12.28.07
I feel sorry for Joey
lol… I never seem to write about real football these days. Like I said, there are other sites that could give you results and statistics, these are mostly just my opinions.
Once again, Joey Barton’s been in trouble with the police, talk about a troubled top-flight footballer. It’s another assault, this time to some guy outside McD’s taunting him about his brother, Michael Barton, sentenced to jail for two decades for a racist murder.
Of course, even before this piece of detail came out, I knew about the murder case. From there, I learnt about the troubled family life of the Bartons. His parents divorced when he was a kid, his dad brought Joey up while his mom took custody of his brothers – twins, Michael and Andrew. While his dad brought him up tough and got him to get up the ranks of a football club, his brothers were brought up poorly, becoming gang-crime bandits.
Having a troubled family life of my own, I fully understand the complex behaviour of Joey. He is somewhat like me, gets angry easily, annoyed by the slightest criticism, often gets physical, somewhat having a rebellious streak. Always chomping on the heels of his peers – in this case the England internationals – and criticising how they live. When he showed his ass to the whole world at full-time it was a mark of cheeky disrespect to others.
Why am I defending Joey Barton? Actually I am not, because to maim a team-mate at the training ground and costing him his job is downright inexcusable. What I am alluding here, is to please give more insight to the reason why mentally-disturbed people like us behave like this.
Just how would you have reacted if an annoying stranger, possibly someone who doesn’t like your club, former or previous, mocks you about your dear old brother that’s been in prison for the rest of his working age? You’d smack him across the face to shut him up, but since you were on the booze that time, and you just got dropped from the first eleven (Newcastle still lost, dear me.), his mockery can’t get out of your head, so you pummel his life out.
That, above, is provocation. It’s strife, not just on the internet but in touching distance too. Words come cheap, just look at how top-flight managers are complaining about dug-out abuse – it doesn’t affect them probably, but it affects the children. They say footballers need to be an example to youngsters, but they’ll pick up absolutely anything coming out from anybody’s mouth.
Stop the abuse, players and fans alike. Football should be a beautiful game, yobs and hooligans shouldn’t be ruining it. We all have family problems too. Don’t vent them out in hazardous acts. And I include hurling abuse in that category.
12.19.07
Football seems to go with rape often
I should really dismiss Jonny Evans’ arrest as another one of those “opportunistic woman” crimes. Good lord, women these days would do anything to these poor footballers. Whether it’s Cristiano Ronaldo, or the whole Leicester team, footballers are seen to be easy prey for some of these conwomen.
We see time and time again that these cases are often dismissed due to lack of evidence or other, or the charges dropped usually after some hush money. So it’s really not worth it for the media to blow up such scandals.
But we can’t change how the media work. Not to be content with transfer rumours, football players in England get the Hollywood star treatment of constant gossip and public watch of their private life. Naturally I am sick of this, and I don’t think any player likes it too.
Don’t be mistaken, there are stupid footballers out there *coughGlenJohnsoncough* but this should not reflect most if not all top-flight footballers. Some of them have such a genuine and humble character, you’ll start to think twice about what their profession is.
Considering how these players like to party as a part of their culture, you’d think a bit of changing their ways would rectify this. But there will always be that kid who foolishly bumped into a conwoman one night.
12.16.07
Grand Slam my foot
Oh goodness me, the result wasn’t ideal for me personally and also from a neutral’s perspective.
Chelsea and Liverpool needed to win if we’re gonna have a four-way title race, the EPL is long overdue of such excitement. Both games could’ve gone both ways, honestly, they were tight affairs, and the scorelines were evident.
Having seen another smash and grab at Anfield, it is predicament to the rest the United first eleven got in the week. They had the extra energy to run and defend well, and be dangerous on the counter.
For Arsenal, a return of their main man Fabregas was the edge against Chelsea who are missing theirs in Drogba. They look to be losing their captain Terry though, but England don’t have to fret. It’s still a long way from the first international game under Capello anyway, no worries.
Still, more than having a four-horse race which will not happen yet again, I seriously want someone breaking into it. Chelsea might be falling off the pace after this with the losses in personnel, and you can’t help but look at Pompey or Man City to come up with the goods, especially Eriksson’s side with their comeback in their last match.
