On a wonderful weekend for John Terry.

Facebook is awash with City and United (Manchester, that is) trying to come to terms with the shift in power.City should take the title from United and when or if that happens, things will never be the same. Never.

Meanwhile on the other side of  Facebook. there is another tribe.  These are the people who like John Terry.  There can be nobody in the City United axis that like John Terry. Maybe the odd failed medium who predicted his transfer to Eastlands some summers earlier who wanted to get their "like" in early.  There are 10,000,000 plus people who like Arsenal.  I presume that they find "like" too strong an emotion for John.  Can you see where I am going with this?  Tottenham Hotspurs is "liked" by over a million.

I'm unsure of my exact feelings for John.  I never met the guy, but I have met a few professional footballers.  I had a lovely chat with Luther Blissett in a sandwich shop on a street corner in Bury. "What are you doing here?" Luther was doing some coaching at Gigg Lane at the time and was happy to chat and share with a complete stranger.  He confounded the stereotype of a professional footballer. Articulate and happy to interact.  I could have asked him about playing for AC Milan or scoring for England. A special moment sadly missed. I also met Christiano Ronaldo on a late Christmas shopping trip outside Lush opposite M&S in Manchester.  I had a Manchester United Calendar for the coming year and it was for my Partner's colleagues young son.  Christiano was unable to oblige with the requested autograph. His physique was something to marvel at. I put my hand on his shoulder and I felt a great toned body beneath my intrusive grip.  Only now can I rejoice that he was able evade my clutches without resorting to an Ashley Young style evasion of Shaun Derry's less delicate touch. His prone body on the Market Street Pavement is a haunting thought.

So I guess these are my poles between which John Terry must be placed.  Is he more like Luther or more like Christiano. I only have the things I read and hear and see of John to make my decision.  The first time he came across the Rodney, Rodney! radar would have been his ill fated night out with Jody Morris and their Wimbledon co-player whose name refuses to come. Des rings a bell.  Help me somebody.  Since then John has never been short of column inches. His family enjoy almost equal media prominence.  The stories are lurid and very disturbing.  So if I take all that into consideration I feel I must conclude I do not like John Terry.  He comes over like a man with little or no control. He looks selfish and self serving. If I saw him outside Lush I feel certain I would cross the road in the other direction.

Shortly a group of 12 people will have the same difficult task of judging him.  Did he mean what he is alleged to said as witnessed by some zealot lip reader?  Is he to be believed? What are his true motivations?  Does he enjoy a more Uruguayan sense of colour and racial tolerance?

Oh and by the way an unbelievable 2,059,544 like John Terry. I guess they haven't met him either, which might explain the figure.  If they had met Luther Blissett they might wish to have reconsidered.

Welease Woderwick

It's official Roy Hodgson is the new England supremo, possibly a very wise choice.  The Tabloids have got it in for him early.  The papers this morning issued a chorus of disapproval. They've taken an immediate dislike to the man. I suppose it saves time.  Good Bloke, Good Coach, Good Luck.

City United

Tonight at 8pm a global audience of 650 million may watch Manchester's two global icons take aim on each other's title aspirations.  It is enough to send the cheaper sky subscribers scurrying to their piggy banks to beg steal or borrow £20 for a months sports subscription.  Of course the global audience will know little of Bobby Shinton or Ralph Milne.  Ashley Ward and Tom Black will not figure in the global love-in of tonight's beautiful game.  The essence of football is it's heritage and it's history, not the immediate glory and joy of a 2-0 victory for Manchester City or the misery of a 2-2 draw.  Glyn Pardoe was on the Radio today talking up the derby.  His career was finished in a Derby by George Best of all players.  When asked if he ever broke a leg in a Manchester Derby Roy Keane is alleged to replied "Sure but I can't remember the poor guy's name".

Passions are high. The stakes even higher. May the best team win.

Final Score - who's winning mate?

