Charting the World Cup - Part 2

With the internet awash with writers offering their opinion on the World Cup, here is another alternative view on events in Brazil, the TV coverage and social media reaction. The 2014 FIFA World Cup in graphs and charts.

You can look at Part 1 here

Double clicking on each graph will expand them to full size for better viewing. Enjoy!

The difficulty in supporting England

The World Cup is here. The four yearly jamboree of FIFA freeloading, in your face sponsorship from companies that show little interest in football for the other eleven months of the year and rampant patriotism demonstrated with St George's flags on houses, faces and over priced tat that wouldn't ordinarily be bought. 

In the midst of all the nonsense, bandwagon jumping and blather there is a football tournament. A colourful, exciting and fascinating one at that. And one that I love to watch. From my earliest memories of the wonderful free flowing football of Brazil, Tardelli's goal celebration and the Scumacher foul on Battiston in Spain 1982. 

Via the Hand of God, the free flying boot of Massing as it scythed down Cannigia, one fateful night in Turin, Houghton versus Italy, the French excelling on home soil in 98, Seaman lobbed by Ronaldinho over a pub breakfast, the colourful emergence of Africa, the cynicism of Suarez. World Cups bookmark my life and instil permanent memories of places, people and times. 

Alongside that is the archive footage, seen initially in programmes like 100 Great Sporting Moments, showing footage as thrilling as that of Brazil in 1970, as shocking as the Battle of Santiago and as bewildering as the Zaire wall in 1974. Then there were the official films - I remember seeing G'ole! in the Gaumont Cinema in Sheffield. 

All knowledge enhanced by absorbing myself in Ladybird books, Panini albums and any books or magazine previews/reviews I could afford. The stadia, the cities and more importantly a World of players, at one time largely unknown, now recognisable and in one place.

In all bar one of these tournaments I have watched England have played a part. Sometimes major, sometimes minor. Watching the World Cup for me is about much more than national fervour, it is a feast of football styles to be savoured and absorbed, and over time my support of our national team has been on the wane.

I used to enjoy supporting my country. There used to be something special about watching England. That has been diluted by hangers on and the new football experts, that fill the pub with badly masked ignorance of the game and wider society. Supporting a country, not a team. Supporting a country, the football a by product. An excuse to be angry. An excuse for a fight.

At one time England were accessible to the fans. Matches taken around the country whilst the inaccessible, soulless bowl of Wembley was rebuilt to be filled with day tripping fans and a tuneless band creating artificial "atmosphere" and widespread annoyance. Matches are now played on Tuesday and Friday nights, for fans within the M25, unless you can afford the time off, the petrol, the tickets and the exorbitant Wembley experience. England South if you like.

Watching England as they toured the North and Midlands was largely a pleasurable experience. The joy I felt in the Old Trafford stands as Beckham struck home the perfect free kick in the last minute versus Greece is up there with my favourite moments in a football ground. But at times it was also an uncomfortable experience. 

Watching England put four past a poor Paraguay with my knees tucked under my chin at Anfield. Discomfort of a different kind as a large number of England supporters around me belted out "I'd rather be a Paki than a Turk" as we beat, not Turkey, but Liechtenstein at Old Trafford. Discomfort and disgust. I didn't want part of this "support". 

Alongside a racist undercurrent in the stands, the players became dislikable, fuelled by greed, ego and misplaced self belief. This led to behaviours and attitudes that I couldn't abide, never mind connect with. For some players, self-promotion was a bigger priority than their team's performance. All about the brand and image.

Then there was the Premier League, put in place to improve the quality of the national side, but only detrimental. Without a care. Eager not to dilute the brand, but "eager to help" by helping themselves through initiatives like the Elite Player Performance Plan. A mask of doing it for the national good barely hiding the dirty truth. 

A national team representing a Football Association, who have become - and who would have thought this possible - an even more spineless and out of touch body. Killing off, by long term euthanasia, their prestige cup competition. Inconsistent in their treatment of clubs and misdemeanours. Impotent against the monster they've created. Proposing a League Three to incorporate Premier League B teams that no fan I know wants or believes necessary.

