Unfunny Money

Swindon 2 - 3 Rotherham United

1 - 0 Cureton 20
1 - 1 Butler 22
2 - 1 O'Hanlon 25
2 - 2 Barker 31
2 - 3 Butler 49

Having looked at the Football Money List yesterday, the stark contrast between the haves and have-nots was brought home to me in todays League One relegation battle. Both teams are under severe financial restriction and fighting to stave off the drop into League Two. For Rotherham, it is even more marked following so closely on from their relegation from the Championship at the end of last season.

Swindon for their part, took the step of allowing Season Ticket Holders the opportunity to bring three extra guest with them at a cost of £5 per ticket. The effect on the crowd was to bring in an extra 2,500 people to the match, an extra £12,500 to the bottom line. Indeed, the cost cutting was apparent with The Stratton Bank being closed to fans and covered in flags from both Swindon and Rotherham. Presumably the closing of this is providing savings but it makes a strange atmosphere with noise from one end of the ground not there.

The match itself was poor quality but honest endeavour by most of the players on view. That both sides are struggling is not difficult to see, defensive frailities immediately apparent - neither manager would be happy with any of the goals scored from a defensive point of view. Swindon will be doubly upset having taken 10 points from the 12 available leading up to this match and the opportunity to put 4 points between them and the bottom four. As it was, for all of their endeavour they took 65 minutes to force a save of any meaning from the Rotherham keeper whilst Rotherham looked dangerous on the break needing two smart saves from Rhys Evans in the Swindon goal.

One of things that struck me was the absence of players who would look comfortable at a higher level; Evans and possibly the right back Jack Smith - only Paul Shaw and Martin Butler for Rotherham. It is obviously difficult and I'm sure Albert Jarret, Rick Shakes and Michael Pook will all disagree with me but they didn't play well today. When I was a young lad, Swindon were my local team and until I was 18 and could afford the fare to Highbury myself, this was where I watched Division 3 & 4 football. But always in those teams were players who moved up the divisions and held their own.

This is the first of two visits to lower division grounds - next week, I am taking Power Ranger to his first football match, Wycombe Wanderers vs Oxford United courtesy of the Wycombe Football In The Community scheme. Oxford hold a special place in my affections with visits to The Manor Ground being a special treat for the violence strewn derby with Swindon. Bless 'em...

Todays Tunes are part of a week long tribute to Paul Weller, following on from hits Brits win. Starting with The Jam, four songs from 1977. The first two are from a 100 club gig in September of that year:

I've Changed My Address

In The City

These next two are from The Rathskeller, Boston in October 1977:

All Around The World

Takin' My Love

Funny Money

The English media’s attention on the Football Money League (FML) published this week by Deloitte and Touche has been drawn by the stunning growth in Revenues achieved by Real Madrid over the last five years and their ascension to the top spot previously occupied by Manchester United. Whilst this is headline grabbing, it does not give the whole picture and misses some interesting issues raised by the report.

The growth Madrid has achieved is phenomenal. In 2001, their revenues were £83m, half of their 2005 total. Whilst that in itself is good performance, the truly incredible part of this in footballing terms, is that the growth has not come solely from increased broadcasting revenues. Indeed this has accounted for a mere £20m of the increase. The majority of the increase is due to commercial revenues, up by £58m on their 2001 base figure. Whilst the Galactico’s policy is not paying dividends on the pitch, it certainly is off the pitch. The layered sponsorship deals, overseas tours and merchandise sales driven by the acquirement of players like Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo and Beckham pay Madrid well. These players, whilst being amongst the best individuals in the world, also open up new markets such as the UK and Asia with their followers seeming to flock to buy the latest Madrid shirts. The other market opening up to Madrid is in South America where the constant flow of Brazilians, from Roberto Carlos to Cicinho, ensures brand loyalty to Madrid, probably the second best supported club in the country.

The FML is made up of 20 teams; 5 from Italy - Milan, Inter, Juve, Roma and Lazio, 3 from Spain - Real, Barca and Valencia; German sides Bayern and Schalke; French side Lyon and Celtic accompany 8 English teams – Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle and Arsenal are surprisingly in the company of such heavyweights as Everton, Manchester City and Tottenham. Whilst Everton have reaped the benefit of their very brief flirtation with the top 4, the appearance of the other two is indicative of how much money is actually generated by the top flight in English football.

