Cautious optimism for Leeds fans as owners splash the cash

Just another boring pre-season for Leeds, I tried to write something about the torpor…

You can tell it’s a long time since Leeds United were a force in English football, a great footballing chasm since David O’Leary’s babes almost bested Barcelona, dismantled Besiktas in front of a rocking Elland Road and tamed Anderlecht in their own back yard.

You know how? On the fleeting occasions now that Leeds are on television, commentators rarely exclaim how many years it is since 2001, when Leeds went on that thrilling Champions League run, or since 2004, when they dropped out of the top flight in the midst of the financial tsunami which made it fall to its knees.

Now, the club are treated with the same casual indifference afforded to a range of mediocre Championship clubs, with only the odd reference thrown in to that side, built on the quicksand of Peter Ridsdale’s kamikaze chairmanship. Despite the money, that era, like Don Revie and Howard Wilkinson’s before it, now seems a curious quirk of footballing past; an anachronistic tale of a side full of home-grown talent causing earthquakes amongst the very best in the country and Europe.

It may appear that, compared to that period, and the tumultuous fall down the leagues that followed, the last few seasons have been relatively calm for Leeds fans, with the club safely cossetted in the Championship once more.

But in fact this period has increasingly engendered resentment and frustration, as under-investment over several seasons and the increasingly vituperative conduct of chairman Ken Bates has drawn fans’ ire. Neil Warnock, brought in to engineer one of his trademark promotions, spectacularly failed, succeeding only in instilling what seemed almost a deliberately awful brand of football which saw Leeds sink to 12th place before he departed in April.

Initial optimism generated by GFH Capital taking control of the club last December quickly dissipated, despite the new owners impressing with fan pleasing measures like half-season tickets and moving ageing bile dispenser Ken Bates out of an operational role.

New boss Brian McDermott had spoken at the end of last season about the need to get six or seven new players in, preferably before the start of pre-season. But when the squad returned to Thorp Arch 10 days ago, only one had been signed, rookie beanpole striker Matt Smith from Oldham Athletic.

This festering hostility bubbled over a week ago, when rumours on Twitter quickly went viral on the #lufc hashtag that McDermott had spoken frankly about a lack of funds at a charity dinner. The former Reading manager revealed he was due to meet the board to discuss why several of his summer transfer targets had not yet been signed.

After getting the job in April, McDermott has impressed all with his quiet but steely determination. He oversaw an immediate refresh of the club’s on-field performances, drawing unfathomably energetic performances from Warnock’s leaden booted charges. There is a belief that he is the man to get Leeds back into the top flight, if he is given the money required to do so. That it appeared that Leeds were back in the familiar position of having none only ratcheted up fans’ despair.

Then, suddenly, the club’s dusty old coffers were opened. Rumours spread late on Saturday night last week that Leeds had made a seven-figure bid for highly-rated Crewe midfielder Luke Murphy, and those rumours came to unlikely fruition on Monday when he signed for the club, in the most expensive transfer since the capture of Richard Cresswell in 2005. That was quickly followed by the signing of Noel Hunt on a free transfer from Reading, and rumours circulate that the club are in for Dundee United’s highly rated Gary Mackay-Steven amongst others.

So what to make of this sudden and dramatic shift from skint to spendthrift? GFH Capital have made no secret of the fact they are open to further investment into the club, and a transfer of mortgage shares between GFH and a company called Brendale Holdings based in Dubai has increased speculation that more funds are coming into the club.

But, as some ever pessimistic Leeds fans have suggested, the funds for the transfers of Murphy, Hunt and others could have been freed up by the completion of contracts for peripheral squad players at the end of June. Unsettling links still also remain between starlet Sam Byram and Premier League clubs.

Whatever the reason, the signing of Murphy has reenergised Leeds fans, and McDermott has sounded refreshed and optimistic when giving interviews to local media about further additions.

Fans are restless for Leeds to be back in the top flight, and are perhaps more willing now to turn a blind eye to the schizophrenic backroom behaviour of the Leeds United board. The consequences of financial irresponsibility of the club have been terrible for the club in the past so there is a need to be wary, but, with McDermott at the helm, there is a sense that the media won’t be ignoring Leeds for much longer.

Read the original, my debut article, for the excellent Footyplace here. 

Norwich City: What’s in store for the Canaries next season?

I wrote previously towards the end of last season about the alarming drop off in Norwich City’s form, and the real threat they could be dragged into relegation trouble. In the end, a late season rally saw them finish in a deceptively comfortable 11^th place and guaranteed a third season in the top flight. Other than the obvious benefits of staying up, the real boon comes in the form of £8.5m Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, who has finally arrived from Sporting Lisbon. The deal, originally announced in March, was under threat as Norwich flirted coquettishly with the Championship, and his confirmed arrival will be a huge relief for Canaries fans.

Van Wolfswinkel comes already with pedigree, with a good goal-scoring record in Holland and Portugal, as well as two caps for Holland, a team blessed with attacking riches. He can play in a range of roles across the frontline and is a proven finisher. His capture is really an astonishing coup, having been linked in previous years to the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United.

