Posts Tagged ‘Rio Ferdinand’

Why John Terry should never play for England again

Posted: April 27, 2013 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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Terry: Petulant child

Terry: Petulant child

Just when you think John Terry might be going gently into the good night, he manages to find a way to put his massive ego slap-bang back in centre stage.

Stripped of the England captaincy, retired from international football and slipping down the pecking order at Chelsea it seemed that JT was in danger of quietly exiting the stage unnoticed.

So what does he do? He has a few trusted stooges put the word around the press corps that he fancies playing again for England. Cue tiresome hysteria.

You’d think that a man who has embroiled English football in a succession of crises – too wearisome to be worth repeating – would have the sense to spare us this latest farrago. Unfortunately, John Terry is too selfish for that.

Like a petulant child Terry flounced out on England back in September. Now he’s let it be known that he fancies a free holiday in Brazil next summer.

In a cowardly move, sadly typical of the man, Terry has not personally said that he is available for selection again. No, he’s put the word out indirectly via his advisers.

Should Roy Hodgson be anything less than effusive about a possible international return, well Terry can stay quietly retired, pretend he’s no idea where the rumours started, and save himself the embarrassment of public rejection.

In all this it’s Hodgson I feel most sorry for. No doubt still smarting from the debacle surrounding Rio Ferdinand’s recent call up, he now has the unenviable task of negotiating another call-up controversy.

Terry has treated a place in the national team as a personal right and not privilege to be earned. Even if it’s merited by form and fitness, Terry should never play for England again.

Written by James Albin

Five talking points from the weekend’s football

Posted: October 22, 2012 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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1. Kirkland attack raises serious questions concerning the protection of players

By now everyone will have seen the dreadful scenes at Hillsborough on Friday night as a Leeds fan raced onto the pitch and assaulted Wednesday keeper Chris Kirkland. The image of him returning to the stand and being congratulated by those around him, whilst Kirkland received treatment, was sickening.

Luckily, the piece of human detritus is now in the hands of the authorities – and we can only hope that there will be an appropriately severe punishment. Bringing that one ‘fan’ to justice is just one element in a greater problem that needs to be addressed from this incident. Front and centre for examination is the effectiveness of banning orders. How can someone is in the middle of a seven-year ban from all football grounds be admitted into a ground? Did this person get given a ticket from another fan? If so, punish him too.

Wednesday fans will be very familiar with this sort of disgraceful incident, given a number of their own fans threw punches at Clint Hill in the season finale in 2010 as fans of both Palace and Wednesday invaded the Hillsborough pitch. Similar unsavoury scenes at Chesterfield in 2011 saw one Spireite fan punch Bury keeper Cameron Belford. One Sheffield United fan back in 1998 punched a linesman in an away game at Portsmouth. Stewarding and policing in these situations is too often ineffective, and without change it’s only a matter of time before someone is serious hurt.

2. Warnock ruined what would have been a great interview with a horrible throw-away remark

In the immediate post-match interview on Sky, Leeds boss Neil Warnock made some clearly emotional comments on the “moron” that attacked Kirkland: “Put him in bloody prison. I’m not proud to be Leeds manager when I see that. I’m embarrassed.”

Warnock divides a lot of opinion. By and large we quite like him at 1FITG, but that interview was ruined by one of the most brainless, ill-considered comments he has ever made as manager – and there have been plenty. “He went down like a sack of spuds” was a pathetic thing to say – and he should have known better. He has since apologised to Kirkland, and it was noticeable that he didn’t repeat the line in his radio interviews that evening, but even so it was utterly unnecessary. Had that happened to Paddy Kenny, it’s impossible to imagine Warnock tolerating a comment like that from another manager.

3. Kick It Out campaign losing all credibility

The public shunning of the Kick It Out campaign by Jason Roberts and Rio Ferdinand, in addition to the unanimous decision by Swansea and Wigan players not to wear the campaign’s T-shirts has completely undermined its credibility.

Rio, prior to ‘being dealt with’ by Sir Alex

We now have the on-the-face-of-it ridiculous sight of black footballers criticising a campaign to get rid of racism in football. The conspicuous absence of Kick It Out in the most recent high profile racism cases makes their decision completely justifiable, and Sir Alex must surely be regretting both his remarks prior to the weekend and his subsequent comments that Rio Ferdinand would be ‘dealt with’ for taking the stance he took.

4. Home Nations need a reality check

After the latest round of international fixtures, almost all the managers of the home nations sides are under pressure. The jobs of Trapattoni, Levein, and Coleman all appear to be hanging by a thread, while even Hodgson found his credentials questioned after a listless draw in Poland. Only Northern Ireland’s Michael O’Neill seems safe in his job at present.

