Saturday, April 16, 2011
Scottish Cup: Motherwell v St Johnstone
Although, at times, we've been sadly beyond satire.
Time now to concentrate on the football, to celebrate the game's rich heritage with the first Scottish Cup semi final today.
Concentrate as much as possible anyway, doing our best to ignore that our most venerable cup competition is without a sponsor.
And doing our best to ignore the empty seats. The odd diktat that all Scottish Cup semi finals must be played at Hampden - while allowing two TV companies to show it live - will mean a ground that is less than a fifth full, carrying with it all the allure of ninety minutes spent in a wind tunnel.
The laughing stock of the world? Aye right. There's not even enough people here who care.
All of which is a shame.
A shame because the loss of magic on Scottish Cup semi finals weekend is indicative of the loss of magic throughout Scottish football.
And a shame because for Motherwell and St Johnstone this is a huge, huge game carrying the tantalising prospect of a cup final and European football.
They arrive at Hampden tomorrow on the back of different seasons.
Motherwell's campaign kicked off on the 15th of July last year with a European qualifying game.
Since then they've lost a manager in Craig Brown, found a manager in Stuart McCall, lost form, given up any pretence of consistency, lost a final and now, suddenly, clicked.
Their recent run has included putting to an end to Dundee United's cup pretensions and excellent run of league form. In their last game they emerged from Tynecastle with a draw.
Along the way they've confirmed their place in the top six and won plaudits for their reinvigorated approach.
Compare and contrast. St Johnstone might not have fully succumbed to the cliche of a difficult second season. But it's hardly been one of unadulterated joy.
Although never looking likely to drop out of the league this has been a year of frustration. A lack of goals has hamstrung them. They remain more than capable of holding their own. But they do so with a butter knife of a cutting edge.
Only Hamilton in the league and Partick Thistle and Brechin - at the second attempt - have been beaten since the start of February.
The Colin Samuel strike that finally saw off Brechin was their only goal in the last six games.
That goals are the big problem for Derek McInnes is shown by the league table. Their 18 goals mean they share with Hamilton the distinction of being the SPL's lowest scorers. Yet they're a full 18 points clear of the bottom side.
St Johnstone have plenty to offer the league. But at the moment they're too impotent to make their other strenghts count.
All of which must make Motherwell favourites today.
But semi finals have been known to shock us. Hampden's atmosphere is often odd, the wide open spaces will make it positively eery this afternoon. The pitch is taking a lot of criticism although both these clubs can lay claim to recent experience on decidedly dodgy surfaces.
It could be a strange old affair.
And maybe that will suit St Johnstone as they strive towards a first ever Scottish Cup final.
Prediction: If St Johnstone can contain and frustrate early on then it could be very tight. Motherwell in the 90 minutes. St Johnstone if it goes beyond that.
United braced for emotionally draining trip to Wembley
United braced for emotionally draining trip to Wembley
MANCHESTER, England, April 15 (Reuters) - Playing at Wembley is emotionally draining but not as physically tiring as it once was, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said before Saturday's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City.
Ferguson takes his side on a 400-mile (640-kilometre) round trip to the British capital to play their city neighbours from down the road as they continue their pursuit of three trophies, buoyed by a run of seven successive wins in all competitions.
"There's a momentum we've got at the moment, we're winning games," Ferguson told a news conference on Friday.
"That's important at this time of the season, the consistency of the team has been good. We've got a determination in our players, I'm really pleased with that. It's given us a good chance."
Bolton, another team from the northwest, and Stoke City, based 45 miles south of Manchester, must also travel to Wembley for Sunday's semi-final, something which has caused much media debate.
Chasing the Champions League and Premier League titles as well gives United plenty to think about and when asked whether a trip to Wembley was draining for the players, Ferguson replied: "It can be.
"There is that impact in terms of the emotional build-up to the game. The fact it is at Wembley makes it more of an occasion, simply because it's Wembley -- the name Wembley."
