AHEAD OF THE GAME
Alpha mail. The only truly useful football e-mail
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Thursday, December 20, 2007. 1600 GMT
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The news in 60 seconds
FA APPROVES COMPLEX
The FA has just approved plans for a multimillion-pound National Football Academy at Burton-on-Trent. "Everyone involved in the FA's coaching and player development structures believes that a national football centre is vital to the long-term health of English football," Sir Brooking said.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article3079305.ece
CR-OUCH HITS BACK
Peter Crouch has said that he has "no excuses" for his sending-off against Chelsea last night - but added that John Obi Mikel "went down like he was shot". "What I'm thinking is if you go in on Frank Lampard or John Terry would they roll around like Obi Mikel did?" Crouch asked. "Would someone like Carra have gone down like that? I think it's safe to say that he wouldn't." Would Mikel have gone down if Crouch hadn't jumped into him like he was auditioning to become a break-dancer? We think it's safe to say that he wouldn't.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article3079175.ece
BIRMINGHAM DEAL DIES YEUNG
AOTG will no longer have to write tedious stories about how Carson Yeung's proposed takeover of Birmingham City is in the balance (touch wood). The club announced on the Stock Exchange this morning that they have ended talks with the Hong Kong businessman.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/birmingham/article3077286.ece
LEHMANN IS LEMON
Like a good pantomime villain, Calamity Jens is at his most amusing over Christmas. Lehmann has claimed that he is being unfairly treated by Arsene Wenger. "My coach confirmed my impression that he uses a different measuring stick to evaluate Almunia," the German said in his latest rant about his colleague, who has never gone on German TV and sarcastically applauded his "dear coach".
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/arsenal/article3078642.ece
TRIESMAN GETS TOP JOB
The perfect appointment for the FA. Lord Triesman, who it was announced today will become the first independent chairman of the governing body, is a minister in the Government department of Innovation, Universities and Skills - attributes the England team are clearly lacking.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article3078725.ece
BELLAMY AVOIDS OP
Craig Bellamy will not need an operation on his stomach strain, according to Alan Curbishley. "We've locked him away with the physiotherapist and the fitness coach to work as hard as he can and to try and recover," the West Ham manager said. Nothing to do with keeping him (and his golf clubs) out of trouble during the Christmas party season, then.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/west_ham/article3079069.ece
FA REJECTS SPURS APPEAL
The FA has dismissed Tottenham's appeal over Didier Zokora's red card. Spurs are now so short of defensive cover that the club are even thought to be considering giving Younes Kaboul a game at centre half.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/tottenham/article3079176.ece
FANS RESENT WEALTH, SAYS HUGHES
Mark Hughes says fans are resentful of the amount of money players are earning. "I think maybe there is a little bit of disdain for footballers, more dislike from possibly the perception that they earn vast amounts of money," the Blackburn manager said, forgetting that it's not the perception that they are overpaid, so much as the fact.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/blackburn/article3079262.ece
SOLSKJAER GETS BENEFIT
A nice, happy story. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been awarded a benefit by Manchester United. The forward, who retired after failing to shake off a longstanding knee injury, has been rewarded for his long service to the club. The match will form part of next season's pre-season tour, although no date has been set.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article3078099.ece
O'NEILL TO REINFORCE
Martin O'Neill admits that his Aston Villa squad is too fragile to survive the rigours of winter and has promised to strengthen. "For January, we think things aren't moving too badly," he said. "All I would say is that we would be trying to pursue some avenues."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/aston_villa/article3079315.ece
VIEIRA'S BEAUTY CONTEST
Patrick Vieira says that Arsenal play more attractive football now that he has left, although La Grande Saucisse stops short of saying they are a better team. "This current team play better football than in our day," he said. "Whether that means they are going to win something is another story." http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/arsenal/article3078004.ece
JEWELL'S PRIDE LARK
Paul Jewell, the Derby County manager, on his new club, who have six points from 17 games so far: "I'm not prone to outlandish predictions, but this club can establish itself in the top ten, the top eight of the Premier League." We're not prone to outlandish predictions, either, but we think his club are more likely to establish themselves in the Fizzy-Pop Championship. So there.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/derby/article3076013.ece
GIBSON BACKTRACKS
Steve Gibson contacted The Times yesterday to put the record straight about his opinion of Steve McClaren after he criticised the former England head coach. "Despite their accuracy, my comments did not represent my thoughts and assessment of Steve's five-year period at Middlesbrough," he said. AOTG has been outside and checked. Despite the frost, the grass is still green.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/middlesbrough/article3076015.ece
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>>>>>FANTASY FOOTBALL WITH BRAINS<<<<<
* Register today for PlayTheGame - what better Christmas present for someone you love?
