Congratulations Andy Murray

I know it's late, but better late than never, right? Well, I certainly hope so, because I must confess to being one of those who previously took Andy Murray to be a bit petulant and borish, and could never bring myself to support him completely. But now I have no choice but to admit that I was wrong - what I previously viewed as petulance, I now recognise as a burning competitive desire and a hunger to do well for his country and fans. His performances at Wimbledon this year were excellent, and his passion - now finely channeled by coach Ivan Lendl - was admirable. He's probably fed up to the back teeth with hearing about how he would have been hugely successful in any other era...so I just want to say well done for a tournament extremely well played, best of luck for future tournaments, and sorry it took me this long to become a fan. From now on, I'll be 100% behind Andy Murray...

Updated Prediction for Euro2012

Tonight, one of the teams I originally picked as favourites for the tournament will be knocked out, as Germany and Italy face each other tonight in the second semi-final tonight in Warsaw. With England having predictably been the first of my picks to get knocked out, I suspect that Italy will be the second, lacking the firepower to overcome the impressive German team. And I further suspect that Germany will spoil the hopes of Spain to achieve the impressive feat of winning three successive international tournaments over the last three years. The belief in the Spanish squad should now be strong, following their hard-fought victory over Portugal last night, and they would probably be good enough to beat the Italian team. But no team in this tournament has matched the fluency and goal-scoring power of the Germans, and it is these qualities which will (probably - just to manage expectations!) take them to the title.

Criticisms coming thick and fast for England team at 2012, but surely it's too early to judge?

My first reaction was: Really? Already? 

Seeing Roy Hodgson already being labelled as being the wrong man for the job after just one game in charge is a little hard to stomach. Is it really necessary for the UK press to round on people so quickly? That the over-quoted and tedious argument of 4-4-2 being 'too rigid' is used as one of the primary explanations behind this analysis, particularly when no-one even takes the effort to explain exactly why it is too rigid (and there are a decent number of decent reasons to those willing to expand on their arguments), preferring to just throw the phrase about as a piece of accepted wisdom, only serves to irritate further.

I know I hark on about this endlessly, but when a manager gets plunged into the deep end, with only the briefest of preparation time ahead of one of the most challenging tournaments around, is it really fair to expect a fluidity of play reminiscent of Barcelona in their pomp? Surely pragmatism is perfectly justified in such a situation and the result yesterday (with Andy Carroll more than justifying his selection) will thankfully go at least some way to silencing those critics for the moment.

And let's face it - England has never produced football teams and players of the Spanish mould, so why not concentrate on what we do best? Scandinavian teams have always been content to play to their strengths (well organised, hard working teams) and have had decent enough success doing so with much more limited resources than England has at their disposal. Do German teams seek to emulate the current world champions or simply carry on forging the best systems and teams that their own unique system can deliver? Please let's give Roy Hodgson the benefit of the doubt for the moment and analyse his performance on a more solid base of results, as that will be the only true measure of whether the culture he is creating (and he will need more time to do so) is the right one for England.

Support for future legacy tournaments

The Times also had an article (reference missing unfortunately) suggesting that in the future, countries like Poland and Ukraine shouldn't have the opportunity to create a legacy from hosting such international tournaments, based largely on the fact that the reporter had to spend the night sitting on the floor in a train. While I'm willing to grant that the logistics around this tournament are unlikely to smoothly deal with the influx of football fans - having seen first hand the pride of local fans and startling development in facilities that has been created in Poland, I'm willing to sacrifice a night of comfort of a journalist who has probably one of the most enjoyable and privileged jobs in the world, in return for this legacy (and its a rare day when I will support a decision by UEFA or FIFA!).

Euro2012 Predictions

With the first round of matches out the way, it seems like a good time to make some, most likely wildly innacurate, predictions. Here are my top 3 teams to win the tournament:

Germany - a good win against Portugal by a team largely made up of Bayern Munich players, still smarting from the Chelsea defeat in the Champions League final, suggests that this is a cohesive and driven team.

Italy - A draw against the World Champions suggest that, as with the last time that allegations of corruption erupted in Italian football, this is a team which performs best when they have their backs against the wall.

England - A selection based more on hope than judgement. Fingers crossed that the lack of weight of expectation on this England team allows them to perform to their very best.

