Congratulations!

[Valid Atom 1.0] This is a valid Atom 1.0 feed.

Recommendations

This feed is valid, but interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendations.

Source: http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

  1. <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:blogger='http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368</id><updated>2024-03-05T05:42:49.948+00:00</updated><category term="World Cup"/><category term="Premier League"/><category term="FIFA"/><category term="Tottenham"/><category term="Aston Villa"/><category term="England"/><category term="France"/><category term="Ireland"/><category term="Manchester United"/><category term="Thierry Henry"/><category term="top-four"/><category term="Aaron Lennon"/><category term="Arsenal"/><category term="Fabio Capello"/><category term="Glazers"/><category term="Jermain Defoe"/><category term="Lionel Messi"/><category term="Liverpool"/><category term="Manchester City"/><category term="Patrick Barclay"/><category term="Portsmouth"/><category term="Sepp Blatter"/><category term="Technology"/><category term="Tom Hicks"/><category term="Transfer"/><category term="AC Milan"/><category term="American Samoa"/><category term="Arsene Wenger"/><category term="Ballon d&#39;Or"/><category term="Barcelona"/><category term="Birmingham City"/><category term="Brazil"/><category term="Cardiff"/><category term="Carson Yeung"/><category term="Champions League"/><category term="Coventry"/><category term="DVD"/><category term="David Ngog"/><category term="Debt"/><category term="Dimitar Berbatov"/><category term="Dirk Kuyt"/><category term="Emmanuel Adebayor"/><category term="Fernando Torres"/><category term="Fifa World Player of the Year"/><category term="Gabriele Marcotti"/><category term="Harry Redknapp"/><category term="John Terry"/><category term="Jonathan Wilson"/><category term="Leeds"/><category term="Manchester United Supporters Trust"/><category term="Mark Hughes"/><category term="Martin O&#39;Niell"/><category term="Newcastle"/><category term="Next Goal Wins"/><category term="Nigel De Jong"/><category term="Ownership"/><category term="Peterborough"/><category term="Phil Gartside"/><category term="Rafa Benitez"/><category term="Randy Lerner"/><category term="Rivaldo"/><category term="Robinho"/><category term="Roman Pavlyuchenko"/><category term="Ronaldinho"/><category term="Ronaldo"/><category term="Ryan Babel"/><category term="Sir Alex Ferguson"/><category term="Stan Kroenke"/><category term="Steven Gerrard"/><category term="The Championship"/><category term="The Government"/><category term="UEFA"/><category term="Watford"/><category term="West Ham"/><category term="Yossi Benayoun"/><category term="documentary"/><category term="football films"/><category term="goals"/><category term="hat-trick"/><title type='text'>The Good of The Game</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default?start-index=26&amp;max-results=25'/><author><name>Anonymous</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06844200201813788977</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>45</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-3991121668318558765</id><published>2014-12-28T19:30:00.000+00:00</published><updated>2014-12-28T19:34:22.362+00:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="American Samoa"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="documentary"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="DVD"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="FIFA"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="football films"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Next Goal Wins"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="World Cup"/><title type='text'>Falling in love with football again</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  2. &lt;a href=&quot;http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PNPJUd3jKGo/VKBa4rwg5wI/AAAAAAAABvI/wx6bR7jSUpM/s1600/Nicky_Salapu.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PNPJUd3jKGo/VKBa4rwg5wI/AAAAAAAABvI/wx6bR7jSUpM/s1600/Nicky_Salapu.jpg&quot; height=&quot;223&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  3. Sometimes these days I find football a hard game to love. The attitude of the players, the way the clubs treat their fans, the attitude of the modern fan, and of course the fetid, stinking mess that is the game&#39;s governing body - so much of it leaves a sour taste, and it seems to be getting worse.&lt;br /&gt;
  4. &lt;br /&gt;
  5. All of this was put in stark contrast when I recently watched Next Goal Wins, the inspiring documentary about the world&#39;s worst football team, American Samoa, who were famously beaten at the hands of Australia by a world-record 31-0 scoreline in 2002.&lt;br /&gt;
  6. &lt;br /&gt;
  7. This tale of misfits and no-hopers playing the game they love is a complete antidote to the cynical, serious, soulless phenomenon that world football sometimes appears to me to be. For those feeling jaded about the game, questioning why they ever loved it and if they ever will again, I wholeheartedly recommend you give it a watch.&lt;br /&gt;
  8. &lt;br /&gt;
  9. &lt;iframe allowfullscreen=&quot;&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; src=&quot;//www.youtube.com/embed/OIeKkjJNM6A&quot; width=&quot;560&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;
  10.  
  11. &lt;br /&gt;
  12. The documentary is available to purchase on DVD from Amazon, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.co.uk/Next-Goal-Wins-Mike-Brett/dp/B00IKFFCNW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1419794801&amp;amp;sr=8-1&amp;amp;keywords=next+goal+wins&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
  13. &lt;br /&gt;
  14. Have you seen it? Leave your review below, and let us know how it made you feel about the beautiful game!</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/3991121668318558765/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2014/12/falling-in-love-with-football-again.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/3991121668318558765'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/3991121668318558765'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2014/12/falling-in-love-with-football-again.html' title='Falling in love with football again'/><author><name>Anonymous</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06844200201813788977</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PNPJUd3jKGo/VKBa4rwg5wI/AAAAAAAABvI/wx6bR7jSUpM/s72-c/Nicky_Salapu.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-5661705683256511502</id><published>2010-03-10T17:33:00.003+00:00</published><updated>2010-03-10T17:50:51.307+00:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="AC Milan"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Glazers"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Manchester United"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Manchester United Supporters Trust"/><title type='text'>Will Manchester United fans vote with their wallets?</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00693/man-utd-585_693580a.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 585px; height: 350px;&quot; src=&quot;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00693/man-utd-585_693580a.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article7056430.ece&quot;&gt;The Times suggests that almost two-thirds of fans who hold Manchester United season tickets are considering not renewing next season.&lt;/a&gt;  This is perhaps the biggest quantifiable indication yet of the disillusionment at the Glazer&#39;s ownership and mishandling of the club, and a warning sign that fan power could have a significant impact on the future of this grand old club.  The question is though, when it comes to the crunch, will the fans have the balls to act?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This survey makes for intriguing reading, and mirrors the noises coming from the Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) who are spearheading the campaign to oust the Glazers.  The green and gold movement has already shown in highly visible terms that the numbers of fans advocating the removal of the Glazers is growing by the day, and there must be concern in the power base of the club that this will start to hit home in real terms (namely financial ones) soon.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;MUST today played down suggestions of a ten-minute boycott at the start of tonight&#39;s Champions League game against AC Milan, where it had been suggested that fans would be encouraged to miss the first ten minutes of the game in protest at the Glazers, but even if those fans did stage such a visual protest, they have still bought tickets for the match.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The only way that the Glazers will take the protests seriously is if revenues are hit substantially.  This may prove the hardest step of all for United fans - they will have to make a very hard decision - continue to attend games and support the team they love, or boycott in order to save the club.  In my humble view, the future of the club is the overarching issue, and while support for the team shouldn&#39;t be neglected, drastic axction needs to be taken.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I&#39;ll be surprised however, if attendances fall or if season ticket sales dwindle.  Whatever happens, peope will always want to watch Manchester United play, and die-hard fans might find it just a little too hard to give up watching their beloved team week-in, week-out.  It will be interesting to see how this saga develops, starting tonight, at the famous old stadium, against famous old European rivals, and welcoming a famous son back to his spiritual home.  Will the fans have the nerve to stage their boycott?  Once they smell the grass and they catch a glimpse of those two teams walking out to the Champions League music, I can be fairly sure there&#39;ll be bums on seats en masse.  Perhaps the boycott can wait for another week.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/5661705683256511502/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/03/will-manchester-united-fans-vote-with.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/5661705683256511502'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/5661705683256511502'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/03/will-manchester-united-fans-vote-with.html' title='Will Manchester United fans vote with their wallets?'/><author><name>Anonymous</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06844200201813788977</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-5224900419052202436</id><published>2010-03-08T16:16:00.004+00:00</published><updated>2010-03-10T17:28:33.371+00:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="FIFA"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Patrick Barclay"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Sepp Blatter"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Technology"/><title type='text'>Blatter and his Fifa colleagues are not fit to run football</title><content type='html'>This article will be short and unfortunately not so sweet as I only have one point to make, and I plan to make it as abruptly as possible.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sepp Blatter and his cronies at the top of football&#39;s international heirarchy are no longer fit to represent the game and are damaging the credibility, integrity and long-term future of world football.  For too long they have stood in the way of the reasonable evolution of the game and by dismissing the possiblity of any form of technology being used to assist referees in the future, they have once again shown us they are not fit to govern.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/patrick_barclay/article7052973.ece&quot;&gt;Patrick Barclay points out in his ever-eloquent column in The Times&lt;/a&gt;, the level of debate on the matter appears to have been &quot;staggeringly low&quot;.  So low in fact, that there can be little doubt they were ever seriously considering the options.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The argument of football purists about the ebb and flow of the game, and the potential problems an appeals system could introduce could be overcome by limiting the use of any technology to an assistant with a monitor.  With no influence from either team, and a simple responsiblity to inform the referee discreetly and promptly of any mis-directed officiating, the introduction of video refereeing could be an almost invisible addition and enhancement to the game.  No fanfare required, no major overhaul of the way we play the game, just one guy with a montior and a radio-linkup to the man in the middle.