Developing the youth and finding new talent

Although I was never good enough and never committed to being a professional footballer, I came to realise how times have changed since I was a kid in comparison to it is like for the youngsters of today.  When education was done for the day all I wanted to do was to play football.  Yes I enjoyed playing computer games but any invitation or opportunity I got to get the ball out of the shed, I went and did it.  Kicking the ball in the streets or on the car park in all types of weather, using jumpers as posts or kicking the ball up against the wall were the best times of my childhood.  Now commercialism has changed the playing field. Rather than kids setting up their own version of Wembley or pretending to be the next Wayne Rooney, they prefer to watch animated figures on the screen that attempt to replicate the professionals themselves, to play the game for them whilst they click a few buttons on a controller resting in their palms.

 

What did your child get for Christmas in 2014? A Playstation 4, an X-Box One, or a football? A copy of Fifa 15 may be the popular choice but it is not the most educational

There is too much going on these days and time has gone through an evolution.  I understand why the games console has replaced the board game. It is far more advanced, moves at pace and can still help you interact with people but on a wider scale rather than having to invite them round to your house. However, it seems children do not have the freedom they once had to explore and be imaginative in the outdoors, instead the reality sees crime in the balance and parents not giving their kids the opportunity go out and play whilst technology and the IT group have superseded the enjoyment of the open-air.

 

It is said by those in the Sports Scientist profession and at the FA that a child needs to complete 10,000 hours of practice in 10 years to keep up to standard and to have any chance of growth.  This is approximately 27.4 minutes a day for a 365 day year which would see youngsters having to start from around the age of seven to have any real chance of ‘making it’.  Less than half an hour a day seems like a small portion of time in a kids day after education, so where is it all going wrong and why do we not see more boys and girls playing out like they should be?

 

The difficulty with football is the variables.  In sprinting all you need to be is fast, in snooker you need a good brain, eagle-eyed vision for angles and precision and in wrestling, professionals are required to be big and strong whilst possessing the odd ‘acting’ skills.  In football there is plenty to consider as there are various ways to play the game and win.  Different mentalities, a variety of skill and temperament are only three of the aspects to consider.  This is why football is so fascinating. Teams including Chelsea have been renowned for being mentally and physically strong whilst Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona played with little men with the eye for picking out a brilliant string of passes to get in and around the opposition.  There are no specific requirements, raw talent is a point to notice but it isn’t the most important.  Players have to impress as managers and coaches have different expectations and methods of playing the game.  Therefore, although football is the most popular sport on the planet, it seems very difficult to predict of who will make it and who won’t. The truth is that it is difficult to judge who will go on to win countless trophies and who will end up playing in a pub team some twenty or thirty years down the line.  It is a game of preference and recommendation. Some kids could have it all at the age of nine or ten but they may not progress their game by their teenage years due to not having the mental capacity to compete.

 

A powerful image which resembles the premature stages of the game

It seems parents are lacking either the endeavor to help their talented children to achieve or the accessibility for them to get the right training for their spouses.  It seems to some extent that the relationship between sports development professionals and the communication parents need to get their children involved has somewhat deteriorated.   I’m not trying to cause any disillusions or make up any stories here but it seems as though the balance from both sides became a little unstable a while ago. The responsibility to get kids involved primarily comes down to the parents as they can research the knowledge of how to get their children on board. This suggests that it is now a privilege to be part of a team which I could argue a case for and against all day long.  Either way, once involved, youth development is promoted for enjoyment which is important for every child.

 

However, following research, speaking to people in person or over the internet whilst also being a coach for a football club, there are camps across the globe that solely produce the best in the world at what they do.  The best female golfers from Korea are all produced from the same area in the country.  The most gifted footballers in Brazil play bare-footed at the same destination beaches regardless of their wealth. The finest sprinters from Jamaica all live in the same town whereas the champion athletes from China attend the best schools of whom are all breaded from a young age.  So where has the UK’s youth machine gone to pump out the talent from the grass roots?

 

It is a shame that grass roots football doesn’t get the funding it should. There are coaches and mentors spending time setting up sessions before and after school, late in the evening and even arranging summer camps to train the young children of today.  These people give their precious time, enjoying what they love to find the best seven-year-old kids, driving all around communities just to provide for the country in a game that was born in the UK.  The FA are fed with most of the blame but I guess that comes with the territory, but if the government are holding back shouldn’t local councils tip in when it is these children who could potentially represent and raise the profile of the community? Although we now have St George’s in Burton being the host to the core of youth development in the UK, it all seems to come across as being a bit elitist. Although each club has their own youth ranking systems internally, the amount of coaches available to youth football is a little bit of the low side. Although time is given by youth development coaches there is only so much they can commit to an individual before sending them back to their local kids clubs every week.  This is where scouts are important when choosing talented youngsters to step up to the bigger stage on a regular level.

 

It has never become more important that to get a child familiar with a ball from as early as seven-years-of-age

It is said by the age of between seven and eight it can be defined as to whether someone is good enough to develop year on year up until the age of eleven to thirteen before leading the path to become a professional, or whether it is going to be a sport that someone plays as a past time in a kick-a-bout.  Kids start of on their own in the back garden practicing their skills and first touch by kicking the ball up against the wall (which by the way my parents use to hate due to the thin-ness of modern houses) before playing a game of 15 versus 8 for about five hours prior to avoiding the call in from home to come in for tea.  Kids have energy to burn; they could earn you as parents millions one day!

 

From playing in the street and knocking off wing mirrors or tramping over the neighbours plants, kids know when they are better than others around their age.  Being picked ahead of the fat kid or the lad with glasses becomes a tendency.  The most popular lad at school is elected as team captain despite probably not being the most technically gifted but somehow gets the recognition.  The opportunity in grass roots may have been overshadowed and by some extent we may be stuck in a disaster period.  However the opportunities that many communities and in particular the parents miss out on that big clubs are offering is massive and more people need to take this into account.

