Thursday, February 28, 2013

THE END OF BARCELONA'S RULE

IT looks like time has caught up with the self-styled 'greatest club team of all time'.
After their 2-0 Champions League setback in Milan, Barcelona then lost 3-1 at home to Real Madrid in the Spanish Cup semi at the Camp Nou.

It looked like a watershed to me: the baton passing from one Spanish team to another.

Barca suddenly had the appearance of a fragile old man in comparison to Real's youthful dominance.

Iniesta and Xavi, one of the greatest midfield duos, looked aged and slow. And without their briliance Messi looked half the player of Ronaldo.

I believe Ronaldo will now go on to confirm his position as No 1 player in the world, above Messi. Just think if he had had Iniesta and Xabi playing behind him for the last five years - I reckon his impact would have at least equalled, if not excelled, that of Messi's.

In one sense I am glad that Barca's rule appears over. They always projected themselves as angels who lived and died by their playing the beautiful game. In reality, they many times were just as cynical and machiavellian as Mourinho with their dives and dirty fouls. I am thinking in particular of the horrible Busquets and Alves.

So farewell Barca...time waits for no man...and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Inter Milan provide the killer blow at the Camp Nou in their second leg of the Champions League tie.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

WHY WOULD MAN CITY GO FOR A LOSER LIKE PELLEGRINI?

THE rumours persist that Man City will dismiss Roberto Mancini at the end of the season - unless he wins the FA Cup or somehow magics up a run that knocks Utd off their perch.

But there's no point in getting rid of him if the man to replace him isn't as good, is there?

The latest name to be bandied around sums up the situation - why would City want to lose Mancini, who has won them a league championship, an FA Cup and a Community Shield and bring in Manuel Pellegrini?

The bloke has done OK at Malaga but he was sacked by Real Madrid and could not win the Champions League or La Liga with them despite having the likes of Ronaldo and Kaka at his disposal.

He is not even the best South American manager in La Liga - that accolade must go to Marcelo Bielsa, the hardline but brilliant boss of Atletico Bilbao.

If Mancini must go - and I believe he deserves at least another season in lieu of  his achievements and for the sake of stability - City need to get someone who is guaranteed to aim higher than him. Not some nobody who had his chance at the top with Real and blew it.

The only men who could conceivably take over from Roberto and offer hope of more silverware are Guardiola, who is now wrapped up in a three-year deal at Bayern, Fergie, who would never leave Utd, and Mourinho, who is the best option but who may well be on his way back to Chelsea.

ABUSE? FANS SHOULD BE DEMANDING A STATUE OF WENGER

I also hope Arsenal win today for Arsene Wenger's sake. Here is one of the great managers of the last 20 years being abused by his own fans...those abusers should shake their heads in disgrace. He rebuilt the club, gave them a new brilliant stadium, Champions League football every year and was forced to sell by his board.

Arsene is right: those very same abusers will only truly appreciate what they had when he is gone.

I am not saying his successor, likely to be Michael Laudrup, will not do well - but he will face the same financial constraints Arsene has had to face.

Then the abusers will truly see the magnificent job he has done. Abuse? Those fans should be demanding a statue of Wenger be built outside the Emirates...

I HOPE ARSENAL BEAT BIGHEADS OF BAYERN

SO Bayern Munich are on a winning streak going back to last year - and their keeper Manuel Neur is so underused in matches that he sometimes does not need a shower.

Add the names of the repulsive Franck Ribery and the similarly bigheaded Arjen Robben and it does not take much to understand why many people cannot stand Bayern.

I truly hope that Jack Wilshere and Co stick one up 'em at the Emirates tonight and bring them down a peg or two.

Why are they known as FC Hollywood? Who in their right mind would want to go and play in a second-rate league that is less Hollywood and more dullsville. Would you pay to watch the German league on the box? Thought not.

And it is to his great discredit that Pep Guardiola chose the easy option - to manage in a poor league with its biggest fish - than to test himself in England's Premier League.

OK, we all know that Pep's plan is to use Bayern as a stepping stone to the really big league of Manchester United, but it is a gamble that could backfire. What if Fergie retires on ill health before his three years at Munich is up?


Will Pep leave Bayern in the lurch and ruin the image of himself as the man with the halo?

Monday, February 18, 2013

GARETH BALE 'TO SIGN FOR REAL MADRID - IN 60MILLION EURO' DEAL

I HEAR this morning from my friends in Madrid that Gareth Bale will 'definitely join Real in summer for 60MILLION euros'.

I did Gareth's biog a couple of years back and wish him all the best in his new venture.

I also wouldn't be at all surprised if Gareth moves to Spain with the Player of the Year awards with him.

