Black By Popular Demand

So Paul Ince has been given the Blackburn job, eh? This is fantastic news. I’m not going to go off a fist-raising, militant, pro-black diatribe but I have to say, it’s certainly refreshing to see a big job in English football going to a ‘Brotha’.

While there are campaigns like Kick It Out to help combat things like racist chanting in the stands, we need to ask what of the problem of perceived Institutional racism at boardroom level. Linford Christie’s recent rant highlighted the problem in Athletics and while it was slightly cringeworthy, he also made a good point about recognition of achievement. While no-one can doubt the impact of Black players in this country, both home grown and from abroad, question marks have been raised over whether these players could transfer their skills into management. Of course, the first example most think of is John Barnes abortion when in charge at Celtic but this cannot be the benchmark for all future appointments of Black managers...

Ruud Gullit could be credited for helping transform Chelsea as his high profile contacts allowed the likes of Gianluca Vialli, Gianfranco Zola and Roberto Di Matteo to all turn out for the blues. Gullit also won the FA Cup in 1997 – Chelsea’s first trophy for many a year. However, the big Dutchman will unfortunately be best remembered for his infamous fall out with Newcastle golden boy Alan Shearer when managing on Tyneside. Jean Tigana helped Fulham win promotion from the then first division to the premier league but is mostly remembered for signing wasters like Steve Marlet for obscene money.

Both managers had their initial successes overshadowed by other factors which helped purport the unfair assumption that black managers just can’t cut it at the top level. No black ENGLISH manager had even been linked to a premier league job until Ince’s appointment yesterday.

Meanwhile, over the years we have seen players such as Chris Coleman, Gareth Southgate and Ince’s predecessor Mark Hughes all get first jobs in the top flight without the necessary experience or qualifications. Ince himself lacks the UEFA Pro badge usually required but he isn’t the only one. At least the man known as ‘The Guv’nor’ cut his teeth managing in the lower leagues. Some successful stints at Macclesfield and more recently The MK Dons have earned the former Man Utd man enough of a reputation to make his Blackburn appointment no major surprise.

Whether he is a success or not in Lancashire remains to be seen. One thing is for sure however is that the colour of his skin shouldn’t have a bearing on it. Ethnicity doesn’t have an impact on managerial ability. Gullit’s solitary FA Cup is still one more than the much lauded Kevin Keegan has won in his long managerial career.

If Ince is a success, hopefully it will help reduce to scepticism and doubt over whether Black men can be as successful on the touchline as they have been on the pitch.

Eur So Predictable

These days, I have a love-hate relationship with international football. While I appreciate that a tournament like Euro 2008 is a great place for some of the world's best to really show what they're made of, I despair at the fact that the onus in these competitions has recently been more about trying to avoid defeat rather than trying to win.

So far, with almost all the first set of fixtures complete, we've had very little to get excited about. In all cases the underdog has succumbed to the favourite due in part to a general lack of adventure. With the exception of tonight's Holland-Italy match, is anyone really surprised about how the results have gone thus far?

International tournament football is famed for it's tendency to throw up something unexpected and while I understand the competition has only just begun, I cant see any major upsets taking place on route to the final in Vienna at the end of the month.

Even without upsets, the Euros look like they are set to follow a similar pattern to the last World Cup which didn't have a single 'classic' or epic encounter that will live long in the memory. The two best matches were Mexico-Argentina and Italy-Germany. The rest were were either a chess match between evenly matched sides separated by the odd goal or a heavily one-sided affair in which the favourite would triumph with little trouble.

In fact, it seems that in terms of great games in these competition, the standard was set during the 90s and peaked around France 98/Euro 2000. Both of which produced some truly memorable matches. Who could forget 98's two classic semis or England/Argentina or Argentina/Holland or Spain/Nigeria in the group stages? How about England self destructing against Portugal and then Romania in 2000? France v Portugal? The French comeback against Italy to ultimately seal the competition? Spain v Yugoslavia???

International football, at tournament level, fails to provide such drama in this day and age. As good a story as it was when Greece overcame the odds in 2004 to win in Portugal, it merely set the tone for a new attitude at this level. It is the reason why Turkey didn't dare try and take on Portugal, why Poland were outplayed by the Germans and why Romania were making substitutions to run down the clock in the 92nd minute despite having a free-kick in a promising position against France earlier.

The supposed underdog would rather approach a game taking minimal risks rather than being bold and adventurous. Ultimately, the better organised sides as opposed to those with a greater talent pool will tend to prevail. Although this time around, it seems as though the most talented have learnt from Greece and are now also the most organised. These sides have begun to abandon their attack-minded principles in favour of a more conservative approach; leaving the so-called lesser sides little chance of making in-roads in the competition.