The resources taken to complete the deal, their record signing, are testament to their shrewd and steady progression through from a well-publicised 7-1 shellacking at home to Colchester on the first day of the 2009/10 League One season. The transfer policy of ex-boss Paul Lambert and later Hughton was clear; to look to the lower leagues for talented young players available on the cheap. This has sustained in the Premier League with the arrivals of Bradley Johnson, Jonny Howson and Robert Snodgrass from financial basket-case Leeds United, Anthony Pilkington from Huddersfield Town and Elliott Bennett from Brighton.

But Hughton is now moving on. The players heading out of Carrow Road this summer; Chris Martin, Marc Tierney, Elliott Ward, Simeon Jackson, Korey Smith, won’t recoup the club a lot of money in fees or wages, but it’s a sign of intent if nothing else. These were core members of their League One and Championship teams. Those integral to Norwich’s astonishing double promotion are now surplus to requirements. Thanks and good luck.

But Van Wolfswinkel alone will not transform Norwich into a top half side. As I discussed in my last column on the Canaries, the area they have particularly struggled is in front of goal, with Grant Holt their top scorer last season with eight league goals, and no other forward scoring more than three. The club made a mistake in awarding Holt a bumper new deal after a surprisingly explosive debut season in the top flight, his difficult second season looking more like the type of return initially expected from him. Their lack of goals was initially addressed in January, when the club returned to the ravaged carcass of Ken Bates’ Leeds for one last bite for top-scorer Luciano Becchio, and to the MLS for the loan of Kei Kamara. Kamara looked energetic but lacking in real quality, and Becchio has barely looked that, his talent as a finisher obscured by an apparent lack of mobility.

So it’s no surprise that the club are hotly linked with Celtic’s Gary Hooper to link up with the new Dutch hitman. But Celtic, aware that Hooper is in demand south of the border, are holding out for a whopping fee from his range of suitors. Norwich could easily find themselves being forced to break their transfer record yet again if they want Hooper, having had bids close to £8m turned down in January. Whilst Van Wolfwinskel’s quality allows for such indulgence, Hooper isn’t worth it.

Their third signing of the summer, after capturing previous loanee Javier Garrido on a permanent deal, has just been announced as the bright young starlet Nathan Redmond from Birmingham City. Redmond is pacy and direct, and probably a really decent signing, but it would be a big step up for him if he was to have an immediate impact next season. Snodgrass is tricky and does have quality, but there is little else in the squad which could compliment the class of Van Wolfswinkel. With noises already emerging from the player that his move is primarily to boost his profile ahead of next summer’s World Cup, he may already need to be convinced that the club can match his ambition. Purchases like that of Redmond may be a sound investment in Norwich’s future, but they will do little to advance them now. Are they going to stick or twist?

So Norwich may have to look elsewhere for firepower, and for additional quality throughout the team. But this will require a different range of skills than those they have had to use in the past to acquire new players. Enticing gems from lower league teams is reasonably straight-forward, with clubs often desperate for cash and the allure of the Premier League too bedazzling to turn down for the players. But those of Van Wolkswinkel’s ability and clubs the stature of Sporting Lisbon will not be charmed so easily. Norwich have displayed admirable ambition so far this summer, but how much further are they willing to go?

This piece can also be found on SoccerSouls here.

Kinnear return just another in series of Mike Ashley blunders

So Newcastle United have finally confirmed Joe Kinnear as their new Director of Football on a three year deal. He will be responsible for all football matters, and both manager Alan Pardew and chief scout Graham Carr will report into him. After Kinnear’s meltdown on Talksport on Monday night, Newcastle fans are steeling themselves for the latest episode in the Mike Ashley saga.

The most fashionable explanation for Kinnear’s return is that Ashley is trying to manoeuvre Pardew out of the club, unimpressed with his performance last season after feathering his nest with an 8 year contract. But it’s now thought that the length of this contract was more symbolic than anything else, a supposed indication of a new period of stability at the club, but could actually be broken quite easily. A more plausible, yet infinitely scarier possibility is that Ashley simply thinks it’s a good idea.

The man’s got form. Like his Sports Direct chain, which operates as a perennial large-scale jumble sale, the Ashley led Newcastle United is a paper thin veneer over total chaos. His reign has seen them in the top five of the Premier League, the return of noisy European nights to St James’, and the development of a sophisticated European scouting network. But it’s also firmly established Newcastle as a national laughing stock, the victim of Ashley’s hare-brained schemes, enthusiastically nodded through by his pals and corporate ‘yes-men’. Here are just a few of them, in case you were convinced by his apparent conversion to Machiavellian genius.

Man of the people

Mike Ashley has built-up a personal fortune of over £1bn. Presumably this involved a degree of marketing savvy, which he immediately seemed to abandon with wanton glee once he bought Newcastle in 2007. Ashley was initially notorious for wearing a replica shirt in the director’s box and sinking a pint, and for appearing, like some sort of beer-soaked cockney Batman, in Newcastle nightspots to put his credit card behind the bar.

Newcastle fans initially warmed to this routine, which seemed a naff but interesting way to ingratiate himself with fans. But as soon as results didn’t live up to expectations it became a ridiculous spectacle. Geordies, like fans of any other club, enjoy a drink and a laugh when they go to watch their team, but it is secondary to success and being entertained on the pitch. It was so achingly obvious that Ashley was doing it in an attempt to paint himself as an ‘honorary Geordie’. Only delivering success for the club was likely to bestow that honour.

