Odds and Sods

The English FA has appointed Fabio Capello as the new manager of the English National Team.

Capello, 61, is one of the most accomplished managers in all of football.  In fourteen years as a manger in Serie A, Capello won seven scudetti (Italian titles) with A.C. Milan, Roma, and Juventus (two were subsequently taken away).  He won La Liga twice in two different spells at Real Madrid.  He also won the Champions League in 1994 with A.C. Milan.

After the McClaren debacle, England wanted a world-class manager, and with Capello they certainly got that.

England’s major problems the past few years have been utilizing players correctly, making tactical changes during a match, and managing galactico-sized egos.  Capello is the perfect manager to deal with all of this.

Capello has been an expert at devising tactics based upon the players he has at his disposal.  He has parked the bus in front of the net with A.C. Milan and he has started a three forwards with Roma.  He will have the conviction and authority to maximize England’s strengths and minimize their weaknesses, rather than try to jam players into a 4-4-2.

Unlike McClaren, Capello also has the gravitas to manage the egos on the squad.  He has no problems dropping big name players (see Ronaldo, Beckham).  He is not going to adjust his tactics for fear of making Frank Lampard sulk.  If he can handle Real Madrid and get them to start playing like a team and win a title, he can handle England.

He is the dynamic force and leadership presence that England need.  From the board of directors on down to the players, the FA is full of mentally flatulent fools.  Having someone of Capello’s stature there will force all of them to have the following internal discussion before opening their mouths “Who the f— am I to be criticizing Fabio Capello.”  Problem solved.

The only real criticism of hiring Capello is that he is Italian, not English.  Usually, because no rational reason can be applied, there are a lot of “shoulds” and mutterings about what is “proper.”  He’s coaching.  He’s not putting on a shirt.  It’s time to “stand up and be counted,” England.  Do you want a manger with a potato face and bad teeth?  Or do you want to actually be relevant in International football?

In a swift decision (by FA standards), Everton manager David Moyes has been charged for his ouburst about referee Mark Clattenburg’s poor performance in the contentious Merseyside Derby on Oct. 20.

Mark Clattenburg made two contentious decisions that favored Liverpool in the match.  He failed to send off Dirk Kuyt for a two-footed challenge on Phil Neville (Kuyt would later score the penalty winner) and also failed to award Everton a penalty when Jamie Carragher wrestled Joleon Lescott to the ground in the penalty area.

“This is as tough as I have ever had it from a referee in a big game,” Moyes told reporters after the match. “Just incredible. They were always in there with him and maybe he wants to be friendly with them. Didn’t he go to Asia with Liverpool for the Asian Cup this summer?”

“It is alleged that the comments made referring to referee Mark Clattenburg on each respective occasion amount to improper conduct as they call into question Mr Clattenburg’s integrity and/or imply that Mr Clattenburg was motivated by bias” the FA charge stated.

First of all, why does it take over a month to issue a charge in this case?  How hard is it to look at his statement and determine whether or not it broke the rules.  This could have been accomplished by one person in one day.  The fact that Moyes had questioned Clattenburg’s integrity had probably slipped most fans mind, why wait over a month to issue the charge just so the incident can be revisited again.  Justice should be swift so misdeeds are swept under the rug and the product you are marketing goes on as if nothing happened.

Second, why is he even being charged in the case?  Perhaps, speculating that Clattenburg threw the match toward his Liverpool drinking buddies did cross the line.  However, Clattenburg did perform atrociously during that match.  He was suspended for it by the Professional Game Match Officials Board.  The officials’ own governing body thought he had done a terrible job, so the manager screwed by it should certainly have a right to feel aggrieved.

What purpose does this serve?  Besides preventing Lord Ferg from mentioning that Moyes got off Scot Free while answering his own charges for slagging Clattenburg?

In what is an absolute shock to everyone, Leeds United has failed to repay all of its non-football debt.

The club went into administration on May 4, 2007, just before the end of the season and after relegation was assured, so that they could assume the 10 point penalty on that season.  The club resold itself to Ken Bates in order to be able to start the season.  However, the deal, though accepted to keep Leeds afloat, was unorthodox and cost Leeds a further 15 point deduction to start this season.

Fed up with Leeds’ inability to repay their debt, the FA has barred them from full membership.  Here are the stern measures that compose the penalty.

1. They will be allowed to continue in FA competition, including League One and the FA Cup.
2. They lose their ever so meaningful vote among the FA shareholders.
3. They lose their ticket privileges for the FA Cup Final

So, basically, their ultimate punishment is not having to show up at undoubtedly exciting meetings or suffer through a 0-0 Man U-Chelsea 120 minute extravaganza.  Way to stick it to them FA!  What is the next step?  Lunch vouchers?  A ruler to the wrist?  Double Secret Probation?

West Ham’s rise from the cellar to escape relegation was the major story in the last two months of the season. The much maligned Carlos Tevez proves both pundits and manager wrong as he hits form at just the right time and carries the club on his shoulders and out of the relegation zone. With Chelsea haven fallen off the pace, this was the only real reason for watching the last two weeks of the Premiership calendar. West Ham are a big club that brings in money and plays entertaining football. It was a compelling narrative, and one that was too good to ruin.

