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.
Media balls – Swansea v Chelsea: Diego Costa’s dive, Leroy Fer’s foul and a red card
Talking Balls: a look at media bias in football reporting. Today’s game is Swansea v Chelsea in the Premier League. The game finished 2-2, thanks to a late goal from Diego Costa.
DIEGO COSTA:
Conte’s men were dominant now – tenacious in the tackle, composed in possession and a threat going forward. Leroy Fer and Federico Fernandez were booked for cynical fouls on Diego Costa (also carded before the break for a late tackle), and Cesar Azpilicueta drew a near-post stop from Fabianski after overlapping.
No dive is mentioned.
BBC:
Costa, who might earlier have been sent off, capitalised on poor defending to fire the dominant visitors in front…
It was a small wonder he and Jordi Amat both stayed on the pitch having bickered throughout the game, and Costa was perhaps fortunate to escape a second yellow card for what appeared to be a dive under pressure from Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski in the second half.
The Times:
If Swansea had real cause for frustration it was that Costa was still on the field to equalise. Already booked for a foul on Leroy Fer, Costa was guilty of clear simulation when contesting a ball with the Swansea goalkeeper, Lukasz Fabianski, who gestured a diving motion at an opponent also assailed by boos.
LEROY FER’S GOAL
Chelsea FC:
“Cahill was unfairly dispossessed by Fer, who raced clear and just about squeezed his shot through Courtois and over the line. In a flash, the Blues were behind.”
BBC:
Fer appeared to foul Cahill as he dispossessed the Chelsea defender, and Swansea’s Netherlands midfielder ran clear before squeezing his shot past Courtois and over the line.
It did look like a foul. But:
Leroy Fer stole possession from a dawdling Gary Cahill and bundled the ball through Thibaut Courtois legs and over the line.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 12th, September 2016 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Chelsea Star calls Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho ‘The Gifted One’
One Watch: a look at Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho’s branding. The Sun calls him ‘The Gifted One’.
THE SPECIAL SCHLONG Jose Mourinho has a big tackle… in his trousers, says Jamie Redknapp on Manchester United manager
Adding that Redknapp heard the news from his cousin Frank Lampard, who player for Mourinho at Chelsea. The Sun then coins a new ‘One’.
United boss is nicknamed The ‘Gifted One’ by his players for being so well-endowed
The Sun then adds:
Jose Mourinho reportedly is the Special One in more ways than one
Add it to the list.
Posted: 11th, September 2016 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Chelsea and Manchester United delight Griezmann’s agent
Transfer balls: how much is Atletico Madrid’s France striker Antoine Griezmann worth? The BBC says Chelsea manager Antonio Conte “wants the club to sanction a world-record bid” for Griezmann.
As negotiating tactics go, telling Atletico they should expect no less than the £89.3m Manchester Untied paid for Paul Pogba – and you are willing to pay it – is not exactly canny.
The Sunday Express says “Conte is ready to go above the £86million release clause in Griezmann’s contract to head off interest from Manchester United.”
Of course, it’s not Conte’s money. And as for release clauses, well, are they rally worth their salt? And there is another factor. On September 8, the BBC reported:
Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have lost appeals against Fifa bans on signing players in the next two transfer windows. The clubs contested a decision by world football’s governing body to punish them for breaching rules over the transfer of foreign players under 18…
“Both clubs are to serve a transfer ban that prevents them from registering any players at national and international level for the next two complete and consecutive registration periods,” said a Fifa statement.
The Spanish sides will now appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. If that fails, will Atletico sell the France international who signed a new five-year contract with Atletico in June 2016?
These bans have form. In 2014, Barcelona were banned from signing any players in 2015 after their appeal against a transfer ban was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Barcelona were, like Real and Atletico, found guilty of breaching Fifa’s rules on the transfer of players aged under 18.
Of course, there are ways:
Barca went on a summer spending spree this year while the suspension went on hold during the appeals process, splashing out more than 150m euros (£117.5m) on Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Thomas Vermaelen, Claudio Bravo, Jeremy Mathieu and Alen Halilovic.
If you drag any appeal out until the next transfer window opens, look out for Atletico not selling big but buying bigger.
The Manchester Evening News says Chelsea will get no clear run at splurging massive amounts of cash on one player.
M.E.N. Sport understands United have earmarked Atletico Madrid goalscorer Griezmann, 25, as their primary target for the 2017 summer transfer window.
