Our first concern with regards to footballers is how good they are, but second is whether they’re decent blokes or not. While we may not have met the stars of the Premier League, we feel as though we know them to some extent and thus have a decent idea as to whether they’d be the kind of person you’d want to go for a pint with.
In the Football Fans Survey 2011 here on FootballFanCast.com we asked you who you’d like to go with a pint with and the results are in! Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs won the vote, which is somewhat surprising seeing as the Welshman has steered clear of drink in order to have an extended career, but I’m sure he’d have plenty of great stories to tell. Giggs beat football funny man Jimmy Bullard, while almost a quarter of us would be happy to have a drink with anyone who’s buying!
That brings us on to footballers that we’d least like to go for a pint with. Rangers’ El Hadji Diouf won this award with 30% of the vote and I’m sure a fair few Celtic fans must have chosen the player who is renowned for spitting now and again. He beat Gary Neville into second place, whose hatred of Liverpool, Manchester City and generally any team other than Man United probably made his position well-earned, while Steven Gerrard and Newcastle bad boy Joey Barton were the also-rans in this vote. Do you agree with these selections?
To see the rest of the results from the Football Fans Survey 2011, brought to you by ZOO Magazine and FootballFanCast.com, click here
Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes is not fussed who his side face in the Champions League quarter-finals.The draw for the last eight will be made on Friday, which could pit the Catalan giants against the likes of Chelsea or Manchester United, or Bundesliga mid-table outfit Schalke.But Valdes said he had no preference about who Barcelona’s opposition will be, while remaining hopeful that his side can clinch three trophies this season.”Whatever team we have to face, it will be very hard,” Valdes said.”I don’t have any preference for any team. I hope that we go through, and whoever it is will be our next opponent.””We are in the cup final, and we are still able to win all three competitions, so I am not ruling anything out.”Valdes is on the comeback trail after a knee injury sidelined him for three weeks and admitted although he is still having some issues, it is not causing him serious discomfort.”I am fine. We did a good job with my recovery and even though there are some niggles, it isn’t a big problem,” he said.The Spanish custodian also praised the players of arch-rivals Real Madrid, who paid tribute to Barca defender Eric Abidal on Wednesday night after their 3-0 second-leg win against Lyon. Abidal was diagnosed with cancer this week and Valdes said the gesture was greatly appreciated by his team-mates.”I think that it is a non-sporting injury, so it is above any sporting rivalry,” he said.”We as team-mates are grateful for all the support that he has received, and the love being shown for Abidal by everybody. Not just from the fans, but from everyone.”
Manchester United’s win over Chelsea at Old Trafford means the ‘T’ word is still being muttered somewhat less tentatively by many of the United faithful. The Reds may not have been firing on all cylinders for most of the season but there’s little denying they’ve hit top form at just the right time.
Throughout the campaign though we’ve heard pundit after pundit mention the same names when talking of why United are still in the hunt for the top three honours. Rooney, Nani, Berbatov, Chicharito and Vidic have been the usual suspects when it comes to receiving the accolades. Yet one man consistently rises to the occasion and seems to have made the term ‘big game player’ practically his exclusive nickname. Ji-Sung Park has for a number of years now been one of the real stars at Old Trafford always putting in a shift and weighing in with some important goals.
Who can forget his goal against Chelsea in the 2007-08 season which gave United a valuable point at Stamford Bridge- one which would turn out to be vital. Two seasons ago his goal against Arsenal at the Emirates helped United progress past the semi final stage in the Champions League.
Last season his winner against Liverpool may not have mattered in terms of the title race, but just imagine how disappointed we’d have been had the Scousers been the reason we failed to win that elusive 19th title. Then there’s his goal against the Gunners in the league at Old Trafford which was not just one of the best headers I’ve seen at The Theatre of Dreams but also made sure Arsenal didn’t gain a valuable point in the title race.
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The game against Chelsea at Old Trafford was one where you could take your pick from seven or eight United players who each had a good claim for Man of the Match. Giggs, Rooney, Carrick, Nani, Chicharito and the left footed Rio Ferdinand were all contenders, but for me Park stole the show. His goal and performance against Chelsea was yet another example of why Park’s so important to United’s success.
