Ooh Ahh. By John Warrington, Broadcast Journalist & Writer.

Chelsea FC - Showing Racism The Blue Card

2012-11-03T12:14:00.001+00:00

There is only one thing more damaging than an act of racism and that is to claim racist abuse when there is none. While nothing has yet to be proven one way or another when it comes to what Mark Clattenburg actually said to Obi Mikel and Juan Mata when Manchester United were the visitors to Stamford Bridge, the case against the accused is unravelling faster that a Jocelyn Wildenstein facelift, M'lud!

Having been embroiled for so long in the John Terry saga, it beggars belief that Chelsea went public with their accusation against Clattenburg without carrying out a thorough investigation first.

They were prepared to destroy the reputation and end the professional career of a man who had committed the heinous crime of shock, horror - showing two of their players a red card.

Club lawyers have already withdrawn the complaint made by Juan Mata due to 'insufficient evidence'. And it has also emerged that the alleged 'monkey' insult wasn't even heard by Mikel in the first place. It was Ramires, a player who speaks no English and who requires a translator, who is supposed to have overheard what Clattenburg 'said' and then informed Mikel. Guilty as charged then! Let's just hope that nobody from Chelsea gets called up for jury service any time soon.

We all know the parable about the boy who cried wolf. What Chelsea have skillfully managed is do is score an own goal every bit as damaging as the one David Luiz scored against United in the the same game. Following their mishandling of the John Terry case and the fact that their players appear to have found their hearing a year after it went missing at Loftus Road, the sad truth is that if any Chelsea player has cause to make a genuine complaint of racist abuse in the future, it is likely to be treated with no more than a single grain of salt.

Chelsea Owner - Roman Abrimovic

There is another question that needs asking and it is one 'borrowed' from Mario Balotelli. Why always Chelsea? There appears to be an arrogant 'we'll do what we want' mentality at Stamford Bridge which surely stems from having a filthy rich owner. Dave Barnard was arrogant enough to alter witness statements ahead of John Terry's case. The Chelsea captain's own defence against the charge of racist abuse against Anton Ferdinand smacked of arrogance too. So did the clubs' treatment of referees Tom Henning Ovrebo and Anders Frisk; both of whom were humiliated by the club for 'allowing' Barcelona to knock them out of the Champions League The list goes on....

Once Mark Clattenburg has been proved innocent as surely he will, the FA (for once) have to grow a pair. If they are simply fined, the response will be the same as Del Boy in Peckham market; cash or cheque sir? A points deduction however will have a strong impact and will send out an important message - racism is a serious issue.

Over the past few days, a new catchphrase has spread like wildfire across social media sites. 'Chelsea FC - Tough on racism since 28.10.12.' The events of last Sunday coupled with photographs of a Chelsea fan abusing Danny Welbeck, means their public image is now on a par with Jimmy Saville's. For a club which wants to sell as many replica shirts as possible across Africa, Asia and North America, they need to learn to toe the line and that they can't 'do what they want.' It's time for Chelsea Football Club to STOP showing racism the 'blue' card.

A case of black and white?

2012-09-25T22:23:00.000+01:00

It's a year since the now infamous match between QPR and Chelsea, and the fall-out from the John Terry/Anton Ferdinand affair is still causing shockwaves throughout the game. We've already seen a criminal court case, Terry being stripped (for a second time) of the England captaincy, which in turn lead to the resignation of Fabio Capello as manager, and finally, on the eve of Terry's FA hearing, his international retirement.

Terry has tried to paint himself as the victim; a victim of exactly what however, is hard to work out. Former Chelsea manager Avram Grant has been quoted as saying that nobody see's Terry as racist, but he has missed the point by a large margin. While the Chelsea captain may not be a racist, his comments most defintely were. No, Terry is no victim; he said what he said, came up with a lame excuse, got himself an ally in Ashley Cole and got off his court case.

The real victim is of course Anton Ferdinand who was subjected to Terry's bile, something that in this day and age, nobody either on or off the football field, should have to tolerate. However, there is a second victim and that is Anton's brother and another former England captain, Rio. During the second half of last season, Ferdinand senior was back to his imperious best after a period of niggling injuries. On Sunday, he was arguably United's man of the match against Liverpool, despite playing for most of the game carrying an injury picked up in the first half at Anfield.

Somehow Ferdinand failed to make new England manager Roy Hodgson's squad for Euro 2012 and this week it transpired that Hodgson has not even had the courtesy to pick up the phone to Ferdinand and explain to him just why an experienced international player, in top form has not been selected. Nor has he explained it to the fans who along with many football commentators have maintained a raised eyebrow at Ferdinand's omission from international duty.

The fact that Hodgson has publicly backed Terry in both his court case and FA tribunal and continued to select him while omitting Ferdinand, begs one question. Is there institutionalised racism within the game?

I was an assistant to Jamie Lawrence at Ashford Town (Middlesex), when the former chairman, (also rather worringly a magistrate) told me that he didn't want a team of black players at the club. He had to resign over that ill-advised statement and tried to justify it by saying that it was a 'private discussion'. There are of course, no such things as private discussions when it comes to such matters, nor should there be. But what was equally upsetting was the lack of action by the club. The former chairman still attended games and received what can only be described as a hero's welcome by many of the fans and some of the members of the board when the club should have banned him. Neither Jamie nor myself received an apology and the atmosphere became so toxic that we both took the decision to leave.

Luis Suarez received backing from Kenny Dalglish and Liverpool after the racist remarks he made to Patrice Evra and of course Terry has continued to receive the support of his club. It's not just the racist comments that are worrying, it's the lack of action by managers, directors, owners, even the Premier League and the FA, that suggests that institutionalised racism prevails. The evidence is there; how many black managers are there? How many black people work at the FA, The Premier League or The PFA? Indeed, how many black television pundits are there? Not many is the answer and certainly nowhere near enough to represent the number of black players in the game.

Gordon Taylor and the PFA have made noises, but even they could do more by setting up a sub-committee to both educate and to provide more support to any player who experiences any form of racism. Now Terry has made himself unavailable for England, the next question on everyone's lips is will Rio Ferdinand be selected? If he is, there is part of me that hopes that Ferdinand will tell Hodgson to stick it where the sun don't shine, because racist or not, Hodgson's failure to pick the Manchester United player for 'non-football' reasons and to 'protect' Terry, is nothing short of an act of racism in itself. Make no mistake, there should be no grey area here, it really is a case of black and white.

Justice For The 96?

2012-09-12T20:21:00.011+01:00

On January 12th 1980, I was at a game between Middlesbrough and Manchester United along with around 30,000 fans; a big crowd at Ayresome Park in those days. I remember nothing about the match, only what happened after the final whistle blew.

In those days, the Police treated football fans with a policy of zero tolerance and many forces actually seemed to enjoy making life as miserable as possible for visiting supporters. On that particularly cold evening, rather than follow the trend of keeping away fans on the terraces while the home supporters made their way out of the ground, for some still unknown reason, the Police herded us off the terraces and towards the locked exit gates and held us in a makeshift pen.

