Saturday 31 December 2011
Thursday 22 December 2011
Poor Officiating - Are We Surprised?
Football officials are genuinely clueless, do you really blame the 'keeper?
This is the problem with not allowing referees to use common sense or be allowed to have played the game to a decent standard.
This is the problem with not allowing referees to use common sense or be allowed to have played the game to a decent standard.
Wednesday 21 December 2011
Tuesday 20 December 2011
Suarez Eight Match Ban
No-one can condone racism in any walk of life, even football, which often likes to think of itself as being above the law on occasion. If Luis Suarez was guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra he deserves everything he gets in the way of a ban and/or fine. Evra has admitted to insulting Suarez in Spanish just before the incident, although the Uruguayan told the FA he never heard it."
I have one worry about the whole incident and that is the fact that the only person who heard the comment, and it was apparently said ten times, was Patrice Evra. This despite the fact that there were other players around the incident. It then boils down to Evra's word against Suarez's word, and the FA chose to believe Evra. Why or how was the evidence in favour of a judgement against Suarez? As a PR exercise this is a potential disaster for the Football Association, as some members of the footballing community will feel aggrieved at the outcome since it appears that nothing has been proven.
Would the same judgement have been made had Suarez reported Evra for racist comments?
I get the impression that whatever the actual story, and let's face it the only people who really know what went on are Suarez and Evra, the FA were going to "send out a message" to deter other players from making the same error in judgement.
I thought Mario Balotelli made a poignant/amusing remark on twitter along the lines of "The FA believe Evra with no evidence whatsoever; the entire Manchester United squad racially abused me then - haha".
I await with interest the conclusion of the police enquiry into the John Terry/Anton Ferdinand case (the police are involved because it was reported by a member of the crowd), where there is TV evidence incriminating Terry, the current England captain.
I have one worry about the whole incident and that is the fact that the only person who heard the comment, and it was apparently said ten times, was Patrice Evra. This despite the fact that there were other players around the incident. It then boils down to Evra's word against Suarez's word, and the FA chose to believe Evra. Why or how was the evidence in favour of a judgement against Suarez? As a PR exercise this is a potential disaster for the Football Association, as some members of the footballing community will feel aggrieved at the outcome since it appears that nothing has been proven.
Would the same judgement have been made had Suarez reported Evra for racist comments?
I get the impression that whatever the actual story, and let's face it the only people who really know what went on are Suarez and Evra, the FA were going to "send out a message" to deter other players from making the same error in judgement.
I thought Mario Balotelli made a poignant/amusing remark on twitter along the lines of "The FA believe Evra with no evidence whatsoever; the entire Manchester United squad racially abused me then - haha".
I await with interest the conclusion of the police enquiry into the John Terry/Anton Ferdinand case (the police are involved because it was reported by a member of the crowd), where there is TV evidence incriminating Terry, the current England captain.
Monday 19 December 2011
Sacking Your Manager
I sympathise, I really do Blackburn Rovers fans and Bolton Wanderers fans. Your teams are rubbish, and who can you have a go at?
Even if you can afford to sack the manager and pay him off, the new manager will demand a transfer kitty for January's transfer window in a desperate bid to stave off relegation, and if you struggled to pay off the last incumbent, where is the money going to come from for fresh transfer funds?
So you could get rid of the board of directors. These directors need to be quite well off as they will foot the bill if the club goes under, so Joe Average from 27 Acacia Road can't just turn up at the ground and demand a seat on the board, he'd need to buy his way in. And what with the current economic climate, the number of people who can afford to do this is getting increasingly smaller. Not just in Britain, but worldwide.
I'm sure that both will eventually be handed their P45s at some point this season, but don't be surprised if it's a last resort affair.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: you have no excuse with Mick McCarthy as you could well afford to get rid of him!
- The manager.
- The board of directors.
Even if you can afford to sack the manager and pay him off, the new manager will demand a transfer kitty for January's transfer window in a desperate bid to stave off relegation, and if you struggled to pay off the last incumbent, where is the money going to come from for fresh transfer funds?
So you could get rid of the board of directors. These directors need to be quite well off as they will foot the bill if the club goes under, so Joe Average from 27 Acacia Road can't just turn up at the ground and demand a seat on the board, he'd need to buy his way in. And what with the current economic climate, the number of people who can afford to do this is getting increasingly smaller. Not just in Britain, but worldwide.
I'm sure that both will eventually be handed their P45s at some point this season, but don't be surprised if it's a last resort affair.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: you have no excuse with Mick McCarthy as you could well afford to get rid of him!
Thursday 8 December 2011
Manchesters United and City Out Of Champions League
Is this really a disaster for English football?
It's certainly a disaster for each club's accountant(s), with millions of pounds in revenue disappearing in 90 minutes. It's great for London with Arsenal and Chelsea having made it through, but ironically it will be the Manchester clubs battling it out for the Premier league title in April/May.
Personally I think that the two Manchester clubs' elimination from the Champions League is a good thing for English football - maybe the game wise up up and get over itself a little. Football in this country has got far to big for its boots in my opinion ans something like this could actually be of benefit in the long run. Less revenue could mean that young English players are preferred to expensive foreign imports as the money won't be there to pay for them, and they will get the opportunity to play alongside the quality of player already here.
I have to say that other than the financial benefits of the Champions League that are an attractive prospect to any club, I can't actually stand the competition, so having less of it on TV is an added bonus for me.
It's certainly a disaster for each club's accountant(s), with millions of pounds in revenue disappearing in 90 minutes. It's great for London with Arsenal and Chelsea having made it through, but ironically it will be the Manchester clubs battling it out for the Premier league title in April/May.
Personally I think that the two Manchester clubs' elimination from the Champions League is a good thing for English football - maybe the game wise up up and get over itself a little. Football in this country has got far to big for its boots in my opinion ans something like this could actually be of benefit in the long run. Less revenue could mean that young English players are preferred to expensive foreign imports as the money won't be there to pay for them, and they will get the opportunity to play alongside the quality of player already here.
I have to say that other than the financial benefits of the Champions League that are an attractive prospect to any club, I can't actually stand the competition, so having less of it on TV is an added bonus for me.
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