SJP to SDA

If there’s one thing that Toon fans do well, it’s romanticise their club. It is testament to the power of the Geordie faithful and the pulsating atmosphere when in full throat at St James’ Park that they’re still considered a big club amongst other fans. The ground itself dominates the city, visible from all corners. Its physical hallmarks are iconic, from the Strawberry pub to the towering Gallowgate End, its great hulking physicality at Newcastle’s very heart. It is the very antithesis of corporate re-branding.

So you have to wonder what Ashley’s motivation was for renaming St James Park’ the Sports Direct Arena. Had he simply given up trying to win the affection of his club’s supporters by this point? Derek Llambias, regularly trotted out to defend Ashley’s decisions, suggested it was purely business. But no popular decision when you’re running a football club can be. If it was purely a vehicle to advertise Sports Direct, a brand already well-established in the city with its mega emporium in the Eldon Square shopping centre, it backfired spectacularly. Fans tore the signs down, daubed the old name on the walls and most people, even in the media, carried on calling it St James’ Park anyway.

Wonga – just plain Wronga?

It’s not even the jarring insensitivity of a bloated rich man negotiating a multi-million pound deal with a company whose business success is predicated on charging interest rates of over 4000% in one of the most economically deprived regions of the country which most warrants this inclusion. It’s the fact that Newcastle’s best three players – Papiss Cisse, Hatem Ben Arfa and Cheick Tiote, are Muslim and have expressed deep reservations about wearing a shirt emblazoned with the Wonga logo as its business practices are incompatible with Islamic law. Although a creative solution involving black tape will probably be achieved, it is of utter embarrassment that the club has managed to alienate its best players in such a crass way.

Not so Wise

Bringing back Kevin Keegan was an idea doomed to failure, but at least it was appreciated by Newcastle fans, hungry for the naked optimism which accompanied his first spell in charge. But what better way to completely undermine Keegan’s influence than by appointing Dennis Wise above his head as Executive Director, responsible for player recruitment. Suddenly Wise, on the back of two plucky lower league managerial jobs at Swindon and Leeds, was suited up in the director’s box, operating at a strategic level he had no experience of. This ghastly year long spell brought only the signings of Xisco (9 appearances in 3 years) and Nacho Gonzalez on loan (2 appearances) before Wise was quietly shown the door.

Kinnear – the first incarnation

Just ever so slightly less inexplicable than re-hiring Joe Kinnear this week is the fact they hired him in the first place back in 2008. Kinnear then too stumbled from one debacle to another, whether it was his sweary evisceration of the nation’s press, or the Charles Insomnia affair, the first in a line of comedy mispronunciations of foreign player’s names. A heart attack led to a hasty withdrawal from the game, before his surprise reappearance.

Throughout all this, Mike Ashley has remained at the helm. His plan of putting the club up for sale seems to have been shelved for now, but if the reaction of the Newcastle fans this week is anything to go by, it may have to be dusted off again soon.

Full Employment – sounds good, but where, for how much, and for how long?

Tory ministers’ frothy mouthed calls for Labour to finally unveil some new policies were answered a couple of weeks ago when shadow DWP Minister Liam Byrne made a speech at the offices of IPPR North, in which he outlined Labour’s grand plan for a return to full employment. In a wide-ranging speech taking in Beveridge, Attlee and the building of the welfare state, Byrne outlined how the old truism, that full and meaningful employment is key to social and economic prosperity, is still relevant today.

Full employment, claimed Byrne, would not just benefit those returned to work, but also those unlucky enough to be temporarily cast out of it. A strong labour market would reduce the pressures on the benefit system, up £24bn since the financial crash, and reaffirm its purpose intended by the postwar Labour government – “social insurance for a rainy day”. It would help pay down the debt. It would be a moral mission to rid people of the scourge of worklessness.

It’s bad enough being in work at the moment. The austerity policies of the current government necessitate living standards being squeezed, but for those already all wrung out, the effects have been devastating. Homelessness is up, and a new report claims that up to half a million people are now turning to food banks to feed themselves and their families. Figures show that one in five people have been looking for work for over two years. Getting these people into work seems to be more important now than ever before. The TUC have been leading the charge, as they led thousands on a march through London in October 2011 to call for a “future that works”; for the government to invest in jobs to spur growth.

But, just as Byrne’s speech begins to sound like a much-needed clarion call for a return to the post-war settlement; its sweeping historical trajectory begins to take in the realities of globalisation. The last thirty years have seen the previously unimaginable global growth of markets, interconnecting most of the world’s population. It will be remembered as the time when capital went mobile and threw off the shackles of closed economies, much to the detriment of British workers, as jobs were transferred overseas. Or, as Byrne put it, “giant firms often richer than nations now have the power to move jobs to wherever the skills are greatest or the wages lowest.”

So, Byrne is clear, there cannot be a return to low-skilled, low pay employment here in the UK. Instead, as they do in Germany, we must ‘skill up’ local workforces to face the requirements of local businesses.  Here the speech dips in detail, but Byrne was able to point to the great swathes of people who were thrown out of the work by the great Thatcher monetarist experiment, destroying whole communities, and their potential for generating local growth.

