Moving on
Geez, do I get cross with football fans moaning that it’s disloyal for players to move to other clubs. This is the argument currently being put forward by some Chelsea fans following Manchester City’s approaches for John Terry. JT, let’s remember, has served Chelsea with diligence and distinction for years now so why shouldn’t he consider a better offer from another employer?
Of course, football supporters are a tribal lot but let’s face it, if you, for example, are a plumber, bank worker, architect or mechanic and are offered 2 or 3 times your current wages and better perks to do the same job in a different geographical location are you really going to turn that down? Of course not.
Money well spent
You’ve just spent hundreds of millions of euros on the likes of Ronaldo, Benzema and others and, in an effort to bed them in slowly, you play a friendly against a team of Irish part-timers. Result. Rubbish. OK, Madrid weren’t playing at anywhere near full capacity but they were matched for 87 minutes by Shamrock Rovers on Monday night. Kaka was probably more than happy to be watching on TV as he recovers from his excursions at the Confederations Cup.
Ronaldo was shackled by 20 year old local lad Ian Bermingham and it took a goal 3 minutes from time by Benzema to snatch victory. Contrast that with Villarreal who beat Spanish minnows Navata 27 – 0. Perhaps they weren’t hamstrung by having to do a ton of pointless pre-match PR in front of the usual bunch of ‘if it’s Madrid it must be good’ hangers on?
The wrong move
There’s not too much honesty in the game these days so you’ve just got to love Alexander Hleb and David Beckham. Both have made moves of late to better their careers and have enjoyed contrasting fortunes. Beckham is back in the England team after his time with Milan while Hleb is little more than a bench warmer for Barcelona following his transfer from Arsenal.
But both have had the courage to front up recently – Beckham to a bunch of rowdy fans on his return to LA Galaxy and Hleb to the press, admitting that his move to Spain was a mistake and that he should have stayed at the Gunners.
Sven’s new men
So, Sven Goran Eriksson is back in the game, as Director of Football at Noots County. The club, if you didn’t know, play in League Two in England in front of crowds of around 5000. Nice to know that Sven has at last found his true level.
ahahahahahah do you hate sven ?
The other thing about Hleb, is he forced his way out of Arsenal threatening to invoke a ‘Bosman like’ buy out clause. He is an example of players following the money, not thinking about their career.
Which is a shame, I’m a massive fan of Hleb’s style – him and Flamini in Arsenal’s midfield were a joy to watch.
I’m with Andy, Madrid did not play well and they have a long way to go if they want to outshine BarĂƒÂ§a this season.
Maybe they didn’t play because KaKĂƒÂ¡ wasn’t there. 🙂
As an arsenal fan i love seeing that hleb has completely failed as a player at barca :),but it kinda sadens me because i liked him a lot at arsenal i even got my jersey with his name on it,pity he wont be accepted back at arsenal but id say hes off to inter
I sincerely hope Real Madrid lose their friendly to Toronto FC on August 7th. It would amuse me endlessly.
well that’s what happens after coaching the Mexicans!
also, i don’t think your comparison to the average joe for john terry works all that well. in football, you have fans that pore over your every move, whereas in those jobs, you don’t have fans and you can move from company to company while your clients just give you a call. the companies are like teams. in football, fans support their team, whereas in life, people don’t have that kind of commitment to one company.