In Huyton, the Cricket Club is an oasis in the midst of a "Beirut-style" shopping and living situation.  It was in the 70's any way and current reports suggest that things have improved none. In those days of yore, I used to play there and was always amazed when asked by the Kids watching "Who's winning Mate?". Because the Cricket system dictates that the winner can only be declared at the end of the contest, it was an impossible question to answer.  Needless to say I always answered Huyton. It was rarely the truth but it fostered a sense of civic pride.  Huyton is a famous place.  Bleasedale, Reid, Gerrard...... Barton - okay 3 out of 4 isn't bad.


Fast forward from those halcyon days to yesterday's Final Score on the red button and BBC HD.  Mark Chapman was in the chair ably abetted by Dion Dublin and Matt Holland. A combination that could only be bettered with Yorath replacing Chapman.  Mark Chapman is a nice enough bloke. Manchester Grammar, BBC, blokey nickname "Chappers" it's all there. He just has the tendency to lapse into punditry.  Heck Mark, you're supposed to ask the experts the dumb questions that make them look insightful and smart.  Yesterday when Wolves were trailing to a rampant Swansea, Chappers proffered the opinion that Wolves were a disgrace and the travelling fans would feel let down. "Who's winning mate?".

Terry Connor by all accounts, a good football man, must have "skyplussed" and play the piece to the lads in the dressing room for the Half Time team talk. In the second half Wolves played like men possessed.  Clawed their way back to draw 4-4 - some achievement.  Chapman ate his words graciously during the "Lazarus Like " comeback and the post match interviewer asked Terry Connor if he felt the Wolves could have won the game. Terry suggested the "could" should have been  a "should".  


And the moral of this story? I'll let you decide.  


Good Luck next season Terry. If there is any justice you'll be given the job of bringing Wolves back.  Perhaps out of the glare of  Premier League media scrutiny you can prove to be a great manager, be given time to develop a more robust team and reap the rewards of a lifetime in the game you so clearly love.


Who's winning mate?

Father Christmas, Danny Baker and Arthur Magee

Many years ago outside Pride and Joy in Sherbourne Square in Huyton, 1967 to be more precise My brother Howard told me that there was no Father Christmas.  It was a construct, a deceit he said. Mum and Dad just buy the presents.  Christmas was never the same but in a good way.  Years later when Danny Baker was a fresh innovative broadcaster and I was enjoying this breath of fresh air on Radio 5 Live, I had another discussion with my elder brother.  This was to lead to an epiphany.  He took away the mystique and explained Danny's shtick and from that point on I saw Danny as a mere mortal.  I have never really followed his career since, choosing to use my time better with other less heady indulgences.

Last night my dear friend Arthur tried to explain why Barcelona had lost to Chelsea over two legs of the Champions League Semi Final.  I stopped Arthur in his tracks because I don't want to know the secret of why football works.  The pundits try to explain - fail miserably. The league tables try to explain. The Sun's Monday Goals Goals Goals Extra supplement tries to explain, but they all fail.  It is a riddle.  Why do Underdogs beat Goliaths? Why did QPR come back from 4-0 down at Port vale in 1997 after being booed off the pitch at Half Time to draw with a wonderful John Spencer equaliser?

I have no answers, nor solicit any. Barcelona cry foul whenever they lose and cite "Anti-Football" as the villain of the piece.  I would suggest to Messi, Xavi, Busquets, Thiago Alcântara or any other proponent of the anti football conspiracy theory that whatever the result. Football is always the winner. Because "football...." to quote very dear friend and guiding light "..is really fantastic"

Go Figure Guardiola, Alan Green, Garth Crooks, Jim Beglin, Colin Murray.........

Toxteth über alles

I was in Liverpool yesterday and was taken with the huge changes there have been since I left in 1979.  Then it was synonymous with Militancy and decay, you had to leave to get a job.  Now it is a wonderful viable prosperous "visitor experience".  My Alan Hansen "Match of the Day"  moment of the day was meeting 3 German blokes from Berlin.  "Ost oder West?" fragte ich.  With political correctness they answered that Berlin was a complete city now, but within seconds they betrayed the fact that they were "Ossies" and proudly told me that their team was Union Berlin.  In my mind the English equivalent of Union could be Charlton Athletic.

