When he played he was one of the best that England has ever produced. I was lucky to see him play numerous times throughout his career (mostly for England) and he was phenomenal when he had the ball at his feet. Gazza has always been the “Clown Prince” of football, famous for pranks he pulled on friend and foe alike, but that never detracted from his great talent. His flick over Colin Hendry in the EURO 96 match against Scotland was just one of many great moments in his career. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzPjlnQEkps

The news broke Thursday that Paul Gascoigne was sectioned under the Mental Health Act for behavior detrimental to himself and others. This is another sad step for the great man. Ian Wright said it best on his radio show – it is time for the FA to step forward and help this man. I agree and this is why: Gascoigne came up at the time when everything changed in football. Salaries skyrocketed and pressure mounted on players on and off the pitch. Media exposure became rabid. No one knew how to handle all of these new difficulties. Paul was a young lad without someone to guide him. So he handled the spotlight the way he had always handled things, by going out and having a good time. And the world of English football shunned him as a buffoon. All players of that era faced the same problems and not everyone went down the same path, but some did and all of them deserve to get help.

Give something back to a man that has given so much to England. He lives and breaths football. This isn’t a cliche, it’s fact. I’ve heard many accounts of his love for the game and how he lives in the world of football 24/7. He is a good man who needs to be brought back into the fold. He needs to pass along his knowledge of the sport to those young lads who need to know.

GET WELL SOON GAZZA!

The Premier League has announced that they are looking to expand the season by one extra match that will be played in cities like Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles, Singapore, Sydney, Johannesburg, Dubai and Beijing. Not surprisingly the blow-back has been enormous. Supporters, managers and club officials have been in an uproar since Thursday’s announcement. One of the comments that I read on a discussion thread said that they shouldn’t have to pay for twenty home games if one of them is going to be played in another country. Actually the report I read (and they may have reported it wrong) was that it would be an extra game, so all of the home and away fixtures would be available.

Sir Alex Ferguson has come out and said that if you are going to add an extra fixture to an already filled schedule, the managers should be consulted before making it a public issue. A crowded fixture schedule didn’t seem to curtail a trip to Saudi Arabia. The managers should have been consulted, but to say that the crowded schedule is a problem is asinine. Premiership teams travel quite a bit in the pre-season to global destinations (not every team does, but more do it every year) and trot out their B team while charging the international fans quite a bit.

This isn’t about making the English game available to the world. If the Premier League really cared about reaching around the globe it would be easier to watch the League matches we want to see. And how are they going to make the travel worth it for all of the teams? I would walk to Los Angeles to see Manchester United play Arsenal if all of the stars are going to play. But, why would I pay to see West Brom play Reading? Nothing against either team, they just don’t have enough of a fan base in the US to make it worth their coming over. The Premiership should put together a promotional tour of globally followed clubs versus smaller clubs. People will turn up for Middlesbrough if they are playing Chelsea, not if they’re playing Wigan.

Another con would be Sepp Blatter getting involved as the plan progresses. THAT’S the kiss of death to any plan. If you want to watch an idea swirl it’s way down the bog get FIFA involved.

Yes it was only a friendly. Yes it was Switzerland. And yes at times it was a bit spastic. But, this goes in the win column and that’s a start. There were fits and starts throughout the match. With players struggling to fit into Capello’s team concept while trying to impress the new boss, there were some boneheaded plays happening on the pitch.

But, I was happy to see that they played like a team. They didn’t play like eleven individuals and that is what we needed in our national team. Interestingly when the lads held the ball and probed for an opening, the England supporters started to jeer. Then Jermaine Jenas gave them a healthy “Shut your hole” when he directed a great Joe Cole pass past Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio for the opening goal. The pressure swept up and out of Wembley with that one quick touch.

The defense played well for the most part, but they did face a couple of close calls. Then Eren Derdiyok made it look to easy as he snapped a shot into the corner of the net and tied up the game early in the second half. The goal brought out the best in the England attack and Peter Crouch flicked the ball to Steven Gerrard who found Shaun Wright-Phillips for the winning goal and The Lions roared.

Rooney takes some stick from some punters for not being a prolific scorer for England. When he plays for club or country Rooney is a dynamo on the pitch. He had some great shots against the Swiss and could have a couple of goals for himself.

I wish we would see these guys again soon in some actual competition. Oh well.

I can’t believe that I’m defending the FA! Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has hit out at the League governing body over their comments about the influx of foreign players in the Premiership. First, here is Hill-Wood’s comment to the Daily Mirror:

 ”It seems to me the people at the FA are out of touch with reality. I can’t think why anybody would make these comments when Arsenal and many Premier League clubs are spending a lot of money on their academies. It is not our fault if many English players are not good enough. It is the same for every one of the big clubs now. We find players worldwide. Football is now global. It is also the same in any other industry. You go along with the trends or you suffer badly.”

