In a normal job anybody, especially somebody in a senior position, who fell below the required standard would be sacked. Their contract would not necessarily be paid off, as it is with football managers, because falling below the required level would be seen as a breach of that contract and, therefore, a sackable offence. (more…)
Manchester United fans do not have a lot of time for Wayne Rooney at present. When he originally signed for the club he was accepted quite quickly, helped, no doubt, by scoring a hat-trick in his first game, a Champion’s League match against FenerbahcĂ©.
He then went on to have a few relatively successful years even though he could only watch as better players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez moved on to more success. He never reached their level despite his early promise. It appeared that he reached his comfort zone and stayed there. (more…)
Having spent most of my working life scraping a living in the sales industry I have met, over the years, my fair share of blindly optimistic people. It helps, apparently, to think that something will go well even when, to the unbiased observer, it obviously will not.
I have nothing against optimism and positive mental attitude but, as with most things, there is a time and a place. (more…)
If you were this man,
Would you be happy to see your goalscoring records taken from you by this man?
No? I didn’t think so. There is an injustice about the whole thing which makes it seem so totally surreal.
One of the two is about to celebrate 60 years since making his Manchester United debut, the other one isn’t. One is universally liked and respected, the other one isn’t.
Sir Bobby, of course, was and will be the first to congratulate Rooney both for the England record he has already achieved and the Manchester United one which, if he continues to be as bad as he has been for the last few years, he may not achieve. We live in hope! Privately, I would be very surprised if Charlton is happy with this situation. (more…)
It just shows what a sorry state the England national team is in. Sam Allardyce parts company with them for a mistake which was, basically, getting himself involved in a sting operation by a newspaper designed to prove that Allardyce is, after all, as human as most other people.
It was not a mistake over which he should have lost his job which will be proved in future when he is given another job. There’s hypocrisy for you! One man’s meat is another man’s poison and all that. (more…)
(With Sam Allardyce as England boss, many players will now dread international breaks as much as most fans do)
Like an ad break just at the most exciting moment of your favourite TV show, it’s here again! Yes folks, just three games into the new season and everything stops for the internationals. It isn’t a long break, just an annoying one when your favourite new series had just begun a new run.
Wayne Rooney, recently given the nod to carry on as England captain because there is nobody else, can stroll around the pitch thinking about what he is going to do when he retires from international football, whilst many wish he would retire from club football in order to prolong his international career. It just goes to show how much people love the national team when they couldn’t care less whether or not their captain is any good. (more…)
This was the first World Cup I was old enough to watch and appreciate. It was 1966, the year before colour TV appeared, so black and white it was.
Colour TV, just as an aside, made its first appearance on BBC2 at Wimbledon, where everybody had to wear white! A typically well thought out introduction to the wonderful world of colour by the BBC.
So back to the World Cup and, after a laborious 0-0 draw against Uruguay, England sailed through the rest of the group beating Mexico 2-0, then France by the same score. Without playing remarkably well, England had qualified from the group and Roger Hunt had scored three goals. Worryingly, at this stage, England’s top scorer, Jimmy Greaves, hadn’t scored a goal in the opening three games.
In the quarter-final England were to face Argentina. By now Alf Ramsey had decided to drop Jimmy Greaves and picked Geoff Hurst in his place. This paid off when Hurst scored the only goal of a drab game, remembered more for the sending off of Antonio Rattin, Argentina’s captain, than for anything else.
In the semi-final, England conceded their first goal of the competition when Eusebio scored a penalty for Portugal. It made little difference as England were already leading at the time with two goals from Bobby Charlton. The game finished 2-1. (more…)
(Don’t shoot me! I admit it, I am the weakest link! I promise to try and improve, just don’t drop me!)
At thirty years of age, Wayne Rooney’s best days are a considerable way behind him.
At present he keeps being selected by Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal because he, rather foolishly, made him captain. Not only is Rooney a long way off being captain material, he is currently a long way off even being first team material.
Almost as soon as van Gaal decided Rooney was his captain at United, Mr Roy followed suit with England.
Now I don’t know what these two see in him on the training ground, but I do know what I see on the pitch.
Over the years Manchester United have had some great captains. The ones that stand out are the likes of Roy Keane and Bryan Robson, both of whom also captained their countries. Neither of them were shrinking violets and could be very vocal both on and off the field. (more…)
This was going to be titled, ‘England and the Meaningless Friendlies, (part III).’
As anybody who follows these inane waffles will know, I have already written and published the first two parts, which question the value of these games.
However, this was not a meaningless friendly. This was one of the most meaningful friendlies played in a very long time.
It was a friendly football match that actually meant something for all the wrong reasons. It was right that it was played. Any act designed to terrorise, kill and maim people is sick enough in its own right but, to then cede more to the perpetrators by cancelling a sporting event which had been planned for a while, somehow makes it even worse, if that is at all possible. (more…)
Loyal followers of these chronicles will be aware that, in the very recent past, I wrote about the folly of meaningless international friendly matches, particularly at a time when the Premier League table is starting to take on a meaningful shape.
For any loyal followers who just happened to miss the first part, here it is.
I also wrote about it back in August of 2014, for Pundit Arena, if anyone is interested, here that is as well.
My doubt about these games is focused on what purpose they actually serve. Other than teaching uninformed coaches things about their team blatantly obvious to everybody else, and running the risk of injuring players who may be vital to their club’s title challenge, what is the aim? (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 