Three and in – not just another football blog

It really was interesting to read Sam Allardyce after his Blackburn team had been involved in a robust encounter with Greek side AEK Athens. He said:

I was very, very surprised and I’m very, very sad that tackles like that were going in. People say and talk about the physical game of the Premier League but we don’t go around tackling players like that. Rather than playing football, they were intent on stopping our best player which meant it got a little heated at times.

For as long as anyone can remember Allardyce’s teams have been physical, never ones to shirk a tackle, and have quite deliberately engaged in spoiling tactics. When faced with better opposition the first tactic is to stop them playing, through constant fouls, tight marking on the best players, and they certainly have no compunction about crossing the line when it comes to making tackles.

And it works for him. Nobody liked playing Bolton, nobody likes playing Blackburn now. They use their physicality to win points. I don’t like it but I’m not here to complain, merely to point out that Allardyce can’t expect other teams not to employ the same tactics. He’s in no position whatsoever to criticise if they do.

That it was a pre-season friendly is irrelevant. If you live by the sword, and all that.

Since acquiring a controlling interest in West Ham United, messrs Gold and Sullivan (a two-headed monster dubbed Gollivan by The Guardian’s Fiver) have courted media attention at every turn. Whether publicly admonishing the team or declaring their intentions to sign David Beckham, they’ve made their presence felt at every possible opportunity.

At the moment they’re up in arms about Tottenham Hotspur’s bid to sign captain Scott Parker. Towards the back end of last season, in a typically headline-grabbing moment, Gollivan declared that the entire West Ham squad was available for transfer – with the exception of Parker. When Spurs’ bid arrived, David Sullivan was quick to make clear that they were barking up the most unwelcoming of trees:

“I made a promise that I would not sell Scott and I will not, for any amount of money, break that promise to the West Ham supporters.

This is a new era. We are building a bigger, better West Ham and when we make a promise, we honour it.”

A reddening Sullivan added that he was “very angry with Harry, Daniel [Levy, the Tottenham chairman] and Spurs”.  Harry Redknapp, that most experienced wheeler-dealers, has reacted swiftly to the rebuttal:

“You can make an offer for a player if you want to. You can make an offer for anybody. I’m sure the chairman must have got some encouragement or he wouldn’t have made an offer.”

A fair point, but Redknapp still had a further knockout blow up his sleeve:

“Who made it public that we made an offer?”

That, Gollivan, is check-mate.

If your sole desire was to keep Scott Parker at the club, you would never have mentioned Spurs’ bid to the press.  It would have been dismissed, via fax, and never spoken of again.  Instead, the West Ham owners couldn’t resist the opportunity to swagger and posture before their new fans.

In many respects they’re making the situation worse.  Arsenal made a similar statement in regard to Cesc Fabregas, but that was only in the face of an extraordinary amount of media speculation.  Gollivan’s actions are due to be the catalyst to an ongoing tabloid saga that will almost certainly end with Scott Parker becoming unsettled.  This is certainly Parker’s last chance to play in the Champions League, and Spurs are reportedly the club he supported as a boy.  It is guaranteed their interest will prick his ears.

Sullivan and Gold’s ‘openness’ with the media is what made Gianfranco Zola’s position as West Ham manager untenable.  What an irony it would be if that same ‘openness’ cost the Hammers their best player, as well as forcing Gollivan in to the most embarrassing climbdown since Edmund Hillary realised he’d forgotten the flag.

Interesting comments from Wigan Chairman Dave Whelan about a ‘footballer’s passport’ system. No, not the kind Carlos Vela misplaces meaning he misses important European games, but one with details about a player’s career and past. Whelan says:

I do think every footballer should have a ‘passport’, a record of any injuries he has sustained in the game and if he has got a criminal record. That should be on his passport and that should be available to any club and any manager who’s going to sign that player.

If you’re signing a player and he’s got an injury and it’s not disclosed, I think that’s illegal and it should be disclosed. It’s exactly the same with a criminal record. There’s so much money changing hands – when I paid £3m for Marlon King, I think we should have had all the information that was available on injuries and criminal records.

