Mihir Bose's Blog, page 78
January 13, 2012
FA Cup pays the price again as the transfer window dominates football
PlayUp
Romance and drama buried beneath specualtion and sackings
Changes in football, as in life, are not easy to pinpoint. Nobody could have predicted the success of the Premier League and it was some years after it was launched that, through a whole series of events, it developed into the huge beast it has now become.
But, if you want to pinpoint the decline of the FA Cup, then I suggest that you look at Sky Sports News over the next few weeks. They are running a regular feature on football transfers. This is being done in classical television style. A presenter stands before a big board which lists players likely to move. It is compete with pointers and charts and we are told what is happening and what might happen.
Romance and drama buried beneath specualtion and sackings
Changes in football, as in life, are not easy to pinpoint. Nobody could have predicted the success of the Premier League and it was some years after it was launched that, through a whole series of events, it developed into the huge beast it has now become.
But, if you want to pinpoint the decline of the FA Cup, then I suggest that you look at Sky Sports News over the next few weeks. They are running a regular feature on football transfers. This is being done in classical television style. A presenter stands before a big board which lists players likely to move. It is compete with pointers and charts and we are told what is happening and what might happen.
January 10, 2012
Liverpool's American owners need to step in and take control of the Suárez affair before it's too late
Insideworldfootball
Liverpool should be very careful that the club does not allow its handling of the Luis Suárez affair to get out of control. It is one thing playing the victim card as it has been on this issue. But situations like these acquire a momentum that makes what seems like a carefully planned journey to get sympathy turn into a train crash. Liverpool is perilously close to that and the events in the match against Oldham on Friday are a further warning of the consequences of the present Liverpool behaviour.
It is intriguing to consider who at Anfield has been driving the 'Suárez is the victim' bandwagon. It is hard to believe that it could be anybody other than Kenny Dalglish. I come to that conclusion because it is seems unlikely that the American owner, John Henry, who is used to operating in a very different sporting world, would have been tempted down this path if Dalglish had not taken the helm and set sail. In their American world, coaches do not go public on disputes with sports bodies in the way managers in Britain do every time they feel their team or players have been victimised.
Liverpool should be very careful that the club does not allow its handling of the Luis Suárez affair to get out of control. It is one thing playing the victim card as it has been on this issue. But situations like these acquire a momentum that makes what seems like a carefully planned journey to get sympathy turn into a train crash. Liverpool is perilously close to that and the events in the match against Oldham on Friday are a further warning of the consequences of the present Liverpool behaviour.
It is intriguing to consider who at Anfield has been driving the 'Suárez is the victim' bandwagon. It is hard to believe that it could be anybody other than Kenny Dalglish. I come to that conclusion because it is seems unlikely that the American owner, John Henry, who is used to operating in a very different sporting world, would have been tempted down this path if Dalglish had not taken the helm and set sail. In their American world, coaches do not go public on disputes with sports bodies in the way managers in Britain do every time they feel their team or players have been victimised.
January 9, 2012
Greatly misunderstood Warnock will be football's loss
PlayUp
The business of results claims another victim
Football managers live and die by results and given QPR's perilous state, Neil Warnock's departure is no surprise.
Yet I feel an intense sadness at seeing this Yorkshireman lose his job. Warnock may be one of the most controversial managers in the English game with a career littered with clashes with opposing players, managers and referees, but there is something intensely sweet and human about him.
Eighteen months ago, I went to his house in Richmond to interview him, and he made me a cup of tea, explaining that his tea making involved just dipping one tea bag and then recycling it for his wife to use. And then he provided this wonderful explanation of the contradictions in his own personality: "I tell my children they must have good manners. I'm okay except between five to three, and ten to five during a game. Then somebody else takes over. People say, why don't you change? But it's difficult to at my age. To be successful, I have to be what I am."
The business of results claims another victim
Football managers live and die by results and given QPR's perilous state, Neil Warnock's departure is no surprise.
Yet I feel an intense sadness at seeing this Yorkshireman lose his job. Warnock may be one of the most controversial managers in the English game with a career littered with clashes with opposing players, managers and referees, but there is something intensely sweet and human about him.
Eighteen months ago, I went to his house in Richmond to interview him, and he made me a cup of tea, explaining that his tea making involved just dipping one tea bag and then recycling it for his wife to use. And then he provided this wonderful explanation of the contradictions in his own personality: "I tell my children they must have good manners. I'm okay except between five to three, and ten to five during a game. Then somebody else takes over. People say, why don't you change? But it's difficult to at my age. To be successful, I have to be what I am."
