Sporting life: Football hots up after november
As winter comes along the football gets hotter. Things begin to get electric at times. Sports journalists usually have plenty to write about. The events recently are no exception to this rule.
Poor old Ireland gets trashed away from the World Cup by France and a cheating France at that. Handball is against the rules you see. In fact it was two handballs and two offsides that the Swedish referee missed and thereby giving France a cheap ticket to South Africa. However FIFA, the main authority, did not show any displeasure at France going through to the final event. Was money ringing bells in the ears of FIFA?
Poor old David Beckham needed to bump up his image-value in the media so he posed for the cameras. He posed using an inhaler and he said that he had always suffered from a ”mild form of asthma”. Put the doping brigade on that man I say.
Liverpool remain sinking and it seems to be that by January they will need to sell a few players just to balance the books of finance. They will not be getting those easy millions anymore because they are just about out of all major competitions. Already the vultures are laying in wait above the head of the manager but more importantly waiting to get into the big asset called Torres. Question: will Torres stay with Liverpool after December?
Poor old Portsmouth needed somebody to blame for the pathetic board room intelligence. So they sacked one of the most loved and respected guys around. They sacked Mr Hart, their only decent person in the club. Portsmouth deserve all they get this year if only because of this act. But maybe the board and financial management side of the club could end up in big trouble from the law courts. We hope so.
Poor old Ipswich Town way down there in the Championship league. I mean way down there. If their super-mouth manager, a Mr Keane, remains much longer we will all be surprised. This is a shame for Ipswich people because in Ipswich town there is nothing much else to do apart from the football and even the football is not so good to see. Glad I do not live in Ipswich.
Good old Norwich City, in the First division, are soaring up the league table and into various cup runs. Just check how many goals this team keeps scoring. Just check it out. One of the most well supported teams in the land are keeping their customers satisfied. They also have what is known as the oldest football song that is still chanted out week by week by the fans. On the ball city.
Spurs and the Gunners are playing like attacking magicians at times and a top four place for them in the Premier league is a good bet still. I do not like Chelsea or Manchester City so I am not going to talk about them here. My main sympathies go with Aston Villa and Fulham and if any of you out there have a link to the Lord Almighty then give these two clubs a extra prayor for help. They might just make a top 6 position and if they do they will deserve it.
Manchester United reserves are due to play tonight in the Champions league. But as you all well know I am never biased in my reporting. I did even hear a rumour about some Spanish football club doing a little bit better against the Italians. But in more serious mood the Champions league of Europe is only now beginning to warm up.
The Swedish National team has a new manager. The problem? The new manager does not have many good football players to coach.
The friendly Internationals that were played were rather friendly. Shame that Finland seemed to avoid all this. It was said that the Finnish National team was under ”treatment” and ”under-going repairs” and that was only concerning the cash problem. It might help a bit if more Finns turned up to support what is clearly a good team that can only get better. It might help if the State Broadcasting unit ( YLE) really showed an interest because the commercial MTV network prefers X-Factor or stuff like that.
The Germans have the right idea. Good football there remains like a kind of co-operative. Yes even the supporters have some sense of real belonging and even control ( however small). Germany seems to do quite well as a co-operative does it not?
Steve Bowles