It is a noble goal, and evidence of fresh thinking. But it cannot be a continuation of the dreadful work programme, back to work assessments and zero hour contracts. If the Labour front bench is unable or unwilling to imagine that an alternative to these schemes is possible, then that is cause for alarm. Byrne identifies the transformative impact of globalisation as the principal cause of stubbornly high levels of unemployment, and yet thinks a Labour government could somehow mitigate its effects. Byrne is known to be one of the shadow ministerial team who believes that Labour can only win in 2015 if they commit to Tory spending plans, and it is even less clear how this plan, so mighty in its ambition, could stand a chance with such meagre resources.

This is the longest and most prolonged slump in our economic history. As TUC economist Duncan Weldon illustrates on his blog, we have now experienced a ‘lost decade’ of GDP per capita growth, and wages have fallen in real terms over the last three years. James Plunkett from the Resolution Foundation’s closer look at last week’s ONS release showed a significant drop in levels of business investment and exports. Despite cut after cut in the rate of corporation tax, there has been no discernible impact on reinvestment, and businesses are now sitting on any money they do have. Byrne identified this problem in his speech, describing how “the cash is simply stacking up in corporate bank accounts. Our new Bank governor Mark Carney will recognise the phenomenon from Canada where he has attacked the curse of ‘dead money’.” Keynes’ economic theories are back in fashion and this inevitability was central to them; that it would inevitably sharpen wealth inequality and increase unemployment.  How can Labour reverse this historical trend?

As too did Byrne mention how globalisation has changed the economic landscape. As this superb Robert Skidelsky analysis in the New Statesman illustrates, it was this which resolved the issue of capital’s declining profitability, as it became free-moving, able to exploit the new productive abilities of emerging markets. Byrne is right to say Britain cannot undercut these low-pay, low-skill economies, which themselves are transforming rapidly.

But the elephant in the room in this discussion remains. ‘A future that works’, that of full employment, was a concept attainable in an era of fixed national economies, but the economic stress such policies caused created the conditions whereby capital reasserted its dominance over labour. Whenever Keynes is deployed as the rationale for such policies, it is worth reminding ourselves, as Skidelsky does, of his overall ambition, for us to enjoy a “golden age” of abundance, and a 15 hour working week. Simply working to earn and consume was never a long-term policy goal. Why, when rapid technological advances are enabling wide-scale automation in our factories and shops, are we so afraid of its potential to put us all out of work? This is surely the golden age which Keynes foresaw.

It is understandable that Labour see unemployment, low growth and under-consumption as central to our economic woes. Tackling these issues have rightly been the historical duty of the centre-left, but as centre-left governments and parties struggle all across Europe in the midst of an unparalleled crisis, the time has surely come for an alternative which is innovative and sustainable. Labour and the representatives of labour should not simply call for employment at all costs, or work itself as the answer, but to promote a new, equitable type of work. The New Economics Foundation champion a 21 hour working week, and ideas like the citizens wage and the community allowance would be a welcome start to moving away from the fear of unemployment. Let’s start treating this crisis with the respect it deserves.

No great lament for the loss of Tony Pulis

Tony Pulis got sacked by Stoke. Some people said it wasn’t fair. These people can’t have watched Stoke lately. 

As Barney Ronay points out in his typically erudite summation of the Tony Pulis era at Stoke, there will be little lament for his managerial passing. The initial ground-shaking tremor caused by their ascension to the Premier League back in 2008 has petered out into ever-tinier trembles, and even though Stoke eventually finished the season in a respectable 13^th place, it seemed inevitable that Pulis would leave this summer.

In fact, you’d almost be forgiven for forgetting that he was even still there. Their fans bemoan their perennial role of Match of the Day bottom-feeder, their game regularly relegated to last place, Shearer and Hansen too exhausted from their extensive analysis of other games to comment. But, spare a thought for the MOTD bods behind the scenes, trawling through Stoke games for incidents. They registered 34 goals all season, only eclipsed by the execrable QPR. 44% of these came directly from set pieces. Such a record can’t be put down to profligacy either; they managed the worst record in the league of dribbles, overall shots per game and shots on target. They rarely managed to achieve over 50% of possession, and their top goal-scorer Jonathan Walters scored only eight times, three of which were penalties. Combined, these stats neatly demonstrate a point; that Stoke aren’t very good to watch.

This alone isn’t cause to sack a manager. Stoke’s style is said ugly but effective; but it’s debatable how true that still is. Their points total this season – 42, was their lowest since promotion in 2008. Their highest Premier League finish, 11^th, was achieved three seasons ago. Pulis stressed that their primary aim was always to avoid relegation each season, but when sides such as West Brom and Swansea have made some sizable strides forward, this seemed peculiarly unambitious.

Despite his frequent protestations about his squad compared to those of the top sides, Pulis was always well-backed by his board and given funds to strengthen his squad throughout his tenure. In the January transfer window of the successful 2007/8 promotion campaign, over £4m worth of players were brought in. Each of his five seasons in the top flight have seen him being given big budgets, and yet so much has been wasted on forgettable squad fodder; soon to be discarded.

