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.
Liverpool: Brendan Rodgers sacked, moves one step closer to England job
No sooner had his Liverpool side drawn 1-1 against Everton in this afternoon’s Merseyside derby than Brendan Rodgers found himself out of a job.
According to the BBC, the decision to can Rodgers was made by the Liverpool higher-ups at 18:30 BST, just hours after full-time.
Announcing the news via a joint statement on the official Liverpool website, owner John W Henry, chairman Tom Werner and president Mike Gordon said:
We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to Brendan Rodgers for the significant contribution he has made to the club and express our gratitude for his hard work and commitment.
All of us have experienced some wonderful moments with Brendan as manager and we are confident he will enjoy a long career in the game.
Although this has been a difficult decision, we believe it provides us with the best opportunity for success on the pitch. Ambition and winning are at the heart of what we want to bring to Liverpool and we believe this change gives us the best opportunity to deliver it.
The latest from the club’s owners is that they are hoping to appoint a new manager – and Jurgen Klopp is runaway favourite to take the gig – in a “decisive and timely manner”.
And here’s us thinking Brendan, for all his many and obvious flaws, wasn’t doing too bad a job at Anfield.
Ruthless business.
And how about Rodgers for England? He’d be good. He has vision.
Posted: 4th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comments (2)
Arsenal balls: Wenger outlines his retirement non-plan
Arsenal balls: Arsene Wenger answers questions on his eventual retirement:
“I’m always scared as I’ve heard so many times people say ‘next year I will retire’ and then they continue or go somewhere else. I think it can be more instinctive and impulsive than that. One thing is for sure, when I retire, I will really retire.”
The Sun hears those words and yells: “Wenger fires quit warning.”
Which isn’t what it was at all.
Watch a Chelsea fan delivers a truly brilliant rant
Chelsea fans sued to be noisy, passionate and reviled. They are now called henry. They bring picnic hampers to the match, as they might to Twickenham. One fan hankers for the old days:
Chelsea: Jose Mourinho resigns with rhetoric
Chelsea lose at home to Southampton and the Press being talk of Jose Mourinho getting the sack. Having seen his team defeated, Mourinho spoke with the Sky Sports, as he must. The Daily Mail says Mourinho spat out a “seven-minute rant”.
Rant? Nothing of it. The man is measured. Here’s what he said in full:
Look, I think you know me and I think I don’t run away from responsibilities. I think, first of all I want to say that because we are in such a bad moment I think you shouldn’t be afraid to be also honest because when we are in the top there is quite a big pleasure in put us down but when we are so down I think it’s time to be a little bit honest and to say clearly that referees are afraid to give decisions for Chelsea.
Jose loves to establish the siege mentality. It’s Chelsea against the world. A for referees favouring Chelsea, well, they did beat Arsenal thanks to the kind of refereeing support that had Gunners fans looking for a Chelsea tattoo on Mike Dean’s throat.
The result 1-1 is a huge penalty and once more we don’t get and a penalty is a crucial moment in the game with the result at 1-1, and I repeat that if FA wants to punish me they can punish me they don’t punish other managers but they punish me, it’s not a problem for me.
Jose, as ever, tries to put the ME in TEAM. He employs an exemplum – an example that backs up his argument.
But I want to repeat because I think that my players deserve it, Chelsea fans deserve it. I am a Chelsea fan too and I want to say it again. Referees are afraid to give decisions for Chelsea. Why? Because when they give there’s always a question mark from you, there’s always a question there’s always a critique.
Quibbling. And dash of Metonymy, which takes one aspect of one thing and makes it stand for the entire. Of course, Chelsea have not had every decision go in their favour. No team has. But Mourinho wants us to believe that every error epitomises a wider conspiracy. But decisions don’t win games, goals and fine play does.
So you are always punished, we are punished because Diego Costa is suspended with images, in other matches we see the same thing and it doesn’t happen. Clear penalties are not given and it’s one and one and one and one and even in Champions League in a match you lose 2-1, even in the Champions League which is a game which is not three officials but with five you are not given a penalty in last minute and this penalty in this game today is more than crucial do you know why? Because for my team in this moment the first negative thing that happen, my team collapse.
The team mentally, psychologically, the team is unbelievable down it looks like good players are bad players and the first half was a game where we didn’t show our quality but we were in control, we were more than in control, and one mistake and lack of concentration, one goal and when you are having a good time.
In normal circumstances you come to the second half and you do your game, I told the players at half time no panic we are not losing 4-0 it’s 1-1, no panic, the team comes out with a good spirit we have a penalty and the penalty is a giant penalty and he is afraid to give like everybody is afraid to give so no penalty and after that the team lost even more confidence and you know that their second goal is an individual mistake, their third goal is another individual mistake. The team mentally, they try, they try, they try, they are in such a low moment that they collapse.
