Everton manager David Moyes has distanced himself from rumours linking USA international Landon Donovan with a return to Goodison Park.
The 28-year-old spent three months on loan with the Toffees from LA Galaxy at the beginning of the year before impressing in this summer's World Cup finals.
Donovan had said that he was keen on returning to the club, but Moyes admitted:"We'd love to have Landon but he looks too expensive for us and we just don't have it.
"We don't have the finances. The price the MLS want for him is very big and it's an additional problem because of his age.
"All we've done is spend £1million on Magaye Gueye so far. Jermaine Beckford and Jan Mucha were free, so we've spent no money by Premier League standards and will probably be the ones who spend the least this season."
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Donovan scored twice in ten starts and three substitute appearances for Moyes' side from mid-January to mid-March before starting all four of the USA's games at the World Cup finals in South Africa.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Wayne Rooney has admitted that he was devastated by the three match ban handed down by Uefa after his red card against Montenegro, and would understand if Fabio Capello left him out of England’s Euro 2012 squad.
The Manchester United striker kicked out at Miodrag Dzudovic in The Three Lions final qualifying fixture in Podgorica, and the governing body punished the attacker with the maximum possible suspension.
With Rooney set to miss the entire group stage of the tournament in Ukraine and Poland next year, the FA has not yet decided whether to appeal Uefa’s decision, and Capello is tossing up whether to bring him to the competition.
“I am disappointed with it,” Rooney told The Guardian.
“I’ve got no excuse but I still feel the punishment is a bit harsh. All the details we have been waiting for came through so we will be making a decision as to whether we will be appealing.
“Obviously that is my own fault so I can’t really complain. It will be a bonus if it is cut by one game. And I thank the Montenegro player [Dzudovic] who has sent an email to Uefa saying that he felt the punishment was too harsh. He didn’t have to do that.
“It was stupid. I regretted it as soon as I did it. I honestly don’t know why I did it. It was one of those moments which I live to regret now. There was no tackle on me beforehand, so it wasn’t retaliation.
“I didn’t set out to ‘beat’ him; it just happened. I just can’t explain it but, obviously, it’s devastating for me,” he stated.
A national debate has ensued whether or not Rooney should be included in the European Championships squad, with opinion split down the middle. If he was omitted from the travelling party, Rooney would understand due to his three match ineligibility.
“I will understand if I am not in the squad because I’ll be missing out on those first three games at the minute and he has to look at other players – it is as simple as that. I want to play but I understand if I don’t,” he concluded.
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Fabio Capello is set to leave Rooney out of the international friendlies against Spain and Sweden, as the striker’s selection for Euro 2012 hangs in the balance.
On Tuesday night in the serene surroundings of Canada Water, 12 bloggers (myself included), one Sunday League team and decorated former England international Ray Wilkins descended upon Bacon’s College as part of Nivea’s enterprising ‘The Great Football Experiment’ campaign.
The event itself comprised a host of engaging activities, including FA coach-led skill sessions, fervently-contested seven-a-side contests, a mock press conference and the opportunity to quiz Wilkins himself.
Wilkins admitted that he would relish the prospect of working with former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti again.
The pair worked together at Stamford Bridge for 17 months before Wilkins was sacked in November 2010.
Ancelotti has recently been linked with a return to management in London, with Arsenal and Tottenham mooted as potential destinations.
“If he wanted me to back with him yes I would. He’s an excellent coach and a good human being – a nice fellow to work with,” he said.
“He’s already living in England so he hasn’t had to come back too far! He wants to work in England – he’s desperate to, but I wouldn’t know where.”
Wilkins also feels that his former side can challenge the two Manchester clubs for the Premier League title this season.
“Absolutely. They’re just coming up on the rails aren’t they?
“It’s vitally important that they beat Manchester United once, Manchester City once and Tottenham once.”
The former Blues coach believes that Frank Lampard, whose role at club and country level has come under scrutiny, provided the perfect riposte to those who had doubted him. Speaking after Lampard scored a hat-trick in Chelsea’s 5-1 defeat of Bolton, Wilkins said:
“I think he’s just being what he is, and that’s a top professional. He hasn’t got anything to prove, it was a kneejerk reaction to give him grief, saying he was finished.
“It was his way at the weekend of telling everybody, ‘I am still about, alive and kicking.’”
Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/zarifrasul
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The last week saw another example of fan revolt, as the seemingly ridiculous rumour that Alex McLeish was to become the new Aston Villa manager actually came to fruition. Without knowing every single Aston Villa fan, it felt like they were all disgusted by the move.
A demonstration at the ground ensued, fans expressed their disgust on message boards, TV screens and with threats of non-attendance in the future. Nevertheless, Randy Lerner ignored the swell of opinion and made the appointment. Was he right to do so?
In theory, yes. Clubs are sadly businesses (not all would agree, as will be mentioned later), and like it or loathe it, those who sit on the board make the decisions, for better or worse. Clubs can’t be making player and managerial decisions on the whim of fans, as the fans can barely agree on anything anyway. It took some Manchester City fans two years to work out Nigel De Jong was a great footballer. There will never be a consensus on how good/bad Mark Hughes was, or even how good/bad Roberto Mancini is now. How can such a group make such important decisions? But fans are the lifeblood of a club, and when their opinion forms such a broad consensus as the Villa fans displayed last week, then perhaps they should be listened to. On the whole however decision-making must be in the hands of a few, as the bigger the number becomes, the harder it is to agree on anything. The world of politics proves that.
Fans’ power over player acquisitions should certainly be non-existent. In England, the almost unanimous system is one whereby the manager alone decides which players to buy (supported by his staff, especially scouts). Abroad, directors of football take up that role and the manager is more of a coach. Whichever system you may think is best, there can be no other way. Fans influencing buys is almost as bad as the owner deciding. It would only end in tears. Especially when the tears are crocodile tears because this particular player once had the nerve to play for THEM.
Of course for many clubs, fans already have a say directly in the way clubs are run, and this is a more logical route to follow. This involvement was brought home by the loss recently of funding to the Supporters Direct organisation by an offshoot of the Premier League, after some fruity tweets from its Chief Executive Dave Boyle led to his resignation and an excuse for funding to be withdrawn.
The examples of fan involvement in clubs are there domestically, though more widespread abroad. Supporters’ trusts sprung up after the 2002 collapse of ITV Digital, but while their intentions are always noble, they often struggled for success against teams with wealthy owners. And supporter-led ownership does not of course guarantee the best decisions or an imprint for success. Notts County’s supporters’ trust voted overwhelmingly in July 2009 to give away its majority stake to the Qadbak investment fund – not the best decision in hindsight. Stockport County, supporter-owned since 2005, went into administration in April 2009 and have finally fallen out of the Football League. Chesterfield and York City were also previously owned by supporters’ trusts, which saved their clubs from extinction in hideous crises, but then found they couldn’t take the club forward, and thus relinquished control.
A different approach can be found at myfootballclub.co.uk, where Ebsfleet United of the Bluesquare League are owned by the fans, as explained on the site:
Ebbsfleet United is owned by thousands of members, who each contribute small amounts annually, and vote on key management decisions like the budget, transfer deals, kit supplier contracts, kit design, election of Club officials, and even approve the Manager’s contract!
Abroad, supporters matter more. Barcelona and Real Madrid (amongst others) are fan-led in Spain. In the Bundesliga, most clubs are more than 50% owned by fans. Many a director would no doubt love to change this scenarion, with only 2 German teams owned by companies, but the fans’ power in maintaining this system has been impressive.
Back at home, Supporters Direct itself has also worked with supporters of the biggest clubs to form trusts either campaigning against damaging ownership or seeking a more active role.
And the aforementioned Dave Boyle would disagree about my earlier assertion that football clubs are businesses. He once said. “We believe very firmly that football clubs are community, sporting institutions, not private businesses.”
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The thought of clubs being run by supporters is also something Uefa back strongly, as they see it as the ideal model for football clubs, and they funded Supporters Direct to extend its work to fans in other countries. This is not surprising when we consider that UEFA believe that fan-led clubs will help achieve the objective of financial fair play, where clubs do not make repeated losses every year. And anything that Uefa believe promotes their idea of financial fair play was always going to be popular. They have a point though. Whilst wealthy owners will bring a greater chance of success, and bigger and bolder buys, a club run by its members is mor elikely to be managed within its means.