There were around 3000 United fans at the game and we were held in an area where in reality, anything more than 500 would have been a tight squeeze. Unsurprisingly, some United fans fainted in the growing crush. I will never forget how difficult it was to breath and I remember how desperate I was for air. I remember feeling light-headed, dizzy and exceedingly hot. Movement of any sort was totally impossible and I saw supporters begin to panic as breathing became increasingly difficult. A Police horse did panic and that caused even more panic among supporters who tried to prevent themselves from being seriously injured by the distressed animal. The movement caused even more pressure on the rickety exit gates. Then the inevitable happened; a supporting wall started to crumble and the gates collapsed. A stream of supporters, gasping for breath, flooded out of Ayresome Park.

What was unknown at the time was that two Middlesbrough supporters, Irene and Norman Roxby were passing on the other side of the gates at the time of their collapse. Tragically they were crushed to death. The next morning, the papers were full of stories that contained quotes from Police officers condemning United fans for causing the tragedy. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Sound familiar?

In 1981, Wolves and Spurs met in the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough. Tottenham fans in the Leppings Lane end were crushed to within an inch of their lives because of poor Police stewarding. Nearly 40 fans were seriously injured that day. Sound familiar?

Today's release of papers to the public of what really happened at Hillsborough in 1989, only confirms what many have believed for 23 years; that the Police not only mismanaged a football crowd, but that they lied and conspired to prevent the truth about its own disastrous failings from coming out.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron apologised in Parliament for what happened. But he needs to go further. He needs to ensure that prosecutions are brought and that justice finally does prevail.

What happened at Hillsborough and let us not forget Ayresome Park as well us other grounds up and down the country where the actions of the Police caused serious injury and death, has lead to greater ground safety. But it shouldn't have taken the death of so many young people to make this happen. This should also transcend fan rivalry. What happened at Hillsborough on April 15th 1989, could have happened to supporters of any club at any time during what was a dark age for football.

To the 96, to Irene and Norman Roxby and to any supporter who has lost their life going to a football match, may you rest in peace.

The Spirit of 2012

2012-08-11T11:04:00.001+01:00

Sunday August 12th. The date marks two events in the sporting calendar this year. The first is the Community Shield, the traditional curtain raiser to the football season. The second event is the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The irony should not be lost; that the extinguishing of the Olympic flame will take place on the very same day the 2012-2013 football season kicks off between two clubs that symbolise all that is wrong with modern day football, the super-rich fat cats of Chelsea and Manchester City

Let's cast our minds back over the last two weeks and enduring images of honest sporting endeavour, of crowds cheering winners and losers, of national anthems being sung and not booed, of athletes showing respect to fans and fellow competitors alike. Nobody is going to face a court of law on charges of racism, there haven’t been newspaper stories telling of one athlete spitting at another, or calling another 'Negrito' and subsequently receiving an eight week ban. When runners have been shown the red card for a false start, they haven't gone charging over to remonstrate using highly colourful language; they have tearfully accepted that they have broken the rules.

When you think back to the last football season, it's a fair bet that among the names that will stand out in your memory, John Terry, Luis Suarez and Joey Barton will be prominent. Over the summer, the main stories have been all about money. IPO's, debt, clubs going out of business, protracted transfers with players and agents waiting to see who the highest bidder will be.

Money is important in any sport; without sponsorship or lottery funding, many of the athletes who have taken part in the Olympic's wouldn't have been able to compete in London. But they aren't motivated by money, they are motivated by excellence, of trying to be the best in their sport. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our top footballers followed that ethos? Wouldn't it be wonderful if when the Olympic flame is finally extinguished in East London tomorrow, that its spirit and meaning could somehow find its way into every football ground up and down the country? Somehow I doubt it though and for the first time in my life, I am not looking forward to the start of the new season with excitement and hope, instead I am left with a feeling of deja vu, and a sense of sad resignation.

Last Train To Chavsville

2011-08-10T15:43:00.004+01:00

Possibly the real surprise surrounding the riots that have been taking place in cities up and down the country is that it is a surprise in the first place. The events of this week have been inevitable ever since liberal do-gooders found favour with New Labour during their years in power. Ye Gods, even the Conservatives were brainwashed by it all when they were in opposition and I would bet a 3D television, 40 B+H and a bottle of Lambrusco (apparently firm favourites among the looters) that David Cameron will now think twice before he goes off in search of a ‘hoodie’ to hug.

UNDERCLASSES
Let’s be clear about one thing, there has always been an ‘underclass’ in this country. One only has to read between the covers of a Charles Dickens book to understand what it was like in the 19th century for an unfortunate number of the population. But it was rare that they rose up to question the authority of the ruling classes for fear of being sent to the work-houses, a lifetime of hard labour, or worse, the hangman’s noose. Harsh punishment maybe for stealing a flagon of cheap Italian wine and a box of snuff, but by and large such harsh deterrents worked in keeping a large group of society under control.

NOBLE CAUSES
When one thinks back to past outbreaks of civil disorder, it has usually been the working classes fighting for noble causes such as pit closures and workers' rights; issues that have pricked at the collective conscience of the nation. We may not have always agreed with why they were fighting, but we respected them because they were fighting for their jobs and the right to work; they were fighting to keep their communities alive; they were certainly not trying to smash or burn them.

NEW LABOUR
It’s now nearly 15 years since Tony Blair breezed into Downing Street. ‘Cool Britannia’ were the words on everyone’s lips as New Labour were swept into power in a blaze of glory, while D:REAM were telling us that things could only get better and the new Prime Minister was on the front pages of The Sun fawning over a pop-star or footballer. Celebrity and image became everything and that was the message that the youth of the day was being force fed.

HUMAN RIGHTS
In 1998, New Labour put the Human Rights Act before Parliament which gave direct effect to the European Convention on Human Rights in domestic law. The criminal fraternity were one of many groups to benefit from this legislation and suddenly the Police and the justice system had one hand tied behind their backs. Teachers could no longer discipline unruly students and parents could no longer smack their children without the threat of prosecution. The police were powerless in so many areas and couldn't dish out anything more than a slap on the wrist to young offenders. ASBO’S were introduced and instead of having the effect of keeping trouble-makers on the straight and narrow, they were soon worn as a badge of honour by those who received them. At a stroke, the law and anyone in authority became impotent.

RISE OF THE CHAVS
Members of what were previously known as the under-class or the socially deprived became more confident and even arrogant. They began to mock the rest of us because we (shock, horror) actually wanted to work and do what we could to improve our communities. The ‘ambitious’ among them found new ways to make easy money and achieve short-term fame through shows like Jeremy Kyle and then reality Television. Sunday Papers were filled from cover to cover with kiss and tells and suddenly ‘the Chav’ became some sort of anti-hero and came to represent all that was wrong with ‘Cool Britannia’. The Britain that older generations knew had changed beyond recognition and suddenly the UK had become Chavsville, like it or not; a society based on greed and me,me,me."

