It seemed pretty straightforward at the time. A day after the transfer window closed write a column on some of the bigger moves and some that didn’t come to pass. Then yesterday came and we were hit with the equivalent of a category five hurricane.
Who could have possibly thought on Sunday evening that within 24 hours Manchester City would be turned into a financial powerhouse and that the new owners (Abu Dhabi United Group) would mark their arrival by signing Robinho?
After all, a week ago the general consensus was that City was in financial and organizational disarray and that the best route for manager Mark Hughes was the door marked exit. Now, he has a board of directors talking instant success, and all funded by a budget that even Roman Abramovich might hesitate to sanction. (Some may argue that the best route for Hughes remains the same.)
The remarkable events of yesterday has left writers, bloggers and fans stunned and grasping to try and understand the full implications of the audacious takeover for the Premiership, as well as European and World football. It has also not stopped many resorting to received wisdom cloaked as insightful comment.
Most would argue under more sober circumstances that joining the dots between unlimited funds, success and world domination is a tad simplistic but it hasn’t stopped some jumping on board the hyperbole bandwagon as it heads to the north-west of England. Lots of cash + best players in world = World Domination.
If that is the case then examples should readily come to mind. Chelsea under Abramovich – not even domestic domination let alone global. Real Madrid and the Galacticos era – yeah that worked. Check out how much Inter Milan spent trying achieve success during the 90s – in terms of major trophies it was ####-all squared. Barcelona have spent many fortunes over the years and have won the European Cup just twice in over half a century.
That is not to say that the availability of money doesn’t matter. Money has always being part of the game and identifying and buying the right talent at the right price has always been a key skill set of any successful manager. In terms of British managers from Herbert Chapman and the Bank of England Arsenal side of the 30s to Sir Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Jock Stein and Brian Clough, all were astute buyers of talent.
For Manchester City the requirement to buy at the right price appears to no longer apply but building a team is much more than just signing “world class” players. Quite simply I would refer to a basic definition - “a team is a group of people with complementary skills committed to a common purpose and a set of goals.”
It is not a group of high priced mercenaries unwilling to sacrifice self for the common guide. Separating players with character from the imposters takes skill, experience and insight – it takes smarts.
Until Manchester City show that they have the smarts I would suggest that a Global Domination Tour 2010 (or 2015 for that matter) might be premature.
Transfers
For the last three months we have been inundated with news of transfers that were sure to be consummated, deals that only needed a signature and daring multi-million dollar raids being planned in bunkers deep below Premiership grounds.
With a lot of last minute wheeling and dealing we are told that a new Premiership spending record of around $1B has been set during the just completed transfer-window. But what of the transfers that didn’t come to pass?
Here is a list of my top 25 non-transfers.
1. Samuel Eto’o – Barcelona to assorted clubs. My biggest surprise when you consider that Barcelona was happy to see the back of the former African Player of the Year. A clear indication that the top clubs believe Eto’o to be more trouble than he is worth.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo – Manchester United to Hartlepool United. Forgiven but not forgotten and with cash from the Robinho in-hand we are sure to hear more in ten months time.
3. Gareth Barry – Aston Villa to Liverpool. Wasn’t about the money? Right.
4. Andrei Arshavin – Zenit St. Petersburg to Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur. You have to feel that Arshavin’s magical European Championship semi-final appearance against Spain cost him dear. Magical? He disappeared.
5. Emmanuel Adebayor – Arsenal to Barcelona or Milan. So much press but just a reincarnation of numerous Patrick Vieira summers on a smaller scale.
6. Xabi Alonso – Liverpool to Arsenal, Aston Villa, Juventus. Poor Rafa Benitez. Has to make do with one of the best passers of the ball in the Premiership – with both feet.
7. David Villa – Valencia to Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid. Real Madrid was going to be his destination if it was to move but Valencia decided to continue their flirt with insolvency. Here’s betting that he will have to be sold at a much lower price than Valencia might have demanded coming off the Euros.
