Jack Wilshere and Andy Carroll have made me think a lot more positively about modern footballers. It is no secret that Arsenal and Liverpool do not want the two youngsters to link up with Stuart Pearce’s England Under-21 squad for the European Championship in Denmark this month. But Wilshere and Carroll want to represent their country, hope to win silverware and are keen to experience tournament football, which can only benefit the senior squad in years to come. This is refreshing talk for those of us who were never familiar with the expressions ‘too much football’ or ‘burn-out’.
Even the expression ‘club v country dispute’ sounds a little foreign to players of my era. There never used to be any dispute because your country always came first. I missed the birth of my eldest daughter Lynn because I was away in Norwich, playing for the England Under-23s, as it was then. These days, it’s almost unthinkable that a player would turn out for the Under-21s on the day he became a father for the first time. But the records show that I scored once, and Bobby Charlton twice, in a 3-0 win over Czechoslovakia at Carrow Road. Neither myself, my wife nor anybody at the Football Association thought twice about me being there.
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I can also remember being packed off to Lilleshall for a two-day England training session, while limping through injury. I hobbled out of the car and Alf Ramsey shouted: “What the f*** are you doing here, you’re injured. F*** off back to Tottenham.”When I returned to Spurs, my manager Bill Nicholson told me: “I know you were injured but it’s up to Alf to make the decision. It’s your duty to turn up for your country.”This unquestioning attitude towards international call-ups continued until Leeds manager Don Revie started pulling his players out of England squads because of suspicious minor injuries. Ironically, Don went on to manage England but his most significant legacy to the international game was this practice of inventing injuries to players, who would always be fit for their club’s next match.
This is widespread now, of course, and it is difficult to see it changing when the majority of Premier League bosses are not English and when most supporters care more about their club than their country. That is why it is encouraging to hear that Wilshere, 19, and Carroll, 22, are both so keen to play for the Under-21s, despite becoming senior squad regulars this season. If a young player doesn’t want to be playing football morning, noon and night, there must be something wrong with them
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So what if they only end up getting three or four weeks’ holiday? That sort of break would have been a luxury for international players in my playing days. We’d usually have a post-season tour followed by a fortnight off, then back into pre-season training with another tour. I can remember playing for the Under-23s in Italy one May, then getting a train to Zurich for a flight back to London to meet up with the senior England squad for a flight to Rio and a three-nation tour of South America.
Another summer there was an England tour of Eastern Europe, followed straight away by a Spurs trip to South Africa. And after the longest summer of all, the 1966 World Cup, I had just five days holiday in Majorca before I was back on a plane to Malaga for a pre-season tournament with Spurs. I don’t recall complaining of ‘burn-out’ or ‘too much football’ and I’m delighted to hear that Wilshere and Carroll aren’t either. As for the clubs, they won’t be moaning about burn-out when they’re on their pre-season tours of the Far East in July.
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Schalke sporting director Horst Heldt insists that the club have still not accepted Bayern Munich’s bid for goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.The 25-year-old shot-stopper caught the eye as Schalke reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, eventually losing out to English Premier League heavyweights Manchester United.
The Gelsenkirchen outfit also won the German Cup, but only managed a 14th-placed finish in the Bundesliga.
The form of Germany number one Neuer prompted interest from Schalke’s Bundesliga rivals Bayern, who are rumoured to lead the chase for his services.
But it appears Neuer’s move to Bavaria is still some way off being completed.
“There is nothing new. We had a meeting scheduled today in which we presented the offer Bayern Munich made for Neuer. We have talked about that but we haven’t made any decisions yet,” Heldt said on Tuesday.
“First of all, Manuel said in his press conference – in which I sat beside him – that he has a contract with us until 2012. It is my belief that one should honour such words. He never said that he wanted to leave the club right now, even while admitting that he has thought about it, and despite the fact that Bayern wants him.”
Fulham have set up a tie against Northern Irish side Crusaders in the Europa League qualifiers after progressing past Faroe Island part-timers NSI Runavik on Thursday night. The London club here held 0-0 in the away leg of the tie, but move to the next round after winning the first leg 3-0 at Craven Cottage.
Whilst most clubs are just getting back to pre-season training this week, Martin Jol’s side have had to start early in the pursuit of European football next season after qualifying through The Fair Play league.
The Cottagers sent a strong team to the Faroe Islands, however Aaron Hughes and Chris Baird did not travel and were replaced by Stephen Kelly and Philippe Senderos. Jonathan Greening deputised for Simon Davies on the left of midfield, whilst Steve Sidwell replaced Danny Murphy.
