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JT Out Is No Blow
Just saw the headline 'Terry injury concern for England' on the BBC Website. Seems that he might miss the game on Saturday.
The only 'concern' I'd have had is if he'd played. A truly average player.
Now we can have our real captain lead us out at Wembley. Its just a shame Rio has to limit his appearances as skipper to when 'JT' can't be arsed to show up.
Andy Wilson
Pot, Kettle, Black (Is That Racist?)
I was just reading in the paper this morning that Rio Ferdinand (and he is 100% correct) thinks that the fine dished out to the Croatian FA was a disgrace and I quote: "Croatia were fined a few thousand quid. What's that going to do? That's not going to stop people shouting racist or homophobic abuse."
I'd just like to ask Rio, did the meaningless fines and bans that were given to him in court for his speeding offences, not make him think twice about travelling at over 100mph? Surely a £1,500 fine to a player on £100k odd a week is not going to make him think twice about re-offending? Course its not, sure he's only been banned from driving four times.
Karl, Dublin
Silly Rio
Terrible idea - even worse than that 'you've been merked'.
Can someone please explain his rationale for punishing a collective for the actions of an individual (I imagine history is littered with precedents but I doubt it makes a roll call of the great and good)
Also what's to stop people from putting on shirts of a rival team and then coming out with racist chants, why not just punish the individuals?
Sheesh I wish people would think before opening their mouths.
Matt Nuttall, Salford (but blue and white)
Stop The Do-Gooders
As a black man who has been HIV+ for 3 years now I've followed the 'Sol chant' story with interest but I've resisted sharing my thoughts on this as I feel enough has been written already. When soundbite-hungry people like Rio Ferdinand and Peter Tatchell start wading in however, I can keep silent no longer.
Can someone please explain to me, using *factual* evidence, how exactly the chant, as offensive and hateful as it is, is racist and homophobic? I'm smart enough to work out which lines in particular are (normally by fans of rival clubs looking to 'score points') deemed to be either racist or homophobic but I think people have added 1 and 1 together and have come up with 3 (having realised which answer will paint Spurs/football fans in general in the worst way or create the most sensational headlines).
I wouldn't lower myself to quoting the offensive text (I'll leave that up to F365!) but, as someone who has witnessed first-hand a gut full of racial abuse, I fail to see how the words 'hanging from a tree' are inherently, and automatically racist? Of course I am well aware of what certain hate-groups in the US carried out in the 60's but that's quite a tenuous link, no? If I went into a McDonalds and asked what milkshakes they serve I wouldn't accuse the staff of racism for offering me a banana flavour one!
And since when did mention of the HIV virus become homophobic? I've heard similar chants from Sunderland supporters aimed at Alan Shearer who, as far as I'm aware, has never been the source of speculations about his private life. No one has ever claimed those chants are homophobic, so what makes this different? As a heterosexual HIV suffer I've spent the last three years with people assuming I must be homosexual if I've got HIV...please don't exacerbate the problem for the sake a cheap headline!
The whole situation reminds me of the scene in the film 'Bowfinger' where Eddie Murphy claims a black man being offered a part in a Shakespeare play is racist: "Shake-a-Spear? You callin' me a spear-chucker?". It's paranoiacs and do-gooders (who know little about what they're saying) who actually do the most damage to the movement trying to abolish discrimination.
Ban the chant and punish the participants by all means but please don't attach meaning where there probably is none.
Anonymous
Crazy Financial Talk
Clubs need salary caps to prevent them going out of business. Alternatively, and I know this sounds crazy, clubs need to stop negotiating with money they do not have. Sorry, just a stupid idea I had.
Joe Donoghue
Platini: Idiot
Why are the biggest k**b-ends always appointed to the highest ranking positions (Blair, Brown, Blatter, Coe)? The latest addition to this list is Platini.
Why does that man feel the need to run his mouth about stuff that he clearly hasn't thought through?