* It's free and you can still enter
* Win monthly prizes and tickets to the Euro 2008 final
* http://www.timesonline.co.uk/playthegame
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If you've got another couple of minutes
SPICE GIRLS, TOP BOMBING AND TWO-FOOTED TACKLES
Like cycling, corduroys, cranberry sauce, The Spice Girls and Led Zep, two-footed tackles are back in vogue. Just when you thought that like girl power and greasy-haired rockers, the coward's challenge had been retired, it's launched the biggest comeback since ... well, see above.
Peter Crouch's "horror" tackle on John Obi Mikel was just the latest in a week that has seen Denilson and Steed Malbranque jumping into tackles like they were trying to bomb the school nerd on a school trip to the local swimming pool. And that's without mentioning Stephen Ireland, Stephen Hunt and Robbie Keane, who have all shown more studs than courage this season.
But while the sight of Crouch throwing his legs around Mikel was a bit like seeing a man trapped in a deckchair, we at AOTG are obliged to take it more seriously than that. As Emmanuel Eboue's fierce tackle on John Terry proved at the weekend, people can get hurt with these kind of kitchen-sink-and-devil-the-consequences challenges. It's only a matter of time before someone has their eye out.
So the question is, what can the FA do to stop this scourge? Rafa Benitez's suggestion that the whole palaver would have been avoided if a foul - sorry, Rafa, two fouls - had been awarded earlier is the most naïve notion since someone entrusted Rio Ferdinand with responsibility for organising the Christmas party.
But driving the challenge out of the game is clearly not as easy as you would think. The FA has already taken action. Perpetrators of said challenge are routinely given a red card and a three-match ban, but they just keep leaping back in.
So what can the FA do to stop players doing this before it gets serious? Send your suggestions to sport@timesonline.co.uk
SOL DESTROYING INSULTS
Is anyone else curious about the abuse that set Sol Campbell off in a rage yesterday? According to one well-placed source who was at Fratton Park on Saturday, Sensitive Sol got off lightly (certainly compared to the stick he's received at Spite Hart Lane in recent years).
The only abuse that our insider heard, and he was listening out, was a fairly tedious and unpleasant song that goes something like "Sol Campbell, you're a c***". It was repeated every time he went up for a corner or found himself next to the visiting team's fans.
Admittedly, if the BBC can try to bleep out "faggot" in a popular seasonal song, the little ditty is unlikely to make it to the Christmas No 1 slot, but surely Sol must have heard worse.
Maybe he just doesn't like losing to Spurs, something that never happened to him when he was at Arsenal.
HORSES FOR COURSES
Anyway, on a lighter note, it's good to see that Captain Courageous is living up to his reputation. John Terry may be ruled out for four to six weeks with a broken metatarsal, but it appears as though the Chelsea and England star is going to try to run it off. John Terrry, the horse who our colleagues on the racing desk tell us is a useful middle-distance handicapper on the Flat, makes his hurdling debut in the 1.40 at Ascot tomorrow.