Pulis’ hallmarks were easily identifiable, the tall powerful strikers, pacy direct wingers and imposing centre backs. His philosophy seemed unbinding, which made some of his signings so inexplicable. The likes of Tuncay and Eidur Gudjohnsen were acquired, seemingly with little idea how they would fit in to Stoke’s style of play. The signing of Michael Owen this season continued this odd trend. Jonathan Woodgate, an elegant centre-back, admittedly on the wane, was occasionally deployed at right-back where he seemed completely lost.

When the grinding mechanical gears of Stoke’s football clicked into place, they could be impossible to play against, backed by the raucous Brittania crowd. Signings like Jermaine Pennant were inspired, complimenting Matthew Etherington on the opposing flank with direct, attacking intent and the ability to pin back full-backs. But Pulis fell out with him, and left him out in the cold this season and last. Rumours of dressing room disharmony couldn’t be quelled, and the bizarre tale of Kenwynne Jones and the pig’s head found in his locker seemed to be the nadir of these internal machinations.

Of course Pulis’ achievements should be noted, guiding Stoke to the top tier for the first time since the mid-eighties, staying there for five consecutive seasons and taking the club to the FA Cup Final in 2011. But that they won few admirers beyond those who marvelled at the hulking physicality of his side and of Rory Delap’s throw-in indicated that he was probably never going to be the man who progressed Stoke into a top-half team. The club are right to look for a new direction, but rumours linking them to Mark Hughes aren’t a great start. Rumours abound that he is seen as a “good fit”. To some hoping to see a new philosophy at Stoke, this might just sound like more of the same.

Read the original piece here at the Football Pink. 

Hull City – Promotion is a massive achievement but the real fight begins now

Remarkably, Hull City managed to get promoted to the Premier League. Why? Let me tell you…

There is an old saying in football that ‘the table never lies’. But even for those well versed in football’s oldest clichés, this season’s final Championship rankings look like they’re telling a few fibs.

From the bottom up, it’s a table of statistical oddities. Peterborough, relegated on the final day after conceding two late goals against Crystal Palace, finished with a record-breaking 54 points for a relegated side. Only bottom-placed Bristol City lost more games than Middlesbrough, who only finished 16^th.

And as Leeds’ Ross McCormack’s tame last minute chip squirmed apologetically through the arms of debutant Watford goalkeeper Jack Bonham at Vicarage Road on Saturday, the table committed its biggest deceit, with Hull City finishing second and gaining automatic promotion back to the Premier League. To many, it is an act of criminal subterfuge that this unfancied club in an unfashionable city with a squad lacking stars climbed back to the game’s summit, ahead of the flashier Watford, home to a wealth of flair players borrowed from Serie A.

But brace yourselves; they deserved it. There are undoubtedly some good teams in the Championship, many probably better than Hull at their peak. But such has been the tendency for clubs to fall over themselves and commit harikari, sabotaging their own promotion push before it even really started, Hull deserve a lot of credit.  Middlesbrough burned out at Christmas, Leicester became cowed under pressure, and Bolton and Nottingham Forest left it too late. Hull simply delivered better than anyone else in the pack below them at one key and defining trait; consistency.

Despite having lost the pace and daring of match-winner Sone Aluko to injury back in the winter, Steve Bruce sustained their promotion push as all around them faltered. Gambling on George Boyd in a February loan move when Nottingham Forest declared him a liability due to faltering eyesight was astute; his craftiness and guile was key in dragging them out of a form slump. Boyd, although lacking true pace, has the technical ability to succeed in the Premier League.

Their feat is even more remarkable when you consider their dearth of forward talent. Their top scorer Robert Koren grabbed a mere nine goals, and the highest scoring out and out striker was Jay Simpson with seven.  In their decider against Cardiff, winger-cum-fullback Robbie Brady was deployed upfront, keeping misfiring £2.6m Nick Proschwitz on the bench. His smartly taken goal was sandwiched by a sitter and a tame missed penalty, neatly encapsulating his first season struggles in the English game. Proschwitz’s strike was only his thirdof the campaign. An inability to score goals in the error riddled helter skelter of the Championship does not bode well for their Premier League ambitions, and Hull will undoubtedly require funds to strengthen in the summer, with adding some firepower undoubtedly their first priority.

But before all that, credit has to be given to Steve Bruce. Even on the last day of the season, Hull seemed an unlikely candidate for promotion, and they really were rank outsiders at the start of the season. In many ways, despite their consistent presence at the top end of the table, they almost crept under the radar. The media were fixated on the Watford story, the emergence of a stylish Brighton and the high-spending Leicester. Bruce has rescued a reputation which was tanking, epitomised when Wolves turned their noses up at him when searching for Mick McCarthy’s replacement.  He will have allowed himself a wry smile at their differing fates since then.

He’s been well backed by enthusiastic and supportive owners, but Bruce has dealt cannily in the transfer market. He has returned to Sunderland to capture those frustrated by Martin O’Neill’s selection rigidity, and David Meyler and Ahmed Elmohamady have been key figures. Alongside Meyler, Stephen Quinn has buzzed energetically, and their reputation for hard-working performances has followed from this busy midfield engine room. Bruce seems to have developed a knack for attracting quality Egyptian players to clubs he manages, and this has continued with the loan captures of Gedo and Ahmed Fathy.

