Italian or English Pride - What is the FA doing?

As you have all heard we now have an Italian at the head of England Football. This is quite shocking and it makes you think what is next...Cudicini in Goal..!!

Firstly, I do not like the idea of an Italian (or any foreigner) leading England. England is a national game, it should pit the best England Players against other countries players, and also best coaches, physio's, support against those of other countries. At one point my argument does fall over and that is to do with developing countries. Could Greece have ever won Euro 04 without a German at the healm, how good would have South Korea have been without Hiddink. For these reasons I am prepared to back track on my comment of not ever having a non-English coach. But what I do not understand is why we cannot have a English backroom heading up by an Italian.

This should have been the case, it seems the FA, in the urgency to get their man at whatever cost have basically turned the English into the Italian B Team. How can we have Italian, goalkeeping coaches, fitness coaches etc heading up England. That just does not make sense at all. I would like to see if anyone agrees with the backroom staff appointment.

Capello as a man is fanstastic and no doubt will make England great again, but England FA does not have a divine right to be good. Many this is a reflection of the game in England with the foriegn influx that we are suffering with. If England are unable to find a suitable English coach, that should not mean we go and find the best non-Egnlish coach, we should make do with what we have. England is not a developing nation, it is a nation that is just not good enough, and therfore should live with the consequences. I do not see Scotland or Wales chasing glory, it is more to do with country and national pride with these nations and that is how it should be. Glory should not be the greatest pinnacle, it should be about how you got there.

Like I say, to win would be get Cudicini to play for England as he has never played for Italy so can be elegible. How far do we want to go. I guess most of the Arsenal youngsters could choose England as their national team to play for, would this be right. I do not like this idea. The days of Liniker, Gazza, Pearce need to return, where winning at any cost was more about effort and commitment, not about who you can go out and buy or cheat with.

Would like to hear your thoughts on this, as this topic is not only about Football, it is about what we are prepared to do to gain quick success without the effort and committment that goes behind it.

'The hare and the tortoise' - only ever one winner

Liverpool to choose DIC over US

Not long ago Liverpool FC had 2 fantastic offers on the table to choose from, and right now it seems like they made the wrong one.

For the first time LFC are airing their laundry in public, this is a new feeling for the supporters of the club who have always see a single front estalished by the board, manager and players. Could this all lead to a turning point in LFC fortunes...for the worse.!

The offer from DIC, though of a lower value now seems to be of a much higher importance. The fact that Dubai as a country would have owned LFC would mean no debt, the stadium would have been well on it's way, new players would have been bought without a care. It would have had the purchasing power of Roman Abromovich times 100. Other positives would be that that DIC seemed to have really wanted to buy Liverpool. So what if their due diligence took a while, isn't that a good thing, showing they cared, they knew how to run a business, and where in it for the long run. They would have built a stadium in Dubai just for LFC to play some games, a new training camp for when players were tired, the treatments, and just imagine having all the rich Arabs of Dubai supporting LFC, paying fortunes for boxes, subscriptions to LFC TV, buying the shirts. Is it just me or am I right in thinking that this would have been the biggest money machine ever....and all helping to make LFC the best club ever.

Instead, it seems more a meagre £1000 extra a share, the owners (Moores/Parry) have sold themselves to some old US grandfathers who have no idea what they have bought and what to do with it. Glazer at Old MUFC knew he was buying a money machine, just due to the revenues that Old Trafford can generate. Gillet and Hicks should have know that Anfield is not the same and that is why a new stadium is essential. Also why have two people owning a club, when god knows when thye may pass on, and their kids could not want a part of it, instead DIC was an organisation, doesn't matter who headed it up, but an organisation of the Dubai government is not going anywhere.

I am really disappointed that this decision was made and LFC have to now make the best of what they have, and hopefully this means that the stadium can go ahead at maximum speed with maximum seating capacity, and that Rafa still has the fund he needs to make Liverpool title contenders.

