Sports Category
Sports news, commentary and scores with wit and added value. We compare and contrast the best and worst sports reporting in the mainstream press, blogs, TV and online. We love the English Premier League (Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Manchester United and Manchester City) and all things football but we cover cricket, rugby, the Olympics, tennis, golf, F1 and highlights of the sporting year.
Brighton players infected with Coronavirus spells end of Premier League season
Attempts to restart the Premier League have been hit with another problem: three Brighton players have tested positive for coronavirus Covid-19. “It is a concern,” says Brighton chief executive Paul Barber on Sky Sports. “Despite all of the measures that we’ve been taking over the past few weeks, where the players haven’t been involved in any significant training at all, we’ve still suffered another player testing positive for the virus.”
The Premier League was put into hibernation on 13 March. The people who run the league and are fretting about losing all those TV billions want to resume matters in June. Teams have nine of 10 games to play to complete the full fixture list. Can they all safely be crammed in before the next season begins in August? Players’ health is paramount, so too that of the non-playing staff around them. What if the players, coaches, coach drivers and kit washers don’t want to work? What then? At what point did an enjoyable leisure activity become essential and so self-regarding? That question to you, the people in the executive boxes talking to one another on Skype…
Transfer Balls: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang stays at Arsenal, leaves for £30m and Chelsea swap him for Willian
No football, but no end of transfer balls as the BBC tells us that Arsenal “will sell Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 30, for £30m”. The team captain who scores around half of all Arsenal goals will be sold because next September he enters the final year of his current deal. The Sun agrees that £30m will get your club one of the world’s best strikers. Says the paper:
ARSENAL are looking to sell Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for just £30million. Mikel Arteta is desperate not to lose his 20-goal top scorer for nothing next year.
Logic be damned. Arsenal manager Arteta wants Aubameyang to stay so will sell him. We’re also told Arsenal will swap Aubameyang for Chelsea’s Willian. “Arteta is facing a major issue to overhaul his squad — and with a severely restricted transfer budget,” says the paper. But the Sun told us Arsenal are lining up a £45m bid for Thomas Partey.
Maybe the Daily Express can shed some light on the facts? The paper’s headline screams: “Aubameyang ready to sign new Arsenal contract despite Man Utd, Chelsea transfer proposals.”
Such are the facts.
Posted: 29th, April 2020 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Arsenal sanction Aubameyang exit in cavalcade of tabloid tosh
The BBC says Arsenal are no longer discussing a new contract with their captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Beeb’s source is the Daily Mirror, which says Arsenal have “pulled out” of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang contract talks before name-checking for SEO purposes a list of top clubs: “Aubameyang has been linked with a move away from the Emirates this summer, with Manchester United, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Chelsea all believed to be interested in signing him.” Believed by who, the Mirror (prop. Reach plc) does not say. But it does revels the source for its story: the Daily Express (prop. Reach plc).
Over to the Express, then, a paper known for churning out clickbait. Get a load of the scoop’s URL: “Arsenal-news-Aubameyang-contract-talks-Inter-Chelsea-Man-Utd-transfer-EXCLUSIVE.” Four clubs named in one burst of SEO. And now for the facts: “The Gunners are ready to listen to offers for the £56million star after pulling out of contract talks with him late last week.” And? And nothing. That’s it.
Posted: 26th, April 2020 | In: Arsenal, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Liverpool finish first but don’t win Premier League title; Leicester, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United qualify for Champions League; Wolves, Sheffield United and Arsenal get Europa League
The Dutch have cancelled their domestic football season. And it’s bad news for Liverpool and very good news for Norwich and other teams facing relegation from the Premier League. There will no champion of the Eredivisie, the Netherlands’ top league. There will be no relegations. One option was to take an average of points scored so far and add them to games still to play. But that would have made no difference to the teams qualifying for the Champions League and Europa league, respectively. In the Premier League, it would – and it means Arsenal (currently in 9th spot) qualifying for the Europa League ahead of Spurs (8th).