But, looking at the squad, it is difficult to find much evidence of a squad primed for the Premier League battle. Reading have suffered from proceeding too cautiously, whilst QPR have enjoyed the same fate despite a glut of dazzling purchases. Hull and Bruce will need to tread a fine line, but if the 2012/13 Championship season has taught us anything, it’s not to write Steve Bruce off, and to expect the unexpected.

Read the original piece on the excellent Soccer Souls here.

Suarez: Defending the Indefensible

Suarez bit someone. Couldn’t ignore that one…

Luis Suarez’s latest descent into a temporary bout of mania came in the form of a fairly disgusting chomp on the bicep of Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic, for which the FA have slapped him with a 10 game ban.

The horror of Ivanovic at his pock-marked skin will be familiar to Dutch midfielder Otman Bakkal, who Suarez last took a chunk out of in 2010. He is known as “The Cannibal” in Eredivisie. Like spitting in an opponent’s face, it is not the brutality of the act which so appals, as a leg-breaking challenge might, but the nature of the offence; animalistic, unprovoked, unhinged.

Complimented by his consistent prat-falls and handballs, Liverpool’s head honchos are reflecting on whether his huge talents, exemplified by his nomination for PFA Player of the Year last week, are enough to warrant his place at the club, bearing in mind his alarming penchant for petulance.

So, having a diving, biting, banned star striker is clearly causing a severe headache for Liverpool’s owners. But contrast that with when Suarez was accused, charged and subsequently convicted of racially abusing Patrice Evra last season, which didn’t even seem to provoke a mild twinge. In fact, Liverpool’s players paraded in Suarez t-shirts during a pre-match warm-up, and joined then manager Kenny Dalglish in providing glowing character references.

And why did this happen? Not because Suarez denied using the slur – “negro” towards Evra (although he claims he did not repeatedly use it). He simply denied that it was racist, that in his home country of Uruguay it was not offensive. Dalglish agreed, stating that:

If you get into asking a linguistic expert, which certainly I am not, they will tell you that the part of the country in Uruguay where he [Suarez] comes from, it is perfectly acceptable.

That was good enough for a proportion of Liverpool fans and others, who bemoaned that Suarez was being unfairly persecuted for a simple cultural divergence.

Consider too, the reaction to the appointment of Paolo Di Canio as Sunderland manager. The foamy-mouthed furore ceased as soon as Di Canio offered the simplest denial of any fascist sympathies – “I do not support the ideology of fascism.” How this statement co-existed with multiple public stiff-armed salutes, a tattoo of Mussolini emblazoned across his back and the statement “I’m a fascist, not a racist” is less clear.

Is there anyone denying that Suarez didn’t bite Ivanovic? Is there anyone claiming, in the face in such compelling evidence, that Suarez was simply trying to give him a potato?  No, because it would be farcical, but so too was Suarez denying that calling a black man “negro” was a racist act. Perhaps, like with Di Canio, Suarez actually believed what he was saying. Di Canio seemed confused when critics drew comparisons with his uncomplicated, patriotic, peculiarly benign form of fascism with that of the murderous variety espoused by Benito Mussolini. Suarez, quite possibly, felt that the term “negro” was a playful term. But that these two men are too dim-witted to understand their own prejudices are no excuse. Aided by some quasi-philosophising in the press about what fascism in Italy really means, Di Canio too seems to have emerged from his dark period, helped by two handsome wins over Newcastle and Everton.  Providing he doesn’t bite anyone.

And the double standards are staggering. Our game is all too often unfortunately blighted by instances of racist idiots disguised as football fans, either paying their money to come and shout filth at men on a field, or causing mayhem outside the ground. When they are caught, they are mercifully banned from football grounds for life. Maybe in some cases they aren’t dyed in the wool racists, simply ignorant. That isn’t an excuse. And neither should it have been for Suarez.

As journalist Matthew Syed said of Suarez’s protestations:

I find this defence breathtakingly implausible from Suarez. He’s lived in Europe for four years — the idea that he didn’t know that this particular terminology would be deeply offensive to someone like Patrice Evra is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion.

So let’s use this opportunity that Suarez’s gnashers have granted us to re-assess what sort of man this is. Certainly one so troubled that he has twice gotten so annoyed on the football pitch so as to go and bite another person. It may well be that racists are more inclined to biting than non-racists, I couldn’t say. But just as a bite is a bite, and should be punished as such, racist abuse is racist abuse and should get the punishment it deserves. And that isn’t missing two fewer games than this latest indiscretion. He should never have even been at Anfield on Sunday.

Read the piece here on Backpage Football

Thatcher’s legacy: 96 is greater than one

In light of the death of Margaret Thatcher, this is a piece I wrote examining the legacy of her Government on footy in this country…

When Sir John Madejski, ex-chairman of Reading and prominent Conservative Party donor, called for a minute’s silence at their game against Liverpool last weekend to mark the death of Margaret Thatcher, it was met with predictable and justifiable derision. For Liverpool supporters and residents, Thatcher’s premiership was one marked by deindustrialisation and urban unrest, and culminated in the tragedy of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. Reading confirmed the only minute’s silence planned would be for the 24^th anniversary of that tragedy, when 96 fans went to a football game and didn’t come home.