AFC Wimbledon are proof of the power of fans. So too are Exeter City, rejuvenated by their own fans, and Swansea City, dying on its feet a decade ago. Swansea are still 20% owned by the supporters trust, which has an elected representative on the board. Fans are the biggest constituent of a football club, and should of course be involved in its operation, direction, and whole ethos. But the only way to do that successfully sometimes is with direct involvement. All fans are entitled to their opinion and to demonstrate when they feel aggrieved, we are not robots or clones designed to turn up and accept whatever is served up in front of us, but it seems the route to greater success by fans can only be achieved by getting right inside the corridors of power. When Aston Villa fans allegedly caused Randy Lerner to abandon the idea of appointing Steve McClaren, they ended up with a far more unpopular choice. Most fans are simply hostages to their clubs’ fortunes, and you just have to hope for the best.
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It seems that in the modern game, money is everything. This fact is noticeable as the firing of managers has become more and more commonplace. Bosses, hungry to see their money turned into success, do not have the patience to wait for a side to develop. We saw this earlier in the season as Sam Allardyce was fired by the new management at Blackburn just days after their take over.
At the other end of the spectrum, we see players with increasing power over their clubs and managers. This season there have been controversial transfer requests by both Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney. Both sagas were resolved with an increased contract being agreed and it seems that players these days kick up a fuss and say they will leave a club unless they get paid extraordinary amounts of money that they feel they deserve.
Thirdly, we have seen the face of the Premiership change in the last ten years thanks to ‘Sugar Daddy’ Chairmen, who come to England with the ambition of turning a club into the ‘biggest’ in Europe. All the while spending millions of pounds and being seemingly unperturbed by the debts they create.
I might draw a bleak picture, but on the positive, football is at the dawn of a new era. In 2013, FIFA will implement the financial fair play rules. This will result in clubs only being able to spend what they make from football. It will also put considerable pressure on clubs who continually run at a loss to become self-sufficient. And prevent Chairmen spending their own money on wages and transfer fees.
There has been an on-going debate in the history of football about what makes a club ‘bigger’ than another. Some feel it is trophies, other feel it is supporters. But we now live in a world where money, it could be argued, dictates the size of a club. It is assumed that the financial fair play rules will allow the clubs who make the most money through football to become more successful and penalise those who rely on a financier for investment. Therefore, football may once again begin to see the rise of the ‘biggest’ clubs, who create the most revenue and not just the richest who spend the most.
After 2012, when clubs can only spend what they earn, each revenue stream will become even more important to a club. There are currently three main revenue streams through football; match-day income, commercial deals and broadcasting deals.
My investigation into the finances of modern football will see the analysis of the three aspects of each club’s revenue. I will be going through statistics published over the last 8 years in ‘The Deloitte European Football Money League’ and see what changes have occurred and why. It is thanks to the work of Deloitte that I have been able to do this and all facts and figures concerning revenue come from their reports. I am going to begin by looking at the match-day revenues of the top clubs in Europe.
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Match-Day Revenue of Premier League clubs
Match-day revenue makes up a third of most team’s total revenue. One would assume that the most important factor of match-day revenue is the size of an average attendance. If a club sells more tickets, it makes more money. But things in European football are not as straightforward as that.
Interestingly enough, the most supported League in Europe for the last 10 years has been the German Bundesliga.
Competition
Average Attendance (2008-09)
Bundesliga (GER)
42,565
Premier League (ENG)
35,600
La Liga (SPN)
29,124
Serie A (ITA)
25,304
Championship (ENG)
17,891
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It is apparent that in German domestic football average attendances are very high. Firstly, there are a lot of huge grounds; 11 German clubs have an average attendance of over 40,000. The Premier League, on the other hand, has only 6, (Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea). One reason for this is that the 2006 World Cup, hosted by Germany, meant that many German clubs benefited from stadium redevelopments while England have not hosted a major European tournament since Euro 1996.
Yet, despite having the highest average attendances, German clubs did not make the most money through match-day revenue in 2010.
2010
Match-day
£m/home game
Average
£/attendee
(pos.)
revenue (£m)
attendance
1
R. Madrid
128.1
–
74,894
–
2
Man United
122.4
3.6
74,304
48
3
Arsenal
114.7
3.5
59,765
59
4
Barcelona
97.8
–
77,913
–
5
Chelsea
82.1
2.4
41,422
58
6
Bayern Mun.