8. David Silva – Valencia to Liverpool, Manchester United. Similar scenario to his teammate Villa.
9. Frank Lampard – Chelsea to Inter. Frank demanded a five-year deal and Chelsea with a back bone of jello gave it to him.
10. Kaka – Milan to Chelsea. Good headlines but little chance that it was actually going to happen.
11. Gennaro Gattuso – Milan to Bayern Munich. The German club seemed genuinely interested at the start of the summer but it faded quickly. The January transfer window might find Gattuso moving but not to Bayern Munich.
12. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar – Ajax to assorted clubs. Every year Huntelaar is rumoured to be a target for the big clubs of Europe. And every year nothing happens. I think the message is loud and clear.
13. Adrian Mutu – Fiorentina to Roma. Mutu opted to keep faith with the side that resurrected his playing career but with a hefty invoice arriving soon from Chelsea Mutu might have to find funds quickly.
14. Roque Santa Cruz - Blackburn Rovers to Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United. Another player showing some loyalty to a club that offered an opportunity when many would not.
15. Thierry Henry – Barcelona to Seattle Sounders, New York Red Bulls, Manchester United. The most unbelievable rumours of the summer.
16. Diego Forlan – Atletico Madrid to Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur. Forlan may have struck gold in Spain but he will never live down his spell at Manchester United. It would take a gutsy Premiership team to offer Forlan a second chance.
17. Joao Moutinho – Sporting Lisbon to Everton. An on-going frustration for Everton but I can’t help but feel that Moutinho would not have filled Everton’s needs.
18. Javier Saviola – Real Madrid to Newcastle. A summer has gone by and Saviola did not change clubs.
19. Ruben de la Red – Real Madrid to Arsenal. Real Madrid is not so deep in great midfield players that they can afford to let de la Red slip away.
20. Gokhan Inler – Udinese to Arsenal. Inler enjoyed an excellent European Championship for Switzerland and just signed a long-term deal with Udinese of Serie A.
21. Branislav Ivanovic – Chelsea to Milan. Signed with a great deal of fanfare last January Ivanovic is on course to challenge Winston Bogarde as Chelsea’s worst signings of all-time. He has been described as a versatile defender who is able to play any position on the bench if given a chance.
22. Vagner Love – CSKA Moscow to Everton. This one enjoyed some prominence for a week or so in the form of a loan deal or a transfer.
23. Karim Benzema – Lyon to assorted clubs. The young man has showed a great deal of common sense by realizing that he is going to become a better player playing each game for Lyon rather than being rotated at another club. His time will come and it will be big money. (I wonder if he supported Manchester City as a boy?)
24. Sergio Aguero – Atletico Madrid to assorted clubs. Sit back and wait for the English media to discover a player that by the time the World Cup comes around in 2010 will be regarded as one of the top five talents in the world.
25. Luis Figo – Inter to UAE, MLS. Remember that back in January Figo was reported to have signed a contract to play in the Middle East? On Saturday there was Figo at 35 starting for Inter.
Newcastle Whether Kevin Keegan has been fired or has resigned or will be taking training tomorrow doesn’t really matter. Newcastle continues to operate in a shambolic manner with owner Mike Ashley showing he would have trouble finding the ground if he fell out a tree – beer or no beer.
Ashley is another example of the misplaced faith that fans put in businessmen that have a “passion” for their club. It is the “passion” that causes the problem. Better to look for an owner who has a solid long-term plan rather than one who has a desire to kow-tow to the supporters.
I said in the pre-season preview that Ashley had “bit off more than he could chew” and “despite stories of how much money Keegan was to be given to bring new players to St. James’ there has been little indication these past months”.
Less than a month in and Ashley has admitted that he did not undertake any due diligence when buying the club and has been shocked at how much transfer money was owed in deferred payments. (Must have glass doors at St. James’).