What Jose’s doing, of course, is dictating the conversation, or trying to. He tells you what to think. He tells you what to look out for. He is employing a rhetorical strategy. Jose wants us to take him out of the picture. His is disinterested in his own fate. This, he hopes, will encourage the audience to trust his opinions. His is the passive voice framing the terms of the argument. You may have seen no controversy at all in Diego Costa being banned after the match for slapping an Arsenal player in the face or the referee not giving Chelsea a penalty. But he seeks to sow doubt. He wants it to lead to consensus.
I can also know what you are thinking, what you are saying in studio, what people imagine, what is is going to happen, what is not going to happen, I want to let it clear.
One, I not run away. Two, if the club wants to sack me they have to sack me because I’m not running away from my responsibilities from my team and from my convictions.
That, be champions is obviously very difficult because the distance is considerable but I’m more than convinced that we finish top four, and when the season is so bad if you finish top four it is OK.
More rhetoric.
Third even more important than first and second, I think this is a crucial moment in the history of this club. Do you know why? Because if the club sacks me they sack the best manager that this club have, and secondly the message is again the message of bad result, the manager is guilty and this is the message that not just these players but the other ones before they got during a decade.
This looks like enthymeme. The enthymeme makers a claim and then bases it on commonly accepted opinion. Jose argument is filled with emotion but he pulls out his logic pack and flourishes it.
I think this is a moment for everybody to assume responsibility, I assume my responsibility I think the players should assume their responsibility and there are other people in the club that they should also assume their responsibilities and to stick together. And this is what I want.
The players they still have to play until the end of the season with the gold champions thing in their shirt and I want to work always, you know, I consider myself, I have a big self-esteem, a big ego, I consider myself the best, living the worst period of my career and worst results of my career, doing that as a professional hurts me a lot, doing it at Chelsea hurts me twice because it hurts me as a professional and hurts me because I like this club very, very much and was because of that that I come back so I want to carry on, I want to carry on no doubt, no doubt and I assume my responsibilities but I think it’s time for everybody to assume their responsibilities because when you go down to so many individual mistakes and fear to play, they have their responsibilities, they are players that are performing really, really bad individually, I can not come here and say you, and you, and you, and you, it’s not my job but I think it’s clear that we are being punished by too many individual mistakes and as I was saying sadness brings sadness, bad results they attract bad results, that first mistake is just the first because after that comes another one.
Jose is using a paromologia (Greek for “agree with”), conceding a point in order to make a stronger one.
This team needs to win the first-half two or three nil with the fears disappearing coming to play in the second half and play with a free brain, a free spirit. This is what this team needs and unfortunately for them this is not happening and again I repeat so I want to make it clear again, because I not want to be offensive, I don’t want to be none-polite I don’t want to put in cause the dignity of the people, but I repeat that the referees they are afraid to give the decision when you are top you want to see people come down when people is down give us a break and be honest and be loyal with us because the penalty is clear and 2-1 is a completely different story, thank you.
Marvellous stuff.
Posted: 4th, October 2015 | In: Chelsea, Key Posts, Reviews, Sports | Comment (1)
Sunderland balls: Dyche, Pearson, Vieira and Allardyce replace Advocaat
Sunderland manager Dick Advocaat, 68, is ready to leave the club in the next few days, reports the Sunday Telegraph. The media then set about identifying his replacement.
It’s formerWest Ham manager Sam Allardyce, 60, says the Sunday Times.
The Star says it’s a straight fight between Sean Dyche and Nigel Pearson.
The Sunderland Echo says Patrick Vieira will get the job.
In other words: they don’t know.
Arsenal: Wenger wanted Martial but Monaco owed Manchester United over Falcao
Arsenal manger Arsène Wenger says he thought about signing Anthony Martial, the French footballer now with Manchester United. Wenger thought about buying Martial when he was at Lyons. But the French club told him Martial wasn’t for sale.
Martial then joined Monaco for 3 million.
Monaco told Wenger Martial was “not sellable”. So off he went to Manchester United for £36 million.
The simple story, of course, is that Arsenal quite liked Martial but were never going to pay a fortune to sign him. Chances are other clubs also like other top players but just can’t find the odd £36m to actually sign them.
The media continue to press Wenger on Martial. He replies to their probing:
“I was surprised they sold him. The amount of money was massive. I believe that you could think that, if you are Monaco, you could have sold him as well next season. So I thought they would not sell him this year because they sold many other players. I thought they would maintain their word. He was not sellable. He was not on the list. He was one of the players Monaco did not want to sell, so we never made an approach for him. Only an acceptable amount of money after could do it. We always liked him, even when he was in Lyons. That was a surprise too, that Lyons sold him on the last day of the transfer market for €5 million [£3 million].”
Should Arsenal have bought the player? Wenger adds:
“The future will tell us if he is overpriced. Manchester United spend the money they have. It is not artificial. They are entitled to do it.”