Manchester City’s (2nd) ban from the European competition means Manchester United (5th) take their place in the Champions League, where they will be in the mix with Leicester City (3rd) and Chelsea (4th).
It is the most likely scenario. Already all football in England below the three divisions that make up the National League has ended and all results expunged.
It’s time for the upper tiers to follow suit and present a clear path ahead. The Dutch have set the agenda – and it’s the right one.
Posted: 24th, April 2020 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, manchester united, News, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Kick It Out: Newcastle United’s Saudi Arabia money is perfect for the greedy, moralising Premier League
The latest plot to make Newcastle United winners is under attack. beIn Sports wants the Premier League to stop Newcastle’s proposed £300million takeover from a Saudi Arabia-led consortium. The prospective buyers have funds from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – money controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Qatar media network beIN SPORTS has an exclusive deal to broadcast all Premier League football matches in the Middle East and North Africa for the three seasons 2019/20-2021/22. “Nothing brings people together and excites passions and emotions like sport; particularly football,” guffed beIn’s spots chairman as the £400m deal was signed. But sport can only do so much. The hand of friendship can be cut off at the wrist. The two countries are not on the best of terms:
Since 2017 Qatar has been subject to a boycott by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt (the Arab Quartet), creating a deep rift in a region already beset by civil wars and insurgencies
CityAm explains:
BeIN is locked in a bitter dispute with illegal Saudi-backed broadcaster BeoutQ, which it has accused of pirating its coverage of Premier League fixtures.
“In light of the Saudi Arabia government’s facilitation of the near three-year theft of the Premier League’s commercial rights — and in turn your club’s commercial revenues — through its backing of the huge scale BeoutQ pirate service, I would strongly suggest that you fully interrogate this deal, and ask the Premier League to do the same, as a matter of urgency,” al-Obaidly wrote.
“It is no exaggeration to say that the future economic model of football is at stake,” he added.
Pick a side: Qatar or Saudi Arabia? And don’t forget to pull on your rainbow laces. This is what Human Rights Watch says of each bastion of the beautiful game:
Qatari laws continue to discriminate against women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals
The Premier League says: “The Premier League, proudly stand alongside Stonewall in promoting equality and diversity… we ask that all fans support LGBT people in football and beyond by making them feel welcome.”
Saudi Arabia faced unprecedented international criticism in 2019 for its human rights record, including continuing repression of dissidents and activists and the failure to provide accountability for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in October 2018. Amid the criticism, Saudi authorities announced landmark reforms for Saudi women that, if fully implemented, represent a significant step forward, including allowing Saudi women over 21 years old to obtain passports and travel abroad without male guardian permission for the first time. However, women’s rights activists still remained in prison or on trial for their activism. In 2019, Saudi Arabia carried out 184 executions, 84 for non-violent drug crimes. Through 2019, the Saudi-led coalition continued a military campaign against the Houthi rebel group in Yemen that has included scores of unlawful airstrikes that have killed and wounded thousands of civilians.
Racism and sexism are the norm in Saudi Arabia. The moralising PL must be shocked. It support Kick It Out, stating:
The Premier League is making it clear there is No Room For Racism as we continue to work with all our clubs, fans, the FA, EFL, PFA, Kick It Out and the police to tackle discrimination across all areas of football.
The League’s No Room for Racism campaign demonstrates its continued commitment to equality and diversity, using the power and popularity of the League to oppose racism in football.
Racism is not acceptable in our competition or the wider sport.
The Saudi and Qataris are just the sort of people, then, that our moralising Premier League can do business with. Time for the PL to make a tough decision and stop using football to teach the fans how to think.
Posted: 23rd, April 2020 | In: Key Posts, News, Sports | Comment
Arsenal show their class as players agree reduced salaries to help the club
How is your football club responding to the coronavirus crisis? Liverpool and Spurs got greedy. Their plan to milk the State for staff wages upset fans, whose vociferous reaction caused both clubs to change direction and pay their staff in full. Manchester United expressed their view that a pandemic presented the chance for them to hammer smaller clubs. And Arsenal? Their players are the first in the Premier League to agree to a pay cut. The board has already agreed a more than 33% wage cut for the next 12 months.