Furthermore, it has become clear over the last week that the Newcastle board is willing to sanction the sale of players no matter what the manager thinks.
Dundee United owner Eddie Thompson has cancer right through his body but his commitment to the team and the game will leave a legacy for years to come.
If there is one Lyon player that stands between Manchester United and a place in the last eight then it is Karim Benzema.
The Times is asking readers to dig up the worst club merchandising idea that they have ever come across.
James Lawton assesses the progress of David Moyes and also finds time to recount an old Bill Shankly-Chris Lawlor story.
A trivia question for Monday morning. There is one club in MLS that is unique amongst all the other teams in MLS, NBA, NFL , MLB and the NHL. What’s the team and why are they unique?
I understand that The Gaffer over at EPL Talk is not enjoying the best of health at the moment. From all the regulars at this blog all the best for a speedy recovery.
Robert Philip manages to name check Mary Queen of Scots, Scotty from Star Trek, ####es, Bill Shankly and Sean Connery before getting to the point of his football article. You really just need to read his introduction.
Another idea of how to generate stadium revenue. Sounds a bit bizarre but....
A Soccer America interview with USA national team boss Bob Bradley.
The Financial Times and Guardian articles on Manchester United record revenue and profits are the best I have read in terms of giving good information about the interest payments.
From the top to the near bottom - the reverse of Sir Alex Ferguson's journey. The Times with a positive story about East Stirlingshire - the team that offerred Ferguson his first job in hairdressing nearly thirty four years ago.
With Newcastle United pulling the plug on another manager it is worth looking at the performance of the not-so-magnificent seven (although in relation to Keegan and Robson that remark should be tempered) during the Premiership years. Newcastle was not a charter member of the Premiership but after missing out on the first season Keegan secured promotion in his first full season.
Here are the managers, the position the club was in when they “left”, games in charge, average points gained and the approximate net outlay in transfer fees – it is a lot.
The list is in chronological order:
o Kevin Keegan – 4th, 143 games, 1.85 points, $80M
o Kenny Dalglish – 13th*, 56 games, 1.34 points, $27M
o Ruud Gullit – 19th, 41 games, 1.65 points, $13.6M
o Sir Bobby Robson – 17th, 188 games, 1.60 points, $58M
o Graeme Souness – 16th, 56 games, 1.16 points, $66M
o Glen Roeder – 13th, 52 games, 1.42 points, $19M
o Sam Allardyce – 11th, 21 games, 1.24 points, $28M
(Dalglish carries an asterisk as he was fired only two games into a season and 13th was the previous season’s finishing position.)
From Gullit on the managers are getting fired with the team sitting in ever higher positions. Maybe it is all part of some cunning plan to literally fire Newcastle to the top?
Looking back the failure to use the relatively successful spell under Bobby Robson to groom a successor was a faux pas of immense proportions. Who in their right mind would operate with one of their most important employees past the age 70 and with no succession plan in place?
As for Allardyce I don’t think any fair minded person would accept that half a season is enough time to turn a team that has failed to win a major domestic trophy in over half a century around.
A significant number of Newcastle fans are apparently upset at the type of football Allardyce had the team playing. But again if you are trying to change a culture of mediocrity then there is going to be protracted spell of rubbish dished up – that should not be a surprise. And in terms of a new manager it is likely to be more of the same.
I often wonder if a new manger might not get better results and reduce short term expectations if instead of asking for the cheque book he told players that they had half a season to prove themselves.
Immediately moving to sign new players and dumping the ones signed by the predecessor just leads to a belief that improvement will be immediate. Then if the new signings fail to impress – as they did in the Allardyce/Newcastle situation – the pressure mounts and the revolving door starts to rotate once more.
As for a successor, the names are beginning to appear in the press and on websites. Harry Rednapp, Mark Hughes, Steve McClaren (surely not!!) are all getting some play in the media. The odds are a Keegan return have also been slashed.