I’m unsure about the criminal record side of things but a list of a player’s injuries is certainly worth looking at. If clubs had full access to a player’s medical records it would help them decide whether or not they wanted to go ahead with a deal for a player, whether the deal on the table was value for money, and there may well be a benefit to the player too.

Rosicky's visa was denied

How many times have we seen a professional who has struggled with injury at one club only to go elsewhere and be ‘cured’. A full history might well enable another medical team to spot an underlying cause to a player’s injury problems, in which case they might take a gamble on a signing that otherwise they would turn down.

Then you look at situations like Owen Hargreaves at Manchester United. He had long been on Ferguson’s radar but Bayern had always knocked them back. All of a sudden they were happy to sell and the rumours that they knew how chronic Hargreaves’ knee problems were before they sold him to United don’t seem at all far-fetched. United knew he had issues but I doubt they knew as much as Bayern.

Any player who joins a new club undergoes a medical. These are rarely failed even by players with chronic, consistent injury problems. How thorough are they? How honest are players when asked if something hurts when they’re on the verge of joining a new club with a signing on fee and nice new, most likely improved, wages?

A full medical history, detailing every treatement and diagnosis made about a player throughout his career, will lead to greater transparency when making transfers and clubs will get better deals. They won’t have players signing long-term deals who spend most of their time on the treatment table.

It’s not great for clubs who want to sell but it works both ways and that’s why they have such high cost insurance policies for their players. It might be a bit Big Brother, it might be a bit like your pet’s vaccination card, but we’re talking about athletes who cost millions in transfer fees and wages.

None of us would buy a second hand car without a full look at the service history, why do we expect football clubs to make massive purchases without the same kind of information?

Thoughts?

So the Argentine Football Association had to go and spoil everyone’s fun by announcing the end of Diego Maradona’s reign as national coach.  The circus will not come to Brazil 2014.

In an tournament where many of the most heralded players failed to turn up, Maradona proved to be the star of South Africa 2010 from the sidelines.  His shabby suit, touchline histrionics and unpredictable selections both baffled and amused, whilst the sheer force of his personality (plus a little help from Lionel Messi) looked at once stage as if it might propel Argentina all the way to the trophy.  Sadly, it wasn’t to be.  Argentina were undone by Germany, and Maradona said goodbye to South Africa.  He’s now departed the world of international football, leaving behind him a trail of weeping fans, clamouring reporters, and unbelievable anecdotes.

It does leave you wondering what Maradona will choose to do with the remainder of his life.  He’s only 49 – managing Argentina at a World Cup was probably the pinnacle of his non-playing career.  So what next for Diego?

TV Presenter
In 2005, Maradona achieved critical acclaim in Argentina for presenting ‘El Noche del 10′ – a show that saw him interview Zidane, Mike Tyson, and Pele among others.  With the BBC looking to replace Wossy, Maradona is believed to have joined Patrick Kielty and Paddy McGuinness among the front-runners.  Imagine his banter with Four Poofs & A Piano.

Politics
Maradona’s commitment to the leftist cause is strong.  He’s pals with Fidel Castro – but not many of us also have our pals’ face tattooed on to our leg.  He’s also chummy with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and said on Chavez’s own tv station in 2007:

“I hate everything that comes from the United States.  I hate it with all my strength.  Especially Landon Donovan.”

I may have made the last part of that up.  But it seems likely.

Religious deity
You may think it’s 2010.  You’re wrong: according to the Church of Maradona we’re currently in the Year 49 DD – después de Diego.  The church was founded in 1998 in Rosario.  Their ten commandments, in all seriousness, are as follows:

1. The ball must not be stained, as D10S has proclaimed
2. Love football over all things
3. Declare your unconditional love of football
4. Defend the colours of Argentina
5. Preach the words of D10S all over the world
6. Pray in the temples where he preached and on his sacred mantles
7. Dont proclaim the name of Diego in name of an only club.
8. Follow the teachings of the Maradonian Church
9. Let Diego be thy name, and thy one of your children
10. “No ser cabeza de termo y que no se te escape la tortuga.” (Meaning “don’t be a hothead and don’t let the turtle escape you”)

Above all, never let the turtle escape you.  Rumours that Krang and Shredder were members of the Iglesia Maradoniana are as yet unconfirmed.