Quote of the week

I'm not sure if this is really a quote, but I love the story of Tino Best's answerphone message (and who's counting anyway, it's not like this is a weekly column either):

This is Tino Best speaking, the fastest bowler in the world. I can't take your call right now, but I'll get back to you as soon as I've finished practising how to get faster.

International selection and availability top of the agenda

It doesn't seem to matter what the sport is - there are selection controversies affecting national coaches across the country. So let's try to break it down into manageable chunks:

Rugby

This most surprising of all twists and turns of the past week comes from Rugby Union, where former England coach Andy Farrell has resigned from Saracens. Having earlier turned down a permanent coaching post with England in order to remain with Saracens, there seems to have been a change of heart and he will now serve out the rest of his time with Saracens. With the era of intrigue at the RFU seemingly, hopefully, at an end (although it appears Martyn Thomas is continually trying to drag the RFU back to the bad old days as he is considering issuing a writ against his former employees), there has also been no suggestion that Andy Farrell has been recently courted by the England camp to review his decision. Only time will tell if his intention is to return to the international fold (did the end of this season with Saracens fail to live up to the excitement of being involved with the England team?) - but he would certainly make an impressive appointment to join England as defensive coach (and Stuart Lancaster has indicated he'd be happy to have Farrell join his team), freeing up Mike Catt to take on a specialist attacking role.

Football

Meanwhile, the England football team's preparation ahead of Euro 2012 has ignited the nation's press into action - moving swiftly from mild disinterest in a team with modest ambitions to full scale scandal alert following Roy Hodgson's failure to invite Rio Ferdinand and Micah Richards up to the national squad following the injury which sidelined Gary Cahill. The Rio Ferdinand situation is a real can of worms and the only surprise is that it took this long for it to blow up into a full media frenzy. It appears that Hodgson decided that he could only take one of them to Krakow for the tournament as the alternative would be to have a divided camp which would make a successful tournament nigh on impossible. He then made the decision to pick Terry as the player in better form and, having made this decision, is unable now to select Ferdinand barring an injury to Terry himself. The explanation given that his non-selection was therefore a half-truth, as he would have been selected if he had been judged to be playing better than Terry. And for all the rights and wrongs of this course of action, at least it has the advantage of limiting the number of senior players travelling to the tournament and allowing a few younger players to get some experience of losing playing on the international stage. However, the final comment should go to Rio himself - he can certainly be applauded for (eventually) backing the team despite his omission.

The Micah Richards plot line is also a complicated one. Having first apparently turned down the opportunity to join the standby list in a fit of pique, it was then reported that he asked not to be included because he was so devastated at having been left out. It seems a strange reaction to say the least (particularly given the likelihood of injuries giving the standby list players a fairly strong chance of getting into the squad) and one hopes that in the future players take heed from this episode and always keep themselves open for national selection - short of injury concerns, surely any opportunity to join the national squad should be accepted regardless of perceived snubs or disappointments?

Cricket

And finally to cricket - the England squad has suffered a mixture of players disappointed at being rested by management against their wishes and another choosing to rest himself against the wishes of management. While the decision to rest Jimmy Anderson and possibly Stuart Broad seems a wise one given the amount of cricket that is stacked up ahead of them, it is also encouraging to see how hungry both players are to get caps and wickets for England. However, it's likely that this disappointment will pass once they're (almost certainly) reinstated to the team for the South Africa tests. And although some fans may be disappointed not to see the best available team for England play at Edgbaston, at least they will be hardly short changed with some superb replacements available and, in the very worse case, a lower standard performance should, all other things being equal, make for a closer match.

Meanwhile, Kevin Pietersen has retired from all short forms of cricket at international level, citing the need to preserve his fitness to compete in the Test side. Now while he has had a number of injuries affect his career, he appears to be in good shape and doesn't suffer the pressures on the body experienced by fast bowlers to require such caution at the age of 31. However, it would be unfair to label it as being purely financially motivated to enable him to be free to play in the IPL, rather, I would imagine, it is a decision based on the desire to perform more regularly on what is perceived as the biggest, most prestigious, stages - that is Test cricket for England and international Twenty20 tournaments such as the IPL.