WORKING CLASSES
Chav’s aren’t working –class heroes; the working classes actually work and are proud of doing so. The Chav’s are proud of not working and of screwing whatever they can out of the rest of us. They don’t care about community and the only time they show pride is when they cock another snarling snoop at authority and those of us who respect the need for authority.

RIGHT-WING AGITATORS
So why the rioting now? Clearly the cuts in public expenditure are affecting us all and the once feel-good factor of a booming economy (albeit it one built upon a mountain of debt) has been replaced by a gloom not seen for nearly thirty years.

In some communities, extremist far right-wing politics has gained a foothold and those involved are looking to blame our economic ills on the immigrant population. But is it just a co-incidence that these riots have occurred precisely when our political leaders are away on holiday and the Metropolitan Police leadership is in crisis following the phone-hacking scandal? Time may prove that the rioting and looting that has been taking place has been orchestrated by groups with an agenda. Historically extremist political groups have always engaged with the criminal fraternity to stir up a hornet’s nest as a means to supporting its own ends.

SINISTER AIMS
Let us be quite clear here, what has happened this week is not about racial tension, economic despair or even poverty. It is about the pure greed of lazy criminals and the flexing of muscles by those who don’t give a damn about the rest of us, but at the same time happen to be so stupid they don’t realise that they are being played like puppets by those with far more sinister political aims.

So how do we counter it? First of all the Government has got to give power back to not just the Police and to the courts, but to teachers and to parents when it comes to discipline. Allow the courts to hand out tough sentences not just to young offenders, but also the parents of young offenders. Real deterrents to such crimes have got to be put into place so that potential young criminals think twice before committing that first crime and if they do commit that first crime, then the punishment has to be such that they think twice before committing a subsequent crime. Fear of the law was by and large good enough for previous generation, so why not this one?

Investment in Sport
In the longer term there has got to be investment in more sports facilties up and down the country. We need to give youth a sense of purpose and achievement and it has long been proved that sport is by far the most succesful way of achieving this. The Olympic games in London next year has surely got to be the catalyst and to not seize this opportunity with both hands would represent a serious mistake of enormous proportions.

RIGHTS OF THE MAJORTY
It’s not been all bad news this week however. The reaction of the majority to what has happened proves there is still hope for us. Groups have been patrolling their communities to protect them from further looting; mass community clear-ups have taken place and an overwhelming abhorrence from millions of decent citizens who despite the very harsh realities of life in the Britain of 2011, still know the difference between right and wrong. It is time to protect the human rights of that majority and take them away from those that refuse to conform. If that were to happen, maybe then we’ll see a few more who are bovvered!

Sepp Blatter - Blind man or dictator?

2011-05-31T11:04:00.009+01:00

Six months ago I revealed details of the relationship between Fifa vice-president and head of CONCACAF Jack Warner and jailed 'businessman' Paul Garland over a veterans tournament that was due to take place in Trinidad in 1999. Allegations of bungs and backhanders were rife even before the tournament crashed into the dust just weeks before it was due to take place. Warner simply brushed the whole thing under his Perisan rug as he counted the dollars he had still managed to earn, while others, including a premier league footballer who had invested £200,000 into the venture, were left to count huge losses.

Twelve years on and not before time, cracks in FIFA's Ivory Tower are beginning to appear and Sepp Blatter, rather like Colonel Gadaffi is desperately clinging on to power surrounded by cronies who still believe that they have done nothing wrong.

Whether Blatter has personally taken any bribes remains to be seen, but I cannot believe that he unaware of the sins of others. He lamely tries to tell the world that there is nothing wrong with football and that all is good at FIFA. If the 'worst' he has done is to turn a blind eye to all that has been going on, then sorry Sepp, but you're as guilty as the rest of them.

After being 'stitched up' by FIFA over its bid to host the 2018 world cup, the time for the FA to get off the fence and take decisive action is now.

England gave football to the world and now it must lead the way once more and find again the Corininthian spirit on which the whole essence of the once beautiful game was founded.

Drastic action is needed to rid the game of the cancer that is slowly killing it. The FA are going to need to break the habit of a lifetime and develop a backbone; it needs to take the decisive step to withdraw its membership of FIFA and therefore entry to the 2014 world cup in Brazil and damn the consequences. If the FA were to show such bravery, others would follow and as sure as night follows day, the FIFA house of cards would come tumbling down.

The window of opportunity is there now; failure to take it would mean that even NATO and an arsenal of tomahawk missles and stealth bomber planes would have to dig in for a long campaign to oust this particular dictator from his bunker.

Superstitions

2010-11-23T12:34:00.003+00:00

After a couple of years of blogging about football at the top of the pyramid, it’s high time that I changed focus and concentrated on where I currently am with 'the beautiful game'. Since I told Manchester United what they could do with their season tickets while the Glazers remained owners of the club, I have become more and more detached from the premier league. I can still enjoy watching some of the football and I still cheer for United when I get the chance to see them on television. But for me, it is now non-league football that matters and my view of it from the dug-out.

In some ways I have almost come full circle. Since hanging up my boots some 20 years ago, I have been working as a football commentator. But when Ashford Town (Middx) manager, Jamie Lawrence offered me the chance to work as one of his assistants and the opportunity to be back in a football dressing room again after so many years, it was like all my birthdays and Christmases rolled into one. The club are currently playing in the Zamaretto Central, three divisions below the Conference National.We lie in mid-table, but don’t let those stats deceive you.

Jamie is quietly putting together a team of real quality. At the moment, our record is lost one, drawn three and won nine of our last thirteen games in all competitions. We play a passing game at a quick tempo and have some steel to match when the circumstances dictate.

This season, the club has reached the first round proper of the FA Trophy for the first time following a richly deserved away victory in the last round against Bishops Stortford of the Blue Square South, two divisions above us.

When I played, I was one of those players who was very superstitious. Everyone has heard of footballers who won’t shave on the morning of a match, or who has a lucky pair of underpants.

Back in September, we were having a tough time in the league and had lost 5-1 away at Worthing in an FA Cup replay. The fans were on our backs, attendances were dwindling and I was having to do what I could to shield Jamie and the players from a critical (now ex-chairman) who was making life particularly uncomfortable.

Jamie and the rest of us remained totally convinced that the team would come good. In non-league football, there can be a big turnover in the playing staff from season to season and this was the case at Ashford. The team was still gelling together, but we could all see in training and indeed there were spells during matches when the potential was clearly there.

Towards the end of September, we had an away game at Aylesbury. The pressure for a good result was huge and five minutes before the players were due to emerge into the tunnel, I nipped out for a quick cigarette to help calm the nerves. I was still puffing away as the players emerged out of the tunnel and as the lads trotted out, I shook each of them by the hand and had an individual message of good luck for them all. We won the game 3-2 and so, ever since then, just before the players are ready to leave the dressing room, I nip out for a ‘smoke’ , shake the players’ hands as they emerge and wish them well for the game.

I don’t necessarily believe that my pre-match ritual plays any part in the recent success of Ashford, but one thing is for sure, I won’t be changing my habits until we lose,although I wonder what I’ll do if we reach Wembley where smoking is banned. I’ll just have to pay the fine I guess because non-league matters and so does Ashford Town!

