Much Adu about…Freddie.
Adu with the man he was tipped to emulate.
As long as ten years ago, the World Cup in 2014 was ordained as the time Freddie Adu would prove himself to be a truly global star. Way back in 2004, the Ghanian-born American signed a professional contract with MLS club DC United at just 14 years of age. Adu had been playing against opponents twice, or even three times his age for years, drawing flattering comparisons with Brazilian legend, Pele. In the land of hype and the home of celebrity, the youngster was primed to be America’s first superstar soccer player – and 2014, when he would be 24 – was to be his coming out party. Well, that was the theory anyway. Although the USA team certainly enhanced its reputation during the Brazil tournament, Adu was not there; the ghost at his own party.
Diamonds may be for ever, but Jewell only lasts a week at The Hawthorns.
Pulis and Jewell in tandem at The Hawthorns. Blink and you’d have missed it though!
When West Bromwich Albion dispensed with the services of Alan Irvine, just before the turn of the year, they wasted precious little time in appointing Tony Pulis as their new manager. The former Stoke City and Crystal Palace boss was bound to be in demand about this time of the season as chairmen of struggling sides sought salvation with the man who transformed Palace’s fortunes last season. If, after two successive victories under Pulis however, Baggies fans thought that all would be sweetness and light under the new regime, the rapid exit of Paul Jewell from Pulis’s entourage will have quickly disavowed them of such a belief.
Ginola to challenge Blatter – Is it for L’Oreal?
Ginola raises a glass and his profile in front of Paddy Power’s backdrop
As well as being a former Newcastle United, Tottenham and Aston Villa midfielder, David Ginola, was also known for advertising a certain brand of shampoo on TV. I’m not sure how much he was paid for his services on that particular enterprise, but I’m sure he was worth it. Ouch, sorry about that, just too big a temptation to resist though. The flamboyant footballer now however appears to have thrown his hat into the ring for the populist post of being the man who ousted Sepp Blatter from Fifa. Or has he? Continue reading →
When football was ‘special.’
Of course it’s an age thing, but doesn’t everyone look back through rose-tinted glasses to wallow in a bit of nostalgia from time-to-time. The thing is though, that with all of the current unsavoury issues swirling around the game, there’s a distinct attraction to hark back to a time when everything seemed so much simpler. Systemic corruption, the ‘loadsamoney’ attitude at the heart of the game and unedifying equations about the relative importance of results and morals all conspire to make football a fickle mistress to fall in love with. Flaming passions tinged with infidelity. It wasn’t always so, however. Continue reading →
Algeria and the scandal of the 1982 World Cup.
The Algerian team in the 1982 World Cup – were they the victims of one of the game’s biggest ever stitch-ups?
When you’ve been following the ‘beautiful game’ as long as I have, you’ve seen a few World Cup tournaments. I think I remember elements of Chile 1962, but can definitely do so with the one that followed four later as England were crowned as champions of the world. The downside of this of course means that I’ve also seen some skulduggery of the lowest order in the four yearly event that should present the highest standards of the game.
The genius of Maradona was sullied when when he punched Argentina past England and then was banished as a drug cheat in the 1994 tournament. Harold Schumacher assaulted French full back Patrick Battiston with a malice that may have earned a prison sentence had it occurred anywhere but on a football pitch. And then Luis Suarez reprised his dental belligerence by biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini in last year’s tournament.
For conspiracy and mass inclusion however, there’s one instance that stands out, and it involved neither violence or cheating per se. No-one was banned. Indeed both of the ‘guilty’ parties progressed in the tournament, and the only injuries and damage were to broken hearts and shattered dreams. It occurred in the 1982 tournament in Spain – the very same event where Schumacher displayed an aggression well beyond the pale, but on this occasion the problem was a lack of aggression, rather than a surfeit of it. Continue reading →
Sepp Blatter and the Magna Carta.
Is it time that Sepp Blatter took a lesson from history?
It doesn’t take a Hamlet to discern that there’s something rotten in the state of Fifa. Dissension is rising over widely-perceived corruption and an autocratic ruler. President Sepp Blatter decides what will happen, and even discerns what is true and what isn’t, almost by a principle of vis et voluntas. A de facto statement that force and authority can overcome reality and justice is the very definition of a leader defined by power, with arbitrary decisions justified by the fact that he simply can. Continue reading →
Don’t Look Back in Anger.
Villas-Boas clearly feels he was treated less than fairly during his time at Tottenham.
It’s looking increasingly likely that the name of Daniel levy did not feature on the Andre Villas-Boas Christmas card list this year. The Portuguese manager was dismissed from Spurs just over a year ago, but recent reports suggest that Villas-Boas, now plying his trade in Russia with Zenit St Petersburg, still harbours bitterness about how things turned out in north London. Continue reading →
Is it the end of the road for Jurgen Klopp at Dortmund?
Once the very hottest of properties amongst European coaches, Klopp now seems unable to pull Dortmund out of their tailspin of decline.
On the 25th May last year, Borussia Dortmund came with an ace of taking the Champions League crown and being regarded as the best team on the continent. Just as with the final of Europe’s premier club competition, the same was true of the Bundesliga, as the Westphalian club had finished as runners-up to Bayern Munich. Their coach, Jurgen Klopp, was very much flavour of the month and was linked with a number of top jobs in the Premier League. Now, just over 18 months later, after 16 games of the new season, and Bayern again cantering to the Bundesliga title, Dortmund lie in a relegation spot at the foot of the table, a single point above the bottom club. It all begs the question: ‘What went wrong? Continue reading →
Giving up the ghost!
A little harsh perhaps, but for my version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ Ed Woodward is cast as Scrooge.
‘Tis the season to be jolly, or so they say. For some however, it doesn’t quite work out like that. In a story particularly popular at this time of year, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by a number of ghosts. Each has a cautionary tale to tell about how things need to change if a particularly unpleasant outcome is to be avoided. Well, seeing as it’s panto season as well, I’ve decided to take the plunge and offer my football-inspired version of A Christmas Carol.
To be sure, Ed Woodward, executive vice-chairman of Manchester United is no miser. Well, not as far as I’m aware anyway, and his largesse in the transfer market probably bears that out. For the purpose of my particular interpretation of Dickens’ famous tale however, I am compelled to cast Ed in the role as Ebenezer Scrooge. Apologies requested in advance. Continue reading →
Returning to Bolton won’t get Eidur down!
The move to Chelsea brought championship honours under Mourinho.
Fourteen years after he left the club for a ‘dream’ move to Chelsea, and fame and glory under Jose Mourinho, Eidur Gudjohnsen has landed back at Bolton. The stadium that was once the Reebok, is now labelled as the Macron, but the 36 year old Icelandic striker will be hoping that there will be no need for a ‘bedding’ in process and that familiar surroundings will fit him like a comfortable pair of ‘bedroom slippers.’ Continue reading →
Gary Thacker 