The End of The Road For The Glory Of The Cup

As I write this, a mate of mine is in Turkey watching Stoke City play Beskitas.

It is the last game of the Europa League group stages and this mate of mine has been to three away games so far in the groups and the qualifiers.

Last week Stoke boss Tony Pulis announced to supporters that he was going to play a weakened team in the match. His side are already through to the last 32 and tonight’s result doesn’t really matter.

He made this announcement he said “so that fans who were going to Turkey knew that a full strength side wasn’t going to be played.”

Leaving aside the arguments surrounding this – it’s a load of nonsense for two reasons: 1) Travel plans would have been made way in advance of this (as another football supporting friend said about a trip to Barrow to watch his team “its not the sort of place you go by mistake.”) and 2) The fans that are going to Turkey 11 days before Christmas are the sort of fans who live for their club and wouldn’t care less what team was picked.

It does lead me to question something I have been thinking for a while: Are cup competitions pointless these days?

Gone are the days when the FA Cup was the biggest sporting event of the year, the Carling Cup is an inconvenience to most clubs and the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy (the only chance, most lower league clubs get to play at Wembley has been treated with contempt, most notably by Sheffield Wednesday boss Gary Megson, who got round the rules that teams have to play six of the team from the previous week by making three substitutions in the first 10 minutes of a game with Bradford.

This weakened team issue is not a new one, in previous Europa Leagues Gary Megson again – this blog is not attack a man I have a lot of time for – rested his Bolton squad ahead of a crucial relegation battle and Martin O’Neil gave the Aston Villa youth team a run out, ironically enough before a game with Stoke. Villa were gunning for a place in the top four at the time and they were two up in that game with the Potters with two minutes left. Unbelievably they were pegged back to 2-2 and ended up staggering home in the rest of the season.

Similarly Spurs attitude to the Europa League has been disdainful at best and downright disrespectful at worst, with a succession of young players have played and Tottenham are more or less out of the competition.

Of course, you can’t blame the managers. Well all know that at Premier league level the monetary rewards are massive, but that is equally true lower down too. Taking Sheffield Wednesday as the example, there would a lot more money, long term in the club beginning their rise back up the leagues than there would be in a JPT final win.
Manager’s often say they want to win every game they play, but do they? Would Harry Redknapp care if Tottenham lose tomorrow? Would Tony Pulis mind too much if Stoke lose tonight?

And if the answer is no, then how much longer – really – do the cups have left?

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves - Largely Because They've Got To

The BBC Sports Personality of the year award (SPOTY for short – when did that happen?!) shortlist was announced last week and it caused tremendous consternation.

It turned out that there were no women in the running for the award, which lets be honest is a total disgrace.

There was – rightly – much outrage at decision. Great Britain has four world female champions, Chrissie Wellington, the world leading tri-athlete, rower Kath Grainger and swimmers Becky Adlington and Kerri-Anne Payne. None of these ladies appear when there are places for the likes of Andy Murray. Not really very clever on the face of it.

There was also much discussion about the way the decision was made. Leading Newspapers and magazines were asked to name 10 sports people each, from which the shortlist was created.

Somebody thought it was a good idea to let Nuts and Zoo vote in this cross-section and therefore it’s hardly a surprise that these magazines didn’t cast many votes for women is it?

Women themselves veered from calm – Kerri Anne Payne tweeting “Thank you so much for all your tweets! We don't need awards just the support from the Great British public! So keep it coming :)" To more outraged, with Wellington saying it was “disgraceful.”

Even BBC presenters criticised the list, with Gabby Logan saying the shortlist was “backward” and Claire Balding joining her.

So it appears on this issue the BBC got it wrong, but doesn’t that rather miss the point?
Isn’t this issue symptomatic of a much bigger problem and one which the venerable former Paraolympian Tanni Grey-Thompson touched on when she told BBC Sport wouldn't want tokenism and I wouldn't want a woman to be on the list just because she was a woman,"

"But I think you just look at where the nominations have come from and that highlights another problem really - only 2% of media coverage in sport goes to women.

"Women just aren't on the minds, whether it's editors or in some case producers, it's just not there ... you're fighting against the system all the time where it's the big sports all the time that get the recognition."

But really, how hard should it be in this day and age for a women to get recognised for her sporting achievement? Wisden, the cricket bible, picked Charlotte Edwards as one of their Five Cricketers of the year in 2009 and in doing so she became the first women to get that accolade. The English women’s cricket team has been one of the best in the world in recent years and yet their T20 matches in the summer were played before the men’s games at the same venues later in the day. So that some of the finest sports people in the world at their particular discipline were reduced to playing almost as a warm-up act like some young, up and coming band at a festival. The same fate is to befall the female footballers at the Olympics.

The people behind this scheduling (I saw a chap from the England and Wales Cricket Board defending it earlier in the year) say that it is to give greater exposure to the sport, but to me, having the games going on while people are streaming in through the gates to watch a “big” game later, says – at the very least implicitly – that the women’s match is somehow not as important, some sort of second-class event.

And it is this form of almost institutional sexism that needs to be dealt with before we can past the bluster of last week.

Last week was in actuality a pretty good PR Coup for the BBC. SPOTY has been on the wane in recent years and is no longer the staple of the festive season that it once was, and at least people are talking about it again.

