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.