Despite the travelling involved, there was at least one concession about playing at Wembley these days.
"I wouldn't think the pitch is as tiring as the old Wembley because they have changed it so many times," said Ferguson, who has a strong squad to pick from with the suspended Wayne Rooney and injured Darren Fletcher the only major absentees.
The two Manchester sides have not met in the FA Cup semi-finals since 1926 and the city is buzzing with an air of excitement as fans make plans for a weekend in London and the chance to get one over their neighbours.
United midfielder Paul Scholes added fuel to the rivalry, telling local media that because City were fourth in the league they could not be classed as a "main rival".
He added that he was not sure if Roberto Mancini's side had the same self belief as United despite their big spending ways.
"With them getting the money, it has probably helped us and spurred us on a bit more when we have played them," Scholes said, pointing out that City had beaten United only once since being taken over by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in 2008.
"We have nicked the games with goals in the last minutes. I've done it, Michael Owen's done it and Wayne Rooney did it last season. That's maybe the difference between the two teams."
Friday, April 15, 2011
Sports News: Davis: Ronnie could walk away
Steve Davis claims Ronnie O'Sullivan is not alone in suffering from snooker "burn-out".
Are bright days ahead for Aston Villa?
In case you had forgotten, we beat Arsenal 10-1 not so long ago. Okay it was the reserves and maybe it could be overlooked if the team was packed full with senior players just looking for match fitness, playing against a team of awe-struck Arsenal youngsters, but it wasn't.
Chris Herd, Nathan Delfouneso, Gary Gardner, Andreas Weimann and Jonathan Hogg were the goalscorers that day, and all have made an appearance for the first team this season apart from the injury-ravaged Gardner.
Sports News: Hooper up for two awards
Celtic duo Gary Hooper and Emilio Izaguirre are two of the four nominations for PFA Scotland's Player of the Year award.
Chelsea 'obsessed' with European Cup - Ferguson
Chelsea 'obsessed' with European Cup - Ferguson
MANCHESTER, England, April 11 (Reuters) - Chelsea are over-stretching themselves with their Champions League "obsession", Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said on the eve of their quarter-final, second leg.
The United boss, who has won the competition twice and brings a 1-0 advantage from the first leg into Tuesday's all-English encounter at Old Trafford, said he understood the Londoners' fixation as he shared it once upon a time.
"It seems to be an obsession for them to win a European Cup, that is certainly why they signed Fernando Torres there is no question about that in my mind," the Scot told a news conference on Monday.
"The owner has very much nailed his colours to the mast in that respect. At the end of the day, it's a very difficult competition to win, all the best teams are there.
"To have an obsession to win a European Cup is stretching yourself a wee bit."
He said he used to feel the same way when United could not get past the semi-finals before he led them to a treble of the Champions League and the English league and FA Cup in 1999.
"When we did it in Barcelona it was the greatest feeling of all time and it took the monkey off my back for a bit," he said. "But it doesn't make Chelsea any more desperate than Manchester United tomorrow night, believe me."
Chelsea counterpart Carlo Ancelotti sought to put Ferguson straight, telling a news conference: "It's not an obsession, it's a dream."
United are keen not to get caught out like they did at the same stage in the competition last year when they were leading 3-0 at halftime in the second leg at home before letting Bayern Munich pull two goals back to go through 4-4 on aggregate.
"Concentration is vital, goals change games," said Ferguson.
EXTRA FRESHNESS
United will be helped by the extra freshness of first-leg goal scorer Wayne Rooney, who missed the weekend's league victory over Fulham while he served the first of a two-match ban for swearing into a television camera.
"Missing a game on Saturday has given him six days preparation for tomorrow, that could make a difference," said Ferguson.
He is also boosted by the return to form of winger Antonio Valencia, who scored on Saturday and barely looks like he missed six months with a broken ankle.
"We just couldn't wait to get him back," said Ferguson. "He's an outstanding footballer ... his understanding of the game is brilliant, he has a great tactical brain, balance and power and speed, the boy has got everything."