This wasn't my England. This isn't a team whose organisers do right by me or my club.

This year it feels slightly different. England have a coach who I like, a coach who I want to succeed, one who isn't an overseas mercenary pepping up a retirement plan. I want him to succeed if only to stick two fingers up at critics who have a downer on him since day one, suggesting he was an uninspiring and under qualified selection. Boring. Yet they would prefer Harry Redknapp - a personality manager but with a relatively empty trophy cabinet whose only successes have come from financial excesses that could have killed clubs and very nearly did.

England's chances are being played down by a media that seem to have slipped unconsciously into recognising the reality, rather than their usual dream world of expectation and hype. 

The players are different, only Gerrard and Lampard remain of a seemingly untouchable, undroppable generation, who failed time and again on an international stage. A major finals without Ferdinand and Terry is a welcome change for me. 

In Phil Jagielka there is a player I saw develop over 6/7 years at my club. A player who we said would play for England, not quite knowing where or when as he played, centre back, right back, central midfield, right midfield and even pulled on the goalkeeper's gloves whilst a Blade. A player I can associate with. A player with grounding, without ego.

 

Alongside him another player who I have seen pull on my club's shirt, albeit for just a loan spell, in Gary Cahill - a local lad from Dronfield. If Kyle Walker had been fit there would have been one more.

There are the players who would have struggled to establish themselves with previous coaches, but show how players can still develop outside the Premier League - Ricky Lambert for example. And the exciting young talent picked on form and game changing capability - Sterling, Barkley, Oxlade Chamberlain.

Success for England partially vindicates the current system of player development, with many starting out at teams outside the Premier League and several others having benefited from loan spells in the Championship and League One. Alongside recent success at the Under 17 European Championships, there would be compelling arguments forming against recent FA proposals. 

I will support England of course, they are more "my England" than any national team of recent years. But alongside it I will enjoy watching Belgium - at a first major finals since the days of Scifo, Vercauteren et al. I will be fascinated by the performance of the "lesser" South American teams in conditions that will help, whilst enjoying the scything front play from Sabella's Argentina.

A United View may be a little quiet for the next month or so. It will be ensconced in Brazil 2014. If anything happens at Bramall Lane I will be on it. But with a few posts drafted I will be back with an avalanche of thoughts and opinion in July. Enjoy the World Cup; I will. Oh, and come on Roy's Boys. 

The Man Who Stole Football

Amidst much, gnashing of teeth at his words and hearty guffawing at his stumble into an ornamental fountain, the irony of the Premier League Chairman talking about the theft of the game was not lost on me.

Richards himself is a prime exhibit of all that is wrong with the commercial, yet conversely archaic, behemoth that football has become. A man with no great record in business (his engineering business went into administration) takes over the running of his hometown club. A willingness to be a central figure, to talk to the media, to  be seen and heard by the connected people, whilst behind the scenes barking orders at his minnions like a Bond villain with a cat in his lap. Then once his public exposure and pleasantries have allowed him to reach the position he wants, he walks away leaving behind a trail of financial decisions that lead to a financial time-bomb from which the club would struggle to recover.

Richards cast little thought to the club he supported as now, thanks to Ken Bates, he was on the Premier League board and on a fast track to chairmanship. He was the kindly faced uncle, the media friendly figure to wheel out on big occasion whilst remaining subservient to his paymasters. The fact he then received a knighthood for services to football, must owe more to friendships in government and sporting authorities than any real achievements. I challenge you to name one success, one achievement that can be attributed to Richards' stewardship or initiative.

As a Blade I should revel in the catastrophic contracts and commercial decision making Sheffield Wednesday undertook under Richards' stewardship, which took them to the brink of administration. And in a purely tribal way I do, however Richards is not a lone figure wreaking havoc . There are chairmen like him all over the country, the ones who demand the media attention above that of those on the pitch, that place personal attention above the club they profess to love.

