39th Game: Premiership Plot or Pawn in World Game?

Just when you thought it was safe to file the ‘39th game’ proposal into the metaphoric dustbin, then FIFA issue a statement which has given encouragement, in some quarters at least, to the proposers of the so called 39th game. Basically, despite FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s initial deep scepticism, FIFA welcomed the postponement of a meeting specifically to address the issue, in favour of a future date – thus allowing the Premiership to put more detail to the proposal. Note that it was the Premiership who made the postponement.

Whilst RTG remains completely against the 39th game, it got us thinking as to why the proposal has become an issue again, having met such resistance not only from supporters, managers, foreign national FA’s, and FIFA regions, but also principally by our own English FA. Putting RTG’s cynical ‘hat on’, and knowing little, but just enough, about FIFA’s and Sepp Blatter’s modus operandi, the only conclusion is that this proposal will become a bargaining chip, to be traded or bartered with the English FA at some future stage. At this precise moment, the big issue for English football is the World Cup 2018. Anything that jeopardises that is a complete no-no for the FA and, rightly so. It is the one matter that supporters agree with their own FA about.

It’s hard to see any additional benefit that the Premiership can promote in adding more detail to the proposal. Certainly, the absolute incredible, lack of prior consultation, a point that Sir Alex Ferguson was considerably vexed about, and the insurmountable problems highlighted in the English FA’s review of the proposal will not be addressed, so why the postponement? The only thing that the Premiership can do is signal their intent in expanding the revenue earning streams from abroad. Is there a way to do this and minimise the impact on distorting the league competition?

Any proposal that adds to the fixture congestion, RTG believes, should be rejected out of hand. You would need to play a home and away fixture against the same team in the same world time zone, preferably in the same week. There would need to be fixed rules for which teams end up playing these games abroad. For example, Premier Champions against Championship play-off winner, second place against Championship runner-up, third place against Championship champions etc. No, RTG doesn’t like it much either and we’ve not even started talking about the disruption to local national FA’s, a point that we have huge reservations over. But at least it’s fair and equitable for all teams.

Maybe though, this is exactly what the Premiership has in mind. Maybe, as is the modern PR way, the initial plans were to draw out the nay sayers and doom merchants before the ‘let’s get everybody so confused that resistance becomes fragmented and we win phase’ is implemented. But maybe, just maybe, they are really incompetent and they don’t know how to handle these matters, as shown time and again. As Groucho Marx once might have observed about the English Premiership: “those guys might look like idiots and they might act like idiots, but don’t let that fool you… they really are idiots!”.

RTG – The Week’s Events

• Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher has joined the list of professional players to get acquainted with Her Majesty’s Police when he received a formal caution over a violent incident this week in Liverpool.
• Alisher Usmanov, the Arsenal share holding Russian billionaire, has increased his stake in Arsenal by a few decimal percentage points, but by doing so is now the single biggest shareholder in the Gunners. He’s only a few decimal percentage points away from the magical 25% level, which would allow him to block any board resolutions. A place on the Arsenal board cannot be far away. Interestingly, he has also announced a year’s sponsorship of Dynamo Moscow, citing, according to reports, that Dynamo is his ‘first love’ and that he fell in love with them the first time he entered the stadium in the early sixties. Sounds a bit familiar to his pronouncements on acquiring his Arsenal shareholding ie he fell in love with English football the first time he encountered it in 1966….

For Football's Sake, Time for Overspending To Be Penalised

Another Champions League week and three of the four English teams look well poised to go through, while Arsenal are still certainly not out of it despite some pessimism. Recently, accountancy group, Deloittes, published a football ‘rich list’ which emphasised the importance of the Champions League as a revenue earner. Again, the big four in England are miles ahead in terms of revenue, bolstered by these Champions League earnings.

Chelsea also published their financial results – or at least the legal minimum that they had to – and these revealed some interesting points. On turnover of £223.3M (£190.5M from football) they made a loss of £74.8M. The losses were £5-6M down from the previous year (£80.2M). The accounts also revealed that about 71% of the turnover was taken up in wages alone. Whilst losses have been reduced, it is hard to envisage Chelsea achieving Peter Kenyon’s oft quoted aim of reaching break even by 2010.

Add these losses to previous years and Chelsea’s owner, Roman Abramovich, has now subsidised the club to the tune of £578M.

At the core of every sport – and RTG means sport as opposed to what sport has become defined as – is the overwhelming belief that, whatever the sport being engaged in, either individually or as a team, it is contested on a level playing field (no pun intended).

