Some stuff to look at today.
My favourite blog on the internet black white and read all over have doine there own post mortem on Newcastle United’s failings
Potential Transfer lists over at the Independent……I will be looking at Newcastle United’s potential transfer list later on today……
Last Kick look at Iranian goalkeepers, trust me, it’s better than it sounds…..
The government have decided that they want to ruin football. As many of you know, Andy Burnham the culture secretary has decided that the big four have far too much power in football and the wealth should be spread evenly across the other 16 teams. Which in writing sounds like a jolly good peter pan stylee story.
I fear though that the solution is not in Premier League and the wealth garnered from it. The Champions League is the biggest benefactor to the big fours bulging bank accounts. The money they have accrued from it has made sure they have sufficient time and money to invest in the best talent.
If the Premier League were serious on spreading the wealth (they aren’t) they would look at the possibilities that Mr Burnham is suggesting (they wont) and attempt to establish a level playing field. If you look at the facts though, it is a massive problem that one culture secretary cannot solve on his own.
If we look at Manchester United, they get a minimum of £15 to £40 million a year from the Champions League. Depending on the end result. This year, it will be £40 million. You add that together with their Premier League position pay-out which was last year- £49 million and the overseas TV rights which was settled at £30 million and we get a mark of near £120 million. That is an astonishing amount of money. That is what success brings.
If we look at the same model with a pretender like Newcastle United we see the direct gulf. Newcastle United finished last season in 12th position, for that they recieved £35.2 million. Add that to the £30 million they recieved for the overseas rights and it comes to £65 million. If Newcastle United had qualified for the Champions League in the 2006/07 season they would have added at least another twenty million to their end of season kitty. This would have been on parity with Arsenal, a team who are seen as a member of the big four.
There lies the problem. The Premier League do split 50% of their earnings with the clubs evenly, another %25 is split up on television rights and another 25% is split on their final position. It gives teams ample space and investment for them to springboard into the top four, whilst the Champions League awards only success with little as a buffer, the UEFA Cup is hardly a financial “golden ticket”.
The answers to these problems are complex but Mr Burnham simply saying that the competition is uneven and that the money should be split down the middle is ridiculous. It goes beyond that now. The ball is in UEFA’s court, they hold the key to the big fours real wealth.
RT Wilcock
So there has been several points to talk about from the weekend, and as per usual with International week, stories have circulated that don’t really deserve mentioning. However there have been some decent stories.
Micheal Mancienne is a Chelsea youngster currently on loan at Wolves. Nothing unusual there you might think, however on Saturday night he was thrusted into the limelight after some very impressive performances for Wolves and included in the England squad for the Germany international. Now i am a fan of playing youngsters in the main squad because it gives valuable experience to the youngsters for when they are carrying the nations hopes. But i think it is a bit early for Mancienne. If his policy to include youngsters then why not some of the burgeoning players in the Premier League? I know there are some youthful players in the squad but i think Mancienne wasnt at the top of the pile.
The other main story that has hit the headlines is the old chestnut of club versus country. I don’t see the argument. Gerrard is injured, Lampard has rib troubles and Joe Hart was visibly injured on Sunday. Do you honestly think Gerrard wants to shirk his responsibilities for England.There have been grumbles about unneccessary friendlies disrupting the domestic programme but i see that as ridiculous. Just when England make some progress and look like they are going somewhere again, we get some selfish premier league managers telling Capello and the Journalists that it is a waste of time. I think they should do their jobs and let Capello do his.
Just a quick note on Maradona’s Argentinian circus that is heading Hampden Parks way tomorrow night. I can only see tears with this marriage. Maradona was a fabulous player, no doubt about it. However he is just to volatile and inexperienced as a manager to make it.
It’s good to see the F.A actually see through some of their pre-season threats in respect( pun intended) to their respect campaign. Manchester United Manager Alex Ferguson has been handed a ten thousand pounds fine and a two match touchline ban for improper conduct. And damn right. Quite frankly, he should know better, and he probably does. It’s only now that the F.A have decided to get tough with him and other Premier League Managers for improper professional behaviour. Lets hope it continues
RT Wilcock
So the big day is upon seven sports who are bidding for the chance to compete at the 2016 Olympic games. There are two spots available for the 28 sport extravaganza and the sport’s bidding for the chance to compete couldn’t be further detracted from each other if they tried.