Griezmann’s agent must be delighted.
Posted: 11th, September 2016 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester United and Manchester City create an instant Classico
The Manchester Derby was a cracker. Writing in the Sunday Times, Jonathan Northcroft muses: “An instant Clasico? It felt that way… For once, in our overhyped world, an event lived up to its billing.”
There was interest all over the pitch:
Bravo – deemed to be much better than England’s Joe Hart – dropping the ball to give Zlatan Ibrahimovic a well-taken goal.
Bravo taking a poor touch with his fabled feet before flying into Wayne Rooney and getting away with it. It looked a clear penalty.
Marouane Fellaini giving Aleksandar Kolarov a reminder of the day by knocking his tooth out.
Referee Mark Clattenburg having the biggest ego on the pitch.
Kevin de Bruyne playing superbly well.
And then there was the “WAR” between Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola. That never came. The two men high-fived and hugged one another.
After the match, Mourinho was reflective and finger pointing:
“I had two or three players in the first half that, if I know what is going to happen, I don’t play them. This is football, though, and sometimes players disappoint managers. It’s my fault because I’m the manager and it’s always my fault because it’s my choice.”
Adding:
“The two halves were completely different. In the first half we were below the level to play this match. You have to be completely ready in terms of the speed of your thinking and decision-making. The second half was completely different. We were a team that had the courage and honesty and dignity to chase with pride the result which I think we deserved – we deserved a goal in the second half.”
Nothing out of the ordinary there, then. Mourinho did not rant and rave. He thought his team deserved two penalty kicks, neither of which was given. His skill is in galvanising players to want to join him in giving it all for the cause. The “aggressive” approach he takes towards winning gives fans reason to believe.
The Telegraph says Mourinho branded his players “bottlers”.
The Express says Mourinho is “moaning”. It might have said that the referee made a crucial error.
Anyone who enjoys football will look forward to February 25, when these clubs are scheduled to meet again. The media has a few months to whip the match into a war.
Posted: 11th, September 2016 | In: Back pages, Manchester City, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Liverpool were cheated by Leicester: Vardy’s goal gets over-analysed
Liverpool FC tonked Leicester City 4-1 in the Reds’ first home match of the season. Looking on was Howard Webb, one of the platoon of former referees earning money as a pundit. Webb works for BTSport, where he analyses decisions to deadline. He told viewers that Jamie Vardy’s goal should not have stood.
Webb says Leicester’s Shinji Okazaki broke the rules when his pressing panicked Liverpool’s Lucas into a dreadful pass across an empty area that gave Vardy an easy finish. According to the absurdly picky Webb, Okazaki was illegally inside the penalty area before the ball had left it following Mignolet’s goal-kick.
As Law 16 states:
Opponents must be outside the penalty area until the ball is in play…
The ball is in play when it leaves the penalty area..
This is the same Howard Webb who told readers of his Times column:
If all decisions can be reviewed by video, referees on the pitch become nothing more than remote-controlled referees.
And how many of them will go on tot have a media career?
Posted: 11th, September 2016 | In: Back pages, Liverpool, Sports, TV & Radio | Comment
Media balls: Arsenal beat Southampton with a ‘slight tug’ that saw Giroud ‘hauled down’
Talking Balls: a look at media bias in football reporting. Today’s game is Arsenal v Southampton in the Premier League. Arsenal won 2-1, thanks to a very late penalty.
But in injury-time they conceded a penalty after the slightest of tugs on Olivier Giroud’s shirt by Jose Fonte. Fonte, understandably furious as Giroud was giving as good as he got, was booked – and Santi Cazorla sent Fraser Forster the wrong way.
There was definite contact between Fonte and Giroud but the decision incensed Southampton manager Claude Puel and his players, with the situation further complicated by Koscielny lying strewn in the goalmouth having taken a kick to the face moments earlier.
Giroud then tangled with Fonte in the box on 90 minutes – and referee Madely awarded a penalty. And despite a delay as Koscielny was treated for an injury Cazorla then struck the winner to make it 2-1 to The Arsenal.
Only the local Southampton newspaper says Giroud was “giving as good as he got”. No other newspaper – national or otherwise – mentions Giroud fouling.
As for the clubs’ websites:
Olivier Giroud was hauled down by Jose Fonte and Cazorla kept his nerve to beat Fraser Forster.
