Ferguson And Beckham - Two Footballing Icons

I am a staunch Arsenal fan. Yet, when I woke up this morning, I felt a tinge of sadness. Both Sir Alex Ferguson and David Beckham have decided to retire at the end of the season. From an Arsenal fan's perspective, SAF leaving can only be a positive thing, but from a football fan's viewpoint their retirement brings to an end an era that has spanned more that 20 years. An age that has launched football into becoming the global brand that it is today.
First, Sir Alex. What that man has achieved at Manchester United cannot really be put into words. People will say that it can through the facts and figures but you look at the way he conducted himself throughout the 26 years he has been there and the way that people who have played for him and played against him talk and you see that it just cannot be described. His record as a manager is nearly faultless, bringing what everyone regards as the 'Holy Grail' of football, the Champion's League Trophy, to Old Trafford not once, but twice and completing what few managers have done in the famous 1999 Treble.
He will be missed by everyone involved in football. I know I'll miss him. Principally because I had this ridiculous notion of Ferguson and Wenger having one last season as adversaries. The two longest serving managers in the top flight of English football signing off with one last full-on season where they would go head-to-head for 38 or more matches and one would emerge victorious. Then they'd retire to become board members of their respective clubs and pass on those incredible squads to the next generation.
Of course, that's just a fantasy. Similar to the one that fellow Arsenal fans experienced during this season's January transfer window when it looked like we were going to sign David Villa from Barcelona. Now, it seems, Spurs have nearly got him. The heart sinks.
Ferguson's legacy will be measured by the success of his successor. David Moyes has a real job on his hands. On the one hand, if he does well, it'll be because of Ferguson's squad that he has inherited. If he does badly, it'll be his fault. Although the fact that he has signed a six-year contract makes me believe that the board have absolute and unwavering faith in him. So I wish him good luck.
Now onto David Beckham who, like Sir Alex, cannot be described purely by words. I looked through twitter earlier and found that Phil McNulty, a man who has never got a good word to say about anyone or anything and knows jack all about sport, said that he should not be considered as one of the game's 'greats.' Funnily enough, I think he's wrong.
He has won the league title with every team he has played for, with the exception of AC Milan but he spent a grand total of 3 months there. Not only that, but he has helped those teams win those titles. Look back at the Galacticos at Real Madrid in 2007. Look at the players in that team that could have won them the title. Robinho, Guti, Roberto Carlos, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Sergio Ramos but no, it was to David Beckham, who during the January transfer window said that he was going to play for LA Galaxy in America the following season and was then marginalised, they looked to and who came back and helped them with the La Liga trophy for the 30th time.
Now, we can't say that it was purely down to Golden Balls, but there was a period when he wasn't playing that Madrid suffered a severe dip in form. Then, when he came back, he was more determined to prove future England manager Fabio Capello wrong.
As a player, he was one of the world's greatest. Committed on the pitch and humble off it. All he wanted to do was play the game that he loved so much and enjoyed being a part of for 20 years. I will have a lot of fond memories of David Beckham, not least the free kick that saw us through into the 2002 World Cup Finals.
I wish them both the best of luck in their future endeavours and note that the landscape of global football has changed. Whether for the better, we are yet to see.

Moyes - Yes or No?

There are two discussions to be had here, and being on the fence, I thought I'd make both of them.

Yes: He just needs time. Like every new manager at every new club time is always needed. However, Manchester United is not every new club and David Moyes may not have long to impress the Old Trafford faithful. On the plus side, he does have a shining track record as a loyal manager, who with scarce resources, kept his Everton team in the highest tier of English football. Not only that he kept his Everton team competitive as they were rarely in the bottom half and often 8th or even a few places above Liverpool in recent seasons. Which to Everton fans is more important than domestic trophies.

The fact that Manchester United's board have chosen to sign Moyes on a 6 year contract shows me that they have faith in the ex Everton boss. My concern however, doesn't lie with that, I am worried about the mountain Moyes has put himself in front of. Can he really be expected to live up to a living-legend? Many managers internationally would most likely have jumped at the chance of the United job but why pick Moyes? I believe United picked Moyes because he is consistent, loyal and safe. He consistently finished 9th or above in his 10 plus years as Everton manager never once getting relegated. I'm not saying that Moyes is the right choice but for now he is definitely not going anywhere, and Manchester United are in safe hands.

