Grasshoppers Zürich have been forced to share the home of their city rivals, which isn’t fit for purpose. Paul Knott fears the worstOne of the great names, literally, of European football is at risk of disappearing. The record 27 times champions of Switzerland, Grasshopper Club Zürich (GCZ), are in debt, struggling on the field and without a home of their own.
Dear WSC
My thanks to Phil Robbins (Letters, WSC 290) for pointing out the usual mistakes made about the identity of the Milan clubs. Another thing that really annoys me is the common error over the name of their shared stadium. It is not the San Siro. It is the Giuseppe Meazza. San Siro is the district it’s in. In England one would say the Boleyn Ground but never the Upton Park. That would be daft, wouldn’t it?
Gary Valentini, Leeds
Dear WSC
In his letter in WSC 290, Phil Robbins raised a good point about English commentators getting the names of the Milan teams wrong. He then went on to say that both Internazionale and Milan play at the San Siro, which is something that until recently I didn’t realise is technically incorrect. Brian Glanville put me straight in his World Soccer column. Although almost universally referred to in Britain as the San Siro, the correct term is simply San Siro, which is the name of the district the stadium is situated in. So calling it the San Siro is a bit like saying Liverpool are playing at the Anfield. On the subject of commentator mistakes, I’m sure Arrigo Sacchi would have been a little cheesed off had he known that during the recent Spurs v Milan game, Clive Tyldesley referred to Milan as Fabio Capello’s team. Although Clive is correct in recognising that Fabio enjoyed success at Milan, it was built largely upon solid foundations laid by Sacchi, who brought Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten to the club as well as winning back-to-back European Cups in 1989 and 1990. Small beans, of course, but still relatively important if you are peddling so-called expert views on television.
Emerson Marks, Southampton
Dear WSC
Continuing the theme of daft phrases used by commentators and pundits, I’d like to point out my own personal favourite. Towards the end of each season we’re repeatedly told that the teams in the promotion frame are desperate to avoid “the lottery of the play-offs”. Like every other football contest the play-offs involve skill, pace, strength, tactics, concentration, commitment, along with a healthy slice of luck, and more often than not the best team wins. Quite often that team may not have been the better side throughout the regular league season but that’s a different issue. It’s interesting that the same term is never applied to other knockout contests. Since the two competitions use exactly the same format then surely we should also be discussing “the lottery of the Champions League semi-finals”. Unsurprisingly, I’ve never heard either ITV or Sky use that particular phrase when promoting their live coverage. However, if the pundits are right then perhaps we should seek solace in the randomness of it all. The next time England make their customary quarter-final exit, rather than descending into despair, the nation could take comfort in avoiding the lottery of the World Cup semis.
Karl Laycock, Mansfield
Dear WSC
I suspect that the concentration of youth players inw Premier League academies is already in full swing, if my club Leyton Orient are anything to go by. Currently having our best season since the late 1970s, it’s a niggling fact that none of our current first team come from our youth system. At least five mainstays of the team (Jamie Jones, Ben Chorley, Terrell Forbes, Jimmy Smith, Charlie Daniels) are youth-team products from Premier League clubs who have had to drop down the divisions to find regular football. Three current first-team players (Tom Carroll, Harry Kane, Paul-Jose M’Poku) are on loan from Tottenham, and have played vital parts in our season so far. The fact is, we and other lower-league clubs rely on youth players from wealthier teams to reinforce our squads. The issue seems to me not so much that smaller clubs are not properly reimbursed for training young players, but that the big clubs already have a powerful grip on the developing talent in this country.