Arsene Wenger (Arsenal):
“It is a relief, because we missed many chances and they had one or two opportunities having thrown everything forward. Honestly, everyone is telling me it was a penalty, but I’ve not yet seen it again.”
Claude Puel (Southampton):
“It’s very hard for my players, a big disappointment. For me, with the penalty both players went to play the ball – it’s very hard to take.”
Such are the facts.
Posted: 10th, September 2016 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Watch Ibrahimovich score for Manchester United after Claudio Bravo clanger (Video)
After all the hype, Manchester untied and Manchester City eventually played the world’s richest ever football match. With City 0-2 ahead, the Citizens’ news goalkeeper Claudio Bravo dropped the ball. Zaltan Ibrahimovich pounced to make it 1-2.
Zlatan ibrahimovic’s goal for Manchester united. #MUFC pic.twitter.com/lShxCGUJF9
— Red Related (@RedRelated) September 10, 2016
On Sky, Gary Neville (formerly Manchester United), lays into Bravo, who was making is United debut.
Barry Glendenning tweets:
Gary Neville slaughtering Claudio Bravo on Sky, much like he did with David De Gea when he arrived. Joe Hart generally got a free pass
Joe Hart, or course, was shunted out of Manchester City. The thinking is that he’s now laughing his socks off. Claudio Bravo has a reputation as being a keeper with reliably nimble feet but how good is he with his hands?
What next for Bravo? Well, if it means anything, there players all made their debuts in the United – City derby:
Ah…
Posted: 10th, September 2016 | In: Manchester City, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Peace breaks out before Manchester United and Manchester City war
It’s Manchester Untied v Manchester City in the Premier League. It’s WAR! It is. The media has told us as much.
In the Mail Jose Mourinho tells Pep Guardiola “WE’RE READY TO RUMBLE”.
It’s WAR says the Sun:
The Week sums up: “Man Utd vs Man City: Mourinho and Guardiola prepare for war”
Or as the Express puts it:
And Henry winter writes in the Times:
Such was the public love-in of Mourinho and Guardiola yesterday — and the Premier League insists that no missive was launched from London demanding common courtesy — that it would be little surprise to find half-and-half scarves featuring the pair for sale outside Old Trafford.
It’s PEACE before the WAR.
Posted: 10th, September 2016 | In: Back pages, Manchester City, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Real Madrid resign four Manchester United players in clickbait frenzy
The BBC says Real Madrid players Cristiano Ronaldo, 31, Gareth Bale, 27, midfielders Toni Kroos, 26, and Luka Modric, 30, are all on course to extend their contracts with Real Madrid.
The Daily Mirror agrees.
That’s the Mirror that just two days ago thundered: “Manchester United have made a staggering wage offer to Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale in a bid to lure the Welshman away from the Bernabeu.”
The Mirror that reported in the summer of 2015: “Cristiano Ronaldo is ready to return to Manchester United... Sunday Mirror Sport understands that Ronaldo is excited by the prospect of once again wearing United’s red shirt… Madrid know that the world player of the year will seek a new challenge next summer.”
The Mirror that reported in December 2015: “Manchester United on alert as Toni Kroos seeks Real Madrid exit.” Adding in April 2016: “Manchester City set for transfer battle with rivals United for Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos.”
The Mirror that reported in 2013: “Luka Modric still has his heart set on a move to Old Trafford this summer, after he has struggled for first team action at Real Madrid.”
Manchester United never did sign any of them.
Posted: 9th, September 2016 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Manchester United v Manchester City: war points to a bore draw
It’s Manchester United v Manchester City. It’s the game between Pep Guardiola v Jose Mourinho, what the Guardian calls a “poisonous rivalry”.
The media is awash with hype and hoopla. The game will be cagey, and very probably not all that thrilling. But to the Sun it is “WAR”.
As Zlatan “swipes” Maroune Fellaini sharpens his elbows. “It will be a war, with a lot of intensity,” says the big Belgian. “I expect it will be a beautiful match in a special atmosphere. I do not dare speak out about who will win. It’s really 50-50.”
Not exactly Churchillian, eh. We will fight them on the beaches and, at the end of the day, it will be 50-50.
The Guardian leads with the handbags:
Paul Hayward writes in the Daily Telegraph.