No: There are only two people in the world capable of handling Manchester United and one of them just retired. The other one is special...

Jose Mourinho. The 'Special One' has the same fire and passion for football that other managers just seem to lack and Manchester United sorely needs that after the departure of such a worthy, and longstanding steward. I truly believe that had Mourinho been appointed, then United fans worldwide would be just as up-in-arms about it as they are about the appointment of David Moyes, because in their eyes nobody can live up to Sir Alex. Nor should they have to, a new manager means new times and unfortunately for diehard fans that means change.

Change is hard for a reason, and it is never harder when a manager that is both comfortable, beloved and consistently successful departs without fair warning. But Sir Alex is 80, and no matter how big or small a person is no one lasts forever in football. Manchester United is one of the biggest clubs in world football. Is Moyes one of the biggest managers? There's a simple answer to that. No. Mourinho is. His resume speaks for itself. He is one of the only managers to win a domestic league title in 4 different countries, and currently the manager of Real Madrid. Next to, David Moyes who hmmm...

So there we have it. Both sides of the discussion laid out. But what do you think? Are you a Yes? or a No?

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Bale Hype - Justified?

Here's a little statistic for you. Yesterday, two former Southampton teammates played their 200th games for their current clubs. Both play in similar positions and both were chasing that elusive 20th goal. Gareth Bale was one, who was the other?

Admittedly, there may be some bias here but I will try to be as objective as I can. The media cream themselves over Bale. There are no two ways about it. Because he is from the British Isles he can do no wrong. I have to say that he is a great player, but that's because he's playing for a mediocre team. I wonder how well he would play alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, up against some of the best defenders in the world like Dani Alves. I don't think it would work. He'd probably end up doing a Michael Owen and spend the rest of his career as an expensive benchwarmer.

I argue it like this, I believe that Messi is currently the best player in the world but Ronaldo is a better footballer. To make you understand, I'll say this: Ronaldo is more technically proficient with the ball than Messi is. Messi's just a goal machine. Ronaldo is not as selfish as people think. He plays for the team, which makes him invaluable. But, he has a darkside. That curse that has also stricken the media's beloved Bale. A disease that is best left to the likes of Tom Daley. I'm talking about diving.

Now, Ronaldo doesn't do it so much anymore, which is great, but the memories of him in the Premier League still stay with me. It's the same with Gareth Bale. Why does he feel the need to do it? It's cheating!

It really annoys me that the media in this country pander over him like he's the second coming. 'He's a young lad, he'll grow out of it.' On Wednesday, I will be the same age as him, I only dive in swimming pools. Agreed, I play less football than he does, but my point still stands. If he was a teenager, you could forgive him for his little discrepancies. But he isn't, he should have learnt that by now.

I think he could be a great footballer, he's already halfway there, all he really needs is a great club to play for and, I'm sorry Tottenham fans, Spurs just isn't a great club. However, Gareth Bale will never be a great player.

Walcott's better.


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Summary Of Executions

I must first apologise for not posting for a while - work has somewhat taken over my life. As a result, I thought I'd package all of my thoughts from the last two weeks into one long post. We'll cover everything from England rugby's humiliation in Cardiff to England football's triumph in San Marino, from the season opening F1 race in Melbourne to why test cricket is the best form of the game as England earn a draw in Auckland.

So to Cardiff. England are on the brink of winning their first Grand Slam in 10 years. In their way, a resilient Welsh team who, coming into the tournament, had lost 7 straight test matches. They had galvanised the team after a first weekend defeat against Ireland and put themselves in a position that, were they to beat England by more than 7 points, they would win the championship. England, for their part, simply needed not to lose. Now, I hate to say I told you so, but I did predict when Ireland played England that neither would win the Grand Slam. What I didn't expect was for England, who had played really well at the beginning of the tournament and progressively got worse, to capitulate like they did.