12.13.07
My take on Capello
Fabio Capello for the England job…
Here we have a manager with an impressive club CV but hasn’t done it on the international stage yet. Smells like Sven.
A manager who looks emotionless, with a snarky demeanor. Smells like Sven again.
But hell no. You’ll never see any mistresses around Capello, I’m sure of that. The English media should show some respect to this guy. As much as they were the forefront in hurling all the abuses since the last decade, I don’t think they want another failure like McClaren’s reign. They have Croatia again for the World Cup qualifiers, but just like the Euros and all the rest before this, there’s a group to be won, and to be won at places like Kazakhstan and Belarus.
So what does Capello bring to the squad that McClaren can’t? I think he’ll play who he thinks would deserve to play, and not just players who expect to be in the England team because he or any other person, be it player, staff, other manager or the public said so.
You won’t see another fluke selection like Walcott in the last World Cup again. People like Gareth Barry would have even more of a look-in. I just hope that English teams would keep playing these top and near-top English players, and actually I want them to move abroad. If the EPL has top Italian, Spanish, German and French players over the years and currently, why aren’t English players not playing in those leagues? Is the pay less? Are they too stingy to move? Will they move for only a season or a half, because of the way the English media often speculating about their homesickness and other English clubs wanting to take them back, even though they’re already happy there?
I heard about Capello having never bought an Englsih player – well that goes to prove what he thinks about English players, they’re not up to scratch in Europe. You can say how the Premier League is attractive and exciting, the best in the world to some, but in the intellectual football rounds, the EPL has no regard to tactics or defensive play.
It’s the fans’ mentality – they love tackles, they love a hard man, they do not like tactical 0-0s and see Arsenal playing their passes as some sort of rocket science. Hence that’s why the English game is fast and frantic, Route One, et cetera. Continental players that move to England struggle if they do not settle immediately and don’t run for 90 minutes.
Nobody plays the way English players play, anymore. So they should go out and learn, and come back to represent their country under a footballing language taught to them by a tactician they could finally understand. And what a tactician they’re getting.
12.06.07
DST Brunei Premier League
Ah, that headline will make this rant the first result on Google. Because you just can’t find any website or page of it on the ‘net.
Our top football division in this country once had a website of its own, that of the old B-League, but the desertion of club football for nearly two years in this country has led to its desolation.
But finally, after many delays, the BPL has started recently, quenching the thirst of Bruneian local football fans…if there are still any of them.
Let’s not get too drastic here. DPMM FC last year were third in the Malaysian Super League (having led the table in parts of the campaign), Shahrazen its Golden Boot winner. You can say our fans were transfixed on how successful our satellite national team were.
Then, we have our soon-to-become “golden generation”, the PIP* project I’ve always come to hear since long ago. You’d think playing football like a school of anchovies flocking together is bad (tell you what, its how the normal under-10s out here play), but I’ve always heard rumours that they’re beating every other youth team in their path (then again, this can be refuted too, considering what kind of rumours that spread around Brunei).
But anyway, let us get to the main issue. You know, I’ve always thought, after leaving UBD I’d be helping the local football scene in this country, provided they are cooperative. I’d run a website, I’d have a few people working for me as article writers and statisticians, I’d have direct connections with BAFA and all the Bruneian clubs and teams, I’d even have a database of Bruneian footballers. The whole of Brunei needs to go online if it ever wants to have lofty ambitions. Stop wasting your time at Friendster and spamming every address on your address book with silly forwards.
But the fact that this newly-reformed national football league isn’t getting even a website of its own speaks of tragedy. I mean, sure enough, DST is now sponsoring this, so I hope they’d also bring their marketing and tech expertise to the game. Kristal FM under DST has proven its doubters wrong with innovative radio.
So, let’s innovate BPL.
*PIP: Projek Ikan Pusu or Anchovy Project in English, started in 2001 as a programme to develop skilled Bruneian footballers at a very young age, to mold them into the national team.
12.03.07
Fire!
Had lots I could really talk about, but I’m still on exams, so be patient.
Anyway, this made me kinda think, like, there’s an external mobile suit interfering Drogba Gundam or something.
Return fire!
