Blog Archives
Nikica Jelavic headed for Liverpool?
Very speculative this, but it appeared on the Sky Sports website a couple of hours ago – accompanied by some comments Jelavic’s father made to The Sun over the weekend:
“We know about the interest of West Ham and QPR.
But Nikica has five or six clubs that are interested, including that of the great Liverpool.
As for West Ham and QPR, Nikica is more ambitious than that.
It’s most likely that he’ll sign for Liverpool.
But there are a few days until the end of the window, so we’ll see.”
Well, I’m sure fans of West Ham and all those other clubs that the player has ‘too much ambition’ to join will love that…
Strangely, and don’t judge me for watching Scottish football, I’ve seen quite a lot of Jelavic. He’s fine, he’s a good enough player, but it’s hard to believe that a club of Liverpool’s stature would really be interested in him.
He scores goals – 30 in 44 for Rangers – but so what really, he’s doing it out of context in a league that provides him with League One standard opposition every week.
Beware, beware the goalscorer from Scotland – still, here’s some video with a bit of ‘Be here now’ era Oasis:
Liverpool to win the Carling Cup – 1.61 with Paddy Power.
Karren Brady giving ‘valuable’ opinions on Newcastle & West Ham
Ah, Karren Brady, where would we be without here valuable insights into the game?
A real gem from her weekly ‘football diary’ in The Sun:
“…And I can report West Ham have sold 6,200 tickets for the match at Coventry. While all 4,300 tickets for our game at Reading in 4½ weeks are sold out within days of going on sale.
Two thoughts occur to me: The first is that such wonderful support reinforces my belief we’d be able to fill the Olympic Stadium pretty regularly to its 60,000 capacity.
The other is fans who criticise Newcastle offering name sponsorship for St James’ Park don’t have responsibility for making both ends meet.
While I agree Sports Direct Arena conjures up images of a warehouse off the M6, the value of an endorsement shouldn’t be shrugged aside.”
Despite being about two different clubs, both of those paragraphs are actually examples of the same thing. Mismanaging clubs.
I don’t think Newcastle fans have a problem with their club being primed to attract endorsement, it’s more that it’s being done at the cost of their identity – and that it’s being done in quite a naive way.
Hands up all those blue-chip corporations that want to be associated with Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias’ brand of cockney amateurism? Crass-commercialism and attractive sponsorship options don’t usually belong in the same sentence – and actually, the ‘responsibility’ Brady mentions should actually be about ensuring that a club doesn’t have to sell off its stadium name to ‘make ends meet’.
If you can’t do that, maybe you shouldn’t own a football club? That ‘making ends meet’ argument is a cop-out, because you can apply it to just about anything; sale of a player, restriction of transfer funds, etc. Potential owners are aware, or should be aware, of the realities of the game before they start using the clubs as vanity projects – so then don’t start selling assets and hiding behind supposed corporate responsibility.
West Ham’s going in the same direction. Remember Gold/Sullivan trashing the previous owners’ level of austerity? Yeah, that was the week before they launched presumably pricey attempts to bring Thierry Henry, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, and David Beckham to the club. Benni McCarthy anybody?
A move to being a tenant of the Olympic Stadium is a financial short-cut, and once The Boleyn Ground is sold, the club will have no other assets other than its players. Think about that for a minute, because that’s exactly the kind of short-term financial philosophy that leads to the Ashley mentality of ‘everything must go’. That would terrify me if I was a West Ham fan.
Karren Brady, Mike Ashley, Derek Llambias, they’re all the same person, driven by what the clubs can do for them – rather than what they can deliver to the fans. The demand for the sport may have originated from the supporters, but piece-by-piece they’re becoming more and more irrelevant, hence the increasing popularity of the ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ attitude of the owners and CEOs.
Tottenham’s interest in Scott Parker makes little sense
By all accounts, Scott Parker will be a Tottenham player before the end of the weekend. Harry Rednapp has now pursued Parker for over eight months, and maybe his determination to sign the player has clouded the logic behind actually buying him.