It seems the media are finally beginning to recognise just how good the South Korean is. The match reports were full of praise for Park’s efforts…
The Telegraph: “Laid down a marker by dispossessing Cole and launching an attack inside the opening five minutes. Tenacious and disciplined throughout, the Korean deserved his goal.”
Manchester Evening News: “Tireless performer who makes up in industry what he lacks in creativity and a goal to boot.”
The Mirror: “Played with typical industry and commitment, receiving a cut above his left eye from a clash with Terry for his fearless exploits.”
The Mail: “The Man Fergie looks to in the big games didn’t let him down. solid in defence and purposeful in attack. Park was faultless.”
ESPN:“Park once again showed why he is Sir Alex Ferguson’s first choice when it comes to the important games. Never stopped running and was rewarded for his efforts when Giggs picked him out with a sublime pass, which he finished with aplomb.”
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It seems the media are only reiterating what United fans have known for years, it’s not just because he’s got a funny chant that his name’s always echoes round Old Trafford. Ji-Sung Park Redflagflyinghigh salutes you sir.
Read more of Justin’s articles at RedFlagFlyingHigh.com
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Listen to the first episode of our brand new podcast – The Football FanCast. Featuring Razor Ruddock, Gary O’Reilly and Toploader’s Dan Hipgrave makes a special appearance!
Walter Mazzarri knows his Napoli team must win all five of their remaining Serie A matches if they are to overhaul league leaders AC Milan.Napoli suffered a damaging 2-1 defeat at home to Udinese last Sunday, allowing Milan to extend their lead to six points.
The outcome of the title race is now out of Napoli’s hands, with only a major slip-up from Milan able to re-open the contest.
Rather than worry about their Scudetto rivals, Mazzarri insists his players will be focusing on taking the maximum number of points possible from their final fixtures.
“We mustn’t do any calculation,” Mazzarri said.
“I have always said that we need to look forward.”
“I have tried to isolate the team from the pressure. If we play like Napoli, we won’t have any problems otherwise we can always risk something.”
“I am convinced that we can give performances like our best this season, hopefully with a little extra luck. I want the maximum in every game.”
Napoli visit Palermo on Saturday, where a tough contest is to be expected against the eighth-placed team at the Stadio Renzo Barbera.
“We have five finals,” Mazzarri said of the run-in.
“We will give 130 per cent and we need to keep playing this way until the end.”
A couple of years ago I stumbled upon Twitter. At first I wasn’t particularly impressed, it seeming little more than a never-ending list of Facebook-like status updates. But the more I delved in, the more it made sense. It would change everything for those that write about sport, or anything for that matter, both professional and amateur alike.Unlike Facebook, it allowed us to view the rich and famous up close and personal. It has allowed greater discourse too, which can be a good or bad thing depending on the discussion. It also allowed us to see how those that write about football operated, and has given a much greater insight into their style and more interestingly, their debating style! In addition it has allowed me to talk to other fans about games and incidents and players more than ever before, and is the go-to place for breaking news of any type.
The nature of sports writing has changed over the last decade or so, evolving as it always has, but at an even greater pace than before. News is now instant, and for us amateurs, writing has moved away from now-struggling fanzines to utilising the internet, where news and opinions can be published instantly, without any fear of being out of date, with the added advantage of the right to reply. For the professionals, slowly but surely virtually every football journalist has joined Twitter, and on the whole, embraced it. Twitter has made the discourse between fans and those who write about the beautiful game much greater. In the old days you had a faceless name to direct your ire at. Now you can discuss articles, games and anything else that takes your fancy with just about anyone.
It is a great tool, THE greatest in fact, for getting exposure for your writing. If my article is retweeted an average of 25 times, then it becomes viewable in hundreds of thousands of twitter feeds, and can get over 20,000 page views. In the old days that figure would have been close to zero. Like any social networking tool,, it has its downfalls. The Daily Mail is too busy blaming Facebook for all of the world’s evils right now, but it can only be a matter of time before they turn their attention to Twitter. Before you know it, it will give you cancer, lead to a fall in house prices and cause a huge flood of illegal immigrants. Enjoy it while you can.