From a non-football point of view, his latest rant against foreign ownership is extremely xenophobic. I'm Scottish but work in Ireland, I do so because it's legal to freely move and work with the countries of the EU. If I wanted to eventually set up my own company over here, or buy a share in an Irish company then why shouldn't I be permitted to do so? I (grudgingly) pay my taxes and contribute to the economy. Surely ownership of football clubs, which are proper companies, is no different? Care to give us a business lecture monsieur Platini?
Football has turned into a huge global 'business' rather than a sport. With multi-million pound sponsorship deals, TV deals and players selling 'image rights' football is as much corporate as it is sport. If a businessman wants to come in from a foreign country and purchase an English club, he should have as much right to do so as a local investor. It's been proven that as long as the club is run correctly (or sufficient cash is ploughed in), it makes no difference what nationality the owner is (Glazers, Abramovic).
From a fan's perspective yes, it may seem as if some of the club's soul is being lost if it 'sells out' to foreign ownership but if a bigger investor comes in with more cash and better business acumen to take the club forward then fair play to them. Even if investment vehicles are buying clubs to sell them on for profit, the only way to truly increase a club's value is to have success on the pitch.
Gary (I despise Platini), Scotch in Dublin
...I see Prattini has been at it again about debts, salary caps and foreign influence in football clubs. Is it possible to take a gag order out on the w**ker???
First of all, let's do a bit of myth busting shall we:
It has been claimed that the Premier League is £3 billion in debt and that the top four make up around a quarter of that. Fair enough, no arguments here!!! Prattini says that clubs should be punished if they are in debt - what a load of horse s**t!!! It's basic economics if he'd just take a look. The best example is Arsenal whereby the new ground brings in roughly £50 million per year more than Highbury and the payments to service the debt are £30 million. So by moving to a new ground Arsenal are now £20 million per year better off and Prattini wants to punish them for making a sound financial decision and increasing their profits???
United and Liverpool are slightly different in that their debts are there due to the way the clubs were purchased. In my opinion the buy-outs should not have been allowed to happen, but that was a failing of business not football. There was naff all the United fans could have done to prevent the yanks getting their mitts on the club as they simply went round buying all the major shareholders stakes by offering them a price they couldn't refuse. Why should the clubs be punished because a greedy yank wants to own it. Yet again the only people who will suffer out of all this will be the fans, as all the sanctions they propose seem to be aimed at on-field activities. There are already sanctions in place if clubs do not run their affairs correctly in terms of points deductions for going into administration etc. If a club does end up like that by mortgaging their future a la Leeds, then that's stiff s**t in my opinion and they deserve it. Before everyone shouts about lower-league clubs who quite simply can't raise cash and end up that way, I'm not talking about them. I'm all for helping them in some format and open to any suggestions anyone may have.
On the salary cap thing - does he not know that there is already an informal agreement in place between the G14 or whatever it is called now that it has been expanded, that they can't spend more than 75% (I think) of revenue on player salaries??? The only clubs around Europe who are struggling to meet this target are the Italians. The English clubs make it quite comfortably. I'm all for tightening this up and enforcing it, but nobody is proposing anything that isn't already there and it seems he opens his gob every few days just to try and justify his fat salary.
Tim (he really does get on my nerves) Collins
...So, UEFA is threatening to throw debt-ridden clubs out of European competition? Yes, there are some European clubs that have debt, but the clubs he is focussed on are the Premier League clubs.
Platini, like UEFA for so long in its history, hates to see the dominance of English clubs in Europe and will try any means possible to make sure it does not happen. We have seen this down the years when UEFA took Heysel to ban English clubs for an inappropriate amount of time, but then ignore the Turks and the Italians who have done far worse, to each other and the English.
Now, after the European ban, English clubs are finally getting back to where they where before it: dominating Europe. Platini and UEFA are running scared because they want to see Liverpool or Chelsea or Man U or Hull City win a European competition.