Scott Parker is a good player, but he’s not more than that. It’s hard to see either where Parker would fit into Tottenham’s team, or what he actually brings to the squad. Now that Luka Modric appears to be staying at White Hart Lane, genuine competition exists only for one remaining central midfield berth. Tom Huddlestone gives that side an expansive passing range, and Sandro looks more like a complete box-to-box player with every game that he plays. To go all American on you for a second, Parker would sit an easy third in that position’s depth chart.
As and when it’s completed, the transfer will be reasoned away by its provision of depth – which in itself is fine, except when that depth comes at the price that Parker will cost. The problem with Parker is this; he’s just so middle-of-the-road. He does everything well, but nothing exceptionally. If Harry Redknapp is serious about taking Spurs back to the rare air of the top four, he’ll have to use a little bit more imagination.
If this Summer had a theme, it was the exaggerated valuation of English players. If Parker does join Spurs, that will just represent a continuation of that trend. Thirty-one in October, no resale value, and marked-up in price by his current owners. Ever since Parker was named player of the year by the football writers, a swirl of unjustified hyperbole has surrounded him.
Scott Parker was the league’s outstanding player last season was he? Really? What league were the football writers watching?
Yes he moves the ball, yes he maintains possession, and yes he’s an adequate ball-winner – but he’s not a top four player. From an objective point of view, this just reeks of Redknapp exhausting all other transfer options and returning to Parker to satisfy those fans who’ve been crying out for fresh blood.
This is not Football Manager, you don’t have to buy players just to keep yourself entertained.
Premier League: End of Season Awards – The Good, The Bad, and The Predictable.
Best Team – Manchester United
Obvious, but bare with us. The reasoning lies in what was achieved with these players. Remember that Wayne Rooney didn’t really wake up from his post-World Cup and injunction malaise until January, and appreciate that this is a team that survived on their ability to pick up points even when they struggled. Down by two at Bloomfield Road, hammered at Anfield, on the wrong end of an appalling penalty decision at Stamford Bridge; a mark of Champions is the ability to react positively to adversity, and this United team has that quality in spades. Throw in the mid-season disruption of the Rooney-gate transfer bore-athon and that all adds up to an admirable amount of resiliency.
Worst Team – West Ham United
Laughable from boardroom to pitch, and a disregard for their fans that they should almost be prosecuted for. Gold, Sullivan, and Brady set the standard, chirping to the press and blaming everyone but themselves for the club’s predicament – which they still continue to do now, only it’s less audible from the Championship. Scott Parker, and lately Thomas Hitzlsperger, aside, the players wearing the club colours on the pitch were an embarrassment, with all the traditional qualities of the club – effort, desire, battling against adversity – forgotten.
Best Player – Vincent Kompany
You don’t really notice how good he is because Man City’s structure is so defensive around him, but he – every bit as much as Carlos Tevez – is a huge reason why they’ll be playing Champions League football next year. In amongst a defence whose individual components have all struggled for form at one point or another, Kompany has been a model of consistency. Brilliant in the air, good on the floor, and deserves his share of the plaudits that Tevez receives.
Worst Player – Carlton Cole
The definition of a wasted set of attributes. Big, strong, good in the air, decent touch, but almost always disgracefully poor. Aside from a second half at Craven Cottage, he did nothing remotely positive to slow his side’s plummet down the table. When an on-loan Tottenham player is more popular with the fans than you are, you’ve got issues. Utter toss.
Most tedious embodiment of the modern game – Glenn Johnson’s Twitter rant.
Conceited, badly educated, arrogant, and completely unable to accept any criticism. When a pundit who’s paid to give his opinions on the game suggests that you’re not playing well – when you’re not – it’s not really acceptable to launch into an online tirade about how his past personal difficulties should disqualify him from having an opinion. Especially not when you’re England’s least capable right-back for a generation.
Most dislikable journalist – Martin Lipton
Other than Patrick Barclay, we’d happily give it to all of them to share – but Lipton edges it on account of the Gigi Salmon moment. Oliver Holt comes a close second owing to his repeated Twitter rants against anybody that questions him on Twitter.
Best Website – Zonal Marking
An absolute work of art, and deserving of all the praise that comes its way. If intricate analysis of the game is your thing, then this is your Elysium – staggering depth, and the product clearly of a deep and infectious love of the game.