The Scot will make a late decision on defender Rafael's fitness after the Brazilian bruised his knee in last week's first leg but was glad to otherwise have recovered from last month's injury crisis.
"He really has to do something special tomorrow morning for me to change my mind about him," said Ferguson.
This tie is the one that is still most finely balanced, with Real Madrid leading Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 in their quarter-final and Barcelona 5-1 up against Shakhtar Donetsk while United's potential opponents Schalke 04 lead Inter Milan 5-2.
Ferguson was already plotting a trip to watch the Spanish giants do battle in the last four.
"That's going to be unbelievable," he said. "We'll be on different days (if we get through), I'll be going to that."
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Le Losc joue sur Tapis vert
Liverpool remain interested in Ipswich young gun Wickham
Liverpool are continuing to show interest in Ipswich Town centre forward Connor Wickham.
The towering 18-year old England U21 international has made a great impression in the Championship with the Tractor Boys this season and is being monitored by the Reds, who have often had director of football Damien Comolli watching the promising talent in action.
Liverpool owner John Henry knows he has to buy to strengthen the squad for a title assault next season and the first step is to add depth to a playing roster which has plenty of ability but starts to wear thin as you delve further.
�15million-rated Wickham could be one player that the Reds would benefit from as he would come in as support for new signings Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez and be able to develop his game in top flight surroundings.
Click here for the No1 coverage of all the gossip and transfer news around Liverpool.
SPL Today: Hamilton v Rangers
With every Celtic win, be it from a thrilling first half performance against Hibs or a strangely out of sorts game against St Mirren, Rangers own failure against Dundee United last week looks more costly.
Today's game at Hamilton means it is Rangers who revert to the role of playing catch up.
But the luxury of their games in hand has gone. A win today still leaves them two points adrift.
That's not insurmountable. But it means every game is now a must win.
Which I suppose means that a trip to Hamilton should be most welcome, offering a break from off field distractions, allegations and rumours and a free run at three points.
In an ideal world of SPL intrigue I'd be writing that today offered battling Hamilton a chance to boost their survival bid and throw a hand grenade into the title race.
But Hamilton aren't doing much battling. Adrift and doomed they're offering only a spiritless acquiescence to their fate.
A must win for Rangers? Fortunate for them that there doesn't seem to be any way they can lose this one.
Strangers things have happened? Possibly. But not often. And rarely in the upstairs, downstairs world of the SPL.
Comfortable away win.
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Scotland v Brazil: Learning The Hard Way
Scotland have had better experiences than their trip to London on Sunday.
Having endured 90 minutes of pressure it could surely only be the most masochistic of Scotland fan who would stick to the party line that a glamour clash against Brazil is always a joy to behold.
The way in which 19 year old Neymar provided the focal point as a depleted Brazil waltzed past Scotland served only to underline how small our progress - wins against the Faroes and Northern Ireland - has been in the grand scheme of the world game.
Of course Brazil are in football's stratosphere, Scotland are its honest journeymen. We're not supposed to beat them. 2-0 will allow the record books to show that we avoided annihilation.
From the Scotland camp came the expected messages of lessons being learned, of hard work paying off.
But this was turgid stuff from Scotland.
Kenny Miller, as tireless as ever, touched the ball on seven times in the first half, his isolation almost complete.
Charlie Adam was honest about his own failure to perform. If Steven Whittaker is given to nightmares then it must be expected this his slumbers will be interrupted by Dani Alves in the coming weeks.
It's unfair to pick out individuals. As Brazil coach Mano Menezes said at the end, this is a Scottish team that relies on collective hard work. The succeed together and they fail together.
The only positive to draw was that Scotland didn't completely fall apart as the Brazilians ran them ragged.
Scotland's plan was to work hard, to press and harry. Yet even in this the temporary hosts provided the most exhilarating display.
