February 2007 Archives

There is not much to like about Wigan, an unspectacular town stuck in a maze of industrial towns north of Manchester, a pier that isn’t even a proper pier and a football club that isn’t really a proper football club!

Actually, that last one isn’t strictly true, although the fact it shares a ground with a rugby league team and comes from a town dominated by rugby league doesn’t help their reputation.

Supporters of clubs like Newcastle will always resent clubs like Wigan because they don’t have a particularly large following, they are new to the top flight, they are physical and direct, they don’t have much money, they don’t have any superstar players yet they still manage to compete on the same level. The cheek of it!

Is it just me or rather than plunge the game into disrepute and blacken the name of English football, the scuffle between Arsenal and Chelsea players in the Carling Cup Final actually provided a nice sprinkle of spice to a thoroughly enjoyable game?

So a few shoves and pushes were exchanged and Wayne Bridge was floored by the worst punch seen since Michael Sprout dropped Audley Harrison, but come on, was it really that bad?

Listening to Radio Five Live on the way back from Newcastle’s dreadful defeat at Wigan on Sunday I heard all the usual moralising from pundits who labelled the squabble a disgusting, terrible act which ruined the game and cast a black cloud over both clubs.

When Steven Gerrard was doing his best to burn himself out ahead of England’s doomed World Cup bid last summer he was nicknamed the marathon man by dumbstruck pundits who marvelled at his motivation, fitness and dedication to the cause.

Starting the season in mid-July with Liverpool’s Champions League qualifiers, Gerrard went on to play 57 games for club and country during the 2005/6 campaign, culminating in a match-winning display in the FA Cup Final in Cardiff in May.

It was a remarkable effort from one of the modern era’s most influential players, but no wonder Liverpool’s inspirational skipper looked knackered in Germany - although I’d be tired of trying to play alongside Frank “I always shoot� Lampard by now as well!

But, if Gerrard’s effort was a courageous and commendable one, what can we say about James Milner?

Nolberto Solano will celebrate his 300th appearance for Newcastle United against Zulte Waregem on Thursday night - or maybe it's just his 299th.

Nobody is actually entirely sure, not even the club, but sod it, we may as well just say it's his 300th because that's what we all thought and what's the odd substitute run out between friends eh?

Football is full of statisticians, there is even an official Association of Football Statisticians somewhere in London - probably in a dimly lit room with no windows, lots of computers and pictures of Lara Croft and Albert Einstein on the wall - to track all the interesting and not so interesting facts and figures of our beloved national sport.

But when it comes to Solano's appearances for Newcastle the term piss up and brewery spring to mind. Then again, maybe that's why nobody in the exciting world of stats is clear on the subject - they had organised a rather good piss up in a brewery....

It was said through gritted teeth from behind his steering wheel, but you know Sunderland are doing something right when a Geordie taxi driver is forced to begrudginly admit how well Roy Keane has done as manager.

He wasn't happy about it, obviously, but nevertheless, there was, no matter how much bitterness festered in the front seat of his Volkswagon, an acceptance that Keane has revolutionised Newcastle's bitter rivals this season.

Sunderland's 4-0 hammering of Southend on Saturday has lifted the Black Cats up to fifth in the Championship. They are in the play off zone for the first time this season and are just four points off an automatic promotion place following a run of five wins and a draw in their last six games. When Keane took over at the start of September they were in the bottom three.

They used to call football hooliganism the English disease, but with the Italians doing a pretty good job of taking on that unwanted illness, there is still something which makes us the sick men of European football.

We have seen it at the World Cup, European Championships, Champions League, Uefa Cup and even in pre-season friendlies, but still it let's our teams down.

It's not complicated and it's not clever but, despite a steady succession of failures through the years the lessons apparently have still not be learnt if Newcastle's performance against Zulte-Waregem is anything to go by.

Ah yes Belgium, the land of, erm flatness, famous for its, erm, let me think, oh yes chocolate and, and, and, erm, of course, how could I forget, being the home of the European Union.

If you ask your average - the ones who don't want an ASBO, quite like the idea of having a job and who aim to live above the poverty line sometime in their future - school children to point out on a map where Belgium is they would probably struggle because, well, let's face it Belgium isn't really renowned for anything is it?

Mind you, if you had asked the average Newcastle United fan whether they had heard of SV Zulte-Waregem before the draw for the last 32 of the Uefa Cup, most would not have had a clue either.

To be fair, neither did I, but I've done my research - sort of - since and, as I have a few hours to spare in a country widely, albeit slightly unfairly, believed to be the dullest in Europe, let me fill you in.

Ah yes Belgium, the land of, erm flatness, famous for its, erm, let me think, oh yes chocolate and, and, and, erm, of course, how could I forget, being the home of the European Union.

If you ask your average - the ones who don't want an ASBO, quite like the idea of having a job and who aim to live above the poverty line sometime in their future - school children to point out on a map where Belgium is they would probably struggle because, well, let's face it Belgium isn't really renowned for anything is it?

Mind you, if you had asked the average Newcastle United fan whether they had heard of SV Zulte-Waregem before the draw for the last 32 of the Uefa Cup, most would not have had a clue either.

To be fair, neither did I, but I've done my research - sort of - since and, as I have a few hours to spare in a country widely, albeit slightly unfairly, believed to be the dullest in Europe, let me fill you in.

As Durham have provided Paul Collingwood and Liam Plunkett, England’s two match winners in their fantastic one day series win over Australia, I hope the national team are going to show a bit more consideration to the county in the future.

Because the only thing Durham have got in return for their commitment to the national side so far is a harsh snub in the bid to hold an Ashes Test in 2009 and the loss of their best players.

Durham provided four players for international use this winter, Glamorgan provide none. Chester-le-Street gets a one day game against the Australians, Cardiff gets an Ashes Test. Nice touch.

The last time I looked, Cardiff wasn’t even part of England, as the Welsh are so keen to remind us, so why on earth do they get one of the biggest and most lucrative Test matches in world cricket?

We have probably all been guilty in the past of criticising Celestine Babayaro commitment to the cause at Newcastle United, mainly because of the number of pulls and strains he picks up while picking up such a hefty wage packet at St James's Park.

But there is genuine good feeling and admiration for the Nigerian full back after he decided to play in the 2-1 win over Liverpool on Saturday just hours after the death of his younger brother.

The loss of a loved one can do strange things to people. Some like to be left alone to mourn, others like to carry on as usual as that is what the person would have wanted.

Celestine was one of the latter and while I would still like to see more fight and dedication from him in his everyday work, I think he deserves a huge amount of credit for the way he has conducted himself over the last few days.