Compare and contrast Chelsea’s situation now, with that of Leeds United in recent years. Peter Ridsdale, the then Chief Executive of Leeds saw the revenue earning potential of the Champions League and pinned all their commercial strategy on it. This strategy fell at the first hurdle when they failed to qualify. The rest, as they say, is history, with Leeds now languishing in the third tier of English football, and the club currently under administration. The amounts involved were deficits of £80-100M (depending on what source you refer to). But these amounts are trivial when you compare Chelsea’s losses above. In fact, if you look at the Deloitte rich list, Chelsea’s losses are greater than the revenue of all but the top 16 earning clubs in the world - bigger than Celtic's revenue who lie in 17th spot. Note also that Leeds are currently suffering a 15 point penalty as a result of their overspending in previous seasons. So what’s the difference between Leeds United and Chelsea?

Answer? Roman Abramovich. Intrinsically there is absolutely no difference between the two situations. Had it not been for Abramovich, assuming no other suitable buyer had been found in time, Chelsea would also have been under administration. In fact, had it not been the rather fortuitous situation where Abramovich, in negotiating over the purchase of Tottenham Hotspur, spotted from his helicopter, the Stamford Bridge ground’s proximity to Battersea Heliport, then Chelsea would be in similar circumstances to Leeds now.

Much speculation has been made of how Abramovich dubiously gained his riches, let alone his motivation in investing in English football. Some say his only real interest is in creating a high profile for himself as a ‘protection’ against retribution from Russia and its current leaders. From a purely footballing perspective, RTG believes that, if Leeds are penalised for overspending – which amounts to ‘cheating’ and is rightly penalised – then why shouldn’t other overspending clubs suffer the same penalty? Isn’t it just a case of, “my dad is richer than your dad”. On another equally contentious point, by pouring in so much money, and thereby increasing salary and transfer inflation, is it right that one person should exert so much influence over what is supposed to be, and RTG states again, ‘a sport’.

RTG believes in putting limits on the amounts that clubs spend on wages, as a percentage of their turnover, and putting limits also on squad sizes as well as the ludicrous loan system, as a first step in levelling out what has become a blatantly uncompetitive sport.

If you too believe that football is now played out in an unfair and unequal environment, then please sign up to our campaign to ‘Reclaim the Game’.

Reclaim the Game – The Weekend’s Events

• In another sign of modern standards of behaviour, Birmingham City’s Mathew Taylor, whose challenge broke Arsenal’s Eduardo’s leg very badly, has received death threats as a result. Completely over the top. However, RTG commends Arsene Wenger for retracting his earlier over emotional response, when he called for a life ban for Taylor.
• Apparently Joey Barton will not be available for selection against Liverpool away on 8th March as a result of a court order banning him from his home town following his recent arrest. The way he played against Manchester United on Saturday, he won’t be missed.
• Comedy moment of the week was provided by La Liga in the game between Real Madrid and Getafe at the Bernabeu yesterday. If you thought goal celebrations had got out of hand, then check out this link where Real’s celebrations of a disallowed goal caused such distraction that they neither noticed nor had time to respond when Getafe went straight up the other end of the pitch and scored what turned out to be the only goal of the game.

Hats Off, Take a Bow (Or Not)

Player of the Week – Jonathan Woodgate. Scored the winner in the Carling Cup Final ending nine trophy-less years for Spurs and put in a performance that showed if he could stay injury free, he would surely be partnering Rio Ferdinand in the heart of England’s defence.

Villain of the Week – William Gallas. Completely threw the toys out of the pram and sat sucking his thumb even after the final whistle when Arsenal really needed a captain’s presence. Admittedly, the penalty awarded was a harsh decision but it is hard to imagine Frank McLintock or Tony Adams, both great professionals and leaders, behaving in such a fashion.

Hero of the Week – Fernando Torres. Eased some of the pressure on Benitez, from a Premiership point of view, with a hat-trick against Middlesborough.

Shock of the Week – Tottenham win the Carling Cup. The first major trophy won by a team outside of the big four since 2005.

Cliché of the Week – “The sleeping giant has arisen”. The media and Tottenham supporter’s description of their triumph. We’ll see.

Great Football Pub Bore Myths of Our Time – Part 2

A welcome return to the Champions League saw RTG spend two nights of football viewing followed by the subsequent attempts by Sky Sports, and ITV to a lesser extent, to fill the void in the satellite TV schedule. Consequently, after much inane punditry, RTG learned the following:

* Arsenal have it all to do in Milan but they are a good team and will be going all out to get the result (following a 0-0 home result);

* Laser pens are dangerous, could affect important results and should be banned but it is difficult for UEFA to do anything about them;

* Had Adebayor’s header not hit the bar but gone in instead, it would have given the tie a completely different result (because it was 0-0 at home);

* United’s late equaliser makes their job a lot easier at Old Trafford (because it was 1-1);

* Gordon Strachan stated that he wouldn’t bet his house on Celtic progressing further against Barcelona.

Apart from the last point there was little else interesting or amusing to report. So, as per last week RTG delves once more into the Great Football Pub Bore Myths of Our Time which the media are so fond of propagating.

