Matches of 2009: Sympathy for the Ghaly

Despite almost reneging at the last possible moment, I braved the cold to make my way to White Hart Lane last night for my second live game of 2009.

Alright, handsome.

I haven’t been to Tottenham since I was forced to give up my season ticket to emigrate from London for work commitments, so I probably should have been more excited than I was to make the 444 bus journey from the end of my road to the Angel Islington.

However comments from manager Harry Redknapp had basically said that we can’t win the competition and he isn’t going to necessarily field a full-strength side to give it the best possible go. There was also the fact the game was taking place on a Friday night, which just felt wrong and also that the tickets were in the South Stand of the ground. While it would be unfair to slander the entire section, because there are some genuinely really good fans there, but it also houses by far the largest concentration of morons by far.

The teamsheet presented some interesting story points though. Gareth Bale was back at left back with a chance to remind everyone that he was / is the most promising left back in Europe. Modric played in the middle of a 4-4-2, a tactic that Harry had criticised former boss Juande Ramos for utilising. Most interestingly of all, Hossam Ghaly was in a matchday squad for the first time (I believe) since he was threw his shirt onto the ground after being substituted, having earlier been brought on in the first half.

The game itself wasn’t much to write home about, so I’ll comment slightly on the Ghaly incident. He was booed last night when his name was announced. With about 15 minutes to go, he got stripped off and ready to come, a sight that was also roundly booed. A couple of minutes later Redknapp changed his mind and it was cheered.

For perspective’s sake, let’s explain the reason for the shirt-throwing incident. It was in a 1-1 draw with Blackburn, at a time when we were desperately trying to clinch fifth place. The crowd were edgey because it appeared as though it was going to slip through our grasp and a home game with Blackburn, which is the sort of fixture the WHL crowd assume should be  walkover, was deemed must win more than ever.

Ghaly was never a popular figure anyway despite putting in man of the match performances in the 2-1 home win against Chelsea and the 3-3 draw in the FA Cup. It’s too easy to cry racism, but the fact that he was Egyptian and therefore a friend of fellow player Mido (an unpopular figure for equally bozarre reasons) and I think that definitely counted against him from day one.

So on he came for the injured Malbranque and shortly afterwards Blackburn took the lead, although if memory serves there was no link between the incidents.

The whole team then took a bit of stick every time there was mis-placed pass. Ghaly was one of the few that didn’t alter his game though and refused to revert to simple sideways passes just to make sure it met the feet of a team mate but played his normal flair-filled game and continued to try through balls and chipped passes etc. 

Now he isn’t exactly Zidane in his prime, so not everything came and every miss-placed pass was booed with increasing ferocity.  He was the only one on the night actively trying to make something happen but alo the one being greeted with most derision.

The boos turned to cries of ‘getimoff’ and when still behind on the hour mark, with Robbie Keane ready to be introduced, fans were calling for him to be replaced. Gardner seemed the natural choice to go off, wth Tainio switching to full back, or even the Finn himself but Jol chose the Egyptian for I’m sure completely tactical reasons as he isn’t the type of manager who is so weak to be influenced by the crowd to the detriment of the team.

The decision was cheered more than anything else that night and he trotted to face the ultimate humiliation of a substitute being substituted to the jeers of his own supporters.

I don’t agree with the reaction to throw your shirt down at all, but given the circumstances his frustration must have been boiling over. It was wrong but he did and then came the fury.

“Ghlay, you’re a c*nt, Ghaly, Ghaly, you’re a c*nt” rang the South stand. Forums later demanded he never play for the club again and it seemed as though that would be the case until last night when Redknapp threw in a curveball.

The ironic thing is, he is clearly good enough to play for us and could do a decent job at a time when the manager himself has admitted we have a stretched squad. However that one show of dissent it seems will never be allowed to be forgotten.

The question now is whether he perseveres with the player, which in my opinion he should, or gives up on him forever. If the former then expect him to be brought on during the next away game, hopefully when already head, to get the stigma out of the way in front of as few fans as possible when in as good a mood as they can be. Maybe then they’ll show a little leniency nearly 20 months on.

