Tag Archives: english fa

England: Time to Back the Youth

  By O-Posts Team | March 27, 2024 - 18:45 | , , , , , , , , , ,
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The whole farcical Rio Ferdinand and England episode in the run up to the qualifiers against San Marino and Montenegro highlighted something that has plagued England for too long: an obsession with looking back.

The fact the debate centred on whether or not Ferdinand pulling out of the England squad and travelling to the Middle East to be a TV pundit was a deliberate act of revenge towards the FA or an innocent PR disaster, glossed over a recurring theme. England seem frightened of moving into the future. Petrified of actually committing to the next 5 – 10 years and beyond, rather than only the next tournament.

There’s no denying Ferdinand has been in very good form since the turn of the year and integral to Man Utd improving the defensive record in the second half of this Premier League season. His form is worthy of an international call up, but Ferdinand is 34 and has to carefully nurse his fitness.

He made it be known he was available for International selection and his many backers in the press clamoured for his inclusion; some even suggested that, should England qualify, he should be a part of the World Cup squad.

By the time the 2014 World Cup in Brazil comes around, Ferdinand will be 35.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of how the England captaincy was taken off Ferdinand, his non- selection at Euro 2012 and his row with Ashley Cole, his withdraw from the England squad, explanation and subsequent pundit job was handled spectacularly badly.

Personally, I wouldn’t pick Ferdinand for England again; not because of the recent debacle, but for the same reason I wouldn’t consider John Terry, Scott Parker, Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry for selection: it’s time England moved on. That’s not to say anyone over 30 should be dismissed, indeed

I believe Steven Gerrard and Ashley Cole still have a role to play, though I think the World Cup should be their swan song. Euro 2012 was the ideal tournament to give many of England’s next crop tournament experience, but rather than be brave, England once again harped back to the so-called golden generation, but got the same result as always. As the mantra goes: if you keep doing what you’ve done, you’ll get the same results.

A decade ago, Germany tore up their system and started again. They are already seeing the benefits from the changes they implemented, but I doubt English football would ever have the bravery to do the same.

Also, the Premier League holds too much power to allow the FA to implement the type of changes that were in Germany. Add to that, the changes needed in philosophy at grass roots level with too many coaches and parents of young players mean that it would likely take longer for England to feel the benefit of change to the extent desired.

Wilshere.... young players like him need to be backed.

Wilshere…. young players like him need to be backed.

It’s not as though England don’t have any talented young players coming through, but the selection pool and technical level is not as big as it could be. England need to focus on the future and bed some of the best young players in, rather than keep looking at players some way past their peak.

If the so-called golden generation failed to win a tournament in their prime, why makes anyone think they can do it in their mid-thirties?

Rather than fear of failure and going for the safe option, I think it’s time to back the youth, believe in them and look forward, not back.

So, based on England’s reluctance to move on, here’s the squad I expect to be named for World Cup 2014:

Hart, James, Seaman; Terry, Ferdinand, A. Cole, G. Neville, P. Neville, Adams, Carragher; Gerrard, Lampard, Parker, Barry, Milner, Carrick, Beckham, Cleverly; Rooney, Owen, Heskey, Welbeck.

 

Written by Andy Wales

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England’s FA fail once again to stamp their authority

  By O-Posts Team | October 10, 2024 - 15:00 | , ,
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English FA

Yesterday, it was all smiles at the FA, as the new National Football Centre in Burton got the Royal seal of approval.

There was even a few laughs when Prince William, the President of the Football Association, said to Ashley Cole: “If you continue to be a naughty boy, they will take your twitter account off you..” It was a stark contrast to the previous weekend’s mood at the FA’s headquarters.

It all started on Friday when the FA served John Terry the written reasons behind the Chelsea star’s four match ban for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand.

The 63-page report claimed that his initial defence wasn’t adequate and that Chelsea had come up with some lies in order to protect their captain. The report, although recognising that Terry isn’t a racist, condemned his behaviour and found him guilty of racial abuse.

There are a few points that can be drawn from the FA’s action. First of all, why had the case dragged on for so long? It’s been over ten and a half months since the incident with the QPR defender, so why has the verdict only been made. Although I recognise that the criminal case was severely delayed but as far as I understood, the criminal investigation was completely separate from the FA’s.

