Crawley Town.........An Apology

I have been away on holiday.
When I left I was under the impression that Crawley Town were managed by an overweight corrupt classless berk.
I am now happy to accept that this information is incorrect.

I would like to acknowledge that I have no problem with Crawley Town Football Club.  Good luck to you all.

Now.... Rotherham Utd.

£100 million = 1 point better?

Even Kings Should Take Criticism on board! 

Kenny Dalglish is a legend at Liverpool. I'm not disputing that fact, but if you look at why he is a legend most Liverpool fans will say because of the things he did as a player. Yes he won trophies as a manager, including the 1986 double (with Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan's team), but when he left Liverpool the downward spiral had definitely begun. I was always sure that the effects of Hillsborough had a massive influence on his decision, but this theory doesn't hold up when you consider how quickly he was accepting Uncle Jack's cash at Ewood.  Was he just astute enough to predict what Liverpool were about to go through in the 90's and jump before his reputation was tarnished. A wise move on the face of it, as  I haven't heard the Anfield faithful singing about Souness recently, despite how highly he was rated as a player!

Liverpool have got themselves in a situation now though. By appointing Kenny as manager in January 2011, the new owners immediately got the supporters onside, but they now have the ultimate unsackable manager.
On the face of it they have been repaid. Liverpool already have a trophy in the bag, but lets look into this a little deeper to see how successful the last 14 months have been:

On January 3rd 2011 Liverpool were 11 points behind the Champions League places. On March 10th 2012, having just been rolled by Sunderland, Liverpool are 10 points off the Champions League places. The cost of this one point improvement is significant. Carroll, Suarez, Downing, Adam and Henderson are all Premiership quality, but I'd argue that only Suarez was Champions League quality. Henderson may get there eventually. Carroll could be a top striker, but not at Liverpool, where the players strengths do not fit with the club. Surely this is the sort of thing that you'd expect to have been researched before parting with £30 million. Compare this with Martin Jol's tracking of Pavel Pogrebnyak, a player he had been monitoring for 5 years. Downing and Adam are mid table players at best, capable of playing well, but not with the consistency needed for the top 4. Lets look at it this way, were City, Spurs, Arsenal or Utd desperate to sign any of them?

Roy Hodgson was a failure at Liverpool, everyone knows that. Hodgson is a master of getting the best out of a smaller team, but could not cope with the expectation at Liverpool. He got ruined by the press and most notably some of the 'expert' pundits on TV. Yet these same people are not jumping on Dalglish's back even though £100million has got the club no closer to the promised land. Kenny has the media all sewn up. They seem incapable of criticising him. Of course this may be due to the fact that if Alan Hansen says anything anti Kenny then he may have to find a new golf partner. They are as far away from the Top 4 as they were when Hodgson was sacked, and £100 million has seen them scrape past Cardiff to win a trophy, thanks largely to the players brought to the club by Benitez. Their players have shown no sign of improvement, they are still incapable of consistently beating the lower ranked teams and their tactics still seem to be 'Lets hope Gerrard or Suarez can come up with something.'

I'm not calling for Kenny Dalglish to be sacked, Liverpool need to back their manager as it will take years for them to catch up. I would just like him to be held to account for the fact that Liverpool have made zero progress in 14 months. A lot of it is Kenny Dalglish's fault, will somebody please mention this fact!

Are Chelsea the new Man Utd?

Clueless Manager or Gutless Owner?

Chelsea have made a decision.
Whether it is a good one or not remains to be seen, but one thing is perfectly clear, Roman Abramovich buckles to public opinion. When the grumbles start to fly around Stamford Bridge, the P45 is usually heading towards the manager. This is him disguising the fact that Chelsea's problems are all Mr Abramovich's fault. The mess they are now in all comes down to his personal falling out with Jose Mourinho and the eventual departure of the self styled 'special one' in September 2007.

Villas Boas can only have been appointed manager at Chelsea for one reason, and that must have been to build a new, young squad of his own. There is no other reason to appoint such a young manager. The fact that Abramovich has turned his back on that after a dodgy couple of months is laughable. There is always going  to be a period of transition whilst a new team is formed. Arsenal have been in one for about 6 years now. Liverpool for approaching 25.

People may say 'What about Man Utd, they don't seem to have a period of transition?', but it is Man Utd that I most closely associate Chelsea's current situation with. Not Manchester United of now, obviously, but Manchester United 1972-1989, a team unable to cope with the pressure of emulating the great team of 1968. A team left to grow old together, instead of gradually being broken up and rebuilt without anyone really noticing. A club where the big names of the past made it almost impossible to succeed.