What’s the old line about all publicity being good publicity? I’ll bet if you asked them candidly, the BBC can’t believe their luck.

Gary Speed 1969-2011

The shocking events of Sunday morning mean that all other ideas for blogs this week might seem pointless and rather trivial.

Sometimes, just sometimes Football isn’t the most important thing in the world and the tragic passing of Gary Speed aged at just 42 proves that.

The inquest into his death starts today and it would be entirely wrong of us to speculate as to what happened. But what we can say with certainty is that Gary touched lives far beyond the fans of the clubs he played for.

Everyone, from fans, players, his friends and family has been left shocked and stunned at his loss and the tributes have been both moving and fulsome.

He was a model professional for club and country and one of the greatest – perhaps the greatest -  goalscoring midfielder’s of his generation. Here was a man who lived a quiet life with his wife and two sons, who was never in the tabloids and who appeared happy. Speaking on the BBC, Mark Lawrenson said his abiding memory of Speed was how “normal he was.”

He was also a dedicated professional footballer. He embraced the new thoughts on diet and fitness a long time before they became prevalent in the game only the most dedicated and fit of players can still be playing football into their 40’s as Speed did in a career that spanned over 20 years.

And what a career it was! Playing 677 league games for Leeds – with whom he won the league in 1992 - Everton, Newcastle, Bolton and Sheffield United, he also scored 103 goals.

A boyhood Everton fan, he jumped at the chance to sign for them in 1996 after eight years at

Elland Road

, and whilst at Goodison Park he scored the winner in a Merseyside derby. It took £5.5m to get him to the North East and St James’ Park, and it was here that he enjoyed the second most prolific spell – playing over 200 games for Newcastle.

He was nearly 35 when he left there to move south to Bolton in 2004, but far from winding down he managed three and a half years more in the Premier League playing another 120 games before moving to Sheffield United as Player-Coach.

It was whilst at

Brammall Lane

that he took his first steps into the Management Career he had always seemed destined for, taking over in the hot seat after Kevin Blackwell was sacked in September.

He was only at the helm for a matter of months before his beloved Wales came calling. Speed had been the Captain of the National Team had played 92 times for his country. He was appointed at the Welsh National Manager on December 14^th 2010 and he was slowly turning the fortunes of the country around, declaring his “pride” at the way his team had played despite the loss to England and since then they have recorded three successive wins for the first time in three years, including a 4-1 friendly win against Norway which Speed himself declared as “sensational.”

Sadly we will never get to see just how good a manager he could have made.

His last public appearance was as a pundit on Football Focus on the BBC on Saturday, when he gave no impression that was worried about anything. Making plans to visit Alan Shearer at his home this weekend and thanking host of the show Dan Walker for having him on. Tragically he will never be on again.

Amongst the many moving and warm tributes to Gary came from his friend Robbie Savage, who was in tears on the news when he said: "I loved him as a friend, his wife is beautiful, he had a lovely family, he'd do anything for anybody.

"I idolised him, he was one of my heroes in life, he's been there for me, someone I spoke to every week…this guy had everything, a beautiful family. He had a caring, loving family and was doing great at his job. Why has this happened?

"He was a larger than life character, he's got a great family, his father Roger travelled all around the world to watch him and he's left behind two beautiful, beautiful boys. It's just so sad.”

Everyone at Soccer Business echoes those thoughts and our condolences and good wishes are with his family and friends.

Financial Fair Play - Yet More Hot Hair?

Personalised snoods.

Those two words alone tell you all you need to know about the ridiculous situation at Manchester City.

On the pitch things are going superbly, 11 wins in 12 games to start the season tells you as much.

Off the field, it’s not so good – at least on paper. First they lost Chief Exec Garry Cook thanks to some pretty stupid and offensive remarks about a player’s mother who had cancer, then last week they announced record losses.

In case you haven’t seen, Man City lost a quite staggering £194 million last year. Just to repeat that figure it is ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY FOUR MILLION POUNDS.

Then this week we see the news that they have bought all their players personalised snoods to wear in training – of course that is a miniscule outlay compared to the losses, but doesn’t it just sum things up? Doesn’t it just sum up how out of control football’s spending is? And those comments could apply to every club at top level really, not just City.

As Ian Herbert put it in the Independent last week, though: ”Thankfully for City, the figures will not be taken into account used as part of UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations as they fall outside the accounting window.”

Those regulations stipulate that no club can incur loses of more than £40m in the two seasons of the FFP regulations (the monitoring period begins at the end of this season.)

But even then, of course, clubs will get round the regulations, by finding ever more novel ways to do things, in a similar way of course to that which Manchester City have in having their ground and the so-called Etihad Village that is being built across the road from the ground sponsored for a reported £350m over a ten year period.

So UEFA can make all its grand pronouncements and it can talk as tough as it likes, but until a massive club is actually punished, surely they will just pay the regulations lip service and football will spiral out of control even further.

No other business (except maybe Banking – but that is a whole different political argument ) would be allowed to carry on in such a fashion, nobody else in any walk of life other than football would be able to spend money with such impunity and have someone else picking up the tab. And crucially nobody else, faced with these figures would try and give them a positive spin, which is what the

powers that be at Manchester City attempted to do last week.

What of the role of the fans in all of this?