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Personally I lost faith with the world governing body and it&#39;s suitability to run the game a long time ago - just about the time Sepp Blatter came to power in fact.  Nothing has happened since to make me change my mind, and in fact my opinion of Fifa has only deteriorated over time.  If there is someone within the ranks who can make a difference, they need to start making a stand now, before it really is too late.  I genuinely fear for the future of this most beloved of sports while it is in the hands of Blatter and co., and I only hope that they aren&#39;t allowed to sabotage our game for much longer.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/5224900419052202436/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/03/blatter-and-his-fifa-colleagues-are-not.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/5224900419052202436'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/5224900419052202436'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/03/blatter-and-his-fifa-colleagues-are-not.html' title='Blatter and his Fifa colleagues are not fit to run football'/><author><name>Anonymous</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06844200201813788977</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-652355126552918380</id><published>2010-02-16T10:13:00.002+00:00</published><updated>2010-02-16T10:21:37.115+00:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Debt"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Portsmouth"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Premier League"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="The Government"/><title type='text'>Pressure building on tighter financial control from football authorities</title><content type='html'>The Guardian today carries a piece emphasising the Government&#39;s plans to exert greater pressure on the footballing authorities regarding financial regulation of clubs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This issue has become an increasingly hot topic in recent years, with questions of debt overshadowing clubs great and small.  If Portsmouth are allowed to slip into administration, surely the debate will only intensify.  Before long the authorities will be forced into action, and they will surely realise that they have left it too late.  There has been talk but no action on this issue for years, with the football beauracracy suffering from muscular atrophy due to years of passive bystanding.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/16/football-regulation-government&quot;&gt;Click on the this link to read what The Guardian have to say on the matter.&lt;/a&gt;  Join the debate by leaving a comment below.  What can the footballing authorities do to tackle the issue of debt before it becomes too late?</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/652355126552918380/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/02/pressure-building-on-tighter-financial.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/652355126552918380'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/652355126552918380'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/02/pressure-building-on-tighter-financial.html' title='Pressure building on tighter financial control from football authorities'/><author><name>Anonymous</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06844200201813788977</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-4665994215329257470</id><published>2010-02-16T09:40:00.003+00:00</published><updated>2010-02-16T09:58:20.580+00:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Champions League"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Premier League"/><title type='text'>Would a Champions League playoff do more harm than good for Premier League clubs?</title><content type='html'>The Premier League has drawn up proposals for an end of season playoff to determine the fourth English Champions League spot, which could potentially come into force as early as next season.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;UEFA has given their backing to the proposal, which initially received strong support from all but the &quot;big four&quot; Champions League stalwart clubs of the Premier League.  Of course a change of format such as this could blow the race for the Champions League wide open and it makes sense that clubs such as Tottenham, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Everton would be keen to see the proposals pushed through.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, there are also risks attached, and some have argued that the idea has not been properly thought through.  For too long now, fourth place in the Premier League has been talked about almost more than winning the title, with a series of clubs pushing hard to finish in this illustrious spot.  A playoff for this position would only increase the clamour surrounding the last Champions League and hype would go into overdrive.  If you&#39;re going to make such a big thing about finishing fourth, why not extend the playoff to third place as well and run a mini-league, with the top two qualifying for the Champions League?  Third is after all, just as arbitrary a position as fourth to reward with such high prestige and acclaim.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The obvious question of fixture conmgestion also comes into play here.  Unless the Premier League is to be cut by at least two (and perhaps four) teams, I see no way that these proposals could possibly work.  The English fixture list is already the most packed in European football, and time and again we&#39;ve seen our best players burnt out by the time a summer tournament comes round.  Surely this format would only increase the problem?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Finally, problems have been cited regarding the possible financial pressure it might put on the game at a time when just the opposite is required.  With the carrot of Champions League football dangling ever closer for an increasign number of clubs, would the playoff format force more clubs to spend beyond their means in the hope of crashing the Champions League party?  Could it lead to more Portsmouth situations with clubs sensing that one hard financial push could propel them into the big time forever?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Premier League is trying to inject a greater element of competition into the Premier League, and a commend them for this approach.  However, any restructuring of the league may have to be more comprehensive and perhaps more radical to address the fundamental problems facing the English game right now.  I hope they think long and hard before pushing these proposals any further.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;To read a Guardian article on the potential pitfalls of the proposals, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/16/premier-league-champions-league-play-offs&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/4665994215329257470/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/02/would-champions-league-playoff-do-more.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/4665994215329257470'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/4665994215329257470'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/02/would-champions-league-playoff-do-more.html' title='Would a Champions League playoff do more harm than good for Premier League clubs?'/><author><name>Anonymous</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06844200201813788977</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-1088101084394737481</id><published>2010-02-03T14:07:00.003+00:00</published><updated>2010-02-03T14:17:46.291+00:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Arsenal"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Arsene Wenger"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Aston Villa"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Gabriele Marcotti"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Martin O&#39;Niell"/><title type='text'>How do you define &quot;good&quot; football?</title><content type='html'>Gabriele Marcotti writes a very thought-provoking piece in his blog for The Times about the argument between Wenger and O&#39;Niell over whether Aston Villa play &quot;good football&quot;, and the wider debate in the game of football:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2010/02/what-is-good-football-to-you.html&quot;&gt;Click here to read the article.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The question of what makes good football is almost as old as the game itself.  Ever since some semblance of tactics emerged in the game there have been opposing camps as to how the game &quot;should be played&quot; and many have tried to quantify the best way to play the game.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So how do we define &quot;good&quot; football?  If you have any ideas, leave a comment below!</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/1088101084394737481/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-do-you-define-good-football.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/1088101084394737481'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/1088101084394737481'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-do-you-define-good-football.html' title='How do you define &quot;good&quot; football?'/><author><name>Anonymous</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06844200201813788977</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-4784563846169697648</id><published>2010-01-15T12:35:00.007+00:00</published><updated>2010-01-15T13:06:05.253+00:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="David Ngog"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Dirk Kuyt"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Fernando Torres"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Liverpool"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Rafa Benitez"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Ryan Babel"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Steven Gerrard"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Tom Hicks"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Yossi Benayoun"/><title type='text'>Are Liverpool the most disappointing team in the country?</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/assets/library/426-rafabenitez2--125595242372998800.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 426px; height: 312px;&quot; src=&quot;http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/assets/library/426-rafabenitez2--125595242372998800.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Following Liverpool&#39;s woeful FA Cup exit in midweek against a struggling Reading side, i found myself dismayed once again over the fortunes of one of the grandest clubs in the game.  It led me to ask the question, are Liverpool the most disappointing team in the Premier League?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am consistently underwhelmed by the performances they put in on the pitch, while off it the club seems to be in complete turmoil as a name that has been synonymous with all that is great about English football becomes just another headline in the soap opera world of Premier League ownership.  For a club that sets such high standards for itself, and with such an outstanding and dedicated fan base, i feel that Liverpool and its supporters deserve more.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Liverpool&#39;s lack of strength in depth has been well documented, and without Gerrard and Torres they are without a doubt significantly worse off.  This in itself is not too much to worry about, as any team would miss their influence.  However, on Wednesday against Reading, the total inability of any of their players to make an incisive move, to break down the Reading defences, was a huge disappointment.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The likes of Benayoun and Kuyt are good players, but seem incapable of leading a team to success alone, while the likes of Babel and Ngog continue to show nothing to suggest that they deserve to wear the Liver Bird crest on their chest.  I&#39;m actually a little embarassed every time i see Ngog lead the line for Liverpool - it&#39;s not his fault, but he&#39;s just woefully inadequate for the role and responsibility bestowed upon him.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Of course it is easy to jump on the bandwagon and criticise Liverpool during this season when they are clearly below par.  However, even last season when they were in contention for the league for so much of the year, they contrived to throw away so many chances that were gifted to them, drawing games that on paper appeared to be 3-points in the bank.  The occasional stirring victory or talismanic performance for Gerrard or Torres fails to outweigh the weight of disappointment for me.