It seems that the most obvious conclusion from these developments is that the one day format is under increasing pressure - if there was a focus purely on Twenty20 and Test cricket, this would lower the demands put on players in terms of volume of cricket and allow players to concentrate on the most popular (and, admittedly, lucrative) forms of the game.

Racism and the European 2012 Championships

There have been a few commentators pointing out that the Euros do not seem to be generating the same level of interest and anticipation as previous tournaments and it seems to be true - it's hard to comprehend that the tournament is just over a week away! Perhaps it is the packed schedule of sports that is dampening the enthusiasm for the event - with the Champions League final barely finished, Promotion play-offs and a thrilling Premier League finale also all filling the airwaves of late, it would not be surprising to hear that all but the most die-hard fans could do with a couple of weeks rest from football (and that's not to mention all the other sports on at the moment - Rugby finals galore, Test Match cricket, Formula One in Monaco and so on...).

But the most likely explanation is that the torrent of negative publicity regarding racism in the host countries - Ukraine and Poland - has eroded enthusiasm for the tournament. A picture has been painted of large groups of fans who regularly abuse players and fellow fans (even from the same team) based on the colour of the skin or their religion (frequently anti-semitic - which is especially upsetting given the history of the region, as highlighted in this very thought provoking article). Having personal experience of living in Poland it is sadly largely true that football there does not have a good reputation. Families shun going to see matches as a direct result of fear of violence from a hardcore groups of fans - violence which, based on personal experience, can even reach as far down as five-a-side football leagues. And although many people would say that it is fine to go and see games so long as you were sensible and keep out of trouble (I must confess I never ventured that far myself), that is surely not the point - how can you enjoy watching the game if you're trying to keep out of harm's way and being witness to racism? And that's before you'd even consider taking the whole family along to enjoy a day out.

And yet I must also point out that this group of fans is a very small minority of trouble makers and I'm sure that all fans who arrive in good spirits to enjoy the football will be welcomed with the warmth and generosity that is characteristic of the vast majority of the population in Poland and Ukraine. My bad experiences in local five-a-side leagues was quickly tempered by the organisers swiftly banning the offending team and the authroities have the opportunity to make a similarly swift statement of intent in case any trouble does arise. The tournament also has the power to promote the sport among a broader populace and push the violent, racist minority to the fringes of the game (and eventually, one would hope, out completely) - just look at the therapeutic effect that Euro 96 had on the game of football in England, going a long way towards ending the hooligan image of English football fans across Europe. I hope the same will be true of Euro 2012...

Quote of the week

In a very interesting article on ESPN Cricinfo about the use of Twitter and, more specifically, the fine that Kevin Pietersen received for criticising Sky Sport commentator Nick Knight, Andrew Strauss came out with an absolute belter of a quote regarding why he doesn't use Twitter:

"I am just too boring [...] I can't think of anything interesting to say. It wouldn't be useful to me."

As someone who also doesn't use Twitter, and who also doesn't even understand the whole concept of Twitter, I think this statement probably relates to me too.

Three observations from the UEFA Champions League Final

Adidas finally backs a winner

After several years of having to watch teams in Nike kits dominate the showpiece of European club football over the last few years (Barcelona, Inter, Manchester United), I'm sure that Adidas will be pleased to finally have both teams kitted out with three stripes rather than a tick. Whether that will be the case again next year is another question altogether, but at least they can rely on the match ball still carrying the torch for their marketing team.

A good day for the referee

Let's face it, finals are often pretty torrid affairs, with nervous players fouling, diving and arguing with the referee markedly more than usual as they try and scrap for whatever advantage the can get - therefore credit should go to the referee, Pedro Proenca, and both teams for keeping the game relatively free flowing. The referee also completed the perfect evening for the marketing guys at Adidas, with his kit also supplied from their range.

Some great penalties

The misses will probably linger in the memory longer, but there were some great penalties taken - Frank Lampard's wallop down the centre and Manuel Neuer stepping up early to take a penalty were two moments to savour.

