Time To Hand Football Back To The Fans

This week a potential landmark court case will be heard over the issue of sports broadcasting rights. The issue surrounds a Portsmouth landlady who, in a bid to tackle rising costs, removed Sky Sports from her pub and replaced it with a European-based viewing card. As this is in breach of broadcasting rights, she has taken her 'freedom of trade' argument all the way to the European Court of Justice in a bid to secure fairer rights for all.

Sky paid £1.8 billion for exclusive broadcasting rights to the Premier League and it's understandable that these costs are now being passed onto the consumer. In a typical large-ish pub, the owner would expect up to 200+ customers on the afternoon of a big game. Compared to a typical household of 4 people then there is a significant increase in viewers from one source.

Sky's massive investment since the start of the Premier League in 1992 has pushed English football into a different era. For a long time they have monopolised the English market whereas their foreign counterparts don't. European broadcasters have no issues with their cards being used outside of a certain territory and this creates problems for Sky in particular.

However, it is about time someone stood up for the football fan in this country. Fans of other top flight teams around Europe can watch their team either on terrestrial or accessible satellite television but if they choose to attend games then they don't pay half their mortgage for a match-day ticket.

As a fan of a lower-league football club, I have never really been affected by multi-million pound contracts stopping me from watching my team. For a supporter of a Premiership side this could be the start of a whole new phenomenon. Let's hope for the sake of football in this country that we can start to watch world-class football at an acceptable, affordable price. Actually scratch that - why can't we go back to the 1960s when (in football terms certainly) everything was well with the world: World Champions, an open First Division championship and a world in which a defender could make a proper sliding tackle...

For more sports stories like this visit my sports blog at http://sportingtommytrebski.blogspot.com/

The Return of the Sleeping Giant

Newcastle United's start to the new season has highlighted a seemingly forgotten about jewel in the crown of English football.

The status of the iconic 'number 9' shirt has fallen by the wayside over the last decade or so with the introduction of squad numbers. Perhaps more importantly, the gradual extinction of the type of player that wore the number nine has also contributed to the erosion of its status. People of a certain age will remember the fictional "Roy of the Rovers" that charted the adventures of Melchester Rovers and their talismanic centre forward Roy Race, a perfect exponent of what the 'number 9' was all about. A big, no-nonsense striker who combined height, strength and skill to score and create goals. More recently, Alan Smith (of Arsenal), Les Ferdinand, Ian Rush and Andy Gray have been strikers who had success in the role of the 'number nine'.

The folklore of the 'number 9' is perhaps most fondly remembered on Tyneside with a host of famous players wearing the iconic shirt. Jackie Milburn, Malcolm MacDonald and Alan Shearer are Toon legends, all with proud goalscoring records.

Andy Carroll was handed the number nine shirt at the start of the season and has re-kindled my love affair with this neglected protocol of traditional English football. Four goals as Newcastle's brand new centre forward have rubber stamped him as a potential England striker of the future. Far from being the finished article, Carroll appears to possess the necessary attributes to be a traditional centre forward: his height enables him to win the ball in the air and act as a targetman. He's proved himself to be adept at scoring with both feet and has the strength to hold up the ball and bring others in to play as well as causing havoc in an opposition's back line.

A new, sleeker and more powerful breed of 'number nine' is emerging, exemplified by the effervescent Didier Drogba. Not since Alan Shearer has the English game had an iconic target man. The likes of Peter Crouch and Emile Heskey have never managed to carve themselves a niche as a classic centre forward but could Carroll step into the shoes of his hero and add his name to the long list of England number nines?

FOR MORE SPORTS VIEWS AND REVIEWS, VISIT MY SPORTS BLOG VIA THE LINK ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE

Swindon Town 3-1 Gillingham

Here is my latest match report from Saturday's League One match between Swindon Town and Gillingham.







Charlie Austin (pictured in red) was in sparkling form as Town advanced their promotion credentials with a convinving win over Gillingham

www.swindontownfc.co.uk/page/MatchReport/0,,10341~48146,00.html


Elsewhere, as I write, it seems my early predictions of glory for Manchester City seem to be crumbling before my very eyes as they trail 2-0 at half time at Everton.

Craig Burley's analysis of the first half on ESPN was damning: "people are starting to come down from cloud cuckoo land". The likes of me, hoping for another addition to the list of title challengers, need to take heed!

