nickbennett_blog

Tag: world

  • The winner is Sepp Blatter

    The winner is Sepp Blatter

    No, not the competition to find the world’s biggest numpty. No, unfortunately, this competition is for who will be in charge of running the greatest sport. He opposes technology which our beloved game is crying out for. He belittles women by stating that the women’s game could benefit ‘if they wore shorter shorts’. And thinks homosexuals should  ‘refrain from sexual activity’ while in Qatar. What century are we living in?

    Like everything in life, I try to look at things from a neutral perspective. I’m sure a lot of people believe the English are now coming across as sour grapes due to our disastrous world cup bid. But hang on, if Qatar had bribed their way to victory then why even allow us to enter? What a waste of time, money and Bryl Cream (remember David Beckham was involved). It’s good to see Australia (another stung nation) is demanding the money it spent on its bid back.

    I watched the poor FA representative say his bit in front of the baying wolves amongst the FIFA delegates. Then countries like Cyprus started sticking the knife in. I assume this is revenge for us tearing up Ayia Napa since the 90s. I can’t wait to give all these nations the bird when Sepp Blatter and his Forth Reich movement comes sweeping into their nation. OK probably gone a bit too far there, but there are some cultural points to be raised. Our nation has a live by the sword die by the sword approach to what we deem to be fair. Maybe a guilt trip since our empirical past but at the end of the day a good attitude to adopt. This is why we seem to commit so many troops to campaigns around the world to liberate them from tyranny (nothing to do with oil, purely coincidence)

    To bring fairness to the World Cup process it should do a cycle globally so that everyone gets a chance to host. FIFA should set out the requirements to be considered to host the thing. This would include stadiums, travel networks, hotels and policing. The globe should be divided into 4 sections and all of the eligible countries for each section should be put into a hat. A nation from each section of the globe is pulled out at random. The 1st section winner will be the next world cup host, the 2nd section winner will be the host of the world cup in 8 years’ time and so on and so forth. These nations are then excluded in the next round of World Cup draws. If you make a complete hash of the tournament then you miss a go. I’m not at all upset that Russia and Qatar have the World Cup gig. They’ve never had it before so that’s fair. The process to get to this result has to change though.

    How can the current system of schmoozing overly corrupt bureaucrats into voting for you be the process we currently adopt? FIFA is an organisation that apparently is built on ‘fair play‘?!? I guess ballot papers with 1 fucking name on it is also fair. Even if everyone abstained from voting I’m fairly certain Sepp would have voted and ‘Yeh! I won again!’ would be the scream at the end. Sepp Blatter is a complete hypocrite that we are now stuck with until the next FIFA elections. Given the choice of standing up against Sepp and his cronies or toeing the line I know which one I’m in favour of!

  • England: The Solution

    So we’ll be hanging on to the ’66 victory for at least another 4 years. I can see us hanging on to that for a lot longer though. My dad reckons it’s because the schools are discouraging competitive competition. I agree that this doesn’t help, however, I think the England team did at least try very hard. They just weren’t very good.

    The more traditional football fan still believes you can win the tournament playing a traditional 442 style. I’m not convinced. The game has evolved so much in recent years. The win has become so important that teams no longer seem to just ‘go for it’. The underdog will attempt to get every man behind the ball and hope for something to happen on the counter. The Final itself was a clear example of this. The Dutch game plan was to disrupt the Spanish, and it almost worked. This made for a very poor game of football.

    With our trusted 442 system it relies on there being space for the wingers to get to the byline to cross. Against Algeria, this wasn’t ever going to be possible.
    So what system should we be playing? Well, it’s up to the manager. What no answers Len? Well until we have the players with the level of ability required it’s irrelevant. There’s a serious lack of English talent at the moment. You look at the world champions and you’ll note that the majority of them play for Barcelona and Real Madrid. Our best players do come from Chelsea and Manchester United, but where do the rest come from Portsmouth, West Ham, and Blackburn. You get the picture. We need to look at the grassroots and adopt a model similar to the Spanish.

