Football

My verdict on Alex McLeish

Stuart Radcliffe — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 10:12:00 GMT

Find it here: David Murray's Loyalty Overdose

Making the Difference

Stuart Radcliffe — Sun, 21 Nov 2004 11:37:00 GMT

A few months ago, on the back of Celtic's seventh straight victory over Rangers, I was bemoaning the fact that Rangers couldn't beat Celtic and pointing out some research showing the negative mental health problems that this could induce. Little did I know that the ability to change the situation was in my own hands the whole time.

In the good old 9-in-a-row days I was a season ticket holder at Ibrox and would regularly see us beating Celtic and generally being pretty successful. Under financial constraints I gave my ticket up and we just were not as successful. I missed the games and each year would consider buying a season ticket before deciding against it. This year in particular I had considered it and talked to Penny about it. She told me to go for it but I still felt that I had other financial priorities.

Well, a few weeks ago I, again, became a season ticket holder at Ibrox. The first game was against Aberdeen. The same Aberdeen that had beaten Celtic a few days before. This was the first meaningful league game that Celtic had lost at Parkhead under Martin O'Neil and Aberdeen were vying with Rangers for second place in the league so it was looking like a tough game for Rangers. I, though, had a "feeling". I "knew" that we would not only win the game but would score a few goals as well. This duly came to pass and the bears mauled the sheep and ran out 5-0 winners.

I jokingly suggested that I had made all the difference. A much bigger test was to come in the next game. Celtic were due to arrive at Ibrox in the league cup and would be going for their 8th straight victory. As with many other times over the past few years, Rangers dominated the game without either turning their pressure into a reasonable number of chances or scoring from the chances that they did create. Just as thoughts were turning to the possibility of extra time, Celtic did their usual headed goal from a corner.

The heads could easily have went down and indeed for the next five minutes Celtic were clearly on top. Rangers then raised their game and suddenly were turning their possession into chances. It seemed like only a matter of time until they scored and indeed when the goal came their could have been a couple of others afterwards before the final whistle. In extra time, Celtic were looking to hang on but Rangers again managed to pierce their defence. The run had ended. The bubble was burst. The hoodoo was gone. I was feeling better about life.

The Celtic fans came out with their usual excuses about injuries and Masonic conspiracies and I thought that maybe with the injury thing they had a point. A couple of their players had just returned from injury (unlike say, Alex Rae) and they were missing their talismanic cheating, diving, fouling (etc., etc.) demon, Chris Sutton.

Well, yesterday they had the chance to put that right as they came to Ibrox for the second time in 10 days. This time with what appeared to be a fully fit squad including the above mentioned evil genius.

During the first ten minutes, they did in fact appear to have the best of the game and should maybe even have taken the lead. Rangers then got their game going and scored a couple of goals, ironically from set pieces. The first from a Novo penalty. The second a headed goal from Prso. This had come from a free kick, amazingly given against Sutton, and even more amazingly the referee broke every rule in the book by actually booking Sutton for a bookable offence.

At this point, some of the Celtic players lost the rag and seemed to have great difficulty with the concept of losing to Rangers. Camara was the first and most obvious offender. After a full bloodied sliding challenge from Rae had put the ball out for a corner to Celtic, Camara grabbed Rae, pulled him back and then grabbed him by the throat. He was surely lucky to stay on the field at this point. The Celtic players seemed to take it in turns all day to try and wind up Rae but most of the time he showed admirable constraint.

This was quickly followed by Thompson reacting to a foul by Lovenkrands by rushing over to him and lunging his head towards him. Now, despite the fact that their was as much contact as the head-but for which Duncan Ferguson was run out of Scotland by the SFA and the Scottish Press, Lovenkrands did himself no honour by collapsing in a heap. The referee did the right thing by booking Lovenkrands for this reaction but was possibly slightly harsh in sending Thompson off. At this point there was a multi-player pushing and shouting guddle during which a number of players could have been booked.

The next incident saw Camara, amazingly staying on the field again despite having a retaliatory kick at Vignal directly in front of the assistant referee. No action was taking and Camara stayed on the field until half time when he was intelligently substituted by O'Neil.

At half-time, the rumour spread around the ground that Rae had been sent off in the tunnel going off the field but with the re-emergence of the teams after half time this was obviously not the case. As it turned out, there had been an incident in the tunnel when Lovenkrands was kicked and injured, apparently out of the site of the officials, and had to be substituted.

In the second half, Celtic came out determined to get back into the game by whatever means necessary and a few meaty tackles mostly managed to escape bookings. It looked like Rangers were the more likely team at this point though and there was the real danger of a rout.