I guess it is just a matter of watching this space, and hoping DIC come back one day to complete what they started.

'Reap what you sew'

Congratulations INDIA....T20 World Cup Champions

WOW..What a game, what an event. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/7009035.stm)

Was lucky enough to a 'working at home' day today so that I could watch the T20 final. Could it be poised any better, India v Pakistan, 20 overs each, 3.5 hours of pulsating cricket.

I lived through all the emotions today, firstly I saw India have a solid start, then the wickets started falling, the newcomer Pathan was a bit poor but he did his part. For me the poorer performance was was Uthappa who has not really performed in batting. Then Yuvraj came in and I held my breath for some sixes..but alas these were missing as he also looked out of form. Trying to set a target of 180 we were falling well short with only Ghambir hitting any runs of notice and then being backed up by Rohit Sharma towards the latter stages. A target of 157 was easily gettable on a pitch that was doing nothing. But I thought to myself, if RP Singh can bowl to his best there is always a chance, and the pressure would tell on a young Pakistan team.

The India starting bowling and I felt I was able to tell the future with RP Singh being in fantastic form, taking quick wickets. Unfortunately we also had Sreesanth in our team, who seemed to have used all his skill against Australia. Being hit for 21 off his first o ver, I thought this was it.

What unfolded over the next 18 or so overs was nothing short of breathtaking. We had run-outs (Uthappa redeeming himself), we had off stumps flying all over, we had the usual Indian team giving away a bucketful of extras. A few moments stood out, Afridi, walking onto the pitch, me crossing my fingers he did not get too many runs, two balls later he is caught. Sreesanth turns to being a semi-god again. Danger man gone but then more stress. What was Harbhajan doing bowling weak deliveries. His over against Australia got us to the final but this time, 3 sixes in one over and it should have been a walk in the park for Pakistan.

The stress went to the final over and after a wide, dot, a six, we had a hit at a ball that came from the hand of god. Straight to someone who had now turned into a god...Sreesanth. What a game, what a finish, 3 balls left, 5 run victory over the arch enemy.

What a game, and also played in what spirit. The parliament of both countries should watch this game, the friendship of the two nations was something to behold, especially after the finale. Pakistan were not sore losers and it was good to see, credit where credit was due, it took two teams to create this spectacular of an event.

Well India had won, this team as the commentar mentioned had not realised their new status in the hearts of all Indians. The money offered to them by the BCCI would give them some indication of their supreme eing status in India. Yuvraj picking up 1 crore will be extremely happy no doubt, and no doubt his dad has fired off more bullets in India (http://cricket.indiatimes.com/Fans_rejoice_as_Yuvi_lights_up_T20/articleshow/2395069.cms).

The most impressive person no doubt was Dhoni. What carisma, he plays with a smile all the time and I think that helps him and his team. You can see that life is more important to him and that relaxed attitude has definitely played a big part in the success on India. He has extreme trust in his players and what them to better themselves rather than focus on the bigger picture, I think he is going to impress everyone in many years to come..mark my words.

Well as the news channels are all filled with fireworks, dancing and celebrations, again I say congratulations to India. Hopefully then can continue in this vain and look to replace the ageing Australia side as the best team in the world and stay there for years to come. We do not want this to be just a flash in the pan, it needs to be built upon and moved forward.

A final word of thankyou to Pakistan, again they played extremely well and I see many future bettles between these two great young teams.

Chak de India....

Just one question? Who does Shah Rukh Khan support?? Maybe we will touch on this in my next blog.

Mourinho leaves Chelsea....so what...!

No doubt you have all heard about Mourinho leaving Chelsea last week. I remembered waking up, turning on the TV to watch the cricket and there is was in the bottom corner...latest news...Mourinho leaves Chelsea. I have to say I was extremely shocked as you all probably were. I mean there was this 'special' manager who has come first, first, second, semi-finals of the champions league, FA Cup, Coca-Cola Cup. Anyway we all know the credentials, and this manager leaves of so called 'mutual -consent'.

