Comment and analysis round up

Quote of the day: “I was really disappointed and surprised that Patrik [Berger], with all his experience of dealing with the press, would make such an inappropriate comment [advising Gareth Barry to join Liverpool]. The sad aspect of it is that we are paying Patrik’s wages for him to recommend one of our players to another football club. It’s ludicrous. I think Pat realises that now and he’s apologised. He said he didn’t mean a great deal of harm but the harm’s been done and he won’t be playing any part in proceedings from here on in.” - Martin O’Neill.

Runner-up: “It is very sad what has happened to Gazza, he was a genius and it must be so hard for him. I wish someone could have got hold of him, he needed someone around him who wouldn’t take advantage of him. He is a lovely bloke. I can’t give him specific advice, other than to come round my house, put your feet up and have a cup of tea.” - Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Today’s overview: There is no single story thats dominates this morning’s headlines, rather a hotchpotch of random football shorts. These include the introduction of an English language test for foreigners, semi-final or bust for Capello, analysis of Keegan’s Premier League assessment, and the announcement that Craig Bellamy is setting up a £650,000 academy in Sierra Leone.

According to Alan Travis of the Guardian, “South American, African and other non-European footballers who cannot speak English will be barred from joining Premier League clubs from the autumn under the new points-based immigration system detailed by ministers yesterday. The introduction of an English language test, covering everyday phrases and simple conversation, forms part of a package of tougher rules for skilled migrants from outside Europe applying to work in Britain and for temporary workers and students.” (Does this mean Fabio Capello and Juande Ramos will have to leave England?)

Sam Wallace (Independent) applauds the FA’s decision to demand that England reach the semi-finals of major competitions. “There will be a few Germans and Italians sniggering at the English acceptance of failure just as long as they gave it a good shot. But what was [Lord] Triesman supposed to say? If he had said that nothing short of winning the World Cup was acceptable, Capello would have been justified in raising an objection. If he had said that the quarter-finals was a benchmark of respectability we might as well have brought back Sven Goran Eriksson.”

Reacting to Kevin Keegan’s admission of the problems getting Newcastle in the top four, Martin Samuel (The Times) backs up the Toon manager’s assessment. “Newcastle are walking a thin line because contained in Keegan’s realistic assessment of his position was a subtext that suggested that a more damaging explosion of frustration was not far away… The unpleasant reality is that £50 million, which appears to be the standard fee for having a go these days, will not touch it at Newcastle, not even come close.”

Tim Rich (Telegraph) also responds to Keegan’s outburst, claiming “If English football is ‘boring’ as Keegan described it on Monday, it was never that competitive”. But he also quotes Harry Redknapp, who believes “it will change. In years to come you’ll have 20 foreign billionaires owning 20 Premier League clubs.”

The Daily Mail’s Matt Lawton sensationalises the Keegan story by claiming “Keegan’s relationship with his employers at Newcastle is at breaking point amid private concerns that Dennis Wise is being lined up to succeed him.” And the proof? ” Friction over the recent departure of video technician and ProZone expert Dave Fallows, whom Keegan inherited from previous manager Sam Allardyce, could be an early indication of the battles ahead.” (Note, there were no quotes used in this article.)

And the Daily Mail continue to use their powers of deduction (rather than opt for facts) to determine that “Berbatov is on the way out of Tottenham as he is absent when new kit is launched.”

Kevin McCarra (Guardian) takes a trip down memory lane to recall the emergence of Chelsea as a modern force. “There was a conscious endeavour to accentuate a cosmopolitan glamour in the latter part of Ken Bates’ time. Ruud Gullitt and Gianluca Vialli would both play for and manage the club while the crowd also doted on Gianfranco Zola. There were trophies as well, such as the 1998 Cup Winners’ Cup and the 2000 FA Cup.” (Interestingly, McCarra fails to mention Avram Grant’s name once in his article and you cannot help feeling that this undercurrent of this article is to prove how Chelsea’s success is due to long term planning, rather than anything associated with the Israeli.)

The Sun’s Ian McGarry leads with the claim that Avram Grant has told Richard Hughes (apparently a “close friend”) that “He’d [Grant] be happy to revert to the role where he acts as a link between the coaching staff and the board.”

David Anderson (Daily Mirror) has an exclusive interview (in two parts here and here) with Peter Crouch. Money quote: “What I must do is speak to the manager. When all is said and done, I don’t think I can have another season like this year where I’ve started nine Premier League games.”

Reflecting on the FA’s rejection to overturn Leeds’ 15 point deduction for entering administration, David Conn (Guardian) stresses that “The real scandal of this whole affair is not that Leeds lost 15 points, but that our beloved professional football clubs still overspend, collapse and leave trails of creditors unpaid in the wreckage.”

Dominic Fifield (Guardian) questions Arsene Wenger’s transfer policy. “His team had carried all before them at times, the combination of the scintillating and the exhilarating threatening to yield a Premier League title and the European Cup. A lack of depth to his squad undermined those aspirations at the last. Now the fear nags that this set-up is to be stripped when it needs to be strengthened in the weeks to come.”

Gavin Hamilton (SI) investigates Manchester United’s financial position. “This week it was revealed that the club suffered a £58 million loss last year and now owe a total of £764 million to their various creditors… Most worrying for the Glazers is the news that they still owe £152 million to hedge funds at a rate of interest of 14.25 percent. With a recession threatening to engulf the world’s financial markets, the Glazers cannot find anyone willing to take on the debt at a more reasonable interest rate.”

In a slightly off-topic article about football’s relationship with the environment, Jim White (Telegraph) explains why “Football’s green claim is really a red herring.” “Here was an organisation who, by the very nature of the electricity-generation business in which they are engaged, pump more carbon into the atmosphere than the entire length of the M1, encouraging us to share a car to the game in order to stop the earth frying. Short of McDonald’s launching an anti-obesity drive or Thaksin Shinawatra fronting a series of commercials for Ikea, it is hard to think of a less appropriate match-up.”

The Independent splash with the story of “Football’s charitable status: Philanthropists in the Premier League,” Glenn Moore praising bad-boy Craig Bellamy’s announcement to “invest £650,000 of his own money into creating an entire football structure in the benighted west African nation… Bellamy’s altruism is part of a slowly growing trend. Robert Green, one of Bellamy’s team-mates at Upton Park, is going to Uganda this summer to work with the African Medical Research Foundation. It is a long way from the cheesy visits to hospitals at Christmas time (which, incidentally, still go on and are much welcomed by the children involved) and reflects the growing financial power of footballers and their greater worldliness, a by-product of the globalisation of the Premier League.”

Rob Hughes (IHT) reviews “Johnny Haynes - The Maestro,” and wonders whether modern Fulham fans respect Haynes’ legacy. “Without Haynes’s 658 league games and 158 goals, the club might not have survived his near 20-year span to 1970. Without his perfectionism, his ability to hit a pass as true as a laser beam, and his leadership of the English national side, the famous old club would be less famous today.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 8:55 am and is filed under blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.