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This week will inevitably raise more questions about the leadership of the club, both in terms of its owners and its manager.  Tom Hicks has promised that the club will have money to spend in the summer, but will it be too late by then?  Without Champions League football (which they are in danger of losing), will players such as Torres be looking for another club?  Will they be able to attract the calibre of players they undoubtedly need?  Is Rafa Benitez still the right man for the job?  Surely he can&#39;t have many supporters left after he failed to offer any relevant explanation for his sides inexplicable performance on Wednesday.  The question is though, would a replacement fair any better under the current conditions at the club, and if so who is that man?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Some may argue that the likes of constant under-achievers such as Spurs or, up until now, Manchester City, must be more disappointing than Liverpool, but at least both clubs provide value for money in the drama stakes, and their supporters would arguably suggest they are amongst the best clubs to follow for these reasons.  Teams like Bolton, Stoke or Wolves might play unattractive football, but it has seen them overachieve in recent years and for that their supporters must be grateful.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What do Liverpool supporters feel?  Is their club a constant disappointment to them?  Given the remarkably high standards the club sets itself and the oustanding dedication of its supporters, my feeling is that the team all to often fails to produce what the club and its supporters deserve.  I hope to see a day when Liverpool stand triumphant and united at the very top of the game again, but unfortunately i fail to see it happening any time soon.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Join the debate by leaving a comment below!</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/4784563846169697648/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/are-liverpool-most-disappointing-team.html#comment-form' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/4784563846169697648'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/4784563846169697648'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/are-liverpool-most-disappointing-team.html' title='Are Liverpool the most disappointing team in the country?'/><author><name>Anonymous</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06844200201813788977</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-1966156857953587155</id><published>2010-01-14T00:05:00.003+00:00</published><updated>2010-01-14T03:23:49.084+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Burnley: Laws appointment sends mixed message</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxvx3U5zcMBaGe2IwALt0zUo7gZ1FZ9hXCuQKiYDd611_-5DO_wPZw2dZV6uN6Z-nhuS5jI6a5VEZgkU4qG0T1lOjGLGbailpZSMlWxNXpXfiMmYC7WFlrddmZetLX3krgIUnM1yxEpaE/s1600-h/images.jpeg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 143px; height: 107px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxvx3U5zcMBaGe2IwALt0zUo7gZ1FZ9hXCuQKiYDd611_-5DO_wPZw2dZV6uN6Z-nhuS5jI6a5VEZgkU4qG0T1lOjGLGbailpZSMlWxNXpXfiMmYC7WFlrddmZetLX3krgIUnM1yxEpaE/s320/images.jpeg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426430969378938946&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yesterday Burnley appointed Brian Laws to be their new manager following the departure of Owen Coyle to Bolton Wanderers. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First off, Laws must be one of the most experienced managers ever hired into the Premier League. He has managed close to 800 games since his first post at Grimsby in 1994 - thats 300 more than Rafael Benitez. Without going and looking at each manager individually I would guess that he ranks 3rd or 4th in terms of experience in the Premier League after Fergie and Wenger. And perhaps the highest in terms of when he entered the league. This guy clearly knows his way around a football club. For this we applaud Burnley. So many managers in the Premier League are just handed the top job with no experience whatsoever, and inevitably fail or become tiresomely mediocre. Hiring someone with experience is an astute move on Burnley&#39;s part. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On the other side is that the sides that Laws has gotten his experience with, have not been Premier League quality sides. His last club was Sheffield Wednesday, from where he was fired. Before that he was managing Scunthorpe and Grimsby. Two sides who have jumped around between the lower divisions. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The calibre of player at Burnley will not be drastically different from that which he managed at Wednesday but clearly the quality of the opposition will be light years apart. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It would appear to me that Burnley have hired someone who considers this a huge promotion, is used to working on a strict budget, and will not want to leave the club if they get relegated. With Coyle leaving mid-season, the club have been left in a tough position, and hiring someone like Laws, a survivor, is someone that the board clearly fill two different roles for the club. Firstly someone with the determination to keep them in the league, but also someone who wont have a bruised ego if they get relegated. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If I were a Burnley fan I wouldn&#39;t be overly disappointed with the decision but I also wouldn&#39;t be overly optimistic. I think this is a classic case of giving Laws a chance to see what he can do. Unfortunately the Premiership and Burnley are multi-millon pound organizations and they just put someone in charge on millions of pounds of assets who has not had a great deal of success with other million pound assets. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Perhaps also in the mind of the Burnley decision makers is the fact that if Laws was unable to keep Burnley up and then they wanted to go in a different direction with a different manager, few fans would shed a tear over Laws departure.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Overall its an interesting appointment, not quite as black and white as it first appears and has several possible outcomes.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/1966156857953587155/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/burnley-laws-appointment-sends-mixed.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/1966156857953587155'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/1966156857953587155'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/burnley-laws-appointment-sends-mixed.html' title='Burnley: Laws appointment sends mixed message'/><author><name>Unknown</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxvx3U5zcMBaGe2IwALt0zUo7gZ1FZ9hXCuQKiYDd611_-5DO_wPZw2dZV6uN6Z-nhuS5jI6a5VEZgkU4qG0T1lOjGLGbailpZSMlWxNXpXfiMmYC7WFlrddmZetLX3krgIUnM1yxEpaE/s72-c/images.jpeg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-7256583655483734955</id><published>2010-01-12T11:48:00.006+00:00</published><updated>2010-01-12T14:20:34.158+00:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Arsenal"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Aston Villa"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Birmingham City"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Carson Yeung"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Glazers"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Liverpool"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Manchester United"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Ownership"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Portsmouth"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Randy Lerner"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Stan Kroenke"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Tom Hicks"/><title type='text'>Ownership soap operas threaten to overshadow on-pitch action</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00670/p71tuesday_585x350_670960a.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 585px; height: 350px;&quot; src=&quot;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00670/p71tuesday_585x350_670960a.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Misdemeanours and financial uncertainties of club owners are threatening to overshadow the football being played on the pitch at several Premier League clubs, leading to questions resurfacing over what makes a &quot;fit and proper&quot; owner of a football club.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Is it just me, or has football&#39;s focus shifted significantly towards the boardroom in recent years?  As clubs become the playthings of ultra-rich sugar-daddies and sports tycoons from across the pond start to see the Premier League as an attractive prospect, the wranglings of the boardroom have become regular back-page material.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Perhaps it is the overarching and ever-extending influence of money in the game that has switched our focus away from the day-to-day business of the results on the pitch, and on to the results of business off it.  Today, the importance of finely balancing success and financial security (something Portsmouth appear to have failed in) is so evident in the game that issues of ownership have been thrust into the public domain.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Club owners are under the scrutiny of the fans and the media alike, and so perhaps, they should be when there is so much at stake.  However, surely less scrutiny would be required if the criteria for passing the Premier League&#39;s &quot;fit and proper persons test&quot; actually did what it said on the tin.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Portsmouth&#39;s recent ownership travails must draw the credibility of the test into serious doubt, as they have proved unable to meet even the most basic of financial commitments since assuming control.  Granted, they took over a club already flirting with disaster and financial ruin, but the optimism of the fans when cream-suited Sulaiman al-Fahim bought the club in August has long since evaporated, along with the Dubai businessman&#39;s stake in the club (he sold a 90% stake to Ali Al Faraj on October).  &lt;a href=&quot;http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8453406.stm&quot;&gt;Portsmouth have made headlines again today as the Premier League gave tghem a 5pm deadline to pay back creditors or lose their latest slice of TV money.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The owners of Manchester United and Liverpool have also made the headlines in the last few days.  For United, the story relates to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article6984255.ece&quot;&gt;£500m bond issue&lt;/a&gt; in a bid to safeguard the financial security of the club, while Liverpool&#39;s co-owner Tom Hicks has today announced that the club will be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article6984376.ece&quot;&gt;&quot;spending big&quot; in the summer break&lt;/a&gt;, clearly a move to appease fans over the clanger dropped by his son Tom Hicks Jr in sending abusive emails to a fan.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Surely questions must be asked whether these parties are suitable to be in control of two of the biggest and best footballing insitutions the world has ever seen?  These clowns of the boardroom are doing their best to overshadow what should really matter - success on the pitch.  Liverpool have clearly struggled for lack of adequate investment inthe right areas in the last two seasons, while Manchester United look to be going the same way.  Of course, success on the pitch must be underpinned by financial security, but it seems that both parties are failing on that front as well.  I&#39;m not sure what either have going for them, but it&#39;s not a lot from where i&#39;m sitting.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There are of course stories of takeovers and ownership issues in recent years that have impacted positively on the game, and those should not be ignored.  Randy Lerner continues to do a sterling job at Aston Villa with very little public intrusion.  He has let Martin o&#39;Neill&#39;s side do their talking on the pitch, and for that he should be praised.  Carson Yeung has made a promising start to his time as owner of Birmingham City, perhaps galvinising his teams progress which has seen them go 12 games unbeaten in the Premier League.  Even Roman Abramovich has enriched the Premier League by bringing us such characters as Jose Mourinho, Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti in the managerial hotseat, whilst building a formidable team along the way.