“The United-City duel arrives without the political intensity of the Clasico, but a league which feeds on personality clashes was never going to pass up the chance to frame Saturday’s protagonists as two warring princes who moved their battleground to England.”
Oliver Kay hones in on the money in The Times.
“In the land where cash is king, prepare for the ultimate demonstration of the Premier League’s wealth and power. For all the inevitable focus on the geniuses in direct conflict in the respective dugouts, the one record that Saturday’s Manchester derby is certain to break is for the two most expensive starting line-ups, which at a total of just under £600m are set to make it the most expensive match in history.”
As for the actual football, Jonathan Wilson has insight:
If both managers go in as they have until now, it will be United’s 4-2-3-1 against 4‑1‑4‑1, two shapes that match up straightforwardly for marking purposes…
It’ll be a thriller, then.
Posted: 9th, September 2016 | In: Back pages, Manchester City, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: AC Milan want Spurs striker Harry Kane but Manchester United pass
Transfer balls: the BBC says Spurs and England striker Harry Kane is to be the subject of a bid from AC Milan. The Beeb says the Italians think Kane is worth 50m euros (£42.4m).
Corriere dello Sport says Napilo made moves for Kane in the summer, viewing Kane as the man to replace Gonzalo Higuain, who left for Juventus. Kane is praised heavily: “Powerful, fast and versatile, Kane is heir to Teddy Sheringham.”
He’s better than Sheringham? The former Millwall, Spurs and Man United striker admitted as much, saying: “He has more in his locker than I had. He can go forward.”
Corriere dello Sport also says Kane reminds AC Milan of a young Marco Van Basten.
Getting the new Marco Van Basten for less than Manchester City paid for Raheem Sterling would be a bargain. AC Milan will have to dig deeper, says the Mirror, which estimates, “The England striker would command a fee greater than the £75m.”
Of course, right now it’s all just chatter. After all, the Indy told us last March:
Manchester United transfer news: Jose Mourinho to make £60m Tottenham striker Harry Kane his top target. EXCLUSIVE: Tottenham striker seen by Portuguese manager as key to his plans – should he get the job at Old Trafford
Mourinho never did bid for Kane.
Posted: 9th, September 2016 | In: Back pages, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Holler Timing: Liverpool FC frozen in sponsorship hell
Liverpool have a new ‘official timing parter’. It’s a brand called Holler. This is how Holler announced the deal on their website:
Yeah, not a single wrist in sight. Odd that a brand specialising in watches would show three Liverpool players not wearing one between them.
Holler describes itself thus:
The Official Timing Partner of Liverpool FC.
Holler was born out of a long history of soul music originating in the 1960’s. Soul is a genre which combines different elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues.
And what is soul music without watches?
And they’re on Twitter. This was how @HollerFC account tweeted about Liverpool.
It looks like Holler announced the deal and then mocked Liverpool for their lack of league titles in recent years, praising Manchester United for good measure.
Timing, eh.
Like the time when Americans knew nothing about football…
NOTE: Is the @HollerFC account authentic? The Drum says:
…speculation around the legitimacy of the new Holler FC Twitter account in relation to the Holler brand has since circulated. However the @Holler_Soul twitter account, which has over 19,000 followers, had promoted the launch of the Holler FC division in its Twitter background page which read: “Coming soon at HollerFC.com”. This has since changed but a screenshot of the old background can be seen below.
And this:
Liverpool celebrate their last last league title win on April 28 1990.
Posted: 8th, September 2016 | In: Key Posts, Liverpool, Money, Sports, The Consumer | Comment (1)
Arsenal ball: Gunners get new Vieira and Petit in one
Good news for Arenal. Gunners new boy Granit Xhaka is in entire all-conquering central midfield pairing in one player.
Xhaka is the “new Emmanuel Petit”.
Xhaka is the new Patrick Vieira:
Arenal already have the new Dennis Bergkamp:
Let the old times role!
Football Association chairman Greg Clarke rejects Greg Dyke’s plan to win the 2022 World Cup
Compare and contrast:
Football Association chairman Greg Clarke, September 2016:
“I’m not going to put pressure on and say we are going to win this tournament or that tournament.”
Football Association chairman Greg Dyke, September 2013:
“The two targets I have for the England team are – one, to at least reach the semi-finals of Euro 2020 and two, win the World Cup in 2022.”
