2nd December is D-Day

So in three days time, we will know the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. This is the first time that FIFA have decided to announce two consecutive hosts at the same time, and is also the earliest that they have ever assigned the tournament. One of the reasons for this is to give the eventual winners as much time as possible to get ready for the finals. Get the stadiums up to scratch, hotels built and transport sorted. What they don’t want is another situation like they had with South Africa this year, and the one they are facing with Brazil in four years time. One would be excused for suggesting however, that the reason for the double announcement is just a ploy for FIFA to maximise it’s revenues, through one avenue or another.

It was rumoured that the decision date was going to be put back, whilst the FIFA ethics committee investigated claims of bribery and corruption inside footballs governing body regarding the votes. Various members were involved in the claims, with 2 voters and four other FIFA officials all receiving bans, not only for voting, but for working in football in general. All will still go ahead however, on Thursday 2nd December, with 22 voters instead of the original 24.

So where will the two tournaments go then. The process of voting has never quite been a transparent one, with the unexpected often becoming the expected. It would take a brave man to place his own money on predicting where each tournament will take place.

The 2018 tournament then is coming to Europe, with bids from England, Portugal/Spain, Holland/Belgium and Russia. South America’s CONMEBOL federation have already said that they will be giving their votes to Portugal/Spain, giving them a 3 vote head start on the rest with 19 left to count. In my opinion Russia should not get the tournament. Not only do they have logistical issues with it being such a large country, but the attitude of the countries fans is of a particular distaste for other nationalities crossing their border. I know of a fair few incidents when England played them during Euro 2008 qualifying. Recently, black player Peter Odemwingie left Russian side Locomotive for English side West Bromich Albion. Upon leaving the Locomotive fans displayed a banner thanking West Brom for taking Odemwingie off them, with a banana in the middle. A clear display of racism which has no place in football. They have however, never hosted the World Cup, which may end up working in their favour.

I don’t believe Holland and Belgium should get the tournament either, as they hardly put on the best of showings for Euro 2000, or it could be argued of course that that was largely down to England hooliganism. This then leaves Portugal and Spain's joint bid up against the one from England. Both of these have great cases to host a large scale international tournament in my opinion, with the suitable stadiums already in place and efficient transport already running. Maybe because we haven’t had the tournament since 1966 (Spain hosted World Cup 1982) or maybe because I am completely biased, but me personally would like to see the tournament in England.

As for 2022, that is over 11 years away, giving just about anyone enough time to build whatever is needed. I think that USA should take the honors here, as they put on arguably one of the best tournaments in history in 1994, although they face competition from Australia, Japan, Qatar and South Korea. One thing that does bug me though, Mohamed Bin Hammam has recently performed a u-turn and stated that he will now not be running for FIFA presidency next year, when Sepp Blatter stands for re-election. Another four years in office in return for Qatar 2022? Surely not?

The End of the Draw?

Quick question to start things off, what did this years World Cup give you? What memories will you take from it, that will last for many years? Awful refereeing decisions? Big goalkeeping mistakes? Dirty tactics in the Final?

One thing is for sure, it won’t be the wonderful football that was on display because, quite frankly, there was none. A 25 man Technical Study Group came out with a 288 page book report that suggested “nearly all teams now play with a compact defence.” Well congratulations, I could have told you that for free, let alone the absurd amounts that these 25 members most likely earn. The fact of the matter is, is that in International - and some club - football now, the main objective in a match is to not concede. Now I’m not saying this is a bad philosophy, far from it, what I am worried about however is the number of teams who also don’t look to score either. The sort of teams that almost know they are beaten before they enter the field of play, and do all they can to shut the opposition out, with no sense of attacking play whatsoever producing un-entertaining games ending in draws. This cannot be good for the future of the game.

So what does world footballs fearless leader plan to do about all this negativity. “We are considering doing away with draws in the first round (of World Cups) and also ending extra-time play. If there is no winner at the end of 90 minutes of play, we could proceed directly to penalty kicks.” I forget the writer now, but I once read a column in World Soccer magazine that said “Sepp Blatter comes up with 50 new ideas a day, 51 of them are bad.” A fairly accurate description if you ask me. Other possibilities that the world football governing body has mentioned include increasing the size of the goals and reducing both teams players by one every few minutes during extra time.