Secondly, why only the four match ban? Back in December Luis Suarez was given an eight match ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra, and rightly so. Both of the cases are very similar so the difference in the ban seems puzzling. The difference will only bring up the argument that English players are more protected then their foreign counterparts.

Also, what will happen if unfortunately there is another racial abuse case? Will he receive a four match ban or an eight match ban, or something completely different? Whatever happens, the FA need to determine a proper punishment and stick to it for every player.

After serving Terry with the written reasons, it looked like it was the end of the unnecessarily long case and that everyone would try and move on. Until Mr Ashley Cole logged onto Twitter…

The English left back, never shy of controversy, tweeted this just hours after the FA had published the reason:

This would have been the last thing that the FA needed. On the day that the FA try to move forward from the Terry case, the social media outburst only brought the FA back into the limelight. But the main question was how the FA would react.

In my view, the FA should have hit Cole harder than a ton of bricks. The governing body should not stand for that behaviour, whoever it is. The FA run football in the country and gives players like Ashley Cole the honour to represent their country so they should be treated with respect. Cole should have received at least a three match ban to teach him and everyone else a lesson.

Cole, who has 98 England caps to his name, deleted the Tweet hours later (and 20,000+ retweets later) and publically apologised. However, the FA yesterday announced that they were to charge Cole for the tweet for bringing the game into disrepute. However Cole is still eligible to play against minnows San Marino on Friday. Although it’s good to see the FA take action, you can’t help but feel that a swift charge and ban would have been necessary.

Instead, the charge has the potential for an appeal and it could end up dragging on like Terry. The FA really does need to start acting quickly on cases.

So after an uneasy Friday at FA headquarters, they would have been hoping that the weekend’s fixtures happened without any incidents. But that didn’t happen. And it’s left the FA with more questions to answer.

In two separate games, we saw two notable cases of players diving. Gareth Bale dived at home against Aston Villa while Suarez dived against Stoke. In both cases, the player’s actions were despicable and at the end of the day: they cheated.

However, they both got away with it. And because of that, diving will unfortunately occur week in, week out. Although players are sometimes given a yellow card by referees, you can’t help but feel that a stronger punishment is needed to stamp diving out of the game. If players were to receive bans for unsporting behaviour such as diving, then the players wouldn’t do it anymore. It’s as simple as that. But the FA continues to not take any action.

Also, stamps by Huth and Tiote went unpunished despite clear evidence which will only pile the pressure on the FA. I’m sure the FA will be hoping that this weekend runs a bit smoother.

On the same weekend, Rugby League star Paul Wood ruptured his testicle while playing a game but finished the match, finished his interviews before deciding to get some treatment. Just remember that next time you see a player diving and rolling around…

 

Written by Craig Lishman

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The Pre-Match handshake - Should it or Shouldn’t it

  By O-Posts Team | September 30, 2024 - 16:47 | , ,
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Handshake

The FA’s respect campaign has been running for a long time now. And nothing is more apparent than in the pre-match handshakes between opposing players just before kick off.

Over the last few weeks this has taken center stage. In some matches you’d be forgiven for forgetting there was actually any football on show. From Anton Ferdinand not shaking John Terry’s and Ashley Cole’s hand and the will they/won’t they debate over the Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra handshake.

Is the pre-match handshake a load of rubbish, though? Is it right that the handshake is before the match wherein anything can happen - where the real player/referee respect should take place?

The idea behind the handshake is an admirable one. To show that football, despite it’s singular reality, can show respect in the same way that workers of the same profession/work place/friends and family units do. It is within this idea, however, that it is fundamentally flawed.

The handshake shouldn’t take place before a match - it may even be best to scrap it altogether. It appears to just be a clever facade masking a meaningless gimmick - something they grudgingly have to do - as when the players do eventually take the field, respect is as far from their mind as sex is to a chronic World of Warcraft player.

Every little petulant moment and self-indulgent whim is exposed on the field and players will do anything to help their team win the three points - imaginary card waving, diving, swearing at referees and fellow professionals, and in the case of John Terry, racist abuse toward a fellow professional.

