Wayne Rooney - 100 Caps But Is He All That

Wayne Rooney on Saturday completed the wonderful achievement of gaining his one hundredth cap for England and joined the illustrious list of players who had gone before Peter Shilton, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Bobby Moore, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Bobby Charlton and Billy Wright making Rooney the ninth person in history to achieve this.

                       

 

At still only thirty years of age it is more than possible that Rooney could go on and be Englands most capped ever player and also has the top all time goalscorer record in his sights.  

There is no doubt that Rooney has been one of the better footballers of his generation and has played an important role for both his club and country but we have to ask has he fulfilled his potential as he achieved everything we hoped for when he first broke on to the scene in short is Wayne Rooney all that?

When Rooney made his England debut against Australia in 2003 at seventeen he was the youngest player to have represented England as a full international and when he played his first tournament Euro 2004 he was the youngest scorer in competition history with his two goals against Switzeland.  At this tournament Rooney took the world by storm and was the stand out player taking England to the quarter finals, where he was injured against Portugal and England were eliminated on penalties, but the young Rooney had scored four goals in four games and was named in the team of the tournament.  Injury blighted his 2006 World Cup, he never fully recovered from his injury and failed to score a goal in the tournament, Englands tournament ended in the quarter finals, again on penalties, Rooney was sent off in 62nd minute of the game, further tournament failures were to follow for Rooney with poor performances in the finals of 2010 and 2014 World Cups and no goals for Rooney.  He has produced in qualifying but following initially bursting on to the scene at his first tournament never again in the finals of a major competition.  One reason, perhaps the main reason why I would argue that despite his number of caps he never really reached the level we hoped for and in my opinion it is still a matter of what if.

Rooney has played well for England but again since that initial tournament has never been a superstar he has never reached the level of the greatest players in the game Messi and Ronaldo at times he has not been the best player in the England team with Gerrard or Lampard also very important players, this is nothing to be ashamed of millions of players have never reached these very top levels but when he was seventeen these were the levels we were predicting.  Good yes, great even, but not the greatest.

His attitude on the field at times has let him down to many yellow cards, red cards that have cost England their progression in world cups, to childish, to petulant throughout his career.  A weakness that other teams exploited and at times cost England big time.  A true great would not have let this happen, you cant imagine Messi getting sent off and costing Argentina a place in a world cup semi.

So well done Wayne Rooney and keep going, we certainly need you, but I cant help feeling we could have had so much more.  Wayne and the golden generation never quite made it.

@lfclumo

FIFA Corruption

It seems to me that there is no doubt in anybodies mind that our game is run by a corrupt organisation in FIFA.  The problem is that it appears nothing can be done about.  The recent criticism of the English FA seems harsh but i wouldn't be surprised if corruption is as rife in our own self appointed rulers of the game as it is in the worldwide organisation.  The giving and receiving of "gifts" seems to be expected or even demanded with reports suggesting that watches valued at many thousands of pounds came home from Brazil and that England's latest bid to host world cup did not contain enough "stardust" or gifts for the delegates, its expected and representatives from our FA are just as bad taking these gifts and only returning them once the press find out and criticise them, if they hadn't printed the stories the people at the top of the game in this country would of course have lined their own pockets never considering returning the watches, it's corrupt and has to change and the outrage at the recent report needs to be stopped our FA is just as corrupt.

Having said that FIFA are absolutely outrageous if world cup venues are sorted by gifts and gratuities then Russia and Qatar are currently the obvious winners, the places that can provide the money that is needed, it happened,  votes were bought, we all know it the two least suitable places were picked.  In the case of Qatar a traditional summer world cup could actually cost players their lives but they still won the vote, no worries we will just change to the winter, terrible decision but we all know why.  Oh and by the way the Qatar's former boss of football Mohamed bin Hamman is serving a life ban for corruption but it's ok FIFA tell us he didn't have anything to do with the bid, of course he didn't, well ok just a little bit, you sure it wasn't more than that, The Times have now published an article that includes electronic messages that show that bin Hamman was a central figure in the Qatari bidding committee, a man that is banned for life ..... for corruption, unbelievable.

Its ok though FIFA have recently completed an investigation into themselves and found themselves, wait for it, totally innocent of any wrong doing, so thats ok then.  Hold on Chief FIFA investigator Michael Garcia, says that the report he wrote from which FIFA have taken their findings has been taken out of context with FIFA's findings containing inaccuracies and that they were a selective portrayal of his original findings.  So what we are saying here is that FIFA's own investigator found that they were corrupt but they ignored his findings changed his report a little and found themselves innocent and cleared themselves of any wrong doing, good work FIFA.  All this after many of the the people accused or involved have resigned their positions, obviously they resigned over nothing they just all decided to resign for no reason.

