If you have anything to say on any subject, mail us at theeditor@football365.com
Beginning With A Sense Of Perspective
Just thought I should give my condolences to Keith Alexander's Family and
the Macclesfield Town players. This really puts the silly scandals of the
past few weeks and the game of football in general in some perspective.
Mike (Green and Gold) Manchester
...I would just like to take a moment to pay tribute to probably the best manager I've seen for my club, Lincoln City, Keith Alexander.
I was too young to remember Keith, taking charge of Lincoln in 1993 and becoming the 1st ever professional black manager in England in the process (the fact it took until 1993 and now Paul Ince is the only other black manager in the football league is a topic for another day), but when he came to Lincoln the second time round I had seen my team narrowly avoid relegation from Division 3 to the conference. Most of our most experienced players left and were replaced with untested players from the conference, we were favourites to be relegated, yet somehow Keith took us to the Millennium Stadium where unfortunately we lost but Lincoln's 5-3 win over Scunthorpe in the semi's is still to this day my greatest football memory.
Keith the next season despite suffering a brain aneurysm still got us into the play offs, and did it for the next 2 seasons as well, and despite the fact we never went up, we still exceeded my expectations every season he was in charge. His football wasn't the prettiest but was thrilling and everyone I know who had met him always talked about how nice a bloke he was.
Lincoln City have lost one of their greats.
James, Lincoln
What To Expect Tonight...
This is will what happen during the England game tonight and the next few days on SSN and the Red Top Media.
1. Terry gets booed by large section of Wembley crowd.
2. ITV commenters/Ex-pro pundits condemn the crowds actions.
3. Several references to Ashley Cole/Bentley being booed at Wembley previously during ITV coverage.
4. Ex-pro's on SSN and/or Red Top media condemning those who boo a player whilst wearing the three lions.
5. Ex-pro's explain it would never had happened in their playing days.
6. We will never hear the end of it, even after the world cup.
Martin (future psychic, football reporter or just wrong) Brez, Nottm
England: You Have Been Warned
Just thought I'd get this in before tonight's game;
As an African and ardent follower of African football, do not be too surprised if Egypt clobbers the three Lions in the upcoming friendly. The Pharoes are a ridiculously battle-hardened, consistent team that has been together for several years.
If you do lose -as I strongly suspect you will by a large margin- don't be too hard on your players or coach. On recent evidence Egypt just may be one of the toughest teams in the world right now.
Musajja wa Kabaka
How To Speak Better
Jon, Essex's e-mail has inspired me to write about something I've been thinking about for a while. I agree with him on swearing - there's too much of it and the players shouldn't get away with it, I mean, how many times do you see a player say 'f++k off ref' without punishment?
So here's my idea - rather than just issuing new ref directives at the beginning of a season, the FA call a press conference a month or so before the start of the season, and announce their directives to the press and all managers. For example:
1. Swearing at the ref will result in a yellow card.
2. In the event of any sort of incident, only the player involved and his captain will be allowed to approach the ref - all other players must stay 10 yards away (stolen from egg chasing, but would be a great idea in football). Anyone else approaching / talking to the ref will get booked.
Etc - make up your own.
If this is done in a press conference and the managers invited, then the players have NO EXCUSE! Granted the first few games of the season may end up 8 vs 7 but believe me, the players will soon learn...
Sorry this is so long btw.
Mike D, London Village
...No, we do not want to start giving cards out for swearing. If we do, Rooney would be yellow if not red carded every game, would be suspended often meaning he would not play much football, and would lose form.
In a world cup year when he is our only hope.
I hope that settles it.
Col (99 days to go) Broon
The 'Team GB' Response
Chris Aimes - here is my team "GB" and I think it would give yours a royal a$$ kicking
Casillas
Alves Puyol Vidic Llahm
Kaka Xavi Iniesta Ronaldo
Torres Messi
If Given can play on your team for GB, I don't see why these chaps can't.
Colm, Dublin (the Republic of Ireland)
Indeed
Dear Mailbox Compiler,
I feel for you. You must have had a rough afternoon wading through the inevitable backlash of nationalist rants that followed Chris Eames inclusion of Irish players in a GB team.
Go and make a nice cup of tea for yourself.
Luke, Dublin.
Hart Failure
So a certain Paul Hart has arrived at Selhurst - best wishes to you sir, I clearly hope we are not playing in League One next year. I've got nothing against Hart, seems like an affable chap and he seemed to have the Portsmouth squad behind him in difficult times and he wisely left the revolving QPR door. But as the saying goes - "I'd rather have a lucky manager than a good one", and Hart is yet to prove anywhere near lucky this season.
With Palace, Portsmouth and QPR in big trouble, it leads me to a question for my fellow Mailbox readers: Has any other manager been in charge of 3 clubs in one season that all got relegated?
