Goodbye Cecil

 

Roy Hodgson's hair: A tasty treat for birds?

Christian 'Cecil' Purslow

Today was a great occasion for Liverpool, Europa League progress and the removal of Christian 'Cecil' Purslow. A real cretin. He was the final member on the 'Infamous Five' which also included Hicks, Gillett, Broughton and Roy Hodgson. A fivesome who reeked more havoc at Anfield than any Man United or Everton fan could of even dreamed of.

Purslow was more concerned with making himself Mr Popular with the Liverpool players than making sensible decisions at a time when Liverpool needed nothing more. His ego overruled his head. His treatment of Rafa Benitez, by sacking him while he was on holiday was shameful. The repercussions of his attempt at real life Championship Manager in the summer of 2010 are still being felt. It was Purslow who rejected Benitez's plan to sign Van Der Vaart this summer, and go with his own instinct to sign Joe Cole (I hate the phrase 'his legs have gone' but Joe Cole's really have). And his most damaging act of all was to reject Dalglish's offer to take over from Benitez and go for his own man, The Pigeon himself, Roy Hodgson. Where would Liverpool be now if Cecil had given Dalglish the job back in July. I'd hazard a guess they would be a lot closer to/in the top four.

Cecil deserves a small amount of praise for his work in eventually stabbing Hicks and Gillett in the back, but I stress a SMALL amount. He's role in setting Liverpool back at least a couple of years, contributing to the exit of Torres and possibly Reina won't ever be forgiven. Still a snake, glad he's gone. Fuck off Cecil and don't come back.

Wenger

Wenger can be a clown sometimes, but I hope the clown wins the Carling Cup on Sunday. It's a fantastic opportunity to never have to hear the words "yeah but he hasn't won anything for years" again. Wenger's policy should be admired. Look at it this way, if come Sunday, Wenger named:

Szczesny, Eboue, Squillaci, Djourou, Clichy, Diaby, Song, Wilshere, Chamakh, Bendtner, Van Persie.

That's a side which should beat Birmingham. Now consider that team has been put together for £9 million. Just a fraction more than what Man Utd paid for Bebe! That's good work Arsene. Wenger can be a prize prat at times but he's a great manager who has never sacrified his beliefs despite heavy criticism. That deserves some silverware as a reward.

Joe Cole

Claudio Ranieri, Jose Mourinho, Sven Goran Eriksson, Avram Grant, Luis Scolari, Steve McClaren, Carlo Ancelotti and Kenny Dalglish. That's eight managers who between them have won almost every major competition possible. And that is eight managers who refuse to put any faith in Joe Cole. Since leaving West Ham, Cole has failed to establish himself in any managers plans. And now at Liverpool he is floundering. Floundering on £90,000 per week supposedly. Yet, you still hear almost every English pundit calling for him to be given a chance. His chance has passed for me. He is living off his name now and not his talent. When he does start a game he looks a mile off the pace and like he needs oxygen by the half time whistle. I'm not a fan and surely all those managers can't be wrong?

And.....

Heard this the other day:

Paul Konchesky has moved to a club that has won the European Cup. Fernando Torres hasn't.
Paul Konchesky has scored a goal for his new club. Fernando Torres hasn't.

Words Fail Me UEFA

 

Platini: Cock

Ah UEFA, an organisation so obsessed by money I've no doubt it's board members would sell their own grandparents if they knew they could make a decent profit. Today they released the ticket prices for the Wembley final of this years Champions League final on May 28th. They are staggering. This year a "Category 1" ticket will set back the ordinary fan, £300. If that's a little "steep" for your ordinary fan, don't worry, you can opt for UEFA's 'cheapest' option instead, only a paltry £150. This isn't inflation, it's daylight robbery. If you are lucky enough to actually come through the lottery of the ticket draw, you can then add a £26 ADMINISTRATION fee on top of your £300 and lucky you! The ticket is yours. An absolute disgrace.

Michel Platini and his UEFA Merry Men may as well be wearing masks and have swag bags over their shoulders. Incase Platini ever gets hold of this I would like to say, you Mr Platini are a disgrace, a crook and a parasite on our game. On moving the final to a Saturday evening Platini said, "I also hope that playing the Uefa Champions League final on a Saturday will give families, especially children, the chance to see the game." Well this year, those ever caring UEFA delegates have allocated 250 tickets for those children to watch their final. 250. Considering they wanted to give families the chance to attend the final, assuming a typical family consists of 2 adults and 2 children, a night at Wembley could set you back as much as £1200.  We all know the reason they moved the final was for commercial purposes, if you think you are fooling anyone Platini, you ain't.