It was a very physical game, everyone saw that. It wasn't the physicality that caused England to lose, and lose badly. It was their lack of drive, passion, and the ability to score tries. What is the point of having a world class finisher in Chris Ashton on the wing if he has to come off it in order to get the ball? Then, when he does, he is ineffective because he is unable to break through a central defence.Everyone knows that Tuilagi is a crash-ball player and is more likely to take the ball into contact than ship it out to the wing. Look at how the Welsh managed it - quick ball out, good hands and two tries. Simple.

This is a young team, and they clearly have a lot to learn about test rugby. For the most part, I really hope that Chris Robshaw goes on tour with the Lions, he has been outstanding for England and has really led from the front. I know that Gatland is more likely to pick a mainly Welsh team, but can you really trust a team that lost 8 games before finding form? You're not going to have the luxury of that in Australia.

Moving onto football and, as I'm writing this, England are preparing for a match against Montenegro, the world's newest footballing nation. Despite this, they are top of the World Cup qualifying group. Montenegro? Really? I know that their strikers are Serie A players but come on. England demolished San Marino last week and this should be as straightforward as that. It isn't, however, and England should be wary after the 2-2 draw late on in the Euro Qualifying. That draw showed that there were still many flaws with a team that had, up until then, won every game possible and these were brutally exposed at the European Championships last summer.

That said, I expect England to comfortably move on past Montenegro this evening and put themselves in the driving seat for World Cup Qualification. Joleon Lescott and Chris Smalling are excellent centre-backs and I hope they do well against two of the more prolific strikers Italian football has to offer. Steven Gerrard should keep to playing football, talking really isn't his strong point, and England will do well I feel.

So the F1 season has started, and ignited like a furnace in recent days. The season opener on Melbourne threw up a few surprises. Red Bull still have the fastest car in qualifying, but it seems as though Lotus have a quick car too. Ferrari will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season but the biggest surprises have come from Mercedes and McLaren. Without the aptly named 'Hamilton Effect,' Button seems to have lost a sizeable amount of pace. He is in a car that will develop and evolve as the season goes on but he might be missing out on valuable points early on in the championship.

Where Mercedes are getting their speed from is beyond me. Sure they looked quick in testing but that rarely translates into actual race pace. Again, this might be down to the 'Hamilton Effect' but then Nico Rosberg is looking quick as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the both of them were in the hunt towards the end of the season.

On another note, I hate team orders. I think they should be scrapped absolutely and any team caught up in them should be severely punished. They ruin races. Look at what happened in Malaysia. I doubt Webber will be able to stay at Red Bull if they don't punish Vettel for what he did. But then what did he do wrong? It was exciting, wheel to wheel racing. It was just what the fans tune in to watch. What they wanted to see was Rosberg having a go at Hamilton and then Hamilton coming back and him running out of fuel. Not some dreary end to an otherwise exciting race weekend. Do I think Vettel deserved the win? Yes, he did. He was driving quicker.Webber should have turned his engine back up and tried to get him back. Think of all the epic races between team mates. Prost and Senna at McLaren. Mansell and Piquet at Williams. Amazing races where they were allowed to race against each other in cars that were a lot less safe than they are now.

Where to now? China on the 14th April. The FIA needs to look at what happened in Malaysia and make a decision on team orders. I understand the teams' position. We pay you, you are our employee, you do what we say. Bollocks. The fans and sponsors give the teams the money to pay the drivers. You work for us, the fans. We want to see racing and we want to see it now. We enjoy the action, the racing and yes, the crashes. But we enjoy the crashes a lot more now because there's less of a likelihood anyone is going to be seriously injured. Look at Robert Kubica's crash in Canada a few years ago. It destroyed the car and yet he was back the following race. Then there was Felipe Massa's accident in 2009 when a piece of car came off his compatriot Barrichello's car and embedded itself in Massa's crash helmet. Were it not for the recent redesign of the crash helmet and the fact that it was 9 layers of carbon fibre thick, he would have died. We want racing!

Finally onto a point I have been trying to bang home for ages. Test cricket is the best form of the game. Simple as that. Americans won't get this because there has to be a winner with them. It's the principle that you can go and watch your team play for 5 straight days and then, right at the end, the best result for your team is a draw. And you celebrate that draw too. Take England over the past 5 days. Abysmal is how I would describe it. Right up until the final day at Eden Park. Chasing a total of 400+ runs, England came out and batted right up to the end of the day. This left no other option than for the match to be called a draw and for New Zealand to wonder where it all went wrong. With 16 balls remaining, England were down the their last wicket. And it was Monty Panesar, who faced 5 balls. Not really who you would like to see as your last man standing but an admirable two runs meant he finished the match with an envious run rate of 40. What a match!