What it actually leads to right now is an awful lot of arguments. We football fans are sensitive souls, and will jump on anything we see as an attack on our club. Paranoia is how the football writers see it. Many journalists deserve it – I can say without any bias and prejudice that one particular broadsheet writer is nothing more than a Manchester United PR tool, and misses no opportunity to have a dig at Manchester City. Most journalists though are simply doing their job, and are very approachable. But if the internet has taught us one thing, is that any one incident can garner a huge spectrum of opinions, so there will always be someone getting abuse for something they have written. If I can get slated for not putting Suarez in my Premiership Team Of The Year, then more contentious issues are going to result in some serious fall-outs.
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But predictably many fans consider journalists as biased against their club, perhaps having an agenda. This is an overreaction on the whole of course, but it must be hard to write totally impartially when you are a fan yourself, as most journalists must surely be. I once asked a variety of journalists if they could write impartially, and all but one said it was not a problem. One tabloid writer said it was impossible not to have some prejudices. Either way, a lot of writers spend most of their twitter time batting away criticism and abuse from people upset by what they have read. The block option is their most useful tool.
I am no angel in this respect. I have had a real go at quite a few journalists (and Stan Collymore) for the disgraceful reporting and hatchet job done on Nigel De Jong after a legitimate tackle on Ben Arfa that resulted in a broken leg, and also for some of the disgraceful writing on City’s owners over the past 30 months or so. But that is different to abuse, and I hope I didn’t step over any lines – the nature of twitter means that arguments must be concise and to the point – this is one of its greatest merits, but it can lead to being misinterpreted sometimes. From the journalists’ aspect, they are not helped by the fact that the most outrage at articles from fans often revolves around an inflammatory headline rather than the article itself, and this is the work of a sub-editor not bound by strict accuracy laws when devising the header for the piece.
And it doesn’t take much for a journalist to upset someone. Only this week the Daily Mirror writer David McDonnell got a whole lot of flak for mentioning briefly in a mainly positive match report that Manchester City’s Poznan celebration has been “shamelessly stolen” from, obviously, Lech Poznan. Perhaps not the best words to use, as David later admitted on Twitter, but of such irrelevance it does not merit a slanging match. There’s no pleasing some. And journalists get it easy compared to footballers. It was well documented how Darren Gibson left Twitter after only 2 hours because of the abuse he got, and only this week Kevin Davies has gone too, for similar reasons. Twitter is a snapshot of the world as a whole, and thus will never be perfect.
In many respects, Twitter and the internet as whole have caused endless problems to the newspapers. Neil Custis at the Sun is not overly enamoured with Twitter, namely the effect it has on newspaper sales by breaking news immediately online (and linking to the paper story) rather than holding back so that the news is read first the next morning by newspaper purchasers, as it always used to be. This is a rather archaic view of the world, as the world wide web does not allow for any secrets to be kept, and every journalist wants to be first with breaking news. If he or she does not report it immediately, someone else will, and everyone will know the full story by the next morning anyway.
Journalists and their editors have adapted of course to the move to online websites, where the news can be viewed, usually for free. And in my opinion, the move to online content, by being free to all, becomes about getting hits on the website, an unfortunate consequence of this sometimes being an even greater sensationalist style of writing, and an overly critical viewpoint to garner hits – as I found when I wrote an article not entirely complimentary about Soccer Saturday, getting slated and upsetting people seems the easiest way to get hits on your article (not that I wrote about Jeff Stelling and co. for that reason). Of course, the other side of the coin is that because Twitter has increased communication between fans and writers, then this makes journalists more accountable, and perhaps less willing to enrage or appear controversial. I guests it changes from one writer to the next, and also on the who they work for.
Not all journalists have embraced it, seeing it as pointless, and the odd one has come and gone.
One esteemed journalist who shall remain nameless told me:
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“I’ve given up because it was too time-consuming. I got into some quite enjoyable debates, but football’s my job, not a hobby. Be different if there was money in it.”
You’ve got to admire his honesty.
But for me, as a blogger and as a football fan, Twitter has been a great experience. And many journalists have helped that experience. I have had the Daily Mirror and Daniel Taylor at the Guardian retweet articles, have had some great discussions about the trivial through to the serious, from Alex Ferguson media blackouts to dirty tackles, to Arab owners, to Munich chants, through to being called paranoid by Barry Glendenning at the Guardian. Bloggers, podcasters, charity walkers/runners and fans alike have all benefited from exposure from journalists and from the greater openness that Twitter has produced. Long may it continue.