In what promises to be an extraordinary day at the I.O.C Headquarters in Lausanne in which Squash, Rugby Sevens, Karate, Baseball, Roller Sports ( I know…say whaaaat), Softball and Golf all pitch for the right to compete.
Now, there is no saying what the I.O.C are looking for in the sports however for me there are two sports that stand out in this race. Squash is a highly competitive and exhilirating sport that requires supreme strength of mind and remarkable stamina. The I.O.C have in the past expressed concerns about how it translates to the T.V screens. This is a fair comment because the sport does struggle to show it’s best parts. However, if they are concerned about the T.V viewing figures and the all important bums- on- seats, then i am astounded that they havn’t looked at the values of Table Tennis and Syncronised Swimming. Nothing against the prospective games but they aren’t any more exciting from a spectator’s point of view than Squash is.
My second vote would be for the Karate programme to be included. I think it’s close with Rugby Sevens but my vote would be based on the simple fact that Karate is a sport that has a internationally developed set-up and is not just a shortened quickened game of a rather more established sport. Put simply, you wouldn’t put in twenty20 Cricket instead of the full game. It doesn’t make sense in the long-term development of the Olympic movement or Rugby Sevens. Golf has a strong case, however Golf is just Golf. It doesn’t really need the Olympic movement for the promotion of it’s sport and there are serious doubts over whether or not tour players would turn up.
A Golfer playing Golf….yeah i know, boring isn’t it
As for Roller Sports, Softball and Baseball, they don’t stand a chance in my opinion.
What does everybody think will happen?
Gus Poyet criticises Spurs players: Ahmed Bilal hits the nail on the head with his blog post on the comments of Gus Poyet from todays edition of the Times. http://soccerlens.com/poyet-attacks-tottenham-players-for-being-spoiled-and-unprofessional/15578/
The demise of John Daly: John Daly’s career hits new lows. How long left for the enigmatic golfer. Roy S. Johnson look at that.
http://passtheword.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/john-dalys-no-longer-funny-ha-ha-not-even-close/
Harry’s revolution: The ramblings of a toxic mind tells us his thoughts on Harry’s new love affiar with Spurs. From despair to delight.
http://www.toxic-web.co.uk/blog/2008/11/07/hard-to-believe-its-only-been-a/
Zaheer Khan being annoying: Another cheerful insight from the Village Cricketer
http://thevillagecricketer.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/need-to-redo-the-irritating-cricketers-xi/
When Rugby embraced sensibility and technology, people applauded its courage and belief that in order for Rugby and Sport in general to advance, then introducing technology was a step forward. When other sport’s followed suit, they too were applauded for looking at the most sensible options and ultimately deciding that the future could start there and then, not later.
Football decided that the future could wait. Hiding behind a facade that the technology was not there, it turned its back and looked in the opposite direction. However, football did not expect the sporting world to turn and look as well, albeit in the other direction, the direction where the bright new future was looking back.
So now Football stands in disarray. Hiding further behind statements of intent, letters of discontent and grumblings from the top brass of English Football, whilst making sweet overtures to the media from time to time that Football is ready to embrace the 21st Century.
It sounds so easy doesn’t it? Implement goal-line technology into Football and it’ll be saved. However this easy step is muddied by so many things. Football is governed by 1 Organisation, which has other smaller organisations control sections of the Football World. The F.A control English Football, U.E.F.A controls European Football and finally the buck stops with F.I.F.A., whom control World Football on an International level. This is where it becomes complicated.
F.A want football technology and have recommended that it should be implemented into televised games (however a large majority of televised games in the U.K are from the Premiership and they are governed by the Premier League, who have said that they don’t want it), U.E.F.A have said that there isn’t a sufficient system in place to do that and have decided against the European games having the technology. This is largely to do with Michel Platini, whom is hell bent on putting football firmly back in the 80’s. And finally we are left with FIFA, who put goal-line trials on ice last year because of arguments over pricing, reliability and sufficient support for the idea. Which to me sounds like FIFA decided that it was just too much hassle.
My point being, it is far too hard just to say that goal-line technology should be introduced, because nobody who governs the game can actually agree as to whether it actually exists…..but surely there is a solution.
Maybe we should look at introducing it slowly. Take it step-by-step. First introduce goal-line technology and giving the manager of both teams 1 claim per match. We know that exists because we see it every weekend on Sky Sports. Then after that introduce contentious offside decisions using the same technology during a match and keep the claims at 1 a piece. After that, if it’s a success, then have a review and see where Football lies after that.