Great Football Pub Bore Myths of Our Time – Part 2

Great player = Great manager. “Shearer undoubtedly will manage Newcastle one day”. Well, he’s a great player therefore he must inevitably turn out to be a great manager. Given the millions of pounds that are now at stake in the football ‘industry’ how can this God given right continue to be bestowed on Alan Shearer. For that matter, Brian Robson was the latest managerial casualty this week. He was a great player. He certainly isn’t a great manager. Lest we be tempted to mention a certain Bobby Charlton and his brief foray into the world of football club management, RTG thinks you’ll get our point.

Speaking of managers, Messrs Wenger, Ferguson, Grant and Benitez, of big four fame, never take the FA Cup seriously because they always pick second string teams. Well, actually, they can afford to pick second string players because their squads usually have more strength in depth. Hence, why one of them seems always destined to win it. The truth is, in fact, that just about every team, including those in the Championship chasing Premier League spoils, and even lower league teams seeking promotion, play second string sides in the FA Cup. And the simple fact is that those teams really can’t afford to if they really want to take the FA Cup seriously.

Whilst we are on the subject of the riches of the Premier League, Peter Kenyon is one of the shrewdest businessmen you’ll find when it comes to wheeling and dealing in the transfer market. Well, actually, he consistently failed to make the most of Manchester United’s huge bargaining power by paying way over the odds for players, even when other clubs apparently weren’t even interested. Stand up the three million pound David Bellion from Sunderland who United could actually have got for nothing. Even Peter Ridsdale, he of Leeds United infamy, was shocked at Kenyon’s naivety when he paid £30 million for Rio Ferdinand. Not to be made a laughing stock by his critics over this, he then saw the chance to make amends by refusing to pay £16 milllion to PSG for the future world number one, Ronaldhino, and subsequently waved the Brazilian maestro goodbye as he departed for Barcelona. Nice one Peter. Now he’s at Chelsea, of course, he’s in the best place possible. He can afford to waste loads of money and nobody will bother to question why.

Peter Ridsdale sunk Leeds United because he had an expensive goldfish aquarium in his office that cost £20 per month. Well OK, perhaps a luxury he didn’t need but Mr Ridsdale was guilty of far worse financial mismanagement during his tenure at Leeds. Take, for instance, his negotiation with Seth Johnson’s agent. The agent discussed with Johnson, prior to the meeting, that they wouldn’t accept a penny less than £18K per week. Ridsdale, however, opened negotiations by saying he wouldn’t pay more than £26K and that was his final offer. The agent, by the way beat him up to £30K. Add to that hiring private jets for lavish trips to Monaco, just to watch the Champions League draw, and a few goldfish seem quite reasonable.

Part 3 to follow – watch this space

Reclaim the Game – The Week’s Events

• The Premier League puts its proposals for the 39th game before the FA this morning. A proposal that, sadly, more and more people seem to be coming out and saying we should explore in principle. Arsene Wenger, the Chelsea board, Peter Gold of Birmingham City and a few ex-player pundits have all added their view that we should look into this as a viable way of moving the Premier League forward. The FA has specific criteria which the proposal must not contravene:

  1) There must be no risk to England’s 2018 World Cup bid
  2) There is no impact on fixture congestion
  3) There is no impact on the England team itself
  4) The format of the Premier League competition must be kept fair
  

  Frankly, none of those conditions could possibly be met.

• Reports from Newcastle suggest Paul Gascoigne has been sectioned under the mental health act. Gazza was a good player but is paying the price for being one of the first over-hyped media football stars. His record never lived up to the billing the media gave him and he is now suffering the consequences. RTG wishes him well.
• Chelsea boss, Avram Grant, received death threats via a package in the mail this week. Aside from the sinister racist undertones and the ‘mysterious powder’ that it contained, this is another sad example of how, in modern times, extreme views seem to be prevailing.
• For once, a big ‘up’ to Richard Keys who pointed out the hypocrisy of his panel when chastising Eboue for his obvious dive last night. Keys, quite rightly, reminded certain members of the panel that they had previously praised players who gained penalties as being ‘perfectly entitled to go down’. Intriguingly, he failed to point out that those that were praised tended to be the English players who, as we know, never dive. Well, except when they’re ‘perfectly entitled’, obviously.

Supporters Lose Out as Fat Cats Eat the Pie

Recent events have brought many of football’s various power blocs, and their differing agendas, to the fore. For the English game, the big issue right now is its bid for the 2018 World Cup, over which, for once, the government, FA, Premier League and supporters seem to be in agreement. We all want it! And things, from that angle, started to look up this week when FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, gave tentative support for the English bid by suggesting that it was England’s 'turn' to host it - 'maybe'. Hardly drawing a breath, he then poured cold water on the 39th game proposal by the English Premier League. No surprise then that Jack Warner, head of CONCACAF and long-term ally (or is it conspiritor?) of Blatter, came out in support of England’s 2018 bid – although that might have been ‘bought’ from Warner already by England in agreeing to hold a friendly in Trinidad and Tobago, Mr Warner’s native land, this summer.