Let them do it. I'm sure there will be enough of the G14 (is it still that?) who will want to form our own European competition with much more money coming into the clubs because UEFA won't be taking a king's share of it.
Ian Duncan
Agreeing With Platini. Ish.
So I see Michel Platini has found something else to moan about the English game. The thing is though; I do actually agree with some of his points - it's just his pompousness and ham-fistedness that makes them seem akin to trying to swat a fly with a sledgehammer. If he were more constructive with his criticism, then perhaps he would be taken more seriously - as it is, it just seems like he's still bitter about Heysel and blames the whole of England for it. I'd like to think that wasn't true; but by the same token, I wouldn't be surprised.
Nick Hamblin
Why Invest In English Football?
I'm going to start with a disclaimer - I have done absolutely no research on this and am fully prepared to be shouted down later on if I am completely wrong about this but - what the f*ck is wrong with all the billionaires in the world?
Now call me crazy but If I was a Nigerian billionaire and decided to put all my hard earn (scammed from old people) cash into a football club, the last place I would look right now would be the English Premier League. I would pick an ailing club in Spain, Italy or even Germany/Holland, somewhere where my money would actually make a difference and could elevate the club from mid-table nobodies to title winning champions league contenders.
Surely anyone who buys the likes of Newcastle/spurs etc will at best only be able to alleviate the club to UEFA Cup contenders alongside the other millionaire mid-tablers of Pompey, villa and Man City. Don't try and tell me that they are doing it for financial gain either as surely if they are smart enough to become a billionaire they are smart enough to realise that owning a football club isn't the most profitable financial investment.
Maybe our press just aren't reporting it but have any clubs in Europe's other top leagues (Italy, Spain, Germany, the Championship) been bought out by billionaires in the last five years or is it only happening in England?
Ricky Cartwright
Irishman Agrees With Keano Shock
I completely agree with Roy Keane's comments in The Sun in relation to Arsenal's youth policy. Wenger gets so much credit for unearthing previously unknown talents. But it is their hometown clubs which should get the kudos. Arsenal has one of the best scouting networks in football today. They have people in place all over the world. But all they do is keep their ear to the ground, hear about a promising talent who has been trained, developed and educated by their home town clubs and then when the hard work is done between ages 12-16 Arsenal swoop and sign them, and Wenger gets all the credit. This has been happening for years. I realise a lot of big clubs are also doing this now but not to the same extent of Arsenal!!!!
Not so bad with Fabregas been nicked from Barcelona, they are a massive club so I don't feel too sorry for them. But what about the likes of less wealthy clubs such as Cardiff (Ramsey), Sao Paulo (Denilson), Cannes (Clichy), Bastia (Song), Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (Bendtner), and PSG (Diaby) who have seen their promising talents swiped from them for a fraction of what will most likely be their true worth. I really thing FIFA should look at this and perhaps put in place a rule where young talents must stay at their hometown club until about the age of 22 or 23, and then be able to sell them on. The clubs would earn probably 50- 75% more then they would if they sold them at 16.
Graham, Ireland
Keano Should Try Coming From Norwich...
I note that Roy Keane is lamenting the fact that Sunderland's close proximity to the coast means that the club are severly restricted in terms of the number of young players they can sign because of FA rules that state that boys must live within 90 minutes' travel time of any team they sign for.
As a Norwich City supporter-who laughs at Newcastle United fans and their perceived 'crisis', try supporting the Canaries! Keane ought to try being our manager. The North Sea is less than 90 minutes north and east of the City, whilst, if you go south or west, it's mostly villages, fields, and areas where the occasional tumbleweed blowing across a deserted fen would be counted as congestion. On the rare occasion we have managed to unearth a youngster who qualifies and has some ability, we lose them anyway - Manchester United once whipped one away from us by regularly flying him to Manchester, thus circumventing the FA rules that way, as the flight time is less than, yes, 90 minutes.