Where the FML Report becomes interesting is reading between the lines and reviewing trends. This year is the first that Manchester United has not been top of the pile – what is apparent is that they are hamstrung by the current BskyB broadcasting deal. With the Italian and Spanish clubs able to negotiate their own TV contracts as opposed to the collective bargaining in the Premiership, in future years United and the other English clubs will fall further behind in this revenue stream. Indeed, of the Italian and Spanish clubs only Lazio and Valencia earned less.

Revenues from commercial enterprises find Real, Juventus and Bayern Munich earning more from this source than United. This flies in the face of the media claims that the Mancunians are the most commercially astute club in the world. They are not – their problem is that the brand is tired in its’ native land. As the team has under performed in recent years, with little sign of an upsurge, Chelsea are catching them as the team to be seen to support in the playgrounds, following their on the pitch success. This will hurt United further in years to come as generations grow supporting other teams. The Glazer family will be looking to their board to start increasing revenues elsewhere which will partially be delivered by the increased capacity at Old Trafford but will need to come through additional sponsorship income – the 99p All Day Breakfast McDonald’s Old Trafford, anyone? - and an increase in ticket prices. On the subject of expensive tickets, if you know of any Chelsea fans out there pass on the news that their club has the 2nd highest gate receipts in Europe. With a 42,000 capacity ground, roughly 75% of the capacity of Old Trafford, 55% of the Santiago Bernabeu and not even half of Camp Nou. Surely the club will now admit that their pricing policy is not competitive, just extortionate. What is more impressive is that Chelsea do not sell out Stamford Bridge every game, captured spectacularly earlier this season with their desperate adverts in The Evening Standard for the home game against West Bromwich Albion. This is the team that is Champions of England, and they are pricing their fans out of the stadium.

And what of Arsenal? Excluding Property Development, revenues were steady compared to the previous years although this was not enough for them to stay in 6th place, the 2005 showing being 10th. Should the revenues grow, as D&T believe they will do, Ashburton Grove will propel the club into the Top 5 through match days alone without taking into account the commercial opportunities arising from the extra punters, overtaking Chelsea into the bargain. Still, it will be nice to finish higher than them in one league table at least.

The FML is fairly fluid at the bottom, Lazio unsurprisingly propping up the table and expected to be replaced by any one of the following: (ahem) Middlesbrough, (cough) Rangers or (splutter) Bolton Wanderers. Whilst he has nothing to do with managing the finances, the success on the playing fields means that Sam Allardyce may well be in charge of one of the 20th Biggest Club In The World. Does this mean that the hacks will now stop whining about the top jobs never going to English Managers? Or maybe now the FA will ask him for a quick chat except maybe this time it won't be the disciplinary panel calling him.

Todays tunes tie in with the Folk Britannia series on BBC4, come from a 1985 Peel Session by The Men They Couldn't Hang

Ironmasters

Donald Where's Yer Troosers

Video Killed The Referee's Star

The case for video technology grows with every game that is played. Or that is the way that it seems to the media. This weeks Premiership match at Anfield and last night's UEFA Cup tie at the Reebok Stadium both had incidents where the officials got it wrong. And not just a little bit wrong, they got it horribly wrong. Adebayour was definitely onside and since when has palming the ball off of a forwards head not been punishable by a penalty, as happened last night. This is the first bridge to be crossed; do we accept that the officials are fallible and as long as the decisions are made honestly then that is part and parcel of the game. Whilst everyone wants to see the correct decision made, it has always been part of the game that the Referees decision is final and it is a real struggle to remember FIFA or any governing body deciding that the officials got it so wrong that a match has to be replayed - last years World Cup qualifying match in Asia being the only instance I can think of.