The comparison would be even more accurate had the Russians annexed and walled south east London and the Secret Police ran Crystal Palace under iron fisted communist rule. However my Charlton/Union Berlin connection was the fan based democracy that exists systematically in Germany Football and acutely in "Cult Clubs" like Union Berlin and until recently St Pauli.  This fan democracy flourished on the English scene in the dark days of the 80's when Mrs Thatcher and her puppet cabinet were planning to destroy/regulate football through ID cards.  The FSA & the Fanzine movement roundly dispelled the myth that football was merely yobs and morons. Charlton at the time were dying with the rest of football but with smart and democratic action, the fans saved a club with no home and returned it to its rightful place  The Valley and Division 1 -  That's the Premier League for those who are going to pay £120 to watch Arsenal v Chelsea at The Emirates today.

Back in 80's I was in Valencia for festival of Music called La Conjuras de la Danzes put on by Radical Records.  NME hack Danny Kelly came along on a junket and told me the story of a trip to Berlin (East naturally, this was the NME.)  Danny got into a deep philisophical debate with some officials from Dynamo Berlin about the rights and wrongs of state intervention in footballing matters. "Surely it's wrong for Dynamo Berlin the state sponsored Stassi football club to enjoy league title after league title."  With impeccable German logic his hosts highlighted their belief that surely the same state intervention occurs in England with the Government ensuring continuous success for Liverpool in order supress the militant sponsored socialist revolutionary turmoils in Liverpool.

Liverpool, the city, has developed long and special relationships with Germany since their largely successful attempts to raise it to the ground. Liverpool Boys, the schools FA respresentative XI for under 16 year olds played a regular annual friendship two leg match with Cologne's equivalent team.  The Liverpool leg was annually played at Penny Lane, which links beautifully into Liverpool's other gift to Germany.  Liverpool gave Germany The Beatles a naive beat troupe in the early sixties and Hamburg returned them months later a wiser, rawer, more commercial, drug fuelled monster ready to be launched on an unexpecting world.  My favourite Scouse-German connection is the growing contingent of German men who come to Liverpool regularly on weekends of Football and nightlife.  Back in the days when the Kop was being rebuilt and was yet to get a roof, I took my Dad - tickets were easy to buy - cheap and available.  We were amazed to meet a group of Borussia Monchengladbach fans over for the weekend. I was waiting for  infamous "longest song in football" zwei vier sechs acht wer wissen wir zu schätzen wissen B O R .......

Which reminds me Hamann was on Scottie Road and went into William Hills for a bet.  Didi?  No, he's working through his gambling addiction now and things are looking a lot better.  (Cymbal Crash)

Changing Times

It is interesting that Tony Adams could not be considered a viable assistant to Harry Redknapp in Redknapp's new role as Tottenham Hotspur manager. It is reported widely that his long connection with Arsenal would make him unemployable at White Hart Lane.

What effect would such rules have had in the football of the post second world war period that saw former Liverpool player Matt Busby take over at Old Trafford. Or Joe Mercer - ex Everton take over at Manchester City.

The track record of former club players in the managment role, bears pale comparison with that of the shameless turncoats, as indeed does the record of less than star players (Wenger, Ferguson Mourinho) against the world class players (Charlton, Robson, Moore).

It would seem that in the day when continuous loyalty (or was it dubious contactual restrictions) was the norm we demanded less of our football people. And now when it is entirely obvious that football is a business unfettered by such kitschy ideals of undying love, we want to threaten abuse and generally destroy those who have the guts to play for two wildly different opposing football clubs. Of course because of this unnatural desire for loyalty we are treated to the ludicrous charade of badge kissing. Whoever kissed the first badge and those who now follow this dubious ritual should be placed in the corner at the Stadium of Light and ritually pelted with coins, bottles and the odd hot pie.

Fergy Boycotts the Press

Sir Alex Ferguson is widely reported to have ceased relations with the press. With BBC long since banished from his acquaintance, I reckon that only Sky and ITV remain his outlets for comment and vitriol. Heaven forbid should World in Action returns or Sky post match interviews actually demand a more challenging line of questioning.

It seems unfortunate that the most successful manager in English football cannot reconcile himself with so much of the media. With the FA, the refereeing Authorities and the media against him and his team, it is some testament to his powers that he and they have won so much. Oh yeah those special powers and Rob Styles.