Lets be honest the fans of “Citeh” don’t really care about this – and neither should they, when they thrashed Man United, when they won the Cup, do you really think they thought to themselves, “yeah this is great, but we can’t afford it, it just not fair,” but then the same could be said for Portsmouth fans a couple of seasons ago.

But the responsibility rests with the owners of Man City to run the club in a responsible and business-like way, consistent with the principles of running any other business and crucially it rests with the Governing bodies to enforce their own rules and not be as toothless as you suspect they might be.

Because if they don’t actually do something about the situation then big football clubs will carry on in exactly the way they choose to do with absolutely no recompense.

I stress again that those comments don’t just relate Manchester City, but all football clubs, its just that Man city are the only ones who announced £194m losses last week – and promptly bought their players personalised snoods.

Sepp Makes Himself Look Stupid - Again!

So for the second week in row this column is having to concern itself with FIFA, but this week, not just FIFA but one gloriously stupid man.

Sepp Blatter, as you will know by now, has made some pretty stupid remarks about racism in football.

In case you don’t know what was said, this is what Sepp told CNN this week: "There is no racism [on the field], but maybe there is a word or gesture that is not correct.” And if that wasn’t bad enough he then followed it up with this. “The one affected by this should say this is a game and shake hands.”

Ridiculous, lets be honest. The idea that people should settle racist abuse with a handshake is laughable at best and downright offensive at worst.

Blatter backtracked, of course and he then said via the FIFA website (you assume after a Press Officer got involved)"I would like to make it very clear, I am committed to the fight against racism and any type of discrimination in football and in society,"

But really, isn’t that just lip service? Is Blatter and therefore, are FIFA really, truly committed to getting rid of racism from the game? And if they aren’t then, tell me who on earth is going to take the lead.

Such comments undermine and undervalue the sterling and brilliant work done by organisations such as Kick It Out in the UK who have tirelessly made sure that racism has been all but eradicated in the game on these shores.

Happily there has been no shortage of football and political figures lining up to condemn FIFA. The calls for his dismissal in this country have been led by Sports Minister Hugh Robertson and Rio Ferdinand, who told the 75-year old on Twitter:  "Your comments on racism are so condescending it's almost laughable. If fans shout racist chants but shake our hands is that OK?"

Blatter, will sadly, find a way to navigate his way this latest crisis with his job intact – just like he always does. He has said he is “sorry that his comments caused an unfortunate situation, but I do not see why I should resign.”

Lest we forget, Sepp has had plenty of practice in upsetting people. He has called for women to wear tighter shorts to make the womens game more exciting, he has belittled the problems faced by homosexual people in Qatar, he claimed John Terry would be “applauded in other countries” for his affairs and compared the life of Cristiano Ronaldo to that of a “slave” after Manchester United wouldn’t sell him to Real Madrid. – And that’s just in the last few yeas, and before we even get to the allegations of corruption that continue to dog him and FIFA’s top brass.

Is it any wonder that on his watch football has descended at world level to the point where it now resembles a circus. In fact, we could send in the clowns, but you suspect they are already there.

We Only Beat This If We All Speak Up

Last night during the Champions League game between Chelsea and Genk there was some pretty distasteful chants from a section of the Chelsea crowd about Anton Ferdinand.

Soccer Business does not intend to repeat the chants here (they are freely available elsewhere if you want to have a look what was said) but we do join Chelsea in condemning it.

A statement from The Blues said: “The chanting was wholly inappropriate and we don’t condone it.”

What I will add, though, that it could have done with Andre Villas Boas condemning it as well, he claimed, in the best traditions of Mangers to have not heard anything as he was “concentrating on the game.”

I am not having that excuse. We all know – and no doubt you have been at games yourselves – when player x or manager y has been urged to “give us a wave” by the crowd and, largely without exception they do. The crowd cheers and the game carries on.

So please, don’t insult our intelligence by claiming not to hear stuff.

That attitude, though, in a way does encapsulate what’s wrong with the attempts to fight racism in the game. It is too easy to claim you haven’t heard stuff – easier certainly than confronting things.

Of course giant strides have been made in the last couple of decades. When I first started going to football in the mid 1980s black players were subjected to some fearful abuse. George Berry – he of the giant afro – famously ate a banana he had thrown at him at Millwall. He also went to remonstrate with a fan who shouted abuse at him on another occasion. Those instances and what I am sure were countless others like them are mercifully rare these days.

The great irony in all of the John Terry/Anton Ferdinand incident that sparked all this off was that it happened in the Kick It Out fortnight of events. Much of the credit for the virtual eradication of racism in the game belongs with the Kick It Out organisation. The campaign – which we are happy and proud to support – has worked tirelessly to champion the cause.

I am sure they would agree with me, though, that the key phrase in the last paragraph was “virtual eradication”. And whilst its unlikely that racism in football – just as in society, which football has always largely reflected – will ever be ended, it certainly will not be while crowds think its ok to sing and chant in the way Chelsea did last night, when the manager “doesn’t hear anything.”

As Edmund Burke once noted: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

It is perhaps something we should remember.

The Times They Are A-Changing

There were a couple of sporting events in Lancashire over the weekend which appeared to herald a new era. The old was ushered out and the new ushered in, or so it seemed.