The second leg against the Faroese minnows was not one for the purist, but Damien Duff came the closest to breaking the deadlock by hitting the bar after five minutes. Strikers Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson had chances to give the English side victory, but were also both denied by home goalkeeper Andras Gango.
Fulham will now travel to Belfast in the first leg of the second round of qualifying next Thursday; Crusaders finished second in their domestic league last season.
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Stuttgart have confirmed the signing of Francisco Rodriguez for an undisclosed fee from PSV, with the centre-back penning a three-year deal.The Mexico international, also known as Maza, has been added to cover an area where Stuttgart have been looking to strengthen.
“In Maza, we have signed an experienced central defender,” sporting director Fredi Bobic told the club’s official website.
“Following the loss of Matthieu Delpierre through injury, we wanted to have a further option in that position. Maza is familiar with European football and won’t need a long period of integration before he can help our team.”
The 29-year-old, who signed for Dutch club PSV in 2008 and spent three successful seasons there, spoke of the next step in his career.
“Stuttgart are a huge club which is highly renowned in Germany and across Europe. I have spoken with Fredi Bobic as well as [head coach] Bruno Labbadia. Their ideas and the concept behind them have impressed me,” Rodriguez said.
“For me personally, the move from Eindhoven to VfB is a new sporting challenge. I want to get to know the players and the style of football in the Bundesliga as quickly as possible in order to be able to help the team achieve their goals.”
Sir Alex Ferguson has ruled out any more incomings at Manchester United admitting that he missed out on some targets reports the Guardian.
Three players have already been added to the United squad although a replacement for Paul Scholes has so far eluded Ferguson.
Ashley Young, David de Gea and Phil Jones all joined the Red Devils for big money this summer with the United boss fulfilling his goal of adding a youthful core to his side.
However Ferguson still wants a replacement for Scholes, who retired at the end of last season, but admits he’s missed he can’t see that happening.
He told the Guardian: “We lost five players in their 30s this summer. That helped finance the three younger players – Ashley Young, Phil Jones and David de Gea – I have brought to the club.
“At this moment, I can’t see another addition. The type of player we might have been looking for is not available. I am happy with the players I have got at this moment in time.”
A new playmaker is still a priority for Ferguson as he strives to replace Scholes. However finances are tight at Old Trafford and moves for Ferguson’s top targets have been considered too expensive.
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Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder has been on the Scot’s wish list for some time but his £35 million asking price and looks likely to stay at the San Siro for at least another season.
Arsenal are set to increase their interest in Birmingham defender Scott Dann the Daily Mail understands.
The Gunners are pondering a £10 million move for the 24-year-old centre back and are sending chief scout Steve Rowley to run the rule over him this weekend.
Birmingham start their Championship campaign against Derby County on Saturday and Rowley will be in attendance to judge whether he’s the man to put an end to Arsenal’s defensive frailty.
Manager Arsene Wenger wanted to see Dann in action last weekend in a friendly against Everton but he missed the game due to a sever hamstring tear.
However he has now recovered from that and Rowley will make one final check before reporting his findings back to Wenger.
The Frenchman is desperate to bring a centre half to the Emirates before the transfer window closes with moves for Bolton’s Gary Cahil and Everton’s Phil Jagielka going cold.
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Wenger considers both to be overpriced by their clubs and has grown frustrated at the Toffee’s in particular over their valuation of Jagielka.
Arsenal know they will have to move swiftly if they want to capture one of the most sought defenders in England with interest from Chelsea and Liverpool also strong.
Manchester City laid down their title credentials smashing five goals past Tottenham at White Hart Lane with Edin Dzeko scoring four to maintain their 100% start to the new campaign.
The Citizens stormed back to the top of the Premier League after another rampant performance and have now scored 17 goals in their first three games.
£27 million striker Dzeko was the stand out performer as he put the Spurs defence to the sword scoring four and proving to be a nuisance throughout. Samir Nasri, making his City debut, was also bang in form whilst David Silva and Sergio Aguero kept up their fine starts to the new campaign.
Despite the scoreline the first 25 minutes was rather close with the home side having several good opportunities to break he deadlock. Rafael Van der Vaart had a free kick saved by Joe Hart before Gareth Bale should have at least hit the target only to blaze a volley over from 10 yards.
Those scares kicked the visitors into gear and Dzeko opened the scoring in the 34th minute tapping in Nasri’s cross from the left before the same two players combined again six minutes later with the Bosnian looping a header across goal and into the bottom corner leaving Brad Friedel motionless.
The second half saw City continue in the same vein scoring two goals in quick succession. Dzeko completed his hat trick in the 54th minute tapping in from Yaya Toure’s ball before Aguero smashed home from inside the box after a mazy run through the Spurs defence.