The Gunners players will take a 12.5% wage cut but be reimbursed if they qualify for next season’s Champions League or the 2021-22 competition. They will get a £100,000 bonus for reaching next year’s Champions League. They will each reportedly earn £500,000 for winning the 2021 Champions League or £100,000 for the Europa League.
The Gunners are eight points off of a Champions League place with 10 games remaining. Their chances of reaching the Champions League are slim. Those wages will never be made up.
Posted: 18th, April 2020 | In: Arsenal, Money, Sports | Comment
Spurs relinquish title of world’s greediest football club
Tottenham will not be milking the State, taking advantage of the government’s furlough scheme for some non-playing staff during the coronavirus crisis. Following Liverpool’s belated relation that a corporation, sorry, football club, owned by a billionaire that makes millions in profits should not be seen to be so greedy, Spurs have seen the light. Says the Spurs chairman (pay: £7m a year):
“We regret any concern caused during an anxious time and hope the work our supporters will see us doing in the coming weeks, as our stadium takes on a whole new purpose, will make them proud of their club.”
More marketing guff dressed up as sport every day….
As for what the new Spurs stadium will be without football, how about a toilet paper silo?
Posted: 13th, April 2020 | In: Money, News, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Manchester United plan to use coronavirus to get players on the cheap
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seems like a decent bloke. But today the Mail tells us that the Manchester United manager has promised to behave with all the morals of, well, Spurs. “Ole Gunnar Solskjaer warns rivals that Manchester United will ‘exploit’ the coronavirus mayhem to poach top stars when football returns, with Jadon Sancho and Jack Grealish firmly in his sights,” says the Mail. In times of crisis the richest clean up. The story beings:
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is confident Manchester United can ‘exploit’ the mayhem caused by coronavirus to secure their summer transfer targets. The United manager believes some clubs need to offload players after taking a financial hit during the crisis and it could work in their favour.
Here’s what he told Sky Sports (which might like to refund their customers a few quid owing to the lack of football):
“Football is going to get back to normality at one point, and it’s very important we’re ready when that happens. We want to be the best at everything, and of course now is a chance to spend more time, you discuss players, discuss plans, we’ve evaluated what we need, of course with the coaching staff we’ve looked at games, evaluated games, discussing on video calls like this.” Asked whether United can exploit the market when football returns, Solskjaer said: “Then, the market, who knows how the market is going to react to this? Who knows which clubs need to sell players? There might be just a situation there where you can exploit, and I know that we at Man United, we are one of the biggest, and financially well off. I’m sure we are capable, when we get back to normality, that we can do the business that we want to.”
Charming. So much for the ‘football family’. Manchester United is just another big business driven by greed.
Posted: 8th, April 2020 | In: manchester united, News, Sports | Comment
Matt Hancock wants us to hate footballers not him
UK health secretary Matt Hancock wants us to stop looking at him and look instead at footballers, those self-made, young athletes largely from working-class backgrounds. Says Matt Hancock: “Given the sacrifices that many people are making, including some of my colleagues in the NHS who have made the ultimate sacrifice, I think the first thing that Premier League footballers can do is make a contribution, take a pay cut and play their part”. Take a pay cut and pay less in taxes? Is that really going to work, Matt? And, Matt, mate, your colleagues are in the Tory Party and government not the NHS. You’re not a nurse or a hospital porter. Tucking your tie into your shirt does not make you a medical man.
Matt then went on the telly to add that “footballers [should] club together and support our hospices and support the national effort we’re all in”. Billionaire owners of football clubs, hedge fund managers and minted Tories can carry on regardless. It’s the footballers who need to dig deep and give until it hurts.
Like so many politicians before him, Hancock wants to portray footballers as role models and so deflect attention from his own worth. Some of the more slack-jawed players buy into the myth. Brighter players call it out for the utter tosh it is.