STAT-TASTIC CHRISTMAS
Loosen up those synapses in anticipation of Bill Edgar's top 50 stats of 2007. Edgar, football's answer to Albert Einstein, has produced the statistical equivalent to the theory of special relativity, a work of intellectual magnitude that pushes back the frontiers of our understanding of the beautiful game. Find out why Dario Gradi was more of a manager than the rest of his Championship counterparts put together, why a Tottenham-West Ham match bore similarities to a Beatles comeback tour and revel in the proof that Lee Bowyer and Scott Parker have more in common than a game of keep-uppy in McDonald's.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article3075231.ece
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>>>>>THE TABLOID SCANDAL<<<<<
FERGUSON BANS CHRISTMAS - Daily Mirror
What you need to know: 1) Sir Alex Ferguson has banned team Christmas parties in the wake of the rape claim against one of his stars. 2) A source said: "Fergie was seething. The sort of night they had will be a thing of the past." 3) Barns, bolting, horses, stables, doors. In any order you want.
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A quickie before you go, sir?
CRAZY FREE KICKS
A selection of the best goalscoring moves from free kicks - and David Nugent somehow scores one of the best of them. More movement than the Red Arrows, more cunning than Baldrick and lots of goals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZwN9UiXdvs
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268
Since June 1984, England have played 268 matches but none in South America (one from Bill Edgar's top 50).
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In TheGame
Tony Cascarino, Times Online's very own agony uncle , has been answering your questions. Why Jack Charlton makes for a rubbish Under-9s coach, how bin bags don't really help you sweat it off (a hamburger in each hand doesn't count as a balanced diet, either) and why hitting the wall could be the answer to "Joe Cole's" dismal shooting record.
http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/
It's Guillem Balague's turn to reply to your posts on TheGame Podcast blog . He explains why youth policies are a waste of time if the coaches aren't up to scratch. And the debate about Don Fabio and the Mafia jokes continues...
http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2007/12/grand-slam-sund.html
Martin Samuel, our Chief Football Correspondent replies to your comments in the debate about whether Liverpool are a big club in Europe.
http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2007/12/the-debate-ma-2.html
Sol Campbell's comments about his abuse have sparked a healthy debate on our blog - but if Sensitive Sol is looking for some support, he'd be better off ringing Garry Richardson (again).
http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2007/12/debate-is-sol-1.html
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>>>>>THE RIVALS<<<<<
* Baddy long legs! Crouch sees red - The Sun
* Shevchenko has last word as Crouch sees red - The Guardian
* This is England: a country where football enjoys excess in all areas - The Independent
* Cr-ouch ... Liverpool out after striker sees red for horror lunge - Daily Mail
* Red card: Liverpool's stadium plans in jeopardy as banks block American owners - The Daily Telegraph
* OVER THE TOP ... Crouch shame as Chelsea pile on misery for Rafa - Daily Mirror
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Joe Bloggs' Soapbox
My heart bleeds for the poor lad [Sensitive Sol]. What is it about these soft sensitive southern sometime Spurs players? It started with the workshy Mido complaining about some witty banter from The Toon fans at Boro earlier in the season and now it's the super thin-skinned Sol. Let's take away the atmosphere and the fans and whoops there's no TV and no ridiculous wage packets. That should give him something to moan about!.
We're not sure we'd dismiss the abuse suffered by Mido quite so readily, let alone call it witty, but we're with Andy Horrocks from Newcastle apart from that.
How much does he earn? 30k a week? People could shout at me for a few hours a week for that kind of money!
If only Adam Guest was right. Sadly, we suspect Sad Sol wouldn't get out of bed for that.
I may be in a minority, but I have long felt that abuse of players (and managers and referees) has been getting out of hand.
It seems that many "fans'" main reason for going to a game is to hurl mindless, spiteful vitriol at all and sundry, with the express objective of eliciting some sort of reaction which enables them to complain to stewards (or the BBC) and demand the arrest of their "victim" (for waving or blowing a kiss or something equally harmless).
While booing a former player who might have left in circumstances which called their loyalty into question (as undoubtedly was the case when Sol left Spurs) is pretty understandable and should be ignored by the players, some of the personal abuse is rather harder to dismiss.