Add to this, Blatter’s recent 6+5 proposal, regarding the rules governing the make up of club sides’ nationalities – a proposal that will most likely affect the English league far more than any other in the world today, given the high number of foreign players at all levels of the game here. It’s clear that there are a number of far-reaching proposals that will impact on all genuine supporters. It’s clear also that these issues are being addressed by people who have their own agendas and that ‘horse trading’ by national associations and confederations is being conducted without the interests of supporters at heart. Or, for that matter, any supporter involvement or voice.

Frankly, RTG does not trust these bodies at all. There are already a number of current investigations by both governmental financial ombudsman and by the serious investigative side of the media into their financial affairs which has already destroyed their credibility. Supposedly, these organisations are run democratically and, on the surface, they would appear to be so. But one only has to look at Sepp Blatter’s last re-election, where he ruthlessly overrode all opposition and, indeed, managed to get one of his main detractors kicked out of his FIFA job. His crime? He brought to the attention of FIFA and the world press, Blatter’s financial improprieties. Policy gleaned straight from the pages of ‘Dictatorship for Dummies’!

That’s how we ended up with the final of the ‘World Game’ in 2006 being played out in front of £500 seats stuffed full of bums of over-fed dignitaries, corporate hangers-on, real and tenth rate celebrities and, oh yes, as an afterthought, a handful of genuine supporters so that the TV cameras can bring the colour and excitement of the spectacle into your living room. Needless to say, this last group was forced to buy travel and accommodation through companies run by FIFA officials’ families and friends. Oh, and if you wanted a black market ticket, they probably came via a FIFA official also.

These ’90 minuters’, as RTG likes to call them, because they only turn up to big finals at the expense of real supporters, are not the lifeblood of the game. They may ensure that a few people get rich from the game, they may also ensure that an average professional footballer can upgrade his Bentley to a Lamborghini, but they do nothing to nurture the long-term future of the game.

The day football falls out of fashion, as it has done before and surely will again, they will be disappearing in their droves leaving us, the genuine supporters, to pick up the pieces – if there are any left.

The football financial ‘pie’ grows ever larger, as does the voracious appetite of the administrators of the game looking to secure their own slice of it. At the moment, genuine supporters are increasingly being left the crumbs of that pie. RTG is not under any illusion that to change this situation will take time. Unfortunately, it will have to be done through elected officials, i.e. politicians, and we all know that is a long process. Just as in the same way as we have needed government legislation to protect our environment, so we need legislation to protect the soul of the game of football.

So, if you want to support your team through the opening rounds of competitions, and through the bread and butter of the league, only to end up seeing your final or semi-final seat being occupied by a Big Brother runner up, whose only contribution to life was to flash her moist minge to the nation, then ignore what RTG says. If you don’t, join us by signing up!

Reclaim the Game – The Weekend’s

• Proof, if you ever needed it, that the bookies always come out on top, sad news emerges that Angus ‘Statto’ Loughran has been declared insolvent. He apparently has large debts owed to a number of unnamed creditors.


• More hysteria ensued at the weekend over the state of the FA Cup. This season’s competition looks likely to result in a Manchester United v Chelsea final again or, due to probability, a very one-sided final: either United or Chelsea against a Championship opposition. This will once again raise issues about giving a Champions League place to the winners and other such ‘solutions to the FA Cup problem’. The trouble with the image of the competition and the place that it occupies in genuine supporters’ hearts is “you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t”. Four years have passed since Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal have had a sniff of the Premier League title and they have current holders AC Milan in the Champions League this Wednesday. Can you really blame Wenger for resting a few players even if their performance was woeful to say the least? A practice, incidentally, replicated by both Sir Alex Ferguson and every single team across Europe playing this week in the Champions League. Arsenal supporters would not be pleased had Wenger played a full strength team to continue in the competition at the expense of the league title or further progress in the Champions League.
  

Hat’s Off, Take a Bow (Or Not)!

Player of the Week – David James. Kept Portsmouth in the FA Cup, including a penalty save, and deserves great credit for his recent England comeback. However, if Pompey get to the final, look out for that one gaff a game moment that is his trademark.

Hero of the Week – Luke Steele. Man of the Match, by popular acclaim, in a game that proves ‘the romance of the FA cup’ still exists.

Villain of the Week – Arsenal. RTG has spent many column inches defending the Big Four and their team selections for the FA Cup. However, the Arsenal players showed complete indifference and total lack of regard for the competition and their 9,000 travelling supporters in their performance on Saturday.

Shock of the Week – Liverpool 1 Barnsley 2. Though perhaps not as big a shock as you might think when you look at Liverpool’s FA Cup performances this season. While RTG supports Liverpool supporters in their fight against Hicks and Gillet, they seem to be venting their spleen entirely in that direction without looking at the performance of the manager and team anymore.