66.7
2.7
68,853
25
7
Liverpool
52.4
1.6
42,863
37
8
Hamburger
49.3
1.9
55,240
29
9
Tottenham
44.9
1.5
36,240
41
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The German clubs’ lack of dominance is interesting. This is because the average money spent by a person per game (£/attendee) in Germany is dramatically lower than in England. Cheaper tickets allow German clubs to achieve larger crowds, but reduce their match-day revenue.
We, in England, are paying a lot more to watch a game of top flight football than our equivalent in Germany. In 2010, Manchester United earned 25% more each home game than Bayern Munich despite having a similar average attendance. It costs a person, on average, £23 more to go to Old Trafford than the Allianz Arena in Munich. This is why Manchester United achieved a total match-day revenue of £55.7m more than Bayern Munich in 2010 despite averaging only 5,451 more people each home game.
It is also important to notice that the teams whose revenues are highest have new grounds. English clubs make more money than those in Germany not just because of ticket prices but also because of corporate spending. But those with the largest corporate facilities make the most (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and Arsenal).
Obviously the amount made through corporate hospitality has increased the £/attendee figure. Therefore this number is not directly reflective of ticket prices. But ticket prices in the last 5 years have clearly risen, and will continue to do so as clubs strive to earn more money from home games.
However, due to the £/attendee of supporters in England, clubs like Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham still make more on match-days than German sides Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04 and Hamburg. These teams all have stadiums capable of holding more people and average attendances of 73,097, 61,361 and 54,744 respectively. But still do not make as much as the top English clubs.
Importantly, Liverpool and Tottenham may feature in the top 10, but make less than half the money of the highest ranking teams. These two clubs are able to earn more than German clubs who have big crowds but not able to compete with the biggest clubs from Spain and England because they cannot house as much corporate hospitality. This is because their grounds were built before such emphasis was given to this stream of income.
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The statistics show that Anfield and White Hart Lane have reduced Liverpool’s and Tottenham’s capability for financial growth in the last 6/7 years. But neither has seen its growth stunted as much as Chelsea.
2003/4
Match-day
£m/home game
Average
£/attendee
(pos.)
revenue (£m)
attendance
1
Man United
92.4
2.43
67,500
36
2
Chelsea
80.9
1.91
39,700
48
3
R. Madrid
62
1.49
67,600
22
4
Barca
57.8
1.30
62,000
21
…7
Arsenal
51
1.17
36,600
32
8
Liverpool
39.9
1.00
41,800
24
…11
Tottenham
29.9
0.78
34,100
23
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In the 2003/4 season, Chelsea made the second most amount of money out of any side in Europe on match-days. However, they now rank 5th and make less than 1% more than they did 6 years ago. While Real Madrid has seen its match-day revenue increase by almost £65m (95%), and Manchester United £30m, Chelsea’s has grown by just £2m. So Chelsea used to earn £18m more than Real Madrid a year in match-day revenue, now they earn £46m less.
This is partly because Stamford Bridge can only hold 41,841 people. Furthermore, Chelsea had already maxed out their earning potential 5 years ago and have been unable to grow since. This has caused them to dramatically fall behind other major European teams, in terms of revenue made on match-days.
In 2003/4 their £/attendee was significantly higher than any other side in Europe. This is because Chelsea led the way in improving its corporate facilities at Stamford Bridge. Corporate hospitality saw attendees paying more to watch a game. This, in turn, led to a higher average £/attendee and a higher revenue. However, by 2010 other sides have caught up, and overtaken Chelsea. Since Chelsea had already maximised its earning potential in this region, it has not improved it since 2002, and is now lagging behind.
On the other hand, reasons for such extensive growth of other clubs are due to development of the corporate and entertaining facilities, as well as increases in capacity and average attendance. For example, from 2001-2005, the Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid underwent massive development. While the capacity may have only been increased by 5,000 seats, behind the scenes there was a huge overhaul. New VIP and corporate facilities were installed as well as modern panoramic escalators, restaurants and bars. The effect of such implementations is that average match-day spending has more than doubled.
In England, Liverpool and Tottenham have been able to increase their revenue slightly by increasing the amount people spend on match-days. But this has been achieved through inflation of ticket prices and every other team has done the same. Both clubs have older grounds and have not been able to significantly increase their non-ticket profits on match-days. That is why they have fallen behind in recent years years.