 

There were three reasons I got into coaching, one was because it was something I always found intriguing, secondly, I wanted to help find the best of the next generation in the community and thirdly I felt that many coaches were teaching kids in the wrong way.  There are particular elements I try and input in my weekly sessions, I always tell the kids to enjoy themselves, if they are not having fun then what is the point? I also want them to take risks, try new things and challenge each other but most importantly learning to pass the ball, use their vocals and keep their heads up. Finally I find that it is important for the youngster to learn how to be disciplined, how to learn from their mistakes and how they can get better.  Installing a winning mentality from a young age in the game is important to me as it indicates which kids want it more and who needs more development. However, if the team loses a game it is something I can learn from, as long as the youngster discover what type of footballer they want to be I will always attempt to guide them with my ideas and experience.

 

St George’s park, Burton Upon Trent. The FA’s youth development headquarters for the future of the English game

The football academy in Burton upon Trent, St George’s Park National Football Centre is a step in the right direction, despite my earlier rant about elitism, let us be honest because all professional sport is about the superior performer and it is up to the parents and youth development coaches to point kids in the right direct. St George’s  is 330 acres of land committed to the future of the sport which the FA should have been implemented decades ago.  It has twelve top of the range training pitches, both grass and artificial and one full sized indoor facility.  There are also educational suites for theory on the game and relaxation pads for aspiring professionals to experience the life of a footballer.  The £130 million institution will not only attempt to find the best young talent it will also look to give advice to coaches looking to improve and commit to the game.  All this could be for nothing though if the standard of coaching does not improve alongside the promotion of youth development.

Why did the FA not choose Harry Redknapp over Roy Hodgson?

There were two reasons why I wanted to buy Harry Redknapp’s autobiography. Firstly he was a man who used to bore the life out of me but I underestimated him up until his days at Spurs. I now find myself sucking up to the bloke in admiration for what he did at Tottenham and still to this day feel that Daniel Levy made a mistake letting him go at the time he did. The second reason was to get an understanding of his rejection from the FA when he was the clear favourite for the England job. He was the people’s choice after Fabio Capello’s high profile departure. Harry admits in his book that he still to this day has not had an explanation from the FA and wasn’t even interviewed. I admire his dismissal of the FA’s snobbery, asking why managers and former players who are not as perfectly polished as the likes of Roy Hodgson and co are do not get a sniff in edgeways.

 

The FA’s preference of Roy Hodgson

Roy Hodgson was the FA’s favourable choice but not the fans

Roy Hodgson seemingly fitted the FA’s bill, a friendly, non-outspoken individual who wouldn’t challenge any decisions put in place by those who picked him for the job.  Harry has a tendency to speak his mind for the honesty of the game or what is left of it. Although he has a reputation of picking people up and putting his arm around them, he will make people work hard for their place and will never give into a failure. Roy has always featured in the background at the FA, an unidentified member so it be, someone who came up through the ranks and will always have the support of David Bernstein and his chums.  Hodgson began at the bottom with the FA, attending the grooming sessions as a youngster as he had the time on his hands due to being pretty terrible with a ball at his feet. Someone who commits themselves to the brand tends to be rewarded down the line, although not all promotions are approved by the mass majority.

 

Harry and Spurs

Harry refers to his contract at Spurs in his book and how it would have cost the Football Association a hefty wallet to prize him away from White Hart Lane. Roy was a in a comfortable spot with West Bromwich Albion, sitting mid-table whilst Redknapp was fighting for a top four finish, which saw Tottenham agonisingly miss out due to Chelsea’s heroic Champions League victory in Munich that year. I was quite surprised to learn that it would have cost twice the amount the FA was paying for Fabio Capello a year to take Harry on board.  The bill to bring in Redknapp mounted up due to the stringent policies Daniel Levy put in place to ensure he would have got more than just a wheezy bargain out of anyone who wanted to take Harry away from the Lane. Levy knew the then Portsmouth manager was the man to take Spurs from bottom to a top five side. It so happened to be one of the only correct decisions the shrewd businessman has taken of late.

 

What would Redknapp have done with England? 

Redknapp has for the majority received huge support from the England faithful and there plea was quite clear to have him appointed

I remember driving home from work one evening listening to talkSPORT with Adrian Durham and Darren Gough. The two popular Drive hosts invited the England manager onto the show for a pre-World Cup chat. Everything seemed positive, Roy was going to bring in younger players to give them experience but wanted his team to play with freedom, as though they had nothing to lose. He stuck to his word with the choice of young players, seeing the likes of Luke Shaw picked over Ashley Cole whilst Ross Barkely and Raheem Stirling also made the cut. However, his tactics were awful and England played with no energy whatsoever. Harry would have been straight with us, talkSPORT were intelligent by bringing Redknapp onto their show before a few of the England games to give his view on how the Three Lions were playing and which players he would choose as his first XI. To be fair to Harry he backed Roy every step of the way but it was evident he didn’t approve of all of his team picks.

 

I have learnt overtime from watching the game and in particular the countless, sometimes comical interviews Harry has given that he is an honest man, with a humble side to him. He has always supported Roy Hodgson and given the former Liverpool flop the backing any England manager would want, especially from those he beat to the post. The thing is there are not many English coaches who fit the bill and there hasn’t been since the heroic Sir Bobby Robson. The FA’s dimension has changed overtime and I for one am critical of that. Robson was a boastful character and bared similar characteristics to Redknapp. He was forward in his approach and people respected him. It seemingly worked as England had their most successful World Cup since 1966. No one has matched 66 or even 1992 for that matter but I have firm belief that Harry would have had the same amount of respect as the former Newcastle United coach. Sam Allardyce and Alan Pardew were always going to be dismissed as they were never good enough yet they fit Harry’s party, animated yet ‘untidy’ in their managerial approach. Now I have never been a fan of Pardew and Allardyce and their tactics but I feel it takes a certain character, like Harry to gain respect.