A football fan’s perspective

Football fans are notorious in their lack of perspective.  As a Tottenham support right now I am seeing that more than ever.  We’ve lost our first two league games of the season and it’s widely being hailed as an absolute disaster.  We’re already six points behind Liverpool who we were hoping to beat to fourth place and subsequently a place in the Champions League.

Now Berbatov doesn’t want to play for us anymore.  This is just catastrophic.  He wants to go and play for a rival club and no doubt will score against us when Spurs venture north to Manchester or Alex Ferguson’s men make the reverse trip to White Hart Lane.  The image of him walking out onto the pitch wearing red instead of white is heartbreaking in itself.

A team getting relegated will often be met with TV shots of fans crying their eyes out while effigies have been burnt of players in the past for daring to play for someone else.  This weekend will see Paul Ince return to Blackburn will no doubt see a repeat of this disgusting practice.

This is all nothing new but seeing a story reported this morning showed that even supposed journalists are catching the same disease.

A BBC football commentator is facing the sack after making an `inappropriate remark’ about the Spanish air disaster during a match.

Radio Manchester’s Chris Price was doing a live update from the Bradford versus Rochdale match when he said Dale `were making more holes in the Bradford defence than in a Spanish aircraft’.

The best bit about this story, and the only element that raised a smile, was the journalist’s defence of his actions.

“It wasn’t meant to be funny; it was just a descriptive phrase.

“If people are offended by what I said, then of course I apologise but I never intended to offend anyone

“From the reaction there has been, if I could take it back then I would.”

So judging by the last sentence, the only reason he’s now apologising is because there has been a furore over his comments.  He clearly still doesn’t see why they were offensive in the first place.

The Sun today

Following on from last night’s post about the England team and my general disregard for it, here is the article from today’s Sun reacting to the Czech Republic game.  It could not be any more perfect if it tried.

WASTERS – Our £5m-a-year boss is useless

FABIO CAPELLO lost the plot, lost an ally and almost lost the game on another wretched night for English football.

While Britain’s brave Olympians were pulling in more medals in Beijing, Capello’s millionaire footballers were pulling in the jeers.

Every cliche in the book is trotted out in less than 50 words.  I actually admire how concise the journalist (Charlie Wyett) is because he’s written to brief absolutely perfectly.

Blame the England manager? Check.
He’s foreign? Even better.
“Wretched”. It’s a friendly, aren’t they all?
“Millionaire footballer” reference.  Check – because earning makes you infallible.

What link does this have to the athletes in Beijing.  They’re performing excellently and the whole country is proud.  However what knock-on does that have for the football side.  Do they suddenly reach new levels of performance because Becky Adlington broke the 800m world record?  The annoying thing is you just know that up and down the country there are people reading it and going “hundred grand a week and they can’t even beat the Czechs – they should learn a thing or two from our boys in China”.  Ironically enough, a few less gold medals and The Sun would have been the first to criticise them for taking lottery money and giving nothing back.

Look, we drew at home, in the rain, to a team ranked six places higher than us in the world.  Hardly the end of the world for a new manager still coming to terms with a new set of players.

They quote Harry Redknapp – who by a marvellous co-incidence happens to be a paid Sun employee with his weekly betting column, who said:

“I’ve not seen a Fabio Capello team play worse than that. The second half was diabolical.”

Well you’ve clearly not watched a lot of Fabio Capello.  His teams are known for playing defensive, unattractive football.  That may be a cliche but it’s largely true.  We didn’t lose and so far have only lost away in France under his reign when he’s just taken over.  Classic Sun just using a rent-a-quote to say whatever it is they want to put across this week.

They’ve got three more articles about the game on their site and they’re equally dreadful.

“We love it”

All over for another year

Championes, championes, ole ole ole.

So the 2007/08 season has come and gone. It only seems like yesterday I was weighing up the fixture list and contemplating the possibility that Tottenham at home to Liverpool on the last day could be a potential fourth place decider. I suppose we can’t get them all right.

United were, over the course of the season, more than worthy champions. I do wonder just how much of an achievement it is to take a title winning side, spend over £50million improving it, and repeat the feat but that’s just the capitalist nature of football at the moment.

