Comment On The Latest Tottenham, England and Sports News
By Alan Hill
Summer Diary 14
More Disappointment from an England Football Team
Promise, hype, optimism, under-perform, bad luck, disappointment. Sound familiar? Yup, but this time it’s England women’s football team. They literally throw away the first game at the European Championship. Then they scrape a draw against Russia with a late equaliser from a substitute. The first few games of this tournament were full of good quality football. Just like watching the men’s game. Then England came on and sadly, it was still like watching the men’s game. The drop in quality was so obvious it was like being hit in the face with a wet fish. I could not bring myself to stick with the whole game. From what I did see the gulf in class between England’s performances and those of Sweden and Denmark was like the difference between Barcelona and Stoke on an off day-and that’s being kind. I am genuinely sorry to say I will not be watching any more England games. Life’s too short.
Fulham
Shahid Khan and Mohammed Al Fayed. [Photo: Alan Hill]Mohammed Al Fayed has sold Fulham FC to Shahid Khan, a billionaire who already owns an NFL Franchise. Mr. Khan has so far shown remarkable restraint in not responding to Al Fayed’s constant jibes about his moustache, although actually wearing a false one in the photo shoot on the club’s doorstep takes the biscuit. I wonder how Fayed would react if Mr. Khan appeared in the next shot in a bald wig and a fat suit, carrying a Michael Jackson doll?
Wed July 17.
Is Sky running out of news? Their main story this morning is that Wayne Rooney is angry and confused. I have an idea for some headlines in a similar vein that they could use; “The Sun will come out tomorrow”, “Sony’s follow up to PlayStation 3 is called PlayStation 4”, “Gareth Bale scores for Spurs”. “Andy Carroll is out injured”….Oh, he is.
Thurs 18 July.
Predictably, England’s women crash 3-0 to France. Glad I made up my mind not to watch after the first two hapless performances. Such a shame but we get enough heartache from the men, I’m not going through it all again with the women.
Logan still doing his best to get Wayne Rooney to White Hart Lane against the odds. Grrr. Boo.
Technology
So many decisions being reviewed by video evidence in the Ashes. Even then, everyone from the ICC executives to the pundits are reviewing the review and saying the third umpire still gets it wrong. On Sky, Dave Richardson, the ICC chief executive defends the system by saying that of the 72 decisions referred, the umpires made 7 errors and the DRS system corrected 4 of them. In other words, even with video review, the reviewer still got the wrong answer in nearly half the cases. I have a horrible feeling this is the slippery slope we will be going down with the goal line technology being introduced in football. I can just see it now. Pause, review, rewind, show again and again. “I still say the whole of the ball wasn’t over”. “Yes it was”. “No it wasn’t” “Oh yes it was”. All together now, children…
Friday 19 July.
Spurs draw 0-0 in a pre-season friendly with Colchester. Still haven’t signed a striker, whilst Man City are buying up anything that moves, again.
Sat 20 July.
Another striker slips through our fingers. In a surprise about turn, Benteke signs an extension to his contract and commits himself to Aston Villa after all. Well done to Paul Lambert and co.
Just as we are all getting wound up and carried away with the build-up to the new season, something to make us take stock and put it into perspective; the sad news that Barcelona’s coach, Tito Vilanova has had to resign because of the return of throat cancer. It is a timely reminder of how fragile life is and how lucky we all are to be here at all. Let’s treat our rivals with respect this season and make the most of the opportunity we have to enjoy it all.