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It remains to be seen of course, whether Stan Kroenke manages to assume control at Arsenal, and what kind of legacy he&#39;ll bring to the club.  Many suggest he will be a positive force for change at the club and will lead them to the silverware that has eluded them in recent years.  Whatever happens in his story, he would do well to take heed of the mistakes made by those who have gone before him.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/7256583655483734955/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/ownership-soap-operas-threaten-to.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/7256583655483734955'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/7256583655483734955'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/ownership-soap-operas-threaten-to.html' title='Ownership soap operas threaten to overshadow on-pitch action'/><author><name>Anonymous</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06844200201813788977</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-6151218733655743163</id><published>2010-01-11T01:14:00.002+00:00</published><updated>2010-01-11T01:16:48.843+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Fulham: Up the Duff</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE7lYnZIBOTs0syzwzdSlUL6_vhxLRJ4Trj8aLKLRsc08cv4Fy5glD89EH_SPFDB2qHtH7gwyQjgraeGomu_5IBowC7Y1YURgcO-6FfMcyNsahzGgK5HABfq9tGlSUUNICdaz7i7YJAzw/s1600-h/508540-dtstory-damien-duff.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE7lYnZIBOTs0syzwzdSlUL6_vhxLRJ4Trj8aLKLRsc08cv4Fy5glD89EH_SPFDB2qHtH7gwyQjgraeGomu_5IBowC7Y1YURgcO-6FfMcyNsahzGgK5HABfq9tGlSUUNICdaz7i7YJAzw/s320/508540-dtstory-damien-duff.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425285018430255794&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Fulham are a team rarely mentioned and easily forgotten, but with Roy Hodgson as manager they should never be underestimated. The signing of Damien Duff - in my view the signing of the season - has given Fulham that little bit of extra quality that they needed. Duff has rediscovered his Blackburn and Chelsea form after struggling at Newcastle. His pace and skill are the biggest contributing factors to any goal that Bobby Zamora has scored this season and he even chips in with a few goals himself. With Andy Johnson injured earlier in the season, Duff stepped up his game and expect nothing less from him with Zamora now out for while.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After proving that they can beat anyone with their 3-0 demolition of Manchester United (granted they had a makeshift defence but it was still impressive) a bet on them to win the FA Cup at 20-1 could be a great shout. With their main competitors fighting for Top 4 positions they might even get an easy ride to the final and it won&#39;t be long till they are out of the Europa League (sorry Fulham fans but its true) allowing complete focus on the FA Cup&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By contributing author &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight:bold;&quot;&gt;Harry M&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/6151218733655743163/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/fulham-up-duff.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/6151218733655743163'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/6151218733655743163'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/fulham-up-duff.html' title='Fulham: Up the Duff'/><author><name>Unknown</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE7lYnZIBOTs0syzwzdSlUL6_vhxLRJ4Trj8aLKLRsc08cv4Fy5glD89EH_SPFDB2qHtH7gwyQjgraeGomu_5IBowC7Y1YURgcO-6FfMcyNsahzGgK5HABfq9tGlSUUNICdaz7i7YJAzw/s72-c/508540-dtstory-damien-duff.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-3600172927581506094</id><published>2010-01-08T16:23:00.003+00:00</published><updated>2010-01-08T16:38:10.587+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Celtic face critical January period</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy6K1tXzJUNRwCgOu22btm1tbN8-Bi-f1_thJPy4_b8ES758aawK7Ahgc4X6ibVUsMGHvEmHIEFEmJWwg8D689xVYvhB2Lair3RVKtIBr5YBrZ4tqxh51T5GxdfFrSQcRbSmfNSs08AiE/s1600-h/Aiden-McGeady-Celtic-001.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 192px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy6K1tXzJUNRwCgOu22btm1tbN8-Bi-f1_thJPy4_b8ES758aawK7Ahgc4X6ibVUsMGHvEmHIEFEmJWwg8D689xVYvhB2Lair3RVKtIBr5YBrZ4tqxh51T5GxdfFrSQcRbSmfNSs08AiE/s320/Aiden-McGeady-Celtic-001.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424409186216657154&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With transfer news filling the newspaper columns it is imperative that Celtic get this window absolutely right.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The decision to state that Aiden McGeady is not for sale at any price is obviously critical and perhaps the most important move that Peter Lawwell will make over the next few weeks. Celtic are more fortunate than their cross-town rivals in that they are in a strong financial position and are not being monitored closely by any financial institutions. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Gary Caldwell may well make a move to England, with Wigan Athletic keen on signing the centre-back. This move would be fine, as long as he replaced. Centre-back is Celtic&#39;s weakest position with no real quality to speak of. Caldwell, is perhaps, overall the best of the bunch but I wouldn&#39;t mind seeing him go as long as his replacement was swiftly acquired. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Gordan Strachan has been linked with Willo Flood, Chris Killen and Mark Wilson and could result in the best dealings at Parkhead in a while. While they all offer depth, none of them are even close to the starting eleven. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Scott McDonald is the other player that has several suitors. He is Celtic&#39;s only pure goal scorer, he is the only player that routinely contributes very little to the overall game but will make his mark with one or two goals. Samaras and Fortune both offer much much more in overall quality, but lack the finishing ability of McDonald. Similar to Caldwell, I would not be devastated if Scott left, but he would need to be replaced immediately. If that replacement was not out there, then it would certainly be a dangerous move. I cannot imagine Strachan making the move to sell McDonald as it is certainly goes against his conservative managerial nature, but perhaps big Tony sees things a little differently. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Overall Celtic are playing good football, dominating games (see last Old Firm game) but are conceding cheap goals and not finishing off created chances. A worrying trend indeed. Careful negotiation of the January transfer window is going to be essential for Celtic to reverse this trend and bring in a few players who may be able to make that important difference down the stretch.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/3600172927581506094/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/celtic-face-critical-january-period.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/3600172927581506094'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/3600172927581506094'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/celtic-face-critical-january-period.html' title='Celtic face critical January period'/><author><name>Unknown</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy6K1tXzJUNRwCgOu22btm1tbN8-Bi-f1_thJPy4_b8ES758aawK7Ahgc4X6ibVUsMGHvEmHIEFEmJWwg8D689xVYvhB2Lair3RVKtIBr5YBrZ4tqxh51T5GxdfFrSQcRbSmfNSs08AiE/s72-c/Aiden-McGeady-Celtic-001.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-6042744538282632945</id><published>2010-01-07T17:13:00.005+00:00</published><updated>2010-01-07T18:04:39.606+00:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Cardiff"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Coventry"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Leeds"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Newcastle"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Peterborough"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="The Championship"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Transfer"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Watford"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="West Ham"/><title type='text'>Lower league signings could inspire Premier League success</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;http://img.skysports.com/09/12/218x298/Moses_2398949.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 218px; height: 298px;&quot; src=&quot;http://img.skysports.com/09/12/218x298/Moses_2398949.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style:italic;&quot;&gt;The wealth of quality players in the lower leagues reinforces the strength of the English game, and shrewd signings this January could provide Premier League clubs with just the tonic to propel them to success.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Everyone is looking for a bargain at this time of year.  The January transfer window provides managers with the opportunity to reinforce their ranks for the long, hard slog to the end of the season, and with many Premier League clubs suffering multiple long-term injuries, it seems like this month will see as much activity as ever.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Every team in the Premier League has something to play for, and strong January signings could be the difference between achieving your goals for the season, or fading into obscurity.  Last year Harry Redknapp bought astutely, if expensively at Spurs, and they rocketed up the table after the additions of Wilson Palacios, Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane.  Arsenal bolstered their season with the inspired addition of Andrey Arshavin, while Chelsea failed to push United all the way for the title after picking up Portuguese flop Ricardo Quaresma on loan.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Panic buys aplenty can usually be expected, but this year it could be those players picked up from The Championship or England&#39;s other lower leagues that prove the most influential and effective.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Glancing down the list of some of the names being linked with moves to Premier League clubs, it is testament to the strength of the English leagues that so many come from The Championship or lower.  Victor Moses of Crystal Palace is hot property, with the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham all tracking him.  Watford&#39;s Scott Loach and Peterborough&#39;s Joe Lewis are great goalkeeping prospects who look Premier League class through and through.  Arsenal and Manchester United are apparently &quot;in a race&quot; to sign Cardiff youngster Adam Matthews, while at the other end of the table Kris Commons of Derby has recently been linked with Wolves.  Following his exploits in the FA Cup recently, I would also be very surprised if a few Premier League clubs weren&#39;t taking a long hard look at Jermaine Beckford, and possibly other Leeds United players.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All this suggests that, in terms of talent, the English leagues are rife with promising players who could well step up and make an impression on the very biggest stage, and I for one am excited about their prospects.  There are still countless examples of unknown foreign players coming into the Premier League and failing to make the grade, or looking no better than average along the way.  West Ham&#39;s recent signings (albeit under the huge financial constraints they are experiencing) boast some highly questionable foreign imports, while Newcastle employed the same bits-and-pieces approach to their transfer policy, which saw their side full of misfits from around Europe stumbling its way to relegation last year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The example of Birmingham City is a fine one, and one that many clubs would do well to follow this month.  Yes, they are the fashionable club to write about at the moment due to their impressive form, and no doubt they will encounter a dip at some point as the season progresses, but their transfer policy and the signings of Alex Mcleish have been a revelation.  Their defensive duo of Scott Dann and Roger Johnson, signed from Coventry and Cardiff respectively, have formed the solid base of the Premier League&#39;s 3rd meanest defence this season and are arguably early candidates for the Premier League&#39;s team of the season.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Further up the table, big clubs have proven that it pays to take a look at the lower leagues.  Arsenal have a real talent on their hands in Aaron Ramsey, while Spurs and Everton have benefited immensely from adopting a policy of picking up young players from The Championship.  