The second issue is then creating the parameters for the use of such technology. Is this for all incidents in the match or just for disputed goals. i.e. has the whole of the ball crossed the line, which seems to be the current favourite. Personally, if we must have such technology, then I see little benefit for just applying it to certain disputed incidents on the goalline. Given that these are few and far between, why invest money just for the purposes? The most problematic issue, and the one that has stopped this technology being used before, is how to the Referee will liaise with the newly appointed VideoRef. Sports that already use VideoRefs fall into two categories: those that have natural stoppages, such as American Football and Cricket, and those that already have a mechanism in place to deal with the incidents that occur. In Rugby Union for example, the VideoRef ajudicates on whether a try is scored in situations where the Referee cannot decide if the ball was grounded or whether the try-scorer went into touch. In these instances, the ball is dead anyway. If the try is awarded fine, the conversion is attempted. If it isn't then it has always been the case that a Drop Out at the 22 metre line or a 5 metre Scrum restarts the game.

In football there is no mechanism. If the Referee cannot decide if the whole of the ball has crossed the line then play continues. To stop the game awaiting another officials decision punishes both sides. How? Obviously the attacking side cannot score from the rebound. The defending side is punished as they cannot create a counter-attack. And what happens in the following scenario. Rooney shoots, hits the bar, ball is volleyed clear by Campbell and no-one can see if the whole of the ball crossed the line. Now the referee is reacting to the situation, and just suppose in the twenty seconds he takes to blow up, the following takes place: Campbell's volley bounces just in side his own half, Ferdinand misjudges it, Henry gains possession, sprints away and scores. If you don't believe the speed of it all, look at Henry's goal against the Tiny Tots a couple of seasons ago at Highbury - he picked the ball up midway in his own half, beat three or four players and put the ball in the back of the net within 15 seconds of initally collecting the ball. So how does the referee deal with this? Does he call the play back, wiping the goal out? What if the ball hadn't crossed the line from Rooney's shot? He has denied Arsenal a perfectly good goal and given Manchester United an advantage? The only fair outcome is a penalty to Arsenal - although this still leaves open the very real possibility of the penalty being saved. The problem football has is that it is a free flowing game. The only breaks are for fouls, the ball going out of play or the half is over.

So I say, leave football alone. We all get infuriated by the officials decisions. We feel robbed when they go against us and believe justice is done when they go for us, even if they are wrong. My platform and manifesto for the next FIFA Presidency Election is Stuff it Blatter - we don't want your interference. Feel better now that I've got that off my chest.

The referee for Saturdays' cup tie at Anfield has apparently told Gary Neville not to antagonise the Liverpool fans during the game which will be some sort of herculean feat as "The Red Neville" tends to antagonise people by breathing. But maybe the FA has appointed God as the Referee and then of course, he would be able to influence this situation. Perhaps the officials are the Holy Trinity, God in the middle, Jesus Christ and The Holy Ghost are running the line. Maybe The Virgin Mary is the fourth official. This would stop the fallibility of the decisions made being called into question. It would certainly be interesting on the touchline. When a decision goes against Ferguson's team, the exhortation, "Jesus Christ Ref!" would probably be met with "Nope, I'm running the line" whilst Benitez and his Spanish counterparts are instantly at a disadvantage as "Madre de Dios" would be met with a quizzical look and a response of "Yes?" from the fourth official.

Todays Tunes is a recording from last nights Brits of Paul Wellers performance. The following link takes you through to the index, Paul Weller at The Brits 2006

Setlist is:

Introduction by Ray Winstone and Acceptance Speech
Come On, Let's Go
The Changing Man
From The Floorboards Up
Town Called Malice
Broken Stones (Guitar Version)

This blog is dedicated to Mike Hately and "Rent - A - Mob" Bob C, party man for hire - except on Valentine's Night when he's not allowed out to play, upsetting my wife more than anyone else cos it meant she had to watch Liverpool v Arsenal. None it would have been possible without you Guys.

Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

This is the question that is at the forefront of Thierry Henry’s mind at the moment. Currently he is either waiting the right moment to sit down with club to discuss a new contract or he is awaiting their offer, depending on which media outlet you believe. Either way, someone needs to act and resolve this situation quickly.

It is apparent from his recent performances that he is not concentrating on the pitch where it matters. He is the one who can bring resolution to the issue quickly – go to the club and say I want this package, review their response and say yes or no either way. And yet somewhat perversely, he is showing no public signs of doing so. There is a lot of water being muddied by claims of “The club has to match my ambition”. Well, he can see with his own eyes what the ambition of the club is. He can see with his own eyes whether or not the quality of players being signed is good enough to match his own desires. We can see with our own eyes that his mind is not on the job and nor, I believe, does he have the stomach for the fight that is ahead.