A refreshing approach from the F.A. Please note: This isn't a mis-print

The white smoke poured out of the chimneys atop the F.A.’s headquarters last week to signal the end of a remarkably opaque process to replace Fabio Capello as the Manager of the England national team. And the theme of general disbelief and bewilderment among observers of the process continued, as the selection panel chose not to hire the bookies and fans’ favourite for the job, Harry Rednapp, but instead opting for Roy Hodgson to take the reins.

Now before you turn away from this article, thinking that I'm about to launch into a vast critique of the F.A. (as would be my normal approach), I actually think it's a very positive and even brave decision to take; in an industry which often becomes a slave to accepted wisdom and public pressure (this can be said for many sports, not just football), this was a refreshingly single minded decision and one which will hopefully be a fruitful one for the next World Cup in Brazil.

Picking a manager with a track record in international football and an understanding of what the job will involve takes a lot of risk away from the appointment – there had been rumblings for a while that Harry Rednapp was worried that he would get bored away from the day-to-day contact he had with players and the weekly fix of competition which the Premier League provides.

Furthermore, Hodgson has suffered a perceived failed role during his time at Liverpool and has built his career and reputation back up from this set-back. This kind of fortitute will be critical in the media goldfish bowl that is the England manager role.

The big uncertainty will be the other major part of his role - that of ensuring the new, and much delayed, National Football Centre at St. George's Park is providing talent and continuity for future England squads. Both Hodgson and Rednapp have had experience of overseeing club acadamies, but Hodgson's experience of what skills makes for a successful national team would again surely give him the edge in this area. However, the sidelining of Stuart Pearce by Hodgson as one of his first moves in the role, might be considered as damaging continuity between the senior squad and youth players. Alternatively, it suggests that he has strong opinions on how he wants the youth system to be run and Stuart Pearce could be on his way out soon. In either case, it is certainly an area of critical importance - having the cream of English football used to regularly playing and training together will hopefully create greater team spirit and fluency, and so avoiding the difficulties of forging a team in a short time period from a disparate group of players and who are transitioning from involvement in fierce competition between each other in the Premier League.

But the greatest challenge for Roy Hodgson as he takes up his new role will be to hit the ground running, having been given a pitifully short amount of time to prepare the team for the Euro championships in Poland and Ukraine. At least he will probably be given some leniancy should performances not be up to scratch and allow him to focus on the long term needs of the team - at least there is one unintended benefit of the F.A.'s dithering over his appointment.

For now though, positivity is in the air and, gullible as always (speaking for myself, at least), we can hope for some silverware to come to these shores.

Quote of the week

Alec Stewart has recounted how Graham Gooch used to say: "You've never got enough [runs]." This is pure competitive spirit condensed into one sentence.

Lancaster stirs memories of the Woodward era

Once upon a time, the RFU appointed a brand new manager for the English national team. He came to the role with very little experience of management at international level and even had only a limited amount of success at club level. But what he was still able to do was rejuvenate the squad with new, previously overlooked players and injected a new level of energy with his different approach to management.

You could be forgiven for thinking that this was referring to the recent appointment of Stuart Lancaster permanently to the role of England manager. But it is actually referring to the start of the Woodward era, when new players were brought in to freshen things up, with Neil Back and Will Greenwood being two good examples of forward thinking selections - both of them later forming key components of the world cup and grand slam winning sides many years down the line. Woodward also brought a new philosophy to the management of the team, pulling English rugby into the professional era with his attention to detail and drive.

Lancaster appears to have brought many of the same attributes to the role, with a number of fresh additions to the squad adding massively to the side's performance. Only time will tell if Owen Farrell and Ben Morgan will have the same monumental impact upon rugby as their predecessors under the Woodward regime, but at this stage their futures look bright. Lancaster has also brought with him a new approach to management based around building a tightly-knit team environment and also showing the same attention to detail and work ethic that Woodward espoused. So this blogger applauds the appointment of Stuart Lancaster into his new role and can't wait for the summer tour to South Africa...the hard work has only just begun!

