Thursday 10 February 2011

First team to beat Man U this season...

So Wolves have pulled off another giant-killing act this season, and yes, sure I'm pleased (particularly as Spurs-supporting husband said we had 'no chance' - he didn't put it quite as politely as that, though). But now we need to start beating some of the less glam teams if we have any chance at all of staying up. I still think we can do it.
I got an email this week to my website (narinderdhami.com) from a girl who likes The Beautiful Game books and wants to join a football club. She said she was having difficulty finding one, though, so I pointed her in the direction of her local FA. I'm hoping girls' football continues to grow, despite the credit crunch and all the financial cuts that are being made - it'd be a shame to see it all collapse.
PS: Sorry, I almost forgot there that apparently 'women can't understand the offside rule'. Better go back to knitting tea cosies.

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Unexpected Football Outbreak - Dan Tunstall

Something strange has been happening recently at the Walkers Stadium, home of my team, Leicester City. After years of functional, grinding, long-ball play, football has unexpectedly broken out.

Really, I suppose the credit has to go to Sven Goran Eriksson. Quite a few people were sceptical when he took over, expecting him to stick around for a month or two before disappearing with a nice redundancy package, but it looks like he's going to stay the course. And the changes that he's brought about, in a relatively short space of time, have been pretty remarkable.

First of all, Sven had to stop the rot that had set in during Paolo Sousa's brief and unhappy reign. That didn't take long. Since his appointment, our only home defeat has been to Premier League WBA in the Carling Cup, and we've gone from bottom of the Championship table in September to eighth in February, looking a good bet for the Play-offs.

But it's been the transformation of our playing style that has been the most amazing. Gone is our traditional 4-4-2, replaced by a fluid 4-3-3 formation, and suddenly we're scoring goals for fun. Since the start of November we've hit 2,2,1,5,2,2,2,4 and 4 goals in our home games, chalked up wins against promotion-chasing Forest and Swansea and held Manchester City in the FA Cup. Don't say it too loud, but we've started to be entertaining. Last weekend, the crowd were shouting "Ole" as the passes flew from one blue shirt to another. It was partly tongue-in-cheek, and we were playing Barnsley, but, hey, you've got to start somewhere.

The only slightly disappointing aspect of this turnaround is the fact that it has been achieved with a team increasingly filled with Premier League loan players. Many of the stalwarts of the Nigel Pearson era have found themselves relegated to the bench, or have even left the club. It's a shame, but it's the nature of the modern game. And while the new recruits are showing such commitment to the cause, and the football is this good, who's complaining?

http://www.dantunstall.com/

Thursday 3 February 2011

From Heroes to loads of Zeros

We have this book at home - Day of the Match by Scott Murray and Rowan Walker. It
records significant events that happened in football on each day of the year. September 8th 1888, for instance, was the first day of the football league; March 29th Pickles the dog becomes a film star (1966). I reckon Murray and Walker might want to revise January 31st for any future editions. Instead of 'Ghana 0-2 Ivory Coast:  Elephants sent to military camp (2000) they might want 'Mad Monday: chaos on transfer deadline day' (2011).
Talk about history unfolding before your eyes. The media went into meltdown. Ten years ago - actually even one year ago - we'd never have seen all the wheeling and dealing going on behind the scenes but now with the Internet and Twitter and Sky Sports News anyone could follow events as they unfolded. On this day a record £130 million was spent in less than twenty four hours but the main stories focused on Fernando Torres (transferred from Liverpool to Chelsea for a whopping £50 million and Andy Carroll (Newcastle United to Liverpool for £35 million).

What I found interesting was the reaction of the fans. As reporters and journalists stood outside various stadia, ready to update the newest instalment (Torres is in a helicopter.... no he isn't ... yes he is... Carroll doesn't want to leave Newcastle... oh, yes he does...no way...) fans gathered behind them. Some were grinning, happy enough to be on the telly but others were becoming increasingly angry.

Liverpool fans were the first to make their views known. Torres, their hero, had let them down. It was no secret he'd been unhappy at the club but the speed and manner of his departure caught them by surprise. They reacted angrily. On Twitter, Bali Rai, urged everyone to send their shirts to charity. Others were less measured as this picture shows:





Worse still, Torres received death threats from a few Liverpool fans. Death threats! That's when it gets mental. OK, yes, when a player leaves one club for another it can feel lika a betrayal but death threats? That's beyond stupid. Sadly, it isn't uncommon. So what is it about football that drives usually sane, perfectly ordinary people to such extremes? What does the game unleash in them?

Maybe it's because for the die-hard fans (and remember, fan is short for fanatic) their team is an extension of their family. When I go to watch Huddersfield Town play and the singing end is giving it some welly, the song that gets to me every time is an old Elvis number. 'Take my heart, take my whole life too...' we sing, arms outstretched, lungs fit to burst.  '...for I can't help falling in love with you...'
You is the club. The players are part of that club. The fans adore them and that adoration can last a lifetime, even when a player has retired or joins another team - as long as he joins that team in the right circumstances. Fans get that players have to move on. They know they can't hang on to their golden boy forever - that he'll have to be cut loose from the apron strings. But there's a right way and a wrong way to leave the nest and neither Carroll nor Torres were seen as leaving in the right way. But death threats? That's another ball game altogether...




Helena Pielichaty