Cliche of the Week: Motty and Lawro's side splitting humour. If RTG doesn't hear another shit 'wise crack' from these two, it'll be a better world. Motty clearly needs to be put out to pasture. What's Lawro's excuse?

Media Myths and the Pub Bore

Having focused, quite rightly, in our last posting on the Premier League’s 39th game abroad idea, it now appears that the one factor that everybody, bar this blog, overlooked is that local and regional football authorities are none too keen on the idea of a big fat bloated Premier League pitching up on their turf. Even Sepp Blatter managed to tear himself away from the Ann Summers catalogue to stick his oar in and ominously implied that there needed to be consultation before such a venture could take place. Bernie Ecclestone, part owner of QPR and supremo of Formula One, probably summed up the ridiculousness of the Premier League’s proposal stating that he would be prepared to take the Big Four, only, abroad for a one-off tournament. Enough said. Let’s hope this one gets put to rest once and for all. One of the curious side effects of this proposal is that it has generated rumours of established teams being targeted to be bought and moved lock stock and barrel to foreign parts. Chelsea for Dubai anyone? At the moment we are able to laugh at what seem ludicrous proposals but, depending on how things progress in our beloved game, let’s hope we’re not soon crying.

So, with that put to rest for the time being, RTG is turning its attention on the media and the pub bores that feed off the myths largely generated and propagated by them. What does RTG mean by this? Well let’s have a look at some popular misconceptions that the lazy media people and ex-players, such as Richard Keys, maintain, and then become folklore the length and breadth of the country.

Great Football Pub Bore Myths of Our Time – Part 1

Terry Venables is a great manager. RTG does not doubt that he has done some good work, most notably at Barcelona, but if you analyse his actual record you’ll see a tale of financial woes at virtually every club, and national association, he’s ever been associated with. In addition, he’s often been cited as the best England manager of recent times and many have asked for him to return. The reality was he had the lowest win percentage of any England manager – all be it with one of the lowest loss percentages also – at a time when England played no qualifiers for a tournament that was held on home turf. Indeed, virtually all his games in charge were played at home. England won two out of the five games in Euro 1996 and his, and the media’s, obsession with one, by then overweight and unfit, individual caused us to limp out at the semi final stage.

Talking of Paul Gascoigne: well, he’s an England legend isn’t he? Is he? Let’s look at what he won for England, or indeed any of the teams he played for. Aside from some good performances against Oxford United and Portsmouth (then in the second tier of English football) he’s widely accepted as winning the cup for Spurs in 1991. Well, as far as anyone who stays on the pitch for ten minutes before injuring himself in a reckless challenge can be said to win the cup. A foul, by the way, that led to Nottingham Forest taking the lead. Italia 90 is still regarded by the media and pub pundits alike as the ‘Gascoigne’ world cup. All he actually achieved was to be filmed crying for his own misfortune at not making the final had England gone through. Which of course we didn’t. Likewise, six years later, he was too unfit, following his exploits in the ‘dentist chair’ (which he mocked the media for criticising) to get to a cross that would have been the golden goal that saw England through to the final of Euro 96.

Speaking of Terry Venables’ record, one of a succession of forgettable draws, during his tenure, was against Colombia at Wembley in 1995. The only memorable moment came in the form of Rene Higuita’s ‘scorpion’ save from Jamie Redknapp’s over hit centre. Many still wax lyrical about the ‘crazy’ Higuita’s antics. However, if you can see the whole of the footage, the linesman clearly raises his flag for an offside long before the ball gets to the goal. Spectacular maybe; but not as risky and ‘mad’ as the media would have you believe.

The unique factor in Higuita’s dive, is that it is the only time that the English media ever spoke fondly of a ‘diving foreigner’. After all, it is the ‘nasty foreigners’ that have brought this aspect into the game isn’t it? Anyone who saw Rodney Marsh or Francis Lee in the '60s and '70s will remember that these two in particular made diving an art form. Not to mention Michael Owen’s crafty efforts for England and Liverpool (the ones against Argentina in 1998 and 2002 are remembered with particular fondness but never spoken of).

Part 2 to follow. Watch this space.

Reclaim the Game. The Week’s Events

One of RTG’s major fights has always been against drug use in football. Many serious luminaries of the game believe it is not a point worth worrying too much about because drugs don’t have a major benefit in team sports. Wrong. Many of Juventus’s trophies in the 1990s were achieved using drugs, a scandal we still know only a fraction about. Arsene Wenger’s first great Arsenal team were taking a now banned substance, Creatine. RTG mentions this because Dwain Chambers’ return to athletics competition by threatening to take the UK governing body of athletics to court is a stark reminder that, the richer you become through sport, the better drug dealers available to you. If it is not a problem in English football now, it soon will be.