Rob has cropped up on this blog before. In a climate where football people are calling for consistency, Styles has been the very picture of consistency with penalties given for a variety of similar offences. He just needs to give Arsenal a soft penalty soon to get his Big 4 card marked and he will have a complete set of grateful top 4 managers.

God vs Money Part whatever it is

QPR are presently looking good. Some solid results with equally solid performances to boot. Ancona have started the season without a win in the 3 games so far. So the money route seems to be showing an early turn of pace over God and his footballers.

That said QPR have been trying to play both ends of this fight between divinity and liquidity. Last week saw the signing of Damiano Tomassi. It is some time since Tomassi was considered at his most potent but at 34 years old he represents QPR's flirtation with matters more spiritual than the material. Some time ago whilst coming back from career threatening injury, Tomassi negotiated an "Agent-killing" contract where he settled for an Italian Minimum wage whilst he recovered from a dodgy knee.

Other good works have included the redistribution of football disciplinary fines to needy and worthy causes. None of which has gone unnoticed by his close friends at the Vatican. He seems a pretty good man.

Any way that was all last week, before QPR hit their fans with a £50 sting if they want to come and witness the "more attractive" fixtures for the remainder of the season. That's fifty quid in the posh seats for the better opponents. Needless to say there is uproar. Fans are ready to protest against this shameful exploitation of people with more money than sense. Presumably these are a different set of fans from the one's who have been waiting for and actively expecting Premier League soccer since 1996 when Ray Wilkins sadly sold Les Ferdinand and was never able to fill the huge gap left. In all the protest there is a regrettable belief that rich people somehow have a duty or desire to subsidise the loyal and the needy's dreams.

It's sadly never happened that way and in the new ear of "boutique" football clubs I suspect it is unlikely start up in Shepherd's Bush.

City the Brand

Today the papers are full of details of an 86 page document that will see Manchester City rebranded as "city" and be launched as a brand that will expand like virgin across the middle and far east.

Is it April the 1st?

What a joke.

Old Trafford revisited

I first went to Old Trafford football Ground in 1973 September I think it was. QPR had returned to the top flight for a second crack at greatness and were cast against Manchester United within the first few fixtures of the season. Such a trip was not as onerous as it would be nowadays for a newly promoted side but still United were favourites, they won.

QPR did take the lead with the cheekiest of cheeky goals a Terry Venables free kick specially dinked over the wall to a youthful Gerry Francis who had walked through the defensive wall after pacing out the 10 yards on behalf of the ref. Special moment in a very special ground the start of a history of going to that ground to watch my team, the home team, our national team and also various International teams - I saw Zola play there - another definite highlight. I've been there a lot.

Needless to say I loathe what Manchester United currently represents as the chief launderers of obscene amounts of our money in our game. It's not because I am jealous if I wanted to count trophies I could simply start as a Man U fan tomorrow and buy the T-shirts and merchandise and feed Glazer’s debt. I support QPR and I enjoy that, thank you very much.

So what's this all bout I hear you ask - what are you on about, oh self appointed "King of Football"

Well if you hadn't interrupted I would have told you earlier. I was there this morning at about 11:30 and I was reminiscing about my Gerry Francis goal and reflecting on a variety of things that have happened between that Indian summers day in 1973 and this rainy morning in the borough of Trafford.

I entered the megastore and was taken by the factory style processing of the gathered fans/consumers who where efficiently being parted with their money as they bought tokens and mementoes of their visit to Old Trafford. It felt soulless and cynical it lacked the passion that I associate with football it seemed more Tesco or Asda if anything.

I stood close to some efficient looking characters that had clipboards and earnest looks. I asked an approachable bloke from within the coterie of retail specialists what was happening. “We are just tweaking the store to improve things.” My heart sunk. Scientific principles being applied to modify the machinery, improve the yield, feed the debt.

The young man – a fresh faced stunt double for Nigel Clough – turned out to be a Forest fan. We shared a moment of pain whilst I recalled Clough’s historic hat trick against my beloved QPR at the City Ground in the late 80’s and I left the building, head shaking.