I have nothing against foriegn players at all. Some of the players that made the Premier League the top league in the world were foreign. Eric Cantona, Jurgen Klinsmann, Gianfranco Zola and Thierry Henry are just a few of the men who came to England and brought a new kind of excitement to the League. Our game used to be a grind it out type and they brought a free flowing style. I for one am grateful to them for it.

But to say that English players are not good enough is one of the dumbest things that I have ever heard. Many Brazilian players got their start by kicking a stuffed sock around in an alley. You can’t tell me that a well run club academy can’t take a young player with raw talent and polish them up for the Premiership! When Manchester United won the treble in 1998-99 the core of that squad had come out of the Trafford Training Centre. Hill-Wood is trying to deflect the attention from his own woefully inadequate academy system and onto the FA “bigwigs”. Brian Barwick is still a world class idiot. We could end up with an English champion that has a foreign owner, manager and players. Half of the teams in the Premier League are foreign owned, of course they are going to bring in foreign players. The FA should have a mandate to develope young English players and turn them into world class footballers. The time of the English superstar is not over, but people like Barwick and Hill-Woods need to look beyond lining thier own pockets and take responsability to save our game.

Out of thirty-one first squad players for Arsenal, only six of them are from the home nations AND only Theo Walcott ever gets a shot at playing in the Premiership. That’s 19% of the team being British/Irish! Their closest rival Manchester United is 50% British/Irish. Yeah, I guess he’s right there are no good young English players to choose from.

Mark my words! I would not be surprised if one day the FA moves to bring in foriegn clubs to compete in the Premiership. I’m not talking about Scottish, Welsh or Irish clubs. I mean French, Dutch, Belgian, German, etc. They will talk about how it will benefit the domestic game and how the game is global and we must adapt to keep up.

When Steve McClaren was sent packing late last year some people called for Arsene Wenger to become the new England manager. How could he be the national team manager if he can’t go abroad to find players to wear the White and Blue?

Fabio Capello trimmed the squad. Stewart Downing, Michael Carrick, Curtis Davies, Nicky Shorey and Glenn Johnson were all dropped.

Here is the new line up:

Goalkeepers: David James (Portsmouth), Scott Carson (Liverpool on loan at Aston Villa), Chris Kirkland (Wigan)

Defenders: Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Wes Brown (Manchester United), Joleon Lescott (Everton), Micah Richards (Manchester City), Matthew Upson (West Ham United), Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham Hotspur)

Midfielders: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham Hotspur), Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Chelsea), David Bentley (Blackburn Rovers)

Forwards: Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Michael Owen (Newcastle United), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Peter Crouch (Liverpool)

Fabio Capello finally announced his first squad since taking over as England manager. To some people’s surprise David Beckham was not on the list to face Switzerland. I listened to a lot of debate this week about whether or not he should get his 100th cap in this friendly and it seemed to me that it was split fairly evenly between yes and no. I wasn’t surprised at all that he was left off. This really is a meaningless friendly and if the 100th cap is going to be a milestone then let it be against quality opposition, France or Germany come to mind. Beckham still has a lot to offer the game, unfortunately his decision to go to the LA Galaxy and chase the cash could and should hurt his international chances. The MLS is not a quality league so I don’t see him factoring in for England long term.

Some of the picks surprised me though. Peter Crouch has scored some good goals for the Three Lions recently, but he hasn’t gotten much of a look this season at Liverpool and only has two goals in the league, hardly prolific. I also think that Michael Owen is a bit of an odd choice. Don’t get me wrong. I think the lad is a fantastic player, however he was out of action for a long spell due to injury. This friendly means nothing so let him get more game time in before putting him out for England. And Stuart Downing has had a far from stellar season at Middlesbrough so I’m left scratching my head over his inclusion.

I am happy to see that Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young got called up to the senior squad. These two are pacey and will give the Swiss defenders nightmares. Joleon Lescott has been coming on as well for Everton and will do well to get the Wembley experience. 

Here’s the squad:

Goalkeepers:D James (Portsmouth), S Carson (Aston Villa), C Kirkland (Wigan Athletic).

Defenders: W Bridge (Chelsea), W Brown (Manchester United), A Cole (Chelsea), C Davies (Aston Villa), R Ferdinand (Manchester United) G Johnson (Portsmouth), L King (Tottenham Hotspur), J Lescott (Everton), M Richards (Manchester City), N Shorey (Reading), M Upson (West Ham United), J Woodgate (Tottenham Hotspur).

Midfield players: G Barry (Aston Villa), D Bentley (Blackburn Rovers), M Carrick (Manchester United), J Cole (Chelsea), S Downing (Middlesbrough), S Gerrard (Liverpool), O Hargreaves (Manchester United), J Jenas (Tottenham Hotspur), S Wright-Phillips (Chelsea), A Young (Aston Villa).