Wembley will have a reduced allocation of 86,000 for the final, with each participating finalist allocated 25,000 tickets to give to their fans. With experience I can tell you that will not happen. Both clubs will help themselves to about 10,000 tickets to give to sponsors, players, ex players, staff, tea lady etc. A further 11,000 tickets are available through a "UEFA Ballot". This is where it gets really funny. The other 25,000 tickets will then go to the, and I quote, "European Football Family". Well, where do I start? European. Football. Family. THAT DOESN'T EVEN EXIST. 25,000 tickets which could go to real fans who have attended all the games leading upto the showpiece final, the people who actually deserved their place there instead will end up in the hands of UEFA's odious pals. Just so that some suit from Heineken or Sony can round up his fat cat pals and go on his jollies to London for the weekend. And that is what UEFA are all about. They are as corrupt an organisation as you could ever have the misfortune to come across.

The highlight of todays press release is saved for the final line, without a hint of irony.....

"UEFA also encourages fans not to be lured into deals with touts who not only demand exorbitant prices but are often not in possession of the tickets they purport to have for sale."

So basically, don't enter UEFA's ballot......


http://www.uefa.com/uefa/mediaservices/mediareleases/newsid=1595715.html

The Premier League v Leyton Orient

SHAMELESS

The Olympic Stadium Debacle

If one news story summed up everything that is wrong with modern top flight football it is the fight for the keys to the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 games. It was another example of the Premier League trampling all over anything that stands in its way.  The Olympic Park Legacy Committee have chosen West Ham as their preferred bidder. In truth, it became an obvious choice as Tottenhams idea to raise it to the ground after 4 weeks of use in the summer of 2012 has to go down as one of the most ridiculous ideas ever proposed. Tottenham might be the losers in the battle for the stadium, but the real losers in the whole saga come from two divisions below the Premier League, Leyton Orient. West Ham may as well be building a new stadium right on top of Brisbane Road (the home of Leyton Orient). Does anyone care? Certainly not the Premier League, now they have got a brand new sparkling stadium they can show off to the world. But the Premier League don't care about anything that doesn't affect them. Infact, they are contravening their own rules which state the Premier League Board shall only grant consent to a member Club to move to another ground which 'would not adversely affect Clubs having their registered grounds in the immediate vicinity of the proposed location'. Quite how what West Ham are doing doesn't fall into this category defies belief. West Ham can't fill Upton Park, which holds 25,000 LESS than the Olympic Stadium will. And how will they attract people to fill these 25,000 empty seats. Ah of course, they will steam roll right over Leyton Orient trying to tempt their fans into the "promise land" of the Premier League with reduced ticket prices and "community schemes". Best league in the world? Do me a favour.

Liverpool v Wigan

I hate international football. I hate international football friendlies even more. After the high of beating Chelsea, the majority of our players disappeared to every corner of the world. And for what? So Fabio Capello can try out Scott Parker and Ashley Young when I can guarantee come the next championship they will be nowhere near the starting 11. As a result the quality of football in the Premier League yesterday suffered. No more so than at Anfield. The players looked tired and too many of them were sloppy. Gerrard and Agger were badly missed and switching back to a 4-4-2 didn't really work for us. That said, Wigan deserved their point. Dalglish throwing Milan Jovanovic on for a rare cameo was strange, the Serb has got all the qualities of Igor Biscan  minus the cult hero status. The words "headless chicken" spring to mind. Even on a free transfer he seems embarrassingly overpriced. I heard the result described a few times as one step forward, two steps back, it isnt. 13 points out of the last 15 is a great return considering the position we were in a month ago, when the Evertonians taunted us with "going down" chants when they were 2-1 up at Anfield (given their current plight there is a nice irony about that).

The lack of depth in the Liverpool squad was exposed yesterday, one transfer window would never be able to put right the asset stripping of the last couple of seasons,  but after the double header against Sparta Prague it's West Ham where Gerrard and Agger will be back and potentially Andy Carroll now he's back in training. So we will be okay until the FA return in March and decide to whisk all our players off to Jupiter, or wherever their latest friendly happens to be.

Wolves

Can anybody explain how Wolves have beaten Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Sunderland, that's 5 of the top 7 in the league and still be rock bottom. Has this ever happened before? If that doesn't sum up how bizarre this season has been then nothing will.

Woy and West Bwom

If West Brom are throwing away 3 goal leads before Hodgson's got to work on the training ground I really fear for them! I assume old Pigeon face must of gone into the dressing room at half time and had a few words with the players. If you read nothing else this weekend, read this article from todays Independant. It says it better than I ever could......http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/the-last-word-hodgson-has-found-his-level-with-west-brom-2213246.html

Why do West Brom want to get relegated so much?

Welcome back Woy. It didn't take long for the man, the myth, the moron to come crawling back into the Premier League. As I'm sure you have gathered by this point,  I don't have much time for Roy Hodgson. As a person I'm sure he has redeeming qualities, hidden away somewhere. But as a football manager he is one of those parasites who you can never get away from. Regardless of how terrible a job he manages to do somewhere, he will always come back. Hodgson isn't alone, there is the media driven, British Elite of Managers (see Allardyce, Phil Brown, Paul Jewell, Bryan Robson etc) who teams will turn to in times of crisis, instead of taking a risk on somebody young and unproven or one of those "horrendous" foreign coaches that come over here and take work off loveable Mr England characters like my old pal, Sam Allardyce. They won't 'steady the ship' as the phrase goes, they will either remain static, in port, with a few cup runs, or progressively sink it.