Worst TV Personality – Adrian Chiles
Irritating and over-paid ‘Everyman’ who was crowbarred into ITV’s football coverage in a cynical attempt to make the game less ‘excludable’. Possesses an unmatched ability to belittle the importance of crucial Champions League games.
Worst Commentator – Peter Drury
It’s unbelievable that nobody at ITV does anything to attempt to correct this, but Drury actually manages to drown each of his commentaries with so much hyperbole that you actually end of feeling a little bit foolish for liking football. Extraordinarily annoying.
Best Goal – Gareth Bale (Tottenham Vs Stoke)
To the growing list of Bale-haters, why don’t you go out to the back garden and replicate it? Absolutely stunning.
Least interesting tabloid obsession – Fabio Capello
After South Africa, it was reasonable to expect a backlash for the rest of 2010 – but did it have to last as long as it did? Every week something different, Capello takes a holiday after the World Cup, doesn’t soothingly massage Rio Ferdinand while he takes the captaincy away from him, doesn’t play whichever flavour of the month the media has recently anointed as the best player in the history of English football ever – etc etc. Stupendously dull – he’s here until 2012, deal with it. Donkey images, willing misinterpretations, and all the rest, this is the downward arc of the relationship that the press go through with every England manager without exception. What’s the one constant?
Least Valuable Player – David Bentley
From the fringes of the Tottenham team to the backwaters of the Birmingham squad within 8 dreadful weeks for the former ‘future David Beckham’. Bad hair, worse attitude, no desire, and a WAG that moans on Twitter – are there any positives to Bentley anymore? Utterly worthless ego-centric nothing – time to find a new profession.
Worst moment of the season – The Re-election of Sepp Blatter
Just briefly, because there’s been an awful lot of coverage of this. Why was it so depressing? Because it emphasised how badly-run the game is, how limited its immediate future is, and how little anybody can do to change either of those two points. An organisation so pompous, obnoxious and clueless, that it actually embarrasses the sport as a whole. Staggeringly inept, but nothing that Henry Kissinger won’t be able to solve apparently.
West Ham relegation not our fault – Karen Brady
Well, that’s basically what she’s saying.
As we said a couple of days ago, West Ham would benefit greatly if their Owners and Chief Executive were a little less-fond of seeing their own names in the newspapers – especially in the ‘it’s everybody else fault but ours’ way in which they appear morning.
Karen Brady hasn’t been shy in apportioning the blame away from herself, David Gold and David Sullivan, and is quoted in The Sun today as saying;
‘Avram was given the best possible conditions to do the job. There were no silly targets set, no talk of Europe. We just said: ‘Keep us up’. He was given extra training-ground staff and his personal needs met – including a driver, a new office and an upgraded expensive football analysis system. When things got tough, we backed him again. January signings like Wayne Bridge, Robbie Keane and Demba Ba saw us put our money where our mouth is. Again, no big names left the Boleyn. A good man, Avram was given every chance but he was sadly unable to deliver.’
Couple of things, by ‘we backed him again’ do you mean ‘made a very public and clumsy approach for Martin O’Neil’? Really, because we’re not sure that sends the most supportive message to the incumbent manager. Does it also include the owners speaking publicly about which players would be sold after the club was relegated – before they’d gone down. Does it involve publicly questioning the fitness of first-team players? How about writing this in your Sun column about another Premier League club:
‘It’s obvious Blackburn’s new owners want to make a splash by linking their name with big stars such as Ronaldinho and Beckham. Such publicity comes cheap and can turn out to be expensive in terms of future credibility.’
Be careful with those stones in that glass house. Glossing over insignificant details like West Ham’s own tactical association with David Beckham, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Thierry Henry – why does Paul Peschisolido’s WAG have a column in The Sun anyway? Who does that benefit more – West Ham or Karen Brady?
As a parting thought, given that Sullivan, Gold, and Brady made the decision to replace Gianfranco Zola with Avram Grant, maybe they should be taking a little bit of responsibility for what happened while he was in charge. But keep blaming everyone but yourselves – Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, Gianfranco Zola, Avram Grant, Kieron Dyer, etc – and see how long the West Ham fans tolerate that for.