In the last 6/7 years, Liverpool’s growth of match-day revenue is only is only c.25%. On the other hand, Arsenal have moved stadium allowing a huge increase in average attendance and the amount of corporate hospitality the stadium can host. They now make more than 100% more each match-day than they did 5 years ago. With the top clubs playing as many as 30 home matches a season this is a hugely significant amount of money.
These figures show that the bigger clubs in Europe cannot increase their match-day earnings unless they increase their stadium sizes and dedicate more space to corporate facilities. The older stadiums just don’t have this space either for seats or corporate hospitality. Since most successful clubs already sell out their stadiums every game, more than ever, a modern stadium is vital to a club looking to maximise earning potential. It is clear that the only way Tottenham, Chelsea or Liverpool are going to reduce the gap in match-day revenue between themselves and Manchester United and Arsenal is by moving to a larger, more modern stadium. On the other hand, it is a positive thing for English football that the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United can compete with any side in Europe in terms of match-day revenue.
Tottenham whizzkid Giovani Dos Santos has failed to make an impact at White Hart Lane and a possible transfer away looks on the cards.
Birmingham City is the latest team to be looking at the Mexican international who lit up the World cup with several fantastic displays. He was nominated for the young plaer of the tournament award too.
Dos Santos has been tracked by the likes of Napoli, Fiorentina and Real Zaragoza of Spain recently but Birmingham are said to be the frontrunners. Alex McCleish see’s him as the ideal player to add that extra flair to keep hold of his teams’ premier league status for at least another season. With the transfer window just hours away from opening, a bid could well be made for the young starlet.
When he signed from Barcelona in 2008 many people believed he could go on to become a club legend. His reputation as a 19-year old playing regularly for Barcelona proves that he was and still is a terrific player. The 21-year old has struggled with life in the premier league some might say but he’s not been given the chance to express himself but fans have already said: “He’s not good enough.”
In my opinion, ‘Gio’ is a great player and I believe he should have a future at Spurs but he needs a bit of luck and a run of games to prove he has what it takes to tackle the best league in the world.
Whether Birmingham can finalise a deal, I don’t know but maybe a loan spell will benefit both him and Spurs? Will he opt for a move back to Spain or even Italy? And can Giovani Dos Santos re-capture his form and become one of the hottest prospects in world football?
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An uncomfortable truth has been creeping up on Manchester United over the last two games, and on Tuesday night at Old Trafford, it finally hit them full in the face. The champions are not yet settled defensively, and it’s time to do something about it.
Sir Alex Ferguson put last night’s dropped points – for a home draw with Basel is, unquestionably, two points dropped for a squad of this ability – down to defensive “carelessness”. He pointed out that while the team’s forward options guarantee United goals, they need more time to get everyone fit at the back and figure out their best starting back four. David de Gea has already played behind so many different defenders he must be starting to wonder how many more are hiding around Carrington.
United can score, there is no doubt about that. Powered up front by Wayne Rooney, and last night by the emerging Danny Welbeck, the Red Devils have fired 32 goals in their opening ten competitive fixtures of the 2011/12 season, including the Community Shield. That end of the pitch, then, appears sorted. But the other end is where Ferguson has problems to address: despite a far-from-disastrous 11 goals conceded in the same ten games, United know it could have been worse. Chelsea, for instance, created almost 20 shots at goal at Old Trafford last weekend. On Saturday, Stoke had the better of the game and de Gea was forced into a couple of spectacular saves to earn his side a point.
Ferguson has already deployed ten players in his defensive line this season, though admittedly two of those were Ezekiel Fryers and Michael Carrick in the League Cup win over Leeds. Every senior defender in the squad, apart from the injured Rafael, has had at least one start. Injuries to the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, coupled with the summer sales of stalwart duo Wes Brown and John O’Shea, have forced Ferguson to throw Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans into starring roles earlier than he might have liked.
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All three have impressed, but of those three, Jones has drawn the most praise. His swashbuckling forays upfield have drawn rave reviews from all quarters, and provided another goal on Tuesday night, this time for Welbeck. (Surely Jones will eventually start shooting himself?) United hero Paddy Crerand, now a regular pundit on MUTV, recently went so far as to compare Jones to the legendary Duncan Edwards, who is widely considered to have been one of the best players England has ever produced.
