Buzzin Football

Top 10 Of Football by Russell Ash & Ian Morrison

Top 10 Of Football
by Russell Ash & Ian Morrison

Top 10 Of Football is a great little book of no less than 250 lists of Top 10’s covering everything to do with the game of football – beautiful and not so beautiful.

Thinking I am fairly knowledgeable when it comes to English football I was given a surprise or too.  For example, did you know James Milner was the most capped England Under-21 player of all time? And could you name, in order, the top 3 England managers when worked out as a percentage of games won? And what about the top 3 England goal scorers of all-time?  Just three England Top 10’s I failed miserably on.

But the book covers much more than England and English football.  There are chapters devoted to the World Cup, European Championship, African Nations Cup, international club tournaments in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa as well as international sections on Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England. There is even Top 10’s on football managers, football trivia, money, non-league football and Women’s football.

How many could you names in the Top 10 latest occasions that the British transfer record was broken? (as of 1st November 2009).  Now that was a surprise!

Top 10 Of Football is a perfect book for a train journey, to take on holiday, reference or fun to pull out with some friends after a few drinks.

Top 10 Of Football by Russell Ash & Ian Morrison is published by Hamlyn in Hardback priced £10

Martin O'Neill The Biography by Simon Moss

Football needs its characters. It needs surprise, people who can take the breath away, it needs beauty, skill and imagination, and it needs people who can express an opinion, perhaps even start an argument.

Martin O’Neill is one of the very few people within the ‘industry’ (players, managers, administrators, journalists or broadcasters) worth listening to. A lad from Northern Ireland, whose relatively unsung playing career saw him achieve far more than most present day kiss-the-badge mercenary millionnaires ever will. It included a successful world cup campaign for a start, when the journeymen of Northern Ireland defeated hosts Spain and made it to the last twelve in 1982. Add to this a league title and two European cup medals. A successful career in management has followed from Wycombe to Leicester, Celtic and, until this week, Aston Villa. He is an erudite and usually outspoken pundit on the box. He should also have got the England job when it was offered initially to Scholari and then to the hapless Steve McClaren.

Martin O’Neill is one of the present-day game’s few characters and, of course, he played for the biggest character of them all – Brian Clough OBE.

It is for all of these reasons that a biography of O’Neill should arouse the interest of anyone true football fan.

However, I am sorry to say that he is poorly served by this book. For a start, there is neither an index nor acknowledgements. All biogs should, at the very least, have an index. It is unclear from the publisher’s blurb whether the author has ever met or spoken to his subject (The Unauthorised Biography?). In fact,all quotes seem to have come from various newspapers. It would appear that the author has not spoken to a living soul in the writing of the book and instead produced it by spending diligent hours in a newspaper reference library.  Surely a first-hand quote or opinion could be gathered by picking up a phone to a former team mate, current player, fellow journalist or broadcaster? Just to add a little colour to the dryness of yellowing newspaper cuttings?

Let me give further examples of disappointment. By page 10, the young O’Neill, a bright lad from a tolerant nationalist household, has already left school with enough qualifications to study law (his other great passion) at university. However, he is playing senior football for Distillery and everyone know’s he is going to “make it” as a footballer. On page 12, “Terry Neill rewarded O’Neill with his first cap for the national side and teams from England started to send scouts to assess him.” That was it – Your debut for your country warrants half a sentence. How old was he? (He was 18 or 19 according to Wikipedia). Who did they play? What was the score? Did the young man play well? Did he impress the manager? What were his feelings? Was his Mum and Dad proud? Nothing.

Chapter two is Brian Clough and the Forest years. Oh goody. I have read every book by and about Clough, but there is nothing here I haven’t already read or heard. On page 17, O’Neill tells the Irish Times, “I have often said that it would have been difficult to work with that man (Clough) for five years and not to have learned anything from him.” On page 21, “you would have had to be really bone stupid to be with Brian Clough for five or six years and not learn something from him…”

O’Neill’s first managerial job was actually at Grantham Town. “Despite an inauspicious start, Grantham rapidly improved …as they began to play the style of football their new gaffer demanded. The squad responded to his methods, training and ideas of how he wanted the game played.” So, what was his style, his methods, training and ideas? How did they differ from those learned under Clough? Again, we are left to guess.