The problem Chelsea have is that the make up of the current squad still contains 4 senior members of the 2005 -2006 Premiership Champions squad. A team afforded legendary status by Chelsea fans brought up on Eddie Nzedwiecki, Kevin Wilson and Steve Wicks. These players are untouchable at Stamford Bridge, and have created a situation where they can't be left out without the manager immediately being under pressure. These players are growing old and their performances are not what they once were.( In fact out of the 4, Frank Lampard (the player most commonly dropped by Villas Boas) is the only one playing anywhere near his original level.) Yet, there are no suitable replacements coming through. The youth system at Chelsea creates next to nothing, and any available top player would probably see other clubs as more forward thinking. What I find most amusing is that certain players seem desperate to see Mourinho back in charge. If he was, Terry, Cech, Drogba and Lampard would be unceremoniously dropped and released. I am certain of that. They would have gone last season if Mourinho was still there.

Chelsea need change if they are to remain at the top. They can't just hope that another great team comes along because it won't. Whoever the man is who gets the job, they will need 4 things to help them succeed:

Stability - no great change can be achieved in 9 months. The new man will need at least 2 season to get anywhere.

Cash - Roman had better be prepared to open his wallet. £200 million might enable them to keep sight of the Mancunian rears before they disappear beyond the horizon.

Support - The manager must be backed to the hilt. If he wants John Terry to go he must be allowed to send him on his way. I'm sure JT could do  a job at West Ham for a year or two.

The Mark Robins moment - At some stage, some player will have to stand up and be counted in a crucial game. I wouldn't back on anyone doing that right now.


Finally, if Chelsea really aren't going to spend 25 years in the doldrums, they'd better hope they don't get Fulham at home on the last day of the season. Damian Duff backheel anyone?

The Great British Derby

With the North London Derby fast approaching, I will (as usual) want Tottenham to win.  I can't think of one occasion when I have wanted Arsenal to beat Spurs. They are not my team, but when it comes to a derby match a part of my brain has decided that I have to have a favourite side. I just can't enjoy watching a derby unless I am in some small way attached to one of the teams.

 I think this probably stems from the fact that watching my own teams local gathering is always painful, gut wrenching agony. As soon as the full time whistle goes, and the immediate jubilation or despair has disappeared, I tend to think 'Thank God it's 6 months until we face that bunch again'.  So I want Spurs to win to give the game meaning and enjoyment, but safe in the knowledge that if Arsenal win I don't have to suffer the pain!

I then got to thinking about every derby. It turns out I am always the same. I want one team to win. I can't think of one major British derby where I don't always want the same team to win, unless it directly benefits my own team obviously!

So here's my derby list, (in no particular order) and where known my reasons for favourtism, this is usually due to one player or specific event. Think about it yourself, it's quite revealing! Capitals are the team I favour. Where I say underdog, it is not meant as offensive. It's just a fact from when I was young, it might not be true now!!!! Obviously it's not an exhaustive list. Some teams, like Millwall, would consider that they have 3 or 4 derby games, so I've just picked one, and I really can't be bothered to go through all of the random inter city rivalries just to explain why I want Swindon to beat Oxford, Cowdenbeath to despatch East Fife or Grimsby to do Lincoln!

1. Arsenal v SPURS.      Reason - Glenn Hoddle, Chris Waddle and Clive Allen
2. MAN CITY v Man Utd          City being the perennial underdog (Obviously not now!)
3. EVERTON v Liverpool           Graeme Sharp,  Anfield 1984
4. Chelsea v FULHAM                Chelsea losing to Fulham is always funny! 
5.  BLACKBURN v Burnley       Irrational favourtism to Blackburn.
6. Newcastle v SUNDERLAND    Underdog
7. Bristol City v BRISTOL ROVERS   Rovers have generally been mucked about over the years.
8. NORWICH v Ipswich        Norwich had Trevor Putney and Dale Gordon
9. CARDIFF v Swansea        I have lived near Cardiff and watched them.
10. Forest v NOTTS COUNTY                  Huge underdog
11. Aston Villa v BIRMINGHAM CITY     Villa just annoy me. Sorry.
12. WBA v Wolves                             That WBA shirt with the no smoking sign on it.
13. CELTIC v Rangers                 Rangers were winning everything at the time.
14. DUNDEE v Dundee Utd        Bobby Geddes
15. SHEFF UTD v Sheff Weds    Deane and Agana
16. Hearts v HIBS
17. Exeter v PLYMOUTH           Dave Smith
18. MILLWALL  v West Ham    Sheringham, Cascarino and Stevens
19. BLACKPOOL v Preston
20. PORT VALE v Stoke            Underdog
21. Colchester v SOUTHEND     I go and watch Southend, they are close to my inlaws! 
22. EAST STIRLINGSHIRE v Stenhousemuir    East Stirling are always crap.
23. PORTSMOUTH v The unmentionable sons of the devil...................                           