But it has been the remarks of Richard Tracey, Sports Minister in the Thatcher government, and Jeff Powell in the Mail that have really stuck in the craw.  For them, not only should football supporters pay their respects, they should also mark the passing of the saviour of the English professional game from the worst of hooliganism in the 1980s. As Tracey told BBC Radio 5Live last week:

 Frankly I think it’s rather cheap that they decided not to show any sort of respect for her, because, to be honest, she did really deliver what football is today, particularly with the Taylor report,  and the all-seater stadia.

How unfortunate that it was the death of 96 more football fans, crushed to death in a stand unfit for human beings, that led to such recommendations finally being implemented.

The warning sirens had been aired almost 20 years earlier when fire took 66 lives at Ibrox in 1971. The Safety of Sports Grounds Acts 1975 introduced regulations which required the need for safety checks at top level grounds, but it was slowed at lower level clubs, as political interest waned. In May 1985, the main stand at Valley Parade, home of Bradford City, caught fire and burnt down, likely caused when a discarded match was dropped onto a pile of uncleared litter which lay below the seats. Four minutes later, fire had engulfed the stand, a timber structure with a wooden roof. Fans piled onto the pitch, thankfully due to the lack of perimeter fencing so common at other grounds, but 56 people couldn’t escape the flames. If the regulations followed in the 1975 Act had been followed, it shouldn’t have happened.

The subsequent Popplewell Inquiry into the events elaborated on this negligence, and made some further key recommendations; for grounds to require safety certificates, to ensure fences met certain safety requirements. Home Secretary Leon Brittan told Parliament following the Bradford fire that there would now be “no question of putting up a fence to create a trap”.

But the immediate concern for the Thatcher government following 1985 was how to combat hooliganism, following the Heysel tragedy. David Evans, chairman at Luton Town, who was also a Conservative MP, spearheaded the campaign for a national membership scheme for football supporters, and the Football Spectators Act 1989 sought to introduce an ID card for any supporter wishing to travel to away games.  Football supporters were stigmatised, public safety became secondary to public order.  Such draconian measures were wiped away after following the Taylor report into the Hillsborough disaster.

The causes of the Hillsborough disaster and cover-up are now well known. Warnings about the ground’s dilapidated condition were ignored, the local authority negligent in assessing its safety, the police grossly negligent in stemming the flow through the turnstiles. Fences were constructed, gates locked and fans piled on top of each other to slowly suffocate to death.  In its immediate aftermath, the authorities closed ranks and squared the blame squarely on Liverpool supporters.  Only last year, 23 years on, has the truth finally been acknowledged.

Even following the publication of the Taylor report, Margaret Thatcher was wary of its conclusions. She rightly saw it was a “devastating criticism” of the police, but wished only to acknowledge its “thoroughness and recommendations”, rather than its “broad thrust”. So, whilst all-seater stadia were introduced immediately, the police’s negligence went unchallenged.

The warning signs were there for the Thatcher government, as were the legislation and inquiry recommendations to bring football’s facilities up to a decent standard. Instead, fans themselves became the target. Why did it have to take another 96 to die at Hillsborough before the lessons of Bradford were heeded? It is a national scandal and a national tragedy. Rather than crass or disrespectful, it was right that the only silence last weekend in football grounds was for those who needlessly died within them so many years ago.

Read the piece here at Backpage Football

So What’s Next For Martin O’Neill?

Has the once great man lost his touch?

In the midst of the furore at Sunderland surrounding the stiffness of Paolo Di Canio’s right arm and his predilection for saluting with it, the man he has replaced at the Stadium of Light has almost been forgotten. Martin O’Neill joined the swelling ranks of those who’ve lost their job in 2012/3, taking the grand total of managerial casualties to fifty in the Football League this season.

The circumstances of his departure seem fairly routine, his Sunderland side a victim of a late-season slump which has seen them draw perilously close to the relegation zone. Sunderland started the season with high expectations, a £25m summer spending spree had led to hopes of Europe, but they proved to be dashed as £10m Adam Johnson has floundered and £15m Steven Fletcher has struggled to recapture his early season form, starved of service from Johnson and James McClean, struggling with a serious case of second season syndrome.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. O’Neill arrived at the Stadium of Light to much fanfare in late 2011 and the initial signs were encouraging, with seven wins from his first ten games in charge. And although last season’s late season eight game winless slump drew some consternation, this season was thought to be the year O’Neill stamped his authority on the Black Cats. But the decline has continued, with only two wins before December and none since February.

Although the timing of his sacking, after a 1-0 defeat to Manchester United, raised eyebrows, the decision did not. This is quite remarkable when you consider that O’Neill has, over the last decade and a half, been heavily linked with the England job and tipped to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson. The gradual decline of his career leading to his walk-out at Aston Villa has suddenly accelerated as he now finds himself linked with vacancies at Championship level clubs like Leeds.