For several months now, his body language has been appalling. Indeed, it seems that the captaincy and his undecided future are too burdensome for him to manage at once. His demeanour is one of a petulant, sulky teenager not that of a leader of men. This is completely at odds with the experience I have of the good manners and grace that he showed to my eldest son on Members Day. He showed no sign of impatience at the five-year old boy gibbering on at him when signing his autograph. He stayed and talked to him for several minutes when he could quite easily have moved onto the next youngster in the line. When Power Ranger had his photo taken with the squad, Henry made sure he was facing the camera and put him at ease. Simply put, he was a superb ambassador for the club. Yet that is not the part of the Captains role that counts on the pitch.

When Wenger talks of loss of form of senior players, Henry is the prime example of this. His goalscoring return this season is as good as ever but the goals are coming in bursts as opposed to the consistency that he has shown in previous seasons. His all round team play is non – existent. He is not making challenges, merely shadowing the opponent in possession of the ball and then standing still with his hands on his hips, sulking until the next time. At Anfield last night, there were several occasions where, having received a pass he gave possession away cheaply. The verve is missing from his runs. Where is the “Va-Va-Voom” that he publicised not so long ago? He is not smiling, indicative that he has the worries of the world on his shoulders. Yet compared to the majority of the population, his choice about where to ply his trade is relatively simple. He ought not to be concerned with money. Surely his earnings thus far in his career to date have not been squandered? If he has received sound financial advice, his pension fund and investments ought to have made himself and his family secure for the rest of their lives. Which leaves any decision down to (a) where does he want to play football and (b) is this the best environment for his family? Were that our choices about changing employers could be so clear cut. I have no doubt that his comments about not being hassled to make a decision were genuine but the perceived lack of action indicates that his proclamation of staying loyal to Arsenal was perhaps made in haste. And in this the club are culpable too. The contradictory statements made by the Chairman do not help progress the situation - one minute he is staying only if we can afford him, the next we will pay him £120k per week. This Is The Time For Action, as Ian Paige once proclaimed.

As a Captain, I am struggling to identify exactly what it is that Henry brings to the team. A Captain is a leader. He is the manager on the pitch. It is up to him to direct and cajole his younger, inexperienced teammates onto a higher level. He is not a communicative man in that he does not exhort the troops in a way that Tony Adams did. He does not have the physical presence of Patrick Vieira and therefore he cannot impose himself on players. He does not have the ability to lead by example as say, Bobby Moore did, simply due to the fact that his level of performance is not consistent enough to inspire others to raise the standard of their game. It is the sign of a good leader that he or she recognises when their attention is being diverted away and step aside, leaving this to someone more focussed on the task in hand. It takes a strong character to be able to take this course of action but there is a complication. Who in the current squad is good enough to command respect from the rest of the team and can raise their colleagues performances above the current standard. Looking at the players, the list is very small. Prior to his personal issues, Sol Campbell would have been a possibility. Now it is more a case of if he returns rather than when. Lehmann has the strength of character to become a Captain but I have doubts as to how much a Goalkeeper can influence a team and whether or not he has the temperament to handle the failings of others. Lauren is experienced but perhaps too laid back. Which leaves Toure (maybe in a couple of years time) or Gilberto. Certainly he has the personal collection of medals to rival Henry so must command respect from him. Perhaps his character is such that he is identifiable as one who is not good at leading. Maybe this is why Henry is Captain – there is no one else to do the job.

I do believe that Wenger must address this issue urgently because all the while it is hanging in the air, there is a real danger that the season will slip away from this team and the only European football we will see is the pre-season tour to Austria.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Henry’s future will be resolved within the next three weeks. Win against Real and he will probably sign, reasonably sure of the quality of the squad and that this current malaise is nothing but a temporary blip in form. Lose and the man will be leaving. Maybe it is time for Wenger to grasp the Bull by the horns and deal with him firmly. It may even be in the same way that Vieira was despatched – the player has no say in the matter other than to decide which club to go to.