With a rather humiliating series defeat in the sub-continent for Australia, who knows what the Ashes has in store for us this year? With England having the advantage of playing another test series against New Zealand, again, on home soil, it will be difficult to see how Australia will improve ahead of the Ashes but we will wait and see.

Until next time!

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Grand Slam Still On?

I've got a bit of a dilemma. Watching the England v Italy match, I was thinking of how poor England were. Stupidly high possession percentage in the first half but went in at the break only 9 points up. Then Italy come out and dominate after the restart at Twickenham.

So here's my dilemma: I wouldn't have picked a different team. Give me that scenario over and over again and, knowing how poor they played, I would still pick the same team. Why? Because that's the best team we have at the moment.

So long as Owen Farrell is available next week, I'd put him back into the squad. I'd also have him play all 80 minutes. That's not to take anything away from Toby Flood who had an excellent game today though. I'd bring him on at 12 on the sixty minute mark. It would obviously depend on how well the other players were doing.

So what went wrong today then? I'm sure many people will point out that England won and that nothing did go wrong. Also, the old adage 'even though we played poorly we still won.' I agree, but it was so poor, we should be questioning how well we play. England have scored just one try in three games.

And that's where the problem lies, in our attitude. I get the impression that this England team are quite happy to sit back and wait for the other team to concede the penalties and try not to concede many themselves. A tactic only this team can pull off (England teams of old would concede more). There's no sting in attack. I don't know why though. In Barritt and Flood, they have a couple of great ball passers and in Ashton and Brown they have some excellent finishers. So why aren't they getting more tries on the board?

I know you're all going to hate me for this but I think it's Tuilagi. Told you you'd hate me. The reason for this is because he doesn't do quick balls. He is most definitely a crash ball player. He won't ship the ball out to Brown or Ashton under normal conditions. But you wouldn't drop him. Or, at least, I wouldn't. Why not? Because he is a strong player, both in attack and in defence. The ball will be there for the wingers if they push their case and come more central. Look at Luke McLane and his break against England. Broke the English line between 12 and 13. Simply because he came off his wing. They should have scored.

So there's the dilemma. Who would you pick against Wales? Let me know.


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Is The Chelsea Job Toxic?

I have just started a new job. I'm enjoying myself and I really like the people who I'm working alongside. Excuse me while I am a bit self-indulgent, but I do have a point. I wasn't actively looking for a job when I got offered it. I was offered 2 jobs in the same day. I was also offered quite a few more interviews on top of that. I turned a few interviews down. Why? Simply put, because I thought that if I had some of those companies on my CV, it would make it toxic.

They're bad companies to work for. I could have done well there and probably made more money than I am at the moment, but that's not the point. What if I get made redundant? With that company on my CV, no one will look twice at it.

That's the problem with the Chelsea manager's position. I would be surprised if Rafa Benitez got another job after this. I'm surprised that AVB got another job after Chelsea got rid of him (albeit, he has done well at Tottenham). Roberto di Matteo and Avram Grant are two names that spring to the top of the pile when you talk of Chelsea managers that have gone on to do next to nothing after they've left. Di Matteo is a Champion's League winning manager. There shouldn't be a team in Europe that doesn't want him to sign for them, but he's from Chelsea. He has been tarred with the same brush.

I think that's a shame, it really is. Outside of Spain, I've never really thought Benitez was a good manager. He did well at Valencia with a very young team, breaking the stranglehold Real and Barcelona had on La Liga. Then he moved to Liverpool and won the Champion's League in his first season. Yet you look at the squad he had back then and you think that there was no way he could fail to win it. It was a very talented group of individuals who played together as a team. Not to mention a younger Steven Gerrard and a vibrant Xabi Alonso. Then he floundered at Inter Milan and eventually got given the Chelsea job. He needs to go back to Spain. He ought to go back to Valencia and produce the next generation of David Silva's to challenge the top two over there again.

