A tale of two football ‘personalities’
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…
The season has begun, the Saturday papers were awash with previews and the Sundays were jam packed full of big match analysis…all of which was largely left unread. Obviously I spent most of Saturday evening trying to get a glimpse of our goals and I’ve pretty much devoured our write ups in both the Observer and the News of the World…I’ve already surpassed the sum total of words. Anyway we are up and running.
What really caught my eye this week was coverage of two ‘hot’ football topics and their impact of two quite similar players in my mind. Dennis Wise and Jamie Carragher, both, I think, made the very utmost of their talent and probably have done as well in the game as anyone could have expected.
Dennis on Thursday was genius. He made those endless hours trawling through repeated chunks of nonsense spouted by increasingly wooden presenters on Sky Sports news so much more worthwhile.
Why? Leeds lost their appeal against the 15-point penalty. Of course they lost the appeal, like the other team who tried to avoid the penalty on the last game of last season, Boston, they’ve received just desserts. The extra five are all down to Ken Bates’ shenanigans through the summer.
But it was Dennis who really starred here, he came across as a cheap hood whose boss had been sent down and who knew that retribution was just around the corner. He was obviously trying to sound threatening but with Dennis you know that he won’t strike until you’ve turned your back.
It’s hard not to feel sorry for him at Leeds. It doesn’t matter if he leads them back up, they’ll never like him. They see him as a ridiculous glove puppet with Batesy’s hand doing the necessary and who would argue, Ken is the godfather of Wise’s son.
For Leeds this season was always going to be difficult as Sheffield Wednesday andd we know, reputations count for nothing and every team want to beat you. Leeds fans will be fleeced for as much as King Ken can get and they won’t expect to be thanked. I know not everyone will agree with me, but I wouldn’t wish this on any Football fan.
I found myself listening to Alan Green on 606 on Saturday evening; now we all know that he is definitely not…I repeat NOT a Liverpool fan, honestly! He was defending Jamie Carraghers qualities as a footballer, he was having to do this because the central defensive hole created by England’s premier lump, JT, means that Carragher’s decision to announce his International retirement means that the spectre of Sol ‘I could be an actor’ Campbell getting a recall has raised It’s Easter Island like head.
I’ll be honest, I don’t care who plays next to Ferdinand, I don’t think Terry’s any better than Carragher, Campbell or a whole host of contenders. I’m not bothered that the increasingly smug, bombastic and shouty Green has little idea as to what his job is, (just tell us what is going on and stop pontificating), what I’m focusing on is the concept of a bit part player, hard working as he may be, feels he is of sufficient status that he is in a position to ‘announce’ his retirement…Pele, ok, Beckenbauer, yes I can cope with that, Cruyff, always a controversial figure, so yup…announce away Johan. But Carragher?
He’s not the first, I was similarly annoyed by Shearer, who realising that he probably wouldn’t be allowed to run the England team as he had under Keegan decided that he would ‘retire’ (before suffering the ignominy of being dropped maybe?). What about Scholes, I hear you ask, and I could easily be wrong here, but it’s so much easier to make my point, I ‘m fairly sure that Scholes told England, who then chose to make it public…anyway, let’s get back to Jamie.
Frankly I reckon you should earn the right to make a decision like that and I’d like to think that the player doing it should at least be missed!
Maybe he just thinks that it’s a far, far better thing he’s doing, than he’s ever done before and the Champions League is a far, far better rest I go to than when playing for England before.
(Apologies to ‘Dickensy’)
Rogue Male
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