The game was lost to its people, the fans, twenty years ago. When matches started being played at 12pm on a Sunday, or that trip to the other end of the country was moved to Friday night for TV. That's before Europa League games started kicking off at 6pm to maximise the number of televised games. Fans cannot associate with player salaries or lifestyles. They cannot understand how failed businessmen are allowed to take over their club, when the authorities have rules in place to stop them. Why claim to have Fit & Proper rules if they are such a blunt instrument and reportedly too financially prohibitive to administer? Then these same businessmen fail to pay over the tax that these supporters don't think twice about paying over in their everyday working and business lives.

As the club enters administration, it's the players and clubs who are protected, not the local businesses who have supplied them and could be put out of business themselves, not the local people exploited and paid a pittance for the pleasure of taking on menial roles for the club they love.

Then, every so often, the authorities and Premier League get involved, but only when they have their "product" to protect. Everyone else affected….forget it.

Yes, maybe I look back at football twenty years ago with rose-tinted spectacles. Not all was good in the game, but everyone had an opportunity to watch their team play, very few were excluded through price discrimination. Football was a game everyone could play and watch and feel a part of.  

Football was stolen away from the man in the street 20 years ago. It raised little stir at the time, many couldn't see it. A small petty theft, glossed over with the distraction of cheerleaders, half time entertainment and flash presentation. Once the thieves realised they had got away with, they looked at the mark and the plans became grander. The grand con was on; what we can now see was a staged heist of our sporting jewels. The game is now a "product", supporters are "customers" on "loyalty databases" measured by how much you can spend, those excluded by financial hardship sniffed at.

And then the coup de grace - The 39th Game.  Add an extra game to the season, only to take away the opportunity for the supporters, who spend a high proportion of their wages following their team all season, to see it.  All for the money and opportunity to take the "product" to the "geographic markets" that Richards so widely offended with his jingoistic comments yesterday.

His clear conflict of interest, between roles at the FA and Premier League, brushed under the carpet whenever it was raised. The FA is now impotent in the running of the professional game, it has admitted as much recently.  The subservience of Dave Richards to his Premier League paymasters makes him wholly complicit in allowing it to happen. If he is looking for a thief, he doesn't have to look far. The thing is, I am not sure he is intelligent or self-aware enough to see it. He certainly didn’t see that ornamental fountain.  

 

Charting The Week In Football 7

This week; a relegated team puts up a fight at the wrong place and far too late, Blackpool potentially facing weakened Champions, Blackburn still at risk, the state of Scottish Football, the FA and the FIFA vote and the perilous financial state of one of the most poorly run industries in the UK.

Previous weeks:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Charting the Week (and a bit) in Football 4

Week 4 of Charting the Week in Football was slightly extended with the Easter break, but it was not short on stories. This week featuring mis-spent money by FIFA, misfiring strikers, former misfiring strikers, a social networking disaster, water bottle attrition, the continuing search for an Andy Gray replacement and relative qualities of team bus drivers.

You can view :
Week 1 here
Week 2 here
Week 3 here

If you would like to contribute, contact me via twitter @unitedite

My Hopes for The Cradle of Football in 2011

20 years ago Stuart Roy Clarke started his footballing opus - The Homes of Football. As he states on his website and within several of his books he believed himself "to have a mission in telling the changing face of football, post Hillsborough." He believed he "was stood on the precipice of history, peculiarly privileged in (his) view, to witness a national institution in big trouble, reinventing itself."

This Christmas I increased my collection of Clarke's work by asking for and receiving (I have been a good boy all year - after all) The Cradle of The Game. This pulls together 20 years of capturing the passion, the atmosphere, the rituals, the emotion, the game, at all levels from the Westmorland League to World Cups and European Championships.

 

It is a vital and impressive piece of work that every football fan should own. You can buy it, along with his other books, here. Clarke's photography is so simple, yet so evocative to the senses you can hear the noise, feel the tension, taste the greasy burgers and feel yourself physically swerving around the river of urine pouring down the steps at Tynecastle in "Bogs Overspill". 