 

Redknapp achieved two top four finishes with Spurs and a quarter final clash against Real Madrid in the Champions League

The England players state they look up to Hodgson but it is quite clear to see when they are out on the pitch that they do not fit into the mold that the manager is putting into practice. Roy papered over the cracks in Brazil, suggesting they played relatively well and for the most part were terribly unlucky at crucial times.  Harry would have given an honest opinion which I think most England fans would have respected more. If Tottenham, Portsmouth, West Ham or QPR were not good enough then Harry would tell us why. He admitted the job at QPR was going to be difficult; he outlined the problems and has worked with the chairman Tony Fernandes. He slowly but surely began to turn their fortunes around by gaining promotion back into the top flight and bringing the likes of Rio Ferdinand to Loftus Road due to his strong reputation.  Fernandes respected Harry’s judgment and for me has proven he is more knowledgeable than Roy whose only success was in Europe leading Fulham to a losers medal against Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Cup in 2010. Harry is the only English-man to lead a team into the Champions League and should have been recommended to the FA with more conviction.

 

A nation of support for the wheeler-dealer 

When the press and the whole nation are backing one person over the rest, you would think the FA would stand up and take notice? What Harry did at Spurs was borderline miraculous, he pulled more than one rabbit out of the hat. He turned Spurs into the most entertaining side in the league and for once I could stand up and be proud of the team I have watched for years.  Even Alex Ferguson said the Lilywhites were once the best footballing team in the league and true contenders.  Redknapp took a stereotypical mid-table side, who were close to relegation to the quarter finals of the most lucrative cup competition in world football. They had turned over both Inter and AC Milan, two giants of world football whilst developing a deadly machine in Gareth Bale who went on to be sold for a world record fee to Real Madrid.

 

Even a couple of years on from Roy Hodgson’s appointment, the media and people in general still feel as though their judgment was overlooked. Listening to the mass view usually turns people’s heads. To make things worse Harry wanted the job and to some extent even before walking through the doors would have had an incline on how he would have approached things.  Harry is the epitome of the English game, he is professional in his dealings but holds the passion of every England fan in his palm and would have looked down at it with pride. He loves a giggle but when it came down to business Harry learnt overtime how to get the job done. I believe England would have benefited more from him than what they have done so far under Roy, despite all the underlying problems the team suffers from. Since being disregarded the England fans have never approved of the FA’s ideas, not that there was ever too much confidence in the organisation before the election process, but the nation knew what was good for the country in the international game. What is even more extraordinary is that Harry even goes on to reveal how certain senior England internationals such as Wayne Rooney, John Terry, Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand would send him text messages announcing their favoritism towards him and how they would be delighted if he got the job. I wander how Roy felt about that one if he has ever had the balls to pick up Harry’s book and read the second chapter. Without speaking to the man myself, I doubt it highly.

 

Proposal with Brendan Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers and Harry Redknapp

What was even more intriguing was that Harry went on to approach Brendan Rodgers to see if he would be his number two if the speculation regarding the England job became an actual prospect. He admitted he was a massive fan of the then Swansea City manager’s technical style and speed of play. Could you imagine how that would have looked on paper to the FA? Redknapp, an experienced hand of God who people listened to and Rodgers, one of the most promising young managers who had turned the Swans into a good Premier League side in their first season following promotion the year before.  I find it amusing how Roy Hodgson and the FA went on record to announce they would take up the Liverpool approach of pass and move last season whilst playing without any fear. Rodgers took Liverpool from seventh to second in the space of a year, with the Reds being denied at the final hurdle of the 2013-14 season. He bought players who posed an adventurous style, developed the youth as though they were his sons and comforted the human eating Luis Suarez. Harry and Brendan would have made a radiant team and I am sorry to say I regret that England fans will never get to experience what could have been a revelation. The funny thing was, as Harry reveals, Brendan Rodgers was actually interested. The FA are bloody fools I tell you! Tottenham Hotspur and Swansea City were the best ‘footballing’ sides in the league at the time and were also pretty good at getting the results on the board. I speak on behalf of England fans and believe that most would have wanted England to play in the same way. What is probably even more of a kick in the teeth for the FA is that Harry Houdini has openly admitted he wouldn’t consider taking the job if approached in future, and that is with no regret over their decision to appoint Hodgson over him.

 

Redknapp has now moved on 

In truth, as Harry puts it, he feels the FA did him a favour and looking at how things have materialized with England under Roy Hodgson I don’t really blame him. Roy has received bags full of stick and it wouldn’t have been fair on Harry if he experienced the same.  Neither Roy nor Harry have been major silverware winners but at least Harry can keep his dignity intact whilst Roy struggles with the beating questions asked by the angry English press. It has proven that former England managers have struggled to gain any form of success after leaving the England job.  Fabio Capello failed miserably with Russia in the 2014 World Cup whilst Sven Goran Eriksen saw an ambitious five-year plan with Notts County trade itself in for embarrassment. No one deserves such bad luck but specially someone like Harry Redknapp who will endeavor to keep Queens Park Rangers in the top flight.

 

Harry at Queens Park Rangers

When it comes to England I will always have time for Harry’s opinion, especially over Roy Hodgson as the wheeler dealer, southern geezer makes more sense. He believes England should be better and strongly feels that if the right team is put in with the right manager that they can be. He knows how England should play, with flare, with a purpose and most importantly, unlike Roy, Harry would have known his first eleven. With the current crop at the top England have no chance and I cannot say I will trust their judgment after turning down Harry, making him the manager could have been one of the best decisions the FA has made in over two decades, and there haven’t been many of them.

Are draws for tournaments fixed?

Is there a real cause for concern?

