Champions League Semi Final - Chelsea v Liverpool
01/05/08 13:11 | Permalink
The recent Champions League Semi Final between Chelsea and Liverpool has identified many issues with modern football. As a Chelsea fan, I am obviously delighted at finally putting the jinx of Liverpool in Europe to rest.
I was watching the match on Sky Sports which, in conjunction with other UK media, appear to have a general dislike for Chelsea, and an unnatural and inappropriate love for everything to do with Liverpool. Let me start with my team - Chelsea - I have supported them through thick and thin. The recent successes have been amazing, when you consider that only 20 years ago or so, Chelsea were struggling to stay in the then first division, with wet and windy evening matches against the likes of Rotherham.
I would have been heart broken if Chelsea had been pushed into liquidation as was reported just prior to Roman Abramovitch's take-over of the club. Mismanagement by Ken Bates, and his desire to buy success without the resources have caused similar problems at Leeds United (not all Bates' doing though).
It appears that Abramovitch's money has grown the resentment of Chelsea Football Club, with supporters of Arsenal in particular, claiming that you cannot buy a title. This is true - under Ranieri, Chelsea could not win the Premiership title. It took the 'genius' of Mourinho to weld a Premiership winning team from these highly priced, and highly paid sportsmen. Liverpool's so called 'money take over' by the American millionaires has not really delivered success - the last trophy was won before their intervention. But Chelsea were despised before this, and there is no rational reason why.
I freely admit that I was one of the 'glory boys' who started supporting the club after the FA and European Cup Winners Cup successes of the early 1970's. At that time, Liverpool were a second division side, and remember that on the road to FA Cup success, Chelsea beat Liverpool's quarter final conquerers, Watford!
Coming on to Liverpool. The media love Liverpool - they are unable to do anything wrong. It was afterall Liverpool fans who were involved in the Hilsborough disaster - both as victims and as perpetrators. Likewise in Heysel in the European Cup Final. The Liverpool supporters, fuelled by the media, believe that they have a 'right' to win the Premiership, and their trophy - the European Cup or Champions League. 'Champion's League' - please note the first word - Liverpool have not finished above 4th in many years! They are certainly not Champions!
Back to the Semi Final - Sky Sports were waxing lyrical about the history, player qualities and 'fantastic' supporters of Liverpool, almost dismissing the great achievements at Stamford Bridge. When they did laud the club, it was in a back handed way, criticising the supporters for not backing Avram Grant. I ended up watching most of the match on German satellite TV, where the interest was on Ballack, but the commentary was far more balanced.
I am not a great fan of Manchester United, and hope we can repeat the score from the last Premiership meeting and beat them in Moscow on the 21st of May, but I would like to say that despite their success over the years, they do not believe that it is their right to win a trophy or a match - they believe in the ability of their team and their management. They have been proven to be the world's biggest club, and the attitude of their fans leaves the attitude of fans of Liverpool and Arsenal in their shadow. Chelsea fans are still in a state of bewilderment with the recent success - competing with the Arsenal fans who think that they SHOULD be the best in London - they have failed in this for a great many years now, and do not have the right to expect this.
Arsenal and Liverpool fans - prove it on the park, there are no rights in football, and money can only buy short-term success, if that.
I would have been heart broken if Chelsea had been pushed into liquidation as was reported just prior to Roman Abramovitch's take-over of the club. Mismanagement by Ken Bates, and his desire to buy success without the resources have caused similar problems at Leeds United (not all Bates' doing though).
It appears that Abramovitch's money has grown the resentment of Chelsea Football Club, with supporters of Arsenal in particular, claiming that you cannot buy a title. This is true - under Ranieri, Chelsea could not win the Premiership title. It took the 'genius' of Mourinho to weld a Premiership winning team from these highly priced, and highly paid sportsmen. Liverpool's so called 'money take over' by the American millionaires has not really delivered success - the last trophy was won before their intervention. But Chelsea were despised before this, and there is no rational reason why.
I freely admit that I was one of the 'glory boys' who started supporting the club after the FA and European Cup Winners Cup successes of the early 1970's. At that time, Liverpool were a second division side, and remember that on the road to FA Cup success, Chelsea beat Liverpool's quarter final conquerers, Watford!
Arsenal and Liverpool fans - prove it on the park, there are no rights in football, and money can only buy short-term success, if that.
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More football rants
09/08/06 13:24 | Permalink
With the start of the football season upon us now, I thought about our summer of football with the World Cup and its associated disappointments.
The thing that everyone was talking about was the play-acting by nearly every team. The diving was an absolute disgrace, and I heard and read commentators in England, Germany and Switzerland all deploring it. You may say with the German voice included, that this was a case of the pot calling the kettle black, but to be fair their team were at least aggressive and played attractive, offensive football - in fact the best game I saw was between Germany and Italy!