We call on poshos like the Matt Hancock family to take a pay cut, also: members of the royal family, everyone on the board of a FTSE 500 company and for our Olympic ‘heroes’ to sell their medals for the NHS. Anything less is treason.
Posted: 7th, April 2020 | In: Politicians, Sports | Comment
Liverpool back down leaving Spurs to win title of world’s greediest football club
Liverpool have listened to the fans and media who decried their decision to place some non-playing staff on temporary leave and take advantage of the Government’s furlough scheme to let the taxpayer pay 80% of their wages. Liverpool – owned by a billionaire and posting profits last season of £43m – will muddle along some how. Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Bournemouth and Norwich City are sticking with their plans to furlough some non-playing staff. Bournemouth and Norwich are not big clubs. Newcastle are a basket case. But Spurs with that swanky new stadium and billionaire owner can afford it, surely? With Liverpool no longer doing the wrong thing, Spurs might be the world’s greediest football club. Finally, they win something.
Posted: 7th, April 2020 | In: Liverpool, Money, News, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Manchester City’s Kyle Walker is not a role model – he’s just a gilded bellend
“I want to take this opportunity to issue a public apology for the choices I made last week,” says Manchester City and England footballer Kyle Walker. “I understand that my position as a professional footballer brings the responsibility of being a role model.” No, Kyle, it really doesn’t. Your responsibility is to your employer and maybe your children, more of whom later.
Walker guffed out that apology after the Sun reported he’d allegedly hired two prostitutes to service him and a pal in his rented home a day before telling others how to fight the coronavirus. “Stay indoors, keep washing your hands, keep following the protocols and just protect the NHS,” said Walker. “It’s been tough, but first and foremost, we have to think about other people’s health and protecting the elderly and family members that can spread it.”
If Kyle is the role model he claims to be, right now thousands of his fans are pulling on gold-coloured Shine condoms and paying £2,200 in cash for on-the-clock sex with “classy” escort Louise McNamara, 21, and “a 24-year-old Brazilian call girl”. Although prices for both might have increased now they have scored a celebrity endorsement, men who wash their hands like Kyle and look to him for moral and medical guidance will be cracking open their piggybanks and gilding their knobs. Says Louise: “I didn’t know who he was at the time. But I took a few photos of him.” Thoughtfully, she shares them in the Sun.
Other things you can do to be like “role model” Kyle Walker, are, as the Sun also reports, to “split from long-term girlfriend Annie Kilner” after getting “model Lauryn Goodman pregnant”. Kyle is father to Annie’s three sons. He’s their role model.
Posted: 5th, April 2020 | In: Manchester City, News, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Spurs and Liverpool compete to be world’s greediest football clubs
Who decides on your pay cut to help the struggle against the coronavirus? Your employer? You? If you’re a professional footballer should it be up to The Professional Footballers’ Union, the players’ trade body led by the absurdly well-paid chief executive Gordon Taylor? The Premier League wants elite players to take 30 per cent reduction in wages. For the same reason that politicians call footballers role models, health secretary Matt Hancock wants top footballers to “take a cut and play their part”. Why? And why them and not, say, firefighters, teachers at private schools or Matt Hancock?
The PFA says:
“The proposed 30 per cent salary deduction over a 12-month period equates to over £500m in wage reductions and a loss in tax contributions of over £200m to the government. What effect does this loss of earning to the government mean for the NHS? Was this considered in the Premier League proposal and did the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock factor this in when asking players to take a salary cut?”
Clubs like Norwich, Bournemouth, Newcastle, Spurs and Liverpool have applied to use the UK government’s furlough scheme to fund the wages of non-playing staff, without having first agreed cuts with their high-earning footballers.
David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, is not impressed. “The public rightly expect highly paid footballers at top clubs to be asked to shoulder the burden of football clubs’ financial losses over the coming months, ” he says, “rather than those on modest salaries in cleaning, catering or security having to be supported by the taxpayer.”
