THEY SHOULD HAVE MADE BECKHAM BOSS OF TEAM GB FOR THE OLYMPICS
– HE’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH
TO PLAY FOR THEM
SO they did it…they went and chose the wrong man for the job. Yes, Stuart ‘hand on heart’ Pearce will lead Team GB in next year’s London Olympics. The blazers on the committee who appointed him should hang their heads in shame – what a wasted opportunity to bring a real glow of warmth and hope to the country in these troubled times.
Under Pearce, Team GB have as much chance of winning gold as I have of becoming Prime Minister (well, maybe not such hopeful odds given that Gordon Brown and David Cameron both got the top job in No 10!).
Pearce is a good man, don’t get me wrong – but he is Kevin Keegan lite. Just as Keegan led the England national football team to despair back in 1999, so Pearce is destined to lead Team GB to, I would predict, the last eight at best next year.
He simply does not have the tactical nous, authority or simple star quality of the best bosses in the game. He is a man who believes that pure, animal passion and a love of the flag is enough to bring success. Unfortunately, as he learned in Denmark in the European Under 21s championship in the summer, it isn’t.
Pearce was the man in charge of one of the most quality blessed England squads for many, many years – yet he blew it. In that squad were the likes of Man United regulars Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck and Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge.
Yet they exited at the group stages – a result largely down to Pearce’s unrelenting reliance on caution…ie not losing. With the aforementioned attacking, flair players Pearce should have let his team loose on the opposition. He should have given them a chance to impose their game on their rivals. He should have trusted them.
He didn’t – and they paid the price. Yet Pearce paid no price, indeed he was lavishly rewarded for his failings…given a new contract with the England Under 21s and the top job with Team GB.
Plus there is talk within the corridors of the FA that Pearce is being given these hallowed roles to groom him for the England senior job in the future! It beggars belief that we reward mediocrity with such a fanfare of riches.
I confidently also predict now that the winners of the gold in London will be Argentina.
They are masters of this tournament and know what it takes to win it. They always have an experienced hand at the tiller and choose their best players to bring home gold – their players are always desperate to appear in the tournament, they see it as a badge of honour and fight to be chosen if their clubs stand in their way.
In 2008, for example, the world’s best player Lionel Messi took on his club, Barcelona, to play for Argentina at the Games – and, yes, he took home a gold medal for his efforts. It was his country’s second successive gold in the event – and don’t bet against them making it three on the trot at Wembley next year.
Given that Sir Alex Ferguson ruled himself out of bossing Team GB, I would have gone for David Beckham.
OK, he is even less experienced than Pearce, but he has that golden halo about him. He would have sparkled stardust on the team and made Britain feel good about it. He would have hogged the headlines.
He would also have had much more chance of persuading stars from the home nations to participate – he is much more the diplomat than Pearce. The likes of Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Darren Fletcher would surely have answered his call – as, I would imagine, would the best player in Britain. Yes, Wayne Rooney would have loved to appear in the golden glow of the Beckham campaign.
I believe that David is now not good enough a player to merit a place in the squad and it seems to me a real shame that the world’s most famous footballer, and best ambassador, will most likely not be at the most prestigious footballing event in this country since 1996 when we hosted the European Championships.
We could certainly have done with some of old Goldenballs’ glitter and stardust…instead we must make do with honest but dull Pearce – football’s answer to old man Steptoe. What a shame, what a wasted opportunity.
SACK WENGER? THE GENIUS
DESERVES A BLOODY KNIGHTHOOD!
THEY appear an ungrateful lot, Arsenal fans. Not all of them, mind you – just those who continually question the wisdom of Arsene Wenger. The French genius who has transformed the club from top to bottom since he arrived as a nobody back in 1996. Arsene Who? That was the general welcome he received when he arrived at Highbury 15 years ago.
But over the years he has proved himself to be one of only two managers in English football worthy of comparison with the best of the lot, Sir Alex Ferguson. Wenger and Mourinho.
Yet Wenger has done so much more than Mourinho. True, the Portuguese brought unprecedented glory to Chelsea, but he didn’t also provide them with a new stadium and the ability to self finance their football team, did he? And he certainly never offered up the sort of scintillating football that Wenger has at Highbury and then the Emirates.
Yes, Wenger is a genius and should be cherished. Certainly calls for his head earlier this season reflected badly on that minority of Arsenal fans.
Given the tough start he had to the campaign – when Nasri and Fabregas demanded out – he has done brilliantly to turn things around (again). The signing of Arteta was a class move, and Mertesacker might yet prove a big gem when he and Vermaelen come together as a partnership at the back.
The 5-3 victory at Chelsea and the fact the Gunners have almost achieved qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League showed there’s life in the old dog yet. Welcome back to the cheers and smiles, Arsene…although, for me, you never went away, sir.
And, while we’re at it, surely the time is not now far off when the Frenchman will earn the right to be addressed as a sir, like his old foe Ferguson?
Cameron should recommend Arsene for an honorary knighthood (or whatever the similar gong is for someone not from these shores) for his services to British football – and the remarkable, positive influence he has had on our na
THEY SHOULD HAVE MADE BECKHAM BOSS OF TEAM GB FOR THE OLYMPICS
– BECAUSE HE’S JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO PLAY FOR THEM!!
