Greeks Knight David Beckham
Well not really, but the announcer at the flame handover ceremony in Athens yesterday, added Sir to David Beckham’s name at every opportunity. Perhaps with all their troubles, the Greeks may be following the Albanians, who famously offered CB Fry the throne, by knighting him and hoping he’ll give them a bit of publicity. The whole episode is reported in the Independent.
The Best UK Football Team Ever
The BBC are having a bit of fun here, naming the best UK side ever in front of the Olympics. These are all players, that I’ve seen play live, so those whose careers ended nefore about 1958 are out.
What surprises me, is the number of times Danny Blanchflower is mentioned in proposed teams, probably in many cases by people, who never saw him play. To my mind, he was the best I ever saw and would be made captain of my side.
The goalkeeper picks himself and there is no-one to rival another Ulsterman, Pat Jennings.
The right-back is a difficult one with Viv Anderson, George Cohen, Jimmy Armfield, Chris Lawler and Gary Neville. I will choose George, as we don’t win tournaments without a Cohen in the side.
One centre-back, Bobby Moore, picks himself and you can choose anyone from Billy Wright, Jack Charlton, Tony Adams, Billy McNeill and Terry Butcher. I was going to put Joleon Lescott in the list, until I saw the mistake he made this afternoon against QPR. I never saw Duncan Edwards play. So it has to be Terry Butcher, if only for his England performance against Sweden in qualifying for the World Cup.
The left-backs must include Ray Wilson, Stuart Pearce, Ashley Cole and Kenny Samson. I think I’ll take Ashley Cole.
I would choose the best midfield three I ever saw in it’s entirety; Blanchflower, John White and Dave Mackay. I saw that midfield many times and even some of the great sides we’ve seen in the last few years, could not have coped with the skill and intelligence of Blanchflower and White and the power of Mackay. They also weren’t short in the goal-scoring department.
I’ve always liked a speedy players to open up defenses and I’ve seen three of the best; Gareth Bale, Ryan Giggs and Cliff Jones. It’s not funny they’re all Welsh, as there have been large numbers of Welsh sprinters in athletics. In football, Leighton James was another fast left winger. Perhaps, the Welsh are just looking for the next world-beating successor to J J Williams et al. Incidentally, I believe Cliff Jones used to play some amateur rugby after he retired from football. Any one will do in truth, but I would take Gareth Bale.
That leaves me with two to play up front. They often go best in pairs, like John Toshack and Kevin Keegan, Alan Gilzean and Jimmy Greaves or currently Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck. On the other hand you have those like George Best and Gary Lineker, who very much worked indepoendently of the rest of the team. A lot of strikers too have problems and of course some are very selfish. I think that I’d put Rooney and Greaves up front. It would be an interesting experiment.
Obviously, you can disagree with my choice, but Blanchflower must stay as captain.
Germany v Greece
If things work out right, Germany will play Greece on June 22nd in Euro 2012 in the midst of a Greek General Election.
What fun?
Using An Ipswich Bobble Hat as a Passport
This post was brought about by Danny Baker asking on Radio 5, if anybody had any stories about getting into football matches.
The spring after C died, I took a holiday in Italy, mainly to see if I could holiday by myself.
Whilst staying in Florence, I found out that Fiorentina were playing a home game against Livorno.
It was a bit of a performance to get the ticket, as I had to go to the cafe, opposite the ground and buy it from the owner. To do this, I needed a credit card and my passport. The latter was duly copied before the ticket was issued.
Before the match, I decided that it would be best just to take a few euros and the ticket, as I wasn’t sure, if Italian football crowds had the odd pickpocket.
When I approached the gate to get into the ground, I was approached and frisked by a steward, who demanded my passport.
As I didn’t fancy the long walk back to the hotel, I protested and finally decided to point to the badge on the Ipswich bobble-hat I was wearing, saying Inglesi repeatedly and loud at the time.