I’m quite glad that it wasn’t decided by goal difference and the fact that Bolton scored a late goal at Chelsea was quite appropriate even if news had filtered through at that point that Utd were beyond their reach.

Fulham survived, as predicted yesterday, and I am pleased for Roy Hodgson who proved himself as one of the better English managers in the business today. There was a thread on Xtratime stating that he is the best English manager and as much as I initially queried it, it’s kind of hard to argue against. There is a definite argument to be made for Harry Redknapp or even a young manager like Gary Johnson has achieved a lot in a short space of time. The acid test will be next season when he’s had a full pre-season to implement his ideas and change the playing staff round a bit.

Reading and Birmingham are therefore goners. The former are such a well run club that I would be surprised if they were instantly installed as favourites for the championship next season. They’re unlikely to have too many vultures swooping over their best players and I would doubt they’re too stretched with wages that the parachute payments will not more than adequately cover them. I would expect Hunt, Kitson, Doyle and Lita to do (along with the want-away Africans) but they’re all pretty replaceable in my mind.

Birmingham will have a much more drastic turnaround of playing staff it would seem, with the most competition likely to be for a player they don’t actually own in Mauro Zarate. James McFadden seems like the sort of player who will inevitably get snapped up by a promoted team and the central midfield pairing of Larsson and Muamba are too good for lower league football. The Olivier Kapo’s of the squad will also likely go abroad but overall Alex McLeish is a good manager and again I would have faith in a swift return for them. Although I maybe said the same things about Charlton and Alan Pardew this time last year.

The best story of the day though to me was the Middlesborough destruction of Man City. There are meaningless end of season games (and I was at a prime example at White Hart Lane earlier) but this is something else. Richard Dunne was sent off on fifteen minutes but that’s still no excuse for such an inept performance.

It’s amazing how the fortunes of a club can change around so quickly. As recently as the end of January you had Man City delighted with the Thaksin revolution. Nery Castillo had signed from Shakhtar Donetsk along with Benjani from Portsmouth. They had started the season promisingly and taken an unthinkable six points off Manchester Utd already. The team was full of products from their excellent youth academy with Joe Hart, Micah Richards, Michael Johnson and to a lesser extent Daniel Sturridge helping to provide a local backbone to an internationally-flavoured line-up.

Fast forward to today and Man City fans are ripping up seats and throwing them onto the pitch in protest. They are at war with their chairman about his plans to replace Sven-Goran Eriksson after what must only be described as a successful debut season and it seems their players are on the verge of mutiny. Eriksson had to talk them out pf boycotting an upcoming tour of Thailand and every player of note is being linked with a move away from the club.

Even given these circumstances, 8-1 is a baffling scoreline. I’ve already seen it described as a farewell “fuck you” to Shinawatra from Sven and the boys but that seems a little far-fetched. There was even talk at one stage that Dunne’s red card may mean they miss out on a place in the UEFA cup achieved through the fair play league.

With teams like Man City in turmoil, Chelsea and Arsenal likely to go all out in order to recruit the necessary players to inch past Utd next season, Liverpool’s owners fighting against each other whilst there manager tries to sign central midfielders they don’t need, Spurs apparently facing a summer-long battle to persude Berbatov to stay and Newcastle performing their usual circus act – the break is likely to be far from boring for Premiership fans despite the lack of action taking place pn the pitch.

I wouldn’t be surprised however if this time next year I am again recalling tales of ill-informed predictions and congratulating Man Utd on an eleventh title despite the fact that a front three of Rooney, Ronaldo and Berbatov is the greatest strikeforce in premiership history and finsihing first was the least they could do.

Football Fans

Obviously it’s still early days on the blog and I will get around to actually writing proper words in order in the near future, but I thought it would be cool to post a few things that I enjoy to set the tone for what is to come.

As much as I love football, there’s loads that we can all objectively hate about it. Other supporters, or even a proportion of your own team’s fans, are a key example of this. As proved with the success of Peep Show (even though I’m aware they are not the main writers) Mitchell and Webb are some of the finest proponent’s of observational comedy that we have in the UK. They seem able to pick up on the most subtle of social nuances and point out just how ridiculous they are without being preachy.

We all know fans like the below who view their team as an extension of their own being and it’s always enjoyable to poke fun at them.