Should Henry leave, the squad will require strengthening. There are plenty of forwards who could replace Henry. May be the list would be Fernando Torres at Atletico Madrid, David Villa at Valencia, Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Juve, Luca Toni at Fiorentina or Dirk Kuijt at Fejenoord. What is certain that the media would have a field day if he left without a suitable replacement being lined up. There is another certainty – Wenger would have to change tactics for some of these players as their mobility is perhaps not as good as Henry’s and they have different strengths. Perhaps the closest to him in terms of how they play the game are Torres or Villa although neither can match him for speed but they are certainly better in the air.

Overall, something has to give. Henry has a duty to himself, his colleagues, his employers and the fans to sort himself out. If that means so long, farewell and thanks for all the goals and enjoyment then so be it. The least that he deserves is to sign off in style with a celebration of his goal scoring record rather than his reputation being tainted by inconsistency and sullenness on the pitch.

Todays Tunes mark the welcome return of The Clash - two live tracks from the bootleg album, From Londo to Jamaica, in 1982 for your delectation.

Should I Stay Or Should I Go

Spanish Bombs

Who do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Wenger

Liverpool 1 - 0 Arsenal

1 - 0 Garcia (87)

Gerrard missed penalty (31)

"We were unlucky, I feel that we controlled the first half but created chances. We can take many positives from tonight"

So why mention the missed penalty? Because it's an easy way to heap praise on Jens Lehmann, possibly the only Arsenal player to emerge with any credit from the match tonight. Having received his fair share of criticism for his antics on Saturday, he proved today that he is by far and away the best keeper at the club and deserving of his place in the side. Should he continue this form, Arsenal will finish in 4th place and all of the players can give their bonuses for this achievement to him. Provided of course that the remaining 10 outfield players can remember that they have to shoot to actually score a goal.

At this point, I could harp on about the (incorrect) offside against Adebayour but to be honest, Liverpool deserved to win. And not just by 1 - 0. There could have been no complaints if the scoreline had been 4 - 0. Arsenal were unlucky in terms of being 3 minutes from gaining a much needed point but that is the only term in which the word unlucky can be applied. As the home side, they had to take the game to Arsenal. They did so, and in the end got their just reward. But for Lehmann, the headlines would have been about a St Valentines Massacre at Anfield. I will not comment on the rest of the team. I could but I am making a conscious effort to minimise the bad language in this blog. They were shocking. And completely devoid of any leadership; Thierry Henry may be the team captain but his outward appearance is one of someone who is not an inspirational leader - more of a moody teenager. Maybe this is his Gallic "Je ne sais Quoi". If so, it's not the actions of a Captain but merely proof that his captaincy was a sop by Wenger in order to try to secure his services beyond the terms of his current contract.

"At the moment we are struggling for confidence and that can affect the senior players as well as the younger ones,"

What is of concern is the effect that the current form may have on the younger players in the squad. The older players will come through this patch of indifferent form – they have in the past and will do so in the future. With a clear week - no club or international matches at all - to allow the coaching staff and manager to earn their corn by boosting the confidence of the players for their next match, Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabeu. We must take into account that this is possibly the first serious test of character that many of the team have had to encounter. The younger team players have had a relatively easy ride thus far in the first XI. They are suddenly finding that sauntering through Carling Cup ties, trouncing Premiership opposition is a far cry from the serious business of the week in, week out hurly burly League matches. This will be a period in their careers that will define many of their characters. Come through it and they will be a strong group of players for the future at Ashburton Grove. Fail and the clubs regeneration may take longer than they are predicting, i.e. beyond the end of next season. And the question therefore arises, is it fair to put them under such pressure. Yes, there are injuries to senior players that mean many of them are playing more games than they may have expected last August. After all, losing one left back is an accident, two is unlucky but even losing the last choice could be considered careless. And now right back is starting to look that way. Don't even start me on Centre Backs. For sure, Sol Campbell's "issues" could not have been foreseen. But where is the cover? Senderos is having a rough time of it but undoubtedly possesses the quality to come through the other side. However, in order to remain successful it is surely better to bring through youngsters in 1 or 2 positions at a time rather than en masse in ¾ of the team.

