Do We Not Like That?

In a throwback to the bad old Graham Taylor England days, we are left contemplating various permutations for qualification to Euro 2008. So if Macedonia beat Croatia, and then we beat Croatia by a three goal margin or Israel draw or win against Russia and then we beat Croatia - we're through! Never going to happen. RTG hopes you took our advice from our September 6th posting not to book your flights to Austria or Switzerland.

Of the scenarios above, according to the form book, we are most likely left relying on Israel to get points off Russia. Let's take a look at the likelihood of this for a moment. We've already discussed in this blog last week how influence and interests of wealthy football investors appear shrouded in confusion and potentially detrimental to competition in the sport. Roman Abramovich is a major contributor to the Russian national team and is believed to bankroll Gus Hiddink's salary. He also 'found' the funding for the new Russian national stadium. Strangely, he doesn't seem able to afford to put underfloor heating in the stadium but we'll gloss over that for now.

But his influence also extends to Israeli football. He attempted to purchase Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2005 but was advised, given he is owner of Chelsea, not to do so. Consequently he persuaded his wealthy, close friend, Lev Leviev, to get involved with Israeli football and buy them instead. He seems to be most comfortable when he surrounds himself with Jewish/Russian cronies anyway. Take Avram Grant and Pini Zahavi as clear examples of this. Whichever way you choose to look at it, he clearly has major connections with both Israeli and Russian football. Can we really expect an Israeli team who are already out of the competition to go all out for victory? We don't think so, nor do we expect Croatia to lose to Macedonia.

Let's make no excuses for England's failure last night. We've heard a lot about "lack of passion" and "wanting to wear the shirt" ad nauseam from the pundits but the bottom line is we have not been good enough in what should have been a comfortable group. We made a promising start last night against Russia where we attacked and defended comfortably, and managed to take a one goal lead into the half-time break. But Russia's tactical changes saw us retreat further and further back until we were left looking like a bunch of clueless hoofers.

This has been a worrying trend right back to the Euro 2000 tournament where we were brutally exposed in our inability to keep possession of the ball. In his defence Sven Goran Eriksson must have realised this from the onset of his tenure because he turned us into a long ball side, capable of qualifying out of a group but shown wanting against the better sides. Last night we could blame Robinson, Rooney, plastic pitches or the ref if we wanted but, the way we were playing last night, it seemed inevitable that Russia would score again once they had equalised. The talent is there no doubt but the tactics and the intelligence to win important matches are not. Gus Hiddink out thought Steve McClaren completely and in an interview last night said that he knew that if you put the English defence under sustained pressure they would struggle to cope. And struggle they did.

Where do we go now? We've already discussed the problem lies deeper than just the manager but Steve McClaren clearly has to go. Who to replace him? Is there somebody out there with the tactical know-how, winning attitude, skin of a rhino and ability to get the best out of English players? Ole Jose!

Reclaim the Game - The Week's Events

• The BBC have been preparing, over the last week, for announcing redundancies to recover a £2 Billion deficit. Here's some suggestions to recover part of the debt: 1. Concentrate on acquiring the sport in the first place and don't pay the useless, ex-footballers, but with no brain pundits - e.g. Alan (I'm so Mary Popiins, my wife makes me do this) Shearer, Ian (the louder I shout, the more people believe my credibility) Wright and several others who don't add anything to our coverage to make it worth the expense; 2. Keep your serious football reporters and get rid of Chris Hollins who seemed to spend the whole of Germany 2006, at our expense, reporting on anything but football. What on earth do WAG massages and making Black Forest Gateaux have to do with World Cup football? 3. Gaby Logan - why? 4. Stop sending Five Live's Nicky Campbell to every major sporting occasion just for us to have to listen to him recounting his previous evening's corporate (also at our expense) entertainment over breakfast. Do the BBC, or any TV company for that matter, not understand the basic supply and demand laws of economics. There are millions of people willing to do presenting jobs out there. The desire to do the job should pay for itself.
• The collective intellectual footballing brain that is the Sky Sports pundit team, suggested one solution to England's qualification woes is to 'bring back David Beckham'. Well, when he gets his place back in the LA Galaxy team perhaps it might be a 'solution' (?@!*@??&*) worth thinking about. Solution? It's too late to help us now thanks chaps but you keep spouting out the first thing that comes into your brain rather than giving any serious thought to something that might be worth hearing.
• Sammy Lee, despite being the early favourite, was not the first Premiership manager to get the boot this season. Just goes to show that promoting second in command to overall General doesn't seem to work. FA take note...........hmmmmm.