Rooney. Hero or Zero?

2010-10-21T11:08:00.006+01:00

When I announced back in June that I would not be renewing my season tickets at Manchester United and said that I would not return to Old Trafford until the Glazers had been deposed as the owners of Manchester United, I received hundreds of messages of support from fellow supporters. What I therefore cannot understand is the abuse now being aimed at Wayne Rooney, some of it aimed by the same supporters who contacted me to congratulate me for making a stand. Because isn’t Rooney making the same statement?

Isn’t he really telling the supporters when he says that he has concerns about the ambitions of the club that its debts, coupled with the £80 million loss that it made in the last financial year, is slowly killing it? I certainly believe that this is the point that Rooney is trying to make.

There are a lot of words coming out of Old Trafford as the PR battle rages and the battle for the moral high ground intensifies, so let’s look at the facts pure and simple.

Since United lost to Barcelona in the 2009 champions’ league final the following players have left the club. Ronaldo £80m; Tevez (loan expired); Martin £1.5m; Tosic £8.0m; Campbell £6.0m. Total £95.5m

During the same period the following players have joined United. Valenica 16m; Bebe 7.4m; Hernandez 6m; Owen Free; Obertan £3m; Diouf 4.8m; Smalling 8.0m; total 45.2m. That is a net profit on transfer dealings of £50.3m.

Break that down even more; in the accounts for the year ended 2009 the club showed a net profit of £24m. But that included the £80m sale of Ronaldo to Real Madrid. Without that transfer the club would have posted a loss of £56m. Take out the fee paid for Bebe which will appear in next years’ accounts, the net profit over the last two years on transfer dealings is £58.1. Yet somehow the club has still managed to lose a net £57.2m over the same two year period. Without the Ronaldo transfer to Real Madrid, it would have been a staggering £137m loss.

For a club which generates such high revenues from millions of fans around the world as well as the loyal match going supporters, to make a loss of any kind is unbelievable. Losses of such high proportions verge on being criminal.

In a world that is in the grip of recession, the way that the club was purchased by the Glazer family looks in hindsight extremely foolish. But ultimately it is the supporters who are being made to pay with higher ticket prices, two or three new replica kits every season, and the sale of the best players who can generate the highest transfer fees.

If Rooney is sold for somewhere in the region of £50m it is likely that United will post a profit in the next set of accounts to be published in 2011. But at what cost? With the sale of another top player, United will struggle even more on the pitch and the signs are already there this season that this is starting to happen. If the club fails to qualify for the Champions’ league, the financial structure of the club would mean a catastrophe in the making. United are already struggling to attract top names as it is! It would be even harder without Champions’ league football.

When was the last time that United signed a player to make you feel really excited. Forget how they went on to perform for the club, just think back to how you reacted when their signings were announced. Berbatov? Rooney himself? Rio? Veron and Van Nistelrooy? Don’t say Michael Owen. He was a free and all of the attention surrounding his move was solely because he is a former Liverpool player. Let’s be honest here, it’s been a long time since United have competed for the top players despite what those in charge at Old Trafford will have you believe and over the past few seasons, there have been more ructions about the players that United have lost as opposed to the ones that they have signed.

There are comparisons to be made between Rooney and the one and only George Best. I am not talking ability, Bestie was not only one of the greatest players of his generation, but of all time and Rooney has a million miles to travel before their names can be uttered in the same breath. But I once asked George what he felt his greatest achievement was as a player. I expected him to tell me winning the European Cup or his performance two years earlier against Benfica in the same competition after which he was christened ‘El Beatle.’ But no. He told me that it was keeping United up in the old first division for two years almost single handedly. But then he went on to tell me that he didn’t enjoy it. He was looking to pass the ball to a Denis Law or receive it from a Bobby Charlton. He looked at the defence and midfield and instead of seeing Nobby Stiles or Paddy Crerand, he saw players of far lesser ability. Slowly he became more and more disenchanted until in the end, the parting of the ways was inevitable.

At the end of this season, United could see Giggs, Scholes, Neville and Van Der Sar all retire. The loss of that quartet will have a massive impact on the dressing room not just in terms of their ability as players, but also the influence that they wield. I have no doubt that this all weighs heavy upon the shoulders of Wayne Rooney. He would be expected to carry the United flame forwards almost single handedly as George tried to do almost forty years ago.

Rooney turns 25 this week, he is still young and has years of football in front of him. He is ambitious and is one of the most competitive players I have seen at United, cast from the same mould as Roy Keane and Bryan Robson before him. They are all winners and Rooney wants to carry on winning. As Roy Keane said this week, players are just meat and Rooney should do what is right for him.

This whole saga could be THE defining moment in the battle against the Glazers, but if the supporters decide to use Rooney as a scapegoat instead of a focus for the green and gold campaign, it could be a glorious opportunity lost.

The Glazer family - the real whores screwing Rooney!

2010-10-18T15:00:00.006+01:00

Am I the only person not surprised by the recent revelations that Wayne Rooney wants away from Old Trafford? Whatever Rooney’s off the field problems and whatever the truth about his ankle, Sir Alex Ferguson is not the sort of man to bite off his nose to spite his face and sell his best player because some slapper has gone running to the papers about their sordid, clandestine encounters.

Don’t get me wrong, the United manager will have been furious when this story broke, but I am utterly convinced that he would have known about it long before the rest of us did. Rooney has been off form for so long for both England and United, this would make some sort of sense.

I keep reading that the pair have fallen out and there are comparisons with the departures of Beckham, Stam and Van Nistelrooy. But Ferguson had replacements lined up certainly for two of those three and was willing to let them go for football reasons as well as any off the field conflicts.

Unless we have the unlikely scenario of Rooney going to Madrid as part of a swap deal to bring Cristiano Ronaldo back to Old Trafford, then I can’t believe for one minute that Ferguson does not realise that the departure of Rooney will mean anything but seriously weakening his team and would effectively mean that he would be giving up in his quest to overtake Liverpool as England’s most decorated club.

Before the stories about Rooney broke, the player was being quoted as saying that he wanted to stay at Old Trafford for life which is why he was instructing his agents to start discussions about extending his contract which has less than two years to run. Then it emerged that United had decided to put back all contract negotiations with players with more than one year left on their existing deals until next summer. Hot on the heels of that revelation was the biggest bombshell of all. The club had made an operating profit of £100 million but because of all of the debts that were burdened upon the club by the Glazer family when they purchased it, the interest on those loans and the cost of refinancing earlier this year, that profit was turned into an £80 million loss.

There is no way that United’s current financial predicament and the apparent desire of the player to leave are not related. The club may not be forcing the manager to sell, it maybe that the player and his advisors are rightly dismayed by the lack of financial muscle that the biggest club in terms of turnover has when it comes to competing in the transfer market.

Rooney is about to turn 25 and has the best years of his career are in front of him. He is ambitious and his desire to win is obvious. I am sure that he believes that his chances of adding to his already glittering collection of medals will evaporate the longer United’s finances continue to act like a lead weight tied to a man who is about to been thrown into a river full of crocodiles.