But as Simon Barnes said in The Times last weekend will a new manager be given a fair crack while Alan Shearer continues in the role of the best manager never to have managed Newcastle?
It would seem that Mike Ashley has done the easy bit in firing Big Sam, the hard bit is convincing someone of quality to pick up the poisoned chalice.
Quick free kicks
A number of teams are looking to cure some sporadic bouts of Premiership travel sickness this weekend. Spurs travels to Stamford Bridge in what could be a preview of the Carling Cup Final. But travelling to Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford, Anfield and wherever Arsenal were playing at the time, has not brought much joy to Spurs. In sixty-three Premiership trips to these grounds Spurs have won just twice - a win at Arsenal and a win at Liverpool.
Manchester City are the visitors to Goodison but they have only one once in ten Premiership visits to Goodison – and that was way back in October 1992.
Middlesbrough may not have scored against Liverpool in their last four Premiership encounters but Liverpool are without a win at the Riverside in their last five visits - two losses and three draws for the Reds. Despite Boro’s spotted form over the last couple of years the Riverside is still a place where bigger teams often come a cropper. United, Chelsea and Arsenal have all lost at the Riverside in the last two and a bit seasons
Oh and let us not forget that no matter who has been in charge of Newcastle a trip to Old Trafford as never ended in three points for the Magpies – it has however often finished with a loss (nine times) and sometimes a draw - five of them.
This weekend offers Reading, Wigan, and Fulham another opportunity to pick up three points away from home for the first time. This time against Aston Villa, Derby County and West Ham respectively. Also without an away win are Bolton, Sunderland, and Derby County but they will have to wait for another day.
We will start off this week with a plug for the Canadian International Player of the Year as selected by Canadian fans at the Voyageurs website. To quote from the press release – “This award recognizes the Canadian international who, through both their club exploits and international play, made the greatest impact in 2007. Last year, Atiba Hutchinson won this award on the strength of several strong UEFA Champions League performances for his club, FC Copenhagen, as well as for his professionalism, and dedication to Canadian soccer.”
You need to register on the Voyageurs message board, in order to cast a vote but the process I am told is fast, easy and free. And for our American friends, remember even if you are a registered Republican, in Canada, we are only allowed to vote once.
The Times looks back at a game that was played fifty years ago and one that we are unlikely to see the likes of again. Bill Shankly speechless?
For those of you who have not come across The Fiver (an occassionally factual daily e mail from the Guardian Unlimited) you can follow the link and discover the winners of their annual year end awards. Any awards that you would like to add?
Last weekend saw Bundesliga teams play their last league games until February 3. Spain (returning January 6), France and Italy (both returning January 12) sign-off this weekend with some great games in prospect.
Lyon might have been a bit slow out the gate this season but a win over second place AS Nancy would give them a very comfortable seven point lead at the half-way mark. And a seventh consecutive league title would be in prospect come the New Year.
Nancy are winless in the last four games but with third place Bordeaux already eight points behind Lyon they look to be the last team with any hope of challenging the perennial champions.
Not surprisingly the attention in Spain will be on the Barcelona vs. Real Madrid match. However, the other Madrid vs. Barcelona weekend match-up between Atletico Madrid and Espanyol doesn’t look bad either.
Atletico has only lost once in their last nine Liga games while Espanyol are undefeated in the last twelve. When you consider that no Spanish side has scored more goals at home than Atletico and likewise Espanyol away then we could be in for another belter o####ame at the Vicente Calderon.
Like Lyon, a win for Real Madrid at the Nou Camp would provide the reigning champs with a seven point cushion at the top. However, there is a great deal more competition in the Spanish league and only the most foolhardy Real Madrid fan would be expecting a stroll to a second straight title come the New Year.
There was an interesting article a couple of weeks ago from Gabriele Marcotti on how Real's summer signing spree that cost around $160M has largely failed to produce any direct results. However, it seems to have reinvigorated some other players.
