Nows the time to Invest in Scottish Football

A strange title for a blog I do agree but with Rangers going into Administration, an interesting situation has arisen.

Suddenly there only looks to be 1 dominant team in the league. So for all those millionaires who read my blog…

ITS TIME TO BUY A SCOTTISH TEAM AND INVEST IN ITS SQUAD

I cannot see Rangers going out of business but with examples of Portsmouth and Leeds to go by, they will take some time to get back to being one of the top 2 teams in the league.

In the summer, their best players will go elsewhere and they will be languishing in a mid table situation for at least a season or two. Especially as it appears their finances may even rule out their place in European competition.

So what is to stop a Motherwell or a Hearts from investing in some of these Rangers players and others from further afield and making the Scottish league less about Glasgow and more about Scotland?

I am not a fan of the Scottish league because I have found it very boring. All it seems to be about is ‘When will Celtic or Rangers lose a match?’ This only seems to happen when they play each other, but nothing is achieved from any other games being played in the league. No ones really bothered about relegation, the only place to be is 1st or 2nd and that’s out of reach for everyone else, that is until next season.

Even this season, Rangers 10 point deduction has only meant that A: Celtic have won the title and B: 3rd place MIGHT be able to catch them as long as Rangers lose pretty much every game from now until the end of the season which is unlikely.

So although a sad time to see a large traditional football super power fall from the top of the hill, this must be the moment for other teams to seize what could be a massive opportunity to change and improve Scottish Football.

The FA Cock Up

This time last week we were asking ‘will Harry go to jail?’ Now we find ourselves asking whether he will stick around his current job to finish off what could be his biggest achievement to date.

This has been brought about by the most bizarre collection of events over the past few days and I will do my best to make sense in this blog.

The Culprits

John Terry: he believes he innocent in the racism abuse case. Fair play to him, it does not look good in my opinion but I can understand in his mind resigning as captain would suggest his guilt in the case.

The FA: should have put more pressure on Terry to resign as captain. The media frenzy around him is what has worried them and rightly so but they then undermined their manager.

Capello: perhaps not bothered about England anymore? I totally back his feelings on the FA going behind his back. As an Italian he was never going to go back on his feelings towards the matter. Bit stupid slagging your bosses off on TV though, even if it is in Italy. If they can pay you £6 Million a year, they can certainly afford a subscription to sky Italia and a half decent translator.

My theory on what will happen next:
Harry Redknapp will not take the job until after Euro 2012. Let Stuart Peace steady the ship and let Harry start afresh.

All spurs fans are reserved to the fact that Harry will go if England came calling this summer. If anything it’s nice for spurs to have a manager in demand rather than sacking them.

But I cannot see Harry leaving his job at sours unfinished.

Next spurs manager? Someone with premier league experience, not some random foreigner. David Moyes or Brendan Rogers would make me happy.

And another Transfer Window Closes

Around about the 31st of Jan and August each year I have the same arguments at home about why its important for me to watch Sky Sports News all the way up to midnight. Every time it seems to work. What I do not understand is why clubs leave it so late to buy these players. What has really inspired me to write this post is a comment I just read regarding my beloved Spurs.

“Harry Redknapp has always been a big fan of Ryan (Nelson)”

SO WHY DID YOU LEAVE IT TO 10PM ON TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY IN 2012 TO ADMIT THIS?! Hes 34 years old, has a knee injury which has meant he’s not actually played in nearly a year and makes Ledley King look like a stranger to the physio room.

Harry said a similar thing about Louis Saha as he purchased him yesterday too. Are we going to be having the same conversation in 15 years time regarding Christiano Ronaldo and Messi?

I can only assume deals like this happen because of Agents making a silly amount of phone calls and Tottenham appears to be the only club who actually take any of these calls seriously. Either that or Harry seems to be under an immense amount of pressure to perform. In previous windows, White Hart Lane has been the place to be for the last-minute action, so all the journalists will camp out there in the freezing cold in the hope. Harry seems these people suffering, so to give em what they want, he signs Louis Saha.

I am not criticising Tottenham either just to make it clear because I can see a continued theme in all our transfers this season, they all have vast amounts of Premier League experience and most know what its like to win leagues and trophies (even Saha has a Premier League Medal).

Earlier in the day it seemed that very little was going to happen during the transfer window. Andy Carroll had his backpack and packed lunch ready just incase someone had £35 million ready to lure him away from Anfield and King Kenny had to motor running for that last-minute lift, but in the end the excitement boiled down to Lous Saha going to Spurs on Loan.