Aaron Lennon, Tom Huddlestone and Michael Dawson, to name just a few for Spurs, and Tim Cahill, Joleon Lescott and Phil Jagielka to do likewise for Everton, have shown the value of taking a gamble on a lower league player, and it won&#39;t surprise me if these clubs and others bring in players from the second tier during this month.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I believe this is a really exciting transfer window for signings from the lower leagues, and I wouldn&#39;t be surprised if some real gems emerge.  It is great for the English game to see such strength in depth in its leagues, and I hope that more clubs recognise the merits of adopting this transfer policy.  While fans of some lower league clubs may be disappointed to see their top talents &quot;poached&quot; by Premier League big guns, developing talent and selling it on for profit is a great way to balance the books.  It&#39;s good for the clubs who sell, it&#39;s good for the teams who buy and it&#39;s great for the players who get a chance to prove themselves on the biggest stage in domestic football.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/6042744538282632945/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/lower-league-signings-could-inspire.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/6042744538282632945'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/6042744538282632945'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/lower-league-signings-could-inspire.html' title='Lower league signings could inspire Premier League success'/><author><name>Anonymous</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06844200201813788977</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-7610572673836844348</id><published>2010-01-07T03:04:00.003+00:00</published><updated>2010-01-07T03:11:25.116+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Craig Bellamy: Player of The Year?</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAL8kvNUoS78msAVEGLap5_JDzaQMRcWDcu0k0Yym9GYlMGplurHDrSZxMlGH4O9emARQeAHVlcXx2Nnh56AZaLJKqEVLC_5AIfy4stKOTom0lob5HvlL9sVPXjLjswF47_pyECb4zQHY/s1600-h/craig_bellamy_1513159c.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 200px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAL8kvNUoS78msAVEGLap5_JDzaQMRcWDcu0k0Yym9GYlMGplurHDrSZxMlGH4O9emARQeAHVlcXx2Nnh56AZaLJKqEVLC_5AIfy4stKOTom0lob5HvlL9sVPXjLjswF47_pyECb4zQHY/s320/craig_bellamy_1513159c.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423830203095288434&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It would seem to be an appropriate time to consider who may be the early favourites for Player of the Year accolades. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am going to leave this one largely up to the comments, but I will mention my particular choice:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight:bold;&quot;&gt;Craig Bellamy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have been an admirer of Bellamy throughout his career, thinking that he would be a complete nightmare to defend against and someone that could make almost any defender look like a 4 year old in a split second. At Manchester City, with their high-tempo attacking style he seems to be having somewhat of a breakout season. His speed, timing, passing and finishing seem to be at a level which is above and beyond what we have seen from him before. He is currently my favourite player to watch in the Premier League and lets hope he can maintain his form.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What are your thoughts?</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/7610572673836844348/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/craig-bellamy-player-of-year.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/7610572673836844348'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/7610572673836844348'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/craig-bellamy-player-of-year.html' title='Craig Bellamy: Player of The Year?'/><author><name>Unknown</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAL8kvNUoS78msAVEGLap5_JDzaQMRcWDcu0k0Yym9GYlMGplurHDrSZxMlGH4O9emARQeAHVlcXx2Nnh56AZaLJKqEVLC_5AIfy4stKOTom0lob5HvlL9sVPXjLjswF47_pyECb4zQHY/s72-c/craig_bellamy_1513159c.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-7657358183739294633</id><published>2010-01-06T13:01:00.002+00:00</published><updated>2010-01-06T13:19:21.394+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Man City: Huge financial loss irrelevant</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxNEVttR81bHIYdjHS1E8LQU-M7aWGmxaOTFcKBPvEUCCzrCI9mu3hP8OXuDk7X6pb6Z5g85cRUBEa74BArTu7ibkj1c1IBsOxnc6Im04gCZlNzNWsJks3Ek2AoosmaKJslaS4OS6l9_U/s1600-h/shefio.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 200px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxNEVttR81bHIYdjHS1E8LQU-M7aWGmxaOTFcKBPvEUCCzrCI9mu3hP8OXuDk7X6pb6Z5g85cRUBEa74BArTu7ibkj1c1IBsOxnc6Im04gCZlNzNWsJks3Ek2AoosmaKJslaS4OS6l9_U/s320/shefio.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423615737241228130&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Today Manchester City announced losses of £92.6 million last night, the third largest in British football history. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is a truly sad state of affairs. Now let me be clear, I do not blame City or their owners, it is a free market and they are entitled to do whatever they please. They have put together an exciting team that I certainly enjoy watching. From a singular entertainment perspective, I could care less how much money City spend. However for my overall enjoyment of the Premier League and football, I am less certain. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Much like Chelsea did a few season ago City are trying to buy their way into the upper echelons of the Premier League. Nothing wrong with this (within the current system and rules), all teams do it. But how far are they willing to go? The losses sustained this year are inconsequential when your club is owned by billionaires, much like the losses Chelsea are maintaining. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Does Sheikh Mansour care about a £92.6 million loss? Not one bit. He can afford to absorb that kind of expenditure with the expectation of being paid off down the road, and the personal glory from owning an elite football club. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sadly it is the administrators that consistently let down the sport. They fail to ever protect football. Football is a product, and like any product it needs to be protected from elements that could damage it. The FA and Premier League stand idly by year after year as issues arise and are not dealt with adequately. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We have been long standing supporters of introducing a salary cap system, with the goal of slowly leveling the playing field somewhat. One aspect of American sports that the UK could learn from is that there is great equity across the spectrum of those sports which results in close games, close title chases etc etc. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Premier League at least, has an exclusive elite, and the rest. This is a broken system, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer (unless of course you are bought by an Abu Dhabi Sheihk). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On a another note - is Craig Bellamy a legitimate possibility for Player of The Year this year? I think he might be.........</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/7657358183739294633/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/man-city-huge-financial-loss-irrelevant.html#comment-form' title='9 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/7657358183739294633'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/7657358183739294633'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/man-city-huge-financial-loss-irrelevant.html' title='Man City: Huge financial loss irrelevant'/><author><name>Unknown</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxNEVttR81bHIYdjHS1E8LQU-M7aWGmxaOTFcKBPvEUCCzrCI9mu3hP8OXuDk7X6pb6Z5g85cRUBEa74BArTu7ibkj1c1IBsOxnc6Im04gCZlNzNWsJks3Ek2AoosmaKJslaS4OS6l9_U/s72-c/shefio.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>9</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-7113065927405332691</id><published>2010-01-05T01:45:00.004+00:00</published><updated>2010-01-05T02:04:58.146+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Arsenal may strike further blow to FA Cup credibility</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9XgWxcIcfuxRsAM91ZZ31M6frgbL7oMMgV6PpVGvzghuqc5MtejiPPzv4FIXEjyPwG5o95ULPVKe8bRXxA8yEjbErxtOCZU9DBVMa8GBLruDqikiD5u5wqaxNmkfu4-8Fu6jUasExLtw/s1600-h/arsene-wenger.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 220px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9XgWxcIcfuxRsAM91ZZ31M6frgbL7oMMgV6PpVGvzghuqc5MtejiPPzv4FIXEjyPwG5o95ULPVKe8bRXxA8yEjbErxtOCZU9DBVMa8GBLruDqikiD5u5wqaxNmkfu4-8Fu6jUasExLtw/s320/arsene-wenger.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423070910351866866&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It would appear that Arsene Wenger will field a weakened team for the January 24th FA Cup tie with Stoke City, in order to keep first team players fresh for Premier League fixtures. Following from yesterdays article (which prompted a lot of controversy - mainly from Leeds United fans) this would add further wood to the fire as Arsenal clearly put the Premier League above and beyond the FA Cup in importance (rightly so in my opinion). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The FA Cup will never be the competition it once was if teams cannot field their full strength sides and truly value winning this competition. Wenger clearly thinks his side have a chance on challenging for the title this year, and victory at the weekend would take the Gooners to 2nd place in the table and only one point behind Chelsea. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Much like Mick McCarthy a few weeks ago, Wenger has to decide how best to manage his assets available to him and the message will surely be that a rest over the weekend of the 24th will allow his key players to stay on top of their game for the important Premier League fixtures. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;****************&lt;br /&gt;A note on yesterdays article.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It appears to me that many readers have missed my point, and on review that is down to the fact that I did not explain myself as eloquently and clearly as I would have liked. Let me re-state my point in the simplest terms possible:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The excitement that I gain from sport comes from competitions where it is extremely difficult to predict a winner because of the wide variety of teams that could potentially win. Four teams have dominated the FA Cup over the last 15 years and as such I have lost interest. Similarly I lost interest in the Premier League the last two or three years as Manchester United and Chelsea were clearly the only two teams that could win. This season it looks like the excitement is back as things are much tighter and there seems to be greater equity among the teams. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you look at the greatest sporting events in the world - they are all bound by one of two common trait - many possible winners, or great equity and competition between the competitors :&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The World Cup&lt;br /&gt;Ryder Cup&lt;br /&gt;The Grand National&lt;br /&gt;6 Nations&lt;br /&gt;March Madness&lt;br /&gt;British Lions Tours&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Over recent years British football has suffered because of a lack of these traits, I can only hope that they begin to emerge again.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/7113065927405332691/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/arsenal-may-strike-further-blow-to-fa.html#comment-form' title='24 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/7113065927405332691'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/7113065927405332691'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/arsenal-may-strike-further-blow-to-fa.html' title='Arsenal may strike further blow to FA Cup credibility'/><author><name>Unknown</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9XgWxcIcfuxRsAM91ZZ31M6frgbL7oMMgV6PpVGvzghuqc5MtejiPPzv4FIXEjyPwG5o95ULPVKe8bRXxA8yEjbErxtOCZU9DBVMa8GBLruDqikiD5u5wqaxNmkfu4-8Fu6jUasExLtw/s72-c/arsene-wenger.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>24</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-5548943708252566796</id><published>2010-01-04T14:55:00.004+00:00</published><updated>2010-01-04T16:09:21.279+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Why no-one should care about the FA Cup.