He forgot about the passport and I was let through.
Blackburn Rovers are Relegated
One of the most historic clubs in the Premier League, Blackburn Rovers, was relegated last night.
It would appear that the new owners had no idea about what they had bought and BBC Radio 5 was saying last night, that they’d thought they’d bought a franchise which couldn’t be relegated and an endless cash chicken.
Someone emphasised the latter, by bringing a chicken to the match, complete with its own team shirt. Read the report in that new tabloid, the Guardian.
It is a very sad affair and is another club that has got into trouble because of inappropriate and/or stupid ownership.
I felt particularly upset last night for Dave Whelan. the Wigan owner, as his team sent them down. He had been a Blackburn player in the 1960 Cup Final, when he was carried off due to a broken leg.
Has Manchester City Bought the Premier League Title?
As today’s football draws to a close, it looks like nothing can stop Manchester City winning the Premier League Title. It just shows how unfair it is when those with the money always win.
The only hope is that the UEFA Financial Fair Play Rules bring a degree of discipline. These rules, incidentally, may hit Spain worse than anybody else, if the practices of Spanish clubs, I outlined here are stopped.
Has Steven Gerrard Come of Age?
You’d think that the headlines about Steven Gerrard this morning, would all have been about his performance in the FA Cup Final yesterday. The Times rated him at 6/10, but said he was rather a frustrated figure.
The biggest headline about himn today, is that he has signed a letter with Jamie Oliver, saying that cooking should be taught in schools, as a means of fighting obesity.
Coupled with his measured and thoughtful support for the new England manager, Roy Hodgson, it would appear that we are seeing a very different Steven Gerrard.
Cynics might argue though, that he wants the England captaincy.
Father and Son Footballers
They were talking about these on Radio 5 last night.
Perhaps I have a better memory, but the two pairs I know, weren’t mentioned.
Les Allen, who was in Spurs double-winning side of 1960-61, is the father of Clive and Bradley Allen, both of whom, had reasonably successful careers.
Roy Bailey, who was the goalkeeper in Ipswich’s First Division winning side of 1961-62, was the father of Manchester United’s goalkeeper, Gary Bailey.
Spanish Football is Built on Debt
I know there’s a lot of debt in British football and some clubs such as Portsmouth and Rangers seem to have succumbed to the problems. But this is nothing compared to the tax debts of the leading Spanish clubs, as detailed in this report from AFP.
I thought UEFA had a series of fair-play rules, that British clubs adhere to. It would appear that Spanish practices are different. Here’s just one phrase from the report.
But the latest figure to hit the headlines in Spain is the 752 million euros that Spain’s elite clubs owe to the tax man at a time when more than five million are unemployed and the government is asking citizens for more sacrifices.
Even Rangers don’t owe a tenth of that to the taxman.
Beware The Croydon Man
With all the fuss about Roy Hodgson becoming the new England manager, I thought I’d look up who else was born in Croydon, that much maligned suburb of South London.
The most interesting is that polymath and outstanding sportsman; Charles Burgess Fry, better known by his initials of C. B. This paragraph from Wikipaedia sums him up.
Fry’s achievements on the sporting field included representing England at both cricket and football, an FA Cup Final appearance for Southampton F.C. and equalling the then world record for long jump. He also reputedly turned down the throne of Albania. In later life, he suffered mental health problems, but in his 70s was still able to perform his party piece: jumping backwards onto a mantel from a standing position.
I think that if you look at Hodgson’s career, he hasn’t shirked any challenge and perhaps he just is the man to lead England in Euro-2012 and beyond. He’s not a polymath like Fry, but he’s a real polyglot, speaking ten languages with varying degrees of fluency.
Hodgson’s problem will be the press. Last night, the Manchester-centric Radio 5 Live commentators were saying it was a bad decision.
I disagree, especially he appoints Stuart Pearce to his team.
The Anonymous Widower 