Whether the results, have any long term significance only time will tell us, but it did feel watching them that something major was happening.

Unfortunately I didn’t see either live. I was at another football match when the text with the result came: Manchester United 1 Manchester City 6. In the old days, on the vidiprinter when I was a kid that would have been followed up with the letters and brackets that read (S I X) so you knew it wasn’t a mistake, but I didn’t get that, so didn’t know whether to believe what I had read or not.

And watching the highlights later that night didn’t make it any less fanciful. City seemingly murdered United, scoring at will as the Reds imploded towards the end. Sir Alex looked dumbstruck at the end, as if overnight, his “noisy neighbours” had won the lottery and moved into a much bigger house in a posher part of town that even he couldn’t afford.

The other seismic shift happened in a different sport, the day before, and my love of obscure rock ‘n’ roll meant I was in cold room watching a cult Canadian band instead of watching Scott Quigg fight Jason Booth for the British Super Bantamweight title.

I have written on these blogs before about my interest in – and admiration for – boxing and boxers and Quigg is one I have had my eye on for a while. Booth, by contrast, is a “veteran” who at nearly 33 has been a pro boxer for over 15 years. He has overcome alcoholism and last year put up a brave attempt for the World Title, losing to Canadian Steve Molitor on points.

I had studiously avoided the score for two days and watched the bout last night. It was a fight that was supposed to be difficult for Quigg, he was going the old dog that was going to teach the new pup some tricks. At least that was the theory. In practice it was anything but, Booth was dismantled over the course of seven rounds, always bravely trying even though the younger man was faster, stronger, fitter and shaper, before his corner pulled him out. It was all they could do.

As a Booth fan it was tough to watch, but Quigg is worthy champ.

In sport – as in life – nothing stands still. Whether it is Premier League, 5 a side football, boxing, cricket, music if you always do what you have always done then not only does the competition catch you, someone will better what you did. And dynasties go in cycles, whether its Australia in Cricket or Manchester United in football, things always, inexorably come to an end.

It is something we encourage our Franchisees to think about. Always be on the look out for new opportunities; always think about how you can improve.

As I say, it is too early to actually be sure if those results at the weekend represent the “changing of the guard.” But I will confidently predict right now that whoever finishes above Manchester City will win the league in May. And Scott Quigg will be a world champion by 2013.

Mark my words.

Going It A-Loan

Watching the Arsenal v Sunderland game yesterday I was reflecting on what is perhaps one of the biggest changes in football over the last few years.

It came when I realised that Sunderland’s new player Nicklas Bendtner wasn’t on the pitch because he was unable to play against his “parent club.” The Danish forward went to The Black Cats on deadline day, but he only went on the type of temporary transfer that is becoming increasingly common these days.

Everywhere you look there is a player on a Season Long Loan, or an Emergency Loan, or a Youth Loan, a Loan “with a view to a permanent move,” or some other type of contract. There must be players that forget what team that they actually play for!

Take, for example, Ibrahima Sonko. He was signed by Stoke in 2008 for £2m but quickly fell out of favour. He spent the 2009/10 season on loan at Hull – who tried to send him back to Stoke after things went sour there, but Stoke refused to take him back. The 2010/11 campaign was no happier for the Senegal international, he was shipped out to Portsmouth – guess what – on a loan deal, but they had so many loan players that he fell foul of the maximum allowed in a match day squad (five) that often he was out of the side.

At the end of the last season he was released by Stoke and was signed by Ipswich, where his is rebuilding his career – ironically enough alongside Danny Collins, who is on loan to the Tractor Boys from The Potters. But he had effectively been in limbo for two years – when in the old days he would have moved on a permanent deal and he could have planned for his future.

There is only one side in the Championship at the moment without a loan player – Coventry City – and it’s easy to see why it is an attractive option for teams at that level from a business point of view. You are signing a proven quality player – or an ambitious youngster – and if the gamble doesn’t pay off then you can send him back without it having cost you too much – but it is the view of Soccerbusiness that it is getting a touch out of hand.

We are not far from the stage – and anyone who has played 5 a side football will recognise this – where a player might not know the name of his team mates! Ok that might be extreme, but there are players on loan from Premier League clubs who have made over 150 appearances in the football league and never represented the actual club they are contracted too.

Much of the fault lies with the big Premier League Clubs. They have either accrued so many players that they can’t fit them all into their 25 man squads – witness Craig Bellamy being “on loan” at Liverpool. Or their youngsters can’t get a game because their teams are choc full of internationals.

Of course youngsters have benefitted from loan spells since the system began. Former Arsenal and England player Steve Bould won leagues and cups, but always said that none of that would have happened if he hadn’t gone to Torquay in the early 80s for a couple of months, and that must surely continue to happen. But the situation as it is now isn’t helping anyone, not the clubs – who get no long term stability with players changing every month in some cases – not the fans and above all not the players themselves.

In Praise Of Footballers (No, Honestly!)

At Soccerbusiness we have been reflecting yet again this week on the actions of footballers besmirching our great game.

I refer of course to Carlos Tevez’s actions (or literally his in-action) last week when he refused to come on as a sub in the Manchester City game with Bayern Munich.

It is not hard to see Tevez as typical of all footballers. Overpaid, underskilled, pampered, morally bankrupt, emotionally detached, or as Graeme Souness put it: “The embodiment of everything people think of modern footballers.”