FA and RFU get in a muddle over Management appointements

You could almost feel sorry for the RFU and FA being on the receiving end of criticism for their approaches to hiring the next managers for their respective senior national sides. One, the RFU is on the receiving end of complaints that it is unnecessarily rushing the process, while the FA is receiving exactly the opposite - criticism for taking too slow an approach to their hiring process. A case of being screwed if they do and screwed if they don't? But in reality the answer is not so positive for the governing bodies. The fact of the matter is that they are both guilty of letting the recruitment process damage the chances of the two national teams in two of the most important tournaments that either team play in. Granted, these tournaments don't have the same power to inspire as the World Cup, but winning both tournaments would still represent a massive achievement and cause for celebration for both sides (and the football team in particular should be desperate to win any tournament given the length of time since their last success).

The RFU have contrived to make an already difficult prospect even harder for their team to compete in the Six Nations. A team which has a temporary management team in place, trying to rebuild from the failures of the world cup can add to their challenges the prospect of a governing organisation with a new CEO starting mid-tournament and the baffling decision that they would decide on a permanent new coach by the end of the tournament. Subsequently, the team has been subjected to further distractions as rumour and counter-rumour spreads around who is most likely to be the next full time manager. Who has put their name forward and who hasn't? Most perplexing is that they have approached Jake White, who had previously ruled himself out for the role. This isn't to suggest that he wouldn't be a good candidate for the role, but it certainly gives the impression that the existing shortlist doesn't meet the requirements of the RFU. Now that he has once again ruled himself out the running, the RFU is left with no choice but to hire one of the two remaining candidates. And why was it so vital to make this appointment before the end of the Six Nations? There is plenty of time to make the appointment following the Six Nations and leave time for the new manager to make plans for the summer tour to South Africa. This would also allow a complete appraisal of the Six Nations campaign as part of the appraisal of Stuart Lancaster's suitability for the role and an analysis of what weaknesses the new manager would need to address and make sure that their skills were appropriately suited to this task. The end result is that the new CEO has a rather muddled approach to when the new appointment would be confirmed and has already been required to clarify exactly what is happening in the process. The end result of all this is uncertainty which has been acknowledged by the players and can't help in the slightest with their preparations.

The FA meanwhile, is so in thrall to the Premiership, that they are waiting with the appointment of the next England manager until the eve of the European Championships, leaving the new manager to inherit plans concocted by two previous managers (both Capello and Pearce have worked on the preparation plans) and an impressively short time in which to build a team. When everyone knows that Harry Redknapp is the favourite to be the new England manager, the FA is presumably holding off with the appointment to avoid disrupting the remainder of Spurs' season - when surely their priority should be to look after the welfare of the national team? The fact that pretty much everyone already knows what will happen with the new manager makes it all more perplexing, as Tottenham's season is surely already disrupted and added to by the uncertainty of what will happen at the end of the season. And what will happen if Harry decides that he is not ready to give up the day-to-day management of league football? Then the FA will have to settle for an interim manager for the tournament or try to force through a hire in an embarrassingly short period of time.

In short, with these international tournaments fiendishly difficult to win at the best of times, why are England's governing bodies contriving to make them even harder?

It started with Cotton...

When did rugby players start becoming obliged to get involved in the fashion industry? Sure, Fran Cotton was very successful with Cotton Traders but does that really justify every prop and his dog getting involved? Goodness me, even the Wall Street Journal has been reporting on this phenomenon! And just look at the following spattering of recent examples (in ascending order of unlikeliness):

Jonny Wilkinson
Jason Robinson
Phil Vickery
Brian Moore - ok, it's not exactly fashion, but I think it deserves a mention anyway

I guess we'll really know the world has turned on it's head once Adam Jones launches a line of underpants, a la Beckham...

A tale of two managers

Much has been reported about the friendship between the two new interim England managers - Stuart Pearce in charge of the English football team in tonight’s friendly against Holland, and Stuart Lancaster in charge of the English Rugby team in this year’s RBS Six Nations tournament. And as the days unfold the similarities between these two men and their approach to international management are becoming even clearer.

First up, the similarities between their situations are striking – both started their careers with less than successful stints at club level, before rebuilding their careers within the national set-up. Both also inherited sides which have frittered away public support in recent times through a series of player misdemeanors and a management team which failed to develop good press relations. Furthermore, they are both effectively auditioning for a longer-term role with the national team, whilst only having a short interim period in which to stake their claims. Admittedly, Stuart Lancaster has the longer period in which to stake his claim – already in charge of the country during a major tournament – while Stuart Pearce has only one, admittedly tough, friendly match in which to impress. However, if the powers that be decide to extend his interim period to include the Euro Championships this summer, he’ll have as good an opportunity as he could have hoped for to take the job full time.