The technology is there, we all see it in some form in other sports. We shouldn’t see contentious decisions on a goal-line decide the fate of a team, it’s simply not acceptable. If you look at the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final, England scored a try which was quite rightly not allowed, however for several minutes many thought that was a try and England celebrated. They were wrong but Rugby stepped further into the future and it was heralded as conviction for the faith that the I.R.B put into the technology. At the end of the game nobody could feel cheated, South Africa won and England shrugged their shoulders.
What has Football learnt since then? Nothing it seems. Not only because it has buried its head in the sand, but because it hasn’t learnt how to deal with the contentious decisions. We see irate managers every weekend say that they have been cheated out of a game by a bad refereeing decision, but the mood is changing and people understand that referees are human. This mood change doesn’t extend to the people who run the game and who should blame them.
They know and we know that football needs change. It maybe a slow and horribly drawn out exercise but the Organisations are failing the fans in there duties to do what’s best for football. To be quite frank, it’s there jobs to drag the game from its evolutionary state into the century that symbolises the future. 21st Century Football needs this.
Now, im just a fan. A simple bogstandard fan. Im not a person who holds much sway at Newcastle United and because im just a fan, my opinion is not valued by anybody affiliated with the farcical actions that have been undertaken at St James Park.
However i am a fan of the club and i am the one paying my good money on merchandise, tickets and subscriptions to various media outlets to Newcastle United. So therefore my opinion is valid to some degree.
In my opinion, Newcastle United has made a bad situation a considerable amount worse by supporting rumours and speculation whilst not informing the fans of the actions of the board and the consequences of the argument. This in itself is not the biggest problem i have with the whole situation. The constant degree of uneasiness and pettiness that has been brought about by the bewildering actions of the board is my biggest problem.
The whole situation resembles a messy divorce which was abundantly clear yesterday in the club’s statement to the fans and public. I say fans and public, it served no purpose other than to say Kevin Keegan was wrong and a liar. Which he may well be, but to be honest, who really cares about it.
The statement read in parts like a bitchy text to a old sweetheart, and i guess in a way it is. Kevin Keegan has always had an affection for Newcastle United and in parts we have always had a soft spot for him, but this time the love affiar has broken down and the divorce proceedings have begun, which has left the fans, feeling like the poor clueless children in the divorce settlement being played out in front of them. This all sounds a bit silly and that’s because it is, it is easy to forget that this is a football club with real drama’s affecting real people.
Much has been written on Dennis Wise and Kevin Keegan’s conflicting job-roles and opinions and an awful lot has been written on Mike Ashley’s intentions and responsiblities as Owner of Newcastle United. It really isn’t worth discussing that at this point, simply because it doesnt matter. That may seem odd to say, but it is true. We cant change Mike Ashley, we can’t sack him and we cant change the board this time. So we best get used to him, because something tells me that Mike Ashley is here to stay.
So where do we go from here? Hopefully there will be a statement from Newcastle United saying they are actively seeking a new manager and are drawing up a shortlist of candidates to hopefully take Newcastle United forward and not backwards. Hopefully that manager will be able to work hand in hand with Dennis Wise and the board. Hopefully Mike Ashley might start taking this whole owning a football club seriously and start treating the fans not as gullible fools. I dont hold much hope for that but i dont hold much hope for any kind of normality at Newcastle United at the moment.
RT Wilcock
I dont really know where to start with the breaking news story that Kevin Keegan has left Newcastle United. The debacle has left many fans clueless, angry and bewildered with the club.
The pre season transfer window was a very frustrating time. Newcastle sold James Milner which wasnt neccessary, dithered over Micheal Owen’s contract and lost out on countless players including Anton Ferdinand, Luka Modric, Rafael Van Der Vaart, Jose Antonio Reyes and lastly Nicky Shorey. All of those players chose clubs that have some kind of harmony there. They obviously saw the cracks in the relationships of the people in charge and decided to go elsewhere.
Which brings me to my point. Cant Mike Ashley, Dennis Wise and Derek Llambias see that their decisions and visions for the club are hindering the club’s progress?