High praise indeed, then. But one wonders how necessary it really is, just a few games into Jones’ debut season at Old Trafford. The centre-back is, after all, just 20 years old, and if there is one nation who know exactly how to ruin a footballer’s career with unreserved hyperbole in the infancy of their career, it’s the English. Besides, one key area of Jones’ game could still do with polishing, and that, unfortunately, is his defending.
The youngster showed some of his lack of experience against Chelsea, particularly when he was left for dead by Fernando Torres late on as the Spaniard raced clear only to round de Gea and miss an open goal. Tuesday night’s second-half collapse again displayed frailties in Jones’ play – he was caught out of position for Alexander Frei’s equaliser and his poor pass to stand-in right-back Antonio Valencia led to the penalty from which Basel briefly took a shock lead.
This is not to say that Jones will not be the player that everyone expects him to develop into, or that United made a mistake. The biggest strength a defensive unit can have is steady playing time as a five (including the goalkeeper), and United are in no position to achieve that. Ferdinand and Patrice Evra were also poor on Tuesday, and after Fabio went off (yes, another injury) Valencia demonstrated again that he is a willing but suspect full-back.
Jones cannot be held responsible for United’s current defensive frailties, and certainly should not be. But too much expectation, too soon, has overwhelmed too many players in this country in the past decade or so. Perhaps laying off the hype would help Jones’ career more than the endless praise he has received in the past few weeks – but I don’t expect that to happen any time soon.
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Some things in life will never change. As they say, the only things in life that are certain are death and tax collectors. What they don’t say, however, that they probably should, is that, whatever you do, wherever you go and whatever your life brings up, Manchester City will always, but always, let you down by shooting themselves in the foot.
I was genuinely worried that, with the investment of Sheikh Mansour and some of the best talent that had signed for the club over this and last summer, the City team would lose touch with their roots and start doing normal, sensible things that normal, sensible football clubs do. I am delighted to see that, especially after the result at The Stadium of Light, my fears were totally unfounded.
How could I possibly have thought that City might have stopped doing stupid things? There had only been two games of the season, but the warning signs were missing… There was a stout, if limited offensively, performance at Tottenham and a dominating and strong performance at home to Liverpool. Two strong teams and two good displays, leading to four points…
Maybe the warning sign of City’s eventual “shoot-yourself-in-the-foot” moment was that there were no warning signs. It’s a new one, I’ll give them that. It’s gone on the list, just after having a player sent off for licking an opponent’s nose and just before being knocked out of the FA Cup by a balloon. And yes, Andy Morrison was once sent off for licking Stan Collymore’s nose.
But missing an open goal, being denied by a world class save, dominating one half before being dominated the other, looking nailed on for a goalless draw, conceding a 94th minute penalty with a needless grapple on a player not likely to reach the cross that had gone into the box and losing doesn’t quite hit the top spot of “shoot-yourself-in-the-foot” moments for City, but it’s right up there with the best of them. Along with losing the replay of a game that was rained off when City were leading 6-1. And being the only club to score over 100 and concede over 100 goals in one season.
It doesn’t quite match up to losing to Bolton, despite having hit the post and bar seven times (twice with the same header) and nor does it compete with losing at home to Middlesbrough, despite the visitors being camped in their own half and not having a single shot on or off target.
You’d think I’d react better to my team throwing away a game in the final minutes, bearing in mind it happened in three of the four Manchester derbies last season. But apparently I still get annoyed… No, frustrated… No, hysterically cheesed off by it. Nevermind, though, because City will stop doing it soon when they start doing normal, sensible things, just like every other normal, sensible club.
What? A boy can dream.
While disappointing, annoying, frustrating and hysterically-cheesed-offing, the defeat at the Stadium of Light isn’t such a terrible turn of events. Chelsea lost away at Wigan, Aston Villa, Everton and Tottenham (as well as two defeats to City) last season and they won the title. I don’t think one defeat that, as a City fan, you would have expected as a victory before the game is any cause for concern… after just three matches. There are 105 more points to play for and I would dare to say that no team will win all 105 of them.
It’s not panic stations just yet. It’s not like it’s eight draws in a row, or defeats at teams that end up being relegated, or being knocked out of the cup by a last minute goal to your nearest rivals, or being unable to beat Stoke in three attempts in a month, or losing your first choice goalkeeper with three vital games to go. They are the ingredients for a terrible season, after all. Or maybe not, actually.