Debate Futile In Laying Supporters' Fears To rest

There are few prizes for guessing what our main topic of discussion is today. There we were last week discussing how best to develop the England team, in the aftermath of Fabio Capello’s first match in charge. While at the same time, facing up to the depressing prospect of trying to get enthusiastic about watching Czech Republic versus Holland this summer, when Richard Scudamore, Chief Executive of the Premier League announces plans to hold an additional round of fixtures to the Premier League Programme to be played abroad. This would entail a seeded draw of additional matches to be played over one weekend in five different cities around the world. This is so far removed from the views of ordinary supporters, managers and respected commentators as to be laughable, not to mention completely against the best interests of the fitness of English players.

RTG is all for expanding revenue-making ideas for the Premier League, especially if that money is equitably distributed and finds its way to, not only the lower leagues, but to the development at the grass roots and, therefore, international level. After all, we don’t want to turn back the clock now. We are where we are. But this revenue ‘expansion’ idea is too high a price to pay and exactly what will it achieve?

Firstly, this totally changes the competition within the league – a league that has been going for 120 years - with one home and away fixture against every team as its basis. Scudamore’s proposal makes a nonsense of this competition.

Secondly, is it right that the Premier League parks itself in countries that, either have their own well-developed leagues, or have fledgling competitions that they are trying to develop? No doubt Scudamore and the Premier League bosses have taken the recently staged NFL game at Wembley as their inspiration, but then there is no developing American Football league in England to speak of.

Thirdly, one of the stated aims is to increase the Premier League’s supporter base in these cities/countries. But again taking the NFL game at Wembley as an example, what did that game actually achieve? RTG suspects strongly that the majority of those attending were American expats/servicemen rather than ‘native’ limeys who are now suddenly avid supporters of the New York Giants or the Miami Dolphins. It certainly pissed off the Dolphins fans because they lost one of their home games (one of only eight).

Do the Premier League really believe that these one-off, contrived fixtures will boost the supporter base in these cities/countries? There may well be marginal take up of new supporters, but then if a replica shirt costs the equivalent of one month’s wages, as it does in some of the proposed locations, what real scope is there for ‘exploitation of opportunities within these target markets’? RTG could see a lot of scope for arguments over where individual clubs would prefer to go in order to maximise revenue opportunity. Los Angeles or Calcutta? No contest!

Until RTG hears of a better proposal, we still believe that we should go the whole way with showing every game live, on a pay-per-view basis, again as long as the revenue is equitably distributed throughout the English game. If that means Chinese or Indian supporters having to buy a TV season ticket and watch it at unsocial hours of the night so be it. If the Premier league is as popular in these countries as they keep telling us, they will surely be prepared to do it. Likewise, if they feel compelled enough to visit England, they can pick the club they wish to visit and watch. On a cautionary note, one only needs to look at the Premier League’s deal with a Chinese free-to-air TV channel for last season which predicted audiences of 30 million, only to find that actual viewing figures were so small as to not warrant a rating.

The really scary point, which RTG has raised in previous postings, is that, forget what supporters want, or the opinions of club managers, players or administrators, it only requires the vote of 14 Premier League club owners and it’s a done deal. Ten of those owners have arrived within the last few years – wonder which way they are likely to vote?

Reclaim the Game – The Weekend’s Events

Roll Moddle No.1. Sylvain Ebanks-Blake of Wolverhampton Wanderers has been charged with causing bodily harm after a night club bouncer was smashed over the head with a bottle. He’s due in court on 20th February.

Whilst the minute’s silence was impeccably observed by all at Old Trafford (apart from someone letting off fireworks outside), the emotional wave seemed to have overwhelmed the United players as they lost 2-1 at home to City. Note that the 40th anniversary didn’t go according to plan either with a lucky 1-1 draw against struggling Bolton. Perhaps, they should simply have kicked off at 3:04pm (the time of the disaster) as a symbolic final laying to rest of the disaster. No doubt, though, the 60th anniversary will provide revenue opportunities too good to pass up.

The African Cup of Nations was won again by Egypt who beat Cameroon 1-0 in the final. Despite the pundits talking up the tournament and some genuinely spectacular goals, the overall impression RTG got was that it is not of a standard or suitably well-attended to merit being held every two years. If RTG’s desire to see a world schedule is to be realised, it has to go to every four years (irrespective of history and tradition) and be scheduled in a compatible manner with European/World competitions. Otherwise, RTG suspects that African players may well soon start to disappear from top sides in the leagues.

Hat’s Off. Take Bow(Or Not)!

Player of the Week – John Carew. OK it was only Newcastle who seem to be shipping goals a plenty as well as losing now Big Sam has departed but a hat-trick is always worth a mention.

Villain of the week – Richard Scudamore. See Above. Special mention also to the people who let off fireworks during yesterday’s minute’s silence.

