Footballmost Commentary
Some clubs are financed and managed by individuals who have a passion for the bueatiful game whilst others are are run by villians with their own agenda. It is frequently forgotton by the powers that be (whether good or bad) that without the loyal supporters few of these clubs would survive regardless of their league status. This coloumn will look occasionally at issues in football that need to be addressed in the interests of the game and the supporters. If some of the issues and ideas given may leave a bad taste in some peoples mouth so be it.
The Kinder Side of Football
March 30th 2012: With football receiving so much negative press in the past couple of years it’s great to see the footballing world pull together in the face of genuine adversity. The beautiful game has been marred with racism, sexist and corruption allegations and so to see the sport’s response to a fellow professionals cardiac arrest was incredibly heartwarming. Bolton’s 23 year-old combative midfielder Fabrice Muamba succumbed to a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the pitch during his side’s FA cup tie with Spurs at White Hart Lane two weeks ago. Muamba’s heart stopped beating for 78 minutes yet somehow the miraculous medical care he received has seen him on embark upon the unlikely road to recovery.
Etched On the face of Spurs, Bolton fans and players alike was sincere emotion as we saw a young man lay prone on the turf. Many felt his death was inevitable having seen the tragic and untimely deaths of Cameroon midfielder Marc Vivien Foe and Spanish defender Antonio Puerta. Players and supporters of all football clubs offered their prayers and support to Muamba and his family at an incredibly painful time. The football world closed ranks to support the Congolese born star as players from Arsenal, Chelsea and Bolton came to visit Muamba in the London chest Hospital. Former Arsenal star Thierry Henry was the captain at the club when a teenage Muamba was learning his trade there and the Frenchman flew 7 hours from New York just to visit his old friend.
Football can be such a hateful and prejudiced game at times and so to witness the innocent outpouring of emotion and sympathy during such circumstances was truly beautiful. Just as Muamba was posting a picture of himself looking healthy again and smiling we recieved the awful news that Aston Villa’s Bulgarian captain Stylian Petrov had been diagnosed with acute Leukemia. It was another huge blow for the footballing community but once again they have showed humility and compassion by offering the player, his family and club all the prayers and strength he could hope for. We here at footballmost pray for the speedy recovery of Petrov and I am sure he and his family are overwhelmed by the instant and heartfelt support they have received. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was charged a whopping 33 thousands pounds by UEFA for his conduct today, I wonder where all that money ends up? surely during these times it would be right and just to see a large sum of that money donated to charities supporting injured or disease stricken footballers?
Who are these men destroying fans football clubs?
March 2nd 2012: With all these football clubs succumbing to financial ruin I want to know why aren’t more members of the media questioning how it has happened. The fans need answers and deserve explanations as to why their beloved teams are facing the realistic possibility of administration or even liquidation. Portsmouth FC have gone from the hedonistic heights of the Premier League winning the 2008 FA Cup to facing administration and potentially liquidation in the Championship. In order to win the FA cup boss Harry Redknapp and Israeli chairman Alexandre Gaydamak needed to tempt superstar names such as Lassana Diarra and Jermaine Defoe to Fratton Park by promising them wages in excess of £70,000 a week. This was financial suicide considering the South Coast club has gates of just 20,000 people.The kind of wages and transfer fees that the club were paying was not sustainable and may have brought them short term success but it has lead to their imminent demise as well. Sky Sports News or the Sun like to document the crisis at Pomepy but bizarrely withdraw from investigating how and why this devastation came about.
Scottish champions Rangers have fallen out of the title race after their ten point deduction courtesy of falling in to administration. Gers had experienced economic troubles for a few years before the arrival of new owner, businessman Craig Whyte who was proclaimed as the supposed saviour. Just under a year after taking control of the Glasgow based club they fell into an inevitable administration. Angered fans want answers from Whyte as to why their club who have spent so little money in the transfer market and secure attendances of 45,000 a week have suffered such financial turmoil. Someone must be held accountable for their collapse and die hard supporters deserve to know the reasons and factors behind the shambolic events which have occured. Rangers have an unpaid tax bill of 79 million pounds, that is an astounding figure and surely the people responsible for that should be up for criminal charges. The Scottish giants should have too much power and notoriety to become extinct, but it may take a long time before they can realistically compete with Glasgow rivals Celtic for the SPL title again.
There are many other examples of lower league football clubs such as Conference side Darlington and Port Vale who are now suffering the same fate. Northeastern club Darlington built a new stadium called the Darlington Arena with a capacity of 25,000 people. It was a very ambitious move by the clubs owners and must have cost an absolute fortune which has largely resulted in the clubs financial turbulence. They suffer the very real danger of going in to extinction which must feel like falling in to the abyss for their loyal followers. Hopefully someone will unearth the truth and fans will know who the individuals are that are truly responsible for killing their football clubs. The true fans are the ones playing these pampered players wages and for the money men’s steak meals and champagne at five star restaurants. The irresponsible culprits must be punished to the full letter of the law.