When Scotland sought temporary reprieve by training to hold the ball at the back or using Allan McGregor as an outlet, the yellow shirts swarmed into the final third.
Finding himself rushed, his defenders and midfielders marked, the goalkeeper could only go long or wide. Possession was immediately handed back.
It was a study in combining ability with hard work. The sobering lesson was one that many Scotland fans learnt years ago - our own brand of toil and labour combined with technical inferiority is increasingly impotent in the modern game.
All of which is probably nothing new.
So perhaps the most immediate positive to take from it all was Levein's assurance that we won't play a tougher friendly.
And, when all is said in done, it was only a friendly. It could be a costly one though if it combines with other results to send our ranking plummeting.
A game that underlined our weaknesses might also have made it even more difficult for us to qualify for the 2016 World Cup in Brazil.
I hope the SFA feel suitably comfortable with that as they count the cash they got for showing up at the Emirates.
> The racism allegation: As I understand it the booing of Neymar centred on what the fans saw as play acting.
A banana was thrown. The video I have seen suggests it came from the Brazil end, although footage throughout the game seemed to show a fairly wide mingling of fans.
The Tartan Army, since backed by the SFA, have issued vehement denials.
The truth is there was an idiot, from somewhere, in the ground whose ignorance cast a shadow on the day, a day that should have been celebrated for Neymar's performance. And that's deeply regrettable.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Tottenham ? Real Madrid : la composition des �quipes
Let's Hear It For The Fans
Actually, it might well have escaped your notice. The campaign hasn't exactly caught the public imagination yet. Strange that, given all the massive and impressive personalities involved at the hustings.
I jest.
But the fitba' has elbowed its way into proceedings thanks to a new proposal from the Scottish Greens:
"The Scottish Greens today proposed an extension of land reform and the community right to buy to cover Scotland's football clubs, so fans would have first refusal when their club comes up for sale. The Greens also identified two sources of money to back fan buy-outs: first, from the �1m last week allocated to sponsor the Scottish League Cup from the Proceeds of Crime Act, and secondly through a levy on the broadcast fees received by the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football Association.
"The Scottish game continues to be beset by financial insecurity, uncertainty about ownership and structures. These measures are designed to start a long-term shift towards fan ownership of their clubs, work promoted across the UK by organisations like Supporters Direct. Last year saw the successful �300,000 takeover of Stirling Albion by its fans, yet other Scottish clubs - including Dundee and Motherwell - remain in financial difficulty while supporters' trusts work to take control of them."
Patrick Harvie, Co-convenor of the Scottish Greens and the party's top candidate in Glasgow, said:
"Scottish football is in a mess. We have chronic financial indiscipline in football management, and a concentration of wealth and power in the clubs at the top of the game. Fan-owned clubs, on the other hand, are a model that works well elsewhere - not just for Barcelona and Real Madrid, but also for every substantial club in both Sweden and Germany. In the long term, clubs large and small will only thrive on and off the pitch when they are rooted in their communities, and that means giving loyal supporters both the right to buy their clubs and the money to do so."
An interesting proposal. I'd guess it might not be top of the Greens' wishlist if they find themselves bargaining with a minority government. But one never knows.
Slightly put off by the comparisons with other countries. Real Madrid and Barcelona are very different beasts. And, it must be said, both have embraced some of modern football's more extravagant excesses despite, maybe because, of their structures.
Still, it's a fair enough point and I'm sure fan ownership or part ownership will provide the best answers to the problems at certain clubs.
Interestingly the Greens' policy announcement clashed with a statement from St Mirren:
"Last year the board of St Mirren Football Club appointed Richard Atkinson and Chris Stewart to the Club board. This was with the purpose of investigating the feasibility of a Community Interest Company (CIC) based purchase of the 52% of the shares of the Club that have been for sale.
"The board is pleased to report that the initial phase of this investigation has concluded positively and as a result two further individuals are to be brought on as advisors to the board. This is Scott McLennan, former Local Director for LloydsTSB and Tony Fitzpatrick, who requires no further introduction to all St Mirren fans.