I couldn't get a 'real' job after my time with Leeds, says Peter Ridsdale
Evening Standard
Peter Ridsdale will not be at Emirates Stadium tonight to see Leeds play Arsenal in the FA Cup. Just as well for Leeds given that, since leaving the club in March 2003, his record is: watched five, lost five.
"I'm not sure whether I'm good for Leeds these days," says Ridsdale.
Leeds fans concluded long ago that Ridsdale was never any good for their team, holding him responsible for the disastrous slide from Champions League heights to League One anonymity. But, since leaving Leeds nearly nine years ago with the club £79million in debt, the former Elland Road chairman has reinvented himself as the man clubs in trouble turn to.
Peter Ridsdale will not be at Emirates Stadium tonight to see Leeds play Arsenal in the FA Cup. Just as well for Leeds given that, since leaving the club in March 2003, his record is: watched five, lost five.
"I'm not sure whether I'm good for Leeds these days," says Ridsdale.
Leeds fans concluded long ago that Ridsdale was never any good for their team, holding him responsible for the disastrous slide from Champions League heights to League One anonymity. But, since leaving Leeds nearly nine years ago with the club £79million in debt, the former Elland Road chairman has reinvented himself as the man clubs in trouble turn to.
January 6, 2012
Debate: World's most tired captain?
Times Now
In a debate moderated by TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, panelists — Mihir Bose, former Sports Editor, BBC and Author; Boria Majumdar, Cricket Historian; Kunal Pradhan, Deputy Editor, Mumbai Mirror; Arun Lal, former Test Cricketer; and Atul Wasan, former Indian Test Cricketer — discuss the issue of India cricket team being humbled by Australia [...]
In a debate moderated by TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, panelists — Mihir Bose, former Sports Editor, BBC and Author; Boria Majumdar, Cricket Historian; Kunal Pradhan, Deputy Editor, Mumbai Mirror; Arun Lal, former Test Cricketer; and Atul Wasan, former Indian Test Cricketer — discuss the issue of India cricket team being humbled by Australia [...]
January 5, 2012
Football's attitude to racism is improving, but there is a long way to go
PlayUp
Suarez case highlights problems with the family values of football
Nothing that has happened in the Luis Suarez affair should obscure the fact that English football has come a long way from the dark days of the 80s. But while that is no small thing, Liverpool's reaction shows that football still has some way to go before it is in step with the rest of society.
I can speak with some authority on how racist English football was and how it pretended that racism had nothing to do with the game.
I was then a football reporter for the Sunday Times, often the only brown face, not just in the press box, but often in the entire stadium, apart from a few black players on the park. The racist abuse that was hurled at me by football supporters was much worse than what Suarez said to Patrice Evra. I have written about this at length in the past, but let me recall one occasion when I was chased down a train by football supporters shouting, "Hit the coon over the head with a baseball bat." This was then a popular football song. On another occasion I was very lucky not to be badly beaten because of the colour of my skin.
Suarez case highlights problems with the family values of football
Nothing that has happened in the Luis Suarez affair should obscure the fact that English football has come a long way from the dark days of the 80s. But while that is no small thing, Liverpool's reaction shows that football still has some way to go before it is in step with the rest of society.
I can speak with some authority on how racist English football was and how it pretended that racism had nothing to do with the game.
I was then a football reporter for the Sunday Times, often the only brown face, not just in the press box, but often in the entire stadium, apart from a few black players on the park. The racist abuse that was hurled at me by football supporters was much worse than what Suarez said to Patrice Evra. I have written about this at length in the past, but let me recall one occasion when I was chased down a train by football supporters shouting, "Hit the coon over the head with a baseball bat." This was then a popular football song. On another occasion I was very lucky not to be badly beaten because of the colour of my skin.
January 3, 2012
Lord Coe: I can't let the athletes down…that would be a cardinal sin
Evening Standard
There is much that Lord Coe can feel satisfied about but for all his considerable achievements on and off the track, none would match London having a successful Olympics.
I am talking to Coe in his office in Canary Wharf just as he has come back from Moscow, where he returned to the scene of the first of his two Olympic golds. While standing in the Luzhniki Stadium he could not help but reflect on that moment in 1980 when he beat Steve Ovett in the 1,500metres just six days after losing to his British team-mate and great rival over his favoured 800m.