    Johan Cruyff introduced the total football theologies when he went to manage Barcelona and the Spanish style of play has also adopted this.  I’m not convinced that style of play is what the England game is all about. Instead of a slow ‘tippy tappy’ approach, we tend to play at a great intensity of physicality and speed. However, when we play at the international level this approach never seems to be part of the game plan? Whether this is due to the foreign manager or whether our mentality suggests we should play in a ‘continental’ manner I don’t know. I would like to see us look at our nationalistic strengths and build on these at a grassroots level.

    Here is my 3-point plan to help build a World Cup-winning side.

    1. The first is to limit the number of foreign players per team in the Premiership. This would force teams to invest in (and actually use) their youth teams.

    2. I would introduce football academies across the country funded by the FA. With the amount of money in the Premiership at the moment, I’m sure this shouldn’t be a problem.

    3. A salary cap in the Premiership has to happen. It’s gone far too far now. It’s time to make these spoilt children slightly more humble. If they move abroad then so be it, they can still be picked for England 🙂

    England for the cup in 2030!

  • Gazza for England Manager

    Mental! I know, but hear me out. I’ve listened to a number of theories as to why England is so poor in this tournament and I don’t believe a single one. The fundamental thing is the players look tense and tired. This pressure is caused by the media’s ‘build them up to knock them down’ ethos (see previous rant). You look at some of the fearless teams (New Zealand being a prime example) and they’ve played well beyond any expectation. Can you imagine how England would play if they were relaxed!

    That’s where Gazza comes in. I’m not condoning red bus jaunts with dentist chairs and meat pies. However, Gazza would make training fun. The players may even start enjoying football again. Can you imagine Jimmy 5 bellies as his number 2, brilliant! What better example of getting someone crazy in charge than the Argies. Maradona has already mocked Pele, and Platini, and discussed his young girlfriend. This limelight is probably welcomed by his players as it leaves them to concentrate on the matter at hand (no pun intended). With a controversial manager at the helm, it can help produce a siege mentality which has proven very successful for one Jose ‘special one’ Mourinho.

    So if we go out tomorrow the following will happen, Capello will be paid a massive golden handshake and we’ll begin our search for another expensive manager. If the new manager is lucky he will see us exit another major tournament early doors. And the process will start again. Sound familiar? We could save our selfs a fortune by buying some Newcy Brown Ales and giving a call to the Newcastle priory!

  • DePRESSing

    I’ve always known that the press in this country are a bunch of scandalous cads. I’ve some personal experience as one of these creatures (from the ‘Screws of the World’) slim-ed his way into our school after hearing a sixth former had got one of the teachers pregnant. By the way, back then this was a big story! There was no code of conduct or etiquette that you may expect from a man representing such a fine national institution. His tie was halfway down his undone shirt as he appeared from the back of the school where we were playing football. He asked us whether we knew anything before he was shepherded away by one of the teachers. There is one thing that has only become more apparent in recent years though, how bloody hypocritical they are!

    Front Page – “Pubs ban England Shirts – Outrage”
    Back Page – “What’s your game, Fabio? – Capello signs up for online game”

    Front Page – “Triesman fix claims”
    Back Page – “Remember the war England”

    Front Page – “Terry Scandal”
    Back Page – “Do it for Sir Bobby”

    You get the picture. These papers claim to be ‘behind our boys’ but I’ve never heard such nonsense. If I’m fully behind something I don’t try my utmost to undermine it at every possible opportunity. I’m fed up with hearing the defense ‘Oh, that’s our press they’ve always been like that’. We can stop it now by just not buying their papers. No one is cleaner than clean in the world, so I don’t expect the England football team to be any different. The Daily Mail set up Lord Triesdman by getting his personal assistant involved in the sting. Nice one! Don’t want to host the World Cup then. So come on Fleet street, stop playing silly buggers at least for a couple of months!

  • Happy New Year!

    A new year is upon us (again!) and with it the optimism. We have a World Cup this year and the closest Premiership for years. Correct, I’m quite clearly shifting focus away from the Blues. I fear for the Blues this year. If we can get through the transfer window without any loss of playing staff and perhaps several new faces, we could, I say could be alright.

    We’ve already almost lost Simon Francis and I fear Lee Barnard won’t be far behind. We’ll just have to see how things pan out. Good luck to your boys and let’s get behind England for the World Cup. If they win my season ticket money will be refunded! Scam?!? I think not.