Spurs and Liverpool are owned by billionaires. The Spurs owner is, as the Sun bills him, “the billionaire Spurs owner that lives on a boat worth £112m, gave The Nolans their first ever gig and counts Tiger Woods and Sean Connery as mates.” He needs your help to pay the bills. Liverpool owner John W. Henry is also a billionaire.
Meanwhile… Her Majesty the Queen (worth: lots) says we’re all in it together. Maybe her grandson, Prince William, chairman of the FA, can chip in to the football clubs’ fighting fund?
Posted: 5th, April 2020 | In: Liverpool, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Ben Stokes and a cat called Loki in The Ashes at Headingley 2019
Adrian Mirfakhrai (@AdyMirf) has put his Covid-19 times to fine use with this video of Loki the cat and Ben Stokes playing The Ashes at Headingley in 2019.
Transfer balls: Rashford puts together a decent and dependable plan to get Jadon Sancho to Manchester United
England striker Marcus Rashford says he is “desperate” to play with Borussia Dortmund’s English forward Jadon Sancho, 20, at Manchester United next season. So says the BBC. The source for news of Rashford’s desperation is the Sun, which conjures the absurd headline: “Marcus Rashford desperate for Man Utd transfer target Jadon Sancho to form dream trio with him and Anthony Martial.” Apparently Rashford made a “plea” to play with Sancho.
What did Rashford actually say? Well, a fan asked him if he’d like to play with Sancho. Rashford answered:
“It would be good, Sancho’s a great player and he’s like a new generation player. It’s definitely exciting to watch him become the player he’s become. Hopefully we can all play together, that would be good. He plays off the cuff, he’s creative and imaginative, these are the things you need to be world class.”
The BBC and Sun’s stories are utter balls, then. Much like the earlier message about what Rashford told the Manchester United management. The Irish Independent claims Rashford told Solskjaer that Sancho is “decent, dependable and very much likes the idea of what the manager has been putting together”.
More utter balls as the papers try to keep their desperate organs alive every day…
Posted: 2nd, April 2020 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Arsenal ‘delight’ at Upamecano talk gets lost in translation
A bit of Arsenal transfer news in the BBC. The Gunners are “on course” to recruit Dayot Upamecano from RB Leipzig”. The 21-year-old French defender is “keen to move on this summer”. Well, if the BBC says he is, he must be. The source for the Beeb’s news is the Daily Star. “Arsenal target Dayot Upamecano informs RB Leipzig of transfer decision,” says the Star. And the decision will “delight” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
The Star’s story is very short on facts. But it does cite its source, which is German newspaper Bild. “So Upamecano is planning his summer change,” says Bild, guessing that the Frenchman could head to Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Arsenal. And what did he say? “I will now focus first on RB Leipzig and then on what I want to do afterwards. But there are some clubs that like me. I will talk to my advisor and my parents about it at the end of the season. We will make the right choice.”
Bild’s source is Spanish site Mundo Deportivo. Its story was published on February 18. It took over a month to reach the Star. And MD’s story was based on something Upamecano told French radio station RMC on February 17. Mentions of Arsenal that will “delight” Arteta: nil. In fact Upamecano was invited by the journalist to talk about his future and merely said he was flattered to be linked to other clubs as happy at Leipzig. Listen to it here.
Posted: 26th, March 2020 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Transfer Balls: Araenal ‘want’ £50m for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
No football. No problem. The BBC will continue to bring you football news. Today’s news is for all Arsenal fans because the Gunners are “resigned to losing striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 30, this summer”. They are? The striker is of contract at the end of next season. Some reports say he wants £300,000-a-week to stay the club. The BBC’s news is that Arsenal want £50.7m for the Gabon international. Oh, and apparently only Barcelona are interested. Odd because just five days ago, the BBC reported: “Barcelona are preparing to end their interest in Arsenal’s Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 30.”
Might be an idea to check the sources of the BBC’s news. ‘Aubameyang stays’ is linked to the Express. In a story billed as an “EXCLUSIVE”, readers were told: “Barcelona are ready to end Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s dreams of swapping London for Catalonia this summer.” Is it his dream? Says who? Not the player. The paper adds: “Barca have told Aubameyang that he isn’t their priority with Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez and a return of Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain higher on their shopping list.”
