Angry Fans
We’ll be offering a free sports prize to the star contribution each week. This week Venables and Townsend for Ireland; World Cup group draws; Premiership owners superficial and inefficient; Premiership is shaping to be the best for years; Mourinho for Liverpool how uncanny; Alan Green on Benitez; Hunt’s challenge; Mike Reilly’s poor performance.
goes to Peter O’Riordan, Cavan. Let’s have an address please and our wonderful prize will be winging his way to you.
TERRY Venables and Andy Townsend? What is this? A new Episode from Life on Mars? Say it ain’t so Liam.
WILL Andy be bringing his tactics truck along with him? Not easy to park around Croker. Peter Murphy, Dublin, by email MY choices for Ireland manager in this order: Roy Hodgson, Gerard Houllier, Sam Allardyce (he’ll be out of a job soon). I would say El Tel comes a long way down the list. Still, it will be good for the headline writers.
Thanks for reminding us of the real priority, Dennis. Obviously El Tel would instantly become O' Tel which opens up lots of tempting possibilities, like Heartbreak O' Tel (when we lose again to mighty Cyprus) and, er, O' TelCalifornia when he does a runner straight after the match. Of course, should Houllier come through on the inside, be sure that the headliner writers already have Hou Dunnit! warming in the oven. As for Hodgson, well, clearly he's out of the running because, after all, there's only room for one Roy in this business. Nice line about Big Sam by the way.
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WORLD Cup draw could be worse couldn’t it Liam. Nice sunny trips to Italy and Cyprus for starters. The odds should be good for a play-off place at least, unless there’s another disaster in Nicosia.
BULGARIA look like a real trap to me in the World Cup qualifiers. Still . . . should be good support over there when you think of the number of Irish property owners in the country.
Steve Delaney, Waterford, by Email
Yes, should give a whole new meaning to the cry of "Watch your house".
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ARE Premier League club owners the most impatient, superficial, inefficient, duplicitous group of people known to man? Six managers sacked before all the leaves have fallen from the trees. And it could be ten by New Year (Allardyce, Benitez, Southgate, and Curbishley?) Or are they just a desperately greedy bunch who are scared of failure?When the English debate the lack of success of their national team they blame the players, the tactics, the lack of young players, foreigners. Perhaps they should just look at the people who control the clubs and who create an atmosphere in which coaches won’t take risks because they need to grind out results. No wonder flair is being driven away.
Letter of the week and winner of our stupendous prize
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PERHAPS it’s just me but I think this Premier League title is shaping up to be the best for years. No club is really establishing dominance in their style of play. Arsenal may be playing the best football but they’re not running away with it. Liverpool have got a game in hand. Chelsea still look dangerous And United aren’t infallible. Add to that Portsmouth and Blackburn are both difficult to beat and there are plenty of goals. I’m enjoying it anyway. What about you Liam?
Yes, me too, thanks very much Limerick Red. Still, I have to ask: have you got something against Man City?
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ISN’T there an uncanny echo of what happened to Mourinho in the current row between Rafael Benitez and the American owners at Liverpool? Both men have highly individual styles and both are articulate and intelligent. Both men want to be allowed to run the football side of the business in the way they want. Both had to deal with interfering executives who, whatever their abilities in making money, know little about how football is organised and less about each club’s traditions and history. Both episodes are likely to end in tears.
WHY on earth would Gillett and Hicks choose José Mourinho? Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire. After his experience at Chelsea he would certainly demand control over transfer policy and all playing matters. Anyway, as I understand it, Mourinho has a clause which says he cannot manage in England again this season.
THERE’S no doubt that Anfield would be very attractive to Mourinho. Despite what Liverpool fans may think he’s always made his admiration of the club absolutely clear and it would provide him with two major opportunities that his ego might find irresistible— the opportunity to “knock Manchester United off their perch” and the chance to show Roman Abramovich and Avram Grant just what he thinks of them. Drogba and Carvalho on Merseyside? I’ll have some of that.
SO Alan Green thinks that Benitez has it wrong in picking a fight against the Americans? Sure his little joke about being available to manage England fell flat, but if you saw Sissoko on Saturday you would understand why it’s important to tie down the Mascherano deal. Liverpool were playing Newcastle with 10 men. His “concentrating on coaching and training” mantra made me laugh, and the fact that he donned a tracksuit for the game at St James’s was also a clever piece of symbolism. Sack him at your peril Gillet and Hicks. Good managers are hard to find. Ask Chelsea fans
I know one long-suffering, Dublin-based Liverpool fan who fears he is facing the worst of both worlds: Rafa out at Liverpool and Houllier in for Ireland. Let us all remember him in his prayers.
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SOME things never change. Stephen Hunt commits a red card offence, and gets a yellow. Michael Essien commits a yellow card offence an gets a red. There’s little doubt in my mind that decision represented an “even-up” for his much-debated tackle on Leon Osman a fortnight ago. Can I also send fraternal greetings to Liverpool supporters in their current difficulties between their successful manager and their absentee owners. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt.
What a coinicidence. Cork Blue's not entirely unreasonable letter merits only a yellow for the gratuitous dig at "Saint" Stephen Hunt but guess what? I'm giving him a red anyway. As he says himself: something's never change.
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WATCHING the West Ham-Spurs game on Sunday I heard someone say that referee Mike Riley was on the short list of referees for the Euro 2008 tournament in Switzerland and Austria. Given his performance at Upton Park for the Robbie Keane penalty, I am confident we will see performances of which Graham Poll would be proud on our screens next summer.
Patrick Ahern, Cork, by email
Yes, nice to see that at least the "golden generation" of whistle-blowers have made it to the finals. Speaking of which, read on...
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WHAT if Sven missed out on the Man City job and was now interested in taking the Irish one? Would we be happy to take him? Probably not, because most of us took the English media view that he was a poor manager who wasted the talents of the "golden generation" (who against Croatia were given yet another lesson in how football should be played ) Sven actually did a good job for England and only came up short because of the poor passing skills of English players. In how many big games did England take a one goal lead and then throw it away by repeatedly giving the ball back to the opposition? If that flaw was down to Sven then how come Man City are one of the best passing sides in the premiership?
* OUR SHOUT:
Always nice to hear from you Sven.
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