Heroes of the Week – Manchester City fans even if they were encouraged by a special letter from David Gill and a 20p Taiwanese, sweat shop-made scarf in City colour.

Shock of the Week - Manchester City winning 2-1 at Old Trafford. Their first double over United since the 1969/70 season and their first win at Old Trafford since 1974. Maybe their fans earned themselves some good karma with their excellent behaviour.

Cliche of the Week - "Looking a little jaded after international duty midweek." Who knows the reasons why exactly but so many games in 'The Best League in the World' were decidedly lacklustre this weekend.

Don't Panic Mr Media....Don't Panic

The good news is that England, under Capello, have plenty of time to try a few things before they have to play a competitive game. The bad news of course is that this fact serves as a grim reminder to England supporters that we'll be enjoying the sunshine or playing golf while the rest of Europe's elite fight it out in Switzerland and Austria. And another four years of RTG's all-too-short football watching life goes past without England being in a major tournament, let alone winning anything. But we are where we are and if it took the Euro 2008 qualifying debacle to learn that lesson then so be it.

The beginning of a new (and hopefully successful) era dawns with time to experiment and perhaps, just perhaps, to show the England players that there are other ways of playing the beautiful game than simply hoofing it up to the big man up front. The build up began with a little snipe from the Daily Mail (who else?) concerning Fabio Capello's assurance, when he took the job, that he would be speaking to the press in English by now. Well, Daily Mail, if that turns out to be the greatest sin of his reign as England boss, RTG can live with that.

Rio Ferdinand likened Capello's new regime to that of 'starting a new school'. Fair comment one would imagine but the media again chose to take that as a criticism of Capello's more autocratic management style. If you listen, Rio never once made any criticism at all but the media in its typical, "we want England to do well but we ain't gonna let them", chose to turn it into a little dig instead. And after all, if Rio's 'new school' turns out to be one of high academic achievement rather than your struggling inner city comprehensive, that's just been shut down by OFSTED, then, once again, who cares?

The BBC TV pundit team of Wright, Hansen and Shearer were all ready to get behind Capello and it was good to see that expectations were not grossly over exaggerated. As Alan Shearer rightly pointed out, "if this bloke can't turn England into a good team, then there really is something seriously wrong with English football." They, like the rest of us, were keen to see what Capello might try rather than by how many England would thump Switzerland. Capello himself should take a lot of praise for the way he handled the build up to the game. There was none of the ludicrously over the top speculation about who was to be captain or who wasn't. He didn't allow that to happen. He simply announced that the temporary captain would be Steven Gerrard for now. End of story. No hysteria. No media scrum. His new regime ensured that football was the order of the day. Not WAGS, shopping, golf, Playstation or any other distractions.

The game started fairly inauspiciously from an England viewpoint. At this point the dynamic BBC TV commentating duo of Lawrenson and Motson began to get on England's backs. Derogatory comments ensued and, at the point where Motson said, "they just don't understand possession do they Mark", and Lawrenson replied, "only that it's nine tenths of the law John", RTG went interactive and switched to Radio Five Live commentary. There, we were greeted by frantic panic and hysteria. Just 20 minutes in and they were calling for changes and questioning the formation, the players, the selection. Everything! At this juncture, the crowd started singing, "There's only one David Beckham." This was the point where RTG seriously questioned whether England supporters really deserve a manager with Capello's pedigree let alone any success. In much the same way as the players seemed to be finding it hard to be patient and pass the ball, you could sense a crowd, and a commentary team, desperate to see Stevie G, lumping great balls forward to the big number nine up front. So what that it's won us nothing in over 40 years; it's the only way we feel comfortable!

The truth is, of course, the long-suffering England supporters do deserve to see more success than we've had. And we mean the real England supporters, not the slightly podgy, middle class children with their replica shirts and faces painted that were on show with their middle-aged mums last night - no doubt disappointed that they didn't get to see media celebrity David Beckham win his 100th cap.

It wasn't a great performance. Quite rightly, Capello used the friendly to see how England might play football, not to give the media the story they wanted. Even if they struggled to execute it, there seemed to be a plan. And, for that matter, a plan B too. It may take a lot of painful lessons to make that group of players start to work together in a different manner but RTG sensed that Capello is working toward a goal that involves winning international football matches and not anything else. It's good that England didn't win easily as that would have hidden a multitude of sins, that we all know exist. Plus, it would have given the press the opportunity to go right over the top and hail Capello as the new Messiah (outside of Newcastle of course).

Motson, Lawrenson and Five Live should look back on last night's performance and realise that they were the ones who needed changing after 20 minutes, not Capello's selection. As for England supporters, we're feeling quietly optimistic that there are good signs for the future while, at the same time thinking, "God, we wish we were in Euro 2008 this summer!"