The Daily Mail has reported that there is a fresh twist in the race to sign Alexis Sanchez as Real Madrid has entered the race. Manchester City was the first club to show an interest – but there has been news over the last few days of Manchester United coming in with a £18m offer. But the fact that the player’s representatives held talks with Real Madrid will a blow to both Manchester clubs.
The lure of playing for Real Madrid may be too tempting for Sanchez – but the situation will delight Udinese, because they can now expect a bidding war for their star player. The Italian club are already resigned to losing their star player – but they are holding out for a fee in the region of £32m.
Sanchez has the ability to play wide as a winger or up front in a striking role. There have been comparisons made with Cristiano Ronaldo due to the player’s exceptional dribbling ability, sublime ball control, quick pace and accurate crossing ability. Sanchez has had a fine season with Udinese in which he has scored 12 goals in his 27 league appearances. Sanchez has already played for his country 36 times. In the past Chelsea, Inter Milan and Liverpool have also shown interest in the player.
Like this rumour? Follow me on Twitter @jimlk2007
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It wasn’t easy, it took time and painstaking research but here it is, I have compiled a gallery of all 19 of United’s title wins!
Whilst I’m sure it was nowhere near as much work as the players did on field, this did take a fair bit of research and time and would not have been possible without the help of a number of brilliant people.
Tim & Paul from UnitedKits.com were kind enough to share pictures from their personal collections with me (they have some brilliant pictures from first team to academy spanning a number of years so be sure to contact them!)
Leslie Millman was another who was kind enough to share some of his rare pictures with me and his collection can be seen on Flickr too so be sure to have a look at that as well as he too has some brilliant pieces from the first team to the academy from Newton Heath to Manchester United.
The rest are from various random sources so if somehow I have used one of your pictures feel free to contact me for credit!
This season has been a roller coaster, from being written off early to Chelsea trying to sneak back in at the end but nevertheless it has been entertaining. Yesterday’s point against Blackburn saw us finally crowned champions and took us past Liverpool in terms of league titles so enjoy as we recount the journey to this day in pictures.
Click on Sir Alex Ferguson to unveil the 19 titles in pictures
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Article courtesyof Chudi of the excellent The Busby Way
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Current reports are suggesting that recently sacked West Ham manager, Avram Grant, may be offered a quick return to the Premiership by Chelsea, who would be willing to appoint the Israeli as director of football for the second time in four years. Having experienced varying success as a manager, Grant is interestingly the one name that always seems to be put forward when the director of football role is considered by English clubs, having also worked in the position at Portsmouth on two separate occasions.
However, Grant has never lasted more than 12 months in the position during each of his four tenures, and although he is thought of as a personable character within football’s inner circle, his lingering presence between manager and board-room undoubtedly caused conflict and controversy at both clubs. Although the merits of this system appear to benefit several teams on the continent, its application in England has continually provoked supporter unrest and inevitable managerial disputes, as the duties and responsibilities of a director of football/sporting director/technical director – or any other variation – remain ambiguous and often concealed.
Broadly speaking, a director of football is expected to conduct widespread scouting of young talent and identify specific targets based on the manager’s detailed requirements. In principle, this allows the manager to focus on technical training of his current squad whilst his superior’s sole purpose is to generate a shortlist of particular players from which the manager will likely select a transfer target. In practice, the manager’s traditional functions are diluted which usually provokes a straining in the relationship between the head coach and the club’s board, evidenced by Grant succeeding Jose Mourinho as Chelsea manager in 2007 and Paul Hart as Portsmouth manager in 2009 – just six weeks following his re-appointment as director of football at Fratton Park.
The obvious problem in both the above scenarios is that neither Mourinho nor Hart advocated Grant’s introduction, and the 56 year-olds allegiances lied with those within each club that were either responsible for administering funds or not connected with footballing development in any capacity. What’s more, Mourinho was forced to work in conjunction with Frank Arnesen – head of talent scouting – from 2005, negating the Portuguese manager’s ability to control the academy scholars, secure instant transfers, and thus leave an all-encompassing legacy but for that of trophies. In fact, the Real Madrid manager publicly denounced Arnesen’s efforts in importing foreign talent that were not of a decent enough standard, and failing to develop the existing academy to the level where graduates could be promoted to the senior squad.