Were I begin to get annoyed is when I hear Gordon Brown is going to make a speech about him leaving Chelsea...half the papers do not agree with it, there is going to be demonstrations by the supporters, and then you have the final straw of Andy Townsend on Talksport (www.talksport.net) talking about Abromovich having to explain his actions. This is all football gone mad.

Abromovich has put his own money into the club, he is the one who has brought the success to the club, he has bankrolled the players and now he is being asked to explain his actions. People seem to forget that Fabio Cappello, having brought the title to Real Madrid (www.realmadrid.com) after a four year absence gets sacked by the president, and no one batters an eyelid. Compared to that this Mourinho incident should be one of a manager leaving a Unibond division team. Madrid is so much bigger than Chelsea and they make do with a change of manager, whereas this Chelsea event has been ridiculous.

I am not saying there is nothing personal in this, as a Liverpool supporter I have never like Mourinho but have respected what he has achieved. Not losing a game at home over 99 matches is a statistic that speaks for itself. But this incident shows that sometimes football needs to be put into perspective (can't believe I just said that), a manager leaving a club is an everyday event, and just because it is Chelsea it should not be treated any different.

Anyway, hopefully you can agree and see where I am coming from. Would like to hear the view of Chelsea supporters on this.

300 - What a film....

Hey,

Just came back from Miami last week and while I was there we watched the film '300'. Just one word.. WOW!!.

I have heard alot of people call it mindless and just full of fights, all I would say is that it is not meant to be anything else. The film does not portray itself as a Oscar winner, or one full on emotional romance and dialogue. The film trailer shows exactly what the film is about so how can anyone go into the cinema expecting anything else. I have to say, the people that expect something totally different to what the film is really need to do some research. I can understand if a film does not meet expectations, but my point is that expectations need to be clear.

Anyway, back to the film. I think you need to go with a mind to watching alot of fight scenes, men dressed in very little and making you want to go straight to the gym afterwards, and some funny one-liners. It also asks alot of questions about democracy and the role of women in the world. If this is really how the Spartans lived then they should be commended for respecting the female and also standing up for democracy.

Having spoke to a few people I think the film could have been based on Sikhs, as there are times in Sikh history where few have also stood against many and triumphed. Even in these battles, democracy was at the core of the battle. Also the way the Sikhs gave equality to women shows the similarity that the Sikhs had with the Spartans, aswell as the good fighting and good looks..!!

I would definitely recommend viewing this film and if you have seen it already I would like to know what you thought of it.

'This is Sparta' - 300

Lacklustre England

Hi All,

So how many of you watched the England Andorra game yesterday. What a load of shambles I have to say. I think players who are on £100,000 a week should be playing alot better, especially when they go on about the pride of playing for their nation.

The first half I thought was a disgrace, and the reporters got it spot on, the team looked scared. How can players who have played in Champions League finals, FA cups finals suddenly get scared against Andorra. Even the second half display had alot to be desired. Winning 3-0 is not good enough, in fact anything less that double figures when the team has something to prove is not acceptable.

Whilst watching the game I was just shocked to see the lack of committment from the team and then I started to think about the players. They all seem to be kids. When I look back at Italia 90, the team then seemed to be made of men. Stuart Pearce, Beardsley, Linekar, Waddle, Shilton, that was a team of men. Then I look to France 96, Ince, Batty, Shearer, Adams, Sol Campbell. Again a team full of men who give 100%. Yesterday I look at Ashley Cole (somebody who whilst driving nearly crashed his car because he thought £50,000 per week was not enough), Downing (somebody who could not cross all night for fear - are people mad thinking that this person is og international calibre). In fact now i've started lets go through the team...