In relation to the style of management, there are also similarities. For example, both managers have shown a willingness to clean out the old wood from previous squads, with a focus on youth and potential. They have also shown a willingness to introduce previously overlooked players such as Micah Richards and Phil Dowson. This has now extended to include brand new captains who, while certainly not fresh faced players straight out of academies, are relatively inexperienced in the international field. The captain appointed by Stuart Lancaster, Chris Robshaw, was selected for his proven ability as a leader of an in-form club side and is renowned as a tough player who leads by example. Ditto Stuart Pearce, who has today announced the selection of Scott Parker as captain of the England squad – a player who has captained (although not regularly) the in-form Tottenham team this season and is likewise renowned as a tough player who leads by example. Certainly the reviews of Chris Robshaw’s tenure as captain have been promising thus far – good enough to be handed the captaincy for the duration of the RBS Six Nations. Perhaps most importantly, both captains have the luxury of being separated from previous failures – appointing a captain from the previous groups of senior players could have been seen as a tacit approval of the previous regimes and their associated weaknesses. Ultimately, only results will be the true judgment of these new captains, but the installation of a new figurehead, separated from the disappointments of the past and with a no-frills approach to the games appear to be the perfect tonic for the national teams at this time.

Further to the introduction of new captains, the wider injection of new players has been a successful experiment for the rugby team, unearthing talent such as Owen Farrell, Brad Barrett and Geoff Parling, to name but a few. Both Lancaster and Pearce were promoted from within the national set-up and worked with many promising young players during their times as managers of the second string and Under-21 national sides, so one hopes that Pearce has an understanding of which of the young players have the metal It has also allowed Stuart Lancaster the opportunity to build a team spirit as he wanted it – where pride in the jersey comes first. Stuart Pearce will no doubt seek to instill the same mentality in his new pack of players, injecting more passion in the squad following the cold technical style of Capello.

Again, only time and results will tell if these early days can convert promise into success, and it will only be successful if the FA’s youth development plans are more than the mirage they’ve been in the past, but it appears that Stuart Pearce has started his time as England manager by making all the right moves and tonight will be a good test to see if he can produce the same positive results that his rugby counterpart has experienced.

The Simple Sport

Rugby is, in essence, a very simple sport. By way of an example, Brad Barritt recently gave a very succinct introduction to the basics of defence in Rugby:

"At the end of the day they've got two legs and without those legs they can't run".

Update - 24 February 2012

Manu Tuilagi has provided more ammunition to this argument - this time explaining the simplicity of attacking in rugby union:

"For me I just want to get the ball in my hands and run...Rugby's simple - just keep the ball and score points."

Regional Power

In the build-up to this year's RBS Six Nations tournament, an interesting article was posted arguing that Ireland, Scotland and Wales all produced more successful international rugby teams, relative to their respective resources, than the other teams in the Six Nations. It seems clear that based on the number of people playing the game in each of the countries (both professional and amateur) and revenues enjoyed by their Unions, France and England should be dominating the tournament, and yet are failing to do so. While the article itself acknowledges that this is no scientific study and more food for thought, it struck me that one clear conclusion could be taken from it - that countries with a regional club system are able to punch well above their weight.

I recognise that the chance of seeing a regional club system being introduced into either England or France is pretty slim - the strong traditions and histories of clubs clustered in historically strong rugby areas, as well as the large amounts of money invested into these clustered clubs, would make it nigh on impossible to re-structure these leagues - but I think it is worth investigating why such a system can be so productive.

Firstly, this system ensures that there is an equal spread of resources across the country to ensure that public interest is driven even in areas which traditionally have been dominated by other sports. The upshot of this is that young players are given the encouragement of seeing their heroes play and the chance for the most committed of youngsters to take advantage of top class coaching and facilities by joining top class academies close to their homes and families.

Secondly, the removal of relegation allows clubs to plan for the long-term future (ie. blooding talented young players, investing in facilities, stadia, etc.), without fear of it fatally damaging the club by dropping down to the lower leagues.