Phil Laing, Chingford
Dear WSC
I found your article on British voices covering American soccer telecasts dead on (Losing the legacy, WSC 289). As a fan of the New York Red Bulls and the US national team, I can assure you that I find Red Bulls announcer Shep Messing’s Bronx accent and detailed knowledge of every player in MLS infinitely more enjoyable than hearing Steve McManaman ramble on without any knowledge of the American game whatsoever. I wouldn’t mind his accent, of course, if the former star had bothered to learn anything at all about the teams he was covering. His lack of interest in doing so showed a remarkable lack of respect for MLS, a league which draws well, is entertaining and has fuelled the development of the national team. While I certainly appreciate the game’s English history, having someone thoroughly ignorant of American soccer broadcast matches in the US is aggravating. The US is finally developing its own style of play and own systems of player development, yet it seems more determined than ever to “Anglo-cast”. Maddening.
William J Smith, Brooklyn, USA
Dear WSC
The WSC 290 Season In Brief about the Australian National Soccer League prompted happy memories of watching the Wollongong Wolves at Marconi Fairfield one winter’s night in Sydney in – I would guess – June 1998. After a goalless first half the visiting wolf mascot was doing the rounds, as mascots do, a few rows in front of me. Without preamble a man punched the wolf in the head. Even more remarkably, someone pointed out the attacker to a steward, who gave the guilty man a talking-to. Through the power of WSC, can anyone tell me what became of any of them?
Mark Rowe, Burton upon Trent
Dear WSC
I wasn’t around to see the Australian National Soccer League’s birth in 1977. But your Season In Brief brought back fond memories of the seasons that followed. For many years the NSL was a much-loved competition. It was passionately followed by those who knew what true football was, in a country dominated by other codes. We witnessed the formative years of some greats (Mark Viduka, Robbie Slater, Danny Tiatto and Brett Emerton, to name just a few). Yet as the article correctly describes, there was an inevitability about the league’s demise nearly 30 years later. It descended into a farce. Inept administrators, dwindling crowds, barren sponsorship and clubs stuck in old-world ethnic rivalries. At its nadir Peter Beardsley came out of retirement and played two miserable games for the Melbourne Knights. Sadly for some of us, the A-League is yet to fill the void. Crowds trebled in some cities and the breadth of support for the competition has clearly spread. Yet much of the substance of the game has gone. Matches are screened only on pay TV and freshly minted club supporters complain about the “touch judge”. When the A-League was launched in 2005 it was to much hope and fanfare. Since then two clubs have folded, finances have fluctuated and the games expansion has been put on hold. Now it would seem we’re not the only ones a little lost.
Dashiel Lawrence, Melbourne, Australia
Dear WSC
Like Alan Bunce (Letters, WSC 290), I too am driven to despair by the FA Cup draw. However, for me, it has become a real-life example of the proverb: be careful what you wish for, it might come true. Jim Rosenthal has taken to a new level the trend to throw in an inane comment after he reads out the team’s name when their ball number is called. I wouldn’t mind if he said something controversial, such as: “Manchester United, for whom Wayne Rooney will be available to play after getting away with a blatant elbow in the face yesterday.” What we actually get is inanities like: “Manchester United… a late winner at home yesterday.” I point the finger of blame at David Davies OBE, former executive director of the FA. I still remember how he used to add a little extra to the draw, supposedly for the benefit of the less well informed. The nadir was surely this: “Portsmouth… Pompey… from the south coast.” I’m a Southampton fan and even I was insulted, and I remember wishing they would put a trained broadcaster in his place. Well, they did. Enough said.
Tim Manns, Plymouth
Dear WSC
I must correct Dave Lee (Flood risks, WSC 290), who suggested that the FA was responsible for charging fans to watch Ukraine v England online in 2009. The FA didn’t own the rights to that fixture, they belonged to the Ukrainian FA, who originally sold them to Setanta. When they went bust, their agents Perform opted for the online model in lieu of, they claimed, any serious bids from another broadcaster. The FA have absolutely no say as to what happens with the TV rights for away qualifiers, Setanta just bought that one off their own back.
However you’re right to say that the FA did opt for online streaming of Under-21 matches, as well as additional FA Cup games, that were originally part of their contract with Setanta. The difference between the FA’s streaming and the Ukraine v England affair is that, as mentioned, the FA offers them for free.