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SO they did it…they went and chose the wrong man for the job. Yes, Stuart ‘hand on heart’ Pearce will lead Team GB in next year’s London Olympics. The blazers on the committee who appointed him should hang their heads in shame – what a wasted opportunity to bring a real glow of warmth and hope to the country in these troubled times.
Under Pearce, Team GB have as much chance of winning gold as I have of becoming Prime Minister (well, maybe not such hopeful odds given that Gordon Brown and David Cameron both got the top job in No 10!).
Pearce is a good man, don’t get me wrong – but he is Kevin Keegan lite. Just as Keegan led the England national football team to despair back in 1999, so Pearce is destined to lead Team GB to, I would predict, the last eight at best next year.
He simply does not have the tactical nous, authority or simple star quality of the best bosses in the game. He is a man who believes that pure, animal passion and a love of the flag is enough to bring success. Unfortunately, as he learned in Denmark in the European Under 21s championship in the summer, it isn’t.
Pearce was the man in charge of one of the most quality blessed England squads for many, many years – yet he blew it. In that squad were the likes of Man United regulars Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck and Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge.
Yet they exited at the group stages – a result largely down to Pearce’s unrelenting reliance on caution…ie not losing. With the aforementioned attacking, flair players Pearce should have let his team loose on the opposition. He should have given them a chance to impose their game on their rivals. He should have trusted them.
He didn’t – and they paid the price. Yet Pearce paid no price, indeed he was lavishly rewarded for his failings…given a new contract with the England Under 21s and the top job with Team GB.
Plus there is talk within the corridors of the FA that Pearce is being given these hallowed roles to groom him for the England senior job in the future! It beggars belief that we reward mediocrity with such a fanfare of riches.
I confidently also predict now that the winners of the gold in London will be Argentina.
They are masters of this tournament and know what it takes to win it. They always have an experienced hand at the tiller and choose their best players to bring home gold – their players are always desperate to appear in the tournament, they see it as a badge of honour and fight to be chosen if their clubs stand in their way.
In 2008, for example, the world’s best player Lionel Messi took on his club, Barcelona, to play for Argentina at the Games – and, yes, he took home a gold medal for his efforts. It was his country’s second successive gold in the event – and don’t bet against them making it three on the trot at Wembley next year.
Given that Sir Alex Ferguson ruled himself out of bossing Team GB, I would have gone for David Beckham.
OK, he is even less experienced than Pearce, but he has that golden halo about him. He would have sparkled stardust on the team and made Britain feel good about it. He would have hogged the headlines.
He would also have had much more chance of persuading stars from the home nations to participate – he is much more the diplomat than Pearce. The likes of Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Darren Fletcher would surely have answered his call – as, I would imagine, would the best player in Britain. Yes, Wayne Rooney would have loved to appear in the golden glow of the Beckham campaign.
I believe that David is now not good enough a player to merit a place in the squad and it seems to me a real shame that the world’s most famous footballer, and best ambassador, will most likely not be at the most prestigious footballing event in this country since 1996 when we hosted the European Championships.
We could certainly have done with some of old Goldenballs’ glitter and stardust…instead we must make do with honest but dull Pearce – football’s answer to old man Steptoe. What a shame, what a wasted opportunity.
SACK WENGER? THE GENIUS
DESERVES A BLOODY KNIGHTHOOD!
THEY appear an ungrateful lot, Arsenal fans. Not all of them, mind you – just those who continually question the wisdom of Arsene Wenger. The French genius who has transformed the club from top to bottom since he arrived as a nobody back in 1996. Arsene Who? That was the general welcome he received when he arrived at Highbury 15 years ago.
But over the years he has proved himself to be one of only two managers in English football worthy of comparison with the best of the lot, Sir Alex Ferguson. Wenger and Mourinho.
Yet Wenger has done so much more than Mourinho. True, the Portuguese brought unprecedented glory to Chelsea, but he didn’t also provide them with a new stadium and the ability to self finance their football team, did he? And he certainly never offered up the sort of scintillating football that Wenger has at Highbury and then the Emirates.
Yes, Wenger is a genius and should be cherished. Certainly calls for his head earlier this season reflected badly on that minority of Arsenal fans.
Given the tough start he had to the campaign – when Nasri and Fabregas demanded out – he has done brilliantly to turn things around (again). The signing of Arteta was a class move, and Mertesacker might yet prove a big gem when he and Vermaelen come together as a partnership at the back.
The 5-3 victory at Chelsea and the fact the Gunners have almost achieved qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League showed there’s life in the old dog yet. Welcome back to the cheers and smiles, Arsene…although, for me, you never went away, sir.
And, while we’re at it, surely the time is not now far off when the Frenchman will earn the right to be addressed as a sir, like his old foe Ferguson?
Cameron should recommend Arsene for an honorary knighthood (or whatever the similar gong is for someone not from these shores) for his services to British football – and the remarkable, positive influence he has had on our national sport.