There is definitely reason for something to change, because this years World Cup really wasn’t that entertaining to watch, likewise with the 2006 tournament, although I did spend a lot of time travelling to and from Germany for the England games, so maybe didn’t catch enough of that tournament. The ideas being proposed however, are not something that I would like to see. If we do away with draws and go straight to penalty shootouts, then these teams who know they will struggle to get anything from a game, will go even more defensive. The fact that a penalty shootout is an absolute lottery will mean teams playing for that outcome all the more. We shall see what they eventually come up with, but if the past is anything to go by, more than likely nothing and we shall continue as we are.

As ever, sources and quotes taken from World Soccer magazine.

Welcome Back Bellamy

Now there’s not many football players about that I really dislike, but I did take great pleasure in Craig Bellamy’s poor performance last night on his return to Coventry after leaving the club some nine years ago.

Despite only scoring 6 goals during his one season with us, I have no doubt about the ability of the Welsh front man. A top player I know that he is, and I was shocked when I seen him come down to the Championship. A man of his quality would have had no shortage of clubs from the Premiership willing to take him.

Ability apart though, the guy is nothing short of a trouble maker. He seems to fall out with the staff and players at pretty much any club that he has been at, including the ridiculous golf club incident with John Arne Riise at Liverpool. The reason for my dislike though, is because of his criticism of Coventry City Football Club, and the City itself when he left for Newcastle all those years ago.

I have to admit though, despite not doing anything all night, I was worried that he would pop up with the winning goal, to silence the boo boys in the Ricoh Arena. Cardiff manager Dave Jones said in a post match interview that the fans were scared of Bellamy. He was probably right, but he was far from the truth when he said that was the reason for the jeers.

As for the match, a penalty given in the fourth minute is an incident I would like to see again. From where I was sitting (half way up the stand behind the goal where it happened) it didn’t look like a penalty. Sure, Turner seemed to have hold of him, but if you’re going to start giving penalties for that, then you will be giving them all day long. Harsh I thought. In the end though, it was another former Coventry man that got the winning goal. Jay Bothroyd, another player that most of Coventry fans hate and abuse.

Our performances this season, I think, are beginning to get better. A win away at Ipswich and a narrow loss - albeit still a loss - against a good Cardiff side just 2 points off the top of the league are two not bad results. Last night we were fighting for the ball in midfield, going in for fifty-fifty balls whereas before we were bottling it. The one thing we are still missing though I feel, is a creative midfielder, someone that is going to make things happen, because with Marlon King in the side now, I think we have the goals in us.

"A noise we are dealing with"

What gets me, is why so many Liverpool fans are so eager for this proposed take over to be completed. Yes, Hicks and Gillett have done little good since taking over the club in 2007, and have run up debts of £300m in the process. But New England Sports Ventures (the people behind the bid) are an American company, with American investors. Do Liverpool fans really want another American consortium in charge of their club?

In my eyes there are 3 types of football club owner. First of all the regular owner, the sort of person who just looks to run a business, for the majority of the time because of their love for football or in some cases the club. Second is the mega rich owner, who sees the club as a play thing. Roman Abramovic, Sheikh Mansour. Lastly is the owner in the shape of the Glazers, Hicks/Gillett, and the New England Sports Venture (NESV). The foreign investor who is only in it to make money. Rarely do they care about the club, or anyone associated with it, all they are concerned with, is gaining a profit from the eventual sale of their “asset.” What makes anyone think that the NESV will have different intentions for Liverpool football club, and will actually look to do good for a club with so much history and tradition?

The fact that current chairman Michael Broughton was brought into the club with the sole purpose of finding a buyer for the current American owners, says it all about their initial intentions. Now that Broughton has found a buyer - and more importantly, an actual offer - the American pair are not happy. And why? Because if this deal goes through, the pair will stand to lose a total of around £140m. So with Broughton happy to sell - he has in fact accepted the £300m offer made by NESV - and the owners reluctance to at such a price, the matter will now be resolved in court. It is worth noting however that if the Royal Bank of Scotland don’t receive the £280m that they are owed by next Friday (15 October) then the club could be placed into administration. For everyone concerned with Liverpool football club, this could be catastrophic. Firstly, a 9 point deduction would be made by the Premier League, leaving them bottom of the table with -3 points going into the Merseyside derby next weekend. But even more problematic, would be the lack of interest in buying the club. With such debts and such a poor position in the league table, who would want to take over? As a fan of Liverpool myself, it is imperative that the club be taken over this week, although my concerns over NESV’s intentions are large.