As you were, England fans.
Posted: 8th, September 2016 | In: Back pages, Sports | Comment
Manchester United’s Academy is full of soft lads, says Nicky Butt
Former Manchester United stalwart Nicky Butt is talking to Henry Winter in the Times. Butt is now runs the Manchester United academy. It;s a good read, but the pick is what Butt has to say about today’s youth, schooled by helicopter parents and indoor sports:
“I see players in our academy and they can’t move. Our lads don’t know how to fall, roll, and you should see the amount of injuries we get from popped shoulders or their arms. I probably fell out of a tree 15 times and never hurt myself. I don’t think my son’s ever climbed a tree.
“Body mechanics lose so much when you’re not climbing trees, not playing basketball, cricket, rugby. I played rugby, cricket, football, basketball…
“I’m a softie parent. I don’t let my kids go anywhere. My daughter’s 12, I don’t think she’d be able to cross a road. The whole life now is middle class: all kids have iPads and PlayStations. Social media’s a massive problem. We had a player who put his address on Facebook and gets a knock at the door from people asking why he’s chatting up this girlfriend. We reiterate to them every six weeks about what to do and not do on social media.
“They’re not streetwise. We’re looking for leaders on the pitch, so when you’re down, they fight back, somebody like [Paul] Scholes who was playing football on the streets at 12 and knocking around the park at 15. They get a lot of street knowledge through that.”
Is it because these children see football mainly as a way to riches, not as a sport to play for fun?
Former United youth player Danny Higginbotham:
I learned so much from the responsibilities I had as an apprentice at Manchester United. I made the orange squash for the players and was anxious watching Peter Schmeichel take his first sip in case it was too weak or too strong. I had the privilege of cleaning the boots of Roy Keane and Brian McClair. I was so proud of it that I would tell all my mates. I would be pleased when the pitch was especially muddy because it meant that I could do an even better job. It meant the world to me.
If I had done a good job, the first-team players would be grateful, and we would be given a bit of cash – just £10 or £20 – at Christmas, and at the end of the season. If we had not done a good job we would know about it too.
This mattered, first, because it taught us apprentices – players like Wes Brown and Jonathan Greening – about the importance of responsibility. But it also mattered because it was a shared rite of passage between us and the senior pros…
That does not happen in football any more. That old bond is broken…
The fact is that young players today do not need to do that sort of thing. When I was an apprentice at United I was paid £40 per week. When I played for the A and B teams we got a £4 win bonus and £2 if we drew. That was only 20 years ago.
Teenage players at top clubs can now hope to earn £20,000 per week before they’ve even made themselves noticed in the first team.
That sounds a tad cynical. Academy players are not all on great salaries:
How many new young players does a club like Liverpool or Arsenal sign every season? The answer is very few. The fact is that most trainees will never make the grade.
Trainees released from scholarship schemes are put into a central pool which allows other interested clubs to come in for them. And former Fulham scout Roger Skyrme believes there’s nothing wrong with lowering your standards. “Never lose faith in your ability, but do be prepared to move down a level,” Roger told BBC Sport.
Your parents can take you there and keep you in a cosy bubble, but they cannot make you want it and go for it.
Posted: 8th, September 2016 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Chelsea balls: Hazard mocks Mourinho and Cahill looks to the future
Chelsea players Eden Hazard and Gary Cahill have “stuck the knife into former manager Jose Mourinho”, says the Express. (It’s a mere flesh wound in the Sun – a “sly dig”). Jose is “UNDER FIRE” as Chelsea players “lash out” at their former coach, the Express continues.
The quotes come. Cahill says Chelsea “lost our way tactically” under Mourinho.
Hazard says: “[Antonio] Conte puts trust in his players. Now we are good after an ugly season last year. I’ve always been the same player. But Conte knows how to treat players having played at the highest level himself.”
Is that a dig at Mourinho’s lack of success as a player? If it is, it echoes Johan Cruyff, who opined, “What I don’t like is that he always puts himself on the first row. He should be on the second row. It’s probably because of his background, where he has never been cheered by 100,000 people, or whistled at by 100,000 people.”
Over in the Mail, Cahill’s quote is given more context. Was he really knifing Jose? No. What he said was:
“We needed organisation. Everyone saw what happened. We went from winning the league, having stayed at the top all year, to the disaster of last season. We lost our way tactically, everyone’s head was in different directions. When I say about pulling together as a team, I felt everyone had different situations going on individually – whether that be if you’re playing or not, the manager, or this or that. Different distractions are never healthy.”