Monaco’s executive vice-president, Vadim Vasilyev, tells Marca that one club outbid United:
“There was another club that offered even more than United. I will not say how much, but the fixed price, without variables, was even better, and they also offered us [the chance] to have him for a further year in Monaco. But the boy wanted to go to Manchester. It was his dream and we let him go with the bonus of [£36 million]. Had it not been for so much money, he would have stayed.”
A year earlier, United took Monaco’s Radamel Falcao on loan. The Colombian, now with Chelsea, joined for a £6m fee plus wages of – get this- £265,000-a-week. United also took the option to sign Falcao on a longer contract for £43.5m at the end of the loan spell. He proved to be not all that good. United had been sold a dud.
You have to wonder how much that deal impacted on Monaco and United’s decision to do business over Martial? Monaco might have beee able to get more for Martial from another club, but having seen United take the overpriced Falcao off their books, maybe they thought it right to return the favour?
Posted: 3rd, October 2015 | In: Arsenal, manchester united, Sports | Comment
England v Australia rugby World Cup crunch match: the backpages
It’s England v Australia in the rugby World Cup. And England have a new hymn for the “troops”:
And do it for me, and all, does Stuart Lancaster, England’s head coach, no say.
Jingoism and patriotism are blended in a call to arms:
It’s both this world and the next. It’s ‘judgement day’.
But ultimately, it’s not as big as the football:
Ronaldo To Manchester United Watch: the happy ‘big hint’
Ronaldo Watch:a look at bullshit.com reporting that Cristiano Ronaldo is leaving Real Madrid to rejoin Manchester United.
Today the Manchester Evening News thunders:
Manchester United transfer news: Ronaldo hints he could leave Real Madrid next summer
Hints?
Cristiano Ronaldo has put Manchester United on red alert after hinting his future at Real Madrid is not certain.
Incoming!
“My future is at Madrid. I am good here. I want to win things here and I feel good, but I have said millions of times that nobody can tell what will happen in the future. We will see what happens. I have a good relationship with everyone, the president, coaches, workers. The relationships are good because I am a professional. Nobody knows what will happen next year. I want to win things at Madrid as I think that this club has the potential to win things, but I do not know the future.”
So he’s happy at Real. Or as the M.E.N pouts it:
Former Man Utd forward Cristiano Ronaldo has again raised doubts about his future at Real Madrid amid reports he’s unhappy at the Bernanbeu.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 2nd, October 2015 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Arsenal: Manchester United can bank on success, says Wenger
The football media love to make sensation for nothing. So it is for Arsenal’s press conference ahead of their match with Manchester United. According to the Star, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has “revealed the real reasons” Man United are top of the Premier League.
Cocking an ear for the ‘real reasons’ – the position of the stars alignment, bribery or a psychic octopus – we hear Wenger say:
“I defended Van Gaal last year and I think the experience he has in his career it is not surprising that they are doing well. Manchester United has the money that they spend. It is not artificial. It comes from their own resources. You have to accept that they’re huge but they can do it and they are entitled to do it.”
United are top because they are a huge team that spends vast amount of money. Who knew?
Well, we all did. Because back in July, Wenger said much the same thing. Although today the Metro still teases:
Arsenal boss Wenger gives surprising opinion on Man United’s transfer business
What he said back then was:
“You can take Barcelona or Man United, who had a generation and built their success on players who came from within. These are our values and it is our DNA and it’s important we keep that. With United’s success they have created huge financial resources and today there is no patience for them to continue to do what they did — and they have the financial resources to go with a different policy.”
And how did the media bill that entirely sensible observation:
Sky: “Arsene Wenger questions Manchester United transfer policy”
M.E.N: “Manchester United are trying to spend their way to success, claims Wenger”
Such are the facts…
Posted: 2nd, October 2015 | In: Arsenal, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Pundit watch: Sunderland are as bad as they appear to be
Pundit Watch: The BBC’s Mark Lawrenson gets the big bucks for offering insight into football.
From what I have seen so far this season, Sunderland are the worst team in the Premier League.
This is the Premier League table:
Sunderland are bottom. It’s not only what you’ve seen, Mark. Sunderland are the worst team in the division.
Liverpool: Brendan Rodgers would make a great England manager
Liverpool are looking limp under Brendan Rodgers. Jurgen Klopp is the media’s favourite to take over should Rodgers get the boot. In the Times Matt Dickinson asks readers to pause and remember that Rodgers is no fool. A talented manager, which Rodgers certainly is, does not become rubbish.
There may be fun to be had with @DeludedBrendan and the mocking tweets but, beyond the David Brent gags, the Rodgers who emerges from Gerrard’s book deserves to be taken seriously; a sharp tactician, a strong communicator, an astute improver of players.
Sometimes he can get a little carried away and, as Gerrard notes, he is ambitious perhaps to the point of ruthlessness. But there emerges a portrait of an upwardly mobile manager who, if unwanted by Liverpool at the end of this season, would be very welcome in an England tracksuit as the successor to Roy Hodgson.
