10 exits to Chelsea FC downfall
Unsurprisingly, the Chelsea Football Club (CFC) has sacked yet another manager; their eighth in the ninth season by, Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich who owns the club. To many who have been following the track of results, Andre Villas-Boas’ departure comes as little surprise. Rather, many figured it was more of a question of ‘when’, than ‘if’, the young Portuguese manager was shown the door. But for the millions of Chelsea fans around the world, this is move will put forth more questions than answers. Was it his tactics, is player power really that strong in the dressing room, how do we ...
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Racism and football
The 2011-12 English Premier League (EPL) football season will forever be remembered for all the wrong reasons. While the football on display has hardly lit up the televisions this season, other incidents on and off the pitch have revived the long-standing controversy of racism among players and supporters. The embarrassing developments first occurred in a league match in October 2011 between rivals Manchester United and Liverpool, in which the latter’s Luis Suarez allegedly racially abused the former’s Patrice Evra, a coloured player. Suarez later admitted to calling him a “negro”. He was subsequently banned for eight matches by the Football ...
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Battles at the Premier League
This mid-week in Premier League saw some interesting battles being fought at the top half of the table as well as between the relegation bound teams. It was also one of the rare occasions when the match day’s late kick-off (7:45 pm) nearly collided with the Transfer Day deadline that ended at 11:00 pm. All this made for an exciting day. Let’s start from football itself from the top half. Manchester City, fuelled by the Arab Oil-gazillions, started the week right at the top of the table and determined to tighten it grasp on the No.1 spot after being dumped out of the ...
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A summer of change for Manchester United
The summer of 2011 promises to be one of major changes for Manchester United. Having finally displaced Liverpool as the most successful side in English League history, United are now set to begin the new season with a different and somewhat inexperienced squad to the one that recently lifted a record-breaking 19th league title in May 2011. Long-serving defenders John O’ Shea and Wes Brown have both joined Sunderland while the retirements of Paul Scholes and Edwin Van Der Sar in addition to the retirement of Gary Neville in February has left the English champions short of experienced players to ...
Read Full PostManchester United: A different side, coming soon
The summer of 2011 will be one of major changes for Manchester United. Having finally replaced Liverpool as the most successful side in English League history, United are now set to begin the new season with a different and somewhat inexperienced squad compared to the one that recently lifted a record-breaking 19th league title in May. Long-serving defenders John ‘O Shea and Wes Brown have both joined Sunderland while the retirements of Paul Scholes and Edwin Van Der Sar, in addition to the retirement of Gary Neville in February, have left the English champions short of experienced players to match ...
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The inadequacies of ‘Financial Fair Play’
There’s an ongoing debate over the financial muscle of ‘big clubs’ and the amount of money they throw on player transfers – extraordinary amounts of money are seen being splashed out in the transfer window even with the existence of what we’ve come to know as an ‘economic recession’. While clubs like Real Madrid and Manchester City have bored followers by their excessive transfer spending, the recent excursion into the window by Chelsea has raised quite a few eyebrows among the general public and UEFA officials. UEFA’s answer to all these problems is the controversial ‘Financial Fair Play’ legislation. ...
Read Full PostFC Barcelona: Simply the best
When Pep Guardiola took over from Frank Rijkaard as manager of Barcelona in the summer of 2008, surely even he did not expect to gain such phenomenal success with the Catalan club. After all, here was a youthful former Barcelona player in his late 30s with only one year of managerial experience; that too with Barcelona’s reserve team. Here was a man taking on the mantle of one of the most demanding jobs in football. Fast forward three years and you have a manager whose team has left everyone short of superlatives. Yes, the football may be influenced by the ...
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Clash of the Titans: Johan Cruyff vs Alex Ferguson
Another Champions League final has dawned upon us. Barcelona and Manchester United, with different footballing concepts, gear up for a masterpiece that should give the supporters and neutrals alike a memorable finale at Wembley. This is not just another final, it is the meeting of two footballing theories—that of the great Johan Cruyff against the genius of Alex Ferguson. The characteristics of Barcelona’s football ethics is inherited from the 70s, coherently the Dutch style which became associated with Ajax and Rinus Michel, and later Barcelona’s very own total football—in which defenders could attack and attackers could defend, all the while creating ...
Read Full PostManchester United’s ‘little pea’
Manchester United’s scouts who found Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez certainly deserve full praise for landing the Mexican. They truly have unearthed a gem. When news of the Hernandez deal was first announced, it was so clandestine that only his father and the United board (mainly David Gill) and the boss knew what was happening while his agent was kept in the dark. It was therefore no surprise that everyone’s initial reaction was ‘Hernandez who’? Quite clearly, that is unthinkable now considering the massive impact he has already made in his so-far short Old Trafford career. Hernandez soaring high It’s remarkable how far he ...
Read Full PostSir Alex Ferguson: The importance of longevity
The breaking of the record by Sir Alex Ferguson recently of the late Sir Matt Busby as Manchester United’s longest serving manager of all time (24 years, one month and 15 days) shows just how important it is to stick with managers rather than wield the axe at the slightest dip in form. It really is the exception rather than the norm in today’s fast-paced world of football. We see the form of a team fall and at once there are strong rumours that the board (and now in most cases owner) of the club will be changing the manager. Gone ...
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