As I headed back to real life, I paused to look at the bronze statue of Best Law and Charlton. Inspiring, truly great players, but also sadly another cynical marketing exercise to create a visitor experience, attract people to the megastore, rinse them of their cash. Encourage them to prove that they are real fans. Feed the debt.

I’m too old, too steeped in the experience of the 70’s 80’s when Football was a deviant behaviour, a grimy joy, cheap and cheerful. Happy days.

The birth of a beautiful club

We return to the subject of "Money versus God" and the concurrent rebirths of both AC Ancona and QPR. You may recall from previous blogs setting up the contest where QPR got Briatore and Ecclestone and Ancona got the Pope. At that point as a veteran fan of the Hoops, I thought that disaster loomed and that Ancona would take the divine intervention and streak away. Money in football is no guarantee of success. Whereas Maradona proved that God can often come in at the most helpful times to save a sinner.

Now nearing the end of the season the picture is fast evolving where money is shifting into the final furlong a length or two to the good. Admittedly Ancona seem set for promotion and Serie B but they were in that slot from the day they kissed the Pope's ring. They have continued in a steady vein since the takeover. QPR on the other hand have dramatically stemmed form that would have guaranteed them a dip into the 3rd Division [old habits sorry] and are now developing a neck complaint looking up the table. All well and good but the true joy of this Lazarus like comeback [Mark, not the biblical one] has been the ability for Briatore to transform the whole fabric of the club, to turn them from a gun toting laughing stock of an operation, to a slick and sensitive club that is going places.

To me it's all marketing but it is just the kind of marketing that a club like QPR needs. The tradition of QPR is very glamorous. Since 1965 QPR have enjoyed some heady times and laced through that recent history have been players of immense skill and personality. The list is endless. No other club can boast a series of number 10's like it. Briatore and his sidekick Amit Bhatia can constantly be heard preaching the gospel of the club traditions and the power and passion of the support. QPR appear rich but they are using their heads not their wallets to build a sustainable viable club. "We are not Chelsea". is the mantra. Who wants to be? You only have to look at the likes of Terry and Lampard and their pay packets to see the poisoness route Chelsea have chosen. Pay packets that appear to all of us as indecent and obscene, but to Frank and John the slip is always half full.

The new kids in Hammersmith will build something unique and precious because that is what that have bought in it's rawest form in the very first place. Exciting days lie ahead. Briatore made Benetton Shops and F1 success out of thin air and just watch him create the greatest football club in the world. You read it hear first.

Nothing like a good loser

Hats off to Manchester United and its two headed management and media machine Carlos and Alex.  It is a kindness that Manchester United rarely lose because  it is hard to stomach the petty sour grapes that are on offer when they do come a cropper.

They were beaten fair and square judging by the highlights given us on match of the day but the conspiracy theories raged.  Sir Alex sticks to the line that Manchester United are hated and as a result they get the rough end of all the deals going, Cup draws, refs decisions,  you name it.

When is he going look at it the way we all look see it.  Manchester United are hated because they  and their trophy obsessed fans arrogantly believe that the world revolves around them and football is beholden to them and their legendary self serving egos.

Double anyone? Arsenal hopefully - at least their manager has a sense of humility and other peoples needs?  Oh, no he's raging self obssessive, too.

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Under New management 2

Back in October we opened the debate of God vs. Money with the Vatican taking over Ancona and the equally international and potent Briatore and Ecclestone taking over QPR. Since then there has been a revolution at QPR with a series of eye-cacthing developments which have illustrated what makes Briatore a worldwide success in both the fields of fashion and Formula 1. Whilst QPR are still at the wrong end of Division 2 [sorry old habits] there is much to suggest that the goal of Champions league in 4 years is well within a compass that for too long was heading magnetically south.

But what of Ancona - has divine intervention been the path to the italian second flight?

Back in October Ancona were riding high in SerieC1-B which is a southern division of this third tier of the Italian football, and whilst the are still in the promotion running they are fifth in the and going through what might be termed a slump, having lost their last two games and drawn the three before that. In a league of 18, there isn't the same relentless battle of fixtures the Championship serves up. This leads to a much more consistent form based development of the league table, so 2 defeats have seen the "RossoBianci" drop out of the promotion places.