Negativity is counter-acted by caution and while tactically, it's all very impressive, it fails to provide the kind of entertainment we all want.

Hopefully, my pessimistic outlook is proven wrong as teams begin to go out and play the rest of the tournament with the kind of reckless abandon that will keep us all glued to our seats. A Russia v Poland final that ends 4-3? I wouldn't complain.

R E S P E C T

Apologies for the recent lack of activity on this here blog but I have been busy. Recently there has been a lot of talk in football about the percieved lack of discipline shown by players towards officials.

The men in black have always been in the firing line because, lets face it, there always be someone left unhappy with their performance after any given game.

With so much money in the game and the win at all costs attitude of the sport, is it any wonder players and managers will try and get into the referees head as they try to find any advantage whatsoever.

But how far is too far? Over the last few weeks I have been investigating whether referees in football get enough respect.

Enjoy....

Karma?

Champions League pre-match news.

Last night, it looked as though Ashley Cole might miss the game because of this...



Now, far be it from me to wallow in the misery of others but if he is deemed unfit to play then you have to say that Karma works in wonderous ways.

Bouncebackability

Every so often a football match comes around which can either make or break a player. A chance to filter the men from the boys. A time to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Last night provided one such occasion...

A week ago saw my Monday evening Power League 5 aside team, HEARTLESS CREW FC spectacularly end our winning run and with it the chance to complete a 'PERFECT' Season. Going into the game we proudly boasted the quite remarkable record of 11 wins, No draws and no defeats with just 3 games left to play. The Championship and promotion were in the bag and all we had left was the amazing record to chance. We were up against second placed OUT OF BREATH who we had already trounced 17-11 in the reverse fixture. Unfortunately, history was not repeat itself as we, the five heroic warriors (with no subs might I add) bravely battled but unfortunately succumbed to a late onslaught from the opposition; conceding 3 goals in the last 2 minutes to lose 12-10.

Needless to say, we were devastated. The 134 Bus journey was a sombre one that night. Barely a word was exchanged as we lamented our loss.

All week the defeat played on my mind. Losing is not something I've ever learnt to do well. All the ifs, buts, ands or maybes were going through my mind as I would try and complete the most simple of tasks. All I could think about was the '0' from our losses column in the league table was gone forever.

I was distracted from my life. Defeat had been agonizing. It was almost getting too much to bear...

Then it dawned on me. It was gone. It was in the past. What was important now was not to lose again! The real test of a man is not about whether you lose, it's about how you react to that loss. It was time let go of the past, strap up my shinpad and get back out on the pitch!

I had some football to play....

We were back in Barnet. A week on from the scene of our crushing defeat. On this night, we would be facing THE UNTOUCHABLES. Let the battle commence...

The opposition barely proved a challenge and were dispatched with ease. We ran out 22-9 winners with yours truly grabbing a hat-trick which included a cheeky back-heel which outwitted the goalkeeper with Sun Tzu-like execution! The Heartless Crew were back!

Once again, we went into battle light in numbers. The team was ravaged by injuries and for the second week running, the five warriors to the pitch to face laden with substitutes to chop and change their side with. But like true soldiers, we overcame this handicap to reign supreme.

What this week showed was our mental strength; our ability to bounce back and triumph in the face of adversity.

REDEMPTION! THY NAME IS HEARTLESS!!!!



Joey Barton could do with taking a leaf out of our book.

The Rise and Fall of Parma FC

Channel 4’s Italian football coverage during the mid nineties was a phenomenon. The Premiership Genration’s alternative on a Sunday afternoon (or for those without Sky) was to tune in to James Richardson coming live from Venice, Milan, Rome or Turin as he introduced the weekend’s big game.

On Saturday mornings Richardson would present Gazzetta, Football Italia’s MOTD equivalent. Once again in some glamorous location, JR would be sat at some swanky cafe with a sexy looking ice cream or cappuccino that you bet your life doesn’t taste like the crap at Starbucks while the beautiful people of Italy did their thing in the background.

Fundamentally, the setting served as an allegory for the sport. While in England football was all about the blood and guts, hell for leather, all heart and no skills and various other clichés, our Italian cousins were all about the flair and skill which we could only look upon in awe.

Serie A was Europe’s top league at the end of the last century. Italian teams had all the money, the world’s best players and were contesting (read: winning) European finals on a regular basis.

In recent years all this has changed thanks to a) the explosion of the premier league over here and b) Italy’s massive corruption scandals.

In any event, back then, Lazio vs. AC Milan was a far more enticing prospect than Oldham vs. Wimbledon.