Football management
Many thought Argentina would embarrass themselves in South Africa, but their passage to the quarter-finals was relatively serene.  Granted, they have an incredibly talented squad, though there are many managers who specialise in motivating players who don’t require much technical improvement.  Maradona could certainly earn a few quid coaching in the middle east (the MLS is probably out of the question), but I wonder if an Argentina club side – his beloved Boca, for example – might also consider gambling on the madman turned entrenador.

Perhaps he’ll elect to simply bide his time and wait for the AFA’s call.  There is a sense of unfinished business about Maradona’s time with Argentina.  If things go badly for the new coach there, if the country needs a lift, then there’s only one man they can turn to.  A man who loves football over all things, and who never lets the turtle escape him: Diego Maradona.

—

Your own suggestions for Diego are welcome.  Though I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to pass them on.

Every week Lawrence Gray-Hodson, a man who made his name in the upper reaches of Division 2 in the 1970s and 80s as well as being a former Scotland and England international, writes a column exclusively for Threeandin.

This week he looks at Sol Campbell’s decision to join Newcastle and dares to think the unthinkable.

–

I wasn’t at all surprised that Sol Campbell joined Newcastle United. They’re a great club who can offer him more football than he would likely have gotten at Arsenal once Arsene Wenger signs a 19 year old Botswananian to shore up his defence. There was probably the issue of money too. I know Sol a little through some contacts in the game and while he’s always been ambitious he’s had a pathological need to earn as much money as possible.

The story goes, apocalyptic though it might be, that during a card game during his time at Spurs he forced Justin Edinburgh into betting his own house on a hand of poker. Sol won and before they’d even got back to White Hart Lane on the team bus he’d had his advisors put it on the market … while his teammate’s kids were still inside!

Yet at his age money shouldn’t be the deciding factor, it should be about how many games he’s going to play and how realistic the chance of a trophy is. You hear footballers all the time talking about how they just love to play but really it’s about medals. You want to be able to turn up to an after-dinner event and know that if the other ex-pro at the table is a bit of a Tim Sherwood you can throw out the ‘Show us your medals’ line. I include my Player of the Month awards in my trophy haul.

So what chance does Sol Campbell have of winning anything at Newcastle? A flukey FA Cup maybe, but that’s the kind of long shot even Ronnie Radford wouldn’t put money on. Can Newcastle ever win the Premier League? Not in my lifetime, not even if I live to be the same age as Moses or George Burns.

Niall Quinn in a Toon shirt

Then I got to thinking about Newcastle’s rivals Sunderland. They’re the same. They’ll never, ever win the league. What kind of an existence is that for a football club when you think about it? Going into each season just to make up the numbers. You might get the odd result against one of the ‘big’ teams, or a derby win, but if that’s the extent of your club’s ability you have to wonder what’s the point. Average clubs with average players playing average games in front of fans who have become so used to average that anything slightly above average is seen as wonderful when, in fact, it’s just a bit better than average.

But what if you could change things? What if, and hear me out here before you ‘go postal’ or call me a flamer, clubs like Newcastle and Sunderland, who have no chance of winning the league, combined their resources to make a new north-east superclub that could challenge the Uniteds and Chelseas and Arsenals?

Sundercastle. Newland. Let’s face it, they could even rope in Middlesboro and call themselves Sundercastle Boro. Build one giant stadium in the middle of all of them and you’re onto a serious winner. We know the fans in the north-east are brilliant. St James’s Park was packed even when Newcastle languished in the lower divisions. Add the Mackems and the Boro boys and you’ve immediately multiplied your fan base by quite a lot indeed.

‘What about the rivalry?’, I hear you cry. ‘How can fans who sing songs about cutting each other up into pieces with machetes and feasting on their remains put all that to one side?’.