Which is where the transfer policy of Wenger is now called into question. To sign for the future is admirable but if the club is too remain successful it is not prudent to fail to balance this out with experience. Once you get past the first line of Arsenal when fully fit, the imbalance is apparent. Who is the experienced cover for Gilberto, Campbell or even Henry. There is none. But why is Wenger adopting this policy? By his own admission he had money to spend in the summer. Yes, he lost out to Real Madrid for Baptista but to be honest, it was no surprise. After all, he is a Brazilian playing in Spain, who was 12 months from qualifying for Spanish nationality which means that he can move anywhere in Europe without needing a Work Permit. But he is not the only Central Midfielder in the world. Why limit your targets to one choice per position? I know he is trying to buy players to fit the system but frankly there were others he could have afforded, that excuse is merely a cop out. He has bought in the January window but the title was gone by then and 2^nd place was looking a distant dream. Could it be his fixation with Chelsea's purchasing power precludes him from bidding for established players? It is well documented that he believes he cannot compete with them once they decide to bid for a player, although this belief has proven incorrect in recent times. Instead of bemoaning their millions, (and according to the Spanish Daily, Sport, they have bid €45 million for Eto'o) he should merely highlight the number of players that they possess and their quality. Play it up through the media - make sure that the Spanish, Italian, French and God knows who else’s papers get the story. The selling clubs won't like it but it reinforce a view that is held, i.e. it is starting to look as if you're mad if you sign for Chelsea unless you are one of the elite players in the world. We'll take someone who is not quite that good and maybe Le Professeur will mould them into another Henry, Vieira or Pires.

It is not just the players who are now being tested. Wenger himself is under scrutiny like never before. The club have a 60,000 capacity stadium to fill come July and they will have been budgeting for Champions League football, the UEFA Cup is a poor substitute in Revenue terms. Failure to qualify raises the spectre that for all of the Captains protestations that he will stay, the lure of Europe’s premiere trophy may mean a longer visit to the Camp Nou than a mere stadium tour on his summer holidays. Should he go, in footballing terms, he can be replaced – the teams style of play would need to be altered as the pace up front would be lost – but in marketing and revenue terms it will be difficult to immediately replace his popularity in the playgrounds and pubs across the land. Look at the replica shirts and see how many other players names are on the back – I rest my case. Wenger is now being watched by Arsenal fans to see if he can rebuild from scratch. Let us not forget that when he took charge of the club, the defence was ageing but still able to play for several seasons, Bergkamp was in his prime and the forward line wasn't too bad either. This time he is building a new team with few experienced players with which to form any sort of long term base. Even then, the current squad is going to be losing several of these in the next season and a half. Bergkamp goes at the end of this season, Cole will probably go either this or next summer, Pires and Lehmann will probably leave in 2007 (if not before), Campbell probably only has two seasons left and Ljungberg cannot continue to play with such indifference and expect to retain his place. I do not doubt that Wenger is capable of the rebuilding task but should it take longer than one season, I have my doubts as to whether or not he will have the heart for it at this stage in his contract. What is apparent that the Directors will give him as long as he wants. However, there will come a point where they have to put a time limit on the task if Revenue becomes too pressurised.

Today's tunes - two tracks from one of the most influential indie bands of recent years, The Pixies.

The Pixies - Gigantic

The Pixies - Debaser

I really Love you...

Aah Valentines Day - when the exortations of love fill the air. And Robbie Fowler is thinking, "Arsenal I LOVE playing against you". He may well do, with the supposedly miserly famous back four shipping goals to him like there was no tomorrow earlier in his career. If the news reports are correct, he will start tonight and no doubt Adams, Bould, Winterburn and Dixon are quaking in their boots. Dixon is already, having been the resident ex-player doom and gloom merchant on 5Live this morning. And no doubt, the hacks and scribes of Canary Wharf and Wapping are sharpening their pencils, ready to show us their wit and repartee using the headlines of "St Valentines Massacre At Anfield" or some such play on words.

The match itself will be between two teams showing indifferent form - Arsenal, away from home, have won and scored the fewest of any of the teams in the top half of the table but curiously are only conceding an average of one goal per game on their travels. Liverpool on the other hand have a set of forwards who for some reason in 2006, cannot hit a cow's ar*e with a banjo. Which means they will make up for lost time tonight.