On top of all this is the fact that the man at the very top, the most corrupt of the all, the man who has let of of this happen Blatter is actually insane.  Again we all now it the constant stream of stupid ideas and comments we all have just laughed but it appears that this power hungry lunatic will not be going away anytime soon and that under him the future of our game is not safe.  So what can we do?  On the face of it nothing, FIFA are the self appointed rulers of worldwide football as are the FA in this country, I have never understood how an organisation such as the FA can be self appointed Judge and Jury dishing out fines and bans far in excess of any court and where does the money go oh yeh the FA of course fine people and keep the money for yourself is always the best way to ensure a fair hearing.   Germany have recently suggested that UEFA pulls out of FIFA but again this would just leave the idiots at UEFA such as Platini in charge, same problems, same outcome in my opinion.  I fear we are left with no solution other than hope that some good fair people eventually work their way into positions of power and start the long process of healing our game, in the meantime we will play the World Cups where we are told, FIFA and its representatives will line their pockets and in the end the cash will come out of the fans pockets, the more things change the more they stay the same.

@lfclumo

Concussion - We need to bang heads together

There has been huge debate in the media recently regarding concussion.  Players in all sports including football are at risk from this invisible injury.  Many players at all levels of the game suffer from concur and many I would suggest almost all continue to play on through the injury, ignoring the symptoms and at great risk to themselves, but considering the risk, why do we play on and why are we allowed to do so?  

The first problem is that there is a lack of understanding throughout the game from the very top to the very bottom about what concussion is its not just getting knocked out, seeing stars or feeling a little dizzy after a blow to the head, these are symptoms, it is a traumatic brain injury.  Symptoms of a concussion include headaches that could be very severe, nausea, memory loss, difficulty with concentration, irritability, difficulty with sleep, changes in appetite, drops in energy levels.  With the above symptoms and risk of long term danger it seems obvious that following suffering a concussion should stop playing, take ourselves out of risk and seek medical treatment and advice, the fact that we don't at all levels of the game comes down to in my opinion lack of knowledge of both the players and coaches.  I think it's possibly in the psyche of players no matter age or ability to play through the injury, or want to return to the team quicker than it is safe to do so.  Recently we all saw Chelsea Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois suffer an injury before attempting to carry on returning to the field with obvious problems before finally leaving with blood trickling from his ear, nobody could claim that this was the best thing for his safety, if this can happen at Chelsea in the English Premier League with the resources available to and tens of thousands watching then what's happening to our children in under 11s games on a park in the middle of nowhere, with teams run by well intentioned parents with no medical support other than a first aider with some plasters and freeze spray, we need to educate and empower players to say no I can't play, I need to recover.  The risks of second impact are terrible and players must protect themselves.

When you are a manager of a team be it Chelsea in the Premier League or that Under 11s team in the park you want your players to be playing there are pressures to get players playing, different pressures but pressures all the same Chelsea want to win leagues, millions of pounds are at stake as well as the mangers job and salary.  On the park they still want to win, the manager may only have eleven players and everybody wants to play, parents want their children to play and so on. One player missing because they have a headache following a little bang last week could effect everybody, you get them out there, don't you? Its only a headache and the lad wants to play?  We must allow coaches at all levels to make the correct decisions, lives are at stake.  Educate parents and players and those decisions become easier.

Lives and quality of life are literally at stake we all have heard stories of boxers or American footballers suffering horrendously following head injuries but it is there in football too Jeff Astle played for West Bromwich and England during the 60's and 70's and later in life suffered from Alzheimers disease before his death in 2002 his family launched the Justice for Jeff campaign calling for an inquiry into the link between brain disease and heading heavy leather footballs.  It was confirmed that his disease had been caused by football with his wife Laraine said "The job he loved, in the end killed him.  Everything he won, he remembered none of it".  The coroners report on his death said "death by industrial disease".

Players must be protected no matter what, it is the job of everybody to get the message out there, I love the idea of my son enjoying football and want him playing in a team enjoying himself every week but not if it's causing long term damage, if he plays and gets injured fair enough but we must ensure he is given time to recover before he is back on the pitch.

@lfclumo

Aren't Southampton Good !

Haven't Southampton done well? They did well last season with an exceptional start, looking like they could challenge for a European place before falling away slightly but still remaining up at the top end of the league.  They had individual players reaching the very top of the game in this country with Lambert and Lallana winning great reviews whilst representing England, Lovren, Schneiderlin and Wanyama amongst others making names for themselves around Europe and young players including Luke Shaw tipped for the very top, all under the leadership of young forward thinking coach Pochettino who is also tipped for big things.

Then during the summer the inevitable happened and the big boys came calling, as is always the case when a team has a small amount of success clubs at the next level up have a look and invariably take their players away.  Liverpool were the biggest vultures taking Lambert, Lallana and Lovren, with Shaw leaving to join United and Callum Chambers Arsenal and perhaps the biggest loss to Southampton the man who had moulded them all Pochettino leaving to take charge at Spurs.  But Southampton made them pay, they made huge amounts of money on every player, important for a smaller club.

