July 2011.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Why I hate Chelsea
This Luca Modric transfer shite is beginning to get to me. Opening up a can of worms.
I would like to know more about the behaviour of Modric himself to determine is he is part of the problem, or a naïve passenger in a high-level financial tragedy which is being played around him. There appear to be conflicting reports about whether the has formally asked for a transfer request – the only written evidence is below – and I hope that in the fullness of time it will be shown that he has behaved with a degree of honour and has left the matter for the clubs to sort out among themselves.
Somehow though, I do have my doubts.
If he does display the virtue of Wayne Rooney and push for the transfer, I hope he chooses his attaching language well. He needs to leave behind the verbiage of going to a “bigger club” or “wanting to win trophies”. If this is his belief, he should refamiliarise himself with the honours list and results for the last few years – a marginal difference at best between Chelsea’s underachievement and Tottenham’s perennial nearly-there status.
Luca would be better advised to state publicly that he has the opportunity to treble his wages and at the age of 28 he can’t afford to turn this opportunity down. If he has this honesty, then we might overlook the fact that he signed a long term deal at Tottenham only last season. The respective futures of the two clubs didn’t change that much since, even if the Yids failed to secure the Champions League spot.
Finally Luca, you might do well to remember Berbatov – yes while he did win a few medals on the way through, the more obvious result of his quest to play with a bigger club was a couple of seasons warming the bench at Old Trafford and the prospect of a premature move into the pre-scrapheap echelons of European football. Champions League my arse, see what it got you, you greedy Bulgarian tart.
And what do we make of Chelsea in all this? A tactic of manipulating the market by putting out feelers and getting the targets do the negotiating – not cricket so to say but nothing wrong with it either. No, Chelsea’s hateful traits are not related to either ethics or legality – it is all down to pure vulgarity. In a similar manner to what Ireland experienced in the Celtic Tiger, we have small men playing with big toys and brainless women wearing the finest bling. Chelsea’s signings are never determined based on an on-the-pitch strategy, but rather on who is the most expensive and “the best”.
For all the hatred I have of ManYoo, I have to admit is it based purely on their football dominance. Ferguson, unlike Chelsea, determines who he needs at the end of a season from a football perspective, and goes out and buys them. Their signings are part of a patchwork quilt which come the start of a new season always looks pristine and well designed. Chelsea generally spend the early part of the season working out who to play where, and how to split the toys between Drogba and Anelka’s cots.
As long as Abrahamovic is around, Chelsea will never be a great club.
I can’t finish this rant about the evils of money in football without widening the circle. Chelsea have recently been joined by Manchester City in the “Vulgar League” and their manipulation of the Emirates sponsorship deal to by-pass the Premier League’s financial rules on sources of funding, takes the hypocrisy and mockery to a whole new level. As long as the football authorities allow clubs like City to get away with this, the longer the debasement of the beautiful game will continue. It needs to be sorted out.
Luca's transfer request:
I would like to know more about the behaviour of Modric himself to determine is he is part of the problem, or a naïve passenger in a high-level financial tragedy which is being played around him. There appear to be conflicting reports about whether the has formally asked for a transfer request – the only written evidence is below – and I hope that in the fullness of time it will be shown that he has behaved with a degree of honour and has left the matter for the clubs to sort out among themselves.
Somehow though, I do have my doubts.
If he does display the virtue of Wayne Rooney and push for the transfer, I hope he chooses his attaching language well. He needs to leave behind the verbiage of going to a “bigger club” or “wanting to win trophies”. If this is his belief, he should refamiliarise himself with the honours list and results for the last few years – a marginal difference at best between Chelsea’s underachievement and Tottenham’s perennial nearly-there status.
Luca would be better advised to state publicly that he has the opportunity to treble his wages and at the age of 28 he can’t afford to turn this opportunity down. If he has this honesty, then we might overlook the fact that he signed a long term deal at Tottenham only last season. The respective futures of the two clubs didn’t change that much since, even if the Yids failed to secure the Champions League spot.
Finally Luca, you might do well to remember Berbatov – yes while he did win a few medals on the way through, the more obvious result of his quest to play with a bigger club was a couple of seasons warming the bench at Old Trafford and the prospect of a premature move into the pre-scrapheap echelons of European football. Champions League my arse, see what it got you, you greedy Bulgarian tart.
And what do we make of Chelsea in all this? A tactic of manipulating the market by putting out feelers and getting the targets do the negotiating – not cricket so to say but nothing wrong with it either. No, Chelsea’s hateful traits are not related to either ethics or legality – it is all down to pure vulgarity. In a similar manner to what Ireland experienced in the Celtic Tiger, we have small men playing with big toys and brainless women wearing the finest bling. Chelsea’s signings are never determined based on an on-the-pitch strategy, but rather on who is the most expensive and “the best”.
For all the hatred I have of ManYoo, I have to admit is it based purely on their football dominance. Ferguson, unlike Chelsea, determines who he needs at the end of a season from a football perspective, and goes out and buys them. Their signings are part of a patchwork quilt which come the start of a new season always looks pristine and well designed. Chelsea generally spend the early part of the season working out who to play where, and how to split the toys between Drogba and Anelka’s cots.
As long as Abrahamovic is around, Chelsea will never be a great club.
I can’t finish this rant about the evils of money in football without widening the circle. Chelsea have recently been joined by Manchester City in the “Vulgar League” and their manipulation of the Emirates sponsorship deal to by-pass the Premier League’s financial rules on sources of funding, takes the hypocrisy and mockery to a whole new level. As long as the football authorities allow clubs like City to get away with this, the longer the debasement of the beautiful game will continue. It needs to be sorted out.
Luca's transfer request:
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Weekend No:1 2011/12
October 22/23 for Fulham v Everton on the Saturday and QPR v Chelsea on the Sunday.