Raul is a prime example having already scored eight league goals, his best return in the last three seasons with less than half the season gone. Raul’s scoring stats over the last few seasons have mirrored his decreasing effectiveness. Starting with the 1998/99 season and moving forward to 06/07 Raul’s league goals have been 25, 17, 25, 14, 16, 11, 9, 5, and 7.
Any hope that Milan may have had at the start of this season of stopping Inter’s drive for a historic three consecutive Serie A titles seems to have evaporated over the first four months of this season.
Milan – FIFA Club World Champions and UEFA Champions League winners – are a massive twenty-two points behind Inter and even if you give them nine points from their three games in hand the gap is still monstrous. As it presently sits a finish in the top four is a more realistic goal.
Inter have seen injury worries mount in the last few weeks but it has made little difference to what has become a well oiled machine. Second place Roma have rattled off six wins and four draws (22 points from a possible 30) but have seen the gap with Inter grow from three points to seven over that time span.
Argentine forward Julio Cruz has been putting the ball into the net on a consistent basis with nine goals in 12 Serie A appearances and he has scored in his last three appearances. What makes it surprising is that Cruz is doing it at the age of 33 – an age at which most players are seeing production tailing off.
One thing going for Cruz is his lack of “mileage” – less than 400 games in 15 seasons means that the Argentine striker has averaged less than 25 games a season with a high of 33 games for Bologna in the early part of this decade.
Quick free kicks Super subs? Spurs’ Jermaine Defoe has come off the Premiership bench twelve times this season but has only scored once (against Manchester City two weeks ago). But with 14 goals as a substitute Defoe is second in Premiership history to Manchester United’s Solskjaer with 17.
Defoe’s best season as a scoring sub was in 01/02 when he scored six goals after coming on for West Ham. This is Defoe’s 9th season in the Premiership but he has failed to complete ninety minutes in more than half the 207 games that he has played in.
Andy Johnson of Everton has scored all of his three Premiership goals after coming on as a substitute this season – he is without a goal in 8 Premiership starts.
It is a hard sell to Liverpool fans but things are getting better as far as the Premiership is concerned. Going into this weekend Liverpool are 10 points behind the leaders and have a game in hand. Last season the gap was 15 points with an equal number of games played, in 05/06 it was 15 points and Liverpool had two games in hand.
The 04/05 season saw Liverpool 15 points in arrears (same games played) and a year before that, 16 points worse off than the top of the table Arsenal. In 2002/03 on this date Liverpool sat 5th and were only 5 points behind leaders Arsenal. However, by season end Manchester United were on top while Liverpool maintained the same league position albeit finishing 19 points behind the Champions.
If Villa starts a back four of Mellberg, Knight, Laursen and Bouma against Manchester City this weekend it will be for the 15th straight time in the Premiership. City has an outstanding record against Villa – 3 wins and a draw in their last 4 Premiership visits – in the last ten Premiership meetings against Villa City have 8 wins, a loss and a draw.
Another side that is hoping that history means something are Middlesbrough. Boro have a great home record vs. West Ham – 8 wins, 1 draw and no losses, they’ve scored 20 and conceded only six.
Steve Bruce will hoping for a better holiday period than last season. Twelve months ago Wigan were the only side to lose all four games. The best holiday performers were Manchester United with ten points out of a possible dozen. Next best were Arsenal, Liverpool, Blackburn, Bolton and City each with a point fewer.
Apparently British bookies took a hiding as little Forfar of the Scottish League was forced to play Peterhead despite being unable to field a fully fit first eleven - Neil White explains.
A Ronald Atkin profile of Bobby Convey while Jon West has an interview with hisUSA and Reading teamate Marcus Hahnemann.
Ian Bell compares and contrasts the managerial careers of two of the best ever - Bill Shankly who died 25 years ago last week and Arsene Wenger who has just celebrated a decade in charge of Arsenal.
