Friday, 23rd November 2001
A Viewpoint On The Current
News
AFGHANISTAN
I have been privy and witness to the best, and worst
behaviour, by alleged Godless people who are described as gangsters.
As in all walks of life some of these people were good
and some were not so good.
However, none of them were remotely as heinous as the
so-called 'soldiers' of the Taliban and Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.
I have never seen such repeated abominable behaviour
by any gangster as carried out by these soulless people in Afghanistan.
These alleged religious people are heathens, and unfit
for a civilised society.
They are prepared to wantonly cause people unbelievable
cruelty by maiming, murder, rape and starvation, often under the gaze
of children.
These mad dogs are in the class of Stalin. Stalin ordered
the killing of more Russian people than any foreigner, and the Afghanistan
mercenaries posing as soldiers have killed more Afghans than all the
foreigners put together. Compared to these people Hitler was a pussycat.
There are no limits to their barbarism. That which I find
especially abhorrent is that the Afghan mercenaries are not content
to defeat and capture their enemy, but unarmed, defenceless prisoners-of-war
are still subjected to savagery of the worst kind.
IS HUMAN RIGHTS JUSTICE SELECTIVE?
Slobadan Milosevic the former Serbian leader is awaiting
trial on criminal Human Rights charges. It makes a mockery of justice
if there is one justice for Milosovic, and another justice for those
responsible for criminal Human Rights activities in Afghanistan, Iraq,
Zimbabwe and elsewhere.
The Taliban, apparently, are being asked to join in a
ruling government for Afghanistan. These are the people that under the
leadership of the religious fanatic, the one-eyed Mullah Mohammad Omar
took control of the city of Kabul's football stadium, and turned into
a place of execution.
Crowds were encouraged to watch alleged murderers beheaded,
alleged adulterers shot to death, and alleged thieves have their hand
or arms amputated by the sword, and without anaesthetic.
It is said that sometimes footballers would be forced
off the pitch, and replaced by executions and maiming.
Fortunately for the Afghan people George Bush, and his
American team, will, I am confident stand for no nonsense, and allow
the innocent Afghan people to lead reasonable decent lives.
FOOTBALL
Is Sven Goran Ericcson the long awaited messiah for English
football?
My view has not changed, and the answer is, no. The financial
cost to English football of Sven is £3 million each year, plus expenses,
and he will do no more, I believe it will prove to be less, than that
which would have been done by Terry Venables.
Terry would have cost £600,000, per annum, plus expenses.
Sven is still learning details about English football
that Terry has forgotten. Terry knew that which was needed to make England
a winning team, and the team selections from day one would have been
similar to the team selections now being chosen by Sven.
This means that by now the players that failed to measure
up to the standard demanded by Terry would have been replaced by new
blood, and there may now be an English football team with a chance of
winning the World Cup.
It is with sadness that I have come to the conclusion
that I cannot see an English team selected by Sven Goran Ericcson winning
the World Cup. He is still including in the England squad players who
are not world class, and are only there on past reputations, and not
on present and future ability.
I believe that Terry would have axed these players months
ago.
FA's GROSS ERROR
Glenn Hoddle showed his limitations as a coach when he
failed to see the early match-winning talent of Michael Owen, and decided
that he did not fit into his plans for England.
That wasn't just human error it was a diabolical mistake
of which no national team coach aiming for greatness may be guilty.
It was a gross error not to choose Terry Venables as
the English team coach by those responsible at the FA headquarters.
They allowed their bias towards Venables brought about
by preconceived ideas on matters unrelated to football to override their
duty to English football and its fans. English football deserve much
better than the people of the FA who are an unelected bunch, and have
been the cause of England being forced into the wilderness since 1966.
If Sven fails then there should be a wholesale clearance
at Lancaster Gate of the incompetents who denied England, due to their
bigoted behaviour, the one reasonable chance that the English team had
of performing with success in the World Cup.
