The Search Begins

Who'd Be An England Manager?

By Abigail Richards




They're a fickle sort, the Football Association. 18 games into a four-year contract, Steve McLaren was dismissed following his failure to qualify for Euro 2008.

While fickle, I have to say I totally agree with the FA's decision. This time. The fact is that McLaren never should have been appointed in the first place. A fine number two he may be, but the amount of times he looked entirely out of his depth tactically and his total failure to control the immense egos of some of the side's supposed superstars made England rather hilarious to watch at times.

Unless of course, you're an England fan. As a Scot, I have to say I feel sorry for the Auld Enemy. Scotland's last two managers have done such a good job that big club sides have came knocking and stolen them away. England's last two managers have been terminated after a series of failures, or in Sven Goran Eriksson's case, apparent failures. Personally I think three consecutive quarter-finals appearances is not a bad record - especially compared to McLaren's.

But who knows, perhaps McLaren will now go on to emulate Eriksson's post-England success and a year from now the fans and press will be calling for him to be reinstated. That both sections, albeit in their minority, have called for Eriksson to be offered the job again is laughable. This would be comparable to the Scottish press starting a campaign to have Berti Vogts installed as Alex McLeish's successor.

Scotland, however, have a number of native managers perfectly capable of taking the job. Billy Davies anyone? Recently sacked from Derby County, he's a free agent. I for one wouldn't mind to see him take the job.

But seriously, who in their right mind would take the England job these days? That the only serious contenders at the moment seem to be Fabio Capello, a man who doesn't speak English, and Harry Redknapp, one of the most famous 'wheeler-dealer' managers the game has ever seen and therefore clearly more suited to club management, shows that the FA really don't have many options that look much better than what they once had in Sven.

The debate over whether to hire an English or foreign coach seems ridiculous. Look no further than how things ended up with their last English coach and it should prove that it doesn't matter where you're from - the only thing that matters is the ability to do the job.

My ideal candidate? José Mourinho. At least it would be entertaining. But not only that, Mourinho is one of the finest managers currently out of the game - or indeed in the game. He hasn't said too much about it, but I feel if the FA made a serious offer, he'd at least consider it.

Mourinho's tactical nous is far superior to that of McLaren's, his motivational skills are excellent, and unlike McLaren, he wouldn't bow to the popular public opinion. McLaren was more than happy to change formations for the first match against Croatia after pressure from the press, and was also happy to put Scott Carson in goal for the crucial second match against the Croats, despite having two goalkeepers with experience of playing at a major tournament in David James and Paul Robinson. Mourinho on the other hand, was so determined not to have his chairman dictate the squad selections at Chelsea that he eventually lost his job.

Isn't that the kind of man the English side needs? Not to mention that Mourinho has the ability to beat down even the biggest of egos - after all, nobody in the dressing room should be more full of themselves than him.

As more and more people continue to rule themselves out for the position, it's time the FA put their money where their mouth is and go after the best man for the job - whether they've claimed they want the job or not.

The Road to South Africa 2010

Looking Forward - Scotland's Future

By Abigail Richards




In the aftermath of yet another failed qualifying campaign, Scotland can at least take great heart in their gutsy and impressive performances over the past 14 months. Those performances have seen an unprecedented rise through the FIFA Rankings to the all-time high of 13th place. Putting that into perspective, Scotland are now ranked higher than the USA, a country with almost 60 times the population, and Greece, the current European champions.

This rise will almost certainly see Scotland announced as second seeds when the European qualification groups for the World Cup in 2010 are drawn in Durban on Sunday; meaning that there will be no repeat of this campaign's "group of death", which of course featurd both the winners and runners up of the last World Cup.

Scotland can therefore take comfort in the fact that, rankings wise, they should be the second-best side in their group meaning a second place finish should be more than feasible. With a group of players who seem capable of making through at least another two campaigns, with a couple of exceptions, it's fair to say that the future is bright for Scotland.

Of course before we deal with the future we're forced to think about what could have been in the present. Many have blamed Scotland's exit on the official for the crunch game against Italy. But while Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez certainly had what can only be described as an 'off day', Italy had as many decisions ruled against them as the Scots. It just happened that Scotland were the unlucky ones on the night.

Where to start? Gonzalez ruled an onside goal to be offside and an offside goal to be onside. The former being an Antonio Di Natale effort when at 1-0, Italy were dictating the play, and the latter being Barry Ferguson's plucky equaliser following a Gianluigi Buffon parry. But most heartbreakingly of all, Gonzalez and his assistants' worst moment came in the dying minutes of the game. When a draw seemed almost certain, Alan Hutton was barged into and yet somehow had a free kick decision go against him. That Italy scored the winner from this clearly incorrect decision was desperately unfair to Scotland who had matched Italy in almost every department, with the notable exception of concentration in the opening minutes of the match.

