Angry Fans
WHICH, I wonder, would be the more tricky visit ā the Queen coming to Ireland or Ireland coming to Cork? Stephen Ireland is simply impossible to understand. He's so strange that he wouldn't look out of place in the new Dail. Indeed if he was a TD any potential government could keep him on side by allowing him to head up a committee looking in to the performances of the Irish football team, with special powers to call in Trap. Unlike others, he could genuinely claim to be taking a pay cut by entering public life. Then again Liam, he could probably claim mileage from Mars.
SO poor old Stephenās been misunderstood again? Sure, there seems to be a record of players giving interviews to French magazines (and they always seem to be French!) but there seems to have been an awful lot lost in translation! Why didnāt he just show them the Cork tattoo on his body? Cork, je tāaime, complete with some heavy breathing. That should do it.
The thing about having a go at Stephen Ireland is that it brings to mind the words āshootingā, āfishā and ābarrelā. What say we all declare a moratorium ā and that means you, especially, Mr Ireland.
THE predictable violence which followed last week's Old Firm game has been followed by an equally predictable outcry. First Minister Alex Salmond has even called a summit to discuss the issue. Hopefully those at said meeting will not overlook the fact that such violence has NOTHING ā repeat, NOTHING ā to do with football, religion or even politics. No, it is the product of something quite different: the booze-guzzling that goes on all over the British Isles. This is magnified in cities like Glasgow, which have problems with social deprivation, but let's not kid ourselves, together with the use of English it's the one common cultural element in those isles.
Ah, the drunken elephant in the room. Good point John, though I wouldnāt entirely eliminate the football, the religion or the politics from our inquiries. By the way, how can you tell that Glaswegians are speaking English?
HOW long are Liverpool's new owners going to take before they give King Kenny a proper contract? The man has singlehandedly turned around the atmosphere at Anfield and made it happy place to attend again. If he is backed with the right type of investment he will take this club to very top again. So get the job done and sign him up!
THAT was a good old-fashioned thrashing for Fergie whose team lost on the pitch, and he was also given a going-over in the pre and post match by Dalglish. If Roy Hodgson ever wonders where it all went wrong for him, it wasnāt only on the field. Liverpool fans do not like a boss who kowtows to the old Red Devil of Manchester.
IN THE early minutes of the North West derby I was telling the whole pub that Dirk Kuyt was the weakest link in Liverpool's attack. I obviously had to eat my words, but I stand by the sentiment. The man who is making Kenny look good is Luis Suarez, a top rate player around which to build for the future. Dirk's tap-ins ā my lad could have scored those ā should not gloss over the fact that he is a second rate footballer who should have no place at a Liverpool Football Club which wants to challenge for top honours.
Ted? Are you sure your name is not Dougal? Okay, kicking a man when heās up has a certain novelty value to it, but at the very least your poor timing deserves a red card.
CARLO Ancelotti keeps saying that he isn't worried about Fernando Torres' failure to get a single goal for the Blues yet, but how long will his and the fans' patience really last if the Spaniard doesn't start scoring goals soon. Let's face it, paying ā¬58 million for a player gives a club the right to demand results and demand them pretty soon. Fernando knows this and will surely start hitting the back of the net again soon, but he'll have to be quick about it if he wants his Chelsea career to be a successful one.
Uncontested winner of this weekās stating-the-bleeding-obvious award.
COULD I use this space to congratulate Wolverhampton Wanderers for their incredibly emotive tribute to the late Dean Richards. It must have been karma that the first game after Deano's death was one played between the two clubs that defined his career: Wolves and Spurs. Watching his wife and two sons come out to the pitch, with both sets of fans chanting āthere's only one Deanoā made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Who wouldn't want to go out like that when the time comes? And it was such a great game of Premier League football too. Dean Richards RIP.
As Smokey said: I second that emotion.
IT'S NO wonder Sepp Blatter has made a move to ban snoods. Remember, this is a man who presided over the World Society of Friends of Suspenders, an organisation which fought against the advance of pantyhose and tried to preserve the suspender belt. Fashion conservatism is clearly part of his lifelong agenda.
āFashion conservatismā is one way of putting it, alright. Iād humbly suggest ābonkersā is another.
HOW long are we going to keep expecting footballers to be ārole modelsā for society? What kind of society would ever have characters such as Ashley Cole or Wayne Rooney as examples of what the population should aspire to. Ok, they may be talented and rich but money and ability have nothing to do with moral rectitude. Maybe society needs to start looking around for a different source of inspiration.
You mean like bankers, politicians or priests?
WHY don't all the Luddites who are against goal line technology just get into a time travel machine and go back to the Middle Ages where they belong? People, this is called progress and it's going to happen whether you like it or not. Get with the programme: why on earth would you choose not to improve the game with any means available? Out of some sense of misplaced romanticism that goes straight out the window when a refereeing decision goes against your own team? Pathetic, truly pathetic.
Regular readers will know where Iām coming from on this; suffice to say that our Prize-winning Letter Of The Week goes to Declan Cowen.
I'M AN Arsenal fan and I'm proud of what ArsĆØne Wenger has achieved at the club with the resources at his disposal but I don't think the club can really take another season with no silverware. We might go through against Barcelona tonight, and if we do we will stand a great chance of winning the tournament. But it is very likely we won't. We might go on to win the Premier League. United have seemed shaky in big games of late and on our day we are better than anybody in this league. But we also have a tendency to drop stupid points and that is something which costs heavily in the Premiership. If things don't come together this year how much longer are we expected to wait?
Arsene knows. (But he isnāt telling).
THERE has been some suggestion that Birmingham City's well-deserved European place for next season might be in jeopardy because of UEFA's new financial rules. Apparently Brum's level of debt is pretty worrying. How cruel would that be after decades of being on the sidelines of Continental football? And, more importantly, will other, bigger clubs with more power but the same kind of debt problems be forced out of UEFA's competitions. It seems unlikely.
Ah, the old football has totally lost the financial run of itself, hasnāt it? Fortunately, Iām sure our new government will be only to happen to advise Birmingham on how best to placate Europe over worrying levels of debt.