But the truth is I’ll bet you somewhat less clear. I’ll bet you that Tevez’s team mates are just as disgusted with him as the fans were.

Top sportsmen, we are told, just want to play, “[insert name here] would want to beat his Nan at tiddlywinks” and all the other clichés, and that still holds true, despite what the media would have believe in the wake of Tevez-gate.

Of course they get paid too much, but if someone wanted to give me more money than I was worth then I wouldn’t turn it down. Yes they’ve got big houses, but deal with it. So have other people with money – and lets be honest, the only time we, as fans, care about how much a player gets paid is when they do something to upset us “[insert name here] I could do better than that for 50p a week never mind £50 grand” as blokes behind me often shout. Never does the subject of money come up when we have won.

Which perhaps says more about football fans than the players, but it also does tell us something instructive. There is still a sort of contract between fans and players, along the lines of “look, we know you are only here for the money, we know when you say we are the best fans in the world you don’t mean it, when you kiss the badge you are being insincere, but at least you could try!”

And that, when you boil it down was the line that Tevez crossed over last week. And that’s why the Manchester City fans who made their feelings so clear at Ewood Park on Saturday were so angry. They don’t really care that Tevez is on (allegedly) £240,000 a week, but they do expect him to earn his money.

The other strand of the “footballers are all deluded” argument that I find hard to stomach is that all footballers are the same. Patently obviously they are not. The Premier League footballers of the front and back pages are not representative of the entire sport, in fact, they are not representative of the overwhelming majority of the sport.

There are hundreds of thousands of footballers at all levels, including, of course the 5 and 6 a side players we deal with, the part-time non league players, the Sunday Morning players who just play for fun – they are all footballers. And they probably dislike Tevez as much as anyone.

So to use another old cliché. Don’t let one bad apple spoil the whole bad bunch.

The Cup Of Joy Is Overflowing

The Carling Cup is dying, they say.

It should be killed off – no one wants it we are told.

Managers aren’t fussed if their teams lose. Neil Warnock’s reaction when QPR were beaten by Rochdale in the second round was to say this: “"I don't think [Premier League teams] do care. And you've got to look why. We've lost an influential player [Orr] who played well on Saturday and for what? We're not going to win the Cup."

And you never hear of a player who storms out because he wasn’t in a Carling Cup squad do you?

What of the fans in all of this? I’ll be honest, I went to my teams game last Tuesday, if not exactly with a heavy heart, then certainly in a more downcast way than normal. My brother met me with the words: “well this is pointless, let’s get it over with.” (We still went though, devotion is subject we have covered before in these blogs.)

There are many reasons for this apparent apathy from supporters. One is that it is a self-fulfilling prophecy, almost a “well the players don’t care, the manager will put out a weakened side, why should be interested?”

And certainly the crowds last week were pitiful. Just over 7,000 at Wolves, 15,000 odd at Stoke, even less at Blackburn.

In short, there is much weight to the argument that, after all this time, the cup needs to be put out to pasture.

And there is historical evidence too, if you look at the competition at its inception, clubs didn’t even enter, the final had two legs and the attendances in the early rounds were way down. It has always been very much the thing that no one wants.

And yet, in one small corner of Hampshire they just about love this competition to bits right now. Aldershot, who like Wimbledon before them, went over the brink and came back again, pulled out Manchester United at home in the draw for the fourth round.

Their Chief Exec Paul Duffy was on the Football League Show last weekend talking about how the tie could secure the financial future of the club, although I notice yesterday he said that “there isn’t as much money in the tie as people think there is.”

Whatever, though, the Shots will get their night in the spotlight, the fans can snap up tickets – demand, apparently is “phenomenal” according to an article today on the BBC Website – Aldershot can maybe buy a player as a result of the game, and when you boil it down isn’t that the point in all of this?

All of which set Soccerbusiness thinking. Now, for our money the competition needs a revamp, so here’s my idea: Seed the thing to make sure these sorts of games happen. Make the big clubs go to these sort of grounds on a more regular basis.

That way everyone wins in the early rounds. Those teams that want to put out weakened teams can do so, but the lower division teams get a decent chance at a money-spinning home draw.

The big clubs will still win the cup, as they generally do, but by the time they’ve negotiated their tricky away ties, they will be more ready to put some of their better players in.

As Bruce Springsteen famously observed “nobody wins unless everybody wins” and whilst there is no such thing in football as a win-win situation, that is as close as you are going to get.

Boring Interviews.....And Brian Clough!

the great long list of things that annoy us here at Soccer Business – and trust me there’s a lot - this one might seem trivial, but then, they are the best sort!

But you can see examples of it everywhere. There’s bound to be one (at least) tonight. Loads more on Saturday, no doubt some Sunday. Frankly, the tyranny never ends.

And it happens nearly every time a sportsman or manager gets in front of a camera.

And it doesn’t matter how intelligent the player or boss might be, all they do is spout the same clichés about the same things.

You know the drill. Taking football Managers first it’s almost like they work off the same sheet. They either say: “Oh the lads were great today, the fans were fabulous, we played some great stuff (this last one can be variously substituted with “the lads worked their socks off”) Or they say “we are taking the positives.” Or worse blame the refs for a loss (Kenny Dalglish I am referring to you here).