Now the BBC’s source for ‘he’s leaving’. It’s Spanish website Sport. And like the Express its news is low on facts:
Barcelona met with Auba’s people in January to speak about his signing after they found out how long Luis Suarez would be out for.
Arsenal did not want to negotiate a figure and said the striker was not transferrable. His closest people were open to forcing a way out but Barca didn’t have the money for it at the time.
Now the message from Auba is the same. If they want him, they will have to push Arsenal to drive the price down. The English club do want to sell if he won’t stay, to stop him leaving for free in 2021.
They are unlikely to get in the Champions League so selling Aubameyang would be a lucrative business.
Arsenal spent 63 million euros on him in 2018, the most expensive player in their history. He has excelled there.
He’s isn’t. Arsenal bought Pepe for £72m. And here’s Auba last month: “I would also like to react to some of the rumours that are going around about me in the media. People like making up stories and they should focus on what’s happening on the pitch. They talk too much and it does my head in! I am the Arsenal captain. I love this club. I am committed to it and desperate to bring it back to the top, where it belongs.”
Such are the facts.
Coronavirus Cup bias: Liverpool to be awarded PL title and West Ham stay up
With top-flight football banned until April 4 at the earliest as the coronavirus bites, fair minds have been pushing their agendas. West Ham United’s vice-chairman Karren Brady insists that the Premier League season has to be declared void if no more fixtures are possible. “Sorry Liverpool,” says the woman to the table toppers and whose club is only out of the Premier League relegation zone on goal difference. “As games in both the PL and in the EFL are affected, the only fair and reasonable thing to do is declare the whole season null and void,” says Brady in her Sun column. “Who knows who would have gone down or come up if the games have not actually been played in full?” Can we guess? It is, she concedes, “A huge blow to Liverpool who might be robbed of their first title in 30 years.” But robbery is fine so long as it’s “fair and reasonable”.
But over in the Telegraph, we learn: “Liverpool are still likely to be crowned Premier League champions, even if the coronavirus crisis causes the season to be abandoned… a senior club executive revealed on Friday night that there was little opposition to awarding Jurgen Klopp’s men their first English title for 30 years following what threatened to be the longest suspension of the professional game since the Second World War.” An unnamed senior Liverpool FC executive says the Reds win the title because it seems likely they would have won it anyhow. Sport isn’t unpredictable. Liverpool won’t do a Devon Lock. Liverpool get the the Coronavirus Cup and the other teams get… Well, what? To applaud from their sick beds?
There are, of course, financial implications, wages and transfer debts must be paid and there is lost broadcast revenue,” says Brady, “lost matchday income but this pales into insignificance as the health and well-being of everyone must come first.” To say nothing of the cost of West Ham’s relegation from the Premier League, which she doesn’t.
Posted: 14th, March 2020 | In: Liverpool, News, Sports | Comment
Arsenal boss Arteta survives Coronavirus virus and has a Partey for £45m; Chelsea and Spurs resume Willian fight
Good news for Arsenal fans. Firstly, the Premier League looks like being cancelled. Having grossly underachieved this season under the likeable but hapless Unai Emery. Secondly, new manager Mikel Arteta says he’s “feeling better already” after contracting Coronavirus. And lastly, Arsenal are preparing to invest £45m for Atletico Madrid’s Thomas Partey, 26. The Gunners will also try to nab Chelsea forward Willian. Spurs also want him. In 2013, the Brazilian looked set for Spurs until Chslea hijacked the deal. This is hiw the Guarfdian repor6ted gthe move:
José Mourinho made little attempt to hide his delight at hijacking Tottenham Hotspur’s move for Willian as the north London club raged behind the scenes about Chelsea’s £32m capture of the Anzhi Makhachkala forward representing a vendetta against them…
Mourinho’s gloating will have done little to soothe Tottenham’s anger. Rather than apologise for disrupting their plans, he revelled in snatching Willian from under their noses. He was initially vague, simply saying that he believed that the player had made his decision but when he was asked if that meant that Willian had chosen Chelsea, he made no effort to keep up the pretence. Instead he laughed and nodded…
“The best thing you can do is do the medical in secret” [said Mourinho].