Chelsea Go From Strength to Weakness

In the BBC series "Great Britons", Winston Churchill was voted the number one great Briton of all time. It is not difficult to understand why. He was one of the greatest wartime leaders the world has ever seen. Yet, when he tried to win an election post-war, the 'wartime hero' actually became a liability and, strangely, one of the reasons the Conservatives lost. Bear with RTG on this one; you'll see where we're going soon. Perhaps a more relevant example in this arena is Thierry Henry. Undoubtedly one of the finest players ever to grace the Premiership and clearly a major contributor to Arsenal's 2002 and 2004 championship winning sides. But such was the dominance of the man and his character, that what made him great actually became Arsenal's biggest weakness. You only have to look at the liberated way the younger members of the squad are playing so far this year to see the effect his leaving has had on the team. Ruud Van Nistelroy found it easier to score than not to score when Manchester United won the title in 2003. Yet, their reliance on him to score goals was exposed when his form deserted him.

Which brings us nicely on to Roman Abramovich. He was booed when he arrived at Old Trafford last Sunday by Chelsea fans. The same Chelsea fans who presumably were singing the praises of all the money he spent when he first arrived. Is it not obvious that a man who can afford to use huge sums of money to bankroll a football club will, sooner or later, become the problem rather than the solution? In the end, he is entitled to fiddle and interfere with Chelsea as much as he likes. It's his toy and he pays for it. But standing in the dressing room giving advice to Michael Essien through Andriy Shevchenko acting as interpreter must surely raise alarm bells in Chelsea circles. Ultimately, you can't really blame Chelsea fans for getting caught up in the hysteria of it all when they started winning trophies on a regular basis. But surely now Abramovich's behaviour must cause genuine Chelsea fans real concern.

He has created an environment where players feel comfortable making ludicrous demands on the club. Before John Terry became England's highest paid footballer on £131,000 a week, he requested a 'limitless parity' clause to be written in to his contract to ensure he would always be the club's top earner for a nine year period and a clause that would ensure he become manager of the club after that time. He got the first but not the second. And this is someone Chelsea fans apparently are supposed to look up to? In our opinion he isn't even as good as the sensationalist media who over-champion his cause think he is. But that debate is not for here. The point is that Abramovich created the situation where felt it was within his rights to ask for it.

Abramovich has allowed divisive behaviour and cliques to develop within the squad through his blatant favouritism toward certain members. Peter Kenyon has felt compelled to make ludicrous claims about Chelsea's ever growing "global brand" claiming 25 million worldwide fans and 2.2 million in the UK. This from the Chief Executive of a club that can barely fill half its seats for a Champions League game. But it seems the louder Roman's money talks, the less it feels the need to either tell the truth or show respect to the game it feeds.

Going back to what this blog is all about for a moment - namely Reclaim the Game. People not connected with Chelsea were able to take a more considered viewpoint when Abramovich was welcomed into our game with open arms. Most felt this was a bad thing for football supporters if it set a precedent. Which it appears to have done when you look at the number of teams being taken over by wealthy businessmen. Surely it is now time for Chelsea fans to see that the man who brought glory back to Stamford Bridge is now its biggest threat. The time for singing about "being loaded" is over because the ousting of Mourinho could just be the beginning of the end for Chelsea Football Club. And it is that kind of blatant disregard for the supporters and the sport they follow that made us begin this campaign in the first instance.