And the players, no matter what sport, seem to view uttering anything interesting as a hindrance to any sponsorship deals.

Cricketers always, without fail talk about “hitting their straps” (Stuart Broad even gets out some management speak and talks about “executing skill sets – Andy Flower, England Team Director is bad for this too).

So with that in mind – and because its seven years today since the great man died, here if you will allow Soccer Business to celebrate the genius of one Mr Brian Clough:

My own personal favourite isnt on this list. He was on the Parkinson Show with Muhammad Ali. The boxing genius was talking about Clough thinking he was a better talker than Ali was. After Ali finished, Clough looks at Parky and says: "I'd like to fight him."

And you suspect he would have too!


RIP Old Big ‘Ead! (Thanks to Brianclough.com)

"If God had wanted us to play football in the clouds, he'd have put grass up there." On the importance of passing to feet.
"I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one." Looking back at his success.
"Manchester United in Brazil? I hope they all get bloody diarrhea." On Man Utd opting-out of the FA Cup to play in the World Club Championship.
"I can't even spell spaghetti never mind talk Italian. How could I tell an Italian to get the ball - he might grab mine." On the influx of foreign players.
"I bet their dressing room will smell of garlic rather than liniment over the next few months." On the number of French players at Arsenal.
"Who the hell wants fourteen pairs of shoes when you go on holiday? I haven't had fourteen pairs in my life." On the contents of Posh Spice's missing luggage.
"Rome wasn't built in a day. But I wasn't on that particular job." On getting things done.
"On occasions I have been big headed. I think most people are when they get in the limelight. I call myself Big Head just to remind myself not to be." Old Big 'Ead explains his nickname.
"At last England have appointed a manager who speaks English better than the players." On the appointment of Sven Goran Eriksson as England manager.
"If he'd been English or Swedish, he'd have walked the England job." On Martin O'Neill.
"Anybody who can do anything in Leicester but make a jumper has got to be a genius." A tribute to Martin O'Neill.
"
The ugliest player I ever signed was Kenny Burns." A Clough complement for a talented player.
"Stand up straight, get your shoulders back and get your hair cut." Advice for John McGovern at Hartlepool.
"Take your hands out of your pockets." More advice, this time for a young Trevor Francis as he receives an award from the Master Manager.
"The Derby players have seen more of his balls than the one they're meant to be playing with." On the streaker who appeared during Derby's game against Manchester United.
"I only ever hit Roy the once. He got up so I couldn't have hit him very hard." On dealing with Roy Keane.
"Walk on water? I know most people out there will be saying that instead of walking on it,
I should have taken more of it with my drinks. They are absolutely right." Reflecting on his drink problem.
"I'm dealing with my drinking problem and I have a reputation for getting things done." A comment which speaks for itself.
"Don't send me flowers when I'm dead. If you like me, send them while I'm alive." After the operation which saved his life.
"Players lose you games, not tactics. There's so much crap talked about tactics by people who barely know how to win at dominoes." Reflecting on England's exit from Euro 2000.
"We talk about it for twenty minutes and then we decide I was right." On dealing with a player who disagrees.
"I want no epitaphs of profound history and all that type of thing. I contributed - I would hope they would say that, and I would hope somebody liked me," On how he would like to be remembered.
"It was a crooked match and he was a crooked referee. That was a tournament we could and should have won." On the 1984 UEFA Cup semi-final Forest lost to Anderlecht.
"I'm sure the England selectors thought if they took me on and gave me the job, I'd want to run the show. They were shrewd, because that's exactly what I would have done." On not getting the England manager's job.
"You don't want roast beef and Yorkshire every night and twice on Sunday." On too much football on television.
"I'm not saying he's pale and thin, but the maid in our hotel room pulled back the sheets and remade the bed without realising he was still in it." Referring to former Forest player Brian Rice.
"If a chairman sacks the manager he initially appointed, he should go as well." On too many managers getting the boot.
"I thought it was my next door neighbour, because I think she felt that if I got something like that, I'd have to move." Guessing who nominated him for a knighthood.
"For all his horses, knighthoods and championships, he hasn't got two of what I've got. And I don't mean balls!" Referring to Sir Alex Ferguson's failure to win two successive European Cups.
"I like my women to be feminine, not sliding into tackles and covered in mud." On women's football.
''That Seaman is a handsome young man but he spends too much time looking in his mirror, rather than at the ball. You can't keep goal with hair like that." On England goalkeeper David Seaman.
"I've missed him. He used to make me laugh. He was the best diffuser of a situation I have ever known. I hope he's alright." On the late Peter Taylor.
"He's learned more about football management than he ever imagined. Some people think you can take football boots off and put a suit on. You can't do that." On David Platt's first season as Forest manager.
"He should guide Posh in the direction of a singing coach because she's nowhere near as good at her job as her husband." Advice for David Beckham.
"Barbara's supervising the move. She's having more extensions built than Heathrow Airport." On moving house in Derbyshire.

Customer Service Bournemouth Style

If you have never heard of Eddie Mitchell you clearly didn’t pay attention to the Football League this week.

Mitchell, you see is Bournemouth’s chairman and right now, he is extremely unpopular. Nothing to unusual about that, most Chairman are – and in the Cherries case, perhaps understandably so.

