Archive for the ‘Football’ Category

The Truth About The Manchester Derby

Posted: October 23, 2015 in Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion
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As anybody who has read the mini-bio on the “About the Author” page will know I am from Manchester and have been a supporter of Manchester United for more than 50 years. During my formative years, in the sixties, I was taken to Old Trafford one week then Maine Road the next for many years. In fact, I was chaperoned until I was deemed old enough to go unaccompanied by an adult. At this stage I stopped going to Maine Road because I was actually a United fan and wanted to watch Law, Best and Charlton all the time. It didn’t help that City were in the old second division in those days, so that also influenced my decision somewhat.

Given this upbringing, I like to think that I am entitled to an opinion, borne of experience, on the importance of the derby game nowadays. (more…)

Almost Time For The Annual Moan

Posted: October 23, 2015 in Football, Opinion
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As Christmas approaches there will be the inevitable cries from some of the Premier League managers, (for it is only them, the lower league managers just get on with it), for a Winter break from the gruelling schedule that can see a top player sometimes having to don his playing boots twice in three days.

You have to feel for the poor souls. Having to survive on a mere pittance of a salary, play on pitches resembling the finest Persian carpets, stay in five star hotels the night before a game, (which now seems to be the norm even for a home game) and then , to add insult to injury, go and kick a ball around for 180 minutes over a period of three days.

As you will no doubt be aware, this scenario is only available at Christmas and the New Year. Thankfully, the poor, vulnerable little waifs and strays will only be asked to run around in circles twice per week at other times of the year, so they don’t feel quite as shattered. (more…)

Commentators – The Football Fan’s Nightmare

Posted: October 21, 2015 in Commentators, Football, Opinion
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Are they really necessary? Assuming that blind people don’t watch television, what is the point of a commentator?

I can go back as far as Kenneth Wolstenholme commentating on the 1966 World Cup final and his now immortal lines, “some people are on the pitch, they think it’s all over……………it is now!” All said to the accompaniment of Geoff Hurst booting the ball past a startled Hans Tilkowski for England’s fourth goal. The thing was, Wolstenholme didn’t actually tell us anything we didn’t already know. We were sat watching the game on TV.

Ever since the inception of televised football, the TV companies have thought it necessary to treat their audience as bumbling, infantile idiots. Where else do we accept the notion that, while we are actually watching something we know inside out, we need somebody to tell us what is happening (more…)

USA! USA! USA!

Posted: October 19, 2015 in Football, International Football, Opinion, USA
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A United States fan shows his support before the first half of the Gold Cup semifinals against Honduras at Cowboys Stadium, Wednesday, July 24, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade)

After all these years trying, the Americans seem to have finally got the hang of that there Soccer game.

Alright, so they had to rename it in order to not get confused with the armoured Rugby they call Football, which consists of, in the main, carrying or throwing the ball with their hands.

They also have a very popular sport called Baseball. In the UK it is called Rounders and is played, almost exclusively, by very strong schoolgirls.

So it was about time that a real sport was introduced that will eventually become more popular than either of the aforementioned, as it has in virtually every other country in the world. (more…)

Manchester City Lose, Then Win

Posted: October 19, 2015 in Football, Manchester City, Opinion
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Manchester City, thanks to international games being played during a football season, lost out considerably before they took on Bournemouth at the Etihad.

It is fair to say that Bournemouth also lost out to injuries to key players but that is a different situation. At least the Bournemouth players were injured playing for Bournemouth and, as they are unlikely to be challenging the top of the Premier League, they need to buy in January and survive until next season, when they should have a reasonable team.

City can thank Argentina, Spain, Serbia and Belgium for their absentees in this game. All City now have to do is get them fit, pay their wages and try and win games without Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Aleksandr Kolarov and Vincent Kompany. (more…)

Capital Nonsense

Posted: October 8, 2015 in Football, Opinion
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At the risk of appearing as though this is becoming my pet project I want to write, for the last time, about the attraction, (or otherwise), of capital cities to football players.

In England, at the moment, there is a feeling that players coming into our game from abroad would rather play for a London team because they would rather live in London.

I don’t think it is the feeling of the majority, but there are certainly some who think this way. I have covered the reasons as to why this isn’t true, specifically about London, in another post, which you can access here.

What I would like to look at now is whether the capital cities in other countries hold any more attraction than the other large cities when a player is making a move. (more…)

Brendan Is Gone With The Wind

Posted: October 5, 2015 in Football, Liverpool, Managers, Opinion
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(Brendan at the station waving goodbye to Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling along with any chance he had of keeping his job)

Brendan has decided that tomorrow is another day. Not an original quote, but one that Margaret Mitchell would have been pleased to hear. On his sacking by Liverpool he should have said that frankly, my dear, he didn’t give a damn, but he probably didn’t so an opportunity went begging.

The only surprising factor in Rodgers’ dismissal is that it took Liverpool so long to commit the act. Many thought he might go after he sent the money received from Barcelona for Luis Suarez to Southampton and asked them to send him some players in return. The ones that chose to join have hardly pulled up any trees. In fact, Ricky Lambert has already moved on, Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren have struggled to make an impact, although both have improved recently, and Nathaniel Clyne is the only one who can be considered a regular. (more…)

Jack The (English) Lad

Posted: September 29, 2015 in Football, Opinion
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Jack Grealish has decided to represent England at international level.

This assumes that, at some stage in the future, he is actually selected. He should be though, as England do not have a plethora of gifted players from which to make their selection.

He has already played for the Republic on nearly twenty occasions from under-17 to under-21 levels and qualified under the grandparent rule. Now, by choosing England, he stands to make a lot more money but little else.

Small fish, large pond or large fish small pond. Basically that was the choice facing Jack Grealish, who has always maintained that his heart is Irish, unlike his wallet which is English. (more…)

Manchester (United Or City), Versus London (Chelsea Or Arsenal)

Posted: September 19, 2015 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion
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Oliver Charles T Holt has a theory. It isn’t a theory I agree with, but it is a theory.

For those of you who don’t know him, Oliver Holt is a football writer for the Mail on Sunday. He is the son of Eileen Darbyshire who, for fans of Coronation Street, needs no introduction. He is also a Stockport County supporter, which is fair enough, as he is from Stockport.

Now to his theory. I have heard it a couple of times on The Sunday Supplement, Sky Sports’ programme for ageing writers to pretend they know something about football and, what is even worse, to display their lack of knowledge to two, or even three, hundred viewers.

Hosted by Neil Ashton, another writer from the Mail, the “show” is an interesting concept but, unlike it’s counterpart in cricket which is hosted by an ex-professional cricket player and attended by journalists who also played the game professionally, this one is strictly for amateurs, and it shows. (more…)

The Champions League Headaches Continue

Posted: September 16, 2015 in Champions League, European Football, Football, Opinion
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So Chelsea were the only English team to manage a win in the Champions League.

They currently sit 17th in the Premier League. Three of the teams above them, namely Manchester City, (1st), Manchester United, (3rd) and Arsenal, (4th) contrived to lose their opening games.

In fairness Chelsea, on paper anyway, had the easiest task. Even with their dodgy form of late it would still have been a major surprise had they not overcome Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Manchester City are always an unknown quantity in this competition. Regular losers at home, they have beaten teams like Roma away to progress in the past. Their game against Juventus, last year’s beaten finalists, was never going to be easy, but a defeat was still a disappointment even if not greatly surprising. (more…)

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