline to keep plugging away from 2 sets down, convinced he could still salvage something. Some of his tennis was extraordinary, one or two of his reaches were just short of miraculous.

Congratulations to the cnetre court crowd for pulling their idol through the ordeal, which will only now serve to increase the weight of expectation on his shoulders. Still, if he carries on like that, and as he is still a young man, Federer can't have too many years of domination left...although now I've said that Murray'll retire in a year to become a bodybuilder.

Closing off Euro 2008

2008-07-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

The dust has begun to settle on the 2008 European Championships, as indicated by the publication of the Squad of the Tournament. In a typically political exercise, our chums at UEFA have contrived to pick practically half the continent's available players in a squad of 23, rather than the more accustomed team of the tournament. Who cares who you thought was the 3rd best keeper – Van der Sar apparently - was he better than Artur Boruc who kept Poland in every game they played.

For better or worse here’s my XI –playing 4-1-3-2. And is it possible not to pick Spain’s entire midfield in team of the tournament? (Apologies Andres Iniesta).

GK – Boruc, LB – Zhirkov, CB – Puyol, CB - Simunic, RB - Altintop
DM – Senna
LM – Silva, CM – Xavi, RM - Fabregas
CF – Arshavin, CF - Torres

Tough luck on Michael Ballack who continues to carry a poor German team to heights they should never achieve. Commiserations to Van Der Sar for an excellent final tournament. Finally well done to Turkey and Croatia for showing up some of the more fancied nations, with a level of skill and commitment that was a credit to them.

A team of flops would be much more interesting – let’s hear it for Mario Gomes (worst miss ever) and Luca Toni (most misses in one match), Portugal’s Ricardo (when do you come to catch a cross?) most of the German defence (unable to win the ball near their own area), and anyone in the French team who’d previously won anything (bus pass trophy).

The one bright spot is Xavi of Spain being named the top individual player. Based on his displays throughout the tournament, and off the back of his Barcelona form, we know he's not just a flash in the pan (see previous Arshavin comments about big games?), more so a prime exponent of the killer pass for whichever forward is lucky enough to play ahead of him. Pushed hard for his place by the ever more impressive Fabregas, he looks a firm foundation on which Pep Guardiola (another great midfielder) can start to rebuild Barca.

I’m pleased to say Spain thoroughly deserved to win Euro 2008, my only regret is that after tipping them very heavily to all and sundry, I then forgot to put a bet on. Still, with my money on them, they’d have had no chance.

The Germans' next victims?

2008-06-26T03:07:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm feeling suitably smug after the Germans indeed ground out an undeserved win last night without playing especially well. Well played Turkey for never knowing when they're beaten - until the final whistle obviously. With a half decent keeper who knows what may have happened - think David Seaman vs Ronaldinho free kick in 2002.

Anyway there's another game to look at yet, so let's talk about the Russians. I'm at a loss as to why Hiddink hasn't landed the Chelsea job yet, as his Russia team appear to play the football that Abramovich wants to see. Comfortable in possession and technically gifted, with a tough spine, I think the Russians have been a match for any team in the tournament. That is apart from their nervous first display against tomorrow's opponents, Spain. Shouldn't be a shock to anyone that has ever seen them play previously, or the ease with which the Zenit St Petersburg team dismantled Bayern and Rangers en route to the Uefa Cup final.

Pavlyuchenko up front is a threat, and can finish (sometimes), and it'll be a good battle with Marchena and the ever-impressive Puyol. If he gets the service from Arshavin, which should be nailed on, he'll get chances. Particularly now Barca have now made a bid for the little maestro. The two attacking full backs Anyukov and Zhirkov look ready to do a Thuram or Grosso and weigh in with an important goal, and the midfield is steady if unspectacular, mashalled by the skipper Semak. The doubt is at the back where Kolodin should be kept up the other end taking 45yd pot shots. Villa and Torres will run the two lumbering centre backs around and may cause problems. The jury's still out on the keeper Akinfeyeev, who's apparently great on Championship Manager, but appears to feel he has an unfair advantage using his hands, so elects to even things up by punching anything heading his way.

The Spanish have been many peoples tip (including mine) from the start. On the basis that they have some great players and "it's about time they won something". Doesn't work for England fellas. Villa and Torres haven't really fired together since the first game, against tomorrow's opponents Russia, but still remain a massive threat, particularly when they run at the Russian back four, and cut them apart with movement. They need to improve the link up play that's seen them hitting the first defender with every cross since that first game.

Fabregas ran the Italy game when he came on, and must be given a chance to start. If he can fire the midfield, probably at the expense of Iniesta or Xavi, then the Spanish have a chance. At the back much will reply on Puyol and Marchena marshalling Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko. The latter will be easier, and I can see Marchena being left that job, which means poor Carles or Ramos might be left chasing Arshavin across the width of the pitch.

With all that in mind, plus the pressure factor of being favourites, logic suggests the Spanish bubble will burst tomorrow, with a narrow Russia win without the need for pens. These are two of the best footballing sides in the competition so it's a shame that one of them will have to go on to be bored to death by Germany in the final.