Importantly Southampton refused to sell more of their players and big clubs were clubs circling around especially with regards to Schniederlin but others to, but they didn't need to sell and it was important that at least something resembling a core of the team remained.  Firstly, Pochetino needed replacing and the board brought in Ronald Koeman, a big name who had a bit of experience around Europe, he arrived and set about rebuilding the squad that had almost been picked clean by premiership rivals. Some of the money made from the sales was invested in team with Tadic, Pelle, Forster, Gordos, Long and Mane all signed.  Tadic and Forster to me looked like excellent signings but some of the others I was unsure about but they have in general proved me wrong.  Pelle was a low level striker with a poor scoring record but has been a major success since joining and has been banging the goals in for fun.  On top of these signings more youngsters have joined the squad from the impressive academy that is one of the best in Europe, if you look at the names that have been produced, young players that I'm sure will attract interest from clubs in the not to distant future and earn Southampton more money.

Clubs the size of Southampton have to sell, most clubs do, but thanks to their academy they are producing quality players who are getting first team experience and they are then able to sell them on with huge transfer fees, this money is re-invested in the first team, so far very wisely with good players coming in to the team and pushing the club further up the table, would anybody seriously bet against them challenging for a place in Europe come the end of the season and if they make it that's more cash into the coffers.  It all relies on quality coming out of the academy and sensible business in the transfer market, but that's exactly what they have been doing and currently it looks like the best model in the league.

At the start of the season Southampton were tipped almost universally for a season long fight against relegation and following their first game defeat against Liverpool all the reports suggested that this predictions were true, nobody could lose so many top players and survive.  How wrong were we all? They have gone from strength to strength culminating in a recent 8-0 victory over Sunderland in the league and are sitting at the time of writing in a superb second place, all their players are winning rave reviews, so much so that the vultures are again circling, already and Koeman appears to have slotted in and carried on where the previous management left off.  

We, as supporters of other teams are all jealous of what they have achieved, but you have to admit, aren't Southampton good?

@lfclumo

Should Sunderlands Players Pay?

Following Sunderland's 8-0 defeat at the hands of Southampton at the weekend Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone suggested in the press and apparently in the dressing room that the players should take responsibility for the unacceptable performance and apologise by way of refunding the supporters who travelled to Southampton their ticket and travel expenses.  Club captain John Oshea later announced that all 2600 fans who travelled will be refunded their £24 ticket price (the club had already subsidised each ticket by ten pounds for travelling supporters) they however would not be refunding any travel expenses for the fans who had made the 630 mile round trip, some train prices were as much as £152.  O'Shea also apologised to the supporters saying "we win and lose as a team, players, staff and fans, however we wanted to acknowledge and thank the supporters who had travelled such a long way and despite everything, stayed with us until the final whistle.

This is a nice gesture by the Sunderland players and a decent effort as far as an apology goes.  Everybody who has played football has had a bad day, sometimes no matter what you do or how hard you try nothing goes the way you want, every touch is to heavy, every shot balloons over the bar, nothing clicks.  for Sunderland everybody had a bad bad day together.  Southampton are no mugs in fact they are a very good team and were favourites to win the game in any case, most would have expected a comfortable win.  But, everybody who has played or watched football will also tell you that when you are having an off day and things just aren't working for you what you do, the very least that is expected, is that you put the work in, in my opinion Sunderland didn't do this, they seemed to give up as a team and as individuals, all of them, without exception and this isn't acceptable, not when you are playing in the park, you don't let your mates down and certainly not when you're a professional not only do you let your colleagues down but also the supporters the people who pay your wages.  It's not just my opinion that the Sunderland players stopped trying, the local paper, The Sunderland Echo, gave Fletcher the Man of the Match a mark of only five with two players suffering the embarrassment of gaining only two.  The captain John Oshea said they were guilty of not putting their foot in.

Despite this should the players pay out of their own pockets, I'm certain that not one of them intended to let people down, I'm certain they wanted to do well, should they pay financially for not playing well, if so where is the line, if they had lost 10-0 do you pay the travelling expenses or is 6-0 acceptable and you don't pay anything, should Man Utd players have stumped up going down 4-0 to supposedly inferior opposition after all their fans suffered expense and saw an embarrassingly poor performance from probably better payed players than Sunderland have.  What happens if only one player has a poor performance do then they cough up on their own, their would be several players filing for bankruptcy.  I'm playing devil's advocate a little but you see my point.  On this occasion it's was the idea of the Sunderland players and I understand that they all agreed that they had some responsibility and that they wanted to do something to apologise to their supporters who had made one of the longest journeys in the league and this is what they decided to do, a decent gesture and one that I am sure is appreciated but I'm absolutely certain that supporters would rather the players put things right on the pitch and make sure in future that they put in the effort that is expected.

@lfclumo