Since the turn of the year, they have won 2 games, (1 - 0 against Tottenham at Anfield, 1 - 0 at Wigan) drawn 2 and lost 2 on their travels. Arsenal have exactly the same record, albeit scoring more goals so no conclusions can be drawn from the form guide. It used to be that a trip to Anfield was 3 points in the bag for the home team but in the last five seasons, it has yielded 2 wins and a draw. So nothing can be read into that. The Arsenal team will have Toure back in defence but they are still young. I am undecided about the outcome, the heart says it's an away win, the head says, I agree but next season not tonight.

Anyway, I'm off to sharpen my pencils and rapier wit to come up with a suitably apt play on words...

Todays tunes, as it's Valentines Day, I have successfully resisted the urge for any sloppy romantic tunes, so here's The Who, Live At Woodstock in 1969.

I Can't Explain

Pinball Wizard

Can You Guess What It Is Yet?

Listen again - "whirrrrrrrrrr" - it's the sound of Dave Richards furiously backpeddaling to save his skin. Having let the cat out of the bag, he now denies implying that O'Neill is the next England manager. Dude, too late, the only ones who will be happy with this sort of statement are the bookies who have taken a stack of bets on the next appointee to the Soho Square hotseat.

The managerial merry - go - round is locked in full pace now. O'Neill to England. Or Newcastle. Or is it going to be one of the other two from the supposed shortlist of three, Curbishley or Pearce - sorry Big Sam, looks like the Curse of Yogi is more powerful than I thought.

As we approach the Witching Hour, it's becoming apparent that there is some pretty bad mojo going on in the world at the moment. Suddenly Gerry Francis is supposed to be a contender for the England job. Where did this one come from? Otmar Hitzfeld is going to Newcastle - he's even got his reservations already. Ah sorry that's about the job not for flights. Hiddink is off to Russia. And best one of the lot, John Gregory is off to Hungary. Obviously a good lunchtime down the pub? No? Can you imagine the "motivational techniques" he'll employ? When someone tries (and fails) to emulate the Galloping Major, Gregory's chastisement of "You useless ****! Who do you think you are? Puskas?" will probably be met with a swift "Igen" from the old guy on the touchline.

But let's not stop the lunacy now. Surely there are some better bets for the current vacancy list. Maybe even the dream team of Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Doris Stokes. The team selection notice could mysteriously appear on the board whilst any tactical comminques could come through a series of raps on the bench (Snoop Doggy Dog and Cypress Hill - NWA having refused the gig); "What's that boss, I didn't quite catch it?"Knock, Knock, Knock; "OK So Beckham on the right and Stevie G in the centre!"

Todays tunes: a couple of tracks from a Peel Session in 1979 by The Specials

Gangsters

Too Much Too Young

A New England

Stuart Pearce has said that he is interested in the England job after all. Waste of time, Psycho, if the press are to be believed as Martin O'Neill is the shoo-in following Dave Richards comments that the next manager ought to be British not English. And seemingly, the media are happy with that although surely by their own logic, an Irishman is still a foreigner as he isn't English. Perhaps one of them can explain that one to me?

Maybe it is because O'Neill's playing career was in England, notably as a member of Brian Clough's European Cup winning sides in 1979 and 1980. His managerial career started in England at non league Grantham, followed by a spell at Shepshed Charterhouse. He really became noticed at Wycombe whom he guided into the Football League and then onwards into the Second Division. He resigned to take charge of one of the clubs he had played at, Norwich City. This turned out to be a brief spell as he left due to a lack of funding for players. It was at Leicester that he forged his reputation, winning promotion to the Premiership and establishing the club as a mid-table team, winning the Hokey Cokey Fizzy Lager Cup the following season. This brought him to the attention of the Celtic board who needed to end another spell of Rangers dominance. O'Neill did this, winning the title in 2001 and 2002, followed by a double in 2004. In Europe, his record is second only to Jock Stein by dint of reaching the UEFA Cup Final, albeit losing to Porto 2 - 3. By the criteria of media, he has it all - successfully managed a big club, experience of Europe (despite the fact that his Celtic failed to make it beyond the Group Stage) and more importantly, they like him. O'Neill seems to be an intelligent man, is passionate about his work and has shown that his family values are strong, having take time out to care for his wife during her illness.