The fact that Manchester City have all the money under the sun and look set to become a force in English football will appeal to Rooney. He has already made one contentious move and has dealt with the fall out. It would be no surprise if he were to do so again.

If that does happen, then don’t blame Sir Alex Ferguson, don’t blame Wayne Rooney, and don’t even blame a woman of easy virtue. The people to blame are the owners of Manchester United and if people didn’t know already, the time to stand up to them and force them to leave is now because if we don’t, then I genuinely fear for the future of Manchester United.

The Magic of The Cup

2010-09-12T09:07:00.004+01:00

I shocked a lot of people in December last year when I did the unthinkable. I gave my Manchester United season tickets to a friend telling him they were his until the end of the season. I have been following United for over forty years and whenever people spoke about me, they often prefixed my name with the word ‘United'.

Over the past few seasons I had become disillusioned with the increasing costs and the sterile atmosphere. Our little bit of heaven in the top row of the second tier of the north stand was fast becoming a reflection of what was happening all over the stadium. Each August when my son and I took our seats for the for the first home game of the season, we noticed an increasing number of new faces in the seats that previously belonged to people who over the years had become good friends. The banter disappeared as did the atmosphere. The ‘new people’ dressed differently, they spoke differently, they openly criticised players who ‘real’ United fans had taken to their hearts and the most noise they could muster was the odd chant of “United, United”. Singing was something they left to the Stretford End.

This year for the first time and partly because of the way the club is now being run, I decided not to renew my tickets. I say partly, because the other reason is that I have gone and got myself a mistress!

Ashford Town (Middx) is just 300 yards across the road from where I live and you can’t get more local than that. Last November, I happened to read in the local paper that they had appointed the former Bradford and Leicester player Jamie Lawrence as their new manager. I was impressed because it signalled that the club were ambitious.

I vaguely new Jamie through my own involvement in Masters Football, a tournament that he has played in regularly and so I went to watch Ashford play. After the game I had a chat with Jamie and soon built up a rapport with him and to cut a long story short I was quickly appointed General Manager of the club. Since finishing as a player, I hadn’t realised how much I wanted to get involved with football ‘properly’ again, instead of just commentating and reporting on it. I am not the only one to feel that way either. Sky commentator Martin Tyler who himself was once a decent enough player, is an assistant manager at Kingstonian. As a result, I haven’t missed Old Trafford nearly as much as I thought I would.

Whereas United need the 70,000 plus they get for every home game just to pay off the interest on the loans taken out by the Glazer family, at Ashford we are lucky if we break 150. But the passion shown by a small group of fans, who would just about fill a few rows of the north stand at Old Trafford, is enough to provide me with the fix that I used to get in the good old days.

Manchester United’s answer to their financial problems is to consistently hit the fans where it hurts the most; in their pockets. I don’t know what their their weekly wage bill is, but ours wouldn’t cover a night out on the town for Anderson!!

What we earn at the gate alone doesn’t cover our meagre wage bill. So we rely on everyone to do their bit, whether that is to sell raffle tickets, volunteer for a shift behind the bar, do a few odd jobs to keep our stadium up to scratch or clean the dressing rooms after a game. When the team wins, we all feel we have played a part and we can celebrate over a pint with the players afterwards.

I don’t want to give the impression that the world of non-league football is perfect. The other Ashford Town in Kent has had to resign from the Ryman League and this season they are not playing league football at. That is just the tip of a very large iceberg. Atherstone Town have recently announced that they are no longer going to pay their players and Ilkeston Town have been wound up by the High Court over a £50,000 tax bill. I also get frustrated by a few things at Ashford, particularly our lack of support. Jamie has got the team playing attractive football and yet our crowd still struggles to break 150.

Of course, what we all dream of at this level is a decent run in the FA Cup and following a 2-1 away victory at Peacehaven in the extra preliminary round which won us £1500, we have a replay at Worthing on Tuesday night in the 1st qualifying round with the winners netting another £3000. The FA Cup is not just magic; it can literally make the difference between life and death.

While United fans may be hoping for a trip to Wembley next May, we are dreaming of a trip to Old Trafford in the 3rd round next January. And why not? Football is all about dreams and aspirations, even at Ashford. Anyway, I would love to go back just to find out who is sitting in my seats!

The rise of the Fourth Reich as the Germans get back to basics.

2010-07-03T21:37:00.006+01:00

Blimey, how good were Germany? Eight goals now in their last two games against England and Argentina and surely marching onwards towards another final against either Holland or Uruguay and looking to dominate the world again with possibly a fourth title.

The way they blitz-kreiged their way past their last two opponents was a footballing lesson that surely has to make our coaches sit up and take notice. The reason they need to take notice is because there is no secret formula to the way that Germany play. Their game is simple yet dynamic.

When Messi, Tevez, Higuain et al, managed to get hold of the ball, it was like watching a Sunday team. Heads down, trying to run at opponents and beat them with a feint of the shoulder or by literally trying to run through them. How many times have we seen a young kid in a local park, head down, ball at feet and trying to waltz through defences? Even more worrying is the number of coaches and parents who actively encourage it. I have lost count of the number of scouts who turn up to such games, muttering to themselves, pass it, pass it, BLOODY WELL PASS IT. Eventually the kid loses the ball and his team mates get more and more frustrated. Well Argentina were like that against Germany.

Against teams not so well organised, it worked well enough for Diego Maradona's men as he tried to mould a team in his own image. But Germany are well organised and as Theo Walcott has shown in recent seasons, pace and a couple of tricks alone isn’t enough, particularly against teams who themselves have pace and strength, allied with a strong work ethic, a good brain and skills of their own. And of course, there was only ever one Maradona!

Germany on the other hand were different gravy. Heads up as they received the ball, plenty of movement off it; pass and run, pass and run. Miroslav Klose may not have had to do too much on the ball to score his two goals, but off the ball his work rate and his movement to get into scoring positions would have made those two goals as satisfying as any other that he has scored in his career.

If this style of football sounds familiar, it’s probably because it is. Spurs and Celtic in the 1950’s and 60’s, Liverpool in the 1970’s and 80’s, Manchester United in the 1990’s and the first decade of the 21st century. Passing and running while in possession, putting pressure on the ball when your opponents have it, not brain surgery is it?

Germany of course have players of individual skill; the sort of player who can do something out of the ordinary and turn a game in their favour when it is needed. But players like Mueller and Ozil don’t forget their responsibilities either.

Compare that to England. Unimaginative, cumbersome, slow and with long balls hit aimlessly forward but which came straight back against Germany, because there was no Heskey or Crouch to win it and hold it. Movement off the ball was non-existent. Maybe the players were on Mogadon so they could sleep at night when the Vuvezelas were keeping them awake!

I hope every coach and sports teacher plays a DVD of Germany 4-0 Argentina to their young players. I hope that they explain how effective the game can be if a footballer plays with his head up. Play with your head up and your range of vision expands and suddenly a player has options. Of course to do that we have to teach our kids to control and pass to a level where it becomes second nature. So often kids say to me, “I can do a Cruyff or “let me show you my Ronaldo” I usually reply, “Can you do a Charlton or a Scholes”? and then to vacuous faces explain, “Show me how you pass a ball.” Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that kids should forget practicing the sort of skills that can get a crowd on their feet, but they also need to practice the fundamentals of the game.

