Not too late to boycott the World Cup
WHILE I commented last week it’s good news that the utterly pointless and divisive taking the knee gesture is being phased out in the Premier League, the moment was ruined when it was announced that the gesture would be retained for high profile matches.
I was also disappointed to see that the ever so woke Gareth Southgate and his fellow numpties at the FA maintain that the England team would continue the practice in solidarity with “the oppressed in Qatar” in November and December.
Personally I can’t see that going down too well in a country where gay and non-binary people are more likely to be thrown in jail then allowed to live their lives.
Apparently the gesture will also be used to show support for the untold numbers of poor Asian workers who died building the stadiums that will host the World Cup.
Well here’s an idea: if you want to show support for all these causes rather than taking the knee, how about boycotting the tournament altogether?
Now that would be a gesture worth making and it should have happened when the ludicrous decision to award the World Cup to Qatar was made in the first place. It’s not too late.
A season like no other
Consider this schedule: 16 Premier League games in 14 weeks up till November 12. Within that same timeframe all six Champions League group games must be played, plus three rounds of the League Cup must also be negotiated.
November 21, the World Cup begins; December 18, the World Cup ends. Boxing Day, the Premier League restarts.
Given the potential for injuries and fatigue, the race for the top four is going to be immensely intriguing with the potential for an unfancied side with few players called up for international duty exponentially high.
Not sure about this idea
Manchester United were, to put it mildly, rank against Brighton last week. A couple of weeks ago came the announcement that Fergie, Bryan Robson, and David Gill have, along with two others, formed a think tank to advise United on “issues” at the club.
I’ll bet new boss Erik Ten Hag was ecstatic when he heard about this. Ten Hag has a massive job on his hands and the last thing he needs is Fergie peering over his shoulder. United brought him in to do a job and they should leave him to it.
National treasure . . . gone
All match-attending football fans have done it, it being the run from the ground to the car in time for Sports Report at 5pm and the lilting Eastern Scottish tones of James Alexander Gordon (and latterly Charlotte Green) reading the classified results.
Before he even gave the score you could tell by the cadence applied to the home teams name whether or not that club had won drawn or lost and the whole shebang was just a part of life every Saturday evening.
But no more. The Beeb, in its wisdom, have decided that
it’s time to shorten Sports Report and shelve the classifieds.
How sad is that? I can actually see the logic behind the decision, seeing as so few Premier League games actually kick off at 3pm thanks to the demands of TV, plus we can get to hear even more of Robby Savage’s shrewd analysis (irony alert), but to me we’ve lost something that was special. (Or I’m just an old fogie?)
Team of the week
Robert Sanchez Brighton, Ryan Sessegnon Spurs William Saliba Arsenal, Adam Webster Brighton, James Tarkowski Everton, Joelinton Newcastle, Ilkay Gundogan Citeh, Pascal Gross Brighton, Rodrigo Betancur Spurs, Dejan Kulusevski Spurs, Aleksandar Mitrovic Fulham.
Manager: Graham Potter Brighton.
You wouldn’t have known by the performance, but Brighton lost their two best players in the off-season and yet Potter’s charges were superb at Old Trafford; pity he isn’t England manager.
Player of the week: Dejan Kulusevski.
Continued where he left off from last season and the Swede now has six goals and nine assists in 15 games. If he was playing for Liverpool or Citeh the media would be all over him but he’s a Tottenham player so they’re not, which suits me just fine.
This week’s games
Premier League today 2:30; Villa vs Everton. 5pm; Arsenal vs Leicester, Brighton vs Newcastle, Citeh vs Bournemouth, Southampton vs Leeds, Wolves vs Fulham. 7:30 Brentford vs United. Tomorrow 4pm; Forest vs West Ham. 6:30; Chelsea vs Spurs. Monday 10pm; Liverpool vs Palace.
Selected Championship today 2:30; Cardiff vs Birmingham. 5pm; Hull vs Norwich, Luton vs Preston, Sunderland vs QPR. Tomorrow 4pm; Middlesbrough vs Sheffield United. 5pm; Blackburn vs West Brom. Tuesday 9:45; Bristol City vs Luton, Burnley vs Hull. Wednesday 9:45; Stoke vs Middlesbrough. 10pm; Sheffield United vs Sunderland, West Brom vs Cardiff. Friday 10pm; Norwich vs Millwall.
Selected Scotland today 5pm; Livingstone vs Hibs, Rangers vs St Johnstone. Tomorrow 2pm; Kilmarnock vs Celtic.
Champions League final qualifying round first leg Tuesday 10pm; Rangers vs PSV Eindhoven.
Game of the weekend: Chelsea vs Spurs
It’s only match day two in the Premier League and yet we’ve got our first biggie of the season on the menu. Last season it’s fair to say that Chelsea absolutely owned Spurs, but this time around both clubs have changed significantly.
Chelsea’s transfer business under new ownership has been, bar the recruitment of Raheem Sterling, bafflingly haphazard and they go into this game with no focal point up top and an ageing defence.
Spurs, meanwhile, are still riding on the coattails of their excellent finish to last term and having strengthened the squad impressively will be confident of getting a result, but this is a derby and all bets are off as anything can and will probably happen.
And finally
Last week’s question: West Brom, Clyde, and La Paz Bolivia — what connects them? The answer is height: The Hawthorns is England’s highest league ground at 551 feet above sea level, Clyde’s Broadwood Stadium is at an altitude of 416 feet while the Estadio Hernando Siles in La Paz was, at 12,992 feet, the highest international venue in the world.
This week: which is the lowest football ground in England? (No Googling, you should be able to work it out.)
Usually at this point I like to relate something amusing that happened to or around me this week but we’re trying to sort out residency, need I say more?