I think Di Matteo was lucky. The squad were in 'that season' where everything just comes together. Except in the league, where they came 6th. That's not the point though. When Arsenal reached the final of the Champion's League, they only just managed to scrape 4th place away from Tottenham. Even so, he should be employed elsewhere by now.

But he isn't. That's because he has Chelsea on his CV. No one wants him because he has, at some point in his career, taken up a position which he knows can only ever be a temporary assignment. Which makes him a temporary manager at best now. Even with the Champion's League behind him, he can't get away from that fact.

Don't get me wrong, if I were offered that role at Chelsea, I would grab it with both hands. Anyone in my position would. Then I have no long-term future to worry about. I would be happy to bank the wages, get a huge payoff at the end and know that I have left a club in no worse state than when I found it. Which Premiership manager now would take that job? None. They all know what it entails. Abramovich only wants one person to look after the players at Stamford Bridge, and that man's got his heart set on the Manchester United job.

On a completely unrelated note, I was at a charity dinner with Gianfranco Zola and Gus Poyet last night.

Until next time!

Right Or Wrong, A Referee's Decision Is Final

I've never been quick to criticise a referee. I know they do an extremely difficult job. That said, the standard of refereeing has gone downhill in recent years. There have been some truly awful decisions over the last 24 months but I'd rather not go into details here. Whether a referee has made a correct decision, the true test of a team and their fans is how they react to that decision.
I'll get to tonight's action in a bit but I'd like to draw your attention to Arsenal v Barcelona recently at the Nou Camp. Robin van Persie is on a yellow card. He is released down the right hand side of the pitch. A little late, the flag goes up for offside. RVP then kicks the ball, rather petulantly I'll admit, off the pitch. It wasn't malicious, it wasn't spiteful. It was not, in anyway, meant to change the course of play whatsoever. The referee gives him a second yellow card, followed by a red, and Barcelona go on to win the match.
Yes, I feel that was the wrong decision. Any decent ref would have given him a final warning. It was a decision that changed the game. It was an ambiguous decision and it could have gone either way. It happened, and I'm proud of the players and the way they responded. And I'm proud of the fans and the fact that the majority thought we were lucky to go to the Nou Camp with anything in the first place.
Moving on, or back actually, to Nigel De Jong. Now there can be no bones about it. Howard Webb should have sent him off in the World Cup Final. He didn't. He endangered the safety of another player by putting his foot through him.
And, just to prove that I'm not biased, I've just seen a video of Emmanuel Eboué challenging for the ball against none other than Nani himself, studs up, and getting sent off. Correct decision. Absolutely correct. It was made at 3-0 down so did not change the game but it annoys me that he though he could do something like that. He's no longer at Arsenal.
So I'll finish with what you came here to read about. Yes, I thought it was a game-changing moment. A game-changing moment of madness that Nani cost his team, which I think is better than the 1999 club, of a shot at the treble. It cost Sir Alex Ferguson his chance of becoming the undisputed greatest manager of all time. And it showed just how petulant such a great club can be when they don't always get it their own way.
First of all, it was a red. No ifs, no buts. Studs up challenge, endangering the safety of another player. Red card. Let's not have any of this 'by the letter of the law' nonsense. Red card. Deal with it. And as such, would you consider the reactions of the United players to be of the standard expected if them? No. They lost and blamed the referee. Blame Nani, he's the one that got sent off!
I truly hope that Rio Ferdinand gets a chance to watch himself clap in the referee's face after the final whistle. I also hope that someone at UEFA sees it and bans him like they did to Drogba a few years ago. It was awful. And kids look up to this moron? Great role model you are.
Onto Sir Alex Ferguson and not attending the press conference. That's awful. In all my life I'd never thought I'd be describing him as a coward. But that's what he is. Just that. If that had been anyone else, the media would have kicked up a shitstorm. The club and it's fans really showed their true colours today and it's a shame for such a great club.
I would love to finish off with something like 'The Old Guard let the club down' but that would be detracting from Ryan Giggs who played in his 1,000th game for United. He looked every bit like he was playing in his 1st game. What a player he has been. Incredible. At least I can finish on a happier note.
Until next time!


Follow me on Twitter: @obmij1