Rodgers for England? You hear it and it makes sense.
…Rodgers is the one with top-level coaching and managerial experience, a record of improving young players, especially English ones. Or, as he once said in one of those quotes that seem to polarise opinion: “My life’s work has been trying to show that British players can play.”
Dickinson quotes from Gerrard’s book:
Read Gerrard recount in compelling detail about when he went to see Rodgers because he felt off-form and could not fathom the problem. The speed with which his manager came back with detailed analysis about a lack of head movement, and how it was affecting the tempo of the captain’s passing game, is striking. There are plenty of stories from Gerrard of Rodgers’ ability to motivate as well as innovate. The book is littered with lines like “the training sessions were among the best I had ever experienced while his man-management was excellent, generous and imaginative”; “it needed a bold appointment from the owners — and I think they got it right with Brendan”; “Brendan came across as a nice man, and a good person, from the start”; “a very human man-manager”.
Of course, there is some blunt criticism, too; a dubious signing or two and, most notably, a critique of that fateful, gung-ho approach against Chelsea with the title at stake fuelled by “an overconfidence in Brendan’s team talks” and not recognising the need to temper his boldness.
Jason Burt has also talked of Rodgers being the ideal England candidate:
The FA needs direction, maybe even an evangelical approach. It intends to keep Hodgson in place until the completion of the 2016 European Championship when his contract expires, when he will be close to celebrating his 69th birthday. He is likely to go then, so the clock is ticking as regards his successor. The answer seems clear: it should be Brendan Rodgers…
Here is a man who clearly has “ that vision thing”. Not just in an identifiable and entertaining modern style of play – you could put his Liverpool team in any colour shirt and they would be recognisably Liverpool – but in developing players as people. He has both a “holistic” approach, to borrow Manchester City’s phrase, and a much deeper sense of pastoral care and social responsibility.
It does not matter that Rodgers comes from Northern Ireland. The FA should read his words and call him, to discover if he would want to be involved in finding “that vision thing”. Hodgson should welcome his input. It would not undermine him.
And then there is Steven Gerrard, who says:
“The way he [Rodgers] plays would suit England. He would improve the possession football you need at international level. His man management is brilliant. At tournaments, in the heat, it is absolute torture and we need to keep the ball better. If you want someone who would get the team playing and the players would enjoy working with, it would be Brendan.”
Rodgers for England. It makes sense.
Posted: 2nd, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comments (2)
Chelsea v Dr Carneiro: Jon Fearn is Mr Cellophane as Dyke and moralists attack Mourinho’s
Mr Cellophane
Jose Mourinho will not be banned, censured or fined for his criticism of Dr Eva Carneiro, her removal from first-team duties and finally her decision to leave the role of Chelsea doctor. The FA said there was no evidence Mourinho made discriminatory comments towards Carneiro.
End of, then. No. We live in an age where everyone wants to be righteous and to be seen as such. Mourinho is innocent. But Greg Dyke, the FA chairman, is pure. He writes to the FA councillors:
“There have been some well-documented issues of late around equality and inclusion in the game, an issue where it is vital we continue to show clear leadership. I felt the handling of the case of the Chelsea doctor, Eva Carneiro, was a good example of this. We supported Heather Rabbatts’ [an FA board member] strong statement on the matter earlier in the month. Personally I don’t think Mr Mourinho comes well out of the whole saga. He clearly made a mistake in the heat of a game and should have said so and apologised. Instead he has said very little and Miss Carneiro has lost her job. Our regulatory team have investigated this and, whilst Mr Mourinho has breached no rules, it was clearly a failure of his personal judgment and public behaviour. This should be seen as such by the game.”
Dyke ignores the fact that monocular Mourinho meted out the same treatment to Jon Fearn, the Chelsea physio who also dashed onto the pitch to treat an injured Eden Hazard, having been waved on by the referee.
Fearn accepted his demotion and got on with his job. Dr Eva cried foul.
The Women In Football group alleged that Mourinho directed abusive and discriminatory language at Carneiro from the touchline. The FA investigation said Mourinho swore at no-one in particular. Women In Football described the FA’s ruling as “appalling”. Rabbatts says: “A highly respected medic, a woman at the top of her profession in football, has been mistreated, undermined, verbally abused and yet no one part from Dr Carneiro has faced significant consequences.”
No-one? Poor old Jon Fearn, football’s Mr Cellophane…
Posted: 2nd, October 2015 | In: Chelsea, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Wayne Rooney: the Daily Mirror didn’t hack the ‘thick’ Manchester United star’s phone out of respect
Brian Reade has penned a defence of Manchester United and England captain Wayne Rooney.
Class snobs who try to keep council-estate-kid sports stars down and revel in their failings at it again before a new documentary on the striker, says Brian Reade
Class snobs? Would this be the same Brian Reade who said of the white-working class:
Welcome to the Brook Estate in Eltham, south east London. The breeding ground of four of the five men accused of stabbing Stephen Lawrence to death as he waited for a bus a short walk away on the eve of St George’s Day six years ago.