</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3BxoL63KEwQ9O14RlSSN1tbsuStVu-BYaAhN7NWbwnR_Am2U43irZPcLu700FsaGs-TF2NP_fTh4h9LrBsUXFnT8-CZKeIxtjqJPyljx09fZ6OxcfYGcJyVyyuaFUt8IFxvirGQsoWSU/s1600-h/fa-cup.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 244px; height: 320px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3BxoL63KEwQ9O14RlSSN1tbsuStVu-BYaAhN7NWbwnR_Am2U43irZPcLu700FsaGs-TF2NP_fTh4h9LrBsUXFnT8-CZKeIxtjqJPyljx09fZ6OxcfYGcJyVyyuaFUt8IFxvirGQsoWSU/s320/fa-cup.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422902421849164178&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is a lot of column inches taken up in today&#39;s newspapers regarding Leeds United win over Manchester United this weekend. Some journalists hail the &#39;romance of football&#39; others laud the &#39;minnows&#39; and others simply revel in the &#39;beauty&#39; of the FA Cup. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Personally I do not care one little bit for the FA Cup, or the Carling Cup for that matter, and frankly I struggle to understand why anyone else does either. Presumably there are many Leeds United fans who are extremely happy today with their &#39;famous&#39; victory over United. But why? They have not won the FA Cup, they won&#39;t win the FA Cup so why are they that happy? Of course its always good to watch your team win, but unfortunately the powers that be in football have made it so that the joy that Leeds are feeling will be short lived.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The FA Cup is immeasurably boring. Lets take a look at the last few winners:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2009 - Chelsea&lt;br /&gt;2008 - Portsmouth&lt;br /&gt;2007 - Chelsea&lt;br /&gt;2006 - Liverpool&lt;br /&gt;2005 - Arsenal&lt;br /&gt;2004 - Manchester United&lt;br /&gt;2003 - Arsenal&lt;br /&gt;2002 - Arsenal&lt;br /&gt;2001 - Liverpool&lt;br /&gt;2000 - Chelsea&lt;br /&gt;1999 - Manchester United&lt;br /&gt;1998 - Arsenal&lt;br /&gt;1997 - Chelsea&lt;br /&gt;1996 - Manchester United&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyone notice a pattern? With the exception of Portsmouth in 2008, all winners come from four teams? Which four? Oh right, I think we all know them. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Where is the excitement and drama in a competition if history tells us that only four teams can win? If teams outside of these four were to start consistently winning the FA Cup, then I will happily retract all the above statements and say that the FA Cup is truly a great competition. Until that happens, it is merely a distraction.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Are there any Manchester United fans that are really that upset about thir exit from the competition? I would doubt it. The Premiership and the Champions League are the only things that this club &lt;span style=&quot;font-style:italic;&quot;&gt;really&lt;/span&gt; care about. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If United can win the Premiership is anyone going to be thinking, &quot;well this is great, wish we could have won the FA Cup though&quot;......? &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal win it.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/5548943708252566796/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/why-i-dont-care-about-fa-cup.html#comment-form' title='14 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/5548943708252566796'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/5548943708252566796'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/why-i-dont-care-about-fa-cup.html' title='Why no-one should care about the FA Cup.'/><author><name>Unknown</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3BxoL63KEwQ9O14RlSSN1tbsuStVu-BYaAhN7NWbwnR_Am2U43irZPcLu700FsaGs-TF2NP_fTh4h9LrBsUXFnT8-CZKeIxtjqJPyljx09fZ6OxcfYGcJyVyyuaFUt8IFxvirGQsoWSU/s72-c/fa-cup.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>14</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-526452818755336725</id><published>2010-01-04T14:52:00.002+00:00</published><updated>2010-01-04T14:54:57.179+00:00</updated><title type='text'>All footballers are knobs.</title><content type='html'>On a miserable day back at work after too many pies and too much champagne, a little light reading can help raise the temperature on an otherwise cold day.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Barney Ronay in the The Guardian&#39;s sport blog writes &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/jan/02/joey-barton-knobs-today-programme&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt; amusing piece.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/526452818755336725/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/all-footballers-are-knobs.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/526452818755336725'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/526452818755336725'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2010/01/all-footballers-are-knobs.html' title='All footballers are knobs.'/><author><name>Unknown</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-7813583378269201411</id><published>2009-12-31T11:17:00.005+00:00</published><updated>2009-12-31T12:38:36.791+00:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Dimitar Berbatov"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Jonathan Wilson"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Manchester United"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Sir Alex Ferguson"/><title type='text'>Ferguson must stick with Berbatov for the sake of title challenge</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/10/3/1254596985637/Dimitar-Berbatov-equalise-010.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 567px; height: 390px;&quot; src=&quot;http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/10/3/1254596985637/Dimitar-Berbatov-equalise-010.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style:italic;&quot;&gt;Mercurial forward may hold the key to United&#39;s title challenge, and Sir Alex needs to realise that to get the best out of the Bulgarian, he must be used consistently.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dimitar Berbatov divides opinion like almost no other player in the game (with the possible exception of Emile Heskey).  He dazzles some with remarkable displays of nonchalant brilliance, but baffles others with his seemingly indifferent attitude and questionable work-rate.  What is beyond debate though is that out of Manchester United&#39;s last five games, the three victories came with the Bulgarian in the starting XI, while for the two defeats, he started on the bench.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Of course, to judge a player and his impact on the team based purely on their last five games fails to tell the whole story.  Berbatov remains something of an enigma at United, and has yet to show his best form consistently.  However, he has shown in the past that his best form comes when he is starting regularly (in fact, whose doesn&#39;t?), and that he tends to hit his stride in the second half of the season.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;During his two years at Spurs Berbatov started slowly each season, but came into his own during December.  In 06/07, he scored twice against Charlton to add to a total of just seven goals up to that point.  He ended the season with 23 in all competitions.  In 07/08, it took four goals against Reading at the end of December to kick-start his season - again he ended with 23 in all competitions.  His Manchester United career thus far has been stop-start, but the team might just benefit from him having an extended run in the starting XI.  He has scored in his last two games, and we might just be starting to see the emergence of the player so many United fans have waited so long to see.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Of course, at United you are expected to deliver straight away, especially after commanding such a large transfer fee.  In that respect, Berbatov has been a disappointment so far.  However, it is hard to deny that when he hits his stride, there are few players who are better to watch for sheer technique and vision in that central striker role, and with this style he can complement the athletic industry of the likes of Rooney, Valencia and Park behind him.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In fact, if United are to play the 4-2-3-1 formation that has become almost the default for top teams, Berbatov is by far the most suitable player to spearhead the attack.  The use of Berbatov in this position is characteristic of the way the game has changed in recent years, and tactics employing forwards like the Bulgarian as a lone forward are becoming more and more commonplace (and effective) at the pinnacle of the world game.  Jonathan Wilson comments that the traditional centre-forward as goal-poacher has long since departed at the top level. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/jun/08/euro2008&quot;&gt; His comments on the future of the striker&lt;/a&gt; provide a fascinating insight into the way the game is changing, and Dimitar Berbatov perfectly fits the description of his modern &quot;hybrid&quot; forward.  His outstanding close control, unrivalled vision and ability to thread a telling pass, together with his potency in and around the six-yard box make him a handful, and capable of playing the dual role of provider and finisher  - previously split between two forwards - on his own.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;An attacking line-up with Berbatov at the tip and Rooney behind, flanked with willing runners, appears to present both the best chances of success for United, and the highest potential for exciting and attractive attacking football.  Let&#39;s hope that Ferguson persists with the talented forward, and that we start to see the full array of talent that this exciting player can produce on a regular basis.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/7813583378269201411/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/ferguson-must-stick-with-berbatov-for.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/7813583378269201411'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/7813583378269201411'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/ferguson-must-stick-with-berbatov-for.html' title='Ferguson must stick with Berbatov for the sake of title challenge'/><author><name>Anonymous</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06844200201813788977</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-801371438925592795</id><published>2009-12-31T10:19:00.005+00:00</published><updated>2009-12-31T11:02:28.498+00:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Roman Pavlyuchenko"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Tottenham"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Transfer"/><title type='text'>Tottenham: Pavlyuchenko&#39;s ill-advised comments may be damaging for career</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2009/10/29/1256805313995/Roman-Pavlyuchenko-001.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 460px; height: 276px;&quot; src=&quot;http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2009/10/29/1256805313995/Roman-Pavlyuchenko-001.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style:italic;&quot;&gt;The Good of The Game believes that Tottenham&#39;s Russian Roman may be harming his future prospects by his repeated outbursts, and in this instance player-power might not be the answer.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Roman Pavlyuchenko has once again subjected us to his innermost thoughts in a bid to buy a one-way ticket out of N17 and end his disappointing spell with Tottenham Hotspur. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the latest of a number of carefully worded comments to the press, Pavlyuchenko has taken one step further towards guaranteeing his exit from the club, claiming that manager Harry Redknapp is &lt;a href=&quot;http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=719283&amp;sec=england&amp;cc=5739&quot;&gt;&quot;mocking&quot; the Russian by refusing to play him&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I can&#39;t help however, but think that Pavlyuchenko is only making his situation worse by confiding these self-indulgent comments to the wider world.  That his Tottenham career is coming to an end is beyond doubt - Redknapp has staunchly refused to use Pavlyuchenko in any match of any importance this season.  But I wonder which big clubs will want to take a look at the Russian, and perhaps take a gamble on him, when they know his propensity to moan to the press whenever things are not going his way.