Leaving England aside, the idea that managerial changes will miraculously transform the prospects of these sides seems to us absurd. In recent years, these sides have rarely featured in international tournaments and to make qualification the benchmark for their manager’s success is ridiculous.

Bosnia and Montenegro have shown that smaller nations can compete with the established continental ‘big guns’. And whilst comparitively bigger, fans of Wales, Scotland and Ireland would do better to ask how, for instance, does Sweden (pop. 9m) regularly qualify for tournaments. You can’t help concluding that time would be better spent on grass roots coaching structures than on worrying about who exactly is picking the national team.

5. Dark days at Kettering

As the recent non-league day hopefully reminded people, football in this country is about so much more than the bloated hype machine of the Premiership. Despite being nearly 140 years old, Kettering Town could go out of business unless the club can scratch together £3,000.

The money is the latest sticky plaster needed to stop the deal the club struck to clear its £1m plus debts falling apart. Such is the disarray at the club, Kettering fielded just 10 players for one Southern League match earlier this month, and more recent games called off due to lack of players. As a takeover continues to be mooted, we can only hope that it comes in time to save a club with a long and proud tradition.

By @josephclift and James Albion

5 people who benefit from John Terry’s international retirement

Posted: September 24, 2012 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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Steven Gerrard celebrating John Terry‘s international retirement (or possibly just a goal)

After announcing his decision to spend more time with his – or possibly someone else’s – family, we pick 5 people who are likely to benefit from John Terry’s retirement from international football.

1. Steven Gerrard

Even without the armband, John Terry liked to style himself as the de facto leader of the England team – casting a long shadow from which it was hard for players to escape.

The accumulated baggage that Terry brought with him to the England camp was a burden the rest of the squad never needed or benefitted from.

With Terry’s departure that’s now gone, leaving Gerrard as as the undisputed leader within the England team. Galvanised by his appointment as captain, Gerrard was arguably England’s best performer at Euro 2012. Hopefully, without Terry to cramp his style, his influence over the squad will grow.

2. Roy Hodgson

Despite regularly praising JT’s virtues as a player, Roy Hodgson is also likely to be breathing a sigh of relief. As we pointed out during Euro 2012, Terry’s days as a top level international looked increasing numbered due to his declining pace and vulnerability to the ball in behind the defence.

Terry’s decision to go into self imposed exile has spared Hodgson the inevitable soap opera which would have followed attempts to phase out, let alone drop, the Chelsea defender. And given that Terry did on occasion seem to believe that he was the England manager and in charge of team selection (see the fiasco at the World Cup in South Africa) Roy will no longer have to worry about him sparking another mutiny.

3. Phil Jagielka

With one of the big beasts of the England squad put out to pasture there is, what I like to imagine anyway, a Phil Jagielka shaped hole in the centre of England’s defence. A consistent performer over many seasons, he’s missed out at international level due to the plethora of centre back options and a preference for Champions League hardened defenders. Back in the spotlight with Everton’s impressive start to the season, Jagielka finally has the chance to make the England no.6 shirt his own.

4. Rio Ferdinand

Could the door to an England return for Rio Ferdinand have opened? Whilst the obstacle that was John Terry has been removed, it is Hodgson himself who now remains the problem.

Ahead of selection for the Euro’s the England manager was put into an impossible situation by the bad blood between the two players. Dealt a bad hand, Roy played it as best he could, enduring several awkward media grillings as he tried to justify excluding Ferdinand from the squad. Having been through the mill on that it’s hard to imagine Hodgson putting himself through a similar inquiry by selecting Rio. Stranger things have happened in football though.

5. Roberto Di Matteo

I’ve long thought that John Terry wouldn’t play much after 30. Injuries have taken their toll and the aforementioned lack of pace is catching up with him. Reluctant ever to miss a game, the Chelsea captain has played with injuries on many occasions, often to the detriment of his performace.

But with the international weeks providing regular for rest and recuperation, the ultimate beneficiary of Terry’s retirement may be Roberto Di Matteo who will have a fully fit player in his dressing room, eager to show people what their country are missing.

 Written by James Albion

Five things we learnt about Hodgson’s England

Posted: June 20, 2012 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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1. Euro 2012 should be John Terry’s last tournament

England celebrate

Celebrations involving Terry should soon become a thing of the past (photo via Daily Mirror)

In a telling moment in the England Sweden game, Zlatan Ibrahimovic – hardly the world’s quickest footballer – accelerated past a lumbering John Terry. Last night, a lapse in his positioning was only saved by a blundering official. It illustrated just why this should be Terry’s last international tournament for England. Never the quickest, Terry’s advancing years and injuries are only going to diminish his speed. In recent years, Chelsea have compensated for this lack of foot speed by having the right defensive partner alongside him. However, it’s a problem that his club and country now need to address. As AVB discovered last season, Terry’s lack of pace is a tactical impediment to a whole team – stopping his plans to maintain a high defensive line, enabling Chelsea to press aggressively in the opposition’s half.