The club's expenses in setting up, running, and maintaining the Academy have greatly contributed to the mountainous debt that we, along with many other clubs, now have, the supreme irony being that, as the rules restrict us greatly in terms of being able to recruit young players, the Academy is fast becoming a liability, and, in order to have any chance of competing in the Championship this season, we have to resort to a great number of loan signings - eight at the last count - the most recent being Leroy Lita, who is donning the yellow jersey for a month in order to get fit - but at our expense.
That, it would seem, is acceptable. However, signing and bringing a young player through what has been perceived as one of the best football Academies in the country who might just come from Reading itself - not permitted.
Perhaps the Oxbridge Universties should only allow students that live within...no, thought not.
So what is the FA's problem here, exactly?
Ed Couzens
Brancaster, Norfolk
It Doesn't Really Seem Fair
Just read the Keane article about him having a dig at Arsenal and their youth set-up. Although I don't agree with most of it and even though The Arse do buy players from other academies they still bring them on and develop them.
The interesting point he made was about how difficult it is for Sunderland to bring in young talent as they are restricted in terms of their catchment area having a lot of it in the sea. It's a valid point and a massive imbalance in the system. If you are located on London you have the highest concentration of people in your catchment area, but if you are Sunderland you have a lot of the North Sea as your catchment area.
My question would be - why has no one complained about this before and asked for the system to be re-jigged to a population based catchment area??? Each club would then be targeting the same number of people (on a level playing field so to speak) rather than the imbalance which exists now.
Tim (not often a manager makes sense in a rant) Collins
Jog On Baker...
So Darren Baker doesn't like international weeks? Boo hoo, let's change the whole system for him!
His comments sound particularly hollow given we've just England's most exciting performance in about three years, on the back of a terrific Euro 2008. Even more so considering Luxembourg beat Switzerland - a team over 70 places above them in the world rankings - just last month.
I may be more onboard with an international reform if it were on the basis of not breaking up the club season the way it does now. A more enlightened mailboxer recently suggested bumping all international fixtures to the end of the club season, if this could be worked out what with the different finishing times for leagues around the world and all (I'm sure it could). I'm a keen follower of international football but I don't like these extended periods without club games. Incidentally there is a wealth of anecdotal evidence out there from fans, managers and various top brass that agree with me on this point Darren - I'm not merely suggesting a reform on the basis of my own personal whinging.
I can see why people don't see the point in sides such as the Andorra team, who are currently there to make up the numbers most of the time. I'm not saying the system is perfect now, and perhaps a more rigorous qualifying process for these teams is in order. Logic does however dictate that these sides will improve the more they brush shoulders with the bigger countries and their players get noticed and so on.
Apparently Darren's only interest in these matches is keeping an eye out for the players from his club (note the plural of 'player' indicating his club offers more than one to the England side) that may get crocked. I can therefore only conclude that he is either a Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool or - less likely, it seems reasonable to assume - Pompey fan. What a surprise that such a plastic isn't interested in the 'minnows' of world football or watching a generally poor England side '90% of games' (presumably because they're not winning all the time like whichever sellout club he supports). Jog on.
Droopy
Where Do I Send The Bill?
Regarding the following comments reported in Mediawatch....
Mediawatch's Exclusive Transcript Of Today's Big Press Conference
Gordon Brown: "Which one of you is Robert Peston (from the BBC)?"
RP: "Me."
GB: "You're a c**t."
RP: "Thank you."
My lawyers advise me that you are liable for replacing my laptop (which has Diet Coke-related issues via my nose) and also my chair which I may have pee'd in a little when simultaneously laughing/spraying Diet Coke.
Incidentally they also advised me that you might be able to pass on the costs to JFK, however I'm not sure he will be able to help you much since he doesnt talk to media types such as yourselves.
Mark (at least it distracted me from Spurs' plight for five minutes) Dannell, Germany