With due apologies to any Bournemouth fans, I only know briefly what has happened at the club. But to give a summary, as best I understand Manager quits, best players leave for big sums and replacements aren’t found.

The story is repeated at many clubs all around the country and the Chairman takes the flack. I have been on marches against owners at my club in the past so I know how it feels and I know how much passion is aroused by these things.

I also know that what Eddie Mitchell did on Saturday was quite extraordinary, and I might venture, unprecedented.

Footage is available here if you haven’t seen it, but just to explain, after they lost to Chesterfield on Saturday Mitchell was subjected to quite a lot of chanting “We want Mitchell out” that sort of thing – again nothing too unusual in that.

Where this differs, though is that most Chairman don’t grab a microphone and scream “Who do you want in then, eh? You got a name?”

I do sort of admire Mitchell for arguing (speaking as an argumentative person I would say this!) especially in the face of such overwhelming disquiet but whether this is the right sort of strategy I am not sure.

People love football – as we have discussed elsewhere on these blogs recently – and they love football far more than they love any sport. And they probably don’t appreciate, at the time they are most angry, being shouted at. And shouted at, it must be said, by the very person they are angry at.

It is a basic rule of customer service to say that, if it gets to a shouting match the problem has gone too far.

And therein is the moral of the story. At your leagues there are going to be the odd issue. Whether those issues are a problem team or even, dare we say it, a ref that’s not very good, there will always be some issue and as a local person you are best placed to deal with them.

And, cruically, nip them in the bud before it gets to the unedifying scales we saw at the weekend.
The moral of the story for Football Chairmen remains the same as it ever did, though: Try not to lose a talismanic manager and all your best players without replacing them.

Just trying to help, Eddie!

A Question Of Timing

I’ve got a question for you:

Who do you reckon the happiest manager in the Premier League at the end of the last weekend before the break?

Alex Ferguson?

Roberto Mancini?

Kenny Dalglish?

All valid opinions given the results that their teams achieved.

But allow Soccer Business, if we may, to come up with another suggestion.

Here’s one for you to think about.

Harry Redknapp.

Now, old floppy chops, it can be argued has every reason to be upset given his team were tonked 5-1 by a team they finished about two seasons before but I think it can be viewed in a different light.

And sometimes it’s all a question of timing.

See, up the road at Arsenal, something even more catastrophic happened. They were annihilated 8-2 of course by Man United, and all the press - who had been sharpening their knives for Arsene Wenger anyway, had all the excuse they need to go after him again.

Net result: only one North London boss under pressure when really, it should maybe have been two.

So Harry can breathe a little sigh of relief and move on to Wolves tomorrow having let the dust die down in the intervening fortnight.

And it’s a valuable lesson that, possibly we can all learn from.

Timing is vital, you see, in all things.

And this is an example from our leagues: One of our Franchisees is based in the Midlands and heard that his local football club was laying an artificial pitch in time for the new season.

And, before work had even started he was down there organising a booking.

Did it work? The fact he’s got 16 brand new teams starting on Monday probably tells you all you need to know on this score.

Sometimes it’s just of keeping an ear to the ground and being in the right place at the right time.

Ask Harry Redknapp. He might well agree.

Unbelievable, Jeff!

I found myself at a social gathering this weekend.

Famously in the Soccer Business office I am widely recognised as not being the life and soul of many parties and quite frankly on Saturday afternoon there were many, many places that I would rather have been.

But every August Bank Holiday my best mates mum organises a Barbecue. I have grown up with these people for 30 years and that, I am afraid, means that I have to turn up for small talk and sausages.

It was during the former that I was introduced to a fella I’d never met before. Nice chap. Talked about how much he’d enjoyed some gigs we’d both been at in the last month or two.

Then it happened. One of the lads I was standing with says: “who do you support” to my new friend and the reply rather shocked us all. “Oh, I don’t really follow football,” he explained. Rather matter of fact, like it wasn’t odd.

The four others of us in the group are just about as big football fans as you can get and this news rather set us back on our heels.

A muttered: “oh, ok” was about the best one of us could manage.

Maybe it’s just the business I work in – but probably not as just about everyone I know is a football supporter – but I am not used to people who don’t like football.

My aforementioned best friend and I met, in 1983. And we did so with these words:
“Do you like football?”
“Yes”
“Do you want to be friends?”
“Ok”

Simply football plays a massive part in a massive amount of people’s lives.At Soccer Business, we know. We do it every day, and even if we wanted it re-enforced then pick up any newspaper, and if you so desire check out Sky Sports News (which is on as I write this in the office) and watch as every single minute detail of the transfer window is poured over.

I can tell you that Wigan have signed someone I’ve never heard of and West Ham are close to bringing Papa Bouba Diop back to England. I can tell you this because its on the Breaking News strip now.

And yes. We all know its hype. We all know that neither the signings of the Spanish winger of the man they used to call “The Wardrobe” when he was at Fulham are either important or breaking news. Except they are. Its football. And football matters.

And it matters to people who want to play 5 a side or 6 a side, and want even more, to pay you for it.

We know this at Soccer Business. We know because we, just like you, are football fans.

And we are in the vast majority – especially at parties.

Rovers Rock - And Thats No Sham!

There were some eye-catching performances last week in the Europa Cup.