Then Sutton made a brilliant tactical move. He deliberately got himself a second yellow card by repeatedly handling the ball. This had the effect of reducing Celtic to 9 men, removing Celtic's least effective attacker and taking the urgency out of Rangers play. Rangers contended themselves with controlling the ball and the most entertaining thing in the second half was thinking of reasons as to how Neil Lennon managed to stay on the field.

Lennon had obviously lost it and some of his "tackling" was a little bit overenthusiastic. Lennon is often treated in the media as a victim of sectarian abuse and at Ibrox there may well be some of that. However, he is certainly not booed only at Ibrox, and I find it difficult to believe that he is booed at Easter Road for sectarian reason. He really doesn't help himself. For most of the game he was ritually booed in much the same way as he is at most grounds. In much the same as competitive players like Ricksen are booed at away grounds. Then, midway through the second half, he starts to get involved with the Rangers fans and with Alex McLeish. He then took this a step further by spitting on what appeared to be a Rangers scarf that someone had thrown towards him from the Copeland Road stand. This didn't really endear him to the fans and they spent the remaining minutes of the game singing songs about his solo sexual practices.

O'Neil's gesture at the end when he grabbed Lennon and strode with him off to greet the disconsolate Celtic fans just looked pathetic. It may, though, have been a smart move from O'Neil to keep him out of the tunnel until the Rangers players were safely out of the way. I wonder who kicked Lovenkrands.

A Season with Verona

Stuart Radcliffe — Sat, 11 Sep 2004 08:35:00 GMT

Very few journalists “get” football and in particular the fan’s relationship to and all-consuming identity with their team. You only have to look at the self serving, hypocritical, sanctimonious pap that is served up by the Scottish press in reporting the game itself or news about the game. The fans hate the journalists. They are perceived as lazy, incompetent and ignorant. They are perceived that way because they are that way.

We go through life not noticing this, or, at least, accepting it. Then some writing comes along that shows what is possible when writing about football. Writing that understands the game and what it means to be a fan. “A Season with Verona” by Tim Parks is just such a piece of writing. Tim has lived in Italy for 20 years and has grown to love Italy, the Italian game and Hellas Verona.

For the season 2000-2001, Tim set out to go to every game, home and away and to write a book about the experience. Setting out to write a book is one thing. Following the club that you love up and down the country in the company of people whose commitment to the club goes slightly beyond the sane is another. In A Season with Verona, Tim finds this out and the experience changes him. At one point he is in a conversation with an older fan that used to go the away games but doesn’t any more:

Pietro shakes his head. ‘If you do the away games, it takes you over. You lose a sense of proportion. It fills your whole life. It’s too strong.’ At once I’m aware that he is describing something I have felt growing in myself, a sense that I am losing control of my thought patterns. My mind is full of chants. I’m constantly whistling the triumphal march of Aida or ‘Guantanamera’. Even at the breakfast table, even in the corridors at the university. And after every away game the bus rumbles on longer and longer in my head.

The Verona fans are castigated by the press and opposing fans as racist and fascist. Most of the fans are indifferent or resent this stereotype but the die-hards have a slightly schizophrenic reaction to this reputation: partly denying and partly taking pride in it. But to some extent, it’s all an act; something they have to do to be a real fan. Something that is part of their identity; an identity that they feel makes them better than the fans of other teams. Whether it’s the privileged fans of Milan and Juventus, the despised southerners or the local hatred of Bergamo and Brescia and Vicenza, there is an assumption that the Verona fans are the best. And the fact that the team are perennial strugglers only ties the bonds tighter.

Reading this book brought many moments of recognition for how the fans actually feel. It’s not a simple thing; there is a huge emotional bond but not all of the emotions are positive. Tim Parks captures this remarkably well. This is a book about identity, about hope, about despair, about euphoria, about hate, about love, about Italy, about buses and all in the name of the beautiful game.

The missing ingredient in my life

Stuart Radcliffe — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 09:03:00 GMT

Lately, I have been feeling a bit listless. I am tired, can't be bothered exercising, having difficulty getting motivated at work and around the house. I ask myself "What's wrong? Do I need a new challenge? Maybe I should be looking to change my outlook or philosophy on life; get religion or something; a change of career?" Then I realise; none of these things will do the trick. What I need is my football team to start bloody winning.

Towards a European League

Stuart Radcliffe — Mon, 16 Aug 2004 10:15:00 GMT

STOP PRESS! Sensible article appears on web site for Celtic supporting accountants.

Here is the text:

In recent weeks there has been renewed speculation about regarding the G14 group of clubs. In this part of the world, most of the speculation has centred around the possibility of the Old Firm being invited to join and the possible benefits that those clubs could reap from such a move. I would like to look at the general direction that the G14 clubs are taking; in particular the renewed pressure for a break-away league.

