Sitting back and enjoying…
The advent of Rogue junior has certainly curtailed my visits to the keyboard and you can forget watching anything for longer than 15 minutes…unless its something that you don’t have to concentrate particularly hard and is easy to dip in and out of.
Hooray for Euro 2008!!!
Despite having to give up virtually every other viewing pleasure, both his parents have deemed Football, as ideal viewing fodder and as a result I’m fully engaged with the tournament so far.
The Holland-Italy game was great, the Spanish performance was inspirational and Croatia vs. Germany made me feel better as an England fan and ever so slightly worried for the coming World cup qualifiers. Even the Swiss in a paddling pool and the hapless Austrian attempts to score have been thoroughly enjoyed.
The dreamer in me has watched previous football tournaments half considering the possibility of unearthing a gem for the R’s. This was always unlikely in the past given our perilous grip on finances and league position, but now it seems like a worthwhile exercise.
During the World cup you are likely to find an Australian, Nigerian or American that might very well fit the bill. Young, raw and desperate to go shopping on the kings Road, more importantly he’ll be represented by a dozen different agents and once the lottery is played out he could easily end up at your club.
The Euros are trickier, less teams and less available talent. Here you are more likely to end up with an aging Swede than a young player of promise. It’s fair to say we’d end up with and Austrian who couldn’t score or a Swiss who couldn’t defend, neither of which will advance our cause.
While not completely dismissing the lure of West London, money is going to talk here. If, as we like to think, we are at least equal to the spending power of a middling premiership club then we have a chance of picking up a player or two. But is it worth the risk.
AC Milan, who I’m not comparing us to, recently balked at 10 million for Artur Boruc, Celtic’s bigoted and brilliant keeper. Last night he doubled that price with a fantastic performance against Austria. There’ll be no bargains here. Would you be happy with us spending 10 million on any player? Not this year I’m sure.
So maybe now is the time to make a few mental notes for future reference, let me start us off. Croatia’s left wing back, Nicola Pokrivac, 23 plays in France and was a surprise selection for their squad. I thought he was outstanding against Germany…I bet I’m not alone and I don’t for one minute think that he’d swap his current status for championship footy with us, but two years down the line lets see where he and we end up.
I think he’d allow us to forget Chris Barker