The Rich Man's Toy

At the start of the season, not many people would have tipped Newcastle United for relegation. The fact they now find themselves in the Championship is due to a catalogue of errors. Numerous mistakes have been made during the course of the season by the owner Mike Ashley.

The reason for the sacking of Sam Allardyce was reported to be the type of football the team was producing. This is a valid point but Allardyce would not have delivered relegation had he remained in charge. The hierarchy decided to bring back Toon legend Kevin Keegan. This raised an eyebrow or two in some quarters but it was considered a safe appointment. Keegan would have the backing of the fans and would get the team playing attractive and attacking football.

For some strange reason Ashley then decided to bring in a director of football. Club chairmen do not seem to learn that in English football the director of football role rarely succeeds. This scenario just creates conflict between the manager and the director. The manager should be solely responsible for deciding which players should be bought or sold.

The appointment was cheeky cockney Dennis Wise a man with no connection to the North East which made matters worse. Furthermore it is believed that Keegan and Wise did not really get along beforehand. The rest is history as Keegan walked away after issuing an ultimatum that was not met.

The next manger to be given the job was former Wimbledon boss Joe Kinnear who had been out of the game for some time. Ill health put paid to his stint and that is where the crucial error was made. An experienced manger should have been appointed immediately but instead Ashley left Chris Hughton in charge.

The last throw of the dice was appointing Alan Shearer with only a handful of games remaining. Shearer is worshipped by the supporters but had an impossible task to keep them up. Money has been thrown around like confetti in recent years on a host of poor signings. Average players have been given very generous contracts and have simply not earned those wages.

If the club is to make an instant return to the Premiership then a massive clear out is required. Under performing players who are on contracts of £50,000 a week or more, need to be moved out of the club. You need a fair amount of fighting spirit to get out of the Championship and that is one quality the current squad does not have in abundance.

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Dream Champions League Final

The purists and any neutral football supporters will be eagerly anticipating the final game of the Champions League between Manchester United and Barcelona. European football’s governing body UEFA will also be looking forward to the occasion. There is talk that the official who refereed the Chelsea v Barcelona semi-final match was under orders not to allow an all English final.

Tom Henning Ovrebo made numerous ridiculous decisions during the match for both sides. The most controversial incidents involved at least three clear penalties for Chelsea which he turned down. This happens all the time in football but three clear penalties for the same team in one match is highly unusual. This is why there is a growing suspicion that someone got to the referee.

It is claimed that Ovrebo was an inexperienced official having only refereed 10 Champions League matches previously. If they have any commonsense UEFA will ensure he does not get a chance to officiate in any more. That is assuming they do not want to reward him for his services.

Both semi-finals were shrouded in controversy because of poor refereeing decisions. A strong referee with sufficient experience needs to be appointed for the final. Considering the competition involves the cream of European football the main talking points should be about the game itself rather than the standard of officiating.

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Player Of The Year Farce

The PFA player of the year award usually goes to the season’s outstanding footballer. This year the accolade has been given to Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs. To say this was a controversial award is something of an understatement. Giggs is an outstanding professional and has been a great servant to his club and football in general. He would be deserving of a lifetime achievement award for such a long and successful career.

Having said that to award him the player of the year is ridiculous simply because he has only started 12 games this season. He has been chosen ahead of several of his fellow professionals who would have been more worthy of the award. Last year’s winner Cristiano Ronaldo is not everyone’s cup of tea and maybe this was a snub to him because of the way he conducts himself on and off the pitch. It is fair to say that Giggs is a model professional and the exact opposite of Ronaldo which may have been reflected in the vote.

The full list of nominees was Edwin Van Der Sar, Ryan Giggs, Nemanja Vidic. Rio Ferdinand, Cristiano Ronaldo and Steven Gerrard. This season Giggs has been out performed by every single nominee. The fact the list included five Manchester United players also raised a few eyebrows. If he had not missed games through injury, the award would probably have gone to Gerrard. Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has had yet another free scoring season and was also unlucky not to feature.

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