I believe that this has the potential to be enormously disruptive to football as we know it possibly leading to the end of the international organisations as effective bodies. I think we would all like to avoid a situation that left world football with all of the organisation of professional boxing and so I think it is urgent that UEFA tries to head off this danger. I think that UEFA can act as leaders in this matter rather than simply reacting to pressure from the big clubs. So I will propose a blue print that would allow UEFA to keep control of European football and move forward with a unified structure.

It is time for UEFA to move towards a unified European league structure that keeps the traditional meritocratic spirit of football but still financially rewards the larger (or more successful) clubs. What is required is a pyramid structure involving the whole of Europe. There would be promotion and relegation between the various levels of this and also between the lowest level of the European structure and the remaining national leagues but at the pinnacle there would be a single 20 club traditional division.

Let's look at the structure. As I have already mentioned, the top level would consist of a single 20 club division. The second level would be a regionalised level with 3 leagues: West, South and East. Below that, the third level would also be regionalised with each of the second level leagues having a further three regionalised leagues below that. Finally, below the third level, there would be national league structures.

So, for this season we might have leagues for the top two levels that look something like this:

Europe
Valencia, Real Madrid, Deportivo La Coruna, Barcelona, Milan, Arsenal, Manchester United, Juventus, Lyon, Internazionale, AS Roma, Newcastle United, Lazio, Liverpool, Celta Vigo, Bayern Munchen, Werder Bremen, Chelsea, Porto, Villareal

East Europe
VfB Stuttgart, Borussia Dortmund, Sparta Praha, Lokomotiv Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen, Galatasaray, Dynamo Kiev, Besiktak, Genclerbirligi, Schalke, Slovan Liberec, Slavia Praha, Vfl Bochum, Wisla Krakow, Hamburg SV, Herth Berlin, Grazer AK, Fenerbahce, Trabzonspor, Bankik Ostrava

West Europe
Monaco, Celtic, Paris St Germain, PSV Eindhoven, Auxerre, Ajax, Anderlecht, Fulham, Nantes, Rangers, Girondins Bordeaux, Lens, Rosenborg, Basel, Feyenoord, Southampton, Aston Villa, Olympique Marseille, Club Brugge, Heerenveen

South Europe
Real Sociedad, Panathinaikos, Real Zaragoza, Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid, Malaga, Real Betis, Mallorca, Parma, Osasuna, RCD Espanol, Udinese, Olympiakos Piraeus, Alaves, AEK Athens, Benfica, Albacete Balompie, Crvena Zvezda Beograd, Perugia

The champions of each of the East, West and South leagues would automatically be promoted and the bottom three in the Europe league would automatically be relegated. In addition, the fourth bottom club in the Europe league as well as the runners up of each of the East, West and South leagues would play off for a place in the Europe league.

There would be no guarantee that the clubs being relegated would be in the same proportions as the clubs being promoted. This would be accommodated by varying the numbers of clubs that were automatically relegated from the East, West and South leagues. In an extreme example, this could be a fairly major discrepancy, but I see this as an extra incentive to keep playing competitively no matter what position you are in towards the end of the season. For instance, in the above example leagues, if Celta Vigo, Villareal, Lazio and AS Roma (through the play offs) all got relegated and Monaco got promoted through the play offs then the East league would have 2 clubs automatically relegated, the West league would have just one club automatically relegated and the South league would have six clubs automatically relegated.

The same situation would exist at the level below, where, potentially, even more clubs could be relegated. Each of the main regional leagues would have clubs from three lower level regional leagues all made up of clubs from a number of different countries. This would be a structure along the following lines:

Europe
West League
British Isles; England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales

North West
Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Faroe Islands

West Central
France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein

South League

South West
Spain, Portugal, Malta, Andorra

Balkans
Serbia & Montenegro, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Albania

South East
Italy, Greece, Israel, Cyprus, San Marino

East League

East Central
Germany, Hungary, AustriaFar EastRussia, Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Azerbaijan

North East
Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belarus, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania

If we look in more detail at the three feeder leagues for the West League then these could have clubs along the lines of the following:

British Isles
Blackburn Rovers, Leeds United, Charlton Athletic, Bolton Wanderers, Birmingham City, Manchester City, Middlesbrough, Portsmouth, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Heart of Midlothian, Leicester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion, Ipswich Town, West Ham United, Millwall, Dunfermline Athletic, Norwich City, Motherwell

North West
Utrecht, AZ Alkmaar, Kobenhavn, Roda JC, Willem II, Twente, NAC Breda, Brondby, Stabaek, Viking Stavanger, RKC Waallwijk, RBC, Groningen, Vitesse Arnhem, NEC, Djurgardens IF, Sparta Rotterdam, Valerenga, Den Bosch, Bodo Glimt

West Central
Lille, Sochaux, OGC Nice, Stade Rennais, Strasbourg, Genk, Metz, Bastia, Toulouse, Avant Guincamp, Sedan, Lorient, Troyes, Le Havre, Montpellier, Grasshopper, St. Etienne, Standard Liege, Caen, Excelsior Mouscron

The champions and runners up of each of the national leagues below this level would enter a play off along with the club who finished just above the automatic relegation places at this level. From the play off four clubs would enter each regional league. A play-off system would be necessary here because of the weakness of some of the likely champions.