When I was growing up, my best coaching aid was a wall. The better my pass, the better the return from the wall. My favourite party piece was to be able to trap a ball with my eyes shut, no matter how hard it was driven towards me.

If we want a national side that we can proud of and that can start competing again with the world’s elite, then it’s time to take a leaf out of the Germans’ book and get back to basics.

So where did it all go wrong?

2010-06-29T15:10:00.001+01:00

So the England squad returned home this morning with their tails well and truely tucked between their under-performing legs. Naturally the main conversation across the length and breadth of the country has been about our second rate performances against the USA, Algeria, Slovenia and the old enemy, Germany.

Yes the goal that wasn't may have changed the pattern of a game that we were clawing our way back into. We were forced to chase the game in the second half and push forward in numbers in a bid to find the equaliser, which left our creaky defence exposed against the ruthless power and pace of the Germans who played the sort of counter attacking game that Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger would have been proud of. (By the way, if their first goal wasn't something out of the old Wimbledon coaching manual, then I don't know what is)!

However, none of that can disguise the fact that throughout the tournament England performed abysmally. Germany may have played like a top Premier League club side, but they did it better than us!

People will tell you England failed to live up to expectation because the players have oversized egos and a lack of passion for the shirt. I don't believe that for one second and to use that as an excuse would be to miss the point entirely. My own opinion is simply this; our players are not as good as we think they are

Part of the problem lies with the Premier League itself. When it started in 1992, it was called the FA Premier League. It was a joint venture between the clubs and the FA. Part of the plan was to reduce the number of clubs in the top flight and among other things ensure that the England team was well prepared for major tournaments.

But then Sky realised that football sold satellite dishes and to stop competiton from ITV and the BBC, the rights fees they paid got ever higher. The clubs became greedy and so they ditched The FA. Nothing changed in terms of reducing the number of games. As the clubs got richer, there was no way on earth they would go through with plans for a smaller league and risk being kicked off the gravy train.

More and more foreign players arrived upon our shores as the constant increases in television and sponsorship revenues meant that wage packets grew ever fatter. There was also the Bosman ruling. I remember the shock back on Boxing Day 1999 when Chelsea, playing away at Southampton went into the history books for fielding a side that didn't include one Englishman in the starting line-up. We don't even bat an eyelid when that happens these days.

A little while ago I was at the Arsenal academy and was gobsmacked by the fact that very few of the kids were English. The common language was French. It is the same at many of the big clubs and you can't tell me that a young English player who has access to that sort of level of coaching couldn't develop into a top player like some of their non-English counterparts.

Inter Milan won the champions league final without an Italian in the starting line-up. How did Italy do in the world cup? We don't have enough home grown talent in our premier league so should we be surprised that we had our worst World Cup in living memory?

We get it constantly rammed down our throats by Sky and the press that the Premier League is the best league in the world. That may or not be the case, but even if we assume that it is, it certainly doesn't mean that it produces enough good players to create a decent England national team. When was the last time an English player won either the World Player or the European Player of the year award? You have to go back to 2001 to Michael Owen, then before that Kevin Keegan and before that Bobby Charlton and Stan Matthews for English winners in the European vote. No Englishman has won the world award!

A manager can only work with the tools he is given and although I would suggest that Harry Redknapp is a manager who has consistently got the best out of average players, Fabio Capello has not suddenly become a bad manager either. But what can he do when for example his best goalkeeper is just a few weeks short of his 40th birthday? Where are all of the goalkeepers gone. This country used to be reknowned for producing some of the best in the world. No longer! Again, most of the keepers in the top flight are non-English.

Leagues in Holland, South America and to a lesser extent Germany for example, all lose their best players to foreign leagues including the premier league. Their leagues may be weaker than the Premier League, but as a result of lots of players leaving to go abroad, there is a constant need for clubs to produce more players. In doing so, they are producing a conveyor belt of wonderful talent for their national sides and it is those sides who by and large are doing well in the world cup.

I hope and pray that our performances in this tournament kick starts some sort of real change in the set up of our game. We have to ask ourselves what we really want. Fans put so much pressure on club managers it is hardly surprising that some look to bring in cheap imports rather than wait for young players to develop and blossom. Some clubs like Aston Villa are showing others the way forward, but it is going to take a major ground swell of support from the fans as well as impatient directors for other clubs to follow their lead.

The trouble is that there are so many different conflicts of interest within The FA, The Football League and The Premier League, I fear real change won't happen and as a result, I am sad to say that I can't see England winning the world cup in my lifetime again.

Pinot Grigio and talking bollocks - why the World Cup really sucks!

2010-06-21T10:58:00.005+01:00

The trouble with the world cup is that it brings out the every once every four yearers. You know the ones. They are the people that usually moan about too much football on the television, think that Capello is a singing voice slightly higher than soprano; they invade your local pub for England games, order bottles of Pinot Grigio, block everyone’s view of the screen, talk bollocks and then once England are knocked out, you (thankfully) don't see them again for another four years. (At this point, I want to publicly thank Ken, Hannah, Kate and the rest of the bar staff at my own local, the Prince Albert pub close to Twickenham Green, for recognising this four yearly phenomenon for what it is and for ensuring that the refreshment needs of the regulars are promptly dealt with).

This year it has been even worse because, God help us, the once every four yearers have gone and got themselves an opinon on what is currently going wrong in South Africa. I actually had someone tell me after the draw with the USA, the UK team (yes this person actually said UK) were feeling guilty about the BP oil leak and it was that guilt which was to blame for our lethargic performance! I kid you not!

Then there is the other sort of every four yearer. These are the ones who start buying 4-4-2 magazine so they can swat up on football terminology from the moment that England qualify in readiness for the main action. They call players by their nicknames, "come on Capello, get Crouchy on", or "come on Wazza, get in the hole" (no, I am not going there) and then afterwards they talk of 'overpaid players' who don't have passion 'for the shirt'.

After the dreadful game against Algeria they were slaughtering England, with some justification it has to be said, but with few facts with which to justify their venomous bile against the England players. Let's knock one myth on the head straight away. The days of 6-0, 7-0, 8-0 victories in world cup tournaments are few and far between. The vast majority of the Algerian squad play in Europe. Three have played in the premier league and a year ago, midfielder Karim Ziani was a 10 million Euro signing for the German champions, Wolfsburg. They may be ranked 20 places lower in the UEFA rankings than England,(which actually means next to nothing) but they are no mugs. However these are not excuses for England failing to win a game that they were clearly well equipped to win. So what has gone wrong?

The problem isn't because of a lack of passion brought about through players being overpaid and pampered. The old adage of "show us your medals" still rings true in this day and age. Anyway, what were the excuses back in 1950 when England lost 1-0 to the USA in one of the true world cup shocks? That our players weren't paid enough? What about 1962 and 1970? Why didn't we qualify for the finals in 1974, 1978 and 1994? No, players want to win competitions and they are desperate to win this one.