So, how do we sort this out? I would refer the Football Association to a case in Germany about 8 or 9 years ago, where Andreas Möller dived for a penalty for his club Borussia Dortmund. The dive outraged the German public in such a way that the German Football Association viewed the video evidence and fined the player heavily and banned him for about 6 games. I would suggest that the Football Association, UFEA and FIFA employ a similar process to stamp out diving at the top level, because even though we do not have our games videoed on the village green, the players are influenced by the actions of the top professionals.
Just image how a José Morinho or Arsené Wenger or Sir Alex Ferguson would react to half of their stars out of action for league or cup matches if they were suspended because of diving - the play-acting would go the way of the Dodo very quickly.
I would also like to bemoan the standard of footballing brain many of our players seem to have. We all know that they generally lack brains in terms of vocabulary and their social behaviour, but on the pitch, I see many of the players running into crowded spaces, hiding behind opposing players whilst awaiting a pass. Any schoolchild knows that you can't pass solid objects through other solid objects, and yet these multi-millionaires are trying to do just that, or expecting others to do it.
Whatever happened to footballers playing the ball into space? And players running onto the ball - everything seems to have to played to feet, slowing the game down and allowing defenders to get behind the ball. The direct game as, famously played by Watford and Wimbledon, worked very well because it gave the defenders no time to think. It is normally seen as a less professional and less skilful way of playing football - but I would disagree - you need to think far faster and a few moves ahead of the current play to perform in this way.
I suppose it does come back to the fact that modern footballers are not the brightest, and need extra thinking time. It is certainly the case with the large number of players, worldwide, who are ridiculously one-footed - you will always have stronger side, but you should be able to put a half-decent pass together. Only using one foot is obviously another way of limiting the neural load on these 'stars'.
Having had my rant, I must say that I am looking forward to the new season, both for professional and local football. Players such as Ballack and Shevchenko at Chelsea, and the fact that clubs such as Liverpool are likely to provide more competition for Chelsea this season make for a mouth-watering Premiership. Locally, we are celebrating our centenary this year, and are very confident that the season will be successful for both teams, and the new teams we are planning.
The thing that everyone was talking about was the play-acting by nearly every team. The diving was an absolute disgrace, and I heard and read commentators in England, Germany and Switzerland all deploring it. You may say with the German voice included, that this was a case of the pot calling the kettle black, but to be fair their team were at least aggressive and played attractive, offensive football - in fact the best game I saw was between Germany and Italy!
So, how do we sort this out? I would refer the Football Association to a case in Germany about 8 or 9 years ago, where Andreas Möller dived for a penalty for his club Borussia Dortmund. The dive outraged the German public in such a way that the German Football Association viewed the video evidence and fined the player heavily and banned him for about 6 games. I would suggest that the Football Association, UFEA and FIFA employ a similar process to stamp out diving at the top level, because even though we do not have our games videoed on the village green, the players are influenced by the actions of the top professionals.
Just image how a José Morinho or Arsené Wenger or Sir Alex Ferguson would react to half of their stars out of action for league or cup matches if they were suspended because of diving - the play-acting would go the way of the Dodo very quickly.
I would also like to bemoan the standard of footballing brain many of our players seem to have. We all know that they generally lack brains in terms of vocabulary and their social behaviour, but on the pitch, I see many of the players running into crowded spaces, hiding behind opposing players whilst awaiting a pass. Any schoolchild knows that you can't pass solid objects through other solid objects, and yet these multi-millionaires are trying to do just that, or expecting others to do it.
Whatever happened to footballers playing the ball into space? And players running onto the ball - everything seems to have to played to feet, slowing the game down and allowing defenders to get behind the ball. The direct game as, famously played by Watford and Wimbledon, worked very well because it gave the defenders no time to think. It is normally seen as a less professional and less skilful way of playing football - but I would disagree - you need to think far faster and a few moves ahead of the current play to perform in this way.
I suppose it does come back to the fact that modern footballers are not the brightest, and need extra thinking time. It is certainly the case with the large number of players, worldwide, who are ridiculously one-footed - you will always have stronger side, but you should be able to put a half-decent pass together. Only using one foot is obviously another way of limiting the neural load on these 'stars'.
Having had my rant, I must say that I am looking forward to the new season, both for professional and local football. Players such as Ballack and Shevchenko at Chelsea, and the fact that clubs such as Liverpool are likely to provide more competition for Chelsea this season make for a mouth-watering Premiership. Locally, we are celebrating our centenary this year, and are very confident that the season will be successful for both teams, and the new teams we are planning.