Five products of a twisted philosophy drummed into them from birth. “If they’re black, stab ’em in the back.”…
A way of life passed down from father to son. You see the link emerge in the fading white graffiti sprayed 30 years ago on the walls of the old railway bridges around the estate, written by the last generation of Eltham Boyz. In three feet high letters: “SKINHEADS.”…
Give me the father and I’ll give you the son who will give you the son who will abuse, persecute and even kill another human being for committing the heinous crime of not being born white.
Racism was inherited. Get the killers and purge the land.
This is White Man’s Gulch… This is E-reg Escort-land.
So much for the snobbery. What else does Reade know about Rooney?
Gary Lineker is letting it be known that next Monday’s documentary on Wayne Rooney is so touching it will radically change the nation’s perception of him. That’s why the BBC released previews about how Rooney is a sensitive soul who writes poetry for his wife.
Cue would-be satirists’ rhyming couplets running over as they imagine the literary outpourings of someone it has been assumed can barely write a cheque.
Would-be satirists like the, er, Daily Mirror’s Polly Hudson, who opines:
Depriving the public of enjoying these Rooney masterpieces is basically a crime… so it’s lucky that I’ve managed to get my hands on Wayne’s notebook…
Have snarked at Rooney, Hudson offers:
By Wayne Rooney, age 29 and 7/8
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
You are well hot.
So you’re probably more like a summer’s day abroad then,
Cos the weather here is usually rubbish.
So much for the satire.
Reade adds:
It’s not that he’s a multi-title winner with a century of caps who has broken England’s all-time goalscoring record and become an extremely wealthy man. It’s that he has survived, and flourished, against all the odds in a class-obsessed country which loves nothing better than seeing council-estate kids who make good, very publicly self-destruct.
We get examples:
Think of George Best, Paul Gascoigne and Alex Higgins and how certain sections of our society have taken pleasure in pointing at them in the gutter and warning other working-class talents that serious life-enhancement should be left to their betters.
Would that be the same Paul Gascoigne whose phone the Daily Mirror hacked? Gazza told the High Court:
“I knew I was getting hacked by the Mirror. This continued for ages. Phone calls to my father and family were getting blocked so I changed my mobile. It happened again so I kept on changing mobiles, five or six times a month… I couldn’t speak to anybody, I was scared to speak to anybody… my parents, my family and kids, it was just horrendous. And people can’t understand why I became an alcoholic…. At the time I was going through a bad time because I knew I was getting hacked, 110 per cent. Of course (people) wouldn’t believe it – my family and Mr McKeown (therapist Johnny McKeown). As I was speaking to him on the phone, it clicked again. He told me I was paranoid, I was going through a mental disorder. I said ‘No, there’s fuck-all wrong with me’. I knew, I knew. I put the phone down… I’ve never told a lie, nothing to lie about, nothing. Disgusting. Crap… I have waited 15 years to be sat here so I am disgusted, really. I would like to trade my mobile phone in for a coffin because these guys have ruined my life. I have no life.”
In May the ex-England footballer was awarded £188,250 in damages.
Back to Reade:
Rooney came up across horrendous snobbery right from the off.
And back to Polly Hudson in the Mirror:
As celebrity adulteries go, this one is particularly bad, even by footballers’ standards. Coleen was pregnant at the time. But the only reason Wayne and his hooker didn’t get it on at the Rooney marital home was because SHE thought it out of order. When a prostitute has better morals than you, it’s probably time to worry.
Wayne may be known for being completely thick but his recent actions still beggar belief.
And Fiona Phillips in the Mirror:
Almost overnight, Coleen the innocent A-level student disappeared and Coleen the Queen of Chav arrived. It was disappointing
Chav? Yeah, that’s what the Mirror has called Coleen over and over
THE style bible of the fashionistas, Vogue, has asked Coleen McLoughlin to be a cover girl.
I don’t know what thrills me more. The idea of the curvy, chav girlfriend of Wayne Rooney on the cover of the world’s poshest magazine. Or the thought of Victoria Beckham’s face when she heard the news.
The Mirror told readers what a chav is:
YOU may know them as Kevs, Slappers, Neds, Townies or Scallies – but a new Internet website has branded them Chavs, from an old gypsy word for child…
Female Chav: When not wearing her baseball cap, you will notice her DIY facelift: badly-dyed hair scraped back into the tightest bun possible. She loves denim and shops at New Look, Pilot or her local market stall. Top Shop is too sophisticated. The classy female Chav wears t-shirts with slogans she finds witty – “Friendly when drunk”, French Connection’s FCUK or the “F*** You” one Britney Spears made famous. Her skirt is more like a belt, barely covering her mottled blue thighs and flabby midriff.