Younes Kaboul pulled a goal back with 23 minutes to go but Dzeko wasn’t going to let the hosts have the last laugh curling in a sublime effort from the edge of the area two minutes into added on time.
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Manchester United have responded to claims from Owen Hargreaves that they mismanaged his knee injury during his time at Old Trafford, stating their disappointment at their former player’s comments.
The England midfielder had an injury plagued time at the Premier League champions, and following his free transfer move to Manchester City has blamed United for his time on the sidelines.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s team had initially declined to comment, but have defended themselves against the player’s criticism.
“Manchester Unitedis disappointed with Owen’s remarks after the game on Wednesday. The club gave him the best possible care for three years and is as disappointed as anyone he was not able to play a part in the team’s success at that time,” a statement on the club’s official website read.
“It has shared all the medical records with Manchester City and is comfortable with the actions taken by its medical staff at each step of his many attempts at rehabilitation.
“United does not acknowledge any validity in the comments Owen is alleged to have made. Manchester United has some of the best sports medical staff in world sport, who have made a significant contribution to United’s on-pitch success in recent seasons,” it concluded.
Hargreaves returned to first team football for City in the Carling Cup in midweek, scoring the first goal in a 2-0 victory over Birmingham in a man of the match performance.
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The decision to select a GB football team for the 2012 Olympics has brought a mixed response within the game. Some players have welcomed the decision and suggested they would be keen to play, while managers and the football federations have questioned the fact it will impinge on their members preparations for their league programme. The very fact the Euro Championships will also be taking place some weeks earlier only goes to underline the worries that some football managers are likely to have and why they will be hesitant to release some of their players for the Olympics.
The ruling for the Olympic teams is the players must be 23 years of age or under; although three players over that age can also be included within the squad.
With that in mind I have included my Olympic XI for Team GB
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Click on the image below to see the GB XI
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Another week, and another example of football being under attack. A few weeks back, social media sites were buzzing with the upcoming revelations on that night’s Dispatches programme. The programme looked at drug use amongst footballers, and all the talk was about it naming a top, top player who had been suspended for drug use and then sold on without the buying club being made aware of his murky past.
It’s all par for the course though, as we’ve been here before. Hard-hitting exposes that hit us with the force of a small sponge dropped onto a blancmange, leaving you to say “is that it?”
Sites such as Twitter promote the feeling of anti-climax – rumours spread, and the truth is never as exciting as the rumour, in the same way that journalists tweet of upcoming breaking news (AND IT’S BIG FOLKS!) and then you read that Inter Milan might, at some point in the future, make a bid for Gareth Bale, and you feel cheated. And they never bid anyway.
TV producers know the obvious, that football is big business, and investigating it and unearthing scandal could be a ratings winner. And like any multi-billion pound, global business, there will be plenty to investigate, as it will never be whiter-than-white. How could it be? But have these programmes really told you anything you didn’t know or at least suspect already?
If you watched the Dispatches programme, did it prompt much discussion? Are you still thinking about it? Can you remember a single footballer named in the programme? Dispatches knew they weren’t dealing with the biggest players, so had to embellish descriptions with “full international” and “tipped to be a premiership star”.
The fact is that of the 2000 or so footballers plying their trade in this country, the law of averages and the forces of human nature (especially when large amounts of money are at hand) will determine that some will misbehave. Some will crash cars, get up to mischief in nightclubs and some will obviously take drugs. I am betting some cricketers have taken cocaine too, and some rugby players. How about a programme exposing cocaine use amongst badminton players? Guess there’s not much of a call for that.
The programme followed familiar lines – lots of stern to-camera pieces from the presenter, lots of arty camera angles and concerned faces. The presenter sat in a converted loft surrounded by computer screens and stomped round various venues looking shocked and appalled. He started by discussing Kolo Toure’s drug ban and the length of his suspension – no new news or revelations here – the programme makers managed to find someone who thought the ban wasn’t severe enough – well I never, hold the front pages.
The programme’s main contention was that clubs and football authorities are complicit in keeping failed tests for recreational drugs out of the public eye, with 21 positive cocaine tests since 2003, most of which had not been disclosed to the public.
A cover up, or an FA policy not to report recreational drug use and that these drugs do not enhance performance and thus the players have some sort of right to privacy? The scandal is that players aren’t being named. This isn’t much of a scandal – it might be wrong, but it isn’t a scandal. Players not being suspended would be a scandal.