I shed no tears for Crawley Town..

The glory of the FA Cup. The plucky underdog knocking out the pampered big boys. Sutton United, Yeovil Town and Hereford United. Roy Essandoh, Jim Montgomery and 'Smith must score.'  I love all of this. I love the FA Cup with a passion. So why then was I so desperate for Premier League Stoke City to stuff League Two Crawley Town?

Stoke City mean nothing to me. I don't support them, but I don't hate them. I rarely want them to win, but I don't think I've ever passionately wanted them to lose a game. I respect them as a well run club, with good players and a good manager. Despite all of that, if they had been playing Swindon, Southend or Torquay I would not have wanted Stoke to win. When Jon Walters put 10 man Stoke ahead I cheered out load. Peter Crouch's second was met with a clenched fist waved in celebration. When the full time whistle blew I decided to have a think about why I have this intense dislike of Crawley Town.

I don't dislike the supporters. I don't think there are enough of them to dislike. If you don't come from Crawley you won't support them, so it's not like there are thousands of glory fans. I don't dislike the players, from what I've seen they are a decent team for League Two. I don't even dislike the fact that they seemingly have a huge stash of cash to be able to spend on players. That's football, and there are a few non league clubs with plenty of cash. I still wanted Fleetwood to beat Blackpool.

Steve Evans - Corrupt

I do dislike the fact that they have a classless, arrogant criminal as their manager. As long as Steve Evans is manager of Crawley, I will despise them and cheer whoever they are playing. The man should not be allowed anywhere near a football club, professional or otherwise, yet he is allowed to spout his opinions on TV and Radio and we are meant to be happy for 'plucky Crawley'. Last season, because of this man, I sunk to the lowest depths it is possible to go to. For 90 minutes I became a fan of Manchester United..


For anyone who doesn't know the background to the case, Whilst at Boston, Evans was convicted of tax evasion, and the FA found him guilty of contract irregularities whereby players salaries were not correctly declared to the FA. He was banned from football for 20 months... To the disgust of Boston fans he ended up back at the club and managed to get himself escorted out of Blundell Park at half time of a match against Grimsby for foul and abusive language. It is hard to imagine what he must have said to get kicked out of the ground by the police. Due to the fact that Evans was convicted, there are plenty of details all over the internet if you want to look into it further.

Somehow he maintained his job and saw Boston lose a last day of the season decider at Wrexham. Evans immediately stated his commitment to the club, publicly stating that he would stay at Boston. Two weeks later though he resigned and went to Crawley, where the attraction of the endless supply of money tempted him. Within a season he had picked up a 10 game ban for poor touchline behavior.

Even in the last week he has shown himself to be completely incapable of behaving like a respectable human being. He called Stoke's squad 'Championship players' and then when Rory Delap made what was at worst a yellow card tackle, he remonstrated like a mad hippopotamus on the touchline to such an extent that it must have taken all of Tony Pulis' self control not to walk over there and hit him.

That's why I wanted Stoke to win. Money can buy you good players, it can build you a nice stadium and it can get you into the football league. What it can't do is buy you class. I'm off to listen to some Tom Jones.  

The Farce of France!

Various reasons have meant that I haven't updated my blog in the last few weeks, but rest assured, some things have still been annoying me.

1. The Farce of France

Rugby is my favourite sport. I love  all sports. I am a huge fan of football and cricket, but rugby has always been my first love. Due to my job, I can't really blog too much about rugby, but the behavior of certain individuals in the postponed France v Ireland match drove me mad.

Pearson - Scapegoat

For those who missed it, the game got called off about 10 minutes before the scheduled kick off time (9pm GMT) due to parts of the pitch being frozen. The blame for this was then passed squarely onto referee Dave Pearson by the French Federation. The referee is responsible for one thing and one thing only when doing a pitch inspection and that is the safety of the players. Nothing else should come into consideration. Pearson correctly said that if the safety of the players couldn't be guaranteed then the game can not take place. That is just the referee doing his job correctly. Of course it is a disappointment for the fans present, particularly those travelling from far away, but the referee should not be blamed. I would imagine that if he was allowed, he would have called the game off about 6 hours earlier.



