Archive
The ego is landing
It’ll be all right now. Van Gaal is coming.
I’ll reserve judgement on that.
Political incorrectness
I have been following, from a distance, the Richard Scudamore affair, in which the chief exec of the English Premier League has been pilloried for forwarding allegedly sexist emails.
Here’s my take on the MPs and others who have been stirring this: Get a ******* life.
Brief respite
Another football league season gone, apart from the last knockings of the play-offs, which could see the top tier in Scotland without either of the Edinburgh clubs, an unprecedented and financially dangerous situation, and in England, the return of the ‘Wally with the Brolly’ to the Premier League. The first ever Scottish Premiership ended in controversy, with the mighty Motherwell emerging once again as the best of the rest, thanks to a last minute, and perfectly legitimate, goal against the sore-losing Aberdeen. The first ever English Premier League without Fergie was the poorer for his absence, as were Manchester United, who may be gone for a while if they abandon continuity in favour of the much-travelled veteran Dutchman who has been anointed by the media as the next manager. Top four next season? England: 1 Man City 2 Chelsea 3 Tottenham 4 Liverpool. Scotland: 1 Celtic 2, 3, 4 Pick any 3 from 11.
So on we go to the World Cup. QJ’s forecast: Argentina to beat Portugal in the final, Brazil to win the third-place play-off over Germany or Belgium. England? Get to quarter-finals, lose to Brazil.
Too bad
I’ve been wishing for David Moyes’ departure from the Man U job for a few months now, but I take no pleasure from it. As for his succession, it should always have been Guardiola, but now the timing is wrong for him. Anyone but Van Gaal; he’s nearly as old as me, he didn’t stay the course at Barcelona, twice, and he’ll be ripped apart by the English media.
Inept
A quote this morning from David Moyes: ‘You don’t just suddenly change things around.’
Oh yes you do, David. In your case you took a side that won the Premier League last season by nine points, and you turned it into a mid-table outfit. How? By tactical ineptitude, and by excising the pace and width from the team. Another quote, from the usually reticent Paul Scholes: ‘United are nothing without pace, and there’s no pace there.’
No justice
I read today that Stuart Broad, the England cricket T20 captain has been fined for criticising the umpires’ decision to continue his side’s match against New Zealand, despite the fact that there was a lightning storm overhead.
The match referee, imposing the fine said, “Such public criticism is not good for the spirit of the game. Mutual respect between players, match officials and administrators is paramount to the game of cricket.” My question: how are you going to maintain that respect by denying freedom of speech?
Torn apart
Masterclass at Old Trafford by Old Giggs. I’m left wondering whether Moyes picked the team alone and unaided. After the match he admitted to having left his best player out of the side simply because he’s forty. That’s not just stupid; it might even be illegal.
Another piece of bizarreness was his remark that he wants to find ‘the next Ryan Giggs’. Most likely, that person doesn’t exist; take his longevity, add it to his ability, and the contribution he’s made to the club’s success over twenty-three years, and the original has to be seen as the greatest player ever to wear the Man U shirt.
Nuts
A reading recommendation: Hugh MacDonald’s ‘Final Say‘ column on page 20 of today’s on-line Herald Sport. Half an hour later, I’m still laughing. My wife, who hails from Tyneside, is not.
In the pink
I have just seen the new Scotland away kit. Words fail me. The Tartan Army will stand for many things, but primrose?
When in Rome
First 6 Nations win in Rome for eight years. A grovelling apology from Paul Hayward in the Telegraph well in order, but will it be forthcoming? Not a chance.
Slimy Tory toff
A couple of days after his disgraceful and dodgy intervention in the Scottish Independence debate, the Chancer of the Exchequer has announced that international athletes competing in the Glasgow Diamond League meeting in July will be given exemption from UK income tax.
Leaving aside the very live issues of whether this is a bribe, and whether it discriminates unfairly against British athletes, George Osborne’s timing is crude to say the least.