Robinson - Touched the ball 2 times I think, and to be fair a good keeper of proven quality
Micah Richards - One for the future, put in the best cross of the night but should have been much more forward all night
Rio - Nothing much to do, but as a player I do not understand Rio. He makes some silly mistakes, which costs goals but everyone raves about him. If any other player made the same number of mistakes as him, i.e. Titus Bramble, then they would be slaughtered.
Terry - The captain but did not lead like one. Not once did I see him shouting at his players, positioning people more forward. Needs to take the game by the scruff of the neck if he wants to lead, ala Beckham.
Cole - What a sham this guy is. Need I say more, give him money and he would have scored an own goal. He doesn't know the meaning of playing for pride.
Downing - Who in the world thinks he is international quality, he looked scared, couldn't cross and missed the best chance of the night. He needs to come back in a few years
Hargreaves - Again, who thinks this person can play. Yes he breaks up the game, but a against Andorra my grandma could have broken up the game. He can't pass, runs with his head down, can't shoot, he might aswell take up ice hockey in Canada.
Gerrard - Now as a Liverpool Supporter you would think I would rave about Gerrard. Yes he scored two goals but that was not enough. He went into tackles looking to hurt people, you could see it on his face, went down for a penalty. He really needs to sort himself out if he wants to be remembered as a great. I was ashamed of his behaviour yesterday.
Lennon - Great player, only life we had in the team. But he really needs to work on the final ball and link up with others better. Has alot to learn and must use these games to learn it.
Rooney - Petty, sulky, fighter, swearing the whole time. What a poor show for the children watching. If I was him I would have hugged the Andorra player and smiled everytime he said something. As soon as he did this the Andorra player would realise he cannot he wound up and would stop. Really needs to grow up.
Johnson - What was he doing on the pitch. What happened to Defoe, or anyone but Johnson. He cannot even score for Everton so what is he doing. Had a few good shots but missed his chance to get on the score sheet.

I guess you cannot only blame the players, the manager has a big impact on the team and I still do not know why he is manager. He has not proved himself. He is not a Bobby Robson, or Venables who have done it for years. Everyone thought he would be a Hoddle but Hoddle was lucky with the players he had at his disposal. I think MaClaren should go and let Venables take over. I think Venables so far is only there for the ride, he needs to step up to the plate aswell.

Well let's see what happens down the line, qualification is still in sight but the performances need to improve. And I think Beckham needs to return. If nothing else he shows the passion that the 3 lions on the shirt deserves.

'Yippee-ki-ya' - Die Hard

So how was Christmas ?

Hey all,

Just wanted to see how your Christmas holidays went, or maybe are still going?
To be honest, alot of people I have spoken to this year have said that it did not feel like Christmas, and I tended to agree. It just went by so quickly. It is already 3 days later and it doesn't even seem like it happened.

I find as we get older time just flioes by so much quicker. I remember as a kid, during the summer holidays I used to go round my cousins house for a week, he'd come round to mine for a few, we chill for a few and it would still feel like there was 10 left, now holidays are over before you know it. Is this just because we think this way, or is it because we are so worried about work and bills and family that we forget to actually enjoy the time.

Back to Christmas anyway, I would like to know how many non Christians actually celebrate Christmas, I mean do you do all the presents and all. This actually amuses me, because we seem to do the food, the drinks, and many of my family members also do the presents, but I have no doubt none of them actually take part in the understanding behind Christmas as I feel Christians would do. Even though this may sound wrong to a few of you, I always think it is right to respect other religions and I respect Christmas, I do not ignore it and most years my family puts up the tree, makes the big dinner, but I never agree with the giving of presents. For some reason I cannot see why we would give presents when Christmas does not mean alot to me. We do not give presents for our celebrations so how come everybody suddenly realises that they have to shop for their kids, and go out and buy the latest toys. I'm not sure what to think on this and would like to get some other views...!

Well it's over anyway, for another year, and i'm back at work already, but only another day and we then have new year to celebrate. How many of you are thinking.. 'Where did 2006 go?'

Hope you all had a good Christmas and have a fantastic new year.

"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." Forrest Gump

It's been a while...