And they are thick:
For most of us cinema is an art form which enriches our lives. For Chavs it’s the place to text your mate and snog your bint. They love sequels because an original idea is something to be feared. Any flicks with an R&B star such as 50 cent, Aaliyah or Ice T is almost enough to make a Chav wet their pants in excitement. A good example is Romeo Must Die featuring Aaliyah and DMX. Don’t try telling them the plot is influenced by Romeo and Juliet. You’ll get a blank look.
Oh, and Wayne is also a chav:
For girls it’s Chelsea, Chardonnay, Kayleigh, Crystal or Britney. Boys are Jay, Wayne, Jake, Romeo or Dean.
But Reade makes no mention of his own paper in any of this snobbery. He just points the finger at a rival:
In a Daily Mail article which suggested he could be Gazza Mark II, a leading commentator asked: “Is there some hidden vice, some secret in Rooney’s psyche, which is yet to emerge? Drink, drugs, wife-beating?” It was a perfect summation of a country which judges people on their accent and background without getting to know their character.”
Meanwhile….in white man’s gulch…
Posted: 1st, October 2015 | In: Key Posts, manchester united, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Liverpool balls: football genius picks Neymar over Ings
Banteriser Jimmy Bullard has a plan to make Liverpool great. Jimmy, last seen being irritating (surely, engaging in hilarious bantz – ed) in the I’m A Celebrity jungle has been talking to the Express.
Bullard has been hired by Ladbrokes Rugby’s ‘Who’s Got The Balls’ campaign, a truly dire marketing strategy in which punters are invited to see if Bullard or Austin Healey (Strictly Come Dancing, Hole In The Wall, The Weakest Link, Pointless Celebrities and more) can decide “once and for all” if celebrity footballers or rugby players are tougher.
One test of fortitude would be to see how long anyone can spend in room with Bullard before begging for mercy. But while Ladbroke’s make ready the punishment room, Bullard turns his mind to Liverpool.
“They haven’t bought enough. They bought ok, but Roberto Firmino has not produced. They got rid of top quality and they haven’t got that back. With the likes of Suarez going and not getting world quality, for me as a fan I want to see a world-class striker join. I wanted to see a Neymar or someone to replace Suarez. They took a risk with signing Danny Ings from Burnley.”
But Neymar! Had only Brendan Rogers the wit to have bought Brazil’s brightest star from Barcelona.
Posted: 1st, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment (1)
Football balls: Bournemouth fans get more extra-tribal sex than Chelsea and Manchester United supporters
Fans of Manchester United and Chelsea are the ugliest faces in the Premier League. Dating service Match.com asked 1000 which supporters were the least shagable.
If you are looking for meaningful love, the tip is to say you support The Cherries. If you’re looking for casual sex, it’s best to state a preference for tennis; if it’s dogging you’re after, that’s golf:
Most Fanciable (aka Least Hateful)
AFC Bournemouth
Southampton
Norwich City
Manchester City
Swansea City
Newcastle United
Aston Villa
Leicester City
Arsenal
Everton
Watford
West Ham United
Liverpool
West Bromwich Albion
Crystal Palace
Tottenham Hotspur
Stoke City
Sunderland
Manchester United
Chelsea
Another question asked ‘Which supporters are fellow fans most likely to shun in the dating game?’ Shock of shock, it tuns out the biggest clubs with the most supporters and rivalries come top:
Manchester United
Chelsea
Liverpool
Arsenal
Newcastle United
In other news. NORWICH is an acronym for (K)nickers Off Ready When I Come Home.
Marquee Watch: Arsenal sent Cech a signal of in tent
Marquee Watch: a look at newspapers referring to a footballer as a “marquee”. Today Arsenal’s Petr Cech is one.
Arsenal had to beat Olympiakos – Wenger had described the tie as must-win – and it made no sense to overlook Cech, his No1 goalkeeper and the one marquee signing that the club had made last summer to make the difference.
Cech is the only signing Arsenal made over the summer.
The low-water mark for this Marquee Balls is in the Derby Telegraph, which told its readers:
Premier League champions Chelsea take on Arsenal in the day’s marquee game
Dictionary definition of marquee:
noun mar·quee \mär-ˈkē\
: a covered structure over the entrance to a building (such as a hotel or theater): a sign over the entrance to a theater that shows the name of the show, movie, play, etc., and the names of the main performers
: a large tent that is set up for an outdoor event (such as a party)
Posted: 30th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Mata to Liverpool, Ronaldo to Manchester United and Guillem Balague on The Metro’s speed dial
Transfer balls: The Metro’s Will Giles says Manchester United will sign Cristiano Ronaldo and pay him £1.2m a month.
WOW! Manchester United will pay Ronaldo less than Wayne Rooney, who earns up to £300,000 a week?! Ronaldo must be chomping at the bit to rejoin United.