In the introduction to the The Cradle of The Game, Clarke states that he had "a real sense of mission to start telling the story anew. Club after club is facing dereliction, given the global recession combined with over-reaching oneself. Even though the game is ever more popular in footfall and some of the foot-ball is the best ever served. It’s just the sums that don’t add up."

He is so right. The feelgood factor that followed Italia 90 elevated football to such a positive level in the public consciousness that the Sky input just added impetus to the new football bandwagon. At the same time the fans were finding a voice, particularly through the fanzine movement, and as football changed, the public perception changed, the money came in to the game and the fan experience changed, initially in positive ways.

Now the fans are rising once more and the messages they are delivering are strikingly similar. Primarily fed up of being taken for granted, but also fed up of a game and players so far removed from the grim reality of everyday life in modern Britain.

As a fellow Blades supporter put it to me the other day, when tweeting about the increasing demands and expectations of fans in this country, "£30+ a ticket, fans fleeced in club shop, players earning more per week than most people earn per annum. Money has made fans want it now." As the money poured into football, with little benefit filtering down to the fans, it has empowered supporters to be more demanding of their teams to an extent which is sometimes hard to reconcile expectation with achievements. The exchange of tweets followed news of Sunderland (7th in the Premier League) being booed off by their supporters after a home defeat to Blackpool and Cardiff City (2nd in the Championship) internet forums being filled with calls for Dave Jones to be sacked. I struggle to get my head around it.

Football in 2010 has not been particularly enjoyable for me in a number of ways, not least trying to introduce my 5 year old son to live football with the dross on display at Bramall Lane. On the plus-side his season ticket only cost me £10 Junior Blades membership, a pricing policy which has been one of the few positives for me this year. That said, there has been plenty to dislike about football in 2010;

Where 45 quid gets you a restricted view seat at Stamford Bridge and £34 gets you the best seats for a  match at Sheffield United or Leeds United. Yet, average ticket prices for the competitive Bundesliga in Germany cost on average 21 Euros. And still German fans are protesting at the increasing price.

Where you have no choice but to sit and if you stand out of your seat for any prolonged period you are threatened with expulsion from the ground or arrest.

Where it has taken intense fan pressure for safe standing to be considered by the authorities. Yet in Germany these areas exist and can be entered for under 10 Euros.

Safe standing in Hamburg - from FSF

Where the food quality/price ratio is so badly skewed that a fiver is likely to provide you with an evening on the toilet rather than a nutritious and filling snack. Only at football can Guinness be advertised at £3.50 per pint, only for the pump to be foregone in favour of a can from the fridge when your money has been taken.

Where clubs feel it is necessary to put the words of fan written club anthems up on the big screen , just in case people forget the words.

Where clubs are happy to receive positive PR for foregoing shirt sponsorship in order to put a local charity on their shirts. Only then paying over a promised cut of shirt sales to the aforementioned charity when the lack of payment was made public.

Where spurious "football rules" are allowed to over rule insolvency law allowing footballers to be paid money they are owed ahead of small local suppliers and the St Johns Ambulance service.

Where it is the fans who put their hands in their pockets to donate money to pay debts owed by the clubs to St Johns Ambulance the value of which would barely be a week's wage for one of those players.

Where a winding up from Revenue & Customs seemingly poses no real threat to owners who have financially mis-managed their club, living a dream that bore little resemblance to the nightmarish reality.

Where at least 28 professional or semi-professional UK football clubs have gained the winding up order badge of honour in the last year and are willing to partake in the ultimate game of brinkmanship with HMRC before pulling a financial rabbit from a hat.

Where the big clubs are granted time they barely deserve whilst smaller clubs, who can more legitimately play the "community card" so prevalent in the arguments of defence from the larger clubs, are put out of business. R.I.P. Ilkeston Town and Chester City 

The redundant New Manor Ground, Ilkeston (Copyright:thisisderbyshire.co.uk)

A game where the Premier League, the FA and the Football League's' definition of the words "fit and proper" is looser than MC Hammer's trousers.