Derbies being played in the early rounds of a tournament, underdogs playing each other in the latter stages to get a boarding pass to the next round and teams playing each other again and again year after year, you would think this supports the above question?

The first time Drogba returned…

Drogba and Mourinho have always had a strong relationship. His reception on his return was inspiring.

Also in support of this debate is the coincidence of a tie being drawn after much speculation in the media.  Let me expand upon this.  Didier Drogba scored the winning penalty for Chelsea in their first UEFA Champions League victory as finalist in 2012 and is forever going to be hailed as a legend.  He later left that summer for pastures new but soon returned to Europe after a very short stint in the bizarre environment of Shanghai Shenhua in China.  As a Galatasaray striker in the 2014 European Cup he went on record to state how he would have loved to visit Stamford Bridge to face his former teammates in the first round of the knockout stages, in the Last 16.  This was published throughout the UK tabloids on how he would receive a wonderful reception.  Why and behold his ‘dream’ came true, Chelsea drew Galatasaray, what a ‘twist of fate’.

Clubs from the same country meeting

In European club football, teams from the same country tend to be drawn against after the group stages, a round which banishes them from doing so, simply to narrow down the chances of one country dominating the whole tournament.  We often see this occur in the quarter or semi-finals of a competition.  Although the chances of them being drawn together are more likely with the number of teams in a tournament reducing as time goes on, it seems inevitable that Chelsea will be drawn against say Manchester United or Barcelona go ahead to ahead with Atletico Madrid.

Has the excitement been ‘drawn’ out

Where did the excitement and the unpredictability of the draw vanish?  When the FA cup draws took place it was a momentous occasion each and every time but this no longer seems to be the case. Maybe it has always been this way and the expectedness of two teams meeting in a tournament year after year will never change?  I can tell you where the thrill of the draw went… in the back pocket of those drawing out the numbers perhaps, or their advisers who organize these ‘pot luck draws’.  ‘Here you are son, here’s a tasty £100 bonus if you can guarantee that ball number one, Arsenal draw out ball number eighteen in the pot, Tottenham Hotspur in the third round of the FA Cup’.  What a load of cotton rollocks!

Everyone wants a competition that sees the best teams compete against each other but shouldn’t this be seen towards the end of the tournament after they defeat their minnows?  I understand that at some point two of the big teams will go head-to-head and yes this could happen in the early stages of a tournament but there seems to be no randomness in a draw.  Big fixtures in each round of domestic cup football are purposely put in place to keep the interest of the FA Cup alive following its alleged demise.  This is how TV claimed its rights once again.

The seeding system

A big pointer on how draws can be derived as fixed is the seeded system put in place to ensure the better clubs get through the early stages of a competition easily.  Therefore this gives the underdogs less chance of playing each other ‘by chance’ as they must play the more successful teams first.  How is this categorically fair or have those rewarded with a top seed earned the right to an easier route? What happened to random draws where you would see the ultimate group of death in the first round of the World Cup?  The whole layout for an international tournament and European club competitions is set out so the predicted finalists actually get to the final and ‘don’t disappoint’.

The road to Wembley no longer exists

 

Wembley semi-finals… very debateable

Playing semi-finals of the FA Cup at Wembley for me completely destroys the aspect of the trip to Wembley for the final.  Since when did the yellow brick road have a stop of at the final destination before you were actually supposed to get there?

 

The cost of Wembley needs to be paid for and hosting two semi finals certainly helps towards paying off the debt.  Although clubs who don’t actually make the final can say they’ve still been to the national stadium, it somehow doesn’t achieve the same effect as what it would if you were actually featuring as a finalist.  It’s like seeing a prince sitting in his father’s chair before his right.

That goal from Giggs

The old semi finals at Villa Park and Old Trafford back in the day before the final took place at the old Wembley hold some wonderful memories.  Ryan Giggs stunning finish against Arsenal at Villa Park in the 1999 victory over the Gunners is an example of how the Road to Wembley use to exist.  Man United were a man down, stuck in a delicately poised 1-1 draw in extra-time.  United had dreams of winning the treble that season and Arsenal almost put to an end to it all that very evening.  Giggs illustrated all of the attributes a brilliant winger should have in his repertoire: pace, power and intricacy, before unleashing a cracking shot past David Seaman.  He took it into his own hands to score one of the greatest cup semi-final goals of all time.  Patrick Vieira made one of the tournament’s most iconic mistakes by gifting the ball to the pacey Welshman by literally passing the ball straight to him.  Giggs takes one touch, assesses the situation, Dwight Yorke was the furthest man forward but an attempted pass would have seemed a little tricky, so what does Giggs do with space to his left… he goes for it, at full speed with Vieira and Tony Adams leading Lee Dixon and Martin Keown to mow the winger down.  I remember how the camera could barely keep up with Giggs, his pace was electrifying.  Vieira attempts Giggs first, beating the towering midfielder was too easy with the number eleven quickly moving his hips to fool the Frenchman. Next it is Dixon and Keown, two of the league’s most accomplished defenders, Keown misses his sliding tackle and Dixon looks simply desperate.  Dixon attempts to shove Giggs off the ball but gives up knowing he has no chance, Paul Scholes is waiting in the middle however Giggs is selfish, he only has one vision and… bang!  A beautiful finish to accompany a magnificent bit of play.  It was the preeminent rivalry in the English game at the time, Arsenal verses Manchester United.  It was a classic semi-final, Beckham’s swerving shot, Bergkamp scoring and then having a penalty saved by Peter Schmeichel, Roy Keane receiving his marching orders before Giggs and his moment of brilliance.  The intensity of the game was truly mind-blowing and to reach Wembley with a one-in-two chance of winning the cup was an honour for the Red Devils. These memoirs will never be rekindled should the semis stay at Wembley for the foreseeable future. Re-live this moment again here at FOCP…

No return to the old format

Getting to Wembley is still a great achievement, it always will be but playing a semi-final on the main stage just doesn’t have the same effect.  Wembley has an aura about it; it in itself is a dreamland, a venue that resembles the New York of the game.  The goal of getting to Wembley has been shortened because of commercialism and I am sorry to have seen it change the history of the FA Cup for the wrong reasons.