The proof implies that Mourinho may have been justified in his frustrations, seeing as Arnesen oversaw the arrivals of Slobodan Rajkovic, Michael Woods, Tom Taiwo, Aliu Djalo, Jacopa Sala, Jacob Melis, Fabio Borini and Franco di Santo, who have unquestionably failed to make any impact at Stamford Bridge and were signed for significantly inflated prices. At present, Chelsea only have Josh McEachran, Jeffrey Bruma and Patrick van Aanholt pushing for first-team recognition, and a squad that contains just one graduate of the academy – John Terry – who made his professional debut nearly thirteen years ago.
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If the manager accepts that player recruitment is handled above his head, the least he should expect is for the process to be organised and more effective than had he done so himself. The Chelsea case does seem to highlight the considerable flaws within the system, as in almost every recent example of a director of football being appointed in England, the decision has been based on the chairman’s personal preference rather than the formation of a management team as selected by the individual supposedly entrusted with conditioning the club’s players to win: the manager.
This is not to say that such an arrangement couldn’t work in the Premiership, just that there are yet no illustrations of its effective usage. However, there is perhaps one spec of encouragement emanating from Merseyside which intimates that at least one Premier League side are beginning to profit from having a director of football. Last season, Liverpool chose to entice Damien Comolli, formerly considered to have failed in the post at Tottenham, to the club, to work alongside Roy Hodgson initially and now Kenny Dalglish. The foundations are in place to elevate as many academy students as possible to the first-team, as Martin Kelly and John Flanagan accomplished last term, and to identify young exciting talent from elsewhere, which the recent £20million signing of Jordan Henderson proves is much more than empty rhetoric.
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We will have to wait to see how Liverpool’s new strategy materialises, but it would appear that the Anfield outfit have implemented a player development procedure which seeks to correct the mistakes made by Portsmouth and Chelsea before them. The idea behind appointing a director of football is sensible, so long as the manager has final approval.
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UEFA president Michel Platini has criticised Europa League finalists Porto and Braga for their lack of home-grown talent.The Portuguese sides faced each other at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on May 19, with Porto winning UEFA’s second rung continental competition 1-0.
Liga Sagres champion Porto fielded just three Portuguese players in their starting line-up, while six began the match for Braga.
Both teams had a strong South American influence, with 12 players from the continent spread between the two line-ups.
Despite spending five seasons of his career playing for Juventus in Italy, Frenchman Platini is of the opinion that teams would be better served recruiting locals rather than looking outside their borders for new talent.
“I’m in favour of (local) identity,” Platini said.
“If Porto are in Portugal, they should play with Portuguese players instead of buying left, right and centre from other countries.”
“You would think that the young players from Brazil and Argentina would be better playing off in their own championships.”
Platini also criticised foreign ownership of clubs – one of the latest overseas buyouts came with the sale of Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain to the Qatari Investment Authority on May 31.
“I’m not so keen on foreign owners, but they are the laws of England and France, there’s nothing I can do,” Platini said.
“You can have an owner from Qatar, a general manager from Italy, a French coach and players from 25 countries.”
“Football has always been based on identity, regions, countries, so I’m not a great fan of this idea.”
Disgraced Argentine club River Plate could return to the top flight sooner than expected, with plans revealed to revamp Argentina’s first division.The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has announced it wants to unite the teams from the country’s top two divisions into one next year – combining all 20 from the top flight and most clubs from the second tier.
The teams are likely to be divided into regional groups, but the merger would mean the relegated giants River Plate would be back in the first division, after they dropped into Nacional B for the first time in their 110-year existence last month.
A decision on the new championship format needs to be agreed by the AFA’s executive committee, with that expected in October.
“The Argentine committee of the Argentine Football Association has decided with a majority vote – 22 in favour versus four abstentions and one absence – to look into a new tournament format project which would become valid starting in August of next year if the assembly so decides,” AFA spokesman Ernesto Cherquis Bialo said.
“It is basically the fusion of the Nacional B and the first division with relegation and the possibility that teams in the interior A could intervene with the first division.”
River will spend next season in the Nacional B division, and should they avoid finishing in the bottom two, a return to the top flight will be on the cards should the new format be voted in.