Reclaim the Game - The Week's Events

• Sepp Blatter and FIFA have implied that they intend to take on UEFA and impose the 6+5 rule on national club sides. In other words, they would insist that all national club sides must contain at least six players in their starting 11 who would be qualified to play for the country in which the club is based. RTG understands why FIFA should feel that international football is under threat. After all, an average Champions League game is usually played to a much better standard, and is far more entertaining, than most average internationals these days. But we can't go back. The level is what it is now and imposing rules will simply decrease the standard of the end product. Not to mention, is it better to have English players who have to be developed to the highest standards to get in a team or to have players who know they can afford to be fairly average because they will get picked because they're English?
• Was anyone really surprised that the minute's silence for the 50th anniversary of the Muncih air disaster lasted only 23 seconds because certain people were shouting over it? Anyone who follows football properly can see what a tragedy Munich was and it's good that people want to pay their respects. But perhaps, it should have been confined to being a Manchester United issue and the club should have been left to deal with it in its own way. Should supporters of other clubs have felt strongly enough to go and pay their respects at Old Trafford, they could have done so. Instead, it gave the anti Manchester United lobby the perfect vehicle to air its unpleasant and somewhat distasteful views live on national television.

Ignore the Pundits. Time to Back England and Capello

RTG posted too early last week to comment on Fabio Capello’s first England squad selection other than the absence of David Beckham, which was known by that time. This blog is not about discussing the relative merits of each member of the squad as Capello himself, and for that matter, Steve McClaren et al, are far better qualified for that than us.

RTG’s concern is to get a winning England team within our lifetimes. Simple! Well maybe not. The England manager’s job is a difficult one, made even tougher by the enormous pressures from the media and now, in modern times, huge financial expectations. There’s not a lot RTG and supporters can do about the financial considerations – after all, Wembley has been built – but there are things we can do in our expectations and support of the England set up.

First and foremost, let’s ignore the mindless media bullshit that overwhelms our senses each time an England international comes around. Excitement is one thing. Filling up space and time in newspaper columns and TV slots just seems to heighten expectations that are never going to be fulfilled – not to mention heaping yet more pressure on the team and backroom staff. The sort of pressure that has seen England consistently fail to win penalty shoot outs, incidentally.

As far as England friendly internationals go, results should, for the most part, be ignored in favour of drawing conclusions from the team performance and individual performances of the players. Under Steve McClaren, the first match, against Greece, ended in a 4-0 victory that flattered a performance that saw England stutter in the second half (sound familiar?). Instead of learning from this, it was seen by the media as a justification for, not only McClaren’s appointment, but also that the England team was headed in the right direction. Neither of these proved to be true. Indeed the signs of the malaise were there for all to see had they wished to see them.

Capello must be allowed to do the job. His CV shows that he was the best available candidate in terms of both experience and winning things. He now has shown himself to be possibly the best candidate in terms of character. We know all about the pressure coming from the media and some of the ‘godfathers’ of English football to select David Beckham. There must also have been enormous pressure from the FA – indeed it’s been rumoured that the FA had to spend £100k on reprinting the programme for the Wednesday’s match because a certain person had been left out.

As supporters we should all get behind Capello. Accept that he will make mistakes. If he’s not making mistakes, he’s doing something wrong. But, allow him, and us, to learn from them and build a foundation for success in the future, and resist the negative and self-destructive reporting from various branches of the media. After all, they have had a huge part to play in virtually every England manager’s appointment and sacking since Sir Alf Ramsey. And where has that got us?

Reclaim the Game – The Weekend’s Events

• All talk was dominated by some controversial off side decisions this weekend. Some were result altering. However, it doesn’t help when some of the TV analysis tries to retro fit the decision making to the actual outcome. Referees and their assistants make mistakes and, in the case of Andrew Johnson’s disallowed effort, the ref’s assistant admitted it was his error. Get over it pundits and stop confusing us.
• Manchester United made the right decision that both teams wear sponsorless kit for what is the 50th anniversary memorial match of the Munich disaster against Manchester City this Sunday. Why then the appearance of the shirt sponsors, AIG, on the memorial picture displayed on the outside of Old Trafford? RTG believes that those supporters who complained were right to do so.

Hat's Off, Take a Bow (Or Not!)

Player of the Week – Jimmy Bullard. A cheeky face you’d gladly slap (as his team-mate Chris Baird did this week) but brought an enthusiasm and a rare win to Fulham with his late free kick strike.

Hero of the Week – Fabio Capello. Clearly not going to be swayed by sentiment and PR but chose to pick his team based on ability and fitness for the job.

Villain of the Week – all those that banged on and on about how much Beckham deserved his 100th cap.

Shock of the Week - Hayes & Yeading 3 Havant & Waterlooville 0. Oh how the mighty have crashed to earth.

Cliché of the Week – “when is a player deemed to be interfering in play?” Sort it out FIFA/UEFA – at least so that Andy Gray understands it and can explain it to thicko Richard Keys.