Although O’Neill is now 61, age alone is an insufficient explanation for his demise. It is however true that O’Neill is defiantly and unashamedly of the old school, nurtured in the shadow of Brian Clough.  His man-management skills are legendary, and he has built a reputation on inspiring fierce loyalty in his charges, and getting the best out of players who had been thought of as limited. O’Neill became a favourite of fans and the press after his high-octane touchline performances whilst at Leicester and Celtic, as he headed every ball and entered every challenge. But this has faded in Wearside. He has looked quiet and reserved in the dugout at the Stadium of Light, unable to lift his side, to provoke a modicum of spirit. As his players have lost confidence, so has he.

Traditionally consistent in selection, O’Neill has built his reputation on small squads, preferring to buy British. He has tended to set sides out rigidly, happy to cede possession and aiming to be most effective on the counter-attack. At Aston Villa, this was reasonably successful, with the searing pace of Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor complementing the imposing striking presence of John Carew. Although he came in promising a stylistic revolution, his Sunderland side have actually set out much the same way, but without the personnel to implement this system effectively. Johnson is tricky and clever on the ball, but ultimately not nearly dynamic enough to pin back full-backs. Sunderland have struggled to keep the ball, and often look listless and bereft of ideas.

Although O’Neill talks with illuminating insight about the game, this sort of philosophy puts him into a category with the likes of Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis, managerial company who he probably wouldn’t like to keep. His record in the transfer market is surprisingly poor, bordering on the dreadful in recent years. If you look at his buys at Aston Villa, from £8.5m for Nigel Reo-Coker, £8m for Curtis Davies and £7.8m for Carlos Cuellar, in contrast to those he let go, most notably Gary Cahill, it doesn’t make for good reading. He has spent big money at Villa and Sunderland for little return. His reputation as a mid-level manager for mid-level clubs looks increasingly well earned.

Taken as a whole, you worry that O’Neill simply hasn’t moved with the modern game. Younger managers of a similar stature; the likes of Brendon Rodgers or Nigel Adkins, are tacticians, almost geeky in their analysis of the strategic side of the game. Systems are tweaked and reshaped for certain games, and large squads are rotated and players rested. The role of club manager is increasingly replaced by a head coach, as scouting and recruitment are handled by other figures at the club. Layers of bureaucracy and corporate power mean that managers’ roles are becoming more clearly football based. None of this seems to fit with the style of Martin O’Neill.

After his side’s defeat to Manchester United last week, O’Neill told gathered football journalists that his glass was still ‘three quarters full’. That’s the kind of optimism O’Neill has built his reputation on and which delivered cup finals and silverware at Leicester and Celtic. He’ll need it if he wants to regain his once mighty reputation.

Read the article here on Soccer Souls, where I’m a weekly guest columnist. 

Leeds United: Let’s be realistic about O’Leary

I can’t blame Leeds fans for wanting David O’Leary back, however daft the idea seems.

It was, after all, under O’Leary that we enjoyed our finest years in the (relatively) modern era. Now that it’s almost ten long years since we were last in the Premier League, and twelve since THAT Champions League run, it’s that O’Leary side that represents the best that a sizeable group of our fans have seen, myself included.

As a 23 year old, I don’t remember the great 1991/2 title winning side, and have only hazy memories of seeing the likes of Strachan and McAllister strut their stuff in our midfield. As difficult as it is to admit now, my childhood heroes were the likes of Lee Bowyer and Harry Kewell. It was that O’Leary side that I loved so much, whose posters adorned my walls, who represented all that was good about our club. The gutsy heroism of Radebe, the grit of Batty, the trickery and pace of Kewell, the cool finishing of Viduka. It’s embarrassing, knowing what we do now about the corrosive behaviour in the boardroom, and how so many of those players disgraced themselves after leaving the club.

But my generation still look back on that period with so much fondness. Years of abject performances make us long for that time again, when finishing 4^th in the Premier League was deemed a failure.

And it’s not simply nostalgia. Who can blame fans for wanting to relive the better days when there is simply no future vision for the club? We have owners who seem desperate to flog the club a bit at a time, a recently departed manager who kept telling us he wanted to leave, and a bunch of new players accustomed to the nomadic lifestyle of being second-rate journeymen.

How different to how it was under O’Leary. Young players were plucked from the Academy and shone in the first team, complimented by wise old heads like Nigel Martyn. The fans, players and management were all seemingly united in a modern vision of Leeds United, playing exciting, attacking football. We took on the giants of Europe and beat them. Who can forget the last-minute victory against AC Milan or the humbling of Anderlecht?

But we have to take off these rose-tinted glasses. We won’t progress as a club by trying to relive the old days. The great Revie side were thrust into management, one by one, in the 1980s, to try and bring some success back to the club. Bremner, Clarke and Gray, all legends, failed, because of financial mismanagement and no vision for how we moved forward as a club.

And don’t forget O’Leary’s part in our demise. He oversaw a ludicrously imbalanced and bloated squad, signing the likes of Robbie Fowler and Seth Johnson for crazy fees on inflated wages, made increasingly bizarre statements to the press and wrote a book when he should have been concentrating on our stuttering on-field performances.

Not even considering the fact that O’Leary has been out of serious management for seven years, his return would be a bad mistake. We cannot move forward as a club by reliving the past.

Read it here on Spoughts, with lots more of my stuff on Leeds.