I don’t think many people will have expected a Sunderland victory, especially when the game got to half time. But I also don’t think many people would have had Wigan down for winning at White Hart Lane; not after conceding 10 in their opening two games and conceding nine on their last visit to Tottenham. City will lose games most people expect them to win again this season, and Wigan will also lose games most people expect them to lose this season, too. And that wasn’t a typo.
This season, City will play worse than they did at Sunderland and win. They will also concede a last minute goal again in the not too distant future. The season is decided over 38 games, not on three games. I don’t think anybody should be too downhearted until it’s mathematically impossible to win the league/finish fourth/finish sixth/finish in the top half/stay up (delete as appropriate for your personal City ambitions).
And, anyway, City are two points up on the corresponding fixtures from last season. And I’m clutching at straws there, so I guess I should stop there before I mention that Darren Bent’s big toe was offside in penalty incident or that Roberto Mancini was clearly the most stylish and best dressed manager on any touchline this weekend.
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Head coach Fabio Capello has said that John Terry made a 'very big mistake' in speaking out about his concerns about life in the England camp at the World Cup finals.
Former captain Terry used a weekend press conference to suggest that clear-the-air talks were needed after poor displays against both the USA and Algeria, suggesting that he and his colleagues should speak their minds and not be afraid to upset Capello.
However, the Italian has hit back by telling ITV Sport:"This is the big mistake, this is the very big mistake.
"My door is always open. If people want to speak with me they can speak with me. Every time we have a meeting I ask the captain, problems? You want to say something? Never.
"Then I read yesterday that John Terry said this, I don't understand why he doesn't speak with me. When you speak you have to speak privately, not with the media.
"I think he is more disappointed. I know sometimes players want to speak more with you (the media) than with the other players.
"But the mistake is that you have to speak with the players, with me, with the dressing room.
"No, this was not a revolution. It was one mistake from one player. No more."
Capello had earlier told the BBC:"Probably one or two are not happy but the majority are.
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"One player is not so important compared to all the others, the group is more important. For this reason it is no problem.
"We are here to play at the World Cup, not for a holiday."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
When Carson Yeung arrived at St Andrews he made it clear that promoting Birmingham City in China and the Far East was prevalent in his plans and the pre-season tour which the club have undertaken will have gone a long way in contributing to the chairman’s desired exploitation of a football hungry nation.
Alex McLeish had warned that the trip could not become a ‘circus’ with commercial and PR duties, which were organised by Yeung’s hierarchy, taking priority over important footballing work and training ahead of Blues’ opening game against Sunderland in August.
However, I like many Blues’ fans believe the right balance has been struck and both McLeish and the board will come away delighted with the trip, safe in the knowledge that the club’s profile has been raised harmoniously with the squad’s fitness levels.
It is in the future that Blues may reap the rewards of this particular market as exemplified by Manchester United in the past with their long-run China strategy which saw MUTV added to CCTV5, the government-owned sports cable channel. It is estimated that there are 5.3 million to 8 million supporters of Manchester United in the far-east and if Blues can take heed from this and get anywhere near a similar amount it is bound to be big business.
Despite their being “teething problems” during the adventure for Blues, particularly the state of the Birds Nest Stadium pitch when Blues defeated Beijing Guoan, the Blues boss thanked everyone who had supported their fortnights stay when speaking to www.bcfc.com.
McLeish said: “I’d like to thank everyone in Hong Kong and China for welcoming us with open arms and for being so polite and hospitable throughout.
“Everyone from the club has met some wonderful people and it is an education and experience we will carry with us in a positive manner for a very long time.
“We come away with three wins, which is pleasing because we want to win matches. But most importantly we are on the right road with regards to our preparation for the forthcoming Barclays Premier League campaign.”
Another thing that will undoubtedly please McLeish is the tour form of his Scottish compatriot Garry O’Connor who scored 3 goals in as many games, perhaps vindicating the decision to extend his contract until the end of 2010.
O’Connor missed most of the 2009–10 season due to undergoing two operations on a hip injury and having helped to maintain a 100% record in the far-east for McLeish’s men he has recently vowed to return a different player next season.
Click on image to see a gallery of the BEST BABES at the World Cup this summer
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