We will miss you Gareth - and I bet Europe will shudder at the thought of Ronaldo on the right and Bale on the left wings!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

I FEAR FOR MAN UTD IN MADRID

I REALLY, REALLY hope I am wrong. But the demise of English clubs in Europe makes me fear for Man United in Madrid tonight.

If it is correct that English football has not moved on over the last five years and that the continentals have not only caught up but overtaken us, United could be in for a lesson at the Bernabeu.

The consensus appears to be that the English Prem is not what it was - and if that is the case, Utd's 12-point lead at the top will count for little tonight.

They may simply be the best of an average bunch in England.

But the beauty of Ferguson is that you can never write him or his team off. Especially with the brilliance of Van Persie and Rooney.

It could be 4-1 to Madrid, but we will only know the truth after 90 minutes. If Fergie has, as he would have us believe, but a Utd team that stands fair judgment against his great teams of the past, we might witness the Miracle of the Bernabeu.

But with Ronaldo, Benzema, Ozil and Alonso coming at them, I still have doubts.

If Fergie pulls off a win or even a draw tonight, I believe it will rank up there as one of his greatest managerial achievements - even up with the 1999 3-2 win at Juve that led to the eventual realisation of the treble dream.

 

PLAN B SHOULD FORGET PLAN A

SAW Plan B last night and loved the first half of  his show when he worked through the Strickland Banks stuff.

Ben Drew is a great soul singer and we are lucky to have him here in the UK.

But the second part of the show highlighted Ben's achilles heel.

He thinks he is a world-class rapper along the lines of Eminem. But he ain't, which the Ill Manors second section proved.

I am told that Ben believes he is a rapper first and a soul singer second  - and that he is happy to do the soul stuff as its success enables him to also push the rapping down our throats.

But the rapping didn't work. Ben gets muddled and tangled up when he resorts to it. He is famed for helping out disadvantaged kids in his spare time, encouraging them to seek a better way of life and not to follow a path that leads to booze, drugs, violence and despair.

Yet here he was, drumming up the rowdier section of the audience into a frenzy with backdrop scenes of kids stealing from shops as London burned and singing, 'What you looking at posh boy' with a growling vengeance.

Forget Plan A...the rapping, Ben. Stick to Plan B, the soul - you have nothing to prove, mate. You are a great bloke, a great actor and a great soul singer and we love you for all those attributes.

JOSE MOURINHO 'IS THE NEW CHELSEA BOSS'

MY spies at Stamford Bridge tell me that Jose Mourinho will return to manage Chelsea in the summer.

Apparently the deal is '95 per cent' done - and both Roman and Jose 'are both looking forward to working together again'.

The move was engineered by Roman after he became perturbed by the fans' seeming disilusionment with him following his appointment of Benitez as interim coach.

Roman likes to be loved and to have the No 1 place in the fans' hearts - which explains why he sacked Jose in the first place. He felt that Mourinho had the monopoly on their affections.

Now he has decided to bring Jose back to recapture the love of the Chelsea fans.

Jose will be handed full control of all playing matters and will have the final say on transfers in and out - the latter luxury which none of his successors enjoyed.

I am told he has 'been given the brief to rebuild the team and breathe new life into it' and he will be given time to do so.

It is an exciting development and one I am sure most Chelsea fans will welcome.

Good luck, Jose - it's good to have you back in England where you belong.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

GAZZA'S 'BENEFACTORS' HAVE GOT IT WRONG

I CAN tell you now that it will be a small miracle if Paul 'Gazza' Gascoigne returns from America cured of alcohol addiction.
    I can tell you because I was just like Gazza almost 20 years - I could not stop drinking and my life was a terrible mangle of a mess.
    The thing is this: I didn't want to stop drinking - and you can only get well when you have a true desire to stop.
    So all the flashy rehabs in America will not provide the answer if Gazza has gone there merely for another spa break.
    He has been to AA and he has been to rehabs before - and look where he is now. He seems to be like George Best; another tragedy unravelling in front of our very eyes. He does not appear to want to stop drinking.
    There is no miracle cure. Just a reprive contingent on him changing his thinking - and there you have it. There is all this talk about his problem drinking but it is actually his problem thinking that is his real curse.
     Drinking, drugs, sex, spending sprees - they are all but the symptom of the illness of addiction.
     And until Paul really wants to stop drinking, and accepts he has to change his thinking, he will struggle.
     And while the apparent generosity of his 'benefactors' - including Chris Evans and Gary Linkeker - is admirable at face value, it does leave me feeling slightly uneasy.
     It would have been all the more admirable if they hadn't felt the need to go public with their generosity - and it might have made Paul's exodus easier. If he had left quietly and anonymously, he would not have had the added pressure of press intrusion when he arrived in Phoenix.
    Good luck, Gazza. Get honest, get humble, go to AA again when you come back home - and listen and ask for help in the rooms.
    Then you will have a proper chance of not  becoming another George Best.