Hey all,

Sorry for the lack of blogs but as with all of you I guess, work has to take over at some point. Currently working in London, the UK capital which is under a cloud of fog at the moment. Hope none of you are looking to fly anywhere today.

Working in London and travelling up to the emerald hills of yorkshire weekly. It's not a fun life I can tell you but if anyone wants the best of two world's, then I recommend it. It's actually quite surprising how many people travel like this, just spending some time at Leeds station or Kings Cross in London and you wil be fully informed of the great train loving British public.

I think this leads onto an interesting question, does everyone travel daily, and get beaten up with the jolting trains, get backache from the hours of sitting, the illness from other people i the carriages....all for the greed of a better life and additional "benjamin's" in their pockets.

From my perspective I think that has a big factor, otherwise if I could have a similar job in the North, why would I travel. Of course for some people it's the love of work, but then I would say if work is such a priority, then maybe move closer to it. Would love to hear what people think about this?

The other item that really gets to me about trains is the train attendants. I agree it is their job to actually check all tickets and I commend them on this, but sometimes I think they should be more considerate to the travellers. When I travel down at 7am on a monday morning, I can tell you that I need to sleep, as do half of the other passengers on the train. As forward thinking as I am, I always put my ticket on the tray infront of me so the attendant can check the ticket without waking me up. Now how many times have they checked it without waking me up...."0" times.

Not only do they have to wake me up when the ticket is infront of me, they also have to shout from one side to the other to say, ' All tickets please!!'.

I can only hope that they are more considerate in the future, if not over the Xmas period.


'Show me the money' - Jerry Maguire

The Fragile Human Body

All,

From my last post many of you might be waiting to hear how it went at the Mansion on Saturday night. Well, unfortunately I am going to disappoint you all as I did not manage to go. As the point before I explain, I have to say doesn't that always happen, you really look forward to something and it either never happens, or is a real big let down. WHY IS THAT???

Back to my misfortune anyway, waking up on Saturday morning, it is fair to say the red wine of the night before had taken it's toll on my head. I decided to relax on the sofa while watching Football Focus (yes they have BBC1 and BBC2 in Amsterdam, they have been my savior). I am not sure whether it was tiredness or hearing Mark Lawrence speak but I fell asleep.

When I woke up I felt a twinge in my neck, and that was it, I knew it, pulled something just like that from sleeping arkwardly. I couldn't turn my neck one way at all, and the pain was then going down to my back. Was not fun..!!

After some heat packs it got better but not enough for me to go out. And that is how I missed out on a great night out. This was made even worse by one of my work colleagues going there and spending most of the day going on about it. Oh well I say, what is meant to be is meant to be.

For the caring folk out there, my neck still hurts but is much better. This made me think about how fragile the human body is. I think many of you will not agree and I can understand, we punish the body quite alot and it comes out on top, twist your ankle, backaches, broken bones, it conquers everything and I agree. My point is that it gets easily injured in the first place and it drives me wild because we only have one of it. Amazing really the one thing we needed to be indestructible, is the one thing that isn't.

My list of injuries goes on as a long list, and all of it related to the game of gods, football/soccer. But can any of us stop playing...not a chance. The other point is that we are always reactive, and not preventive. We wait for an injury first and then worry setting it right, never worry about protecting ourselves first to stop the injury. The reason why..TIME..!

We never have enough time to relax, stretch out, do yoga, all the things that will help us in old age. Instead we give them up for an extra ten minutes infront of the tv. It's not that we do not want to, but let's face it, it is just boring. When we have to do it after an injury then there is a need, but before that, it's just boring.

Well, I guess I started off on one thing and ended up elsewhere, be good to hear how other people think about this. Do you agree? Or am I just going off on one.

Maybe I could summarise and say, look after your bodies, you only get one of them, and I recommend everyone gets into yoga to some extent (even it is means just stretching), we all have fragile human bodies, and they need to be looked after......otherwise you will never be able to go to the best places because of stiff necks..!!

'Say hello to my little friend' - Scarface