Sean Dylan
Eduardo: What Has Changed
Whilst I'd agree with Tom that Eduardo was never particularly prolific since his move to Arsenal, something that is hugely different about his pre-and post-injury game is his finishing ability. Before his injury, Eddie was one of the most clinical players I have ever seen for Arsenal. When he missed a one-on-one against Burnley in the FA cup in January 2007, both my brother and I commented simultaneously that that was the first time we had ever seen him miss. Whilst that may not have been entirely true factually, since his return to (semi-)fitness, it is noticeable how less clinical Eduardo has become.
It doesn't change the fact however that as Tom states, Eduardo is best employed as the little man in a 2 man partnership and that this year's formation isn't ever going to bring out the best in him.
Rich, (He came to us when Henry went, Eddie Eddie....) AFC, London
Answering Back
For George, Deloitte, thanks for the clarifications. One point in the case of Italy, yes the income of Juve, Inter and Milan is pretty similar, but what they spend and their related debt is hugely different. Inter have huge expenses and debts supported by annual cash injections from club president Moratti, Milan also have fairly high levels of debt. If you look at expense, not income its easy to see that Inter are miles ahead of anyone else because they spend way more than anyone else. Of course spending is not a very reliable indicator of success, but it sure helps.
To Jon, Essex, in this case the coach/player in Serie B were suspended for blaspheming, not for swearing (ie specifically because of the 'religious' focus). That is really opening an even bigger can of worms with the religious fundamentalists. My point of view is (a) blaspheming should not be treated particularly different from swearing, since religion has no business intruding into either politics or sport. (b) as long as said swearing / blaspheming is players just venting their frustrations there should be no sanction (c) if it's done to an opponent in a provocative manner or directly at a ref it should be a booking (looking at you, Shrek)
This anti-blaspheming campaign has no place in any league, otherwise we end up in a situation where 'gddammit ref' is an offence worse than 'f*** off ref'. That's ridiculous
James, Geneva
Unhappy With F365
I have emailed this page - maybe 3 or 4 times - with little things I have spotted. I never had a line of thanks or even a simple acknowledgement in return. You haven't even bothered to create an automated response.
I totally appreciate it is your editorial right to not use suggested ideas and I respect your taste in these matters. I'm not deluded enough to believe my ideas deserve publication.
However it is simply poor manners and extremely bad practice to be so disengaged from your readers and contributors. For a site that makes such a big deal about mocking the failings of others your arrogance is disappointing.
Sam Taplin
Arrogance? Try a ratio of 1 to a thousand for every staff member to the number of mails we receive every day - Disconcerted Mailbox Compiler
And Another Complaint
So todays poll asks 'which is closer to the truth: Shawcross is worse then Hitler, or Arsenal are a bunch of whinging softies?'
What sort of useless idiot came up with that one? You'd think that a website that includes Mediawatch pointing out all the sensationalist drivel that comes from tabloid journalism would avoid such a stupid poll. What exactly are you trying to find out with this poll? All you have done is taken two ridiculous statements, that have very little connecting them, and asked people to decide which is less moronic.
Normally a poll will try to gauge people's opinions on comparable topics. But under no circumstances could people actually think that Shawcross is worse than a man responsible for the death of millions - certainly not simply for breaking Ramsey's leg (I have to admit that I don't know what else Shawcross does on his spare time. Perhaps he has a model railway set that always runs on time - but I severely doubt it).
So the only way that people will select that option is if they are taking the piss or as moronic as the poll itself. Which means that any sane person would have to select the Arsenal softies option. Wow - you've really learned something with that poll.
Joey (I also dislike Graham Poll, but am actually very fond of Polish Poles
And Another
Let me see, hmmmm... population of the world = 6.7 billion people, anti Capello letter published = 1 (making a pretty tenuous point too)
Of average intelligence though I am, I would still not hesitate to deduce that the answer to your question is 'no.'
Is the Mailbox compiler turning into exactly the sort of journo that the Mediawatch man (or woman) loves to rip into?
Jon, Winchester
Talking About The Weather Instead
Regarding sh*t weather forecasts, I don't know when it was exactly, maybe about 10-12 years ago but the all the weather forecasters in Britain on TV started to announce that today we will have a 60% or 70% etc chance of rain, and they do this without a hint of shame. Am the only person who thinks this is utterly bogus? Whether it rains or does not then they can say that their forecast was correct! and it is not even a forecast anyway, it is a statement of probability that any sentient being that lives in the UK can probably just as accurately make by looking at the sky and not needing satellites, computers, weather ships and 4 years studying meterorolgy at university.
Listen weather forecasters, tell me if it is going to rain or not and have some conviction in your ability and pride in your trade.
Dave, Pompey