And if it doesn’t go through, Hicks and Gillett had better stay away from Anfield. Not only would they have taken this massive club to the bottom of the English Premier League, not only would they have severely dented the reputation of one of the most famous clubs in the world, but above all, they have disrespected what is quite possibly the most loyal supporters in world football. Tom Hicks has been quoted as saying that Liverpool fans “are a noise we are dealing with.” What he means by this is anyone’s guess, but the club needs to be in the hands of someone else, and quick.

Soap Opera Part 2

So onto the second saga that has took place this summer at Coventry. Kieren Westwood, widely regarded as the best goalkeeper outside the Premiership and one of the most important players at the club, has recently refused to sign a new contract. His existing deal is up at the end of the current season, and despite alleged efforts from both sides, it now appears that we will lose one of our most sellable assets at a fraction of what he is worth.

Now this has been going on since Aidy Boothroyd became City manager back in early June, with Boothroyd stating that number one priority once he returned from his holidays would be to tie the Irish international - five caps now for his national team - down into a lucrative, long term contract. Then, as pre season became shorter and shorter, us fans were promised that talks were ongoing, with the extension imminent.

We are now 7 games into the new season, and as previously stated Westwood has announced he will not sign a new deal, so it now looks like a cut price move in the January window or risk losing him for nothing at the end of the season. The rejection of an alleged £3m offer from Celtic now doesn’t look so much of a good move.

During a recent international game, Westwood broke his silence, stating that a deal had only been on the table for 4 weeks. A deal that he said he wouldn’t be signing. He also went on to say that 6 months ago he would have signed, 12 months ago he asked for a new contract and 12 months before that he actually asked for a new contract. Now if everything that he said is true, you can understand why he is frustrated, trying to get a deal for 2 years, then one being offered only a week or two before the start of the season in which his current one would run out.

So if this is true, you have to ask yourself, why have the club been saying all summer that a deal is being discussed and that they hope he would agree to it? To please the fans maybe. But why would they leave it so late to tie down the best player in his position in the Championship, especially as he asked for a new deal the previous summer? Or maybe Westwood is bending the truth, not to make himself out to be another greedy player after a move to a bigger club. Either way the club have not publicly responded to Westwood’s comments and duly dropped him for the next game, a 3-1 defeat away to Millwall, before returning for the following game against Leicester. At the full time whistle of that game against Leicester, Westwood made his way to the fans behind his second half goal and had words with a fan in the front row. What was said only those two know, but both clearly had a point to get across.

Now, us fans just have to wait, more than likely until January when Westwood will be expected to move for a cut price fee. Both parties agreed to draw a line under recent incidents and concentrate on what is important, Coventry City’s season. For now, all we can do is believe exactly that, and hope above all, that it doesn’t affect on field results, because what actually happened during the pre season saga, is anybodies guess.

Soap Opera Pt 1

Listen to most people in and around Coventry City Football Club, and they will tell you that Ray Ranson is a good chairman, with the clubs best interests at heart. I don’t disagree with that, but I do ask what on earth is going on at the minute regarding two important players for Coventry.

First of all is the potential signing of Marlon King. The deal was all set to be wrapped up on Friday 11 September, but for whatever reason, there was no signatures on the dotted line. Then, in a national newspaper over the weekend, King’s agent was quoted as saying “A deal has been agreed, all that’s left now is to sign.” So what was the hold up? Anyone who supports Coventry, or indeed lives in Coventry, can tell you quite confidently that manager Aidy Boothroyd desperately wants to sign the striker that he worked with at Watford back in 2006. Boothroyd has made no secret in his desire to get his man, not least because of the current injury problems his squad is facing. So King wants to sign, the manager wants him but why still no deal? One of the club directors is rumored to be against the deal, holding the whole thing up. One can only imagine that the anonymous opposer isn’t a fan of King’s controversial past.

A good goal scorer that he is - 121 career goals in 383 appearances equates to a goal just over every three games - it has always been his private life that takes the limelight. A total of 14 convictions consisting of driving bans, theft and assault has earned him 2 separate prison sentences. The most recent, well publicised incident involving a young woman whilst on a night out in the Soho area of London earned him an 18 month sentence. A sentence that he has only just finished, travelling to Coventry to train under Boothroyd almost immediately after his release. Other incidents involve several fall outs with managers and an alleged head butting, involving team mate Dean Windass.