Steve Williams, Cleethorpes
Dear WSC
In football it is an old adage that “a good player doesn’t become a bad one overnight”. This is certainly true of Fernando Torres – it has taken him the best part of a year.
Geoff Laidlaw, Newcastle upon Tyne
Dear WSC
In his letter in WSC 290 regarding who was overlooked for inclusion in the “Disappearing from view” section of Season In Brief, Tim Curtis seems to have misunderstood the inclusion criteria. As I understand it, those named are not necessarily players, teams or managers that have ended up furthest away from where they played in the season in question (like his suggestions of Barry Hayles, Andy Melville and Matt Jansen) but rather someone or something that reached the end of a glorious or noteworthy career during or around that season. Colin Calderwood was about to retire so his inclusion is entirely justified, while Tom’s suggestions all had reasonably significant careers after the end of 2000-01. Barry Hayles played three further seasons for Fulham, all in the Premier League, representing the highest level he played at before or since. Andy Melville retired in 2005 having also played in the top flight for the same three seasons for Fulham before a short spell at West Ham. Matt Jansen was only 24 in 2002 and, while a motorcycle accident in 2002 seemed to stall his promising progress, he continued with Blackburn and Bolton in the top division for a further five years. As for Ossie Ardiles, I’m pretty certain he would qualify as having disappeared from view after his sacking from Spurs in October 1994 – the following 17 years have seen short, largely unsuccessful spells at ten different clubs across the world. But he wasn’t managing in Division One in 2001 so he doesn’t really qualify for consideration for this particular article.
Fred Sullivan, Manchester
Dear WSC
Paul Knott’s praise of Ian Ashbee in WSC 290 was well merited. However, Paul should in future be more careful with his use of the word unique. In describing Ashbee’s feat of captaining his club in all four divisions, Paul would have been better advised to have used another descriptive term because it is certainly not unique. Ladies, gentlemen and WSC readers, I give you Don Masson. He not only captained Notts County in all four divisions but must surely be unique in as much as he also captained his country.
Mike Gyles, Alfreton
Dear WSC
In response to Keith Chapman’s letter in WSC 290, I can put his mind at rest. As a lifelong Newcastle fan (of the armchair variety in recent years) it pains me to say that I have reliable eyewitness accounts from St James’ Park of fans leaving the ground with the score at 4-0 to Arsenal, somehow unable to foresee the Gunners’ spectacular second-half capitulation. According to my source they numbered in the hundreds (probably about 30 or so accounting for excited exaggeration) and one hapless individual even volunteered to be interviewed by the local media in the days after the game declaring his misfortune at missing a stirling comeback by the Magpies. I can’t confirm that the individuals shown on MOTD were among those that actually left the ground, but I can with some confidence assure Mr Chapman that the BBC certainly didn’t “make it up about people leaving at half time”. Not this time anyway.
Paul Morrow, Newcastle upon Tyne
Dear WSC
While I wouldn’t want to defend the logic of splitting the SPL into two leagues after 33 games, there is certainly a logic and fairness behind preventing the seventh-placed team leapfrogging the sixth-placed team – in fact, unless there was a huge gap between the two after 33 games, you would expect it to happen. The sixth-placed team has to play against the five teams that finished above them, which is clearly a harder task than playing against the bottom five, as the seventh-placed team is required to do. I’d suggest that the SPL consider splitting the league between the top two and the bottom ten at the halfway stage, so that we can all enjoy the spectacle of Messrs McCoist and Lennon being banished to the stands on a weekly basis, but I fear they might take this idea seriously.
John Rooney, Bristol
From WSC 291 May 2011
Phil Sharman reflects on the American takeover of Derby County and how promises of world establishment have been cruelly transformed into economic turmoilIt used to be that owning a football club was about prestige. Few of the butchers and haulage contractors who took control of their local team expected to be able to sell at a profit. Today, however, if a club is moved up a level and established there it is possible to sell on at a price which exceeds the original investment. But three years on from their takeover, Derby County fans still cannot see what the American company General Sports and Entertainment (GSE) expects to get out of owning the club.