The 39th game…

 

The Premier League season is devised of thirty-eight games as twenty teams play each other twice to determine who is the champion and who will suffer from relegation, so where did the idea of a 39th game come into it?

 

To seed the teams from one to twenty and draw out the ten fixtures seems a little bizarre anyhow as the championship may have already been decided along with relegation, but to get these fixtures played abroad all over the world… this is more than a money charade, it is a stupid proposal! Asking fans to make a one-off ‘special’ trip to bring more money to the Premier League is unfair and unbalanced.

 

What would a 39th game bring to the game apart from plenty of hassle?  I get how it would allow fans to visit parts of the world they may never have seen, which is an experience but the system could prove unfair if it was seeded.  Although results are never guaranteed it would be cruel for a title leading seed to be drawn against an already relegated side just to make it a little ‘easier’ for the better team to win.

 

I do think overtime football seasons will last longer than nine months as we will probably see them extended with players having less time off in the year. At the moment they have two months holiday after the season finishes but with bigger squads and more than a handful of players playing less games, two month breaks may need to be reviewed. Players are generally fitter than twenty, thirty, forty years ago and with player wages being on the increase regularly they would probably warm to the idea.  You would hope so anyway considering they are being paid hefty sums of money to play their hobby? I can even envisaged additional teams being added to the top tier should the season be prolonged, which of course would see more than thirty-nine games played.

 

I also think there could be a possible extension for the Champions League on a global basis rather than being just in Europe. European sides are looking for expansion around the world and teams in America and Australia are looking for more recognition year on year.  Having a world champions tournament would supply the exposure that every big club craves. I’ve heard suggestions being thrown around asking for a pre-season Premier League tournament and the teams who get the results earn a head start to the actual campaign by gaining three points. Wouldn’t this just be an extension of the Premier League season and be a waste of time?

 

I do not think a 39th game would be respectable towards the fans. English fans pay the most money in Europe to see their teams and also fork out a fortune on television subscriptions. Although seeing games beyond Europe would be an attractive little vacation for some, among assumption it would not be financially viable for those of the working class. Hasn’t the game already suffered from vying away from its former representation of being the fan’s game, by now becoming an unfair elitist sport?

 

A record attendance in club football saw Manchester United take on Real Madrid in Michigan.

It looks like the idea, initially announced in 2008, could be approved. Richard Scudamore has been a fond supporter of the idea since it was mentioned by the board but it could face opposition from UEFA and other leagues around Europe who will want to be awarded a similar treatment, not to mention the farce that will come with the cost and rights for TV broadcasting. The club-football record breaking 109,000 attendance at the beginning of August between Manchester United and Real Madrid in a pre-season friendly in 2014 suggests there is an appeal beyond Europe.  Each team in the Premier League could earn £5 million each for playing an extra game.  Such money would not mean much to Man United but to a Stoke City or a Hull City it would prove to be a small fortune in the making.  Football in places such as America, China and Malaysia is growing and would help the Premier League financially and the football in distant locations who are always looking for more recognition.  Personally it is just another money driven idea, another short term project to help grow the representation of the European game even though it doesn’t really need it.

The 2018 and 2022 World Cups: Fifa’s ‘summary’

American lawyer Michael Garcia is looking to appeal against Fifa to fully publish findings from his investigation and the governing bodies’ ‘revised’ 431 paged summary looking into the allegations of criminal corruption, which the fbi have been investigating. Seb Blatter and co would not entertain Garcia and his own work on the matter by blatantly dismissing him by keeping his findings strictly confidential.

Russia have joined Qatar in making fools of themselves stating they have ‘no records’ of their bidding process, as though the dog ate their homework, their computers have been destroyed or passed down to schools or from wherever they were rented, therefore minimising any apparent evidence of their voting procedures. Any well established company, in any industry that uses computers will have the capacity to track back on their systems to find out the nitty gritty details of important business decisions, so why can this not be looked into further before clearing an organisation? To add comment, Alexey Sorokin, the chief of Russia’s 2018 World Cup organising committee, in defence advised his country had nothing to hide. Both Qatar and Russia have been cleared to host the 2018 and 2022 whilst the FA have been accused of trying to twist the food of thought and questioned about their own bid. Should the FA seperate themselves from Fifa? They will not have the backing of UEFA and platini, who isn’t strong enough in my opinion and backs the Qatar tournament strongly for variety. He has however asked for Garcia’s findings to be published to reflect a fair outcome which I cannot criticise him for. The FA complied with the bidding rules and others didn’t, it has been spoken about worldwide, which Fifa surely have to take into consideration. If the FA walked away they would be accused of further negligence and percieved even further that they are the ones playing games and trying to cause disruption. The FA would need to convince other governing bodies around the world to join them to boycott which would take plenty of heavy persuasion and it would take a long, long time. From a financial point of view the FS cannot afford for England to miss out on a World Cup. It is frustrating because we have the right ethics in place and Fifa is a laughing stock. Even Sepp Blatter’s challenger next year, Jerome Champagne supports this.

