After all the pomp and circumstance, 2018’s ethics World Cup finally got underway when the hosts met Saudi Arabia in the opening game.
The enigma that is Russia, not only as a football team, but as a country, continues to confound the logic of most sane people. How can a land boasting a population of around 145 million and with such a long history of playing football, a country whose population loves the game, unlike the early days in America, be so poor at actually playing it?
They are currently ranked 70th in the world, only three places above Saudi Arabia! On that basis the result of the opening game was really quite a surprise, particularly when taking into account the fact that the hosts had lost their previous seven. So a 5-0 win was a most welcome start for them.
The problem faced by the Russians has not been one of finance because, since being awarded the World Cup back in 2010, plenty of money has been poured into the country. The problem is with how it has been invested or rather, how it hasn’t been invested!
Grass roots football has seen very little of the money with the Russians preferring instead to waste the majority of it on expensive foreign players, agent’s fees and disproportionate salaries.
Going down this one-way street now means that before a remedy can be applied, the Russian FA has to, firstly, get out of the street, making the process a lot longer than should have been the case. This is what has set the game back for years and it is showing no signs of recovery as of yet.
But, where there’s life there’s hope, as they say and we await the outcome of this World Cup with interest.
Back home…..
Yet again, through rank bad management, Tottenham Hotspur are looking for preferential treatment from the FA.
The FA has, once again, displayed it’s incredibly arrogant propensity for bias in favour of absolutely anything providing it is London based.
There is a very simple rule which states that a Premier League club play ALL of it’s home games at the same ground. This is, amongst other reasons, a way of keeping it fair to all the other clubs in the division who will all have to visit the same ground.
So what happens if you are Tottenham Hotspur and, through pathetically bad planning and disorganisation, your new ground won’t be ready for the start of the season.
The answer should be quite simple. They should play away from home until the ground is ready. If that results in them dropping points and being out of the top six after the first few games then that is their own fault.
What shouldn’t happen is the club are allowed to play a home game at Wembley and then take up residence at their new ground. How is that fair? So poor old Burnley get to play them at what has been, essentially, their home ground for the whole of last season, then everybdy else gets to play them on a ground that they are not used to and will almost be like a neutral venue for the first few months.
Having already allowed Tottenham to play an FA Cup semi-final at “home”, which they lost, and being guilty of downright greed and southern bias in playing both of the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley, regardless of which teams are participating, the FA is now in danger of becoming not only a laughing stock, but the vehicle which drives an even bigger wedge between north and south than the one which already exists.
And finally…..
Anthony Martial, according to his agent, (who else?), wants to leave Manchester United. What is strange about this claim is that the player himself has always stated that he is very happy in Manchester and is prepared to do whatever it takes to stay and fight for a first team place.
Anthony Martial – With that “what has he said now?” look on his face!
He may have the occasional disagreement with his manager as do, no doubt, the vast majority of the other players. He may be asked to play out of position which, in this day and age, is also not particularly unusual. He may, even at his young age, think he should be an automatic selection for every game and this, if there is a problem, is likely to be it!
As we have pointed out before, and we can only assume he didn’t get his copy of our publication that day, he is not George Best, he is not as good as George Best and he never will be. He is not Cristiano Ronaldo. Again, he is not as good as Cristiano Ronaldo and he never will be.
These are two players who were selected regularly for the first team at a very young age, (as was Norman Whiteside, but there is an exception to every rule!)
If Anthony Martial or, more specifically, his agent, thinks that he should be treated differently by José Mourinho than any other player trying to break into the team then it is time he left.
No tears will be shed as he will, no doubt, make plenty of money elsewhere and the only losers in this situation would be the plastic United fans who think that the club should revolve around one player. In fact, they should leave with him.
Manchester United themselves have repeated that he is not for sale.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 