The former Real Madrid manager was unable to resist one last dig at Tottenham. Asked whether he expected the deal to be completed without any complications, a mischievous grin spread across his face. “We have to do a medical,” he said.
Jose Mourinho is now manager at Spurs.
Posted: 13th, March 2020 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Chelsea, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Arteta and Arsenal catch Coronavirus: West Ham, Leicester, Portsmouth and Manchester City in turmoil; Liverpool doomed
Now that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has tested positive for coronavirus, surely the football season is over. Arsenal have closed their training ground and Arteta and all members of the first team squad have gone into isolation. Chances are that Arteta caught the virus when Arsenal played Olympiakos two weeks ago – Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis, who has coronavirus, met a number of Arsenal players and staff after the match. Since then Arsenal have played West Ham and Portsmouth. What price their staff have also contacted the illness? On top of that, Leicester City players have gone into isolation, Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy is self-isolating as a precaution after a member of his family was admitted to hospital displaying symptoms of coronavirus and Arsenal’s training ground is adjacent to Watford’s practice pitches. And what of all the media who cover the matches, attend press conferences and post-match interviews? The Premier League season must be cancelled. Hard luck on Liverpool, who lead the table, and sides vying for promotion in the Championship, but needs must.
Posted: 12th, March 2020 | In: Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Premier League: suspend season as Leicester players catch Coronavirus
After the N.B.A. suspended its season on Wednesday after one Utah Jazz player tested positive for coronavirus, the Premier League is under pressure to call off the current football season as three Leicester City players get the bug. In Spain, La Liga has been suspended for “at least the next two rounds of matches” because the entire Real Madrid squad is into quarantine because of coronavirus.
“We had a few players that have shown symptoms and signs,” said Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers. “It would be a shame if the Watford game were postponed], but the public’s health is the most important in all of this. The game is all about the players and the fans and if you have one of those not there, it’s obviously not the same.”
Time to call the season off. Hard cheese, Liverpool.
Posted: 12th, March 2020 | In: Key Posts, News, Sports | Comment
The (Non) Fighting Cock: Eric Dier launches one man stands invasion at Spurs
Not long after Spurs lost at home to Norwich in the FA Cup, Tottenham midfielder Eric Dier dashed into the stands to confront a member of the self-described ‘Yid Army’ who he felt had “insulted” him. (No – he’s wasn’t going to fetch the ball after teammate Erik Lamela’s missed penalty.) Aside from the obvious point that few Spurs fans knew the big lummox could act with such pace and passion, what happened next was every bit as forgettable as a Dier performance on the pitch. A few videos of the moment appeared over Twitter. But aside from Dier moving forwards and fans moving sidewards to get a closer look, nothing occurred. Cantona’s kung-fu kick at Crystal Palace reminds the unsullied benchmark of ad-libbed pro-fan interaction.
Spurs’ thin-skinned manager Jose Mourinho was moved to tell media: “I think Eric did what we professionals cannot do but probably every one of us would do.”
Minds turn to Mourinho’s snide poke in the eye of an opposing coach when boss at Real Madrid match and being menaced by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. Mourinho’s fighting prowess is pretty much on a par with players and fans of his latest club:
For those of who missed Eric’s moment of nothingness, here it is:
And for those of you want to see another Eric at it, here that is.
The Football Association and Tottenham are investigating the incident. Others are working out of Cantona (85) is still faster than Eric Dier (8).