So how have the two clubs compared since October. Well Significantly and ironically QPR have employed an Italian coach. Luigi di Canio, a huge culture shock for all involved. Heck he can't speak English - imagine that. With a limited vocabulary and a good translator he has succeeded in creating a new football at Loftus Road something that the fully worded up Gregory and Waddock were unable to do. Whilst on the personnel front there has also been a dramatic influx of new blood at Loftus Road during the January window. Eleven new signings and an equal number of cancelled contracts and loan exits have left the 2007-8 team picture looking a bit sad and redundant. Ancona by contrast have continued with a largely unchanged squad and team - when your topping the league I'm guessing it ain't broke.

As for the new owners, Briatore and Ecclestone continue to turn up to most home games. With the F1 season beckoning I suspect their time and focus may understandably switch shortly. Whilst over in Italy, the Pope is yet to swell the mass ranks of the Ancona faithful, I'm guessing there's a problem, when games are mostly on a Sunday and the Pope is generally working.

Manchester United Conspiracy Theory

Growing up as a kid I read Matt Busby's autobiography shortly after watching the emotional night that was Manchester United 4 Benfica 1. I reckon that such events can seriously affect the team you end up supporting. Growing up in Liverpool with a dad who stood on the Kop habitually post World War could have also turned my head.I am glad to say that neither held enough draw, even when trophy after trophy headed their collective ways.

With remembrances of Munich '58 still fresh, I can still remember with much affection as an 8 year old in the 60's, reading about Duncan Edwards . "He was some player" is the general consensus - no hype or multi million dollar endorsement, which is enough for me.

In all the media shenanigans of the last month or so, the vicarious memory of Duncan Edwards has been central to my sense of remembrance of the human tragedy that was Munich - Greatness snuffed out. The spirit of football snuffed out. Which makes it a crying shame to think that Manchester United FC, central players in the whole process of remembering the dead and their loved ones, chose to depict the flowers of Manchester as AIG sponsored clothes horses.

We have to be thankful that the marketing men didn't feel the need to include the club's official airline partners Air Asia. Having got it so right in so much of their commemorations, in one single commercially motivated moment they showed the barren nature of our modern day money, money, money state of Football.

Sick innit.

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Goodbye G14

Yesterday the G14 was disbanded. I venture that was a good day for football. When rich and powerful people gather together to pursue their interests it is never a good thing for the rest of us. Perhaps they have succeeded in creating football in the image that suited their original aims. A football that has sufficient barriers to avoid the elite from having to share their power and their money.

"The clubs feel they belong to the family of football again." Their outgoing President Jean-Michael Aulas [left] nobly states with the "sound-bite-I'm-a-reasonable-bloke-we-love-the-game" chumminess that is understandable when you got what you wanted and have royally kicked the crap out of the game and worked towards creating multi tiered ghettos within European domestic leagues and an elite continental competition that each season has a last 16 that changes little from the usual suspects year on year

"Manchester United ...... will play.......... Bayern Munich " don't they always, it's a regular fixture.

So good bye you greedy bastards. Feel free to regroup in the future should anything ever threaten your stranglehold on our game.

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To Beijing or Not to Beijing, that is question?

More carping about the Premier League's forward thinking imperialist desire to take Bolton and Fulham to the five corners of the earth?

Sorry - I am on the fence on this one - The FSA is up in arms and ready to bring Barclays and Lucozade to their corporate knees if the they put their support behind the "winter road trip". Bold words and surely well within the compass of such an august body.

Back in the 80's, when going to the match was marginally less acceptable than smoking crack and sleeping with your family pet, the FSA was born and did much, if not all, to return football from the hooligan abyss. Thatcher (remember her) was all for marching the fans into pens at railway stations, tagging them and keeping them under surveillance for the duration of the week. The FSA successfully fought the battle and won. Since then a gentrified game has taken up with Sky and the Yankee dollar.