Where a club's fans are enthralled by overseas investment and promises from Thai Duty Free Magnates, Indian Chicken Companies or from serial football owners/administrators Peter Ridsdale / Milan Mandaric. Yet you cannot help but feel it will all end in tears.

Where such enormous sums of money are pumped into the game that the need to compete leads owners to gamble not just on short term prizes, but on the long term future of clubs.

Where player wage costs increased dramatically in 2010 to 67% of total revenue, in some cases turnover barely covers player wages.

Where the media hype English players and the Premier League beyond belief, yet explode in disbelief when it all goes wrong.

Where Richard Keys nearly ejaculates on live TV at the thought of being able to smell the tunnel as Arsenal and Chelsea line-up pre-match.

Where Andy Gray, desperately trying to maintain his support for Sky's Premier League "product" dismisses the skills of Messi et al (displayed weekly by his employers), by suggesting that the Argentinian wouldn't fancy it on a cold wet night at Stoke. 

Where Wayne Rooney can sarcastically address the nation following his and England's abject World Cup draw with Algeria. Berating the reaction of fans who had spent thousands of pounds travelling halfway round the world to watch and support the team.



Loyal Rooney - Picture ITV



“That's what loyal support is,” said Rooney, yet four months later Rooney demonstrated his admirable values and loyalty handing in a transfer request and vowing never to play for Manchester United again. A week later all was well at Manchester United and Rooney had a new deal earning a reported £250,000 per week, not far off ten times the median average annual salary in this country.

Where a 2018 World Cup bid becomes a not unanticipated waste of £15m. An ineptly run project from start to finish with no leadership, a bizarre choice of potential stadia, scandals and disappointment that Sepp Blatter's push to take football to new frontiers didn't include bringing it home. Maybe the fact that the Chairman of the Premier League and Chairman of Club England distanced himself so far from the bid told you all you need to know about its chances of success.

I hope 2011 brings some sanity to the world of football.

That some of the harsh financial realities that a large proportion of the country are now facing properly hit home with football clubs and players alike and that the playing field starts to level out.

That promoted teams can sensibly establish themselves in the Premier League without taking themselves to the brink to do it.

That the authorities clamp down harder and penalise clubs who, in my opinion, cheat by signing players that they know they will not be able to pay the full monthly cost of employing. That is by not paying over the PAYE and NI they have "deducted" from their players salaries.

That football's preferential creditor rule is successfully challenged by HMRC leading to a change in the way players contracts are negotiated and that the support line of local clubs, the small businesses that come in and maintain the electrics, fix the burst pipes, paint the stands have as much chance of receiving some form of payment as your star striker.

That we see a flattening or reversal of ticket prices so that we don't see empty seats everywhere, so that teams can take a good level of away support to each game and we can get back to having decent banter and a competitive atmosphere at matches.

That fans are recognised as the lifeblood of the game, a valued customer, deserving respect and worthy of an opinion. Not a consumer who will just accept what is presented as "the way it is".

That fans are able to have their say in the way their clubs are run and that greater opportunity is provided for fans' opinions to be proffered. Most of us are quite intelligent, often more so than some of those making the decisions.

Look I know what you are thinking, I said they were hopes, I suspect the reality will be far different. Stuart Roy Clarke's book does not present a footballing utopia, but highlights the little things you have forgotten about that are missing in the sterilised stadia and money-fuelled, media-hyped modern game. If some of the things I hoped for happen, we might get some of those things back. 

Happy New Year!

PS If someone can tell me at some point during 2011 what (ahem -Sir) Dave Richards does and how he received his knighthood I would be greatly appreciative. Answers on a postage stamp I am guessing, or a two word comment below, ending in All.

 

For Club, Not Country

With Fabio Capello set to announce his squad for the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers on Sunday evening, there is much talk of whether Mikel Arteta might have a role to play in qualification. For this to realistically happen,  Fabio would need to make a firm commitment to Arteta to give him enough encouragement to apply for a British passport, which is not a speedy process in itself. Therefore even if intent is shown, it will take a while for anything to happen. Yet for my money, it's a process that should be rendered unnecessary anyway.