Arsenal: Torreira is fine after Mike Dean says bad Portsmouth tackle was fair
Arsenal have suggested that Torreira wasn’t too badly hurt as the Gunners took on Portsmouth in the FA Cup. “Reports said he did not require a hospital visit,” says NBC. ESPN says Torreira told his father: “I wanted to tap it and grabbed my ankle on the outside. It twisted me, but I can move it. I’m fine.” Or as a website called the The Miracle Tech puts it via Google News: “The Miracle – Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreira suffered a terrible injury during the first half of Arsenal’s match against Portsmouth.” Another site calls it a “horror injury”:
Torreira was taken off the pitch on a stretcher following a strong challenge from Portsmouth’s James Bolton. Was it a foul? Did Bolton use excessive force endangering the safety of an opponent? The Guardian called it “bad challenge”. Portsmouth FC called it “robust”. Referee Mike Dean gave no foul. The most pedantic ref in England thought it fair.
The Rules state:
PLAYING IN A DANGEROUS MANNER
Playing in a dangerous manner is any action that, while trying to play the ball, threatens injury to someone (including the player themself) and includes preventing a nearby opponent from playing the ball for fear of injury.
The BBC notes:
A tackle happens in a blink of an eye and in that second, the referee must consider lots of factors. Was it careless? Did the player show a lack of regard for his opponent’s safety? Or did he use excessive force? There is also the state of the pitch, the conditions and the state of the game.
Such are the facts…
Arsenal balls: Mustafi will walk again
When Shkodran Mustafi was substituted as Arsenal toiled to eventual Europa League defeat at the hand of Olympiacos, the vultures reported on his “hamstring injury”. The Arseblog blog saw a “hamstring strain”. The Evening Standard saw Mustafi depart the pitch with a “hamstring complaint”. The BBC said “Arsenal also lost defender Shkodran Mustafi to a hamstring problem”. Kenya’s The Star says “he did his hamstring”.
The pick of the medial minds comes in the Mirror which reported on the injury “blow” and very soon after the injury “boost”. Yes. Mustafi is fine. He had cramp.
PS: No journalists behind the health bulletins are thought to have treated Mustafi.
Posted: 1st, March 2020 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Jadon Sancho to Liverpool or Manchester United says clickbait insider
Sky Sports says its reporter Kaveh Solhekol has the inside line” on Jadon Sancho’s future. Sky tweets: “@SkyKaveh has the inside line on Jadon Sancho’s future.” And the future is linking him with move to Liverpool. So what is the ‘inside line” from “The Insider”?
It is difficult to say where Jadon Sancho will be playing next season because so many clubs want him…
But The Insider knows:
Manchester United are confident they can get Sancho in the summer…
Bayern Munich would love to keep him in the Bundesliga…
…I was a betting man my money would be on Liverpool.
The inside line is that the insider doesn’t know where Sancho will be playing next season, but if he does leave Dortmund it will be very possibly for a big club with lots of money. You heard it here second, folks. And you can read it all over Google, too, where the thoughts of a man who doesn’t know are big news:
Such are the facts…
Posted: 21st, February 2020 | In: Liverpool, manchester united, News, Sports | Comment
Male and female football fans unite in demand an end to all-seater stadia
With the Premier League now a made-for-TV sport, fans who actually bother to go to matches crave the noise, fun and camaraderie of what’s been lost. And that goes for women and men. Emily Broome, vice chair of the Huddersfield Town Supporters Association, puts the case for standing at the game.
Says @StandUpForTown: “When the powers that be were running out of arguments, they suggested that #safestanding areas would discourage women & girls from attending matches. Here’s @embr00me asking them to drag themselves into the 21st century.”
“Safe standing”, or “standing” as it was called before football was repurposed as a problem, went out after the Hillsborough disaster. In 1989 the police and State colluded to falsely blame the 96 people who lost their lives. When the fans trapped behind the fences called for help, police called in the dogs. They tested bodies in the morgue for alcohol. Disgusting. Shameful. It wasn’t the victims. It wasn’t the survivors and the people who lost friends and loved ones that dreadful day. It was the presentation from the top of football as a “slum sport for slum people“. It was treating football fans as a problem, criminals-in-waiting and deserving of punishment. It was the State’s lust for control.
Now we want our game back. We want to stand if we want to.