I find it really fascinating sometimes to think how strange it would be if all jobs worked with a transfer window. Your about to finish up for the week at work in say Brighton when suddenly a call comes in at 4.50pm. “Would you like to come work for us in Manchester?”… Erm…can I think about it over the weekend?… No, the deadline is 5, we need a decision NOW!

Finally can we all spare a thought for the poor Arsenal fans. Arsene Wenger still needs a cuddle and had he been ‘Tonked’ again this weekend I reckon he would have snapped and tried to sign Andre Santos again only to find he already owns him.

A cautiously happy Spurs fan

We are at the halfway point of the Premier League and look who is 3rd in the league!!!  Its a very strange but excellent season so far for all Tottenham fans. Its going our way and even the bad results have come at the best times.

Perhaps what has helped Tottenham the most is the distraction of the two Manchester clubs. I was saying around the first few games of the season, once we got the two Manchester games out the way, we went on a bit of a quiet run. You probably didn’t notice, but we kept winning games 1-0 and 2-1, nothng special but the performances were enough to result in 3 points. While these results were coming in, Arsenal were getting thrashed at any given moment, Man City were scoring an average of 37835 goals a game and Chelsea just didn’t know what they wanted to do.

Then comes the clever journalists who noticed Tottenham quietly came into 3rd place and set up camp. ‘Oh look’ they said ‘Tottenham are on a record breaking winning streak’. Leave us alone, we are getting on with this in our own time! So we went on to lose at Stoke which I pinpointed as maybe the most important result of our season. Suddenly, we are back winning matches in boring fashion and no one other than the spurs fans care.

This Season vs Last Season

The two key components that mean this season is a million times better than last is really simple.

The players: All the players know each other well. The three players that have come in (Friedel, Adeybayor and Parker) all have had many years in the Premier League and will know the current Spurs players. In terms of premier league experience, our least experienced players are Sandro (1 year) and Van der Vaart (18 months) and they seem to be doing alright.

The other major component to being better than last season is we are now beating the lower teams. Last season we would go on to outclass Chelsea then lose to Blackpool. This year we are beating the lower teams, sometimes grinding out a draw, but its always a positive result.

Can we win the league. 2 weeks ago I would have said no. After other results seem to be going in our favour… now I would say maybe. All I can hope is that we don’t go and spend £40 million on some random European player. We don’t need any new players, we just need to focus and grind out the tricky results and do what we done so far this season again and lets see what happens.

Needless to say, I now know why Man Utd fans get so touchy when they lose a match. Its quite pressured up here isn’t it.

Racism in Football

An eight match suspension and pending criminal record. These are the results of naivety and heat of the moment.

I am of course referring to Luis Suarez and John Terry and their separate cases of racism. The Liverpool striker has been handed an 8 match ban for whatever he said to Patrice Evra. From the reports I have read, Suarez actually owned up to what he said, but in his defence the language he used is not offensive in his home nation.

Well it’s also acceptable to drive on the other side of the road in Uruguay, but still I think you will end up in a spot of bother if you decided to try it on the M6. I’m sure it’s also classed as racism in Holland, where he was at Ajax and Groningen for a combined 5 years.

But is 8 matches really the correct punishment? Previous cases have proved that punching another player during a match will get you less of a ban. Is saying a word really worse than punching someone? In the real world, if I went and punched someone outside Tesco, I think I will end up in more trouble than calling them something.

The other trouble I have with this is now he has appealed this decision. The FA have backed themselves into a corner. Can they really be seen to soften up after showing such a hard stance to the matter. They are obviously using this to stamp their authority on the matter.

I am rather disappointed by the whole t-shirt thing that happened at the Liverpool match. The players said they were in full support of Luis Suarez. What exactly were they supporting? The language he used? The fact that he’s suspended for 8 matches? If he did actually admit to saying what he said then I cannot work out why they are wearing these t-shirts. You do however have to think there is something in this that the whole team and management are aggressively supporting him. I think there may be a lot more to come from this saga.

And then came the John Terry case which is now a police matter. As I have said in previous posts, I dislike John Terry as much as the next sensible person, but is this really the correct punishment?

He is under immense pressure to perform. I know we all go on about them all being on £100,000 a week to play football but imagine if your wages were published to all your colleagues and/or customers and it turned out you earn a considerably higher wage compared to them. You are under much more pressure. If you make a mistake, they will pick up on it much quicker than usual. Then throw a few million people in who have paid part of your wages, watching your every move. This is what footballers put up with every day.