In the game against Algeria, the players looked full of fear. Far too many simple passes went astray, ball control became increasingly difficult. Players took a touch too many allowing the Algerians to close down; others tried to move it on too quickly, which resulted in the loss of possession. Steven Gerrard, deployed (wrongly) by Capello on the left, came inside to his natural central midfield position far too often, which meant that Ashley Cole couldn’t get forward as much as he would have liked, which in turn left huge gaps for the Algerians to exploit. The strikers became more and more isolated meaning that they dropped deeper to try and get some possession and then long balls from the back simply sailed to the feet of an Algerian defender. The list goes on... and on.

After the USA game, the England team was widely criticised and the reaction to that draw was way over the top. Subsequent results for the current world champions Italy and France who were runners-up four years ago, have proved to a degree what I said at the time which was the 1-1 draw would turn-out to be not such as bad result. What would European champions Spain give now for their defeat against Switzerland to have been a draw?

Being an Italian, it is natural that Fabio Capello will do things the Italian way. However, what might be right for an Italian team is not right for an English one. We have vastly different cultures, both football and social. It is said that the manager has given the players little freedom apart from allowing them the odd game of golf and that he demands that they rest for up to five hours every afternoon.

Too much time on your hands also gives you too much time to think. The players will certainly be aware of the criticism that has been aimed in their direction and coupled with far too much time to dwell on what has gone on in the first two games; a climate of fear has been created. Strip away the confidence of a player and then you don’t have a player at all.

The South American teams have far more freedom during the gaps between games and it is no coincidence that this has been translated into good performances on the pitch. Likewise the African teams are sadly struggling in this, the first ever World Cup on their continent. The pressure that has built up on the players of those teams has surely taken its toll and reports that one Nigerian player has received over 1000 death threats because he was sent off, particularly after what happened to poor Andres Escobar of Columbia, who was murdered shortly after the 1994 finals because he happened to score an own goal, is it a surprise that their results have not lived up to expectation?

For England to stand a chance of progressing further, Capello needs to become more approachable and allow the players some freedom. He needs to do his job and take the pressure off. But we the fans need to get off their backs and show them our support. Regular football fans are by and large an optimistic bunch and will still believe that we will win on Wednesday. To the once every four yearers I say, get behind the team and stop being so bloody negative. If you can’t find something good to say, then say nothing at all. Oh and pick up your empty Pinot Grigio bottles on the way out!

How to win the title even if you finish second

2010-05-11T10:54:00.000+01:00

All this talk of coalitions must have got Sir Alex Ferguson wishing that he could pull off a similar stunt as Gordon Brown is trying to do, with his friend, political ally and Burnley supporter Alastair Campbell. The Labour party PR guru who many suspect is behind recent developments at Westminster FC which is designed to stop 'the blues' going top of the table and from claiming their first 'title' since 1992 when John Major was the gaffer.

Allow me to indulge myself in a flight of fantasy for a moment. Chelsea having spanked ten-man Wigan by eight goals to nil on Sunday, topped the final table by a solitary point. Then Richard Scudamore who is getting ready to present the gleaming trophy to John Terry receives a frantic last minute call on his mobile phone from Manchester United.

"Richard, David Gill here. Don't give the trophy to that philandering sod. Alex is having a quick ring round to form a coalition and to see if we can secure the majority of points. It's our trophy and we're not letting those soft, southern bastards have it"

The total number of points won by all 20 clubs last season was 1035, so to win the title via a coalition of club points United would need 518 to claim their 19th title and overtake Liverpool as the most successful party, sorry, I mean club, of all-time in English football.

So who could Sir Alex count on to support him? Well Harry Redknapp and Sam Allardyce are close friends of the labour leader / Manchester United manager. So that's 120 points straight away. Add in the points won by former Fergie players Steve Bruce and Alec McCleish and that's another 94 making a grand total of 299, leaving United 219 points short.

That Chelsea will receive the points from Liverpool and Manchester City is not open to debate. With Everton it is not quite so clear cut with Sir Alex often quoted as saying that he would like to see David Moyes replace him one day in the Old Trafford hot seat. But let's face it. Scousers are still scousers no matter who they support down by the banks of the River Mersey, (I.E they hate Manchester in general and United in particular). Pressure from the fans, the very mention of Wayne Rooney and a desire to appease the Chelsea faithful following their howls of protest after the Everton skipper and ex-red, Phil Neville scored an own goal for United in that decisive game at Goodison back in the 2007 title race, would mean that Everton would probably remain blue.

Martin O' Neill is another manager that apparantly gets on well with Ferguson. However his position at Aston Villa is open to some speculation and he has been linked with the Liverpool job when (not if) Rafa Benitez goes. So O'Neill would not want to offend the fans of a club that potentially he could be in charge of come August and therefore, Villa would join the Chelsea coalition.

Down at the bottom, Avram Grant would do no favours for a club that sacked him after taking them to their first and so far only Champions League final, while I suspect that for no other reason than northern solidarity, Hull City and Bolton Wanderers would side with United. With Alastair Campbell working so closely behind the scenes, that Burnley would side with United is without doubt and so Ferguson would gain an extra 30 points there.

Carlo Ancelotti would pick up the points from Stoke and Wolves simply because their fans have a pathological hatred for United. Fulham would go red because in the words of their owner Mohammed Al Fayed, their dream is to be "the Manchester United of the south".

So taking all of that into account that would leave United an agonising 19 points short and trying to rule the premier league with either a minority government or having to seduce his long time foe......Arsene Wenger.

The Arsenal manager actually fits the shoes of Nick Clegg fairly well. Over the last few years they have regularly finished third, he promises a 'new type of football' which is attractive to the eye but lacks substance and he has some barmy policies such as replacing throw in's with kick in's.

It would be some sight to see Ferguson and Ancelotti both trying to persuade Wenger to come over to their side, but my own hunch is that the Frenchman would side with United simply because his dislike of all things Chelsea has eclipsed his hatred of all things United over the past six or seven years.

Of course this would never happen in real life. There would be revolution if it ever did. Our current crop of politicians can learn something from sport and that is there are only winners and losers. Second or second and third combining their points/seats does not wash with the public now and it never will. It doesn't matter if you win by a landslide or a single point, if you win more seats, more points, you are the winner and in a country that is proud of its sporting heritage that's the way the vast majority of us see it. And although supporters of Liverpool and Manchester City would probably love to see P.R. in football as it may finally deliver them the league title, deep down, we all hate bad losers.

The Hand Of Gaul

2009-11-19T13:56:00.000+00:00

There is only one word to describe Thierry Henry and that word is Cheat with a very large capital C. The mention of his name will no longer evoke memories of the brilliance he showed during his time with the Gunners. Instead, those memories have been forever scarred by his double handball in extra time in the second leg of France's play-off game against Ireland, before he set up William Gallas to score the goal which broke Irish hearts.

