An insult to donkeys
THIRTY-two years, one conclusive inquiry, two massively expensive and time-consuming inquests, proven police malpractice, proven local government incompetence, a handful of trials, and not one person has been held to account for the 96 lives lost at Hillsborough in 1989.
The collapse of last week’s trial of three people who admitted altering statements in the aftermath of the disaster almost certainly brings the curtain down on Hillsborough.
The families who have fought so hard for so long have been let down by a combination of the establishment covering its backside and pure and simple bad law. It’s scandalous, but what chance did ordinary working class people have against the establishment? It’s right what the old adage says: “If a law is bad and cannot be changed, then the law is an ass.”
Oops he did it again
It’s known as overthinking and we’ve all in one way or another been guilty of that, but when it comes to footy Pep Guardiola just can’t help himself: muddled Champions League team selection previously cost him against Spurs, Monaco, Liverpool and Lyon, while omitting Fernandinho and Rodri, thereby starting with no defensive holding midfielder, was this year’s big mistake. There were four main reasons why his Barcelona side were so dominant: Lionel Messi, Xavi and Iniesta, and the famously snide Sergio Busquets, who did the dirty work that released that glorious midfield. At Citeh the aforementioned pair play the Busquets spoiling role and to leave them both out for the first time this season was effectively ceding midfield to Mason Mount and the marvelous N’Golo Kante, who took full advantage of Pep’s idiosyncrasies.
Bad decision?
Did Ole Gunnar Solksjaer drop a brick when he opted not to bring on Dean Henderson for David De Gea as penalties beckoned in last week’s Europa League final? Allowing for the fact that all 11 of Villarreal’s penalties were expertly taken, and of course no blame should be attached to De Gea for missing his, the Spaniard’s record of conceding the last 40 penalties he has faced with both United and Spain would suggest that he did indeed drop the proverbial ball. All in all a bad week for Manchester.
Big changes coming?
Lille break PSG’s hegemony in France, their manager Christophe Galtier promptly resigns. Inter do likewise to Juventus, Antonio Conte resigns. Juventus promptly sack Andrea Pirlo and bring back Massimiliano Allegri. Real Madrid fail to win a trophy last season, Zinedine Zidane resigns and as a result of that resignation Carlo Ancelotti unexpectedly leaves Everton to return to Real. Big changes are afoot at Europe’s top clubs this off-season, with the next campaign being a particularly intriguing one. Meanwhile, speaking of top clubs, Spurs still haven’t got a manager.
Numbers of the week
Four, 10: four Champions League winners medals for Chelsea’s Mateo Kovacic. In those four finals he’s actually only been on the pitch for 10 minutes. Ex-United and Villa keeper Jimmy Rimmer (2-10) had led on minutes per winning medal count but now Kovacic has blown him out of the water.
Congratulations
Go to Brentford, Blackpool and Morecambe for winning their respective play-off finals. Brentford fully deserve their promotion to the Premier League after coming close so many times; Blackpool fans have been put through the mill recently, so it’s good they’re on the road back; while Morecambe are just a feel good story — they may be the bottom of the league for attendances, but it’s good to see them prosper on the field.
This is awkward
On Friday the Covid-delayed 2020 European Championship finally gets under way in Rome when Italy host Turkey at the rather unfortunate time of 10pm. Why unfortunate? Well at the time of writing all TRNC bars and restaurants must close at 10.30pm. Following on from the scenes in Lefkoşa and Girne when Beşiktaş recently won the Turkish title, I can’t wait to see all the locals happily trotting off home just before half-time as per instructions.
Thought for the day
Euro 2016: number of Spurs players in the England squad — five (most represented club). 2018 World Cup: number of Spurs players in the England squad — five (ditto). Euro 2020: number of Spurs players in the England squad — one. Yep my beloved Lilywhites are definitely in the doldrums.
F1
Azerbaijan Grand Prix tomorrow, 3pm. Following on from their dominance at Monaco, Red Bull will expect more of the same on the street circuit at Baku. This is a golden opportunity for Max Verstappen to extend his lead over Lewis Hamilton, who will be hoping that his Mercedes team can put right the problems that were so apparent on the Riviera.
And finally
Last week I asked what was the connection between Sean Connery and Matt Busby? Apart from the obvious fact that they’re both Scots and were both knighted, Connery was a gifted amateur footballer and was offered a contract by Busby to join Manchester United, but wisely
perhaps decided instead to pursue an acting career. This week: which ex-England manager has managed no fewer than five clubs that he also played for?
Pistol Pete McGill got himself in a bit of a tizzy last week when trying to source his favourite biscuits in various Lapta shops. The problems stemmed from his insistence that the biscuits in question were called Cameroons. Now I appreciate that geography may not be his strong point, but the last time I looked at a world map Cameroon was a country in West Central Africa, whereas a Macaroon is typically a sweet double-layered confection to be found in many guises around the globe. Still, for all that it’s a perfectly understandable mistake by my fellow quiz team member. (No wonder we never win.)
I was surprised to see loads of people in the bar for the Morecambe Newport play-off final. Apparently the reason was a rumour that Morecambe’s very own Brian Jones was buying if they won; they did, he didn’t, which I have to say is what I expected all along.
Congratulations to John Atkins for winning May’s CMC medal. John is a quiet type who always goes under the radar and I’m totally on board with the notion that his net 60 had absolutely nothing to do with his handicap being 45. Plus it’s nice to see a West Brom fan with something to celebrate. (Richard and Carole Gwinnett take note.)