Venables was the people's choice, as Brian Clough and
Peter Taylor were many years ago. Clough and Taylor were then the only
men with a reasonable chance of making England winners, but the FA hierarchy
deemed them to be controversial. By that they meant that they were too
outspoken on the truth.
Being unafraid to speak the truth is the one weapon that
terrifies the hypocrite. It is ironic that in street-talk FA is an abbreviation
of an expletive that is usually prefaced with the word 'Sweet', and
means to know nothing.
SOL CAMPBELL AND THE SPURS SUPPORTERS
It is generally accepted in football that Spurs supporters
are the most bizarre in football.
I say this in the knowledge, to use an old cliché, 'that
some of my best friends' are Spurs supporters.
They refused to accept George Graham as the manager of
Spurs, and give him the time to bring back some greatness to Spurs,
merely because he was an ex-Arsenal player and a very successful Gunners
manager.
Yet they accepted Terry O'Neill, who was also an Arsenal
player, as the manager of Spurs.
Where was the loyalty by Spurs fans to the former Spurs
player and manager, Terry Venables when Sven Goran Eriksson, a citizen
of Sweden, was made the manager of England when a better choice as English
manager would have been Venables? There was no loyalty. Spurs fans were
content to stand idly by and allow Terry to be pushed aside without
protest.
It appears that the majority of Spurs fans refuse to
forgive Sol Campbell for deciding that his future lay with Arsenal after
giving great service to Spurs.
THE CRUCIAL CAMPBELL QUESTION
The question each and every one of the Spurs fans that
is in employment and who is still angry at Sol Campbell for travelling
across North London to better himself is: If the biggest rival to their
own employer offered them a financial package that their present company
would not match, would they better themselves or would they foolishly
stay loyal to a boss who could well afford to, but was not prepared
to match the offer from the rival company?
Should there be one fan that decides he would stay with
the boss who refused to consider the better interests of that fan then
that fan should seek psychiatric help.
THE REAL CULPRITS GUILTY OF DISLOYALTY
If it is believed that Sol Campbell was disloyal what
does that say about the Spurs directors who refused to match the Arsenal
offer to Campbell?
Had the Spurs directors, at least, equalled the offer
by Arsenal then I would be inclined to agree that Campbell might have
been guilty of disloyalty.
It may hurt Spurs fans to realise the truth, but Sol
Campbell is an Arsenal player because the Spurs chairman allowed it.
As I have said before, Spurs are too big a club to have
an ordinary team. They deserve to be in the top six Premier league teams
on merit, and not just hope.
Their present team cost probably less than two or three
of the best players at Manchester United.
To sell less than half the Arsenal team would aggregate
more money than the cost of the whole of the Spurs team.
The investment by the Chelsea and Leeds directors swamps
the money spent on players by the Spurs directors.
The Spurs' wage bill is far, far less that that of Manchester
United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Leeds, and many others.
Do these financial factors mean that the Spurs chairman
and directors are football and financial wizards, and that the other
teams directors should go back to their toffee apple shops? Of course
it doesn't!
If the Spurs directors believe they can achieve domestic
and European success on the cheap, then they should discard 'When The
Saints Go Marching In' and adopt as their signature tune Judy Garland
singing, 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'. They live in a dream world.
The Bates Proven Method
Ken Bates chairman of Chelsea may be many things, but
the one guarantee I will give you is that he is no one's fool. If he
thought that you could have a top competition winning team by spending
the miserly sum that Spurs have spent then he would have closed his
cheque-book a long time ago.
Despite the media image of Chelsea they are just five
points behind the division leaders Liverpool, and they too have two
games in hand - and they have yet to properly click into their best
action under manager Claude Rainier.
IF MONEY TALKS THEN SPURS WON'T WIN ANY SILVERWARE
If the financial factors are fully taken into consideration
then really what chance does Spurs have of winning anything this year?
So far they done reasonably well, but the hardest matches
are yet to come and how will their older team members stand-up to the
pressures after Christmas when the physical demands take their toll?
I haven't forgotten that they did well against Leeds
and Arsenal on Saturday last. I also haven't forgotten that three major
players were absent from the Leeds team, and Arsenal was without Thierry
Henry.