I admit, it won’t be easy, but it can be done. If protestors and catholics can live in peace and harmony in Northern Ireland then why can’t Newcastle and Sunderland fans become one behind a team which is in the Champions League every season? It might take a generation or two but after Sundercastle Boro have won the league for the fifth consecutive season and when the management team of Kevin Keegan and Don Hutchison are being held aloft at the Greggs Angel of the North Stadium will anybody be complaining? I don’t think so.

Ian Rush scores for Everton!

And this really is something other teams in other cities should be looking at, hard as it might be to stomach. The financial realities of the modern game are such that a club like Barcelona, which has won almost every trophy it competed for in the last few years, has to borrow money to pay its cleaning ladies and players. So what about a club like Liverpool which, despite its rich history, hasn’t won the league since 1990. That’s nine years before Prince.

Wouldn’t the combined Scouse power of Liverton or Everpool give those fans a better chance of enjoying some success instead of mid-table mediocrity. How can you reasonably expect people in this day and age, when times are so tight, to keep going to games and paying good money to watch a team which cannot possibly win the competition they’re in? Fans are loyal but only to a point. Real fans aren’t content with 11 guys just turning up, real fans demand success and trophies.

Birmingham Villa. West Ham Hotspur. Close neighbours like Watford and Luton could become the Wuton Clan. Even the south-coast would be better with one good team, a Porthampton perhaps, than two teams who simply can’t survive in the modern game and are forced to play YTS lads who bring you nothing but relegation. It’s just common sense and I’m told that quite a few Premier League chairmen have discussed this very thing over secret lunches in the Dorchester.

I know this idea is sure to be unpopular. Fans are tribal. But when two tribes go to war a point is all that can you score.

Wouldn’t one tribe and three points be a much better idea?

A screenshot of the Portsmouth website, listing their first team squad.

The Championship season kicks off in 12 days. Fly keeper?

Great idea this, with even the biggest clubs feeling the pinch, your local team could do with the support.

With England playing the night before and the Premier League and Championship taking a week off, I urge all fans of the big clubs to get out and watch their local non-league team instead on SATURDAY 4 SEPTEMBER.

Given the current financial climate, clubs outside the Football League need all the support they can get so your presence at a game will be genuinely appreciated.

There are more details on this Facebook event page. Spread the word.

It’s an impressive list of honours: two Premier League titles, an FA and League Cup, two appearances in the PFA Team of the Year, and 84 caps for France.  32 is no age for a centre-half.  And his fee?  Absolutely nothing.

And yet William Gallas cannot find himself a club.

Arsenal lost two French defenders on the Bosman ruling this summer.  Both are yet to sign on elsewhere.  In the case of Mikael Silvestre, who spent most of his time in London looking like Fergie’s rogue agent, this is no surprise.  Gallas, however, is a different case.  He has undoubted pedigree, and last season showed his best form in an Arsenal shirt.

Still, a policy is a policy, and Arsene Wenger refused to offer him anything more than a year’s contract, as is customary when a player hits 30.  Gallas preferred to try his luck elsewhere.  It was to be his last move, and he and his agent probably expected the offers to flood in.

Early rumours linked him with Europe’s glamour clubs: Real Madrid, Juventus and Roma.  The most recent stories off the press see him being snubbed by Panathanaikos and offering his services to Celtic.  Whilst we can doubt the veracity of those articles, we can’t doubt that Gallas’ stock appears to be falling rapidly.

What’s putting off potential buyers?  It could be his wage demands – at Arsenal he was earning some £80,000 p/week.  A two year deal would be a risk – Gallas struggled with injuries last season and would be almost 35 at the end of any such contract.

Perhaps the biggest factor is the Frenchman’s personality.  Despite somehow managing to keep his mouth shut last season, Gallas’ time at Arsenal was chequered at best – there was his famous strop at Birmingham, followed by the outburst which saw him stripped of the Arsenal captaincy.  Unless a favourable offer arrives soon, Gallas might soon wish he’d accepted the short-term contract back at the club where he became a captain and then a pariah.