Of course, Ronaldo can get a gigantic signing-on fee, too. Giles adds:
Manchester United will bid £92.5million next summer in an attempt to prise Cristiano Ronaldo away from Real Madrid…
Ronaldo leaving Madrid this summer is a more realistic proposition than ever before, with Spanish expert Guillem Balague claiming that the 30-year-old will have to seriously consider his future at the end of the season.
Guillem Balague… who he? Well, he’s on the Metro’s internet speed dial:
September 2014: Balague is quoted:
‘I have a pretty good idea of when he wants to go. It won’t be this month or next month, but he wants to go back to Manchester United and everything is in place for him to return to Old Trafford.’
February 2015: “Arsenal transfer target Sami Khedira ‘will sign for Bayern Munich’”
…respected journalist Guillem Balague was asked where he thinks the in-demand midfielder will be playing his football next season…. Balague suggested his team-mates at the Bernabeu are of the opinion Khadira will return to his native Germany and join Bayern Munich.
Khedira signed for Juventus.
February 2015: “Atletico Madrid ‘confident’ of sealing transfer deal for Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla as talks begin”
Atletico Madrid ARE in talks to sign Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla and are confident of signing the player, La Liga expert Guillem Balague has confirmed.
In July, Cazorla signed a new deal, extending his terms for another two years.
May 2011: “Liverpool make Juan Mata a ‘£20m priority’ for summer”
Says you know who…
Posted: 30th, September 2015 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Backpages: Arsenal ‘Greeced’ by ‘Oopspina’ and Chelsea lose ‘Capital’ in night of ‘Fawlty Powers’
The newspapers lead with Arsenal and Chelsea’s woes in the Champions’ League. A slapdash Arsenal were beaten 2-3 by Olympiakos. Chelsea’ lost 1-2 in Porto.
Verdict: The Daily Mirror wins the pun wars. ‘Oopspina’ nails Arsenal goalkeeeper David Ospina for his own goal.
Posted: 30th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Aston Villa: Ireland’s Jack Grealish picked England for ‘commercial reasons’
Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish has opted to play for England, the country of his birth. Solihull-born to English parents, Grealish has declined the option of taking up the grandparents’ rule and playing for the Republic of Ireland.
Easy. But the troubling thing is that Grealish has already played for the Republic of Ireland, winning caps from under-15 to under-21 level. So it was bit of a blow to the Irish when he tweeted: “It was not an easy decision to make as Ireland has a special place to me through my family. However, I have decided to represent the country of my birth.”
So why did he play for the Republic, then?
The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards says Grealish picked England for another reason. He has it on “good authority” that Grealish picked the red rose for “commercial reasons”.
Now kiss the badge and play the game.
Transfer Balls: Wenger explains why he didn’t bring Anthony Martial to Arsenal
Transfer Balls: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger wants to explain why he din’t buy Anthony Martial. The Daily Star has “the real reason why I didn’t make a bid for Man United star Anthony Martial.”
Says Wenger:
“He was more a winger in his whole career and he played the final part of the season last year as striker. But Monaco’s statement was always that the two players that would not move were Martial and [Layvin] Kurzawa, so I thought they would maintain that. But in the end both of them moved.”
It’s amazing what £36m did Monaco’s resolve.
Posted: 29th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comment (1)
Chelsea balls: Mourinho wants to be more like Wenger and Arsenal
Jose Mourinho is the subject of a Sun story that hangs from a pun, as obvious as a ball of mucus from a runny nose:
YOU MUST WIN MOUR
The Sun’s story is just that: football manager wants his team to win more matches.
Mourinho will be delighted that he is the both the title and subject for a Chelsea story. It is, after all, all about him. He says:
“In this club, we have 25 champions from last year — but how many serial champions do we have in the squad? There are two sorts of champions. There are champions who win something and there are lots of them around. But there are the others who during their career win one, two, three, four, five, 10 or 20 titles. Mentally, I can say I am a serial champion. This is the problem we have at this moment. We have champions — but not serial champions.”
Has he just noticed that Chelsea are not Real Madrid?
But has the Sun been a tad selective in editing Mourinho’s quotes before Chelsea’s Champions’ League match with Porto? These are the same words in more context:
“There are two sorts of champions. There are those who win something, and there are lots of them. But there are the other champions who, during their career, win one, two, three, four, five, 10 or 20 titles. In this club we have 25 champions from last year, but serial champions in this squad? John Terry, Jon Mikel [Obi] and [Branislav] Ivanovic are serial champions. Almost every season they have something in the pocket. But how many other serial champions do we have?
“Last year we were champions, but the point for me is are we serial champions? Of course it’s very difficult to win every season, but you can be a serial champion in your approach and your attitude. If we fight every minute of every game and in the end someone has two more points, then we don’t go from champions to losers. Not at all. If you lose the Champions League final to Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich you are not a loser. Mentally I can say I am a serial champion. I can be five or 10 years without winning a title, but I will still be a serial champion in my approach and my attitude. This is the problem we have at this moment. We have champions, but not serial champions.
