Hello and welcome to 2010 and the 2nd posting of Shout. I hope you had a restful break and all the batteries are recharged for the year ahead.As we enter the new decade, debate featured as to what we will name it, we had the Noughties what will this decade be called? The decade of sport (or the sporties) is upon us, when the worlds greatest sporting events return to our shores. The Olympics are already here in 2012, a rugby World Cup, world championships covering a host of sports and (fingers crossed) the FIFA World Cup in 2018.
Football, will be top of the agenda as the new decade starts with a World Cup. The Stadia being prepared in South Africa look stunning, and the draw in December brings with it a sense of reality. We will hear technical terms for injuries that will after years of obscurity become household names, disappointment when players miss out, opinions from the public of who should go the excitement and debate builds, sport is great.
Shout 2 will concentrate on Football on this posting.
December brought us many talking points, not least Mick McCarthys decision to field a below strength team. My initial belief was that your strongest available team should be selected for each match. That is, however, too simplistic in the modern game. Players energy levels are saved for Premier League and European matches mainly at the expense of early rounds of F.A.Cup and League Cup games. Some Managers in the League Cup at least maintain playing fringe players throughout the competition. I now accept that top clubs at the top level of the League prioritise, their squads are good enough to take them through to latter stages of any tournament by playing fringe players. It benefits the club and also the players, the club get ideas of the players ability and the players get experience. The other end of the League, what is the difference, why was Mick hounded so much. Wolves away to Man U followed by a game with Burnley, save the stronger players for the match against Burnley where you can have reasonable chance of winning all the points. We are at a disadvantage of this being posted the day after Leeds get a fantastic result at Old Trafford, but in truth how often does that happen. Was Mick right, yes, 3 points were gained at Burnley,arguably a more important game than Manchester United.
The Sack Race has begun. Bolton had never warmed to Gary Megson and the position that the Lillywhites are in at present, his sacking could not of surprised any one. Mark Hughes a different matter. His record at Man City has been superb, but that is not the issue, new owners, new agenda the writing was on the wall. The issue is the nature of the sacking. I am not stupid enough to think that clubs don’t approach other managers regarding appointments behind the incumbents back, to have him at the ground for the last game was somewhat of a slap in the face. Then the charades played by the board was just farcical. I am sure that Roberto Manchini will do well at the club, but keep looking over your shoulder Bob.
A message of support for the Portsmouth fans and back room staff. Your club is going through a period of astonishing mismanagement. A club with that tradition and history should not be treated in such a way. Players not being paid is wrong and bad enough, but the back room staff at the club is a disaster, these guys are not on the same wages as the club stars. Play up Pompey, you have our support.
This brings us onto foreign ownership. Notts County, Portsmouth and to Manchester City have had millions pumped into them. City have a financial structure that appears to be secure. Other teams just seem to have the initial hope of escape from the financial doldrums by an injection of cash, only to find the situation worse. Owners Tests by the F.A, I agree with and understand the logic, but where do we go from here. Clubs unable to pay staff, internal spats. Football is now big business and even the teams in the lower leagues appear to be regarded as vehicles of dreams and ego’s. What is the answer? Do we initiate that a percentage of the clubs ownership is held by Supporters trusts as some sort of safety net and a representive elected to the main board, would allowing a Chairman a 3 year term and then elections, with a cap on the number of terms he can serve as Chairman/President, work. Do we cap wages for players or go down the Rugby League model of each club being giving a wage structure to adhere to each season. I hope somebody has the answer, because we will continue to suffer the problems of Portsmouth, the ambiguity of Notts County and the personality clashes of Liverpool. The commodities of each club is not just the players and fittings but also the supporters, tradition and history, that's what makes it unique to own one of our football clubs.
The question regarding sponsorship when sport stars receive negative publicity has risen again. The Gillette Curse as we will call it has seen high profile stars being doubted. Thiery’s was professional and Tigers, well personal. Tiger seems to be affected more in terms of loss of sponsorship, with many companies dropping him like a hot potato. Does it really affect a brand, set aside the moral issues, do products receive more exposure with the possibility that you might ‘drop your star’ than actually doing so. There is no doubt that errors of judgement have been made and a strong call for those in the public domain to come clean, with immediate effect, at the slightest sign of a true story breaking. The argument is that the face of a brand should be pure, but are their customers? Surely potential clients will be more confident of a product when it is marketed as being for everyone in everyday life, especially the talented and tormented. If you can get that within one person so much the better.
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