Forwards: G Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), P Crouch (Liverpool), E Heskey (Wigan Athletic), M Owen (Newcastle United), W Rooney (Manchester United).

Apparently being the Chief Executive of the Football Association doesn’t require too much in the way of intelligence. Less than a week after introducing the new England manager Fabio Capello as “A winner with a capital W”, Brian Barwick is now telling us that we shouldn’t expect success. WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!! You have spent all this time selling us on the fact that Capello is the man who can resurrect the national team and bring back world respect. Now you are holding up your hands and saying ‘Let’s not get our hopes up’. He’s telling us that none of the current crop of English managers are good enough to be England manager. Yet by the sound of it he isn’t expecting a qualified candidate to do much. I don’t know exactly what the FA is paying Capello and his crew, but I’m sure we could have gotten the same result from a less qualified Englishman for less money. How the hell did Barwick get this job?

I have nothing against Fabio Capello. In fact I feel that his no-nonsense approach is exactly what the current group of over paid underachievers needs to become successful on the world’s stage. I fail to see however why he had to have the top five members of his staff be Italian including his fitness coach. I may be a bit daft, but I fail to see why it was so imperative to bring in a fitness coach as part of the deal when fitness is usually the concern of the club and he’s only going to see these guys for a week and a half at a time. Did Barwick or Brooking have any backbone in these negotiations? Or did they have their hearts so set on Capello that they were willing to okay anything to get him to sign?

Brian Barwick claims that he wrote out a template and no English manager “ticked all of the boxes”. Did Tweedledee and Tweedledumb even interview anyone other that Capello? My guess on that would be no. When Stuart Pearce was hired to manage the England Under-21 squad I’m sure he didn’t “tick all of the boxes”. Pearce had an abismal record at Manchester City and more than a few of us scratched our heads at his appointment. But, he lead the U-21 team to the UEFA European Under-21 Championships semi-finals where they lost to the Netherlands (eventual champions) after sixteen rounds of penalty shootout. Did Psycho get an interview? Probably not, that would have made sense, and that’s just not Barwick’s style. Just ask Martin O’Neill.

O’Neill interviewed for the England job in 2006 and would have been a great choice for the job. But, nooo! The FA’s finest morons appointed Luiz Felipe Scolari (who was managing Portugal in the upcoming World Cup) before the World Cup and drove the Brazilian away. They settled on Steve McClaren instead. So instead of going for a fully qualified O’Neill they settled for a manager who lost spectacularly in his UEFA Cup Final swan song (4-0 to FC Sevilla). In doing so they pissed off Martin O’Neill and drove away a British contender for the job.

I wonder if the FA is hiring? I don’t know anything about running a football association, but apparently that’s not a requirement for the job.

As Alhassan Bangura looked around Vicarage Road Stadium he saw himself. Throughout the stands home and away fans held up signs of support for the young man from Sierra Leone. Signs with a big picture of Bangura’s face. Al choked up as he tried to address the crowd and there is no one who could blame him.

In a time when athletes are both revered and reviled by fans, Alhassan Bangura’s plight has brought out the very best in a community. Hornets manager Aidy Boothroyd took the opportunity at a weekly press conference to bring the story to a wide audience. Boothroyd is a good manager, but his passionate telling of his young player’s story showed him to be a great human being. He’s not just concerned with his players doing well on the field, he is also concerned with their well being off it. Watford chairman Graham Simpson has also been very supportive of Al and his cause.

For those who don’t know what is going on in Watford here’s a quick rundown. Bangura is from Sierra Leone. A country in a state of constant civil war. A place where people with machetes do unspeakable things to people. At fifteen Bangura escaped his homeland and made his way to England in the hopes of having a career in football. However, the Frenchman that had helped him turned out to be a trafficker in humans who was interested in selling Alhassan into the sex trade. Al was able to escape and eventually found his home in football. After four years as a productive citizen he faces deportation because even though he is from a country known for atrocities, Britain does not grant asylum automatically to those who flee in fear of their lives. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that after hearing about Bangura’s situation the community gathered 5,000 signatures on a petition to grant him a work permit hearing. Labour MP Claire Ward has taken up the case and has brokered a meeting with Home Office minister Liam Byrne and Al’s lawyers have been working the process to bring the case to the tribunal that would grant him a work permit. So it looks like there are two options for him.

This situation shows football fans at their best. In a country known for rabid, ruthless supporters, Bangura has gotten backing from non-Watford fans as well as the home crowd. Kudos to all who’ve voiced their support.

Saturday

Manchester City moves back into the top four. Man. City and Bolton each scored three goals in this game. Unfortunately for the Wanderers one of theirs was in the wrong net. Bolton held a 2-1 lead until a deflection off of Lubomir Michalik got past Jussi Jaaskelainen. Late goals by Darius Vassell and Kelvin Etuhu brought the final score to 4-2 City. The hiring of Sven-Goran Eriksson in the off season is turning into one of the best moves by anyone.