The deal was set to be signed (again) today - Thursday 16 September - before an announcement around midday stating that it would now be signed on the Friday. The fact that Boothroyd is “praying for a deal to be struck before the weekend” suggests that there is something or someone that is currently holding up the deal. Me, I think he could do a good job for us. He could be exactly what we are missing, someone who can stick the ball in the net. But we need to get it sorted sooner rather than later. Either sign him up, or let him go.

England V Slovenia

It always seems to be the hard way when it comes to England. After two unconvincing draws, they finally produced a performance of some quality to ensure qualification from Group C.

It was a much better performance by England as they controlled the ball a lot better than they had in their previous two games. With Jermaine Defoe and Wayne Rooney starting upfront, there was no big man to pump the ball up to. This meant a much more shorter, patient passing game could be played, one in which I thought we executed rather well.

Apart from a few lapses in concentration, I thought we defended well, something that comes as a nice change from what we have come to expect from England of recent times. When the ball reached our penalty area, the amount of players that were throwing themselves at the feet of the Slovenians was encouraging. Defending in numbers and as a unit. In particular I thought John Terry had a very good game. After a poor pass across the backline early on in, he recovered well to deny the Slovenians a number of times. One memorable moment was - after blocking the first shot - when Terry threw himself head first, just a foot off the ground to attempt to block a shot from Valter Birsa. He didn’t manage to stop the shot as Glen Johnson was behind to deflect the ball away, but the philosophy of “they will not score” was one to be admired from Terry throughout the game. He also had a couple of chances at the other end from corners. His first attempt was a header on the near post which was off target, but in the second half, he very nearly made it 2-0 as the Slovenia goalkeeper just managed to get a strong hand to a header he had on the far post. His partner, Mathew Upson, I thought was a little off the pace. One moment in the first half in which he almost gave up on chasing Zlatan Ljubijankic was a little worrying. Thankfully Terry was there to save the day with an excellent sliding tackle to stop the incoming shot. It has to be said though, that had it not been for a reaction tackle from Upson late in the second half, it could so easily have been 1-1 and a different story altogether for the England contingent.

Going forward, although we were against a relatively weak side, we were rather impressive, creating a number of goal scoring chances. A superb link up between Steven Garrard and Wayne Rooney produced an excellent save from Samir Handanovic down to his left. The two just seemed to know what each other was thinking, and the ball played through two defenders by Rooney, set Gerrard up brilliantly as he tried to place it into the bottom corner. With many fans and pundits calling for a front line consisting of these two, this particular bit of play would only have fuelled the fire had Rooney’s strike partner Jermaine Defoe not had such a good game. Two different players I know, but compared to Emile Heskey, Jermaine Defoe knows where the goal is and has that knack of getting into the positions that bring about goal scoring opportunities. He could have easily scored a hat trick against Slovenia as his goal was followed up by a powerful shot that - luckily for Handanovic - was straight at the ‘keeper. Then, in the second half, a header into the box from Frank Lampard found Defoe all alone but the bouncing ball proved tricky for the little man as his stab at the ball just found itself wide. Not too long after, he thought he had made it 2-0 as he comfortably placed into an open net from Rooney’s cross, only to see the goal disallowed for offside for the initial pass to Rooney. As for Rooney, he had a much better game compared to his two previous performances against the USA and Algeria, creating chances for both his team mates and himself. Only another instinctive save from Handanovic prevented him from getting on the score sheet as he was left all alone in the penalty area. The scuffed shot was superbly tipped onto the post by the ‘keeper. He looked a lot fitter, a lot sharper, and more importantly determined, although it was a selfish decision to go himself in the first half when a ball to the completely open James Milner looked a better option. Talking of Milner, he was another who had an excellent game. After his poor 30 minute display against the USA, I questioned his inclusion in the starting line-up for the final game. However, after a shaky first 10 minutes, he looked the impressive fired up player he has done all season for Aston Villa, producing the cross for the only goal of the game. That was the first good cross I have seen an Englishman produce this summer, and it was followed up by another three or four, inviting the strikers to get into the position to score a goal and the sort of cross that the defence hates.

After all the allegations recently of unrest in the England camp, it was nice to see all the players in a huddle at the end of the game, showing unity and team spirit. Fabio Capello said at the end of the game that he has refound the team that he knows and the form that he see’s from these very players week in, week out in the Premier League. One good performance doesn’t mean we are going to go on to win the tournament, but we looked good in that game and with the confidence the players now feel, I wouldn’t fancy playing against them.

Bring on the Germans!