A Bridge Too Far

Rafa Benitez cut a lonely figure at Anfield on Wednesday night having watched his Liverpool side unceremoniously dumped out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle.

The latest in the long list of disappointments this season, the Reds capitulated in front of their own supporters, extinguishing their last hope of collecting any domestic silverware this campaign.

The only crumb of comfort coming from the failure of fierce rivals Manchester United to avoid falling foul of the lower league curse; the first time in 50 years that both teams had exited at the first stage. Quite a comedown I imagine considering that Benitez's men pushed United all the way in last season's race to the Premiership crown.

Pre-match, many pundits and journalists were rolling out the cliches and platidudes looking at the potential 'cupset' omens facing Rafa's men. The last time Liverpool were knocked out by a Championship side was in 2008 when they came a cropper against Barnsley at Anfield. The man who stunned the Kop that day, Brian Howard, was back in the colours of Reading, his team-mates hoping that lightening dared to strike twice.

In fact, the Royals didn't need him. For a team struggling at the wrong end of their division and still reeling from the disastrous tenure of Brendan Rogers, the visitors played like a team deserving of a place in the fourth round. Fate seemed to be on their side: Fernando Torres, the man who could have sealed a Liverpool win in the initial tie at the Madejski Stadium was taken off in the first half as a precautionary measure. Skipper Steven Gerrard soon followed. After creating the opening goal for the home side, Gerrard never re-emerged for the second 45.

The home fans may have felt agrieved at the award of the penalty from which Reading equalised but there was no doubting they deserved to be level: Grzegorz Rasiak and Simon Church both had chances before Jobi McAnuff almost wrote his name into FA Cup folklore with a breathtaking solo run. The less said about his finish the better.

Benitez must have looked on wondering where his side's spark was going to come from. Roberto Aquilani may have been a highly anticipated signing but whenever he has pulled on the red of Liverpool, there is no doubting his struggle to adapt to the pace and physicality of the English game. Accompanied by the epic failure that is David N'Gog, the words "barn door" and "banjo" came to mind.

For all the prestige and clout that comes with the Liverpool brand, it's beyond me how Benitez has not managed to attrack more big name players to Merseyside. With the exception of Fernando Torres, there is a very long list of expensive flops to go alongside him. This defeat not only proves how they cannot function without Gerrard or Torres but also shows how far they have yet to go before they can end their well-documented title drought.

In his post-match interview Benitez was asked "was that a disappointing result for your team?" to which he replied "that depends on your point of view". Well from my point of view Rafa, you are a dead man walking.

(Photograph courtesy of www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football)

Emile Zola - socialist or closet anarchist?

Emile Zola's Germinal has intrigued me over the last few months. Not only as a social study dealing with issues such as anarchism and socialism but in its form as a social commentary. Zola was not afraid to create a macrocosm in which he could launch a scathing attack on the gulf between the haves and the have-nots. Perhaps he is most known for his iconic "J'accuse" headline in an open letter to Felix Faure, the leader of the Republic, in support of the jailed Alfred Dreyfus. Not only iconic, it almost divided France in the years shortly afterwards. Can you imagine something so controversial happening these days? Is that a pig I see up there...

That is what I admire most about Zola. After Germinal, most of his works were all commentaries on different aspects of life. L' Argent explored the widening world of the stock exchange whilst L'Oeuvre provides an insight into Parisian literary and artistic life. The latter in fact, also delved into contemporary thinking based on the ideas of many of Zola's "high-art" friends. He paid the price however after the famous impressionist Cezanne reacted badly to his representation in the novel and ended their friendship.

In today's apparently "Orwellian" society, why is there no-one out there who is prepared to write a brutal portrayal of society's ills? With America now the de-facto leader of the world, championing democracy, it's almost as if people have accepted the current state of affairs as the purest form of society.

Of course with the current state of political correctness gone mad, how is RIGHT that an individual cannot attack an intruder for fear of being prosecuted? That's not as it should be - that's almost anarchism turned inside out. What would Zola make of that? In fact what would George Orwell make of it?

The way I see it, social ideology has somewhat stagnated over the past 50 or 60 years. As my narrow mind can only deal with all things sporting, the best way I can describe this is by using a footballing analogy.