Ultimately, with a court appearance looming next month, the decision to phase-out or ditch Terry may be taken out of Roy Hodgson’s hands.

2. Playing in straight lines will take us straight out the tournament

England play in straight lines, with the holy sacrament of English football continuing to be the desire to play in two banks of perfectly symmetrical four.

This rigidity, coupled with England’s poor ball retention, will not take us much further in the tournament. You can choose the strength of your own adjective (inept, poor, disappointing) to describe England’s performance at this competition, but we can all agree that haven’t played well. We’ve failed to dominate a single game, and the tactical ease with which a very average Ukrainian team gave us the run around, highlights how limited we are as a team.

We can only look on enviously at the tactical fluidity of Slaven Bilic and the Croatian team. Their performance against Spain, and their second half showing against Italy – after a half-time change of formation and tactics – have been two of most impressive showings at Euro 2012. But then Croatia are out the tournament and England are still in, so hey, what do we know?

3. Johnson’s defensive frailties are limiting who gets picked in front of him

The fact that Johnson is not a great defender is nothing new. But the absence of Walcott or The Ox starting directly in front of him suggests that Hodgson simply doesn’t have enough faith that England won’t be torn apart without a more defensive-minded right-winger. While James Milner ‘puts in a good shift’ (i.e. runs around a lot, normally to cover for the AWOL Johnson) he often seems like a worker-bee in a flower-free environment – lots of buzzing around, but no nectar at the end of the day.

Does Johnson really offer more going forward than one of the attacking wingers not in the side?

4. Gerrard is excelling as captain

The best player coming out of the group stages. It’s remarkable to think that giving Gerrard the captain’s armband was even in question not too long ago. He’s clearly relishing the role, and now anchored in that central role he’s delivering the goods – leading by example in each of the three games so far. Which makes you wonder why we didn’t do both things years ago.

5. Lescott has greatly exceeded expectations

With all the brouhaha about Gary Cahill’s injury and the exclusion of Rio Ferdinand from the squad, Joleen Lescott’s promotion to first team duties have gone somewhat under the radar. Which is unfortunate, as the Manchester City centre back has been an assured performer in all three matches. Given the way that England have made heavy weather of the group, no-one can claim he has yet to be properly tested. As we’re unlikely to win the tournament with attacking flair, defensive solidity is our best hope of progressing further – and Lescott has contributed as much as anyone towards that.

Written by James Albion

What if referees were allowed to be fans?

Posted: March 5, 2011 by onefootinthegame in Awards, Champions Leuage, Championship, England, FA Cup, Liverpool, Players, Premier League, Rant, Tottenham Hotspur
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English football (soccer) referee Howard Webb

Image via Wikipedia

“Sure I saw him forearm the lad McCarthy. But what can I say I’ve always been a Manchester United fan so I was never going to send Rooney off.” So says Mark Clattenburg explaining his decision to turn a blind eye to a seemingly obvious red card offence.

Speaking later in the week Martin Atkinson explained his decision to send Nemanja Vidic off in the dying moments of the game: “Every time I have a game with him he’s always bitching and moaning about this or that decision. I’d been looking for a chance to send him off all game and teach him a lesson. He tugged the shirt, I thought, thank you very much and pulled out the red.”

Of course none of this happened. I made it all up. The referees in question said no such thing. Unfortunately, they abide by the rules of their employers and maintain a stoic silence as Alex Ferguson ignores the rules applying to him about questioning referees integrity. So much for the FA’s respect agenda.

The trouble is referees are an easy target for managers for the simple reason they can’t answer back. You can heap abuse and derision upon them, and if you’ve got a big enough reputation like the Govan gobshite Fergie then you’re probably not even worried about getting punished.

But what if referees could answer back? And what if referees could actually fire the opening salvos in a war of words with a manager?

Imagine if Howard Webb, ahead of Manchester derby, spoke about how Rio Ferdinand had harangued him in the tunnel after the last game. “I hope Rio doesn’t try tackling in the box. Any excuse to give a penalty and I’m pointing at the spot.”

If referees were allowed to mark the card of players and referees I think we’d find there’d be a sudden a new found respect for the match officials. I’m guessing managers would find themselves having a new found sympathy for that difficult offside decision. All for fear of antagonising the same referee at any future fixture. The FA could even start choosing referees on the basis of promoting their respect agenda. Courteous behaviour could be rewarded with a sympathetic referee.

And unapologetic recalcitrant’s like Ferguson? Well they could find themselves with Martin Atkinson every week.

 

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