I could go on. As I’ve said, his story is a good one and one I was eager to read it, yet this book provides few answers and gives so little insight into this talented, strong-willed and principled man. A man who gave up his Celtic job to spend time with his sick wife. Here, Simon Moss rightly states the fact without delving deeper into what must have been a distressing time for all of the family.

The 58-year-old O’Neill spent five years at Celtic, yet this period fills half of the book. The author would have done better to make this the main focus of the book – bulk out the Celtic era to around 200 pages, with an additional 40 pages of background covering his previous career/life, then call it ‘Man of the Bhoys’ and you would still sell the print run to the thousands of Celtic fans worldwide.

The book also lacks a career record/stats appendix – another minimum requirement in a sporting biography.

To conclude, as if I have to, this is a very disappointing look at an engaging and intriguing football man.

Martin O’Neill The Biography by Simon Moss is published by John Blake.

As the starting eleven were announced over the Wembley speaker system before tonight’s England friendly with Hungary Wayne Rooney and the three Chelsea players – John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole’s names were greeted with sizeable boos, though it must be said, the majority of the crowd didn’t join in.

England started well with a fluent 4-3-3 system that gave Steven Gerrard a free roaming role, often dropping deep but always looking to push up to support of the loan striker, Wayne Rooney. But by half-time the initial enthusiasm and head of steam had run out, and England left the pitch to a chorus of boos.

Four changes were made by Fabio Capello at half-time.  Michael Dawson, Kieran Gibbs, Ashley Young and Bobby Zamora for Ashley Cole, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Theo Walcott; and second-half substitutes saw Wayne Rooney replaced by James Milner and Steven Gerrard, after scoring England’s two goals for the 18 year old debutant, Jack Wilshere.

Wayne Rooney was substituted midway in the second-half while England was 1-0 down to the biggest boo of the night.  Rooney had become frustrated as England’s midfield increasingly left him isolated.

Phil Jagielka looked comfortable in central defence and of the debuts and young players on show for England, in what has been dubbed ‘the beginning of a new dawn’, Kieran Gibbs made a great impression in both defending and rushing forward when he replaced Ashley Cole.  And though he made a nuisance of himself with darting runs and a couple of decent crosses from the right-hand side, I still believe Theo Walcott shows naivety and immaturity by continually running into defenders or cul-de-sacs when he should have his head up, looking to pass the ball.

But like Fabio Capello, who didn’t once get out of his seat, let alone stand in the technical area, throughout the whole match, let’s not get over excited to see England looking to its passionate youth.  After all, this is only a meaningless friendly match.

Next month England will begin their Euro 2012 Qualifying campaign, and it is only then that we will see if Fabio Capello is ready to back younger players like Ashley Young, Adam Johnson, Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere. Though it looks likely he is going to make Joe Hart his first choice goalkeeper, as long as Manchester City is prepared to show similar faith. Hart had a good game and looked ready to pull on the vacant England gloves.

At the England press conference ahead of the friendly against Hungary Fabio Capello was asked some difficult questions; but instead of using the time to agree how awful England’s World Cup was and use this moment to sound positive about a bright new start where England will look to bringing through a youthful group of players, hungry to prove themselves while wearing the three lions, he said a quick “sorry” to the fans and continued to cling onto Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal against Germany as the reason they had a poor World Cup.  What about the three games before that?

Yes it was clearly a goal, and yes it could have changed the course of the dismal England performance against Germany, and ultimately the game.  However, it cannot be used in an attempt to gloss over the fact that, apart from the first 10 minutes in their opening game against the USA England were not bad, they were shocking!