Arteta's quality is undeniable, but it is not enough to get him into the squad of the country of his birth, albeit one that is the best in the world. He should not be given a second international opportunity with England. Just because the rules in other sports such as Cricket or Rugby Union are happily exploited, it doesn't mean to say it's right. Football allowed plenty of leeway already with the grandparent rule. You can argue that the grandparent rule itself is a step too far in terms of eligibility, after all it left us with Irish international with Scottish, Lancastrian and , in the case of Mick McCarthy, broad Yorkshire accents.

The Arteta debate is nothing new. Just under two years ago, Manuel Almunia became potentially eligible to play for England under the same five year residency rule. At the time, with England's potential candidates in mixed form, he was viewed in some quarters as a potential solution to national goalkeeping woes. According to former FA head David Davies, Sven Goran Erikkson had also considered Carlo Cudicini as an alternative solution between the sticks years earlier. Whatever the concerns of handing a 31 year old keeper his international debut ahead of blooding younger homegrown talent, the fact remains he is Spanish. He was born in Spain and spent the first 27, of his now 33, years living there. That should not (but seemingly does) qualify you to play for England.

Surprisingly, the outcry in the media at the time of the Almunia debate wasn't overly vociferous and, even more surprisingly, the Daily Mail was willing to suggest other potential England players. Although how serious they were is questionable, given the article referred to the potential candidates as "Johnny Foreigners" and proposed such footballing luminaries as Noe Pamarot, Jeremy Aliadiere, Franck Quedrue and Antoine Sibierski. If England as a nation cannot provide footballers of an equivalent or better quality than those, then things are seriously worse than we might have envisaged.

Many countries have benefited from the residency rules. Spain effectively utilised the Brazilian workhorse Marco Senna in their Euro 2008 triumph. Fellow Brazilians, Deco and Liedson have represented Portugal, but without catapulting them to any great success and Cacau featured for Germany in the recent World Cup, scoring against Australia. However, just because they are willing to exploit these rules, doesn't mean England should. Maybe it's a bit of an old-fashioned view, but it is just not right. I'd say it's just not cricket, but it clearly is!

Sadly my view is not shared by the players. Perhaps with one eye on success and the personal gains that would provide, Steven Gerrard said this week; "I'd certainly love nothing better than to see Mikel Arteta available for England. You want to play with the best players, and if it makes the England squad better, of course I'd like to see it. I think it happens to most national teams [that they pick non-nationals], but it's up to him if he wants to make himself available.You want to play with the best players, and if it makes the England squad better, of course I'd like to see it." Perhaps he wouldn't share that view if he felt his starting place would be challenged?

Rightly there are concerns regarding the dearth of quality English talent in key positions and the fact that younger players struggle to get the opportunity to develop in the bigger Premier League clubs when experienced foreign players are available. The latter could well contribute to the lack of players who progress from England u-18 and u-19 teams, as promising youngsters are stockpiled at the big clubs, stifling their developments. Michael Mancienne is a prime example, now in his 3rd loan spell from Chelsea to Wolves. Ten of his under-21 squad colleagues struggle to make the matchday squads at their respective clubs and three others have gone on loan to gain first team experience.

Closer to home for me, Spurs paid a reported £10m to secure the signing of Kyle Naughton and Kyle Walker, two of the most exciting talents seen at my club (Sheffield United) for a long time. Neither is making the matchday squad of 18 and will potentially be sent out on loan next week. Jacob Mellis, an England u-16 international, joined Chelsea from United for an undisclosed, but assumed significant, sum in 2007. Since then he has made it only as far as Southampton on loan. There are many other examples at other clubs.

The new homegrown rules do little to help, as the big clubs will have a large proportion of promising youngsters brought into academies from overseas at a young age. These can form part of the homegrown element of Premier League squads and so any English players are squeezed further down the list.

I am hoping that the FA show some bottle and block any move for players qualifying by residency. They appear unable to do little to affect the Premier League clubs behaviours in terms of youth development, but here they can make a small, but important contribution.