Inflammatory online material has been a factor in stormy games in Glasgow recently. Mark Poole looks at efforts to stem the tideThe fifth Old Firm match of this season was marked by three red cards, touchline arguments and more than 30 arrests in the stadium. As is usual on derby days, the number of arrests in Glasgow was significantly higher than usual. The SFA, police, politicians and journalists were appalled, so Celtic’s Peter Lawwell and Rangers’ Martin Bain were summoned to Edinburgh for a summit six days later.
Dear WSC
I was delighted to see my one and only childhood football video, 101 Great Goals, revisited in WSC 288’s Screen Test – and glad to find I’m not the only one ever bemused by its inclusion of Jimmy Greaves’ perfunctory toepoke next to the legendary moments of brilliance from Ronnie Radford, Ernie Hunt and (“…and still”) Ricky Villa. I was reminded, though, of the occasion a decade or so back when I dug my copy out – for the first time in a good while – to share with some contemporaries; we got about sixty goals in before they said, “You know, these are nothing special, we’re a bit bored now”. It was shocking to realise, yet I was maybe even thinking it slightly myself; what had seemed so glorious as recently as the mid-’90s could now appear workaday only a few years later. An average Match of the Day now contains as impressive a collection of netbusters as you’d find in any sample of 20-odd “all-time great'” goals on this tape. Shorn of the rosy tint, quite a few of those cherry-picked highlights from 1969-87 look startlingly unexceptional today. I feel sorry for the youngest fans who have never known anything else and so presumably will soon be unable to comprehend what all the fuss was about George Best or Charlie George. Personally, I’m rather glad I caught the tail end of the era in which that action was still considered remarkable, and hence was able to enjoy this video for many years; it was the best single source of classic-football education I ever had.
David Leverton, South Wales
Dear WSC
Following on from recent letters regarding annoying phrases of commentators and pundits, I’m mystified by the unofficial scale measuring the certainty of a penalty decision. Whether it’s a “stonewaller”, “nailed-on”, “stick-on” or merely just “I’ve seen ‘em given”, the rubbish babbled out is bizarre. I’m tempted to make up my own such as a “garden-fencer” or “sellotaped-on” but I might sound as big a berk as Andy Townsend.
Ian Taylor, Ipswich
Dear WSC
Regarding Ian Plenderleith’s article about TV commentators in WSC 289, we are seeing far more soccer on TV here in the US due to Fox and ESPN. The last thing we want to see is the commentary taken over by home-grown Americans, because if you’ve ever heard an American Football game called on the TV you’d know these guys can drone on relentlessly for the three hours without barely taking a breath. Considering that Sky have some guy who says the word “quality” every third word (and never pronouncing the “t”) Darke and McManaman are not that bad. My only criticism, which has made me hit the mute several times, is McManaman’s propensity to say “isn’t”, “wasn’t it”, or “hasn’t it” at the end of virtually everything he says.
Ian Orme, Fort Collins Colorado
Dear WSC
I take slight umbrage at James Thomson’s review of 101 Greatest Goals in WSC 288. He mentions Graeme Sharp’s astonishing strike for Everton v. Liverpool in 1984, and then makes the heinous mistake of suggesting the match took place at Goodison when, in fact, it took place at Anfield, where Everton hadn’t won for 14 years. As an Evertonian, I have to point that out by law. However, perhaps his biggest error was in describing the hero of the afternoon. Rather than veering in from the left, as James suggests, the pitch invading goon quite clearly veers in from the right. I would also disagree with his assertion that the male in question was a “bespectacled middle-aged man” – I would argue that he is in his mid-20s, but his aged look is the result of the “trainspotting-chic” NHS/duffel coated fashion which dominated the scene for a time during the Smiths-era mid 1980s.