It’s hard to imagine Raul in anything other than the white of Real Madrid but after 323 goals in 741 games at the Bernebeu he’s announced his departure. He says his future lies in Germany or England and Schalke are supposedly favourites, but he could definitely do a job in England. Any one of these clubs could use him.

1 – Liverpool: Another free signing would suit the budget and let’s face it, Liverpool need a striker. Perhaps the arrival of Spanish legend might just convince Torres he should stay and try and get Liverpool back into the Champions League.

2 – Spurs: Harry Redknapp might have ruled out a move for him already but we all know what Harry says and what Harry does are often very different. If they get through their qualifying round Raul’s Champions League experience could be a godsend.

3 – Man United: He might be slowing down but with the kind of service he’d get at Old Trafford he’d still score goals. Decent insurance while we wait and see if Michael Owen can stay fit (hah!) or Javier Hernandez can make the step up to the Premier League.

4 – West Ham: They tried to sign Thierry Henry, Sullivan and Gold clearly have plenty of cash to throw around on wages, and Raul would get plenty of football. Would have to face the stiff challenge of Luis Boa Morte though.

5 – Man City: Hey, they seem to be signing every other striker in Europe. It’d be rude if they didn’t at least try.

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Raul at Madrid.

A new signing is supposed to be greeted with elation, excitement, and pointless speculation about what squad number he might wear.  It’s a moment when the optimistic and the disgruntled can unite to celebrate the warm fuzzy novelty of a new face, who is surely bound to be better than last season’s dross, purely on account of his newness.  Look at the Olympiakos fans: over 1000 of them flocked to Athens airport yesterday to greet Albert Riera.  Delirium over the disappointingly average is what typifies transfer windows.

Imagine the disappointment on Steve Bruce’s pumpkin-like face then, when he presented Sunderland fans with his latest addition.  No cartwheels, no confetti, no commemorative enamel badges.  Instead, he was audibly booed during Sunderland’s friendly with Brighton.  This, I suppose, is what happens when you sign Titus Bramble.

Bramble’s signing will be difficult to swallow for Sunderland fans, who enjoyed his calamitous spell at Newcastle more than most.  People sometimes talk about defender’s having a potential mistake “in their locker”.  Bramble hasn’t got a locker.  He’s got a garage.  And it’s overflowing.

Bruce knew there might be a backlash. He’s taken a leap of faith that might land him in as prickly a situation as Bramble’s name evokes.

“Look, I thought long and hard about signing Titus, long and hard. I knew it might be a difficult one for Sunderland fans – and a difficult one for him. But the great thing is that the lad has plenty of bottle – he wanted to come here. He wants to play for me and for Sunderland and I feel sure Sunderland fans will recognise that and give him a fair crack of the whip. At the end of the day Sunderland fans want the same as me and the same as Titus Bramble, which is success for the club.”

Maybe Sunderland fans ought to give Bramble a chance: as gambles go, this isn’t an expensive one.  Bramble’s fee is mooted to be somewhere between £750k and £1m.  Sunderland’s pride might be hit, but their pocket won’t be.

In his time at Wigan, Bramble twice won Player of the Year awards.  Bruce contends:

“Titus’s problem has always been his concentration levels but we improved them out of sight at Wigan and he’s big, strong, powerful with two good feet. The easiest thing would have been not to sign him and to avoid any hassle, but I think he’s a player who can genuinely improve us.”

It’s easy to see it from Bruce’s perspective.  Having been quoted a fee of £7m for John Mensah, a player who makes Ledley King look like Bruce Willis in Unbreakable, he’s now been able to snatch a player he feels he can rely on for a fraction of the price.  How many English centre-halves in the peak of their career can you buy for £1m?

Bramble’s reputation precedes him, but it doesn’t necessarily remain fair.  Redemption and praise from Sunderland fans – those who taunted him most – would be worth the world to him.  Now he simply has to earn it.  And if he can’t concentrate on that, then I’m not sure what he’s doing being a footballer.