The FFR on the other hand have made themselves look ridiculous. Straight away after the game the passed the blame onto Pearson. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I doubt Dave Pearson scheduled the game for a late evening kick off. I don't think Dave Pearson looked at the long term weather forecast and decided not to move the kick off time forward. I'm pretty sure Dave Pearson wasn't responsible for the Stade De France not having undersoil heating.

In a couple of weeks the game will be replayed. None of the players will be missing through serious injury. That is thanks to the correct call being made. The bigwigs in the FFR should think about how they have acted from the comfort of their luxury seats.

I'd make a joke about Cookie's crumbling, but it's too important...........!

To be a supporter of Wales is always a challenge, no matter the sport. As a small nation we shouldn’t be able to compete, yet when we suddenly get a decent group of players the pressure heaped on them is so great that they inevitably crumble or just lose the passion to play for the nation. 

The Welsh football team seems to have a peak every 20 years, where we nearly qualify for something, then it all goes wrong for a while.  It was only 3 years between Paul Bodin missing that penalty and Moldova rolling us. 4 years separated beating Italy and getting spanked at home by Slovakia. It seems that the best Welsh players give it 3 or 4 years before losing interest. Or more likely they are given 3 or 4 years before top Premiership managers start saying “Aaron, we have a really big Champions League game coming up, are you sure you want to go to Macedonia and risk getting injured? I mean, Wales aren’t going to qualify are they?”

Gary Speed seemed to have hit on a philosophy that worked for Wales. A game based on quick passing football, on looking after the ball, of clever probing passes creating chances rather than hustle bustle and puff your chests out lads and get stuck into them. It works because it suits the 3 key players who play like this for their clubs. It also works because Swansea and to a slightly lesser extent Cardiff play the same way, so players from those clubs can easily fit International football when needed. In 1 year we have developed a definite style of play, supported by the 2 major  clubs and the 3 top quality players we have at our disposal. The decision of who to appoint as the next manager of Wales is now the most important decision in the last 50 years of Welsh football.

When watching Wales, I am always pessimistic. Expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised is my philosophy. Even with the last decent team, under Mark Hughes I felt like that. There was something about that team that suggested they were scamming it a bit. Giggs still didn’t play that much. Speedo was often at left back, but, through his ability to read the game he could get away with it. If Hartson was injured the back up was Nathan Blake. Savage and Davies were good top level players, but if they were injured there was no-one to come in. In truth, the Euro 2004 campaign only nearly worked because the team got out in front of the group. After the first 4 games I seem to remember they only beat Azerbaijan. 

It isn’t like that now. Our players aren’t the best players in the world. Only Bale and Rambo would get near the England squad, and only Bale would get near the England team. Our captain, our talisman, the man who everything revolves around would at best be on the bench for the English. Our players aren’t the best, but for the first time in my life I watch Wales and expect them to win games. I have faith that we can look after the ball and cause good teams problems, as proven by the first 60 minutes against Montenegro and the second half at Wembley.

Now we have to deal with a new manager coming in and all of the problems that may involve. There’s the potential  new manager / new ideas scenario? There is also the personal issue. Speedo was a legend to every member of that squad, is there someone out there with that same level of respect amongst the squad?  Gary Speed could tell Aaron Ramsey or Gareth Bale something and they would listen intently. Wales have to continue to play in the same way. We have no choice, it is the only way we can be competitive. Chris Coleman seems to be the favourite, but personally I hope he doesn’t get the job. I don’t remember Fulham playing stylish football when he was in charge at Craven Cottage. John Hartson has a passion for Wales that can’t be matched, but no experience of management and he would almost certainly say something that would annoy somebody if he was in charge on his own.  Ian Rush is an absolute legend in Wales, but his attempt at management wasn’t successful. So what to do?

For what it’s worth, I have a solution.  For various reasons it could never happen, but here’s what I would do.  I would keep the coaching staff as it is, find a full time role for John Hartson to be involved in and I would beg Swansea to allow Brendan Rodgers to be part time manager of Wales. Right now, being Welsh is not the most important qualification for this job. Having an understanding of how to set up a team to play passing football is the only thing that matters. Swansea do this. I’m pretty sure Rodgers is a Welsh name anyway........