And herein lies the problem. John Terry and Luis Suarez are the most high-profile cases which have really sparked this debate. Choosing when and who to shake hands with goes head-to-head with the point of the pre-match handshake; and The FA’s now much-maligned respect campaign.

Who can blame Anton Ferdinand, though? I certainly wouldn’t shake John Terry’s or Ashley Cole’s hand but quite why David Luiz refused to shake Ferdinand’s hand is quite beyond me. Solidarity with your teammate is one thing but solidarity with a racist? Surely he knows that Ferdinand is the victim in this. And Luis Suarez’s reputation now as a deceitful diver which is seeing legitimate penalty claims turned down.

Other sports, rougher more violent sports I hasten to add, promote respect as being paramount to its integrity. Take rugby and boxing where the object of the game is to knock seven shades of shit out of each other, but where after the game and after the fight, the respect between the opposition is apparent to see. And is lauded through-out the sporting world as being the sports to copy.

The rugby players form a ‘tunnel’ for the opposition to walk down while applauding and shaking their hands, while in boxing, after the winner has been announced, he celebrates by congratulating and hugging the losing fighter and the fighter’s corner before celebrating with his own.

The action on the football pitch proves that the pre-match handshake is completely meaningless. It should be scrapped and proves nothing between professionals, proves nothing to fans and doesn’t promote or advocate the idea of respect.

If the FA want to stumble blindly on promoting respect within football then maybe they could learn something from other sports.

 

Written by William Hold

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John Terry: A Huge Loss for the Three Lions

  By O-Posts Team | September 25, 2024 - 16:26 | , , ,
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John Terry

Carlo Ancelotti: “John Terry is the captain of all team captains, he was born with the captain’s armband on his arm.”

Scolari : “For John Terry, dying in the pitch would be glory. You would need to kill him and maybe even then, he would still play.”

Ray Wilkins: “Do we have the character of John Terry within these people I’m talking about? My answer to that is probably ‘No, we don’t’, because he doesn’t only care about his own performance – he cares about other people’s performances as well. I don’t think we’ve got the characters about now like John Terry.”

Gary Lineker: “Whatever you think about John Terry, he always gave his absolute all on the field for England. A strong leader and great defender.”

John Terry has finally decided to quit the English national team, stating that the FA never supported him. This comes as good news to the Chelsea faithful, who always asked him to retire from national duty.

John Terry has been stripped of his captaincy twice but soon reinstated and makes his decision to quit, 24 hours before the hearing at FA.

What do I think about it? A sigh of relief followed by a snicker of laughter. This is exactly what I was hoping for since the armband got stripped of him. In my point of view, England never deserved a player like him. A man who gave his 120 % on the field, went for every ball and put his body on the line to save his country and club. How many players like that do you get?

England never deserved him and never will. Now they’re stuck with Gary Cahill, Joleon Lescott and Rio Ferdinand. Cahill’s and Lescott’s positioning skills are terrible - we have seen it before. Rio Ferdinand offers them the final life line but you just cannot compare his leadership skills with that of John Terry.

I don’t want to hear that rubbish, that he “slept with his best friend’s wife” and he racially “abused” someone. The latter was cleared in court, whereas the scandal with Bridge is deemed to never have taken place with newspapers apologizing for the incident.

I’m delighted to think that, he has finally seen sense in how the FA was using him. Stripping him of his post but still making him play as they know their defense needs him. He can now focus solely on the club and can make the most of it by winning trophies for the club he loves. The England national team meanwhile will be still suffering their drought.

It’s a huge loss for Roy Hodgson who will definitely not be happy with the FA. When you see captains moving to other clubs to win trophies and some demanding for more money, John Terry stands as a tribute to many of the captains who are not affected by the role of money in modern football.

17 years at Chelsea and captain at the age of 21. As I always say, Captain - Leader - Legend for a reason. People are going to talk but that’s probably cause they will never have a captain like him.

John Terry was, is and will forever remain, one of the best defenders England have ever produced and today they have lost a man who thinks about the team before himself.

There will always be only one England captain. Good luck in trying to replace him, FA.

 

Written by Sherry Philips

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