Tactically, football has developed little since the 1970's. Since Mario Zagallo's 4-2-4 that so brilliantly won Brazil the 1970 World Cup and Johan Cruyff's/Rinus Michel's conception of Total Football that should have seen Holland win both the 1974 and 1978 World Cups , there has been hardly any tactical upheaval (save for Arrigo Sacchi's brilliant AC Milan side of the late 1980's that was more experimental than groundbreaking). At the moment football tactics have retreated to either a standard 4-4-2 or 5-3-2 or 4-5-1 depending on whether a manager is intent on attacking or defending.

It's my humble opinion that football needs something to wake it from its slumber and return it to its attacking roots. Much like the famous Hungarian team of Ferenc Puskas that so brilliantly humbled England at Wembley in 1953 (a side that I would have loved to have seen live).

It's a similar situation in society at the moment. The Sun newspaper ran a campaign named "Broken Britain" underlining the increasing 'hoody' culture and the general decline of society and its morals/standards. Does society in this country need someone that can put it back together again or come up with a new social structure?

Controversial? Please comment with your thoughts.

Mancini Miracle Worker?

In an earlier blog post I expressed my concerns over the appointment of Roberto Mancini as manager of Manchester City.

However after watching the Blues record three wins on the spin, I can't help but be taken in by this charismatic Italian who seems to have swept into Eastlands and breathed new life into a team of so called upstarts.

(picture courtesy of www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football)

Ah but what about the quality of opposition I hear you cry. The likes of Wolves and Stoke may not be the cream of the Premier League crop but there was something about the way they performed against Blackburn Rovers on Monday night that has turned me over to the "dark side".

In plain and simple terms: the man seems to know what he is doing. In all three league games in charge, he has not been afraid to change the system to make it work for his team and he has not been afraid to leave out big names like Robinho. What stands out for me though is the manner in which he goes about his business not only on the touchline but away from the football field.

He doesn't appear to want to speak out against referees or the opposition in the same way that other managers do. Granted, he's only been there five minutes but I get the feeling that he is a very smooth operator. Patrick Vieira became his first signing a few days ago and who's to say that he won't get the former Arsenal captain back to somewhere near his best. With all the will in the world, Mark Hughes was never going to be the "shop window" type manager that the owners wanted. The Italian, although not proven in the Premiership, has a certain pedigree and charisma that dovetails in nicely with the ambitions of City's new owners.

Much was made of Sir Alex Ferguson labelling City as his "noisy neighbours". Maybe under Hughes they seemed like an annoying gang of teenagers. However, with Mancini in charge, a whole transfer window with complimentary war chest ahead of him and Carlos Tevez in unstoppable form, it's quite possible that the blue half of Manchester may pose more of a threat than everyone first expected

The death of common sense

It's a sad fact of football these days that referees seem no longer to be human beings with feelings and common sense but robots designed to carry out the will of the do-good blazers in charge of football.

My rant for the moment surrounds the issue of players being booked for celebrating. I was reminded of this issue's irksome tendencies when Simon Church was booked then subsequently sent off for scoring Reading's equaliser against Bristol City with the last kick of the game.

I had a heated argument last week with my housemate after watching Younes Kaboul collect a second yellow card for celebrating a last minute equaliser at Sunderland. My housemate defended the referee claiming that the players know the rules therefore shouldn't do it.

An utterly ridiculous and misguided opinion in my view. In the situation that Kaboul was in, scoring an injury-time equaliser away from home to salvage a point for your side that currently sit bottom of the league then you are PERFECTLY within your rights to celebrate. I defy any football fan to restrain himself, put up his hand, say "yep, well done lads" and trot back to the halfway line rather than immerse himself in the madness of scoring a last minute equaliser.

I'm all in favour of consistency but why can't they apply the rules with a bit of common sense. Mike Dean used his oak-aged noggin today and chose not to book Alessandro Diamanti when he put West Ham ahead against Chelsea. Top marks in my view. If he had acted as Adebayor had done against Arsenal then fair enough: book him. But to celebrate in front of your own fans after putting them ahead against the league leaders who also happen to be fierce local rivals then let them enjoy the moment.

With the game slowly becoming a non-contact sport, let's hope the do-gooders don't win this round.