There are plenty of winners in this scenario. For the G14 level clubs, they get what they really want: a chance to play each other every week without the distractions of having to play the West Broms, Tenerifes or Lecces that they are encumbered with at the moment. For clubs below that level, the majority of clubs would be playing in more competitive leagues with the opportunity to improve and be promoted to a league with a higher standard. There is real incentive to grow and improve with the opportunity to really grow your income if you are successful (and with the corresponding danger of reducing your income stream if you are not successful). The regional basis of the pyramid means that traditional rivalries are maintained and also helps to reduce the travelling cost for the less well of clubs as well as the long suffering fans.

For UEFA, the rewards are clear and substantial. They would have control of the most prestigious and valuable sports competition in the world and they would have avoided the mess that would be left over after a G14 inspired breakaway. They would have a club structure that maintains the traditional spirit of football as opposed to the franchise type of situation that is more common in North America but without sacrificing the potential earning potential of a continent wide competition.

There are some obstacles to be overcome before this could be put in place. Principally, there is the loss of power and prestige that would afflict the national associations. Alongside that would be the loss of revenue for the national associations of the larger countries. In addition, for the majority of clubs in the Premiership in England there is the possibility of a drop in revenue. This is by no means certain, though, and an appropriate splitting of TV money would go a long way to winning the support of these clubs.

There are a couple of logistic obstacles that would need to be overcome as well. First of all, many of the Scandinavian and Eastern European countries have a calendar-year season with the football being played in the summer. These would all have to switch to a traditional season running from Autumn to Spring. This could be managed at two levels. For the clubs competing at the top two levels, it would involve a combination of fixture manipulation (playing their home games towards the beginning and end of the season) and stadium management (roofs, under soil heating etc.). For the clubs further down the pyramid, the solution would involve these two methods where possible but would also involve changing the dates of the season. An example of this would be Ukraine at the moment. The Ukrainian league starts in the summer and ends the following summer with a substantial winter break in between. The 2003/04 season finished on June 19 and the 2004/05 season started on July 15 (Shakhtar Donets'k have got off to a flier with 4 wins from 4 games).

Another question is "How do we get there?" There are a number of possible solutions to that. You could use a combination of UEFA rankings and play-offs to get there in one go or you could get there over a number of seasons, building the pyramid from the bottom up.

Overall though, I believe this to be a positive vision and that only UEFA are in a position to move European football in this direction. I also believe that the consequences of not doing so could be disastrous; not just to UEFA but to world football.

Paul Spouts Celtic News

Stuart Radcliffe — Tue, 20 Jul 2004 17:14:00 GMT

Paul has started a site to give us all our daily quota of tic related news. I'm sure we will all watch it religiously.

Greece and Kevin win

Stuart Radcliffe — Mon, 05 Jul 2004 07:57:00 GMT

Congratulations to Greece and well done to Kevin.

UEFA Cup Quarter Finals

Stuart — Fri, 16 Apr 2004 23:46:00 GMT

So 50% right on my UEFA cup quarter final predictions. Although my cunning plan of predicting Celtic to go through worked out perfectly. Dumped out by a bunch of Spanish waiters. So Scotland will have no automatic qualifiers for the champions league the season after next. You would normally expect Rangers and Celtic to both qualify from the qualifiers though. The frightening thing is that it is likely to be only for one season and there is the possibility of Scotland having three teams in the champions league the season after that. That will be the coefficient out the window then.

For the semi finals of the UEFA cup I predict

Newcastle to beat Marseille
Valencia to beat Villareal

And the final to be won by Valencia

Champions League Predictions

Stuart Radcliffe — Sun, 11 Apr 2004 00:54:00 GMT

Ouch!

The results of the champions league quarter finals were not exactly as I had predicted. However, not being one to give up a lost cause lightly I'll have another go with my fearless predictions for the semi finals.

Chelsea to beat Monaco
Deportivo to beat Porto

And in the final - Deportivo to beat Chelsea.

Meantime, in the UEFA Cup, could Celtic's run of ridiculous fortune be coming to an end. I'll not be counting my chickens just yet. It's nice to see that they are just as whiney as ever.