I have always had a grudging admiration for Thierry Henry up until last night. But despite his brilliance, I never felt that he was a big game player. He often went missing in cup semi-finals and finals and for me, he personified a club that often cracked up when the heat and the pressure became too much to bear, such as the race for the 2003 premier league title. He had gone missing again last night and with the clock ticking and the tie heading for a penalty shoot-out, he decided to take matters, or should I say the ball into his own hands. Maybe he thought he was playing Gaelic football.

I don't care if Henry was subdued in his celebrations at the end of last night's game. No Irishman will care that he tried to commiserate with a clearly shattered Richard Dunne by sitting on the turf alongside the Irish skipper with words of comfort. It was too late and the damage had been done.

I have had a few phone calls from both friends and colleagues this morning all wanting to talk about Thierry Henry. One of them posed the following scenario. It's the world cup final, Wayne Rooney is bearing down on the Argentina goal. He's one on one with the keeper in the last minute and he has the chance to win the world cup for England. He gets inside the area and takes a deliberate tumble, the ref points to the penalty spot and England score. It's payback time for Maradona's hand of God goal in 1986.

It's a scenario I dread. I wouldn't want to win the world cup that way. I can't bear the thought of the Argentine press branding us cheats in the same that we did them 23 years ago. I wouldn't want to give them any sort of moral victory. I would want us to stuff them fair and square.

I am just about old enough to remember 1966 and the debate that has been raging about Geoff Hurst's second goal ever since. The Germans still argue that the ball never crossed the line and had the goal not been given, they harp on about how they would have won the game 2-1 since at 90 minutes the final was tied at 2-2. I wouldn't want to see another England world cup victory tainted in that sort of way.

What happened last night will certainly give the conspiracy theorists more fuel to throw on to the fire. It was only when FIFA saw how many of the major football playing nations were in danger of failing to qualify for South Africa that they announced that the play-offs would be seeded and thereby keeping nations like Portugal, France and Russia apart and giving them maximum opportunity to qualify.

I'm inclined to disagree with such conspiracies. The referee last night had a good game and minutes earlier turned down a penalty appeal when Anelka (another ex Arsenal striker) did his dying swan act in the box to try and con the referee into awarding a penalty. The referee was probably unsighted when Henry handled, and the linesman wouldn't necessarily have had a good view either. So where does that leave us? Well if that wasn't a case for TV technology to be used in the game, I don't know what is!

In an ideal world, FIFA would order Ireland and France back to Paris for them to take part in a penalty shoot-out competition with the winners going to South Africa. At the very least, Henry should be banned from going to the world cup because you can bet your botton dollar that kids on the school playing fields are going to try and emulate the latest trick of Thierry Henry, because they know that cheats do prosper!

Is there hope for Hope?

2009-10-22T17:11:00.000+01:00

Another morning and a load more football headlines to trawl through. Certainly more than enough to keep me off the laptop and phone and high on caffeine until 11ish.

First of all there were the performances of Manchester United and Chelsea in Europe to read about and then I spent nearly an hour on the latest Rafa Benitez will he stay or will he go saga. Portsmouth’s Peter Storrie being charged by the police over alleged tax evasion loomed large over my breakfast / brunch table. Then I finally happened upon what I consider to be the story the of day, maybe the week, possibly the season, maybe if it turns out to be true, it could be one of the biggest football stories in the history of the game. The small headline in one of the football gossip columns said “FA deny Powell to Grimsby link".

“Powell? Who he?” I asked myself. Then slowly, the penny dropped, except it wasn’t Penny or Penelope, it was Hope.

I involuntarily spluttered coffee all over the table and the inside pages of the Daily Mail. Hope Powell, manager of the England WOMEN’S football team linked to the vacant job at Grimsby Town!

Now Blundell Park has seen some strange things in football over the years, not least the one and only hatrick that I managed in my short and unfulfilled professional career many moons ago. This however, topped the lot! “Poor Mike Newell” I thought. First of all he blows the whistle on bungs, loses his job at Luton Town, gets shipped out to a remote fishing port on the North Sea and ends up getting replaced by a woman! Can it get any crueller than that? Then memories of ‘The Manageress, a TV drama series of some 20 years ago, starring the still lovely Cherie Lunghi came flooding back.

In the Manageress, Cherie Lunghi played Gabriella Benson, the first ever woman to manage a professional football team. We men laughed at Lunghi’s character as she struggled to make her mark in a totally male dominated environment. We wrote it off as make-believe when she did, while at the same time, telling all who would listen that it would never happen in real life. We argued back then, that even women’s football teams were managed by men!

We weren’t being deliberately sexist. We were being pragmatic. In the late 80’s I was still playing a reasonably good standard of non-league football. Even in the depths of the Ryman League, players wanted a ‘gaffer’ that they could respect; a leader who had been there, seen it, and done it. They wanted a man who could fill his players with so much inspiration that they would literally run through brick walls for him if he asked them to. Managing a football team back then, never mind now was hard enough for an awful lot of men, never mind women.

As much as women’s football has improved over the years and although the rule book for women’s football is exactly the same as it is for the men, they are still two different games. Much of this is down to biology. Women are simply not as physically as strong as men. I may be letting myself in for all sorts of criticism when I say this, but I would bet an awful lot of money that an average Sunday pub side could beat the England’s women team that reached the finals of the European Championships earlier this year. The women may be technically gifted, but they don’t have the physical strength to match.

Successful managers like Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho have the respect of their players. Neither were great footballers. But they both understand more than the game itself. They understand men and as us men have been saying since time immortal, women don’t understand us in the same way that men don’t really understand women.

I am sure that Powell has an armful of coaching badges and that theoretically she understands the technical aspects of the game as well as anybody. But as we all know, there is more to football than simply theory, otherwise we would all stop being bar-room managers and climb into the dug-out. One of the reasons that we all love football is that we think that our opinions are right and the local pub makes for an ideal platform when everybody nods sagely at our rantings. We can all judge when our team is playing badly, but how many of us could actually do something about it if we were given the opportunity? Very few is my guess, because for a professional footballer to listen, you have to have his respect. And no matter how many medals she has won in the women’s game, no matter how many coaching badges she has earned, simple logic dictates that Powell would struggle to attain that.

The last woman to try and cut it on the men’s football field was referee Wendy Toms. She was an assistant referee in the carling cup final between Leicester City and Tranmere Rovers back in 2000 following an incredible fast-tracking to premier league status that many believe was borne out of a desire for political correctness within the premier league. She may have known the rules of the game as well as anyone, but where is she now? The experiment failed.

Part of me would like to see Powell get the job even if it is for part of some sort of scientific study on the behaviour of men and women in the workplace. But this afternoon the denials that there was any sort of truth to this story have been forthcoming, so I will place the newspapers cutting in the same file as the Kaka to Manchester City stories.

The playing staff of Grimsby Town will be breathing a huge sigh of relief as the sun sets over another huge haul of herring brought ashore this evening, because the chances of Powell having to tell her players to “kipper your hands to yourself” have receded and the paper the headlines have been printed on today will be wrapping the fish and chips tomorrow. But it does make you think, doesn’t it?