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Pavlyuchenko&#39;s great advantage is that he hasn&#39;t played European football this year, so he could be picked up by a side that has progressed to the latter stages of either the Champions or Europa Leagues.  However, I struggle to see any side in either of those competitions where Pavlyuchenko would walk straight into the starting XI, something which he seems to think he is entitled to.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Rumours have been surfacing all season about potential moves to the likes of Roma, Liverpool and a host of clubs back in his home country.  It seems like a move back to Russia may be his only option because surely he would not be content to warm the bench at another club in the same manner as he has been doing at Spurs this season?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A big part of me feels that if Pavlyuchenko had handled his current situation with more dignity he would be a more attractive prospect for big clubs, and may have found himself given another chance to prove himself at the highest level.  After all, even the very best players occasionally suffer from a transfer to an ill-fitting club, and rejuvenate their fortunes by moving to a more suitable side.  However, the striker has been so obsessed with speeding up his exit from White Hart Lane, that he might just have severely limited his future options.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Player power is of course a big part of the game today.  Players enjoy a large amount of freedom in moving between clubs, and are entitled to request permission to be transferred, or to speak with another interested party if they wish to leave their current club.  Of course they have benefited from this free market immensely in financial terms, and now have the right to seek the best deal for them.  However, in cases like this would it not be more beneficial for the player to show a good attitude in the public domain, and quietly air his grievances to the club behind closed doors?  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Engineering a transfer through communicating to the press (either in person or through an agent) is the most messy way to leave a club and often significantly damages the reputation of the outgoing player.  Is it really the way to go about your business?  If you&#39;re a Ronaldo or Berbatov this may not matter as you have another big (or bigger) club to walk straight into.  They may have had poor attitudes, but they had the form to fall back on as evidence to potential buyers.  But for the likes of Pavlyuchenko, displaying a poor attitude to go with poor form, the future does not look quite so bright.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/801371438925592795/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/tottenham-pavlyuchenkos-ill-advised.html#comment-form' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/801371438925592795'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/801371438925592795'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/tottenham-pavlyuchenkos-ill-advised.html' title='Tottenham: Pavlyuchenko&#39;s ill-advised comments may be damaging for career'/><author><name>Anonymous</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06844200201813788977</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-6834538486615707753</id><published>2009-12-23T09:50:00.003+00:00</published><updated>2009-12-23T10:17:32.867+00:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="England"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Fabio Capello"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="John Terry"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="World Cup"/><title type='text'>Terry must keep his head down for sake of England</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href=&quot;http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2009/4/1/1238621789536/John-Terry-of-England-cel-002.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 460px; height: 276px;&quot; src=&quot;http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2009/4/1/1238621789536/John-Terry-of-England-cel-002.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/matthew_syed/article6965635.ece&quot;&gt;Matthew Syed writes today in The Times about his incredulity that John Terry has managed to maintain his status as England captain despite a downward spiralling of his public image in recent months.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As a nation, England need Terry to stay out of the limelight for the next 6 months.  His influence on England&#39;s remarkable run of results under Fabio Capello cannot be underestimated.  Terry is the man, after all, that Capello turned to after his extensive audition period for the role, and who are we to question the judgement of the man who has given England their smoothest passage to a major tournament in living memory?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Chelsea man may not be the most spectacular footballer in the world - indeed he may not even be the most talented central defender England can boast - but his leadership qualities on the pitch and within a team environment are second to none, and that is what England will need if they are to get through the sternest of challenges that await them if they are to reach the latter stages in South Africa.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, by accepting money from three &quot;businessmen&quot; (undercover reporters for the News of The World) for a private tour of Chelsea&#39;s training facility, and the secretive nature in which he handled the situation, Terry has done his best to throw his tenure as England captain into the spotlight of public scrutiny.  There is no doubt that Terry is in footballing terms the best man to lead England at the World Cup, but he is becoming something of a PR disaster (not helped by his family), and the integrity that is expected of someone who is asked to lead their country has slipped away from him in the light of this incident.  He needs to tread carefully from now on and avoid any more slip-ups, or else England might be forced to look elsewhere for the man to lead them to glory.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I&#39;m sure Mr Capello will be in contact with Terry before the England squad next gets together in March, to remind him of his responsibility to his country and the high standards that are expected of him in his elevated position as leader of the nation&#39;s hopes.  I only hope it gets through to him, and we can enjoy the run up to the tournament safe in the knowledge that we don&#39;t have to worry about the conduct of Terry, of whom so much is expected next summer.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/6834538486615707753/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/terry-must-keep-his-head-down-for-sake.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/6834538486615707753'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/6834538486615707753'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/terry-must-keep-his-head-down-for-sake.html' title='Terry must keep his head down for sake of England'/><author><name>Anonymous</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06844200201813788977</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-8994747083220736795</id><published>2009-12-23T03:13:00.002+00:00</published><updated>2009-12-23T03:33:41.962+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Kroenke could inject new life into stagnant Arsenal</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKvYotNJpQ6WM29gU9Xuh2BBkO00Q1gjaQTCCy5SbKPwcUnV39C_sB_BPO8eUub_40kSPouxhcJ0VsBA-zofatqQWLdRBubsOb9E_7LG-ipHB3R9w66hVrbSgOkmMWkWkGlvDyX2LqoYQ/s1600-h/arsenal.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKvYotNJpQ6WM29gU9Xuh2BBkO00Q1gjaQTCCy5SbKPwcUnV39C_sB_BPO8eUub_40kSPouxhcJ0VsBA-zofatqQWLdRBubsOb9E_7LG-ipHB3R9w66hVrbSgOkmMWkWkGlvDyX2LqoYQ/s320/arsenal.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418269670110787234&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A few days ago I made a comment that the situation at the Emirates is a little stagnant, there were a few dissenting comments so I feel compelled to explain myself. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Arsenal is certainly an organization that has enjoyed a certain degree of stability over the years provided by Arsene Wenger and many loyal players. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Lets look at the last few performances in the Premier League:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2008/9: 72 points, finished 4th&lt;br /&gt;2007/8: 83 points, finished 3rd&lt;br /&gt;2006/7: 68 points, finished 4th&lt;br /&gt;2005/6: 67 points, finished 4th&lt;br /&gt;2004/5: 83 points finished 2nd&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From a consistency perspective you cannot fault Arsenal - this is a phenomenal feat to achieve and on the surface these results look impressive but if we look at them differently we can see how far off winning the league Arsenal have been.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2008/9: 18 points behind 1st&lt;br /&gt;2007/8: 4 points behind 1st&lt;br /&gt;2006/7: 21 points behind 1st&lt;br /&gt;2005/6: 24 points behind 1st&lt;br /&gt;2004/5: 12 points behind 1st&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My point is that Arsenal are a good side, continually lauded in the press for playing wonderful football, but aside from the 2007/8 season, have not even been close to challenging for the title. Not even close. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Currently the Gunners sit 6 points behind 1st with a game in hand and an excellent goal difference. So the question is: does this Arsenal team have what it takes to close the gap on 1st and 2nd place? I am going to say that no, they do not. I think they will struggle in the last 3/4 of the season and will probably end up in a fight with Aston Villa, Man City and Liverpool for the 3rd and 4th places in the league. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Stan Kroenke has a track record of injecting cash into the teams that he owns and will bring a wealth of experience to the table at the Emirates. He may be able to provide the impetus for Arsenal to change from attractive bridesmaid to actually standing at the altar and winning the Premier League again.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/8994747083220736795/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/kroenke-could-inject-new-life-into.html#comment-form' title='6 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/8994747083220736795'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/8994747083220736795'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/kroenke-could-inject-new-life-into.html' title='Kroenke could inject new life into stagnant Arsenal'/><author><name>Unknown</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKvYotNJpQ6WM29gU9Xuh2BBkO00Q1gjaQTCCy5SbKPwcUnV39C_sB_BPO8eUub_40kSPouxhcJ0VsBA-zofatqQWLdRBubsOb9E_7LG-ipHB3R9w66hVrbSgOkmMWkWkGlvDyX2LqoYQ/s72-c/arsenal.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>6</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-149448643157687211</id><published>2009-12-22T02:38:00.003+00:00</published><updated>2009-12-22T02:48:49.767+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Mancini: already causing trouble</title><content type='html'>Roberto Mancini was unveiled as Manchester City manager yesterday and already will have displeased his new employers. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Lets not forget that he was sacked at Inter and had well publicized differences with president Massimo Moratti. Now he has openly contradicted his new boss, chief executive Garry Cook. In a statement Cook said that Mancini was offered the managers position at Eastlands after the defeat to Spurs last week. However at the press conference today Mancini told of how he was contacted about the position two weeks ago, forcing Cook to confirm these actions.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Publicly contradicting your chief executive is not exactly the description of a great first day at work. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We shall continue to keep an eye on Mancini.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/149448643157687211/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/mancini-already-causing-trouble.