I wonder at the intelligence of some of these "fans" who seem to have little interest in the performance of their team, but seem intent on causing upset in a wholly distasteful and unacceptable way to their targets.
Why can fans spend 90 minutes acting like animals then call for their target to be arrested when they react - whatever happened to fair play and sportsmanship?
By the way, I am 45, so I don't feel that I come from a "different age", i.e. like a dinosaur, but I do feel that I had to come out in support of the players in this case.
It's good to have a different point of view and Chris Parker's point is valid. However, we prefer this next one.
"Sportsmen and managers are trying to do their job professionally and people are abusing them verbally. It has gone too far." - I guess Sol hasn't noticed the abuse which players direct towards the match officials when they are trying to do their jobs. At least players don't get surrounded by fans screaming in their faces, close enough to feel the spit which comes out of their mouths!
If only Sean Cronin worked for The Today Programme.
I'm sick of hearing how good Arsenal's 'young guns' are. Why has nobody actually taken a close look at this team, where they all come from and how much they actually cost.
Of the starting 11 against Blackburn in the Carling Cup only two were English, Justin Hoyte and Mark Randall. Everybody has been banging on about a lack of decent young English players. Has anybody seen a connection? Also, people seem to think that this young Arsenal team is somehow the product of some kind of youth system. That is just not the case.
1. Fabianski - Polish - bought in last year from Legia Warszawa, probably for around £2m although Arsenal chose to keep the fee to themselves.
2. Hoyte - English - a true product of the Arenal youth system.
3. Traore - French - bought in from Monaco for around £1m.
4. Senderos - Swiss - bought in from Servette for around £2.5!!!
5. Song - Cameroon - bought from Bastia for £1m.
6. Randall - English - youth
7. Diaby - French - bought from PSG for £2m
8. Denilson - Brazilian - bought from Sau Paulo for £4m
9. Diarra - French - bought from Chelsea for £2m
10. Eduardo - Croatian - bought from Zagreb for £8m
11. Bendtner - Danish - bought from KB - undisclosed
So if we look at the facts, Arsene Wenger has not got a good youth system at all. What is actually happening is that he is buying young players that have been developed at other clubs, for large sums of money. The team against Blackburn was worth at least £22m in transfer fees!!
We're happy to give the floor to Oliver Urpi and maybe we should applaud the club's scouts not coaches. Any dissenters?
Joe Bloggs' England XI:
GK: Carson, S
LB: Cole, A
CB: Terry, J
CB: Ferdinand, R
RB: Richards, M
DMC: Hargreaves, O
LMC: Barry, G
RMC: Gerrard, S
AMC: Rooney
SC: Heskey
SC: Owen
4-1-2-1-2 formation.
Hargreaves in front of the back four to provide some cover on counter attacks, Rooney behind a front two. Hargreaves and Barry to cover right and left backs respectively when the full backs go forward. When in possession, Hargreaves to push up into central midfield, Gerrard to push up to attacking midfield and Rooney to push up to striker. When the opposition have all the possession, Rooney to slip back to left midfield to support Barry, Hargreaves and Barry go deep to help the full backs.
Noble Francis with a formation so flexible that we'll call it the yoga.
Somebody hit the "italic" button halfway through typing today's AOTG, eh?
Paul Hemmings spotted our deliberate Christmas font yesterday. Honest.
AOTG was earlier than usual in the inbox today at 17.30. But it was yesterday's edition. Maybe the Christmas post is holding things up, even on the web.
Sorry about that Stanton . Believe it or not, we didn't get ours yesterday - and we sent the b***** thing. We blame Santa - ever since he signed for Blackburn he's been much more unreliable.
Send your mail to: sport@timesonline.co.uk
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Tomorrow's news today
- What the FA's new centre of excellence means for England
- Jinxed King out again
- Full report as Everton take on AZ Alkmaar
And expect...
An Armani-clad Capello to say he wouldn't be seen dead in Burton.
The new registration process is up and running, so it's like pyramid selling once again. Spread the word.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tools_and_services/subscriptions/e-mail_bulletins/
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