The influence of Calcio wasn't just about screaming GOLAZZO at the top of your lungs after lashing one into the top corner at lucnhtime when forced to play footy with a tennis ball. Alongside our favoured English side, every kid had an Italian side they would ‘support’ for the sake of variation. My team was not the dominant Juventus, the incredible Milan, or even Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne’s Lazio.

No, as a typical sucker for the underdog, my team was Parma.

Based in the Emilia-Romagna region in the north of Italy, the name is more often associated with the ham than the football club.

Parma FC doesn’t have much of a history and are not as famous as their more illustrious Serie A rivals. In fact, ‘AC’ Parma was only promoted to Italy’s top division for the first time in 1990 thanks mostly to Lire upon Lire of investment from parent company and dairy giant Parmalat.

My love affair began when the club won the now defunct European cup winners cup at Wembley stadium in 1993 – beating Belgian side Antwerp 3-1. They also beat AC Milan in the European Super Cup but were unable to successfully defend the ECWC when they lost the 1994 final 1-0 against Arsenal in Copenhagen.

Parma’s reputation had already been established with the likes of Faustino Asprilla, Gianfranco Zola and Thomas Brolin (when he wasn’t so fat) under the guidance of Nevio Scala, the club went on to win the UEFA Cup in 1995 beating Juventus 2-1 on aggregate. They also reached the Copa Italia final that year but Juve were to have their revenge winning 3-0 over two legs.

When Carlo Ancelotti replaced Scala in 1996, Parma came within a whisker of the 1997 Serie A title – ultimately losing out by just a couple of points.

More Italian Cup and UEFA cup success over the next few years were to follow but it wasn’t just trophies that cemented Parma’s reputation as one of Italy’s top clubs. The players that have been in and out of the revolving door that is the Ennio Tardini reads like a who’s who of footballing greats of the last decade. Aside from the aforementioned Zola et al, Hristo Stoichcov, Fabio Cannavro, Ariel Ortega, Juan Sebastian Veron, Hernan Crespo, Lillian Thuram, Adriano, Roberto Mussi, Hakan Suker, Adrian Mutu and the World’s most expensive goalkeeper, Gianluigi Buffon have all donned the Traditional white (or blue and yellow hooped) shirt.

Parma always found it hard to hold on to these stars and without the prestige and history of the likes of Inter or Fiorentina; players rarely showed any sort of loyalty and would often get itchy feet; using the club as a stepping stone to bigger and better things. Parma was nothing more than the world’s most glamorous selling club.

Then came the Parmalat fraud scandal of 2003. The dairy company’s outrageous financial mismanagement and insolvency meant that, as an asset of company, AC Parma was screwed financially.

As the club fought for its very existence, big names and big contracts were scarce in Parma. In much the same way players had no loyalty to the club, there were no rich benefactors willing to bail them out. Parma was a small club punching above its weight. When Fiorentina suffered similar collapse some years back, they bounced back almost instantly and after today, will compete in next season’s Champion’s League competition. Unlike Parma, the Florence side had the stature, support and backing to make sure they wouldn’t stay down for long.

The last few years have seen some stability return at board level but not enough of a backing to see the club hit the heights of the last decade. The team has been battling against the dreaded drop for the past few years and today, finally, their fate was sealed following a 2-0 home defeat to Inter Milan which also handed the Nerazzurri the title.

A sad occasion for everyone who remembers the glory days.


Like WCW, The Spice Girls, The Super NES and other things popular in the 1990s, Parma’s 15 minutes are up. Serie B football is on the agenda for the foreseeable future and only time will tell if we will ever see Gialloblu rubbing shoulders with Italy’s big boys again.

Fleet Like A Butterfly...

In continuing the theme that football exists outside the premier league/champions league, I feel it necessary to congratulate Ebbsfleet United on winning the FA trophy this weekend after beating Torquay United 1-0.


Following the club’s name change from Gravesend & Northfleet, the Blue Square side were not expected to make much of an impact on proceedings in the league. Pottering on nicely with no-one outside their patch really giving a monkey’s about them.

However, Ebbsfleet hit the headlines last autumn when it was announced that they would be taken over/owned by a fan-run website whose members would be voting on key decisions concerning the club (Including, somewhat controversially, the possibility of picking the team ahead of First team coach Liam Daish - a idea still up in the air).

The game itself was a fairly unspectacular affair with Chris McPhee grabbing the only goal just before half time having seen his penalty saved earlier in the match.

Victory for The Fleet took place in front of over 40,000 fans and in the eyes of many, is a fairytale-like ending to a truly remarkable season for the Kent based club.


Considering the takeover and the circumstances surrounding it, some would say a real blow has been struck for fan power in an increasingly commercially dominated game.

Cynics questioned whether this would prove to be a good idea in the long term but you try telling that to the fans who were at Wembley on Saturday!