Consequently, the Premier League let the Hammers off light, by most accounts. They did pay a record 5.5mGBP fine, but avoided the expected points deduction that would have ended their season. West Ham claimed to have terminated the third-party agreement in question (though only unilaterally), and that was enough for the league to declare him eligible for the remaining matches. This decision was convenient for the time, but has proven to be a massive miscalculation.

The critical point is that the ownership of Tevez has never been fully resolved. West Ham terminated their third-party agreement with MSI, but MSI never agreed to the termination, and the Premier League accepted this as de facto termination. The Premier League acted upon the position that Tevez was now owned fully by West Ham, when the reality was far from settled. This disparity came to the forefront when Manchester United attempted to buy Tevez. United agreed to pay 30m GBP to the owner of Tevez’ registration, who that is remains unclear.

The Premier League stuck itself into a major Catch-22. If they allow the transfer to go through, the money would probably backhandedly go to MSI and Kia Joorabchian. This would refute their earlier claim that West Ham completely owned Tevez’ regestration and make them complicit in a dealing that clearly violated league rules. However, if the league rejected the transfer outright it would be openly acknowledging that the situation was not in fact resolved. Both of these outcomes would bolster the legal claims of Sheffield Utd., that Tevez was in fact an ineligible player and West Ham should have been docked points and relegated.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, the Premier League took the easy way out and passed this issue on to FIFA, an organization that seems to pride itself on being bogged down and ineffective. FIFA, not to be outfoxed by the Premier League, claimed today that it was not the organization that should deal with this (why would a footballing matter be pertinent for the governing body of world football?) and recommended that the issue be sent to the Court for the Arbitration of Sport. Though, the High Court may settle it first, as representatives of Kia Joorabchian have filed writs agianst West Ham over the ownership of Tevez.

The bumbling indecisiveness of the FA and Premier League have blown an issue far out of proportion. They could have made a ruling in the preceding 8 months regarding Tevez’ transfer, which would have been easiest, and they could have made the correct decision in April and forced West Ham to actually terminate the agreement. Instead, they took the convenient option. They dawdled and dilly-dallyed. They had a number of lunches, and, in the end, decided to cover their own ass rather than take decisive action. Once an easy decision, the Tevez saga is now a morass that could stretch well into next season and overshadows what should be excitement for the up-coming season.

The Football League has displayed a penchant for shortsighted thinking.  The footballer mullet and hideous looking shirts come to mind.  There is also the lovely working concept of deciding all draws by shootouts, which would actually give incentive for a team to park the bus in front of goal and hold out for a draw.  However, one innovation that has been startlingly successful is the introduction of the playoff for the third promotion place.

While the Premier League went through the motions at the end of the season, in preparation for the summer holiday, the Championship, Lower League, and Conference playoffs proved incredibly compelling viewing.  With possible promotion at stake, teams played with a fire lit under their asses producing actual exciting football, a novelty at the highest level.  The drama of Stephen Pearson’s 60m GBP goal far outweighed the “dream” FA Cup Final.

The Premier League should take note of this.  There is little drama at the top of the table, as the “big four” are virtually a lock to finish in the top four slots every season and are the only teams capable of winning the title.  Even then, there is further danger that an arms race between Man U and Chelsea could wittle that down to the “big two.”  With the UEFA Cup an uninspiring destination (for anyone besides Spurs), most clubs view a successful season as merely staying up.  This translates into highly boring football as clubs play cynical football to ensure their 40 pts.  Something needs to be done to shake up the stagnation setting into the Top Flight.  That something is a playoff.

Not a playoff for the title mind you, but a playoff for fourth place.  The Champions League Cash Cow over the last decade has largely been the factor that has allowed those clubs to assert their dominance financially.  The prestige of playing in it every year also allows them access to a certain caliber of player that the other clubs could only dream about.

Measures to enforce equality, such as a salary cap would be difficult impossible to get approval.  The playoff for fourth place would gurantee at least three other clubs getting a shot to play there way into it.

If it had been in place this season, the final few weeks would have been much more exciting.

The “race for 3rd place” between Arsenal and Liverpool would have been far more exciting, with both clubs extending every last resource to avoid having to compete in the playoff.

With CL football on the table, the race for those last three spots would have actually been legitimate.  Reading, Pompey, and Blackburn, who finished within four points of 7th would have been far more concerned about picking up points at the end of the season.  Aston Villa and the Boro probably would have made a mad dash until they were mathematically eliminated as well.

The resulting playoff matchups would have been Arsenal-Bolton and Tottenham-Everton.  With all the cards on the table, this would have produced exciting football with elite talent, an even greater novelty.   If the favored clubs won out, the last match would have been Arsenal-Tottenham, in Wembley, with a Champions League place on the line.

The Premier League needs the big clubs to be successful.  As odious as they often seem, clubs like Manchester United attract interest wherever they go and make everyone wealthy.  Having NFL style complete parity would destroy a lot of the tradition and turn English football into a faceless entity.  There needs to be a compromise between that end game and a completely closed off two-tier league.

A playoff would provide such a compromise.  It would allow the big clubs to be successful, but, at the same time, it would spice things up a bit and allow a well run smaller club to sneak in there.  It would be extremely difficult for a small club to finish fourth, but seventh is certainly within reach of almost any club.

The 4th place playoff would add an exciting end to the season and simultaneously help alleviate the gap between the Big Four and everyone else.  It would make everyone more money.  It would just plain make sense, which is why it won’t be implemented any time in the near future.