Just one goal from prolific goal scorer Henry, and Spurs
would have been beaten.
A Spurs supporter would know the answer to the following
question better than any other: Is Teddy Sheringham already showing
tiredness?
I will again repeat myself I want Spurs to be up there
with an enviable team because that will show the quality of Arsenal
when they beat them.
Seriously, I don't know what Arsenal, Leeds and Chelsea
have that Spurs cannot match financially. The answer has to be that
their directors have greater vision, and less rhetoric. Or should that
be bovine manure?
It also indicates that the fans of these clubs are better
focused.
No true Arsenal fan was angry with George Graham for joining
Spurs. To the contrary we wished him luck.
A TEN YEAR STRETCH THAT COST £300,000
The police in this country are guilty of some weird decisions,
and often appear to view their responsibilities with cross-eyes.
They over-spend fortunes on cases for political or alleged
racial reasons, but whenever they are taken to task for failing to protect
vulnerable people on the streets they plead poverty.
Payments amounting to millions of pounds are made to satisfy
complaints made against them for a variety of reasons without allowing
a court-of-law to decide whether they are guilty or not guilty of the
complaints.
The latest example of their confused administration is
that for 10 years police constable Andrew Quinn has been off sick.
Can you believe that he has been paid £300,000, and not
spent one day on the beat or doing any police work?
This is surprising, but that which surprises me more is
that he was not selected for promotion.
THE PEERLESS SIR ALEX
I am delighted to disappoint those who are making-ready the wooden
cross for the crucifixion of Sir Alex Ferguson the peerless manager
of Manchester United, but they are wasting their time.
The depth of character of Sir Alex is very much deeper than for a
passing hiccup to be allowed to halt Man U's march towards further greatness
under the management of the generally accepted most outstanding British
manager of modern times. I believe in history.
It was there for all to see that Man. U football machine did splutter
for three recent matches, but to view this as the beginning of a terminal
illness is nonsense.
The club have been playing without their engine and captain Roy Keane;
they have brought two mind-blowing talented players in Ruud Van Nestelroy
and Juan Veron, and while Van Nestelroy has slipped into gear easily,
although his fifth gear is still to be activated, Veron has indicated
that he needs more time.
Sir Alex was admonished for selling Jaap Stam when he questioned Stam's
loyalty, but the drug allegations levelled against Stam have not helped
the case of those who vehemently criticised the maestro's decision.
The Man U coach/manager is far too canny a person not to have remedies
that will ensure that his team continue their cruise through the Premier
League, and become the team the champions of other European countries
have to fear, and beat.
A few years back now, but when Alex Ferguson made Aberdeen the best
team in Scotland I was willing the Arsenal directors to bring him to
Arsenal.
Unfortunately extra-sensory perception didn't work well from a prison
cell. Ether that or the Arsenal then bosses ignored my pleadings. Mind
you there are no real complaints on the appointments that were made
in the seasons followed.
A BLESSING TO ENGLISH FOOTBALL
Sir Alex and Man U have been a blessing to English football, and although
it may be similar to the taking of prescribed medicine that revolts
the taste buds to an Arsenal supporter, and every other genuine football
fan that doesn't support the Manchester club, to admit the truth there
is no doubt that the Man U bravery with regard to financial matters,
their success in developing home talent, and their original innovations
have been a lesson to other football clubs.
This is one football fan that is 100% solidly behind Man U whenever
they play any team in the world other than a British team.
Thank you Sir Alex for allowing me to share with Man U supporters many,
many great moments in football. You, your superb players and Man U have
done England proud, and I sincerely hope the best is yet to come for
the remaining period you are with Manchester United.
For those who have the long knives poised and are anxious to kill
of one of the truly great managers in football, I have to say in no
in no uncertain terms - get lost!
They would have more chance backing a winner by choosing Leyton Orient
to win the FA Cup than believing that they are able to destroy the reputation
of one of the truly great football managers of all-time.
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