“Nobody understood it but when the Arsenal fans were singing against Chelsea last week and I was tapping my arm, I was saying: ‘Look at the shirts.’ We have the [golden] Premier League badge on our shirts because we’re champions. But one thing is to be champion once and another is the mentality. I don’t demand that they’re champions every season. In England that’s impossible, especially at Chelsea because when we win the title it’s the end of the world and nobody [outside the club] is happy. But you can be a serial champion in your attitude. And for me that’s the point.”
Is Mourinho obsessed by Arsenal, softening his attitude to the Gunners’ manager Arsene Wenger, for whom he told us going ten years without winning the title – finishing runners-up to Barcelona in the Champions’ League final – is not a sign of a “winning mentality”, but of being a “specialist in failure”? Is Jose now envious of Wenger?
More Mourinho news in the Mail, which thunders: “Chelsea players must improve or I’ll play the kids, insists Jose Mourinho.” Can it be that having attacked Wenger, referees, the club doctor and The Press, Mourinho has turned on his team?
No. Of course not. What he said was:
“…if the season becomes ‘closed’ and we can’t win trophies, I will go just with the kids instead. It makes no sense to play the older players when you have nothing to win. There can be a moment where I will look to the kids and say: ‘Let’s go, non-stop.’ I am ruthless. But at the moment, everything is open.”
Mourinho is not a manger known for giving the kids a chance. But you know who is…
Posted: 29th, September 2015 | In: Chelsea, Sports | Comment (1)
Liverpool: Klopp says ‘come and get me’ but only if you change
Is the next Liverpool manager to be Jurgen Klopp? If it is then changes will need to be made says the Daily Mail:
Klopp will only take Liverpool job if transfer committee is scrapped
Joe Bernstein writes:
Jurgen Klopp would demand the end of Liverpool’s transfer committee if he is to succeed Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool manager.
That’s not exactly new news is it. Back in May, the Metro said the same thing:
The German would demand FSG remove the current four-man committee that decide which players Liverpool decide to buy or sell, leaving Klopp himself to have more influence on the club’s transfer targets.
But is that even correct? In August Klopp said he wasn’t keen on doing transfers:
“The Premier League is very exciting. And we do not only think about the top four because there are some other great clubs below them. In Germany there is a clear separation between manager and sporting director and I think in principle this is very good. Jürgen does not like to speak to players’ agents or to carry out a transfer. So we have to see which is the most useful arrangement.”
But none of it matters because Liverpool don’t want Klopp. talkSport told us that:
Such are the facts in the mainstream media.
Posted: 28th, September 2015 | In: Liverpool, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Chelsea: Garth Crooks, Juan Mata’s Manchester United magic, Mourinho’s shame
In the haste to pile in on Chelsea, BBC pundit Garth Crooks salutes Manchester United’s Juan Mata. He’s the Spaniard United bought from Chelsea for a then club record fee of £37.1 million in January 2014. For that much cash, it should not come as too much of a shock to realise that Mata is pretty good at football. And he’s been pretty good for some time – Chelsea signed him from Valencia for £23.5 million in August 2011.
Here’s Crooks:
It is with some irony that I find Chelsea struggling at one end of the table and Manchester United on top.
Irony?
It would be remiss of me not to mention Juan Mata at this point; the man who Mourinho couldn’t wait to get out of the revolving door at Stamford Bridge.
The man they sold for a record fee.
It has been Mata’s consistent performances for the Red Devils under Louis van Gaal that have helped transform their season. Mata was instrumental in United’s victory over Sunderland and should they win the title, his departure could prove to be Mourinho’s final embarrassment.
Er, Garth, mate, Chelsea won the Premier League title last year. Mata’s United finished fourth. the year before, United finished in seventh with Chelsea in third.
Posted: 28th, September 2015 | In: Chelsea, manchester united | Comment
Arsenal: new chant of the year hymns Laurent Koscielny
Arsenal fans have a new chant for Laurent Koscielny, the club’s French defender.
To the tune of Rufus and Chaka Khan hit Ain’t Nobody:
Ain’t nobody
Like KOSCIELNY
Makes me happy
Makes me feel this way
Nice.
Posted: 28th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Sports | Comment
Chelsea: Diego Costa dreams of being a Welsh rugby player
Compare and contrast the Daily Mirror’s reporting on Chelsea FC’s Diego Costa and his on-field battle with Arsenal to the England v Wales game at the rugby World Cup:
Costa is a “CON MAN”, who got away with argy-bargy because the referee failed to spot the obvious and then sent off Arsenal’s Gabriel for the miniscule. Costa, says the Mirror, is a “cheat”:
A few days later and England take on Wales at the rugby World Cup. The match momentarily boils over. Collars are lifted. Bodies pile in. But this is not cheating. This is passion and desire to win.
Didn’t Diego Costa also just want to win?
Posted: 28th, September 2015 | In: Chelsea, Reviews, Sports | Comment
