By Tony Attwood
When it comes to England games something strange happens to the reporting. and not just with the delicate way the media handles the FA, suggesting that they might be reasonable decent set of people trying hard to do their job (as opposed to them being a bunch of charlatans happy to take tax payers money and throw it around on junkets and business class seats on expensive flights).
But also the way they report under 21 England games – with most of the reports not actually telling us who is the team. I wonder why not; is it because we are too dumb to understand the names? Is it that some newspaper executive says, “it might confuse our readers to read 11 names in a sequence”? Or was it because the reporters weren’t there but were watching it on TV down the pub and were not quick enough to scribble the team sheet down at the start?
Fortunately the BBC generally come to the rescue and confirm that Reiss Nelson came on for England Under 21, on 74 minutes, was seemingly not injured, and scored a goal at the end of the game against Andorra. Obviously this was a severe test for the youngsters against a strong team, and not a pointless match in which they risked the future of their careers for no purpose.
So he survived. Whether any other Arsenal under 21s got a game I don’t really know. If you do, can you write in and say?
Meanwhile speaking of the sweet FA, according to unnamed sources, “The £600 million offer from Fulham owner Khan [to buy Wembley] will be spent entirely on grass roots, the FA insists, including the creation of potentially thousands of 3G pitches.”
“He added: ‘Where are we 10 years down the line, having sold the crown jewels and the money has gone? The Football Foundation needs to give cast-iron assurances on how the initial capital expenditure would be spent and future funding. It strikes at the emotion of the council members that this is not the right thing to be doing’.”
So at least we know there might be the stirrings of a debate. But if the FA do get their hand on all that money then I for one am sure that, just like last time, they will not spend in on pitches for young players – not just to encourage youth football, but also to make a tiny dent in the obesity crisis that now envelops England where record numbers of children are leaving primary school severely obese.
No they will fritter it all away on a massive bid to host the World Cup, and then at the end when we don’t get it, will complain that Fifa is corrupt.
Meanwhile back with Arsenal the Express tells us that Arsenal transfer news is “coming thick and fast” during the “international break” as they like to call it, or interlull as many fans call it. And today we are told that
- Arsenal are interested in signing Porto captain Hector Herrera
- Herrera is viewed as a potential replacement for Aaron Ramsey
- Thierry Henry looks set to take over as Monaco manager
- Bayern Munich could snap up Lille star Nicolas Pepe
- Reiss Nelson still wants to be a success at Arsenal
So that’s good to know. On the other hand the Metro claims that IT is the one-stop shop for Arsenal transfers including comings, goings and stuff. Which is also good to know. Except they don’t have any stories.
But here’s a wonderful jolly idea…. Everton are thinking of signing that old reprobate Samir Nasri.
Meanwhile on the Ramsey front there was a bit of a spat or Twitter (or was that a twit on Spatter – it’s sometimes hard to say) as supporters of the Wales team really attacked the player. ThisisFutbol suggests Aaron Ramey seemed a bit bemused at being required to play all 90 minutes of a game.
Here’s another comment…
With Gareth Bale unavailable due to injury, Ramsey was Wales’ main hope of causing an upset against the 2010 World Cup winners. But Ramsey, who was used in an attacking role in Ryan Giggs’ 3-4-3 formation did not see enough of the ball to cause any damage and, when he did, either chose the wrong option or was not on the same wavelength as his teammates on what was a chastening night. How he missed the presence of Bale, who lifts everyone around him and makes opponents nervous simply by being on the pitch.
There were plenty more, but you know how it is – seen one Twat seen em all.
Finally, a frightening headline…
“Should AFC follow the Chelsea model?” That is in
Or maybe we should sign every player that moves, immediately send them out on loan all over Europe and then hope that the odd one in 200 becomes a good player and can be sold on at a profit. An approach that is quite rightly known as the Chelsea Cattle <arket?
To be fair I don’t think he does. And that, as they say, sums it all up. Meanwhile how about this…
So Rambo has now played 3 full games for Wales in the two international breaks – with a fourth to come?
Unai Emery had to rest him when he returned from the first inter-break, though we had more than enough cover.
If he plays in the next Wales game, I assume he will have to be rested again by Emery – in a week when we have 3 games in 8 days.
£600 million is nice pocket money!
According to an Evening Standard article from January, the FA still have £142m of outstanding debt on the stadium which I guess they will look to pay off before any money gets redistributed to pay for Improvements at grass root level or increased expenses for their members. How much will get passed down the line is anyone’s guess. I’ll put my bet at 25p.
I believe Clarke is from Leicester and Glenn is from the Wolverhampton area, so expect ‘Clarke Engineering’ in Leicester to get the contract for some new local stadia in the area, whilst ‘Glenn & another Solicitors’ in the midlands get a the contracts to make this all happen…
If someone stops this happening (like a politician that can’t be bribed…. I’m sure there are a few) then expect that in 5+ years time, both Glenn and Clarke will become well paid non-executive directors of the companies that do get the contracts…
Well done for the Clarke and Glenn families for moving into the ultra-rich class.
Wembley should never be sold. £600 million is a fair price for a 20 year lease for its use. That is 2 generations of youngsters having to see American football at the home of the beautiful game. Now ain’t that a shame.
£ 600 million to promote their game in England . If they want it so much then up the price . I don’t like Wembley as a stadium and I rarely watch England’s matches but it is our national stadium and if the Americans want it that badly . Make them pay for it.