This is certainly not an excuse to racially abuse someone but I think it goes some of the way to explaining what has gone on. Banter on a football pitch will always happen, I personally find it offensive when the crowd shout ‘The referee is a W@nker”. Can the police please charge the 20,000 people seen shouting that on Sky Sports 2 last week? I think not, its part of football. Whether its right or wrong, its part of the pantomime of it. Racism is one step too far and for that John Terry should be punished, but I am not sure getting the police involved is the right method in which to do it.

Both cases, the players used racist language. But in both cases, I really do not think either is a racist, nor shares the opinions of some the extreme racists out there. How can they? They work with footballers from all over the world. I just hope this very unpleasant issues goes away very quickly and we can concentrate on the actual football and moan at these players for the performances of their feet rather than their mouths.

Sepp Blatter Kind of talks some sense

First of all I know this is going to cause a bit of outrage and shock but I actually felt that maybe Sepp Blatter was on to something when he discussed the racism issue earlier this week.

He said a lot of racist abuse could be resolved with a hand shake on the pitch. I think he’s right and I think it already happens. Obviously I am not referring to the major incidents where sections of the crowd make disgusting remarks, but I am talking about the odd comment between players on the pitch.

To put this in perspective. IF John Terry did say what he is being accused of saying then would this who issue have spiralled out of control had John Terry gone up to Anton Ferdinand after the final Whistle, shook his hand and apologised for saying something out-of-order in the heat of the moment. I expect we would have heard nothing more on the incident.

Its funny also how no one has questioned how this incident came about. Can you really imagine John Terry made a point of going up to Anton and using a racist remark. Did Anton say anything to him. Was it just a bit of banter that went a bit over the top? You know the situation, your all making a joke then someone says something just slightly over the line and everything goes silent.

I expect this happens all the time in football from Sunday League all the way up to Premier League. The art of distracting an opponent. Making a joke like comment about their mum, tweaking their nipple (suggested to me by a manager in Sunday League football). It’s the pressure and heat of the moment. John Terry gets paid £100,000′s for playing a game of football and as easy as that sounds, the pressure must be immense, especially when your captain of Chelsea and you’re struggling to beat OPR. 

John Terry isn’t a racist. I highly doubt he thinks ‘they’ should leave our country or ‘they’ are taking all our jobs etc… I do not even think this type of racism realistically exists in this country and society any more. Jokes are made, but I have yet to find someone who genuinely means it when they crack a racist joke regardless of how distasteful they are.

If John Terry was a racist, how must he come with working with some many footballers from all over the world? Wouldn’t they be the first he targets? Plus, Anton Ferdinand in English!

Please can no one think I like John Terry, I think the guy is a piece of scum but not for being racist but for being arrogant and cheating on his Mrs and all that rubbish. I don’t want him representing England because I think as a role model he just isn’t one. He’s no racist though. 

So going back to the original point. Sepp Blatter is a complete idiot. there’s no denying it and saying ALL racism could be solved with a handshake is plain stupid. But I think the point he was getting at was that incidents could be stopped from spiralling out of control with the most simple of phrases – ‘Sorry mate, little bit of heat of the moment there.’

I will however be more than happy if this is the comment that gets Sepp Blatter out of FIFA.

Sod off Car Insurance, Die! You Stupid Meerkat

I wrote a similar blog last year (which I got a distinction grade for, oh who’s bragging…).

My car insurance is due for renewal again. For months I have been a tiny bit excited about this because my circumstances have changed quite a bit in my favour in terms of getting cheap car insurance. Here is a small comparison chart to get you all in the mood.

November 2010 6 Points on my license for speeding 5 Years No Claims Bonus Occupation: Student Wanting to pay monthly RESULT - £38 Per Month Fully Comp

November 2011 0 Points on my licence 6 Years No Claims Bonus Occupation: Full Time Employed Happy to pay full year up front RESULT - £47 per month or £500 a year fully comp

So to summarise my situation. I am over 25, suggested by many as the age to reach to get reasonable car insurance quotes, I have no points on my license suggesting I am now a good driver. I have no claims and a ‘No Claims Discount’ to go with it. Yet I am paying considerably more for my insurance. The girl on the phone at Tesco insurance laughed when I said I had 6 years no claims discount, I asked why and she said it makes no difference.

To make this sitauation worse, I have had several people give me ‘advice’. Suggesting I go with their company as they have been with them for years and pay XXX amount. The trouble with this flawed advice is that they not me. ie We do different jobs, are different ages and for some reason the area I live in is classed as high risk (its Worthing, I am only high risk of being talked to by an old man who smells of wee. This should not harm my car what so ever).

Anyway, my proposal to everyone is Simples. Lets all cancel our car insurance, walk to work and watch the world crumble.