Criticising the FA does come as a surprise, especially after it is an organisation that has called for the upmost transparency throughout the voting process. Apparently, accusing Fifa of not conforming to the rules and seriousness of corruption warrants criticism, which for the most part is embarrassing for the FA. Fifa have accused the FA of trying to gain favourable votes by networking and trying to tap up the likes of former Fifa-vice president Jack Warner, who subsequently quit his role in 2011 amid bribary allegations. Simon Johnson, the chief operating officer at the FA has strongly denied these allegations of ‘currying favour’ or in any instance trying to ‘damage the integrity of the bidding process or Fifa’s image’ by that note as quoted in Fifa’s report. Do members of the FA deserve disciplinary action for trying to be transparent to the rules? Wasn’t it Qatar who was subsequently accused of paying Fifa officials £3m to secure votes? Although all accusations have to be considered how can anything else be perceived more serious than this? It had been adjudged that former Fifa vice-president Mohamed bin Hammam made payments to support his own political interests and not the bid itself. How does this acknowlege any sense, especially as bin Hamman was once vying for Blatter’s position at the helm. For me, Fifa’s report quite clearly indicates a dislike for England and its policies.

It is clear no re-vote will take place, both Russia and Qatar have been cleared of any wrongdoing due to an apparent ‘underwhelming direct evidence or sheer lack of’. It now seems, without the nature of Michael Garcia’s findings, there is not going to be any further query into whether the two successful bids were compromised which seems a little unconvincing to say the least. What is worrying is the result of the allegations which remain unanswered which is why there have been calls by the likes of Grey Dyke to have the Garcia report fully published for fair criticism. Why would a man of the highest integrity and professional accord be asked to conduct an 18-month investigation for it not to be fully accessible to everyone involved? Ask Mr Hans-Joachim Eckert, the man who reviewed and selected the areas that Sepp Blatter would want to hear. How can anyone enjoy a World Cup that has been elected without any rich evidence being properly documented? Four years of controversy and still not everyone will be satisfied by the election process, especially the Qatari World Cup which will disrupt a number of fooball clubs and organisations globally for simply looking into alternative dates due to unbearable weather conditions in the summer months.

British MP Clive Efford made a fantastic point which backs the publishing of Garcia’s hard research, “Fifa has no choice but to publish Michael Garcia’s report in full if it expects anyone to believe their claims that there has been no cover-up over allegations of corruption in the World Cup bidding process.” Why does it seem that everytime Fifa is involved there is something to cover up or make an excuse of?

Fifa needs to improve the bidding process for future World Cups as the current system is not transparent enough. It needs to refrain from being unseen and open up as an event like it use to be. There needs to be heavy viewing of any relationships between competing bidding nations. Personally I back Michael Garcia’s analogy by calling for a “change of culture” at Fifa “greater transparency” so everyone can abide by the same, fair rules under a leadership that everyone involved in the game can have confidence in. A game that serves the public should not be in the middle of a debate of public scrutiny and corruption. How can the public have any confidence in a committee that isn’t fully open to an investigation that aims to prove the facts? I am all for a change of leadership. I do not feel any connection as a fan to the way Fifa represents and conducts itself and hope that if Champagne gets the seal of approval that he represents the words he has spoken of with true integrity, which sees him wanting to bring the world and football back together as a respectable committee. Blatter has lost all credibility and has served far beyond his tenure. His representation of the game is a joke and his opinion on the bidding process for 2018 and 2022 doesn’t bare any validity. He has pushed his boat out too far any made a fool of himself. I hereby join the ‘Blatter out’ campaign along with the large group of numbers who back his resignation.

The fact that Michael Garcia is ready to appeal suggests he feels hard done by, meaning this is certainly not the end of the matter, especially under the Qatar regime. Qatar was the highest risk and still is. Hopefully one day the truth will come out about who did what wrong and who mistreated the policies put in place. It would be a grave shame if it was never made truly clear who the real wrongdoers are in what has been a farce from the beginning.

Qatar 2022 just doesn’t make any sense. The concerns:

How much did Blatter convince voters to choose Qatar?

The ‘vagina’ stadium in Qatar gives us all an incline of what to expect from the 2022 World Cup. Although the ground has not been officially erected yet, its shape oddly resembles the female body part above her knees. Visuals of the stadia have a prominent shine with a pinkish tinge, the idea for the Al-Wakrah is a little bizarre and yet worse, its design resemblance is seemingly unintentional. With a seating capacity of 45,000 it will be the biggest party inside the female reproductive area in history. The architect happens to be a woman by the name of Zaha Hadid who became increasingly unhappy about comparisons between the female genitalia and her design.  The designer went on to claim she actually based it around the Dhow boat, a famous sailing vessel often seen in the Red Sea and in the region of the Indian Ocean. The Dhow typically sports long thin sails that are shaped like a triangle. Hadid, from Iraq, believed those who made the criticisms have vaginas on their mind, with belief that ‘everything with a hole in it is a vagina’. It will be the first climate-controlled ventilated vagina to go viral, the future has begun.

Any resemblance? Make up your own mind.

Anyhow, on a more serious note, Qatar have been awarded their first appearance at a World Cup without having to contest for their right to play in the tournament. This supports the argument in the above piece, why should a club who has never been good enough to qualify for a competition be ‘given’ the right, with automatic involvement by having their name drawn out of a hat? Qatar has barely any history in the game but the glamour the country offers has seemingly swung the vote. Ask Sepp Blatter and the twenty-two board members at FIFA’s headquarters who ‘want to introduce new countries to the world of football to offer them notification on the footballing map, whilst adding a sense of diversity to the game’. FIFA’s decision to award the 2022 football World Cup to the tiny Gulf state has caused controversy from the moment it was announced in December 2010. Qatar 2022 swiftly became the most complicated World Cup in history… and it’s not even kicked off yet!

 

I don’t have a problem with getting other nations involved in the game who barely get any recognition but do not support them by giving them a free bus pass whilst others have had to pay for their ticket. I’m sure Qatar 2022 will be a tournament of a different source, with plenty of culture and spectacle but I highly doubt the host nation will be remembered for their football ability. They will lack the conviction that is expected at tournament level unlike the quality that will be put into the expedition, which of course will cost billions.