West Ham: What Next?
A little bit of a farewell feature, picking through the bones at West Ham…
After relegation, and a bit of a ruck at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane last night, it’s more apparent than ever that this West Ham squad will be, and needs to be broken-up and spread far and wide. Regardless of where you apportion most of the blame for the team’s season – the manager, the players, the owners – it’s still incredibly disappointing not to hear at least one player come out and talk about their determination to ‘bounce back’, or ‘right the wrongs’ of this year – the silence is deafening. Even if those kind of comments later turned out to be nothing more than rhetoric, it would probably be heartening for the fans if the players at least went through the pretence of loyalty. For all the early bluster and finger-pointing at the previous regime, all David Gold and David Sullivan seem to have achieved in contrast is the demotion of the club to the Championship. Criticise Björgólfur Guðmundsson all you like, and make no mistake in thinking that anybody else is responsible for the financial tempest that swirls around Upton Park, but they were at least still playing Premier League football when he owned the club – if the price for that was paying Kieron Dyer a huge amount to do not very much, then so be it. Even if this becomes a direct comparison in levels of financial prudence, Kieron Dyer may have been shipped out on loan to Ipswich to reduce the wage bill, but the club is still paying Winston Reid, Julien Faubert, and Radoslav Kovac – all three of whom are near perfect definitions of squad filler with no day-to-day purpose.
So where do you go from here?
Owners
If relegation is not enough of a wake-up call, then what will be – the club must be scaled-back immediately to a Championship level. There must be no temptation to retain high-earners in the hope of an immediate return to the Premier League, because firstly that’s unlikely, and secondly that would just eat into the parachute payments that could be allocated to filling some of the many financial black holes that exist within the club. The whole ownership team – and that includes Karen Brady – also need to be a little bit quieter publicly. Since January 2010, when Gold and Sullivan acquired their 50% stake, barely a week has gone past without a quote appearing in the press from one of them discussing the players, the managers position, the club’s status, or just contradicting the other. Most football fans will miss West Ham being in the Premier League – they are one of the old guard of traditional clubs with a proper heritage – but if their absence means that nobody has to hear an opinion from Karen Brady for a while, then that will soften the blow a bit. Brady is a businesswoman to be respected, but she shouldn’t have public opinions on the sport, it’s not within her job description. If Bruce Buck starting voicing concerns over Frank Lampard’s weight, do you think that Chelsea fans would want to hear that? No, so why would West Ham fans want to hear Brady’s schoolgirl barbs about Benni McCarthy? All three of them are so very quick to publicise any opinion they have on anything, that you’re left with the feeling that nobody is actually paying enough attention to West Ham. By now, we’ve all heard the stories that have come out of the end of season party last night, so does that sound like something that would happen at a properly-run football club?
Manager
The type of manager that gets appointed will tell you a lot about whether the football club has accepted its current state. If names like Martin O’Neil and Steve McLaren surface, then it’s time to worry – those are appointments predicated on the club being back in the Premier League next year, and would come at huge expense. The best candidate has to be Chris Hughton, because it would be in line with the club’s financial situation and he has experience of guiding a team through the Championship, which is after all a much harder league to win than most people seem to think it is. But with Hughton in charge, an immediate promotion becomes far less important and the club can, if necessary, settle at that level for a period of time while it finds an operating equilibrium. Hughton exudes stability, and that’s a precious commodity right now.