Graeme Coleman, Carnoustie
Dear WSC
In his letter in WSC 289, Jeff Hoyle bemoans the Wigan Athletic ticket office for recognising him as a potential hooligan, despite his advanced years and Bury membership card. The club database has been oft-discussed and long-derided for it’s routinely heavy handed application of the rules of ticket purchase, and it’s easy to have some sympathy for Mr Hoyle’s plight, but incidents in the past five seasons have made the officials of Wigan Athletic somewhat paranoid. One first has to consider the geographical location of the town. We are smack bang in the middle of a region which contains six other Premier League clubs within half an hour’s easy drive. Add that to the fact that the club were formed as recently as 1932 and only very recently attained any kind of status in the sport, and the end result is a populace which doesn’t yet automatically see Wigan Athletic as its first club. What this means is that the pubs of Wigan teem with ill-fitting replica shirts every time Man Utd – in particular – are playing. When they play at the DW, of course, the ground often ends up with hundreds of these plastic Mancs sat in the home stands, due to them living in a WN post code area, often leading to outbreaks of fisticuffs as the almost inevitable third or fourth goal goes in. It is because of this that the club operate such a strict application of the database rules. One would hope that common sense would sometimes be applied, but, alas, this is rarely the case, leading to the kind of rejection as suffered by Mr Hoyle.
As an example of why paranoia rules the day, a recent report in the rugby-leaning Wigan press told of another rejection at the ticket office window when a woman, having been challenged on similar grounds to Mr Hoyle, tried to buy tickets for her husband and admitted that he was “both a Wigan and Utd fan”. Not much of a fan, evidently, given that the last game he made the two mile trip to the stadium for was the Utd game last season. Personally, I’d rather see thousands of empty seats than have people like that expecting to be able to buy tickets, having turned their noses up at their home town club for the other 37 games played every season.
Paul Middleton
Dear WSC
With Spurs currently playing Milan in the Champions League, yet again I have to endure English commentators getting the names of the Milan teams wrong. Look, it’s very simple; there are two teams based at the San Siro, Milan and Internazionale. There’s no need to call them “AC Milan” and “Inter Milan” to try and differentiate them. I’ll draw you an analogy; in Liverpool there are two teams, Liverpool and Everton. There’s no need to call them “Liverpool FC” or, even worse, “Everton Liverpool” to differentiate them. That would be daft. Can you see why this is annoying me?
Phil Robbins, Cheltenham
Dear WSC
In the Season In Brief on Division One 2000-2001 (WSC 289) here were many candidates for the “Disappearing from view” section featured in the actual article itself. Ossie Ardiles was last heard of being sacked as manager of Cerro Porteno in Paraguay, Barry Hayles now plays for Truro City in the Southern League Premier Division, Andy Melville is coaching the Oxford Brookes University Football Club, Jason McAteer doing occasional media work for ESPN Star Sports of Singapore and Matt Jansen is with Chorley (one goal in eight games). So well done you for successfully unearthing Colin Calderwood from that pit of obscurity that is Scottish Premier League management.
Tim Curtis, York
Dear WSC
Am I the only person who is driven to despair whenever the FA Cup draw is made? To be specific, it’s the recent trend where Jim Rosenthal or whoever has to announce the “numbers to watch out for”. Why do I need to know the numbers to watch out for when Jim himself will give the names of the teams out about a quarter of a second after the numbers are drawn? Not only that but when, say, number 23, comes out, I can’t remember whether that was Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea or some non league minnow but I know it was one of them. While I am wracking my brain, he then tells me the team so it loses all impact because I was already trying to figure it out anyway. Does this annoy anyone else?
Alan Bunce, Reading
Dear WSC
Until the mid-1990s at least, the little lines that signify the 10-metre distances from the corners used to touch the sidelines and goal-lines, but now they do not, a sliver of green grass separating them. When did this change, and why on earth did it happen?