Finally, the structure that is currently in place for the regional leagues playing the RaboDirect PRO12 allows the teams to experience international games on a near weekly basis.

Now imagine a Europe-wide system of regional clubs playing across two top level divisions, with no relegation down from the second division. This combination of the best players across Europe playing together would ensure a high enough standard across the two divisions to ensure a relegation would not be apocalyptic, without eliminating the benefits of competing for promotion and to avoid relegation. Narrowing down the number of competitions would also reduce fixture congestion, allowing a more effective organisation of the calendar...but more on that in a later post.

All pie in the sky thinking - definitely.  But food for thought and debate, I hope.

Update - 22 February 2012

Do you think that Clarence Seedorf has been reading this blog and applying my arguments to European Football...? Yeah, perhaps not, but good to see there are some likeminded (and, particularly in this case, massively more influential) people out there.

Sporting Tap

First, a bit of background to my creation of this blog - I had originally intended to call it the 'Sporting Tap' in reference to my fondness for the sportsman's use (and this is in, I believe, every single team sport) of the encouraging buttock slap. Now, before you jump to the conclusion that this is some wierd perversion - I just enjoy the innocence and simplicity of such a gesture in motivating fellow team mates.

So anyway, it turns out that Dan Parks was a master of this fine art, as highlighted in this wonderful paragraph by John Beattie:

"And I've watched him pat what appeared to be the bottom of every team mate during games. He has an extraordinary mind, honed from memorising car number plates as a wee boy."

So although I still think his sideburns are a bit too pointy, I must say that Dan Parks departure from the international game is a sad loss. A fly-half for connoisseurs of the tactical, unflashy side of rugby and, by all accounts, a good bloke - it will be a shame not to see him grace the Six Nations anymore. Still, I suspect that a successful career as a coach, building on his motivational skills (read buttock slapping skills), is not far off...

Quote of the week

Ahead of the RBS Six Nations starting this week, it's nice to see a quote on beards from England's Dan Cole in the BBC this morning:

"It was a World Cup beard. I enjoyed cultivating it in my spare time, but if you're not at a World Cup, you can't have a World Cup beard..."

You can't argue with that.

Talking About Cricket

There was a great quote from Alastair Cook recently saying that, between overs, he and Andrew Strauss mainly talk about cricket. A friend rightly pointed out that they were most likely debating their favourite Paul Collingwood catch.

The Power of Talent

I wouldn't consider myself as being an expert in the day-to-day pressures of making a business out of elite sports teams, but a comment by Luke Johnson in his book 'Start it up' caught my eye recently and seems to strike a chord with some recent developments in UK football. Johnson points out that the desperate struggle for top talent by football teams is leading to an imbalance where clubs' incomes are being used almost entirely to reward star players and (perhaps to a lesser extent) managers.

I must agree that there seems to be an almost cult-like obsession to this pursuit of talent, with shareholders willing to fund endless losses (which other industry possesses investors with such a high tolerance for financial failure?) and fans enduring increasing ticket and merchandising prices to fund the huge transfer fees and salaries of their star players. Surely funds will dry up for all clubs, admittedly except those few supported by the mega rich, once the experience of fan protests against the owners of Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers and Everton, to name but a few, diminish even the enthusiasm of the most romantic or publicity-hungry of owners? And will the value of talent be proved to be just a myth, with investment in a hardworking team becoming the new paradigm?

It is against this backdrop that I was disappointed to seeing a number of articles suggesting that maybe, just maybe, the time had come for Arsene Wenger to either step down from his jobs or his principles, by making major investments in new star signings. Surely here is a man and a club that should be applauded for not being willing to pay salaries that they consider to be so expensive that it puts the long term health of the club at risk?

This is not to say that Arsenal is a kind of Utopian club, where the club's principles ensure cheap prices for fans and a risk free investment for it's owners. But the focus on a long-term vision for the club, rather than the pursuit of a short-term talent fix is refreshing to see and, although there will always be clubs with more money than sense, it is undoubtedly a model that will become more universal in the future.

And I would also like to applaud the other, much more unlikely hero of this story - Manchester City. The fact that they are willing to stand-up to former captain Carlos Tevez, shows that, even for the most extravagant of clubs, there is a limit to the power of their talented players.