Teutonic bulldozer and Turkey for tea

2008-06-25T06:22:00.000-07:00

Well it's semi-final time again, and once again we're sitting here watching the business end of a tournament without England in it. At least we weren't here this time to get knocked out. And we still have the moderate comfort of watching some quality (and potential) premiership players.

The latest rumours surround the fleetfooted Andrei Arshavin, or Андрей Асрхавин as his mum knows him. I always wondered why the players names aren't in their own language on the back of shirts - now we know! Anyway, it appears the wiley old professor of Foreign studies at Arsenal has realised that Andrei has conjured himself out of fresh air, and anyone that can do that will be a welcome addition to the "go missing in big games crew" that occupy the Emirates dressing room. At least he has a pedigree of mesmerising Rangers in the UEFA pot final. Hmmmm.

Anyway, to tonight's match up.

Germany against Turkey offers yet another underdog scenario, and as usual the Germans have ground out the passage to the knock out stages. The majestic Michael Ballack looks like the player of old, and the guy who so nearly propelled Chelsea over the finish line this season. The solidity of Frings and the runs of Lahm from full back mean that Germany's midfield should dominate and create chances for Podolski, Klose and whoever replaces Gomes (who apparently can't remember scoring all those golas in the Bundesliga last season). The German weakness is that they have 2 centre halves who look like they'd be more at home administering Suplexes in the WWE than dispossessing a skilful forward. And then there's Jens Lehman. Add your own punchline.

Hands up anyone who can name a Turkish player other than Nihat, who dragged them back from the brink against the Czechs, but is now apparently out of the tournament. Much rests on Semih Senturk, who has 2 already this tournament. Turkey have battled their way through, and I heard a great stat that they've only been in the lead for 2 minutes of the entire tournament. This suggests that they're very fit and never give up, qualities that willbe tested against the Germans who might not be spectacular (Ballack free kicks apart) but will pound away til the opposition cave in. Their injury crosis is so bad that Terim claims only 13 fit outfield players will be in the squad tonight. Remains to be seen, but they are shorn of a couple of centre backs and Klose and Podolski are too much for many fit defenders, never mind the heroic Servet who has pretty much been on one leg since day 1. And Rustu's renaissance will probably last only two games.

It's a shame for that Turkish support which trebles by the formula - (Massive underdog x playing Germany)+ Hansen sticks to Germans - but I can't see anything other than the German bulldozer rumbling on in normal time - and if it did go to penalties we all know what would happen.

What's it all about then?

2008-06-22T10:47:00.001-07:00

No, before you read any further, this isn't my half hearted attempt at working out why we're here.

I've decided (with pushing from a few mates) to start to air my views on various sports (but mainly Football) to the wider world. Not that they're necessarily any interest to anyone but it may allow the lads to get a word in edgeways.

I thought the best way to start a blog about football was to write something about what the world of football has offered over the last few weeks.

We're nearing the end of the European Championships already (anyone remember the 3 year long cricket world cup?) and I agree with many of my mates who say they've enjoyed it much more than we thought we would. Without the inevitable torment of an early England exit in the knockout stages, this major tournament has actually served up some great entertainment as well as a putting a few of the lesser known players in the global shop window (take a bow Mssrs Arshavin, Zhirakov, Engelaar and Boruc).

The only thing that has slightly spoiled the whole event has been the commentary and punditry (Cue rant number 1). We're all pleased the BBC and ITV continue to broadcast these tournaments even without England, but wouldn't they be better served getting some more incisive (by that I mean not braindead) co-commentators and studio 'experts'.

I've long held the view that being forced to listen to David Pleat for 90 minutes is what the American phrase 'cruel and unusual punishment' was invented for. A normally fairly calm individual watching a match in which he has no partisan views will be roused to a level of TV smashing anger by the stream of inanities that pour out of the man. Example - during Portugal's final group game Helder Postiga made an appearance. Having had him at Spurs you'd have waited for some insight from Pleat, perhaps "he likes the ball played in low to the front post" or some such. What we actually got was..."he's a nice boy". Fantastic. The prosecution rests.

We all know Alan "dressing room joker" Shearer has all the dynamic TV presence of the couch he shares with the sardonic Mr Hansen (who is usually worth hearing at least). It amazes me that despite all the rumours of a supposed return to football (Newcastle/Blackburn/Sheff Wed??????) the guy hasn't returned to the environment he obviously felt (and looked) more at home in. Come on Alan, do us a favour and go help out old Kelvin Koogan before his hair actually goes totally see through.

Finally, as a Manchester resident, I think it's about time we all forgot about Cristiano Ronaldo entirely. My one take on the whole subject is this; if a player wants to go, there is pretty much nothing a club can do to stop him. Ronaldo wants to go, so United should wait til he asks for a transfer. Thus saving themselves millions in loyalty payments, and ensuring the villains of the piece, his agent Mendes and the money men at Real get 10% of f*ck all and a larger bill respectively. Then sell the boy for £70million and buy 3 world class players to defend the European Cup.