The similarities to Sam Allardyce are uncanny. A solid playing career, followed by a period of learning his trade as a manager in the lower leagues, moving to a bigger club (well, Bolton were bigger than Limerick, Blackpool and Notts County), guiding them to the Premiership and becoming their most successful manager in Europe. All that Big Sam is missing is a major trophy. His spell at Bolton cannot be underestimated. They seemed to be the perennial bridesmaids at the Play-Off's but once they were promoted, Bolton have fought tooth and nail to stay, eventually building themselves into a position to challenge for European places. They are still in this season's UEFA Cup, successfully negotiating through to the last 32 where Marseilles provide the opposition.

The difference between the two? One is a media darling the other isn't. Whether this will impact on the FA's decision is unknown. Whether it should is another matter. O'Neill has not been beyond criticism in his career but has come through the other side. Allardyce is currently fed up with Radio 5Live whom he perceives as having slighted his employers (and a club where he spent the majority of his playing career) - but should he be ignored by the FA for this? No - indeed it shows a loyalty sadly lacking in the present incumbent.

So we come down to the false argument that you need to have managed a big club to take on the England role. Really? Walter Winterbottom didn't, Ramsey didn't, neither did Greenwood nor Robson. Did it prove a barrier to their success, although in England terms only Ramsey has ever been succesful. Those that have managed "big" clubs beforehand have hardly covered themselves with glory in the England role. Hoddle and Keegan were pretty awful national coaches. It could also be argued that their club management was not entirely successful when they were in charge of the so-called big clubs, Chelsea and Newcastle respectively. This is not a cheap jibe on my part. At the time Hoddle took over at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea were a relatively poorly supported West London team who had not seriously challenged for the title in 50 - yes, fifty - years and to make matters worse, 1955 was the only time that they had won the League. Subsequent cash injections were a decade away from Hoddle's reign. In Keegan's case, Newcastle are an even more perplexing proposition. For whilst they have a large and loyal fanbase who regularly attend when they are in the Premiership, their performances do not warrant the tag "big club" but this is turning into a debate on semantics and one that I will revisit on another day.

What is beyond dispute is that Terry Venables did manage a big club before the England job fell into his lap. Arguably (yikes, there's the dreaded semantics coming into this again) Barcelona are one of the biggest clubs in the world. And yes, he was successful there. And yes, he was a qualified success with England but no more so that Bobby Robson. Well in fact Venables wasn't a qualified success as this was something he never had to do with his only tournament in charge being Euro 96.

For some reason best known to themselves (but presumably selling newspapers is it) the media are keen to peddle their curious form of xenophobia by demanding a British manager (don't forget, the Scots, Welsh and Irish are one of us not nations in their own right). Which probably rules out the most qualified of all current managers, "Big" Phil Scholari - one World Cup, runner-up in European Championship (and I bet he still doesn't know how that happened) and a host of others with better managerial CVs, such as Saachi, Hizfeld, Hiddink, Ferguson. So at least any failure will be homegrown rather than those dastardly continental Europeans undermining us. But they miss a trick - how better to sabotage any further integration within the EU by blaming England's continued lack of success on the pitch by blaming it on Brussels?

Personally I don't care who manages England as long as he guides the team to winning the World Cup or the European Championships. It annoys the hell out of me that I was more intent on getting a clean nappy than watching Geoff Hurst slam home his hattrick in 1966. I couldn't help it Guv, being a mere 6 weeks old at the time although I do remember trying to explain to my Dad at the time that it was pure folly on Ramseys part to play the tournament with his Wingless Wonders. Maybe something got lost in the translation? Could it be that they mistook my crying as need for mothers milk or a clean backside? Either way it proved that I knew as much about football tactics then as I do now. Which is basically diddly squat although now I know how to bluff my way through an lunchtime or evening discourse on the topic - more alcohol please barkeep....

Todays tunes, two demos by The Jam circa 1979.

Wasteland

Seesaw