Reclaim the Game - The Weekend's Events

• Given the nationality of their owner, the release of Chelsea's 'Blue Revolution' DVD had us smacking our lips in anticipation of a tale as dramatic and world-changing as the Russian Revolution. You know how it goes. Old regime usurped by a popular uprising; people stabbed in the back; creation of a new regime worse than before which then steals all the resources; heroes of the original revolution being victimised and ousted....But sadly what did we get? John Terry playing darts in the changing room. Perhaps the Russian Revolution template would make a more accurate represenation after all.
• We wonder if Larry Grayson look-alike and new (stand-in) Chelsea manager, Avram Grant, may bring some dietary and muscle toning tips from his wife into the Chelsea dressing room. On a TV show called 'Milkshake' that she hosts in Israel, she has been known to bathe nude in chocolate and drink her own urine. Cancel that order of Lucozade Roman!
• It is our considered opinion at RTG that the over-exposure of football on TV is actually damaging the game. There is an argument to say that many of the games shown live at the moment, necessitating fixture shifts down the line are annoying and inconvenient at best. Basically, you don't need us to tell you that there is probably too much football on TV right now. Well, put slightly differently, we definitely don't need anymore. Showing Northern Ireland football (which hardly anyone even in Northern Ireland watches) was pushing it to the limit but Sky's Premier League All-Stars is really taking the biscuit. Put an empty skip out in your road and sooner or later it will be filled with rubbish. Sky TV is the television equivalent. This needless over-exposure of football on TV just to fill up the vacant skip that is Sky One is not just unnecessary but dumbs down the game and insults the intelligence of football supporters. Somebody tell us please how many people out there really watch this mindless drivel. Remember how once upon a time snooker and darts were on TV all the time? Did you know that Steve Davis was the first millionaire sportsman in this country? TV took the piss out of snooker and look what happened as a result. Football is special. For heavens sake Sky you have a responsibility and duty to keep it that way!
• McCaffrey found! Rumours abound that the hyper-active former presenter of Goals on Sunday has been spotted on Showtime Arabia (formerly known in illegal Saturday afternoon pub TV viewing circles as Al Quaeda TV) presenting their English Premiership coverage this year. Next time we're in said selected watering holes we'll look out for him.

Hat's off, Take a Bow (or not)

Player of the Week - Emmanuel Adebayor. Hard to ignore the Gunners at the moment. Adebayor's hat-trick maintains the smile back on Arsenal fans' faces. Thierry who?

Villain of the week - John Terry. Apologies if the Blues are getting it in the neck a bit this week but there's just too much ammo. JT played his own part we're told in the downfall of Jose who was forced to ask backroom staff whether there was any physical evidence to explain JT's lack of form. When JT refused to come out for the warm-up ahead of the lacklustre performance against Rosenborg, he gave his reason as "having something on my mind". What an inspiration!

Hero of the Week - Leicester City. OK we mentioned this previously but they deserve the accolade.

Cliche of the week - Not so special for 'The Special One'.

Shock of the Week - Yes, it was a shock but we've done it to death. We're going for Fernando Torres. Benitez may be keeping his powder dry for later in the season but the man who, in our opinion, is one of the most promising strikers in Europe (and Liverpool are lucky to have got him given the interest over the summer) keeping the bench warm while his team draw 0.0 at home to Birmingham is unfathomable.

Enough is Enough For Football. Not Just Jose.

Well I suppose we should all get ready for a minute's silence at all the grounds this weekend. The Prime Minister Gordon Brown felt compelled today to pay his respects to the passing of one of the game's great............sorry, what's that? Nobody's died? But I thought someone must have died the way people are talking.

What? A football manager's lost his job? Really? Oh I see.

Yes. A Premiership manager has lost his job people. Why that means that even Gordon Brown has to jump on the bandwagon and stick his awe in on a subject that is nothing to do with him, I don't know. But there we go. This is the kind of over-exposed, over-scrutinised football world we live in. OK, let's be realistic for a second. Jose Mourinho was a little bit more than just a Premiership Manager. He was the one who took Roman's high-profile milllions and actually made a success out of them in his first year. His trophy haul speaks for itself even if he didn't actually manage to bag Roman's coveted European Cup. But two semi-finals in three years is actually a pretty good record in itself and somebody should remind Roman Abramovich that only one team can win the Champions League each year. Perhaps he should take a step back, exercise a bit of patience and accept that some things take time and instant success cannot necessarily be bought; no matter how much money you throw at it.