 

By some estimates, the World Cup is going to cost Qatar approximately £138 billion. This is about sixty times the $3.5 billion that South Africa spent on the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It will also exceed an estimate of four times the amount Russia spent on the historically expensive Sochi Winter Olympics. The reported costs were raised by Dr Nicola Ritter, a German legal and financial analyst who calculated how the money would be spent. £107 billion was planned for the stadiums alone, with £31 billion on transport. Included in the £107 billion for the stadiums, £30 billion would be spent on the air-conditioning systems to keep them cool and whilst on top of arena costs, £48 billion is to be splashed on the training facilities for the teams to practice their tactics. Lusail City, the venue for the final is still in the pre-production stage, a new city expected to host no more than three or four games will cost in excess of £28 billion. That is an incredible £7 billion per game.  Due to the increased cost, FIFA had received an astonishing request to reduce the number of stadiums. Building stadiums from scratch is incredibly expensive in the modern climate and an unpredictable enterprise. The first five proposed venues for the World Cup were unveiled at the beginning of March 2010. With a total of twelve stadiums initially proposed, four were dropped with eight stadiums expected to cater for a sixty-four game tournament. Amazingly, ten of the original twelve stadiums planned were expected to be located within a radius of just 30 kilometers in and around the capital city of Doha.  In December 2010 FIFA President Sepp Blatter stated that Qatar’s neighbours could host some matches during the World Cup. Countries including Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and possibly Saudi Arabia have been reported to offer their help. Is this turning into the ‘Middle-East World Cup’ or does Qatar intend to take any ownership?

 

I highly doubt many nations will support a winter World Cup either. Although this has yet to be confirmed, the possibility of domestic football across Europe and probably other nations having to reschedule their annual football calendar may become a real problem.  Many of Europe’s top leagues, apart from England, opt for a winter break but Qatar are looking at dates anywhere between December 2021 and February 2022.  How can there be a tournament named Qatar 2022 when it may be held towards the end of 2021? The Secretary General at the governing body Jerome Valkie stated on a French radio station in 2013 that these were ‘suggested dates’ and that nothing has been set in stone.  Further ideas have suggest that the World Cup would start on 15 November 2021 and run through to 15 January 2022 with a break for the festive period. How this would capture the attention of the fans is beyond me, especially when the tournament traditionally lasts just a month.

 

The precise event date is still subject to an ongoing consultation process which involves all the main event stakeholders, including both the international football community as well as FIFA’s commercial partners. This basically suggests that FIFA have still yet to consult all of the leagues involved and their clubs plus confederations and member associations within the body.  Not least does this also consider commercial affiliates, all media organisations and licensees involved.  There is an awful lot of work to be done.

 

Another criticism sees these suggestions fail to take into account television schedules. The media have already spent a fortune on rights to host the Winter Olympics held in China in January 2022. This would cause further turmoil as I am sure some would disagree with having two major competitions conflicting with each other.  This would affect viewings for the winter games as priority would naturally be given to football over figure-skating, skiing and bob-slaying.  Should the dates be moved onto the end of 2022 this would also cause problems for the Africa Cup of Nations which takes place in January 2023.  In September 2013, it was alleged that FIFA had held talks with broadcasters over the decision to change the dates of the World Cup as doing so could cause potential clashes with other scheduled television programming. The Fox Broadcasting Company paid $425 Million for the right to broadcast both the 2018 and 2022 World Cup, they later voiced their concerns over the possible season switch, as doing so would clash with that year’s NFL season, in particular the American Super Bowl which takes place in the winter. The network said they bought the rights with the understanding the tournament would take place in the summer, and if the change did go ahead they would seek compensation. Fox paid their money initially for the World Cup tournaments in 2018 & 2022 before the votes took place.  They may get to pay less if the tournament is moved but other broadcasters may have to pay up to £2 billion if they wish to take the rights.

 

The tournament in the Far-East will be glamorous just like everything else tends to be over in that part of the world, despite poverty tormenting a host of areas in the Middle-East. The country has a population of 300,000, how does it intend to cater for the millions of fans that will travel from all corners of the globe to watch their nation?  Brazil 2014 secured an average of 52,762 fans per game, the second highest in history to the United States in 1994 standing at 68,991.  The total after sixty four matches stood at 3,429,873 with a 98.3 per cent full capacity rating.  Qatar is the smallest nation by area ever to have been awarded a FIFA World Cup, the next smallest is Switzerland, host of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, which is more than three times as large as Qatar and only needed to host 16 teams instead of the current 32. Qatar is also expected to be the smallest host by population. Uruguay had a population of 1.9 million when it hosted the 1930 World Cup, more than Qatar’s  population of 1.7 million with a majority travelling in and out of the country for business purposes, that including the figure of citizens mentioned above, which doesn’t give a true reflection.

 

The Qatar Captain Meshal Abdullah is probably the country’s most recognisable player. Also captain of Al Ahli. Not a household name to say the least.

At the time of being awarded the tournament, Qatar was ranked 113 in the world and had never qualified for the World Cup before. The most prestigious accolade the team has won was the Gulf Cup of Nations on two instances, hosting on both occasions which is hard to believe when they barely have any stadiums.  The furthest the team has ever progressed in any other competition was in the AFC Asian Cup, getting to the quarter-finals in 2000 and 2011.