It was a dark day for Scottish Football, with both Celtic and Rangers failing to make the Europa League – and of course Hearts fate was sealed last week with their capitulation to Spurs.

Contrast this with the form of Shamrock Rovers.

The Dubliners upset Serbian Champions Partisan Belgrade last night and my, how they have been rewarded!

Spurs will be taking the Ryanair flight to Dublin at some point before December (and a word of advice…I hope they have strong walking shoes for the work from the tarmac to the car park because it is miles!) and the 10,000 capacity Tallaght Stadium is sure to be packed to the rafters for the game.

In many ways, the Rovers story, is if you will pardon the expression, real Roy of The Rovers stuff. The club has had a rather chequered and nomadic history, particularly in recent times, and now isn’t the time to recount it – however if you want to read more then Barry Glendenning wrote a brilliant piece on the Guardian Blog.

And in their rise to the top Shamrock proved all that’s great about sport still holds.

There can be upsets, their can be passion, people can be brought together – all to watch the great game of football or Soccer or whatever you want to call it.

Soccer Business is proud to say that we have a lot of Franchisees in Ireland, indeed one of them is a very, very keen Shamrock supporter. So he deserves to enjoy last night more than most.

It also proves just what is great about soccer, and just why that everyone loves it so much.

Truly there has never been a better time to make Soccer your Business. Contact Soccer Business today

The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Astroturf

Tomorrow night Stoke City play their first ever second round game in European Competition.

Prior to this season The Potters had played in two European ties and lost on away goals both times.

This season they have seen off Croatia’s Hadjuk Split over two legs in the Europa Cup to set up a trip to FC Thun in Switzerland.

Now, I am going to the match. But the reason for writing this blog isn’t to tell you about the fact the coach leaves Stoke’s ground at 6pm tonight and will take me 17 hours to get there its rather to talk about what it can tell us about running leagues on the basis that we try and help you do here at Soccer Business.

We do not currently have a franchisee in Switzerland (if you do want to run leagues in that country get in touch because we could help you do that) but the pitch at the Arena Thun is Astroturf.

I didn’t know this until yesterday, when I was trying my best to find out all the info I could on the game (last night, obviously, on my laptop at home – in case my boss is reading this!) and that is the crux of the matter.

It can teach you a very valuable lesson with regard to the advantage of being a franchisee.

If you are running leagues in the area, you will be absolutely in the best position possible to take advantage of any local knowledge and developments.

So if there’s a rival league, if there’s a new pitch, if there’s anything that happens anywhere near you that could either affect of benefit your league then you will need to be all over it. And more to the point, you should be.

And that in a nutshell is why we formed Soccer Business. We believe that you, as a franchisee, with the backing of the major brand we can give you, will be able far better able to run local leagues than anyone else.

So if you want to make Soccer your business, then give us a call and we can help you.

Now, where’s my passport….?

The "Wimbledon Effect"

It won’t have escaped anyone’s notice – unless you have been totally fixated on the weeks shocking and terrible events – that the Football League season started last week.

And tomorrow (or Sunday if you are like my team) the Premier League joins in.

You might think this has very little bearing on your local community 5 and 6 a side league, the players, after all are a long way away from the standards of your Rooney’s, your Drogba’s (or in my case Jon Walters or Robert Huth) but it is nonetheless a potentially vital time for you as a franchisee.

At Soccer Business, we like to call it the “Wimbledon Effect.” This isn’t because we like tennis (in fact I would distrust anyone that did….) but think of what happens at Wimbledon fortnight time.

Simply put:  British people (sorry Lawn Tennis Association but this is true) don’t like tennis generally, but come Wimbledon fortnight and its straight on with the shorts and out with a racquet.

I go and watch cricket in the summer and next to one of the grounds we go to regularly is a tennis court. I am sure the people who run the facility make a good living, but during the last week in June and first week in July and the place is packed.

And, this remember, is tennis. A sport, which, with the best will in the world is a minority interest. You are running football leagues. People like football, people are passionate about football, and you are helping give it to them.

So if you aren’t out doing all plenty of promotion right now then you need to ask yourself why not.

So get out there this weekend, best of luck to your team in their first (or second if you are in the championship) but more importantly be ready to ride the wave of increased interest in football.

New balls please.

Soccer Business – Helping Make Soccer Your Business

Tinkermen!

At Soccer Business, we have spent the last couple of days tweaking the website. We will be making more improvements in the coming weeks and there’s a full revamp on its way.

Why are we telling you this?

Well primarily because we feel its important advice to freshen things up.

Whilst the beauty of 5 and 6 a side football is there is no closed-season, it doesn’t hurt to get the squad ready for an assault on the title, if you will.

It’s all about staying ahead of the competition.

Simply put, there’s not a lot of spare money out there and you need to make sure that your league is best placed to take what there is.

Your League operating partner will be looking at their website and making sure its doing as well in Google as possible (it’s a fact that when people talk about Search Engine Optimisation, what they actually mean is Google – 93% of searches each month come through them in the UK and Ireland) but there are things you can do.

You can make sure your promotion is up to date, you can get on Twitter and Facebook and get teams in. You can make sure your league is the best it can be.

Like a Premier League Manager will tell you at this time of year – it never hurts to have a little tinker.

If you need any help, get in touch!