The general consensus from the media (and Gordon Brown) is that Jose will be missed as one of the "characters" of the game. Maybe so but his part in the whipping up of Chelsea fans' fury against Anders Frisk after the Barcelona game was the sort of behaviour and poor sportsmanship we can happily live without. And, frankly we here will not miss his style of football particularly. Chelsea in 2005 and 2006 were worthy, if not very attractive Champions. But each to their own. We all want our teams to be successful after all. What we at RTG would like to see is Jose installed as England manager should we qualify for 2008. He seems to play a style that gets the best out of English players and his teams are difficult to beat - a quality essential in winning any knockout tournament. Add to that the fact that he seems to know his own mind rather than simply exercising the wishes of the media in his selection policy. Ultimately this appears to have been his downfall at Chelsea.

What the whole episode should teach us is this. Those supporters who embrace wealthy non-football businessmen because they think it will buy their team success should seriously think if this is the way they want the sport to go. Abramovich now believes that, because he is an incredibly wealthy man, he can pick football teams and judge potential players better than his manager and coach. Should the coach not agree, he'll simply get rid of him and put someone else in. In the meantime presumably he'll just continue to spend money until he gets what he wants. What he'll do after he achieves it who knows? But Chelsea fans should be concerned about more than just the loss of a successful manager. These people are messing around with the sport and the clubs that we love as supporters. For some strange reason, everybody seems to be concentrating on one man's plight rather than the bigger issue and why this paints football in a bad light. Mourinho is just a successful, intelligent, slightly quirky, football manager who will bounce back no doubt. Abramovich represents something far different and nobody, but nobody who loves the game of football should be pleased to witness what we are seeing unfolding in our game.

Reclaim the Game - The Week's Events

• Well done to Chelsea fans for voting with their feet in support of Jose Mourinho and staying away in droves from their Champions League group game with Rosenburg. The unfortunate thing is that fans of Peter Kenyan's "Global Brand" Chelsea did not actually know about it at that stage. They just didn't bother turning up. Word of advice Peter. The local Bingo hall was turning people away that night. Get yourself down there and start giving out a few tickets to next time. London is a cosmopolitan city and you might even get a few non-English people in to boost your "Global" status.
• Leicester City have to be granted a mention this week. By allowing Nottingham Forest to score first, and return the scoreline to what it was when the first game was abandoned due to the heart attack sustained by City's Clive Clarke, they reminded us that there is a perspective in the game that should always be maintained. Congratulations to City for reinforcing the message that football is simply a sport to be enjoyed by spectators and fans and no more than that.
• Two issues have come to our attention this week concerning football kits and we feel compelled to share them with you. The ceaseless exploitation of supporters in relation to the price and frequency of updating of replica kits has, of course, gone on for some time. "Well its just supply and demand", we hear you say. Well, fair point if you are of the hard-nosed school who can continue to ignore the pleas of your children. But not to be content with that, have you noticed the increasing number of kits around that are specifically designed to include a space for a number and a name? In fact, not just designed to include them, but actually deliberately made to look pretty stupid without them. Just another carefully executed plan to squeeze a little bit more out of the long-suffering football supporter. Secondly, Benfica's pink away kit in the Champions League this week. We have it on good authority from connections in the fashion industry that the colour trends in fashion are often purely determined by the availability and cost of specific dyes. Does this mean that we can look forward to a plethora of pastel pink football strips or is this Benfica's attempt to try and attract the pink pound to the Stadium of Light?
• Your current writer was lucky enough to attend a Champions League game this week. Plenty of things stand out at these events, not least of which the difference in the European game versus the domestic game. But what stood out for me was the referee. Like the players, the refs should be Europe's elite also and of course they are. But the control, the calmness and the constant willingness to let the game flow where possible was a joy to watch and something we really should be encouraging more in our own domestic game.