Play the Game Will Ya?!

Howdy!

Here's someone who understands the fans

I was interested to read that the Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jasim al-Thani doesn't know the rules of football. Qatar, as you will know, recently won the right to stage the 2022 World Cup. We hire the next King ( an avid football fan ) and the ex England captain to try to get the bid  . . . something wrong with this picture . . . it's not what you know but who you know and how much they have in their bank account that really matters . . .

Talking of the Al Thani family, I read with interest that they are planning ( allegedly ) another bid for Manchester United, according to today's Daily Mail. A piece of advice gentlemen . . . if it IS true, please read up on the game AND our beloved club.

I remember well when Rupert Murdoch tried to buy United back in the 1990's. His people at Sky were selling this bid like it was going out of fashion. His spokeperson was talking about "the brand" etc., when a journo asked "Who's the left back for the team?" Could he say Dennis Irwin? Nope.

All fans ask is that whoever owns the team CARES about the team and the fans. They want people who feel just as sick when they lose and are as ecstatic when they win. Look at Barry Hearn when Leyton Orient scored that last minute equalizer against the Gooners in the F.A. Cup last weekend.

Changing topics with a body swerve George Best and Ryan Giggs would be proud of, it has been Black History month here in the States. I was interested to read that Viv Anderson, the man whose long legs reminded my dad of the old movie star "Steppenfetchit" has donated his England shirt he wore on his debut to the People's History Museum, situated on Bridge Street in Manchester - a museum I would heartily recommend a visit should you ever be fortunate to visit that wonderful city.

Who's Viv Anderson? Here's a picture . . .

Viv Anderson - the first black player to represent England at full level back in 1978

He was the first player to represent England. Viv was a talented right back for Nottingham Forest during their rapid ascent to the top of the English league under the legendary Brian Clough - must relate a story I heard about him when I attended a "Sportsman's Evening" at The Bulls' Head Hotel in Congleton many years ago sometime soon - he later went on to play for Aresnal, United andSheffield Wednesday. He played for England 30 times.

He was around at a time when the prescence of black footballers was growing rapidly in England. I remember well the players at West Bromwich  -  Laurie Cunningham ( who sadly died in a car crash in Spain ) Cyrille Regis and Brendan Batson. They were known as "The Three Degrees" after the celebrated group of the day ( Prince Charles' favourite if I'm not mistaken! ) They were all fine players - Brendan Batson later went on to play a prominent role within the Players' Union. These players suffered a lot from crowds back then. Racism was rife. It wasn't uncommon for players to have bananas at them and have monkey noises. Thankfully we have moved on in England.

As Bob Dylan famously sang, the times are certainly changing. We've seen things change  dramatically in Egypt and Tunisia and here in the States there's a worrying scenario being acted out in Wisconsin, with their despot/governor Scott Walker.

Then there's Libya. Their leader, Gadaffi, has being issuing all kinds of threats. You have all read about them. I don't need to talk about them on here. Did you know Libya under Gadaffi was once connected with the Grand Old Lady of Italian football, and I'm not talking about one of Berlusconi's rejects . . . 

  

Here's Gadaffi's son with Juventus ( Alessandro Del Piero is on the left as we look - the picture was taken in Tripoli in 2002 )

Gadaffi once had shares in Juventus, the famous old club from Turin once owned by the Agnelli family, the family that owned Fiat. His son actually played for two teams in Serie A. Saadi Al-Gaddafi was signed by the Serie A team Perugia in the beginning of the 2003-2004 season in Italy. Apparently, Gaddafi lasted for a short period of time in Perugia since he was suspended for steroid use. He denied abusing steroids, allegedly having a dodgy "Fleetwood Mac" - that's cockney rhyming slang for back by the way! He signed with Udinese and made one appearance at a preseason friendly against AC Milan.

Anyhow, enjoy your football wherever you see it, we're getting to squeaky bum time!

See you next time,

Eddie