Not all Mourinho’s fault, then. Cahill says everyone at Chelsea played a part in last season’s failures. Although it was Mourinho who got the sack.
Posted: 8th, September 2016 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Arsenal’s Wenger unseats Manchester United’s Mourinho in ‘raging battle’
At a coaching conference in Switzerland, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho were both in attendance.
Spanish newspaper Marca recalls the following exchange as Sir Alex Ferguson is scheduled to speak.
Mourinho: Can I sit next here?
Wenger: “No, it is not possible.”
And how does the Press reports on that?
Daily Express: “Arsene Wenger owns Jose Mourinho in latest bust-up at coaches conference – ARSENE WENGER and Jose Mourinho have reportedly clashed yet again.”
Mourinho reportedly wanted to sit next to Paris Saint-Germain’s Unai Emery and Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane for Sir Alex Ferguson’s opening speech, with Wenger close by.
Metro: “Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger told Jose Mourinho he can’t sit next to him at coaches conference”
Daily Mail: “Arsene Wenger’s feud with Jose Mourinho rages on as ‘Arsenal boss refuses to let Manchester United manager sit next to him at conference”
And in Marca, the root of a story that sounds like it began as a joke: “Wenger wins latest battle against Mourinho”
Next week: It’s WAR as Jose serves Arsene green jelly at his party.
Posted: 7th, September 2016 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Arsenal scout Eddie Howe who has ‘no regrets’ about leaving Bournemouth
More news that AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe is gearing up to replace Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.
The Sun declares: “Ed Hunted.”
Adding:
EDDIE HOWE is under serious consideration to become the next Arsenal manager. SunSport can reveal that the highly-regarded Bournemouth chief’s name is being discussed in the corridors of power at the Emirates.
Revealed? Like the Star revealed on July 28: “ARSENAL have earmarked Eddie Howe as a potential successor to Arsene Wenger.” As for the Sun’s story, which contains no quotes, we’re told:
Eddie Howe is being lined up as a replacement for Arsene Wenger as Arsenal boss
News reaches Bournemouth.
The Sun reports:
HOWE ABOUT NO Eddie Howe to Arsenal: Bournemouth chief Jeff Mostyn issues hands-off warning over man tipped to replace Arsene Wenger
He tells TalkSport:
“Eddie is a Bournemouth boy through and through. He has been with the football club since he was ten. There is unfinished business. He wants to ensure that if and when he does move on he will leave a legacy.”
Or as the Sun puts it in its other Eddie to Arsenal story:
Howe inspired Bournemouth and led them to promotion to League One in 2010, only to leave for Championship side Burnley in January 2011.
As Howe told BBC Radio Solent back then:
“I turned down two other clubs this week because I wanted to stay but this was just one I couldn’t turn down. There were no reasons why I should from a personal and professional point of view. It just ticked all the boxes. I found it very difficult from the week’s events to come to that decision but I thought if I didn’t it would be something I would regret for the rest of my life.”
If Arsenal want him, he’ll surely go.
Posted: 7th, September 2016 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Derby balls: Manchester United and Manchester City fight The War Bitchy Comments
Why don’t Manchester City’s Pepe Guardiola and Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho just duke it out. The Mail previews the big United v City match by drooling over the prospect of violence:
“Police fears for Jose v Pep,” screams the headline.
The usually harmonious Manchester derby is causing police to be scared?
“The explosive rivalry between Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola – and the increased tension it may bring to the terraces – are part of the police’s planning for the Manchester derby. Sportsmail understands that officers on duty for Saturday’s clash between the two sides, the first battle between the feuding managers with their new clubs in England, will be told of the pair’s feisty history and the effect that may have on their operation.”
It’s war. We’ve had the War of Jenkin’s Ear, the War of The Stray Dog and The Pastry War. Prepare yourselves for The War of The Bitchy Comments. It’s gonna be bloody (marvellous).
Posted: 7th, September 2016 | In: Back pages, Manchester City, manchester united, Reviews, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Of course Adidas and Nike discriminate against disabled athletes
Are Nike and Adidas prejudiced against disabled athletes? Yes. Is that prejudice immoral or illegal? Surely not. The Guardian reports on Hannah Cockroft, a British paralympian who accuses sportswear companies of discrimination.