In appointing Roy Hodgson, West Brom have waived their right to winning football games away from The Hawthorns and have agreed to a toxic style of play at home. West Brom's style of play fits into the ethos of Roy Hodgson as an anorexic's does at an all you can eat buffet. A strange decision. Hodgson has sunk back to his level and with less expectation could now perform a repeat of his Fulham 'miracles'. And if nothing else, Liverpool have now found a home for Paul Konchesky come the summer, when Forest also realise he is a totally shite.

Let's All Laugh At Chelsea

Raul Raul Raul the red he's bald and Portuguese, Meireles Meireles Meireles Meireles score a goal for me

"It's not his team"

Kenny Dalglish is currently delivering the last rites to Roy Hodgsons managerial career. The phrase "it's not his team" was repeated over and over from clowns trying to defend Hodgson. Now I think anyone who uttered them should have recent results smashed down their throats. Anybody who had the misfortune of watching Liverpool being literally torn apart by Blackburn and even more embarrassingly, Benjani, not even a month ago will of watched yesterdays performance with their jaw on the floor. Hodgson's attempt to turn Liverpool into Wimbledon circa 1988 failed and Dalglish is now turning water into wine. This "isn't Kennys team" either but due to the fact he isn't a moron he is managing to work with what he has  as all good managers do and has surely already done enough to become the permanent manager. One of the main cliches rolled out for Kenny was "he has been out the game too long". The formation Liverpool have switched to rubbishes that assumption, in the last week he has managed to bamboozle Tony Pulis, one of the more tactically astute managers in the Premier League and last seasons double winning manager.

LOL@CFC

Sorry Fernando, but like a naughty child, you had to learn the hard way. Yesterdays game was Torres' party, but like the naughty child he is, he was sent to his room and forced to watch from the sidelines as his former friends made all the noise downstairs. It was another great day for laughing at Chelsea. They are the chavvy lottery winning family who swapped KFC for The Ritz, much to the embarrassment of everyone else already at the top table.They make a lot of noise, they are are brash and annoying, but ultimately they are a joke. They are a sewer rat dressed up as a Royal Corgi. I am embarrassed on their behalf, their fans are that unoriginal that the took the "El Nino" banner, copied it to the extent that they even unknowingly copied the Shankly Gates onto their own banner. The Meireles goal now enters folklore with John 'England's Braveheart" Terry's Moscow penalty miss and Iniesta's last minute goal at Stamford Bridge. They are everything that is wrong with football and if Liverpool somehow beat Chelsea to a Champions League spot this season I would be willing to personally present the Premier League trophy to Man Utd at Old Toilet come May as a forfeit. It's as if the Gods of Karma look down on Abramovich with the disdain the rest of the footballing world do and long may it continue you bunch of mercenary rent boys.

Lucas Leiva our Brazilian Saviour

Okay, saviour might be a bit much but the progress of Lucas this season has been brilliant. I can't think of a player that's been ridiculed more than Lucas over the last few seasons. The main source of amusement seems to be because he is Brazilian, and that he doesn't possess the skill of Romario or Socrates.  Man Utd's Anderson cost 16m and Chelsea's Ramires 20m, neither have shown much to prove their "Brazilian-ness" and don't seem to come under half the abuse dished out to Lucas despite costing three times more and not establishing themselves in either of their sides. Anybody who still buys into the media myth that he is just another one of Rafa Benitez's "bad buys" needs to have a look at the stats. With a pass completion rate at Stamford Bridge of 88.9% and even more impressively hitting 89.1% against Stoke last Wednesday, it proves the sort of effect he is beginning to have on Liverpool's midfield. This from the player who Cecil Purslow aided by Agent Hodgson tried to force out during the summer, offering him the exotic destinations of Celtic or Stoke. It's to Lucas's credit that instead of sulking and moaning to the press in his  home country as the likes of Ryan Babel and Fernando Torres were guilty of, he has got his head down and worked hard to make himself one of the first names of the teamsheet. Once you've been nominated as the scapegoat it's a hard label to lose but if fans look past the media myths he might manage it.

Di Matteo

I can't claim that I know the ins and outs of West Brom, but the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo stinks. They might be on a poor run but they are West Brom what did they expect as a newly promoted side. They haven't spent millions to keep themselves in the Premier League and what Di Matteo was given seems to of been spent wisely. He has managed to take points off Arsenal and Man Utd during the season and for a change, they have given themselves a decent chance of staying up. Of all the teams that have come and given Liverpool a footballing lesson this season (and there's been a few), West Brom were probably one of the best. Also worth noting the names being linked with the job. Roy Hodgson the man who the English Press thought to be a great appointment for Liverpool not even a year ago, now appears well down the list at around 12/1 as Di Matteo's replacement. "Interesting".