Kevin Keegan was brought in 7 months ago, under a wave of optimism, something which has been evaporated simply because the people upstairs cannot make decisions. Ashley has said repeatedly that he wants Newcastle United to head for the upper echelons of the league. However refuses to back transfers and insists on cutting wage bills. He also believes that a Director of Football position was neccessary. Which is fine, if that person is not a highly ambitious young manager who looks for nothing but money and has no real desires for the job, just wants to get nearer to the top job.
Did Mike Ashley really expect Kevin Keegan not to feel undermimed by Wise’s appointment.
The ambitions of this club are blurred, the people in charge are muddled, the fans are disjointed with their faith in the management of the club and lastly a manager who is clearly a scapegoat for the ineptitude of the club has been sacked.
It’s time for Mike Ashley to stop behaving like a kid in a sweet shop and run this football club seriously. It isnt his personal social club, it is a football club which means far too much to far too many people.
A collective effort from the BBC news staff have sensationally taken gold in the Stating the Obvious final at the Beijing Olympics.
In scenes of abject lethargy outside the Birds Nest Stadium, the British team managed to pull out a fantastic statement of obviousness in their last round with a marvellous ’with British success at the weekend, fears have grown that Britain and the London 2012 Olympics might not have the funds to compete with the Beijing Olympics.’
With that stunning effort, the BBC staff managed to catapult themselves into the first place, ahead of the Japanese who with the Toyko Institute of Science had determined earlier in the competition that “Michael Phelps is really good at swimming.”
It really was a stunning effort which was broadcast live on BBC Lunchtime news and now lifts our gold medal tally to 16.
Well done BBC! You did it for Britain!
So all of the naysayers, pessimists and general party poopers are eating humble pie this weekend as Team GB delivered at the Beijing Olympics. Great Britain managed to haul a massive 17 medals at the weekend. 8 of them being of the gold variety.
The thing that makes me smile the most about the success of the British Athletes is that they can finally turn around and say “put up or shut up” to the people who said that nothing would come of these Olympics. For months and months, the British media has been grumbling about the quality of our Athletes, looking abroad for solutions for things that really dont need solving and whingeing on and on about the lack of investment in British Sport.
Im not saying that everything is perfect and rosy in Team GB and some things do need ironing out, but the success of these games shows us that we’ve got a programme which can only reap rewards.
Take Track Cycling for a start. This week we have swept the board at the games, shown great depth in dropping Bradley Wiggins from the pursuits and putting in Stephen Burke instead and still coming away with a bronze medal. We have 20 year old Jason Kenny showing us that our current crop of track cycling champions has longevity for our 2012 campaign.
In the swimming, we have shown on several occasions that we have what it takes to compete at the highest level. Something which was only a pipe dream a few years ago.
We have excelled in Sailing and Rowing which in all honesty was expected, but we have scaled new heights in both sports. Zac Purchase and Marc Hunter delivered where we once failed in the lightweight sculls by delievering a much welcome bronze.
The track and field has always traditionally been a strongpoint for us in the Olympics. In all honesty we’ve probably over achieved in track and field over the years. Now we are showing some signs of ruling the proverbial waves of track and field again.
Sarah Claxton, Jeanette Kwaykce, Tasha Danvers and Christine Ohurougu have or had made their prospective finals with some of them definately not expected to be there. As a country we look at the bad side of Athletics. The column inches that Dwain Chambers garnered a few weeks ago showed that our preparation for the Olympics was almost building us up for failure. How better to prepare yourself for future failure by reporting on a failure from time gone by?
Last week, the Daily Mail held a front page spread asking “what was wrong with Tom Daly”, well my friends from the Daily Mail, i can tell you what was wrong. It was your constant coverage of this young chap and his obvious medal winning chance. Not once did the British diving camp say they could be in for a shout for a medal. For Tom Daly, the Beijing Olympics was an experince, a building block for his future in the sport, so when he failed (which was obvious he would do) to win a medal, they jumped on him and lambasted his nature at the games. Even his partner Blake Aldridge got in on the act and criticised his performance. It was a simple case of too much too soon for poor young Tom Daly. My point with that is with that is too explain that we have an uncanny knack of looking at the bad points.
The British media have suddenly jumped on this Olympic sized bandwagon and are celebrating every facet of the British team, however will they be there when they fall and look to areas where they can improve, or will they just damn them to the same fate of Tom Daly.
I dont need an answer to that, history has told me that the British sporting media are cruel without inflicting the kind.