Henry Winter suggests that the tax man should not be far behind the release of the Stevens Report today (Monday October 2).
Paul Wilson believes that Sepp Blatter has not gone far enough and the answer is that games should be decided by naked penalty shootouts.
Erik Kirschbaum on the debut of a documentary focusing on the German team’s build-up and participation in this summer’s World Cup.
It was a bad weekend for officials what with the phantom Reina handball for Liverpool against Bolton, Claude Makelele jumping Juan Pablo Angel as he broke free and Didier Zokora’s conning of the referee in the Spurs – Portsmouth game.
In Serie A the two Milan teams drew – when are Milan going to start scoring some goals and when will Inter manage to keep eleven players on park. It is odd that the players Inter have had red-carded are all new arrivals.
No shortage of items to debate.
And by the way Fleetwood beat Goole 4-2 to progress to the next round of the FA Cup.
A few things to chew over after another weekend of interesting performances and results around Europe.
This week Arsene Wenger will complete ten years in charge at Arsenal. Considering Wenger arrived to headlines of “Arsene who” and scurrilous gossip you would have to say he has not done to badly. As far as Arsenal fans are concerned, I would have to reckon that only the great Herbert Chapman would be considered along side Wenger. Chapman died prematurely while in charge at Highbury and never lived to see the full fruits of his labour.
However, what about the great managers who have been in charge of English clubs over the last 40 years or so? How will history rate Arsene Wenger against the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, Brian Clough, Bob Paisley, Sir Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Don Revie, Ron Greenwood and Bill Nicholson?
Taking trophies into consideration is one way to look at it but the transformation that Wenger brought to Arsenal in terms of the quality of the football has also to be considered I would think. Has their been a more entertaining side than Arsenal in recent memory?
Ronaldo turned 30 (he is younger than Ruud van Nistelrooy) last Friday and he should have at least another two or three seasons of goal scoring left in him. Should he just retire or should Fabio Capello find a place for him in the Real Madrid starting line-up? Alternatively, come January should he be looking for a change of scenery and if so where should that be?
Hernan Crespo seems to be settling in at Inter Milan. With three goals in two games over 5 days, Crespo seems to be one of the few consistent things about Inter. They sit top of Serie A but they do seem to enjoy making things difficult. Three goals down to Roma in the Italian Super Cup they then scored four to win in extra time. In the first Serie A game of the season, they led Fiorentina 3-0 before holding on for a 3-2 win then this past weekend they went one-step better. This time Inter led struggling Chievo by four before allowing the Verona side to score three times in the last 13 minutes to set up a storming finish.
It is early days in Spain but La Liga does appear to have to makings o####reat title race this season. Real Madrid took advantage of Barcelona and Valencia drawing at the Nou Camp while Atletico Madrid brought Sevilla’s great start to a grinding halt. Two goals in the last five minutes turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 win for Madrid’s other side. Of course Sevilla will point out that they played a quarter of the game after having both Escude (46th minute) and Navarro (66th minute) sent off.
Next weekend Atletico travel to the Bernabeu for the Madrid derby. Atletico and Fernando Torres have horrible records against Real since Atletico returned to the top flight in the 2002/03 season.
Up in Scotland Celtic drew first blood as they increased their lead to seven points over Rangers. It looks as if a quick turnaround in fortune under Paul LeGuen is not going to happen. Do Rangers have any other option other than being patient and staying the course with LeGuen?
Finally, is there any club that has undergone a crazier September than Gretna? Gretna started the month at the top of the Scottish First Division but were soudly spanked 4-0 by Dundee at home before losing 3-2 to Ross County in the Scottish League Challenge Cup.
A mid-month top of the table clash with Livingstone ended in a 1-1 draw while last Wednesday Hibernian thrashed Gretna 6-0 in the CIS Cup. Saturday brought about a turn in fortune when they beat Partick Thistle by the same score and Gretna returned to the top of the Scottish League.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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