Capello should be slating his players for being absolutely crap in the same way fans and pundits have; and as a show of intent be addressing the issue by dropping more so-called ‘star players’, not just for this meaningless friendly, but by delivering a statement to all England’s young players – if you are playing regularly in the Premier League for your club, you will be considered for England!

Promoting the likes of Arsenal’s youngsters Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs from the Under-21 team is a start but doesn’t go far enough.  After England’s World Cup disappointment there should be a wholesale clearout of any disruptive personalities and prima donnas who feel it their right to play for England, rather than be proud to do so.

The international retirement of Paul Robinson and Wes Brown after their inclusion in the squad to face Hungary raises another issue.  This comes after Paul Scholes stated he may not have turned down the chance to come out of international retirement and go to the World Cup if only Fabio Capello had bothered to call him personally instead of leaving it to his assistant.

When Capello took charge of England he immediately brought a much needed air of discipline to the England camp and stated no one would be guaranteed a place in the team because of previous achievement or star factor, but that he would pick the team on merit.

I believe, for whatever reason Fabio Capello lost the players after England qualified in style for the World Cup by a series of blunders.  Firstly, he went back on his words by enticing Jamie Carragher out of international retirement after Carragher played his worst season for Liverpool for several years.  He also decided to take the almost disabled Ledley King ahead of his Tottenham team-mate Michael Dawson.  Neither Carragher or King had played for Fabio Capello.  For me that suggested panic on his part, and also a wrong signal to other defenders who had already played for Capello’s England.  How did that make Mathew Upson feel?

Why take one-and-a-half old boys ahead of young talent like Michael Dawson and Phil Jagielka?

Furthermore, with the exclusion of both David James and Robert Green from this week’s squad, and the retirement of Paul Robinson, Capello has now given England a ‘real’ goalkeeping crisis.  Ben Foster’s move from Manchester United to Birmingham will give him the chance to stake his claim as England’s no.1 while it is still uncertain if Joe Hart will be first choice goalkeeper for Manchester City, ahead of the Republic of Ireland’s excellent Shay Given.

For me, time has run out for the England players who showed no commitment in the World Cup, and time will soon be up for Fabio Capello too, unless he makes some big changes and shows he is building an England team for the future. Capello needs to return to being strong and focussed.  Forget offering a golden ticket to old or unfit players like a FastPass at a Theme Park and go all out for youth.

Move over Rover and let Jack Wiltshire take over!

Martin O’Neill has walked out on Aston Villa after an alleged bust-up with American Chairman and football club owner Randy Learner over the amount of money O’Neill would have to spend if James Milner were sold to Manchester City.

Milner’s transfer looks to be a ‘done-deal’ and follows Gareth Barry’s departure this time last year.  And with rumours circulating of a move to Tottenham Hotspur for Ashley Young, it appears Martin O’Neill rightly sees there is no way forward for a team that in the past two years has clearly suffered in the latter stages of the season due to a lack of squad depth.

With Spurs and Manchester City finishing above Aston Villa last season, and already adding to their larger squads for the new Premier League season that starts this weekend, Martin O’Neill has probably decided that he will not be able to better three successive top 6 Premiership finishes and a Wembley Final if Aston Villa continue to sell their best players without buying good quality replacements.

With Randy Learner at the helm, one of the frontrunners to replace O’Neill is fellow American and current USA national manager Bob Bradley, who has previously stated he would love the opportunity to manage in Europe.

Martin O’Neill has never been one to keep his opinions to himself and appears to be someone who sticks to his guns.  What appeared to be a strong, close owner – manager relationship following his appointment, seems to have become very strained over the past 12 months or so.  I believe this has been caused by O’Neill taking Aston Villa to the brink of Champions League football without further backing and available money to strengthen a small squad.

His departure follows reports early this year suggesting Liverpool were interested in signing Martin O’Neill as a possible replacement for Rafa Benitez.

Martin O’Neill will probably now have a relaxing August while Randy Learner is left with less than a week to find a quick replacement.