Allocated responsibilities:
Yiddo - flights; match tickets (Fulham and QPR); t-shirts.
Brusselsblue - match tickets (Fulham); quiz books; restaurant choices.
Chelski - hotel; match tickets (QPR).
Mise Le Meas - fuck all.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Money is ruining the game - even in the Championship
Even Leeds are not immune from the power of money in the modern game as today it looks like one of their better players will leave because of the financial and contractual issues associated with his employment rather than the football issues.
Schmeichel joined the club on a Bosman free transfer from Notts County thirteen months ago, has a year left on his contract and is now being sold for £1 million.
No doubt paraphrasing the words of Ken Bates, Leeds boss Simon Grayson stated: “We feel this is the right deal for the club. We spoke to Kasper’s agent at the end of the season about a contract extension and it was apparent that it was going to be difficult to agree a deal. Given the fact that he has one year left on his contract, we feel this is in the best interests of Leeds United.”
In other words take the money now and trade the club's football ambitions and aspirations for hard cash.
Schmeichel through his representatives said: “At the end of the season, Leeds United and I both made a commitment to honour the last year of my contract and try to win promotion. Therefore, it’s with great disappointment that I have learned that Leeds have accepted an offer from Leicester. I want to put on record that I have never asked to leave Leeds United, nor did I reject an offer for a new contract, since one was never put to me. I was enjoying being a Leeds United player and was looking forward to winning promotion this season with the club.
We too often blame greedy players for the financial malaise that has hit the game but this time the club must shoulder all the responsibility. All Schmeichel can be accused of is arrogance (a statement through his "representative" - why not deliver it yourself Kasper?) and total stupidity (I was looking forward to winning promotion this season with the club).
And by the way Leeds - if you're looking for bargain basement alternatives, too late for Brad Friedel - he's already spoken for.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Blue is not the colour
The German World Cup squad from 1974.... can we hear shades of the Chelsea classic in there?
Barbie comes of age
If you can't beat them, join them. Barbie follows that age-old advice and takes up the beautiful game. A special edition football table featuring Barbie dolls on display in a department store in Berlin to coincide with the FIFA Women's World Cup, which kicks off Sunday in that city.
Get your kit on, get your kit on, get your kit on for the boys. Get your kit on for the boys.
Monday, June 20, 2011
If you go to Chelsea, I'll put this where the sun don't shine ...
Close season and time to take stock.
Where are we and where are we going to? Or more relevantly, where are Modric and Bale going to? The skies around White Hart Lane are filled with circling vultures, weighed down only marginally by bagfuls of dinars and rubles. The chances of us holding onto our prize assets – listed above in order of value – appear slight.
And where to then for Spurs, I ask?
Our flirtation with the Champions League proves that teams outside the Big 4 can compete with Europe’s best on the field – forget the Everton debacle in 2005 - but it also indicates that maybe teams outside the Big 4 cannot compete with Europe’s best off the field.
Our key players will be snapped up and we will go about our normal business of buying capable but limited-life internationals (think Gallas and Van der Vaart) just before transfer-window close. A reasonable short-term policy but not one that is likely to sustain a long term challenge to the aristocracy. Last year we had a moral victory by taking Manchester City’s place at the table but ultimately in the football game, avarice and greed win out. This year they took their place back, and now the Champions League will be graced with the class and grace of Mario Balotelli. Somehow, football aside, the change that has occurred this year is a depressingly repetitive tragedy.
So is money the only reason why next year we will be travelling to Lodz and Antwerp in the Europa League on a Thursday and playing a large portion of our Premier League games on a Sunday? Sadly probably not.
Harry Redknapp is a man who is to be admired for his forthright talking and his honesty, at least when it comes to matters concerning football. Her Majesty’s tax officers may have a different view.
I am however very disappointed at his inability to get more from what is the largest squad in the Premier League (albeit only 26 can be named for use). This disappointment surfaced largely towards the end of the season and our performance in winning only one league game from 12 February to 15 May can best be described as appalling, and in other instances has resulted in teams being relegated.
Redknapp’s tactical dependence on Peter Crouch is worrying. So too some of his decisions to rest players as crucial league games approached – clearly his priorities were misguided and we were never going to win the Champions League. Surely a long-term strategy of CL participation year-in year-out has to be based on year-in year-out qualification?
But tactics and strategy aside, perhaps the most worrying facet of Harry Redknapp is what achieves him his greatest notoriety. Harry has “in his honest manner” always made no bones about the fact that he would be willing to move to greener pastures should the opportunity arise, and the fact that he moved on swiftly from Portsmouth when Spurs came knocking and he left a club in turmoil and financially irreparable, is a worrying observation. Done at a time when supposedly they achieved more on the field than they had done for years – strong parallels with Tottenham here. How many times have we heard Harry tell us that Spurs were bottom of the Premier League when he took over, and we have nothing to complain about when drawing at home against Blackpool, West Ham and the like.
I’m not saying I’m calling for England to come and take ‘Arry but I am saying that his repeated comments about what has been achieved to date stink of mediocrity; not to mind also being open to an interpretation that he is trying to abdicate on future accountability about taking us higher than the bottom half of the table. His posturing around the Modric Chelsea maneuverings have too much of a tone of “look what they’ve done to me now” about them, with hand held abjectly in the air in despair.
Look Harry, we all like you – to use your own parlance, you’re a diamond geezer – but let’s cut out the David O’Leary imitations and get on with the task of getting us back into the Champions League. If he goes, take to money for Modric and use it wisely; get rid of Crouch and other London-life hangers-on and show us you’re the guy we all thought you were - like Gladys Protheroe, a football genius.
Verdict – jury’s out. This could go eitherway.
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