Denis Hurley, Cork
Dear WSC
Andy Gray may have been shunted into obscure daytime talk radio, but his legacy of being over critical of match officials – male and female – in the TV commentary box will surely live on via lesser regarded imitators. ITV4 coverage of the Europa League game between Benfica and Stuttgart in mid February, involved commentary by the amiable Steve Bower assisted, unfortunately, by Iain Dowie. A first half incident where Benfica had strong claims for a penalty turned down – efficient referee promptly booked the Benfica striker for diving – resulted in Dowie proclaiming that it was a “stonewall” penalty. Replays from different angles showed the striker knocking the ball to the side of the grounded keeper then dropping onto the keeper’s outstretched arm rather than pursuing the loose ball. A reasonably fair call by the ref, but not for Dowie, whose insistence that it was a penalty went on for a few minutes. I senses in Bower’s voice that he felt the ref had called it exactly right but he just couldn’t be bothered arguing the finer points of the replay evidence with Dowie. In the 1970s and 80s Jimmy Hill used his position as TV analyst to highlight poor decisions but I also recall him being pretty fair minded and highlighting the many good calls made by officials. What a shame the majority of our current TV pundits and analysts appear to have lost that reasoned perspective. From 1992 onwards Andy Gray was allowed to develop the approach he became famous for, with multi-angle slow motion replays replacing real time replays and balanced analysis. Our football officials may well continue to bear the brunt of what some would deem to be wholly biased coverage against them.
Mark Alton, Sale
Dear WSC
I’m sure that the stairs out of St James’ Park do not, as the BBC and other broadcasters lead us to believe, go directly out onto the street from Row J or wherever the entrance that we see on match of the day is. Therefore when 4-0 down at home after 25 minutes and after spending fifty plus quid or so to get in, I wonder if I’m alone in thinking that if a TV camera panned onto one of the exits in any ground, during the game, any game – you would see one or two people “leaving”. Or Maybe they’re going to the toilet. Or for a pie. Or a pint. Basically, with all these factors in mind I suppose walking down the exit stairs is much easier to do when you’re four nil down after half an hour (you wouldn’t care about missing anything at this stage granted) but also I’d suspect that these football supporters quite possibly do actually at sometime return to the seat that they’d paid for. I haven’t yet seen any of these blokes interviewed yet by any of the papers or anyone on TV to ask them what they were thinking of which in these days of high technology shouldn’t be hard. You don’t suppose that BBC made it up about people leaving after half an hour to add to the story do you?
Keith Chapman, Leyton
Dear WSC
Keith Chapman’s letter (WSC 289) has inspired me to write regarding my longstanding commentator gripe; the idea that a player’s previous club is in some ways an adjective and impacts on what he is doing at that precise moment in time. You know what I mean, as such a player has a shot on goal we are reminded that he is a former Liverpool player, like that has been a factor in him either accurately hitting the target or putting it way over the bar. The one that we get every single week in the A League is John Curtis, currently of Gold Coast United, but who has been mentioned more times as being a Manchester United player than what he in fact played (thirteen according to Wikipedia) for them.
Ray Kalinauskas, Sydney, Australia
Dear WSC
Enough has been written, by both the informed and the uninformed, about the Gray/Keys/Massey debacle at Sky Sports but, at the risk of continuing a debate long since closed, there is a serious issue overlooked by most coverage. The majority of discussion focussed on the sexist and laddish nature of the comments but very little was made of the attack on an official before a ball was even kicked. What the off-air pre-match discussion shows is the direct attention TV companies put onto officials, waiting for them to make an error (no matter how small) and setting them up as scapegoats. If Liverpool had lost the game no criticism would have been leveled at Kenny Dalglish’s tactics (too fresh and media friendly) nor Fernando Torres’ performance (too big a star) so an official, regardless of gender, is set up as the fall guy. As it was, the dominant order prevailed and the fact that the big decisions were made correctly was overlooked, until the following day. Officials in all televised sports are put in an impossible position by television companies who feel they should be in charge of major decisions. What should be highlighted is the patronizing way television forces this agenda onto viewers by deliberately setting out to belittle those currently responsible. Video replays are only just around the corner in football, TV doesn’t need to keep ridiculing the current administrators to let us know.
Jonathan Paxton, Barton Le Clay
From WSC 290 April 2011