 

Qatar and the Arabic nations are really very proud to host such a lucrative event, and why shouldn’t they be? It is going to be an opportunity for players around the world to visit a country or even a continent they may never have travelled to.  The culture the Arabs will bring something the World Cup has never experienced before, as seen in South Africa 2010. Funny enough the 2010 tournament has been branded the worst World Cup in history.  However, South Africa didn’t feel the need to move the tournament to the winter despite nations having to deal with the humidity.  The temperature in Brazil managed to reach the eighties but that didn’t put an end to the football either.  Qatar’s heat is a little too hot though, with an average yearly temperature of ninety degrees, around 50c, with the winter proving to be at a minimum of seventy-three degrees, the middle-east may prove unbearable for some. This didn’t seem to be a problem in past tournaments in the USA and Mexico, whilst stadiums will be well conditioned there needs to be common ground to consider the fans that will be travelling from their hotels to venues.  Stadiums to be built in Qatar aim to employ cooling technology capable of reducing temperatures within the stadium by up to 20 degrees Celsius, around 36 degrees in Fahrenheit. Temporary structures are expected to be installed to increase capacities with provisional seating being inputted to cater for more fans. The country currently lacks the required number of hotel space and there is also concern at how such a small country will absorb around 400,000 World Cup fans on a daily basis around the cities.

 

Are these not the most important figures, the fans? Blatter seems to think not!

Qatar has comparatively liberal laws compared to some of its neighboring states, but a first World Cup in an Arab country will still be a very new experience for fans. The few bars and nightclubs in Qatar operate only in expensive hotels and clubs. Alcohol will be restricted to designated areas, with Qatar’s Sharia making it illegal to display alcohol or for people be drunk in public. To add further insult, homosexuality is also illegal which poses threats to countries who openly accept varying sexuality choices.

 

Interpretations of human rights have also added another negative, with around 4,000 construction workers said to be expected to die at the hands of poor environmental health. Pictures have been released of terrible working and sleeping conditions, with recruits living in squalid camps with just a wooden board to rest on when the sun goes down after a sixteen hour shift. The issue of migrant workers’ rights has also attracted attention, with an investigation by the Guardian newspaper in 2014 claiming that many workers are denied food and water, have their identity papers taken away from them and that they are not paid on time or at all, making some of them in effect slaves. These claims are based upon the fact that 400 Nepalese and over 700 migrant Indian workers had already died on various building sites in the country from 2010, when Qatar’s bid as World Cup’s host was won, up until 2014. In June to August of 2013 alone, at least 44 Nepalese died due to the working order.

 

The most contentious aspect of the whole ordeal, aside the amount of lives expected to be lost, in terms of actually winning the vote is the fixing allegations. The president of Qatar strongly denied claims in April 2014 over fixing the draw as it was suggested that the Middle-Eastern country had ‘bought out’ the 2022 World Cup. Mohammed bin Hammam, a key figure behind Qatar’s campaign has been at the heat of the scandal with the Australians furious having lost out at such a crucial point of the process and feeling cheated out of votes. There is apparently a wealth of evidence in the corruption process and UEFA President Michele Platini is said to be supporting a re-vote. Even the 2018 World Cup in Russia has come under scrutiny after being decided during the same selection process where England missed out and received only one vote under the guidance of David Beckham, Prince William and Prime Minister David Cameron for the campaign. Now with the violence and media scrutiny Russia found itself under in 2014 following conflict with Ukraine, it wouldn’t take me by surprise if they also lose their right as hosts.

 

In May 2011, allegations of corruption within the FIFA senior officials raised questions over the legitimacy of the World Cup being held in Qatar. According to then vice-President Jack Warner, an email had been publicised about the possibility that Qatar entered bribery to guarantee themselves the tournament via Mohammed bin Hammam, the president of the Asian Football Confederation at the time of the voting process.  In June 2014, the Sunday Times claimed to have obtained documents including e-mails, letters and bank transfers which allegedly proved that Bin Hammam had paid more than $5 Million to football officials to support the bid. Bin Hamman and all those accused of accepting bribes denied the charges.  Further suspicions emerged in March 2014 when it was discovered that Jack Warner, was made to leave his post as president of CONCACAF, as he along with his family were paid almost $2 million from a firm linked to Qatar’s successful campaign. Warner was once caught on tape for accepting briberies and as a consequence was banned for life by FIFA’s ethics committee in 2011.

 

Disgraced FIFA executive committee member Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil stepped down amid bribery allegations after voting for the Qatar World Cup. Payments of £2 million to Teixeira’s daughter was believed to have been made by ex-Barcelona FC president Sandro Rosell, who brokered a £210 million sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation a week after the World Cup vote. There are allegations this was all commissioned by yet again by Bin Hammam, who was once vying to take over Sepp Blatter as head of FIFA.

 

Blatter has serious questions to answer as to how all this has happened under his leadership which has brought FIFA under even more pressure. He did question the decision but suggested he never regretted it and even went on to say the allegations are ‘racist’. If sponsors began to complain and ask for investigations to take place before committing to the cause, then racism may seem to be an excuse the FIFA chief was using to tarnish any blame from himself. The voting process needs to be reviewed, if twenty-two men cannot be held accountable for the decision of who should host a tournament then allegations are bound to occur. A vast amount of money is put into these voting polls and plenty of alleged cash was used to easily persuade people who have the capacity to vote. How can something so serious be unaccounted for?

 

In 1913 FIFA wanted to build its profile and take the English game. It was where the game originated and where the best ideas for the future were being announced. England will never again get to stage a World Cup due to our willingness to give up the game for money. Qatar have shown that if you flash the cash FIFA will be more than willing to consider your chances. As time has passed the relationship between FIFA and the FA has deteriorated due to FIFA’s ignorance and domination despite all that English football has done for the game. Un-gentleman-like contact between the two organisations is a polite way of putting things when discussing their rather fragile relationship. The FA still have the power to take rules away from FIFA if they feel they are putting the wrong ingredients in the recipe and bringing disrepute to the game. Although FIFA does not fully own the rules, taking such action would prove unpopular with what is now a global sport.  The funny thing is the FA never believed they would lose their power, but money from FIFA provoked this as it always has done and as of late the English seem to fail to conduct themselves correctly whether on the pitch or in the background. If the FA were to get involved even further they would become a laughing stock, paid by associates in Qatar to keep quiet and FIFA will continue to make a balls up.