Back of the Net!

Reports today indicate that lowly Burton Albion have told manager Nigel Clough that they will not stand in his way should Derby County offer him the vacant managers job made available following Billy Davies’ move to Nottingham Forest.

Nigel Clough is of course the son of Brian Clough, former Derby County, Nottingham Forest (and Leeds United ) manager and former Middlesbrough and Sunderland striker. Continue Reading »

“The club would like to place on record its thanks for the loyal service given to Leeds United by Gary since joining the club as manager in January 2008, and wish him every success in the future.”

Just 7 years ago Leeds United were in the top five of the English Premier League and contested a Champions League semi-final - they looked to be on the cusp of greatness.  Yet irresponsible financial management (loans taken against TV revenue, insane transfer fees for overrated players, etc) saw them fall spectacularly from grace and now they languish in League One - the 3rd Division of old. Continue Reading »

Manchester United are taking part in the FIFA Club World Cup currently, putting their English Premier League fixtures on hold for the time being while they attend the competition… in Japan.

On Sunday the Champions League European Cup holders take on Ecuador’s Liga de Quito in what is likely to be another fascinating match following the recent goal fest against Japan’s Gamba Osaka.

It’s a stripped-down competition this time around - but it still seems to me that the FIFA Club World Cup is nothing more than a white elephant, a televisual cash in that is conveniently scheduled in the break in the Champions League.

However among the goal fests and prestigious ties, someone has missed one key point:

• Circumnavigating the globe to take part in a football competition is insane.

Continue Reading »

All across Europe, football teams a preparing to wind down for a few weeks as the weather gets the better of the fixture programme and freezes roads, runways and most important football pitches across the continent.

Except in the UK. English, Welsh, Scottish (and over in the Irish Republic too) football fans will be continuing to head out particularly on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day to see their local teams, braving a set of Wintery elements (and don’t got quoting “global warming” at me, you might as well believe in “The Lord of the Rings”) , motorway gridlock and train delays.

(The train delays are inevitable in the United Kingdom - particularly if the wrong type of snow has landed on the tracks.)

So surely it’s time every UK league followed the European model and closed football for a few weeks in late December and January?

Continue Reading »

I remember watching Darren Anderton turn out for Portsmouth in their 1992 FA Cup Semi Final against Liverpool in a 1-1 draw at Highbury, and being blown away by the magic of two teams with young flight-footed wingers (Liverpool had Steve McManaman on the pitch).

Here was a young player with a hunger, a lack of fear of opposing defenders who was a good crosser of the ball - and looked nothing like a typical footballer. Continue Reading »

Thank to the big world wide web of internets, people who would otherwise never have considered picking up a pen or tapping words into a keyboard to form sentences have been handed careers as bloggers.

I am of course talking about athletes, footballers, and in particular those that post regularly on the BBC football website.

I won’t name names but some of their posts are the dullest load of old bobbins dripping in sychophancy and lacking in anything that constitutes an original opinion. Continue Reading »

Leaving top flight football for one brief moment, news that 50-60 Football League clubs have tax arrears - with the largest amounting to almost £7,000,000 for one club - has come as a huge bolt out of the blue.

The BBC have published a league table that reveals that two former English Premier League clubs, Leicester City and Leeds United failed to submit PAYE Tax and National Insurance on behalf of their employees (presumably given the amounts involved some of their players) to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

What this means is that the British public purse has lost out by around £28m - all because clubs have pushed for success, borrowed money and signed players at inflated rates and then attempted to defraud the British taxpayer.

How has this occurred?  Simply, the clubs have all at some point in the last 10 years been in administration of changed hands.  As a result, arrangements have been made to settle with creditors.  HMRC is not deemed a priority creditor, and as such arrangements have been put on the back burner.  In the example given at the top, Leicester City managed to make arrangements to repay just 10% of the amount owed.

It’s an astonishing revelation, one which will leave murmurings of discontent echoing around football clubs across England and Wales.

As the FA’s Director of Football, Sir Trevor Brooking is responsible for all levels of the game and how it is played - with a particular focus on grassroots and youth football.

Britain - and England in particular - is apparently years behind Europe in the way children are taught to play the game.  Brooking’s job is to change this, channel investment into a superior coaching infrastructure and provide clubs and ultimately the national team with a better depth of talent.

Apparently, however, the FA have been sitting on the investment capital. Continue Reading »

The king of “too little, too late” has finally broken his silence over the matter of foreign ownership of football clubs.

A mere 7 years after Roman Abramovic took over at Chelsea, Blatter has decided that the trend of rich playboys purchasing European football clubs - mostly British - has gone too far. Continue Reading »

Leaving the power struggle soap comedy that is Newcastle United aside, Manchester City’s defeat in the Carling Cup this week to struggling Brighton & Hove Albion came as a major shock.

While record signing Robinho has since sacked his agent - don’t read too much into, but the timing is something approaching perfection - the rest of the Manchester City team have put their heads down and got on with the business of preparation of taking the short trip to Wigan.

The Carling Cup threw up all sorts of shocks - while City were bruised and beaten by Brighton, Wigan Athletic slotted home four.  The signs are that this weekends fixture is set to be a bit of a racy affair, with the potential of goals.

Elswhere,  Sunderland fans deserved the telling off that Roy Keane gave them.  Frankly, I wouldn’t look at him from too close-up, for fear of him scything me down in a crunching tackle… but I’d love it if he was my team’s manager.  He was well within his rights to demand the fans didn’t boo him and the team, their disappointment at Sunderland’s performance has added another load of nonsense to Keane’s already ridiculous fall out with FIFA’s Jack Warner.