Monday, 1 February 2010

Will off-pitch soap operas soil otherwise special season?

The football world has conjured its fair share of controversy since I last put finger to keyboard on the subject. Over the summer there were high-profile, and high stakes, moves for both Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez and the 2009-2010 season has so far seen Liverpool in disarray consequently sparking a wide-open fight for fourth spot.

It is off the pitch, though, that 2010 looks to excel and it is this that has made me think I really need to keep this blog updated, having already missed numerous shocking and scandalous stories.

Firstly there was, and still is, Portsmouth. A club savaged by previous misdealings and sadly a side set to reap the punishment of an ill-advised wage structure.

Today is the last day of the transfer window and, with Younes Kaboul now returning to Tottenham for £5million, they may have safeguarded their immediate future as a club but their Premier League expiration date looks certain to be this coming May.

What have they got to show for all the strife? A short golden age and a replica FA Cup in the trophy cabinet. Admittedly, these are dreams that some clubs in modern-day football may never realise, so whether it was worth it can only be determined by how far they eventually fall.

More recently, Owen Coyle reminded the world that, in the Premier League at least, it seems loyalty is a dish best thrown in the face of those that worship you. He ditched Burnley's Premier League adventure at a vital stage. With the honeymoon period over, the Clarets needed to dig a big set of heels into the turf to halt their slide towards the precipice.

Instead they've had the pitch pulled from under them. What Burnley need now is their fans to look to what they have and concentrate on a season they are still very much involved with, when many initially predicted they would be dead and buried by this stage.

On an international level, the African Cup of Nations made headlines when the Togo team bus came under siege from gunmen. Players were shot, the driver killed, terrible trauma followed mass hysteria and how do the Confederation of African Football (CAF) react? They have sanctioned the Togo team for pulling out of the tournament by banning them from the next two competitions. Cue a rather large lawsuit that African football can surely do without in the run up to the World Cup in South Africa this Summer.

Then there's John Terry. A court injunction which prohibited the printing of details of his recent affair was lifted on Friday afternoon and opened the floodgates for a wave of headlines to wash away the England captain's reputation.

Pressure is growing in today's tabloids for Terry to stand down as England captain and save manager Fabio Capello from having to get involved and make a big decision. Then would come the inevitable debate over who should take over and that would mean shifting the focus back to on-the-pitch performances.

Many will say it is too soon for Wayne Rooney to be given the England armband. They're probably right but the artful destroyer is in the form of his life having just hit his Premier League century. If the England captaincy is on his wish list, you would not bet against him.

1 comment:

  1. Portsmouth's boom and bust has produced the cup, but I wonder if the fans would have preferred the steady bedding into the division, as per Blackburn, Fulham and Bolton, who have all been in the premier league now for ten years, and had a taste of European competition along the way. I suspect many are not relishing next season, having relegated.

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