"Over the next couple of weeks further details will be announced of a shareholders meeting and a number of public meetings at which all people who may be interested in what a Community Interest Company controlling ownership will mean for them, the team and the wider community."
If nothing else it seems that Scottish football, a game trapped in a perpetual hunt for solutions and answers, is about to hear a lot more about the pros, cons, if, buts and possibilities of fan ownership.
> Fair to assume that both David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt, his Culture, Media and Sports go-to-guy, have had other things on their minds since assuming office last year. But, lest we forget, the Conservative Sports Manifesto had this to say:
"We will reform the football governance arrangements so co-operative ownership models can be established by supporters, as part of a wider package of reform of football finance and governance."
That might be a more fitting legacy than the bungled 2018 World Cup bid. A select committee inquiry into football governance is ongoing and today's Guardian reports that:
"The Culture, Media and Sport select committee's investigation into football governance is set to lead to a formal club licensing system. Indeed, so advanced is the thinking of the committee that what the licensing system would contain is already taking shape.
"Insiders have told Digger that there are four main strands. The committee has been particularly alarmed by the lack of transparency surrounding Leeds United's ownership. Shaun Harvey, the Championship club's chief executive, was left to answer the committee's questions about who are the beneficial owners of the web of offshore trusts that are Leeds's parents, but he said he did not know. This starkly illustrated to the committee the ease with which impenetrable structures can be set up.
"The second licensing condition will be a strengthened fit-and-proper-persons' test. Third will be a restriction on the clubs' gearing ratios of debt to equity or assets, and fourth will be an element of supporter involvement in the decision-making structures of clubs.
"This is set to be enshrined in a Football Governance and Major Events Act, for which parliamentary time has been set aside. The licensing system would be a big incentive for reform of the normally reactionary Football Association. Once the FA became fit for regulatory purpose, oversight of the system would give it proper teeth."
Watch this space.
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Blackpool’s Carney to have shoulder surgery
Man Utd boss Ferguson: I cannot answer if we will sign De Gea
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has cooled talk of a deal for Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David De Gea.
Reports have emerged in Spain claiming a transfer has already been agreed with Atletico for De Gea.
However, after watching his side book their place in the last four of the Champions League, Ferguson refused to give credence to the reports.
"On Italian television I am supposed to be signing two players from Italy tonight, so I can place that story along with those," he said.
"There is always speculation about who we are going to sign. So many people throw names at me. I can't answer it."
Atletico chief Miguel Angel Gil Marin also denied the claims, saying: "As of today, Atletico count on him for next season."
Click here for the No1 coverage of all the gossip and transfer news around Manchester United.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Important day of football and a chuckle
I read something funny this morning. It wasn't funny as in a story, it was funny in how something was written about a player. I'll get to it in a minute.
It comes in a minute, because today is just a quick post about other football matches and because we want to see Bolton, Blackburn, Chelsea, Sunderland and Everton win.
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Thinking Out Loud About Juan Agudelo
Benzema included in Real Madrid squad for Tottenham clash
Just when Tottenham thought it couldn?t get any worse, Real Madrid have included striker Karim Benzema in their squad for tomorrow?s Champions League clash.
The Spaniards take a 4-0 lead into the quarter-final return leg at White Hart Lane and could regain the services of the talented Frenchman.
Benzema missed last Tuesday?s rout with a hamstring injury but is back in contention for the London tie. His presence will stretch the Spurs defence who already had a tough time dealing with Emmanuel Adebayor, Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel Di Maria and Mesut Ozil last week.
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Sydney FC experiencing some injury worries ahead of Kashima Antlers encounter
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Monday, April 11, 2011
Sports News: McIlroy forced to dwell on collapse
Rory McIlroy admits he is going to find it hard to forget his Masters meltdown for a while after seeing his hopes of a first major victory evaporate in spectacular fashion on Sunday evening.
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