Jose Mourinho, Chelsea or Arsenal?
Feb 23rd 2012: With Jose Mourinho looking like his on his way out of the exit door at Real Madrid after just two years in charge, it raises the question of where the charismatic Portuguese will end up next. Some have suggested that with Arsene Wenger’s demise at the Emirates stadium Mourinho could potentially be in line to succeed the inflexible Frenchman. Another manager who is doing a horrendous job is Chelsea’s 34 year-old chief Andre Villas-Boas who was formerly a student of the ”Special One”. Mourinho has emotional ties to Stamford Bridge that he doesn’t have with the North London club having managed them for three years during the club’s most successful period in its history. There is the argument though that if the Gunners were to pip Chelsea to the final Champions League spot then he may relish the fresh challenge of becoming manager of the sleeping giant.
Mourinho may well remain at the Bernabeau but despite looking destined to win Real their first league title in 4 years and triumphing over World champions Barcelona his recent grumbles of discontent and nostalgic references to English football suggest he desires a return to the Premier League. There are many reasons why I feel the 48 year-old is set for a comeback in West London though and one of them is the fact that Chelsea’s billionaire owner Roman Abramovich will not accept the team finishing this campaign trophy less and possibly playing Europa league football next season and so he is more likely to sack Boas then Arsenal are to fire Wenger. The Reds seem to be backing the under fire Wenger and bizarrely appear to have no ambition to restore to the glory days of the ”Invicibles” era.
Abramovich is likely to provide Mourinho with the much needed funds at the Bridge whereas we are not sure whether the Gunners board will be so keen to let Mourinho run wild with their cheque book. I am confident that many loyal Arsenal supporters who crave success rather than the abject failure they’ve had to endure for seven years now, would be ecstatic to see the arrival of arguably the best club manager in the world today. In conclusion though If I was to venture down to my nearest bookmakers and place money on where Jose will end up next, I would be putting all that money on him to regain the helm at Stamford Bridge after a five year hiatus.
Homosexuality In Football
Feb 5th 2012: Having watched the BBC’S recent documentary on Gay footballers I have a few opinions to give on the subject of homosexuality in the Sport. The programme was presented by the intelligent and thoughtful Amar Fashanu who is the niece of the late footballer Justin Fashanu. Fashanu was the first Professional footballer to declare himself as homosexual after coming out to the press back in 1990.
I view The suicide of Fashanu at just 37 years-old as one of the biggest tragedies in the history of the modern game. Fashanu was accused by a 17 year-old American man of Sexual assault which lead him to flee Maryland in the United States and come back to an open door garage in Shoreditch, East London which is where he hung himself in 1998. Amar was sincerely distraught after reading her Uncles suicide note and fought back the tears when she heard of her own dad and Justin Brothers prejudice during Justin’s fight with a homophobic football world.
A man who came out of the documentary with a lot of credit and respect was Queens Park Rangers footballer Joey Barton who is no stranger to controversy himself but he had the courage as a heterosexual sportsman to face the cameras and endorse the coming out of footballers in the modern game. Barton emphatically stated that his generation had the opportunity to be remembered as the generation of footballers that finally accepted and encouraged homosexual team mates to courageously proclaim their homosexuality.
We are now in 2012 and yet there is just one player in Professional game who is out as a homosexual and that is Swedish star Anton Hysen who plays in Sweden’s second division for Utsitkens BK. It is practically impossible that out of all the hundreds of thousands of professional footballers plying their trade across the globe, just one of them is gay. The FA in England and football’s governing bodies around world must unite to fight ignorance and encourage gay footballers to no longer live in fear. This can happen by educating fans and players/managers that intolerance of homosexuality is completely reprehensible.
Fans of Brighton and Hove Albion said in the documentary that due to the Town’s large Gay community they had become the victims of homophobic chants. They showed images of Leeds United supporters shouting this vile abuse at Seagulls Fans which showed themselves to be moronic, abhorrent pigs and this is one of the reasons why footballers are so fearful of the response they will receive for declaring their sexuality. Fans like that should not be welcome at Football matches and if caught participating in abusive acts of that nature they should face criminal punishment.
This was an important documentary which deserved more notoriety and should have been shown on BBC 1 at primetime rather than the much less viewed BBC Three channel. We promote the coming out of any and all homosexual footballers and sportsman alike and those in power must start to look themselves in the mirror and be honest enough to admit that they could be doing a hell of a lot more to tackle this rather sensitive yet negelected issue.