The alleged case of Garry O’Connor – described as “one of the brightest talents in Scottish football” – was given plenty of coverage (so bright was his talent that Barnsley subsequently released him). But how big a revelation was this anyway? The Daily Record reported O’Connor’s arrest on suspicion of possession on May 17 this year. He was in court as recently as September 5 over the charges, with the case deferred until the end of the month. So Dispatches’ shocking revelation was to repeat openly available news. If you didn’t already know about O’Connor’s antics, like most if us, it’s probably because you’re not really that bothered.
Another feature of the programme was asking members of the public their opinion – the ultimate in padding (and irrelevant). A TV programme is always in trouble when it has to ask members of the public for opinions – apart from the fact that if you asked enough people you could get someone to agree to anything, (that Paul Merson is a great pundit!), these vox pops add nothing to what the programme is trying to achieve. Leon Knight appeared to make unsubstantiated allegations that cocaine use was rife and that he had seen players at one of his former clubs snorting it. He could be telling the truth of course, but it’s hardly compelling television, as the evidence is not there. As a final act of desperation, we heard the claim by one expert that a player on coke could flip out and hurt somebody in a tackle (a leap of faith having been taken that players were snorting lines of cocaine during the pre-match team talk).
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This was just the latest in a long line of “football scandal” programmes of course. In September 2006 Panorama showed a documentary called “Undercover: Football’s Dirty Secrets”, which alleged payments in English football contrary to the rules of the Football Association, involving then Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce, and his agent son Craig, for taking “bungs” from agents for signing certain players. Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp is secretly filmed discussing the possibility of buying the Blackburn Rovers captain Andy Todd with agent Peter Harrison, which is against Football Association rules. And whilst it may be against the rules, it is hardly earth-shattering stuff. Either way, allegations of Redknapp and his transfer dealings were hardly new, or surprising. Rumours have been rife for many a year. And if you wanted full details of such allegations against Redknapp, you could already have read a whole chapter in Tom Bower’s book Broken Dreams. Chelsea director of youth football Frank Arnesen is secretly filmed making an illegal approach or “tapping up” Middlesbrough’s England youth star 15-year-old Nathan Porritt.
Tapping up eh? Wow, I can’t believe that happens, I’m going to have to sit down and regain my composure after that bombshell.
On 29 November 2010, three days before voting for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Panorama aired an in depth investigation into bribes by senior FIFA officials. But then we knew this already didn’t we? If news that FIFA was a bit bent surprised you, then you’re probably not aware that bears like to defecate in wooded areas or the religious persuasion of the Pope. The timing was predictable for getting the best ratings, but its main effect was probably to damage England’s chances of hosting the World Cup, if any chance existed in the first place.
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Donal MacIntyre, given his own series MacIntyre Undercover on BBC One in 1999, covered his exploits among a gang of football hooligans, the Chelsea Headhunters. To sound like a broken record, it told us little new, though was a superb piece of investigation by MacIntyre.
And in July this year Channel 4 showed a documentary about wealthy businessmen and consortium buying football clubs in England – a Dispatches programme once more. “How To Buy A Football Club” featured an undercover reporter claiming to represent a wealthy group of investors in a journey that took the reporter to the brink of buying a League One football club. It showed Bryan Robson as a front for the groups London Nominees and the Football Fund, two investment groups, and whilst he may not have come across that well, there was no evidence of dishonesty or fraud from him.
The broker of deals was a Bangkok bar owner called Joe Sim, a man who claims connections across the football and had the number, and shared company of a certain Alex Ferguson. But once more, there was little substance behind the news. Ferguson distanced himself from Sim, and there was no proof of any wrongdoing on his part, except choosing the wrong friends. Again, a programme showing foreign businessmen trying to buy clubs and get round competition rules is no small deal, but hardly surprising, and most football fans have known about these strange consortiums in recent years. We’re still trying to work out who owned Notts County, who owns Leeds, and a whole host of other clubs with a rather eclectic board set-up.
The programmes are well-made (sometimes) and show good investigative practices – I don’t want to appear to be completely dismissing them as garbage – they are not, and I understand fully why they were made, and why they were hyped up. They add a little meat to the bones and reveal a few new stories we may be unaware of. The issues they dealt with are not to be dismissed or treated lightly. My point is, they didn’t really shock or surprise most of us. We know most of it already. We football fans might turn a blind eye if a Thai dictator with a winning smile takes over our club, or if a player has a mystery “virus” for 6 months, but we know the score. Football inevitably attracts bad people, and bad things happen on and off the pitch. Some of the worst practices have happened further down the football pyramid, where clubs have been virtually destroyed by bad practices and unscrupulous owners and operators. The producers of Dispatches might be better served investigating the truly great scandals of the game’s recent history – but there might not be as many viewers to be earned by doing that.