This is Clarkeonenil’s regular comment column, cutting through the various passing issues of football and getting to the core principle in the shortest time.
History and legend.
It is over; we had 4 rounds of the greatest cup competition in the world, 6 dates with the television cameras and a couple of rain-forest’s worth of press coverage. By the time the full-time whistle went at Elland Road not only had Leeds United put in more credible performances against 3 of the top 6 in the PL this season than most other clubs in that division, we had also gone a long way to gaining the grudging respect of the country. If ever anyone needed a reminder of how passionate our support can be it got it in spades last night, Pride, respect, almost vindication, but not quite.
That only comes when the tide truly reaches the shore, when the accursed league we are in is no more. It’s not about dodgy owners/chairmen, individual managers, strikers, ball passing or otherwise midfield players or even hero goalies, it’s about a gut feeling of change. Can we trust to the future without the inevitability of gut-retching let-down, it’s difficult to say one way or the other given all the evidence, all we can say that is definite is the next 4 months are about as pivotal in that as any other time in our history as been to our glory years. The real test starts in Hartlepool and continues till May.
One thing that will always linger with me is this thought, the next time we go 4 rounds in the glorious “alive and kicking” FA Cup, it had better have started in the third round.
Little clues that point the way.
West Bromwich Albion are one of those clubs I can never really get my head around, forever cursed by being present when they sent us down in 82 I just don’t relate to them much. However even I notice the odd thing that suggests some progress. Despite their perpetual yo-yo existence the prospect of them being the next Birmingham City (staying up easy not the having a foreign owner bit) is real. Not only is Di Matteo showing that MK Dons was no fluke, the club seems to be quietly putting together a squad that could be a real credit to the PL next season.
Little things sometimes enlighten you. 3 years ago Giles Barnes was a £5m target for the big league, last month he hit the footballing scrap heap, why apart from injuries only he can say. WBA have had a look at him and decided he is worth a small gamble, an interesting and potentially brave decision. They could have spent £3m on Victor Moses instead they have spent nothing. I look forward to seeing both how Di Matteo develops his team and how Barnes grasps his second shot at it.
One thing’s for sure there will be a lot of red faces in the Derby area if Barnes is part of a successful PL West Brom side.
Time to stop digging (or was that poking).
John Terry just doesn’t get it, he can’t grasp that the need to remove the England captaincy from him is nothing to do with who with or why he plays away from his marriage bed, it’s to do with the colossal errors of judgement in doing it so close to home, trying to gag the press and then acting as if all he has to do is ride a storm. The levels of both arrogance and stupidity involved in those errors of judgement are unique. Whatever the people in “Team Terry” think they are doing the end result is always going to be he is a lesser man (although how much of a man this bouncer assaulting, 9/11 insulting, knob waving, brown paper bag accepting cretin is was always a mute point).
John Terry, in skill terms, isn’t that good a footballer, in personality terms he isn’t that bright or charismatic, all he brings to the table is a driven level of commitment, but yet when it comes to the biggest commitment of his life, his wife and kids, he is found very wanting. At the point where he gets compassionate level from his employers (isn’t that nice, not having to worry about earning your £170k a week basic, just jet off to Dubai and deal with your domestic concerns) is the point where he is just another Hello magazine bit player. To be honest I’d rather believe Katie Price married for love than John Terry is capable of lifting the World Cup.
Capello doesn’t really have a decision to make, when you build up a reputation for taking no nonsense you have no choice but to punish the person that brings you the biggest stinking lump of it you have ever seen.