Players Out
This section could almost be a novel, because in short just about all of them have to go. Scott Parker is off, but we’re not judging him for that – his commitment over the last couple of years has earned him the right to say goodbye now. He’s an England International, his wages are probably substantial, and his transfer fee would be useful, even it is within the £5m to £8m mark rather than the projected £10m. Not for someone his age. Robbie Keane will now not be signed permanently, which is good news for everybody apart from Spurs. Expect Demba Ba – and his ambitious agent – to push for a move back up to the Premier League, because his physical style and goal-scoring record will make him attractive to most mid-level clubs. It’s a shame, because he would be a huge asset in the Championship, but given that he was purchased at a time when West Ham had started to panic you imagine that the board threw some fairly extravagant wages in his direction. Robert Green has unfortunately managed to half his value in the last year, but there’ll still be a small queue of clubs willing to try to rehabilitate him from the World Cup – maybe even Arsenal. Matthew Upson, Carlton Cole, and Thomas Hitzlsperger will all find it easy to find new clubs, even if only the latter has really enhanced his reputation while in the East End, but again, the key here is getting them off the wage bill. Mark Noble is one we’re not sure about; there are times when you watch him when you think that he’s destined for a very bright future, and others when you barely realise he’s playing – and at 24, he’s not really in the promising youngster category anymore. If the club can get above £5m for him then he should be allowed to leave, because anybody between Everton and Sunderland would probably pay that. Frederic Piquionne would definitely score goals next season, but we imagine he’ll already be working through an exit strategy – and Luis Boa Morte, Kieron Dyer, and Julien Faubert need to be offloaded in any way possible.
All in, and accounting for Avram Grant’s severance, that’s probably an income of about £30m for the lot. Of that, at least half has to be untouchable for the new manager, because stability is the priority over eye-catching new arrivals.
Players In
The key to competing in the Championship is not just throwing Premier League-quality at the situation, but bringing in players that have a proven record of success at that level.
Despite the mass exodus, a fairly useful core remains – Junior Stanislas has a future in the game, and so do James Tomkins, Jack Collison, and Freddie Sears. Jonathan Spector is a fairly versatile player, and would be useful at the level below, and Danny Gabbidon has played in the Championship before.
Adding to that, a powerful forward like Ched Evans would be useful, and would be willing to leave newly relegated Sheffield United – or failing that, Championship-veteran Rob Hulse is unlikely to be seen as good enough for the Premier League by QPR. Jamie Mackie’s rehabilitation from a broken leg will likely include a loan spell away from Loftus Road too, so maybe taking him to Upton Park between August and Christmas would work in everyone’s favour. At the back, Preston captain Sean St Ledger is not going to be enamoured with playing in League One next season, and could add a little nous to that porous defence. Having a look at Neil Danns from Crystal Palace and Darren Ambrose wouldn’t hurt either, and both could be prized away fairly easily given the financial problems at Selhurst Park.
This is not a team that needs to be built to challenge for the title, the components that need to be put together need to be done so with the objective of stopping the bleeding and arresting the decline – because if anyone thinks that the team that will be left after the Summer departures is too good to sink to the bottom of the Championship, then they’re sorely mistaken. Stability, and a re-evaluation of the club’s current natural place in footballing pyramid is needed, then maybe an operating model can emerge that’s durable enough for the Premier League.
Sunday Morning Notes: Man Utd, Patrice Evra, and relegation scenarios
During the dressing room champagne spraying footage after Man United clinched the title at Blackburn, did anybody else see Patrice Evra make a hasty dash to protect something from getting wet? Watch it again.
Whether a penalty or not, how many people knew as soon as they saw most of the United team surround Phil Dowd and his linesman that a spot-kick would be given? Referees still have to be stronger with the bigger teams, because whether true or not, it still appears that big-name players can influence an official’s decision. It’s got to be cut out.
Right, some relegation scenarios for you….
If West Ham fail to win today, then they will be relegated.
If Birmingham win or draw, West Ham will go down regardless.
If Birmingham win, and West Ham and Wigan draw – both teams fall through the trap-door.
If West Ham win, and Birmingham draw, then Wigan are down.
Sunday Notes – QPR, The FA & West Ham
Nobody should be in any way shocked by the QPR verdict, as the FA has once again gone missing in the face of actually having to discipline an influential club. Heaven forbid that any punishment handed down should actually inconvenience anything – no, far better to sweep the whole thing under the carpet and forget about it. Always the best way, except obviously when the team involved is insignificant and can be made an example of. Equal opportunities and impartiality the FA way. Well done to everybody involved, no, seriously. £875,000? We imagine Bernie, Flavio et al are all scrabbling behind the Loftus Road sofas to find that. Until the FA learn that you have to apply rules equally and evenly to clubs then it’s just not possible to view them as being in any way a credible organisation.
Anyway… do you remember that big, shouty piece that appeared in The Sun about ’15 point deductions’ – the one which we ridiculed here – well that all looks quite silly now doesn’t it?