Sadly that is the last time fan power prevailed - we were united in one cause and there was a seamless resolve. Having seen the Glazers protest fizzle out, "Getting behind Rafa" and a whole bunch of worthy but failed attempts to display who is at the heart of the game, the writing is on the walls. The Premier league hierarchy are under pressure to deliver US sport style solutions to UK sports franchise owners. The Premier League is now so divorced from the reality we grew up and understood as football. MP3 download against wax cylinders. Go and watch Crawley Town this weekend in protest.

We're dead in water brothers and sisters

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Wednesday 7th February 2008 - write it in your diary.

What a terrific day for world football it was yesterday.

1. The premier league imperialists laid out their world domination plan.

2. Andre Bikey strikes a blow against that unseemly football minority stretcher bearers

Where to start?

My favourite response to the impending shoe horning of a new Pay for View money laundering operation into the beautiful game has got be Gareth Southgate. If you aren't totally au fait with the premier managers below Fergie and Arsene, Gareth is the English one who looks and talks like a secondary school physics teacher .

Southgate felt, when questioned about the concept, that he was being exposed to some April foolery. It has got be a great idea for English football for establishing it as the number one world leader in selling itself. It should be no surprise that, wherever football is played it there by virtue of the pioneering spirit of British travelers at the turn of the last but one century.

When Steve Bruce and other dissenting voices have to employ an extra man with a wheelbarrow to help them take home even more money in season 2010 -11 I'm certain they will have been tuned into the many positives that can be taken out of the scheme.

Mr Bikey - yowser. There will be people who tell you this was a dark day for football when Andre saw red last night but like Zidane in 2006, Cantona at Selhurst Park in the 90's, Di Canio when he was an owl, these are the moments that punctuate and validate our beautiful game. They are pure gold and whilst I would hate to see them more than once in any given football season, they brighten up everybody's [except the surprised bearer] day.

It's a passionate game (copyright Martin O'Neill and Gordon Strachan)

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Beautiful Game - my arse

Let's have it right, football is not as good as it was. It is in a constant state of decline since the day it began. With the plethora of live football available to view on telly it becomes more apparent that if you want a guarantee of quality you may better going to see the new Coen brothers film.

Against this backdrop of falling standards and unmet expectations I would like to speak up on behalf of the African Cup of Nations. Far from the turgid moments of recent Euro and World Cup finals I am yet to see a game that didn't excite and raise the pulse rate. Last night Angola showed abandon, joy and a little homage to the stalwart role of the traditional English No.9. Blood and thunder, passion and desire. No balloons in site.

Kevin Cummins the revered Rock photographer is currently in Ghana and posting regular albums of photos on his facebook depicting the sights and flavour of what must be a joy to behold - check them out

"A sign of our elitist supremacy"

When your web browser brings you the words in the headline above, you would be forgiven for thinking you had stumbled into the world of neo-fascism or religious fundamentalism. But as you know this is a site dedicated to the beautiful game and that sort of thing doesn't happen in football any more, well not in the UK.



I have taken this quote from a fabulous site I was directed to by The Guardian. Calm down, calm down this isn't an excursion into the realms of woolly student political liberalism.



Reclaim the Kop is a pressure group charging itself with the task of reintroducing the traditional values of that esteemed standing area behind the goal at Anfield

Have a look at their manifesto, it is a really genuine attempt recreate the spirit of a bygone age, recover the Liverpool Way. It was set up in response to some unsporting chanting at a European fixture by Liverpool Fans. It's a fascinating read.

The question raised in my mind was what is this "Liverpool Way" they talk about. It's enshrined in a 10-point charter [very biblical] and eloquently lays down a code of conduct for the modern day fan. As someone who stood many times on the Kop and on some of those occasions even wanted Liverpool to win I remember the past in a slightly different way, I guess Bobby Hazel may do too. I'm also guessing that the bygone toilet habits, possibly point 11 that didn't make the cut, were dropped for reasons of hygiene

That said, good luck to RTK, their values are admirable and anything that improves the atmosphere should be encouraged, which gladly Rick Parry and his merry men are. In time The RTK may even want to reassess their sense of elitism when they realise that in the land of the fans there is no hierarchy, if you love your club and you love the game, we are all brothers (and sisters too) unless of course you support Manchester United that is.