This stuff may be delighting the London tabloids, but it’s all going to backfire in the final stages of the debate.
Yes for Scotland
Shameful
As a blogger, it’s self-evident that I’m all for free speech, but as a Scot I won’t stand for being the subject of xenophobic abuse by an English journalist. A responsible newspaper proprietor would fire Paul Hayward and discipline his editor.
Yes for Scotland.
Anything you can do
First Becks owning a football club in Miami, now . . .
KP nuts
Until they went to an predictable walloping Down Under, the England cricket team had won three Ashes series on the trot.
In assessing their performance and planning the way forward after this winter’s humiliation, it would have been reasonable to expect the England Cricket brains trust to have looked at what the Aussies did to rebuild, after their disappointments. But no, that can’t have happened, or if it did, they took nothing from it.
How do I know this? Well it’s self-evident; the Australians would never react to a defeat by getting rid of their best player.
TKO
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/boxing/26035952
The very definition of a bad loser.
Sorry, Naomi
My friend’s partner is a Spurs fan. He will be walking on eggshells today, but her anger is justified. Her team were always going to lose last night, but to be walloped thanks to the second-worst penalty decision of the season, that takes some accepting.
The worst call of the season is the penalty awarded to Chelsea in the last minute of injury time vs West Brom, a howler for which the referees’ boss apologised. The same ref gave last night’s spot-kick to Man City, but only after he had awarded (correctly) a corner kick, and then allowed himself to be over-ruled by his linesman. His sin was compounded when he red-carded the Spurs player involved, thereby cheating everyone who had paid to see a much-anticipated eleven-a-side encounter. There are millions riding, in various ways, on every Premier League game. If a referee’s confidence is so low that he can’t back his own judgement, then he should not be out there. As for the flag-wavers, they should stick to their own job, which is difficult enough. If they’re asked for a view, okay, but they should never be allowed to contradict a referee once he has given a decision.
Politics and sport?
Those with an interest in Spain and its institutions may be raising an eyebrow at the news of the resignation of the President of FC Barcelona, Sandro Rosell, following a decision by a Spanish court to accept a lawsuit against him and the club in relation to the signing last summer of a big money player. I heard his farewell speech last night live on TV, when he said that he was leaving so that personal attacks would no longer affect the management of the club. He made the statement in the club’s press room, and when it was over he was given a standing ovation and applauded from the room.
This controversy follows last year’s prosecution of Lionel Messi and his father over a disputed multi-million euro tax bill. The two have already settled the alleged debt, plus penalties yet the prosecution continues, with prison a theoretical possibility. It maybe no coincidence that Messi’s form has dropped a little this season.
Now many Catalan people are asking: if Real Madrid was the club involved in these matters would its reputation or its player be dragged through the courts? One-word answer: no.
Fallen
Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse …
For the last 20 years and more, Man U supporters have been guilty of the sin of pride. That sin has found us out, and indeed it has come before a fall. Forget all that led up to it; when four out of five players fail to convert penalty kicks, that is some sort of a nadir. Worse, when at least three senior players do not step up to take on the responsibility, it indicates a total lack of faith in themselves and an unwillingness to support a manager and a club in trouble.
Yesterday I read that United may have to curtail their pre-season tour to play a Europa League qualifier. Fat chance.
Skipper
Welcome back Darren Fletcher. He should keep the armband.
Zoopla
A footballer in England is in trouble for touching his left sleeve with his right hand after scoring a goal. Apparently this gesture may be interpreted as anti-semitic in France, an intention which said footballer denies vehemently. If our media had not gone berserk, nobody in Britain would have had a clue to its meaning or even noticed that it had happened, yet now the kangaroo court is ready to sit and the player is presumed guilty with no real means of proving his innocence.
Since a free media tends to reflect the society that it serves, is it fair to conclude that we have become a nation of hysterical idiots?
Quintin Jardine's blog 