Cockroft, who is expected to be one of the stars of the Paralympic Games in Rio after winning two golds at London 2012 and three in last year’s world championships, is the dominant figure in her sport but said Adidas and Nike have cited her inability to use their footwear in competition as a justification for not sponsoring her.
That seems reasonable. Nike and Adidas are most renowned for making trainers. If you are not known for wearing trainers, sponsorship would be waste of their endorsement cash.
Cockcroft says:
“The real reason? I have been told it’s because I don’t wear shoes when I compete. What do I do with that? I wear a shirt, I wear trousers, I wear shoes on the podium when I’m collecting a gold medal. But apparently because that’s not when I’m competing that’s not enough. I’ve been told this by Nike, Adidas, all the big brands. I told them it was discrimination. It is discrimination.”
Yes. It is discrimination. Of course it is. But it’s about her not it.
Adidas also rejected Cockroft’s claims, pointing out it has designed ParalympicsGB’s kit for the Games. “As a sports brand we have partnerships with teams, including ParalympicsGB, and individuals across both apparel and footwear,” a spokesperson said. “Whilst we will not discuss negotiations with specific athletes we can say we sponsor a number of athletes who don’t wear footwear to compete.”
So why has no big brand sponsored her?
Cockroft has had talks about kit sponsorship in the past but it is understood the companies’ offers have fallen below expectations.
She wants more money.
As for shoes:
Zoal Budd ran barefoot, but was sponsored by running shoe companies. One of the best known barefoot runners in history, Budd has actually been sponsored by a couple of shoe companies during her career – firstly Brooks and then Newton in more recent years.
Maybe Cockcroft is looking at the wrong brands?
Posted: 7th, September 2016 | In: Money, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Manchester United balls: Paul Scholes is middle-aged
Paul Scholes says, “‘I would rather watch Salford than Man Utd.” Well, that’s the Daily Mirror‘s lead sports story.
Can the former Manchester United star be dissing his old club? Yes.
Paul Scholes says he would rather watch Salford City than Manchester United in damning assessment of Premier League
It’s not that Salford are that good; it’s that United are that bad!
Over in the Mail, we get to know what Scholes said;
After taking over at Salford City, alongside his old United team-mates Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Nicky Butt and Ryan Giggs, the 41-year-old has been able to take in more games from lower down the league pyramid.
He enjoys watching his business and investment.
He says:
“I probably do enjoy watching Salford more,’ he wrote in a new book – Class of 92: Out of our League – Our Journey Back to the Heart of the Game – currently being serialised in The Guardian. “I don’t know if it’s as much that I don’t like the hassle of going to the game, getting in, sitting in traffic. Going to Salford, I park up behind the goal and get out of my car.”
Conclusion: can United let middle-aged Scholes park in the players’ car park and get him a travel rug?
Posted: 6th, September 2016 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Yaya Toure rejects Manchester United and Arsenal and Africa rejects Man City
It’s proving a busy season for Yaya Toure’s agent. Today;s news is that brought to you in a Sky Sports headline: “Arsenal and Manchester United interested in Yaya Toure, but move would be impossible, says agent.”
Dang! A player not considered good enough for Manchester City’s 21-man Champions’ League side is wanted by the club’s local rivals and Arsenal – where he’d have to take a huge pay cut to fit with their wage structure?
Yaya Toure’s agent Dimitri Seluk has told Sky Sports there has been interest from Manchester United and Arsenal for the midfielder.
No word from Manchester United and Arsenal on that. We move on:
While Seluk has insisted a move to either United or Arsenal would be “impossible”, he also revealed to Sky Sports News HQ that the midfielder has had offers from China, Turkey, Italy and the United States, and will look to sign a pre-contract agreement with another club in January.
Got that? Manchester united and Arsenal want him but the mighty Toure will think about playing in Turkey.
“He is in very good shape, very good condition, I think he lost seven kilograms. Maybe that’s not good enough for Guardiola, but then Zlatan Ibrahimovic wasn’t good enough for him (at Barcelona).”