Fulham robbed at Craven Cottage! I saw this game and the penalty given in stoppage time was ridiculous. The Cottagers were definitely the more active team in the second half, but no-one really deserved to get full points from this game. Big Sam had to be thankful for the gift before Christmas. Fulham 0-1 Newcastle United.

Was that Wigan!!! I don’t know what Steve Bruce fed these guys during the week, but he needs to keep it up. Denny Landzaat, Marcus Bent and Paul Scharner all scored for the Latics, with Bent getting a hat-trick. Blackburn got it’s own hat-trick from Roque Sant Cruz, but even if Benni McCarthy had scored from the spot they still would have come up short. If you like to see defense this was not the game for you. Wigan Athletic 5-3 Blackburn Rovers.

Others: Birmingham 1-1 Reading; Derby 0-1 Middlesbrough; Sunderland 1-1 Aston Villa; West Ham 0-2 Everton; Portsmouth 0-1 Tottenham; and Milton Keynes beat Peterborough 2-1

Sunday

 United rules Anfield. I was right about Tevez, wrong about Torres. Manchester United was out shot by Liverpool (5 MU- 20 L) but they got the one that counted as they kept up the pressure on Arsenal by collecting all three points. Liverpool put up quite a fight in the second half and could have evened up the scorecard or taken the lead a few times. Alas it wasn’t to be as the Red Devils threw everything they had in front of each shot by the Reds.

Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic stood strong in the middle while Wes Brown and Patrice Evra worked the sides valiantly. Rafa Benitez sent on Ryan Babel and Peter Crouch to shake things up, and it made a difference. But, Carlos Tevez’s 43rd minute goal proved to be too much for Liverpool. 

 Gallas strikes back. In a match that saw nine yellow cards and John Terry hobble of with a possible broken metatarsal, it was a 45th minute goal by William Gallas that was the difference. Gallas finally made good on his threat to score on Chelsea. Of course he made that threat while he was playing FOR Chelsea.

All of the previews said that this was going to be a boring kick around with neither team wanting to risk losing. They were wrong. These two don’t like each other and they go at it hammer and tongs when they meet, and this match was no different. All of the stats were very even and if it had ended as a draw that would have been fair. They will meet again on March 22nd.

 This is going to be good!

First Liverpool vs. Manchester United. Xabi Alonso’s back for Liverpool and Owen Hargreaves is back for Man. U., but neither is going to make that big of a difference in the game. Javier Mascherano has stepped in well for Arsene Wenger and although he hasn’t scored, he has been solid. Hargreaves has been nonexistent after all the off season hoopla. Anderson has been playing well so the Red Devils should give him the start. Sir Alex Ferguson has not lost to Rafa Benitez and I don’t see this weekend being any different. Liverpool is going to have a Devil of a time (yeah I did that one on purpose) with Cristiano Ronaldo. And Carlos Tevez has been a royal pain in the ass for a lot of teams lately. On the Liverpool side Steven Gerrard has been solid for Benitez, but if I were Ferguson I’d bring back Roy Keane just to give Fernando Torres a “Welcome to England”. Torres is very impressive and I wish the Red Devils had worked harder to get him a couple of years ago, but I wouldn’t trade Rooney, Ronaldo or Tevez so let the fun begin.

Sir Alex will have a ‘View From The Terrace’ for this one for verbally abusing a referee. Not necessarily a crime. So Carlos Queiroz will have to translate from Scottish to Portuguese (a tactic that might work with some of the young lions in the line-up).

Torres is going to get a goal (he always does), but Ronaldo and Tevez will see United through. 2-1 Red Devils.

Chelsea goes to the Emirates later in the day to take on the first place Gunners of Arsenal. Unfortunately for the Blues Cesc Fabregas looks like he’ll be back for Monsieur Wenger. Michael Essien is out and I would have loved to have seen him against Cesc. Sidwell’s a good player, but he’s going to be run out of his shoes by Fabregas. Drogba’s out, but don’t feel sorry for them. After all the money that Chelsea has spent on big name talent they have no excuses for not being successful on the attacking front. Robin van Persie might play so Terry and Co. will have their work cut out for them.

Ashley Cole will be going back to the scene of the crime this Sunday. Will Grant play him? Why not? He’s a talented young man and he has been an anchor for the Blues defense. The Gunners fans will boo incessantly every time he touches the ball, but who cares if he shuts down the left side of the back line.

This game is going to be a quagmire. Neither team wants to do anything to jeopardize all three points. 0-0 Draw.

I hope this weekend is as exciting as its potential. It’s not often that the top four all meet on the same day. Here’s hoping for the best.