BBC 5 Live have done an interesting interview with ex-FA Chief Executive Mark Palios, and you can hear it here…
An updated check on some relegation logistics – Wolves’ win today against Black Country neighbours West Brom means that defeat at the DW Stadium to Wigan will result in West Ham being relegated. If Wolves manage a point away to Sunderland next week, then only a win will keep Avram Grant’s team alive until the final day.
FWA Player of the Year – Scott Parker? Just to be different.
Ok, we think Scott Parker is a very good player and a great captain, let’s just get that in quickly before hoards of West Ham fans overreact hysterically – but player of the year category, really?
Some of the hyperbole that has been chucked about by Fleet Street has turned Parker seemingly from an accomplished box-to-box player into ‘the best player in the history of the game since Gareth Bale’. Of course, we would be just as critical if yet another award was lavished on a Sky 4 player just because of who holds his registration, but Parker walking off with the Football Writers award represents a cause celebre which has just been taken too far.
The Football Writers’ Association Chairman Steve Bates – of The People(!) – had this to say in justification:
‘He has been an inspirational figure for the Irons and hopefully his professionalism will be rewarded with West Ham staying up at the end of the season.’
So inspirational in fact, that he’s dragged the team kicking and screaming all the way up to 19th place in the table. Yes, West Ham would probably be relegated already without him, but why is he immune from the criticism thrown at the other ten players – he was still anchoring this side’s midfield before Christmas when they were abjectly poor. Surely he is just as responsible for the club being where they are in the table as the others – others which include an England International spine of Green, Upson and Cole by the way, just before we get overly obsessed with the West Ham being ‘Scott Parker plus ten pub players theory’.
‘It’s often easy to shine in a good side but Parker has carried a poor team and has been so outstanding that he has finally convinced England coach Fabio Capello of his worth. A worthy winner.’
This is a complete myth. If anything, being one outstanding player amongst many makes it harder to shine – would Matt Le Tissier have been so lauded if he hadn’t played for Southampton? Would Charlie Adam be receiving such plaudits if he wasn’t surrounded by Championship players at Blackpool? Balls, being surrounded by crap players makes you look better than you really are. Also, we don’t remember too many of these writers screaming for his inclusion in the England team before February either, so this might just be being used yet another stick with which to beat Fabio.
Far fetched? Have you met the press?
Isn’t football writing really becoming a bit too similar to music journalism, where fashionable opinions far outweigh logical ones. Would Samir Nasri, Luka Modric, or Edwin Van der Sar have been too obvious a choice, and wasn’t Jack Wilshere England’s midfield saviour only four months ago -or does a decision like this need to be slightly left of centre to reinforce the ‘higher authority’ status that these writers hold themselves in?
Cowardly FA to duck Rooney punishment
Can we actually just say what we all know will happen with this?
On Saturday lunchtime Wayne Rooney threw some expletive-riddled language into every football-watching home in the country, and today the FA is due to take retrospective action against him
Only they won’t, because he’s Wayne Rooney and he plays for Manchester United. Just in case you didn’t notice, the FA started laying the seeds for excuses over the weekend – FA Director Trevor Brooking publicly hailed the player’s remorse ‘immediately after the game’, and that ‘(Rooney) clearly realised that they are not the actions you would expect of a player in his position.’
Does he b******s. He’s had a bit of a giggle about in the changing room, and then his agent has called him to tell him to apologise – or rather, read the pre-written apology that he’ll be releasing on the player’s behalf.
Interesting isn’t it that the language used there essentially rules out the need to punish the player, because supposedly he’s already recognised the error in his ways. Therefore, don’t be in any way surprised when the punishment handed down amounts to some strongly-worded rhetoric and a fine that is a pittance in relation to the player’s hourly-wage.
If this had been a player from a less visible team – i.e. one that’s not shown on Sky every weekend – then you’re looking at a multiple game ban. There’s no contesting this, the preferential treatment that big clubs and England players are afforded on and off the pitch is absolutely laughable, as is the FA’s stance on anything that requires something resembling a backbone.
You can always guess what the FA is going to do, because it will always be to take the path of least possible conflict.
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