A: Everyone would be late for work if they like me work in Horsham but live in Worthing
B: Car Insurance ‘giants’ would go bust
C: The Meerkat would die.

In reality what will happen is I will accept the quote of insurance above and I will get my free Meerkat toy and in a years time will be moaning because I am getting quoted at £79 a month.

On the plus side, I could go and pick up a few more points for speeding, have a few crashes and add some boy racer features to my car, happy in the knowledge that it probably won’t make my insurance any more expensive, ironically it might make it cheaper….

Just how do apple make a press conference and product launch feel like Christmas

I cannot think of another company in the world that can make announcing something so exciting. What’s even more amazing about this is that no one actually knew 100% what was being announced. There was rumours of this and that all week long and has been for months.

Even if they had just announced that there is a new orange case coming out for an old version iPod, there would still be major excitement.

As a comparison… Did anyone really know amazon was to release a new kindle months and months before they did? No. Have people had this day marked in their calendar since the moment it was rumoured to maybe happen, yes!

The only thing that I think apple could do to make it even more entertaining would be to do withnthe release day of the new iPhone. It’s been announced for a couple of weeks time. Imagine if the date on the massive screen said September 28th. People would gasp then feel uncomfortable. The apple could respond with
“yes, that’s right, the new iPhone4S has actually been on sale for a week.”

Now would the people the event clear the room like it was on fire or what?!

Ps, this is my first iPad blog, please bear with me….

And the point of the Europa League is…

Well I am not quite sure. England seem to be having a laugh at the competitions expense. Tottenham fielded a team of reserves, usually a standard policy of rivals Arsenal in the equally pointless league cup. Past Tottenham, the other Premier League super powers waving the flag with some embarrassment this season are Stoke, possibly the most unfashionable club to be on its way up (which I see as a good thing), Birmingham – a club who were relegated, have an owner facing corruption charges and very little hope of an existence. Don’t forget Fulham who will quiet work their way through the fixtures with very little hype and then we all say ‘wow how did Fulham get to the final?!’ Good question, it was when they beat all those supposed ‘great teams’ of the Europa league who have a bit more interest in winning league games to ensure they qualify for the Europa Leagues bigger and richer brother the Champions League.

While we are on, I guess Celtic need a mention too for losing their qualifier to a team who fielded an un-registered play (or two) and subsequently reinstated into the competition to lose again. Sadly for Celtic, they are a team who could really benefit from doing well in this competition, yet they fail again.

What must other nations think when they see the list of teams from England in the draw? How many Italian, Spanish and German teams can you list that got relegated last season (off the top of my head, I counted…0).
“Birmingham? Don’t they call them Aston Villa over there? Noooo, it’s a different team in that City, bit like the Milan teams….”

Two more questions on the Europa League. How many teams can you name that have won or done well in the competition and then followed it up with league or Champions League Success? (off the top of my head…. Porto).

And finally, what do you get for winning the competition? I expect Birmingham are hoping it’s not another relegation.

Rant over…. enjoy your weekend people.

London vs Manchester?

I don’t know about you lot but I am feeling a little uncomfortable with the Premier League table and how things look like they are heading.

As things stand in the North vs South, the league table looks a bit more like a map than a football league table. Both Manchester clubs right up top and making everyone else look inferior, London clubs slipping up and not looking like challenging. Oh and Brighton and Southampton at the top…of the league below.

I have no problem with the Manchester clubs being top, but with Rooney and Augero scoring goals for fun, it’s going to look far worse come in the end of the season. Plus what makes it even worse… Man Utd are pretty much playing the kids! Man Utd fans might not remember him but being a spurs fan I can remember a £30 million striker called Berbatov playing for you… I bet he is destroying the reserve league this season.

My proposal for next season is a simple concept which would probably only last one season but would be quite a laugh to witness. Just one rule: One City, One Club. Here is a few examples:

London FC – A mix of Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Fulham

• Manchester FC – Man Utd and Man City
• Liverpool United – Liverpool and Everton
• Sports Direct United – Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough
• Stoke United – Stoke
• Southern Fairies FC – Brighton, Portsmouth, Southampton, Crawley and Barcelona*

You could also bring in Wales, Scotland and Ireland into the mix

• Wales FC – Cardiff, Swansea and maybe a token player from Wrexham
• Scotland Hotspur – Mainly Celtic and Rangers
• Ireland FC – David Healy will probably have to lead that one by himself

There would be some amazing teams there and then we could work out who is the strongest City in the UK.

Sadly I think Manchester will still be top of the league come the end of the season but it would be fun.

*Barcelona qualify as a southern team because this is my blog and I make the rules.