It’s not black and white
TRICKY one this; as Rangers were being dispatched from the Europa League an allegation was made by Rangers’ Glen Kamara that a Slavia Prague player had called him a “f ****** monkey”. At the time and in line with Uefa protocols this was reported to the referee and Rangers boss Steve Gerrard considered the available option of taking his team off the pitch, but subsequently the game went on.
Afterwards there was an alleged rammy in the tunnel that resulted in Slavia making a protest to Uefa, while Rangers were also protesting re the alleged racial abuse. Not two days later a picture emerged of a group of Slavia fans holding banner saying “Kamara- just a n ***** ”, an action which led to calls for Slavia to be thrown out of the competition and their opponents in the next round given a bye to the semi-finals.
Now the question is: should a club be held responsible for their fans’ actions on a non-match day? I think not, for as repellent as the banner incident is, to punish the club could lead the way to some very unfortunate unseen circumstances down the line.
Are you sure Gareth?
Eric Dier, Tyrone Mings, and Conor Coady in; Ben Godfrey, Ezri Konsa, and Michael Keane out? It would appear that England boss Gareth Southgate hasn’t been too diligent with his defensive selections for this week’s World Cup qualifying games, which is a bit odd because while England have a plethora of forward options and a reasonable mix of midfielders to choose from, it’s in defence that their biggest problems lie.
Another one gone
Sadly we are at a time when, with shocking regularity, the sporting heroes of my long-ago youth are meeting their maker and last weekend it was the turn of Peter Lorimer, the doyen of Don Revie’s excellent Leeds’ side of the Sixties and early Seventies. Labelled as “Dirty Leeds”, this was more to do with Revie’s win-at-allcosts philosophy than the alleged fact that Leeds were any more
rugged in their on-pitch approach than other top sides of the era.
While it is true that all of the Leeds players could look after themselves, they were man for man probably the most skillful side out there. Up top they had Alan Clarke and Mick Jones while out wide they could call on Eddie Gray and Peter Lorimer, who were as talented a pair of wingers as could be found anywhere. Lorimer was famed for his shooting prowess, which was of the variety known as thunderous; I have a picture on my laptop of a very nervous looking Steve Perryman, Cyril Knowles, Phil Beal, and Roger Morgan forming a wall to face a Lorimer free kick at the Lane circa 1972, and believe me they had every right to be concerned at what was coming. Lorimer is still the club’s leading all-time scorer with 238, many of them from distance, and is rightly considered a club legend, though probably the most-seen footage of him in action is his part in Sunderland keeper Jim Montgomery’s stunning double save in the 1973 FA Cup final. RIP.
Followed by
At around the same time as Peter Lorimer’s Leeds were prominent in the game, there was a group of footballers dotted around the league who represented the polar opposite of Don Revie’s highly regimented foot
soldiers and chief among them was Frank Worthington, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 72. Along with the likes of Peter Osgood, Alan Hudson, Tony Currie, and Rodney Marsh, Worthington was perceived by England managers to be a bit of a Fancy Dan who couldn’t be trusted to be a “team”man. But Worthington and his fellow mavericks were loved by the ordinary folks on the terraces for their sheer unpredictability and very few were as unpredictable as the insanely gifted Worthington.
In his long career he played for 20 clubs at various levels but it was his spells at Leicester and Bolton that he is best remembered for. I went through some YouTube footage of him the other day and he scored an uncomfortable amount of goals against my Spurs, yet I particularly remember White Hart Lane giving him a standing ovation after one game in the Seventies against the Foxes. His most famous goal was undoubtedly his effort for Bolton, when he made Terry Butcher and his fellow defenders look like schoolboys as he put Ipswich to the sword in 1979. He led a famously louche lifestyle and when his manager at Huddersfield and Bolton Ian Greaves labelled him “The working man’s George Best” he wasn’t referring to just his on-field play. He was a mad Elvis Presley fan who would often turn up for games at Sunderland dressed as the
peanut butter muncher; or to put it another way he was a character and that is something the modern game is sadly lacking in its pursuit of antiseptic perfection. RIP.
Team of the week
Martin Dubravka Newcastle, Japhet Tanganga Spurs, Ruben Dias Citeh, Yves Bissouma Brighton, Keiran Tierney Arsenal, Leandro Trossard Brighton, Phil Foden Citeh, Lucas Moura Spurs, Martin Odegaard Arsenal, Harry Kane Spurs, Kelechi Iheanacho Leicester. Manager: Graham Potter Brighton.
This week’s not so big games
World Cup qualification today 9:45; Republic of Ireland vs Luxembourg. Tomorrow 7pm; Albania vs England. 9:45; Israel vs Scotland. Tuesday 9:45; Wales vs Czech Republic. Wednesday 9:45; Northern Ireland vs Bulgaria, Scotland vs Faroe Islands, England vs Poland.
F1
Bahrain Grand Prix tomorrow 6pm. Word has it that Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton will have a fight on their hands to hold off Max Verstappen and Red Bull. If so that can only be a good thing as F1 can do with a genuine title fight as Hamilton looks to win his record eighth World Championship. Look out also for Aston Martin and a resurgent McLaren.
And finally
Last week’s question: Clive Thomas was a very good referee, but like the rest of our whistlers past and present he wasn’t perfect. I was at Hillsborough in 1981 when he got it badly wrong in awarding Wolves a last-minute penalty against my beloved Spurs, but it was in the World Cup that he made his most notorious decision. What did he do and to whom did he do it?
With the score at 1-1 between Brazil and Sweden and the game in the final minute, Nelinho swung the ball in from a corner and Zico headed home. Game over, 2-1 Brazil. Only it wasn’t; Clive the book, in his infinite wisdom, had blown the whistle for full time as the ball was in the air and milliseconds before Zico’s head propelled the ball goalwards. Suffice to say the Brazilians weren’t too impressed with Mr Thomas as going forward this draw badly impacted their tournament fortunes.
It seems Fifa weren’t too impressed either as immediately after the game the decision was made that Thomas would take no further part in Argentina 78, which was a shame because I would have loved to have seen him wreak havoc in the final. This week: I referred above to Jim Montgomery’s famous save in the 1973 FA Cup final and Peter Lorimer’s part in it, but who had the initial effort repulsed?