"That moment was massive for me," says the chairman of London 2012. "It defined the way I think about the world, the way I do things. But I don't kid myself that this is a more profound moment. This collective effort to deliver the Games will inspire people long after they have forgotten I was a runner. Most people do not even know I ran. They think I am an event organiser."
There is much that Lord Coe can feel satisfied about but for all his considerable achievements on and off the track, none would match London having a successful Olympics.
I am talking to Coe in his office in Canary Wharf just as he has come back from Moscow, where he returned to the scene of the first of his two Olympic golds. While standing in the Luzhniki Stadium he could not help but reflect on that moment in 1980 when he beat Steve Ovett in the 1,500metres just six days after losing to his British team-mate and great rival over his favoured 800m.
"That moment was massive for me," says the chairman of London 2012. "It defined the way I think about the world, the way I do things. But I don't kid myself that this is a more profound moment. This collective effort to deliver the Games will inspire people long after they have forgotten I was a runner. Most people do not even know I ran. They think I am an event organiser."
December 30, 2011
Blatter's turn towards Europe shows him at his best as he attempts FIFA clean up
Insideworldfootball.biz
Could 2012 be the year when football finally begins to accept that it can longer disregard the wider world?
2011 has been the year of the great "no". The game tried hard to carry on with the fiction that all of football's problems can be solved behind the front door of the family mansion irrespective of what the outside world may expect.
It has always been curious that the world's most popular game is so conservative and resistant to change. Witness its enduring hostility to using technology for controversial decisions. This is despite the fact that it brings the game into disrepute. The result is that millions, who watch the game at home or in pubs, often know a referee has made a mistake, even a game changing mistake, while the referee is blissfully unaware.
Could 2012 be the year when football finally begins to accept that it can longer disregard the wider world?
2011 has been the year of the great "no". The game tried hard to carry on with the fiction that all of football's problems can be solved behind the front door of the family mansion irrespective of what the outside world may expect.
It has always been curious that the world's most popular game is so conservative and resistant to change. Witness its enduring hostility to using technology for controversial decisions. This is despite the fact that it brings the game into disrepute. The result is that millions, who watch the game at home or in pubs, often know a referee has made a mistake, even a game changing mistake, while the referee is blissfully unaware.
December 21, 2011
Venkys find Blackburn a tougher egg to crack
PlayUp
Reputation potentially in ruins if Ewood Park mess is not cleared up
Things are moving at Blackburn although not in the way that will please their less than happy supporters.
It seems Jerome Andersen, the football agent, who was constantly at the side of Venkys when they bought the club a year ago is no longer the supreme adviser the Indian owners always consult. Indeed they have extended their net of advisers to also talk quite often to Pini Zahavi, the Israeli who is always described as the world's most important football agent.
A simple reading of this would suggest that this must mean a change of manager. Surely with Zahavi, imparting his particular football wisdom, and all the many friends he can offer as managers, this must mean change is inevitable. Steve Kean's days are surely numbered.
Reputation potentially in ruins if Ewood Park mess is not cleared up
Things are moving at Blackburn although not in the way that will please their less than happy supporters.
It seems Jerome Andersen, the football agent, who was constantly at the side of Venkys when they bought the club a year ago is no longer the supreme adviser the Indian owners always consult. Indeed they have extended their net of advisers to also talk quite often to Pini Zahavi, the Israeli who is always described as the world's most important football agent.
A simple reading of this would suggest that this must mean a change of manager. Surely with Zahavi, imparting his particular football wisdom, and all the many friends he can offer as managers, this must mean change is inevitable. Steve Kean's days are surely numbered.
December 20, 2011
Snooker's 'naughty boy' Judd Trump has nothing to fear any more
Evening Standard
Judd Trump's success at the UK Championship has seen him portrayed as the man to recreate snooker's glory days, a winner who is also a character in the mould of Alex Higgins, Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Indeed, just before his first match at York a couple of weeks ago he decided to use his Twitter account - where he bills himself as "part-time snooker player, full-time international playboy" - to reveal that he was going to play some "naughty snooker" during the Championship.
Judd Trump's success at the UK Championship has seen him portrayed as the man to recreate snooker's glory days, a winner who is also a character in the mould of Alex Higgins, Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Indeed, just before his first match at York a couple of weeks ago he decided to use his Twitter account - where he bills himself as "part-time snooker player, full-time international playboy" - to reveal that he was going to play some "naughty snooker" during the Championship.
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