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/149448643157687211'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/149448643157687211'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/mancini-already-causing-trouble.html' title='Mancini: already causing trouble'/><author><name>Unknown</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-8501700665237060241</id><published>2009-12-21T21:50:00.010+00:00</published><updated>2009-12-22T09:40:18.690+00:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Fifa World Player of the Year"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Lionel Messi"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Ronaldinho"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Ronaldo"/><title type='text'>Lionel Messi: a man predestined for greatness</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00563/celeb_messi_585_563980a.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 585px; height: 350px;&quot; src=&quot;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00563/celeb_messi_585_563980a.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Lionel Messi was on Monday crowned the Fifa World Player of the Year for 2009 at an awards ceremony in Zurich.  It marks the end of an outstanding year for the Argentine who has stood head and shoulders above the competition.  Rarely has there been a more deserving recipient.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Three weeks ago, &lt;a href=&quot;http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/messi-wins-ballon-dor-as-journalists.html&quot;&gt;The Good of The Game predicted that Messi would follow his European Ballon d&#39;Or with the Fifa award&lt;/a&gt;, following Cristiano Ronaldo who achieved the same feat in 2008.  He has duly delivered, no surprise considering the quality and consistency he has achieved this year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Above all however, perhaps it is his sense of occasion that has marked him out as the truly great player of the past 12 months.  Like Diego Maradona, his Argentinian predecessor who he has been so closely compared to, or the French magician Zinedine Zidane, Messi has shown that he can produce his very best football on the very biggest occasions - truly the sign of a great player.  Messi&#39;s moment came in the 2009 Champions League final as he scored a remarkable headed goal to seal victory for Barcelona against Manchester United.  It was as if he was born for that stage, and it seemed inevitable that he would influence the game in such a profound way.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ed Smith sums up this characteristic of sporting greatness in his fascinating book &lt;span style=&quot;font-style:italic;&quot;&gt;What Sport Tells Us About Life&lt;/span&gt;, and I think it&#39;s particularly relevant to the example of the great Lionel Messi:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style:italic;&quot;&gt;Scratch a brilliant sportsman deeply enough and you reach a layer of self-certainty in his own destiny.  The greater the sportsman, usually the more convinced he is of his own predestined greatness.  The big stage means it must be his stage, victory has been prearranged on his terms, it is his destiny to win the World Cup or the Olympics or the Ashes.  It might be perfectly rational for a great player to believe he has a good chance of decisively influencing the big occasion.  But that isn&#39;t what he thinks.  He thinks it is inevitable.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For me this perfectly sums up the genius of Lionel Messi, and why he is perhaps the most worthy winner of this award since Ronaldinho in 2005.  While others such as Ronaldo have stuttered on the biggest stage of all, seemingly losing faith in their ability, Messi never looks anything other than totally convinced of his right, perhaps even his obligation, to command the very biggest stage.  That&#39;s why The Good of The Game loves Lionel Messi, it&#39;s why he has been the greatest player on the planet this year, and it&#39;s why he will prove very hard to beat again in 2010.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style:italic;&quot;&gt;What Sport Tells Us About Life, by Ed Smith, is published by Penguin.&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/8501700665237060241/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/lionel-messi-man-predestined-for.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/8501700665237060241'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/8501700665237060241'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/lionel-messi-man-predestined-for.html' title='Lionel Messi: a man predestined for greatness'/><author><name>Anonymous</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06844200201813788977</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-1809858810898732481</id><published>2009-12-21T18:10:00.002+00:00</published><updated>2009-12-21T18:29:54.330+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Kroenke has right CV for Premier League</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyvuvBxppsr-WgOA7b4fKtSZuhAzrDWN0NYoIUfAkqGf-woHANgQb-noRhPoXawWW8JVtGrpGGSOp5OFJZQZCOnxyzNYo2FlwNLzWdTB8P0SBH5AWaFFW64ZDMZgCB64ya7xRzH0vLkSI/s1600-h/StanKroenke_468x651.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 230px; height: 320px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyvuvBxppsr-WgOA7b4fKtSZuhAzrDWN0NYoIUfAkqGf-woHANgQb-noRhPoXawWW8JVtGrpGGSOp5OFJZQZCOnxyzNYo2FlwNLzWdTB8P0SBH5AWaFFW64ZDMZgCB64ya7xRzH0vLkSI/s320/StanKroenke_468x651.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417758349662628802&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Stan Kroenke is now only a few shares away from being forced to launch a takeover of the club. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While fan opinion seems to be divided, we see no reason why Arsenal would not welcome Stan The Man with open arms. He is an accomplished businessman who is listed by Forbes as one of the world&#39;s richest men. He built an empire through real estate and has since diversified into the sports industry. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Unlike many other Premier League owners Kroenke has an accomplished history in the sports industry, so much so that BusinessWeek listed him in the top 100 most influential people in sports. He owns the Denver Nuggets NBA organization, the Colorado Rapids Major League Soccer franchise, the Colorado Avalance NHL (ice hockey) franchise and the St. Louis Rams. Incidentally all of his teams have been extremely successful. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In addition he purchased the Pepsi Arena (home of the Nuggets) and has launched a regional sports television channel. He also owns a ticket company, cattle ranches and a winery. He is married to Anne Walton - an heir to the Wal-Mart fortune. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Kroenke is in the sports business to make money, that much is clear. So what to expect if he does fulfill the takeover?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Firstly, he is a quiet man who prefers the background to the limelight so don&#39;t expect a huge press conference or frequent interviews or even to hear from the man himself. Arsenal can expect considerable investment to achieve greater success, as he has spent on all his current teams to bring them glory. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Americans have a good track record in the Premiership so far with the Glazers bringing a number of trophies to Old Trafford and Randy Lerner presiding over the rapid improvement of Aston Villa. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Kroenke is already a member of the board at Arsenal so clearly they understand the experience and value of the man. A takeover, while not announced or even necessarily expected, may not be a bad thing at a stagnant Emirates Stadium.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/1809858810898732481/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/kroenke-has-right-cv-for-premier-league.html#comment-form' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/1809858810898732481'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/1809858810898732481'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/kroenke-has-right-cv-for-premier-league.html' title='Kroenke has right CV for Premier League'/><author><name>Unknown</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyvuvBxppsr-WgOA7b4fKtSZuhAzrDWN0NYoIUfAkqGf-woHANgQb-noRhPoXawWW8JVtGrpGGSOp5OFJZQZCOnxyzNYo2FlwNLzWdTB8P0SBH5AWaFFW64ZDMZgCB64ya7xRzH0vLkSI/s72-c/StanKroenke_468x651.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563304022570430368.post-5782350043632217842</id><published>2009-12-21T14:01:00.000+00:00</published><updated>2009-12-21T14:18:43.207+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Mick McCarthy: Excellent management decision to make 10 changes</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUP7p3nqnvl9BiZvKZC6pl6ADH2mUr7sSk3wgfgVgQ63mebu83AK2Q8mPKGLX_OchTeFY3xJb8B5NV5JNxiwp7wDOTschUMDLai6tOGKofrQMVUvcFu6XCAB6KtgDYY59pnlFxqZg2b10/s1600-h/mick_mccarthy_1544530c.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUP7p3nqnvl9BiZvKZC6pl6ADH2mUr7sSk3wgfgVgQ63mebu83AK2Q8mPKGLX_OchTeFY3xJb8B5NV5JNxiwp7wDOTschUMDLai6tOGKofrQMVUvcFu6XCAB6KtgDYY59pnlFxqZg2b10/s400/mick_mccarthy_1544530c.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417693176500821282&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The decision made by Wolves manager Mick McCarthy to make ten changes ahead of playing Premier League Champions Manchester United was met with wide-spread derision and anger around the country. Many fans felt &#39;ripped-off&#39; and &#39;cheated&#39; by the decision, but today hopefully they are enlightened with the bravery and common sense of the changes. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On Monday Wolves are three points better off than they were last week following a two-nil defeat of Burnley, fellow relegation rivals. With seven points separating the bottom 11 teams, those three points were vital for Wolves. Big Mick knows what he is doing, he knows that he will on average (in our opinion), lose to Manchester United 8 or 9 times out of 10 . Given that they only play each other twice a year, the odds are stacked against Wolves, so he made a brave and sensible decision. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A couple of points here;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1 - He is the manager he can do what he wants. Why should the Premier League write to him to ask &#39;why&#39;? What are they hoping is going to happen here? &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2 - As the leader of a multi-million dollar group of assets you have to manage them in order to maximise your returns. If we look at the last two games as a single entity; vs Man United and vs Burnley, what is the best outcome for Wolves? I would say it is 3 points. Maybe they could have scraped 4 points if Manchester United had an off day. McCarthy did the maths, he figured the best way to get maximum return from these two games given the assets at his disposal was to make ten changes for the United game. And he was proven correct. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wolves are now lying 12th in the Premier League but face a difficult trip to Liverpool on Boxing Day and then have Manchester City at home on the 29th. Gaining three points before Christmas was vital to Wolves, McCarthy understood this and managed his squad correctly. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We certainly applaud him for his decisions and hope that fans understand that staying in the Premier League is more important that putting in a good performance at Old Trafford.</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/5782350043632217842/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/mick-mccarthy-excellent-management.html#comment-form' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/5782350043632217842'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1563304022570430368/posts/default/5782350043632217842'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/2009/12/mick-mccarthy-excellent-management.html' title='Mick McCarthy: Excellent management decision to make 10 changes'/><author><name>Unknown</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUP7p3nqnvl9BiZvKZC6pl6ADH2mUr7sSk3wgfgVgQ63mebu83AK2Q8mPKGLX_OchTeFY3xJb8B5NV5JNxiwp7wDOTschUMDLai6tOGKofrQMVUvcFu6XCAB6KtgDYY59pnlFxqZg2b10/s72-c/mick_mccarthy_1544530c.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry></feed>

If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:

  1. Download the "valid Atom 1.0" banner.

  2. Upload the image to your own server. (This step is important. Please do not link directly to the image on this server.)

  3. Add this HTML to your page (change the image src attribute if necessary):

If you would like to create a text link instead, here is the URL you can use:

http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//thegoodofthegame.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Home · About · News · Docs · Terms

 
Copyright © 2002-9 Sam Ruby, Mark Pilgrim, Joseph Walton, and Phil Ringnalda