Yeah. Look how well Barcelona did without Ibrahimovich, who left the club in 2010. Yes, they won La Liga, the UEFA Champions League and the Copa del Rey under Pep the following season. But that’s not the point. What is the point? We’ve no idea. And before we’ve time to work it out, Seluk has moved on:
“They [Manchester City] will lose a lot of millions of supporters from Africa because of this decision from Guardiola. Now they will support Manchester United. A lot of people in Africa say they will never see any more matches of City on TV.”
Well, so long as they don’t support Chelsea, there’s no harm done.
PS: a few days ago, Seluk moaned to the Mirror:
“If Manchester City win the Champions League then I will travel to London and say before the television cameras that Pep Guardiola is the best coach in the world. But if City don’t win it, then I hope that Pep has the balls to say he was wrong to humiliate a great player like Yaya Toure.”
Of course, Toure never has won the Champions’ League with Manchester City. But he might have done under Pep!
Posted: 6th, September 2016 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Hillsborough: Merseytravel is wrong to ban the Sun from Liverpool
In Liverpool, Merseytravel wants to ban the Sun newspaper. The city’s councillors all support the company’s efforts to force vendors stop selling the Sun across the Liverpool City Region transport network. It part of a campaign, to “eradicate the paper from the city”.
It’s rooted, of course, in the Sun’s awful reporting on the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 football fans died. The paper fanned the flames of bigotry, falsely presenting the dead and injured as agents of their own fate. Liverpool fans had not “picked the pockets of victims” and “urinated” on police officers. The Sun lied to its readers. The police lied to public it serves. They turned victims into criminals.
It was not “THE TRUTH”, as the Sun claimed in its front-page headline.
But banning the paper is weak. The Society of Editors says the move was “stretching towards censorship”. No. It is censorship.
Merseytravel chairman Liam Robinson says: “Lots and lots of people in this city get offended by this newspaper, they are offended to see it on sale. People who have to sell it are offended to touch it. We are here to represent the travelling public and local people. [This motion] was backed unanimously by all political parties.”
Paul Collins, from the Total Eclipse of the S*n campaign, says the newspaper had “slandered the dead, it slandered the city with lies. It upsets decent people.”
Are you indecent if you buy the Sun, which people do, presumably? Are you morally wrong if you read the paper?
This campaign does nothing to honour the dead, the bereaved and the hurt. It seeks only revenge.
Posted: 6th, September 2016 | In: Liverpool, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Allardyce copies Manchester United and lets Wayne Rooney play wherever he wants
The England football team laboured to a 0-1 win over the mighty Slovakia, who made the challenge simpler by reducing to ten numbers after their thuggish captain was red carded. England’s new broom, Sam Allardyce, had a few words to say about match and his own side’s captain, the tiring Wayne Rooney, nominally a striker but now playing so far back he could well challenge panicky Joe Hart for the goalkeeping slot.
Said Allardyce:
“It’s not for me to me to say where he’s going to play. He can play wherever he wants to be, because he was brilliant. I can’t stop Wayne if he thinks that’s the right place to be. We aren’t going to make a big deal about it are we?”
How’s that for management, eh?
Of course, before brilliant Wayne picked his own slot between the centre backs, Sam Allardyce said on August 30:
“Should we say attacking midfield player or should we say striker? Wayne’s position’s changed at Manchester United and that’s the sort of position I’d be looking to play him.”
The rest of world football is quacking in its boots.
Posted: 5th, September 2016 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Arsenal relive the magic when Paulo Di Canio pushed the referee
At Arsenal’s star-studded ‘Legends’ match with AC Milan at the Emirates last Saturday, Nigel Winterburn and Paulo Di Canio recreated the Italians’ infamous push on ref Paul Alcock from 1998.
Back then, Di Canio, then with Sheffield Wednesday, got involved in a fracas with Martin Keown before seeing red. Instead of just walking off the pitch, the Italian decided to push ref Alcock to the floor, before Winterburn himself rather lamely squared up to the striker. Di Canio earned an 11-match ban.
Fast forward 18 years and at the Emirates, after the two players clashed in the middle of the pitch during the game played in aid of the Arsenal Foundation, Di Canio ‘pushes’ Winterburn who pulls off a rather fine impersonation of Alcock’s famous staggering fall…
Act 2:
Paulo di Canio and Nigel Winterburn went up against each other at the Emirates earlier – only led to one thing… pic.twitter.com/HhNuGhRvuZ
— Sporting Index (@sportingindex) September 3, 2016
Posted: 5th, September 2016 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