It is from this that Scotland can take most heart. Against two of the world's best sides, they didn't lie down and accept defeat as they perhaps would have in the past. Two incredible 1-0 victories over France and a desperately unlucky loss against Italy have proven that Scotland can rub shoulders with the world's elite and not look at all out of place. The resilience shown by the side, who simply refused to give up, was rewarded by the thousands of proud Scotland fans who applauded their fallen heroes as they took to a victory lap following the game.

It is, of course, unfair to blame all of the side's misgivings on poor refereeing. The fact that Scotland conceded a goal after just 68 seconds underlined the slow and uneasy start the Scots made to the match. With the exception of the outstanding Alan Hutton, the Scotland defence were little better than average throughout. Stephen McManus and David Weir are good defenders by Scottish Premier League standards, but against the attacking trio of Di Natale, Luca Toni and Mauro Camoranesi they did at times look to be out of their depth. At 37, Weir simply doesn't have the pace to keep up with a quick front man, whereas McManus is the perfect defender...with the exception of his marking capabilities.

One must wonder why there was no place in the starting eleven for Gary Caldwell, scorer of the only goal of the game against France at Hampden last October. Why, when Russell Anderson was in the form of his life for Aberdeen last season, could he not get a look in past the aging Weir? And there are a plethora of younger center backs who could all do the job in the Scotland defence, including Caldwell's brother Stephen, Hearts captain Christophe Berra, Andy Webster (when fit) and even Steven Pressley who, at 34, still has three years on Weir. Surely with the race to Austria and Switzerland now over it's time for Weir to step down and let one of the younger, quicker players take his place.

Left-back, a position highlighted to be Scotland's weak spot by Calcio Italia (No. 147, Nov 2007) is another place the Scots need to look to strengthen. Gary Naysmith has done the job on and off down the left flank for several years, but he isn't the player he once was, and had to drop down a division to Championship side Sheffield United in the close season for regular first team football. His current backup, Graham Alexander, has never played at the highest level and at 36 is not a viable long-term option. With Hutton's emergence on the right Scotland need to make the left side equally as strong, and with options such as Rangers kid Stevie Smith and Derby left-back James McEveley, Scotland need to start looking to strengthen their defence.

With a stronger backline protected by Craig Gordon, Alan Hutton would be allowed the opportunities to press further forward without fear of being over-exposed at the back, and with the extra muscle and speed in the middle of the park, this could allow for one of the five man midfield to be pushed forward into a second striker role, something which Scotland looked as though they could have used on Saturday. McFadden is a quality player but lacks the experience of playing the full 90 minutes and often plays better behind a more out-and-out striker such as Kenny Miller or Kris Boyd. Boyd in particular is the Gary Lineker sort of player who has a habit of getting a goal in the box. With McFadden supplying the front man as opposed to being the man in the goalscoring position himself, perhaps the effort in the 80th minute wouldn't have ended up just past the post.

Overall however, there are certainly more positives than negatives. With McLeish looking to be sticking around for the foreseeable future (fingers crossed), it is with great optimism and a small hint of expectation that Scotland look to next September and the start of the journey to South Africa in 2010.

Soccer in America

MLS - Worthy or Worthless?

By Abigail Richards




In surfing the web these past few months, I've noticed numerous articles cropping up on football journalism websites about the impact of David Beckham on 'soccer' in America. Essentially you can split these articles right down the middle and divide them up into two categories. Those who think Beckham will do more for soccer than Pélé in the 1970s, and those who think he's a washed-up, overpaid moron.

Personally I'm not one for making judgments on someone so early. It's impossible to tell what kind of impact Beckham and the many others who have arrived in MLS (Major League Soccer) thanks to the 'Beckham rule' or more accurately, the designated player (DP) rule, until at the very earliest the end of the current season. Then and only then can any kind of conclusions be drawn.

Initial signs are at least fairly positive. A massive 66,237 crowd at the Giants Stadium saw Juan Pablo Angel (formerly of Aston Villa) and the rest of the New York Red Bulls overcome Beckham's LA Galaxy by 5 goals to 4. These are the kind of soccer matches the American fans like to see. High-scoring, high-tempo affairs. Let's not forget that in the majority of other sports involving a ball, scoring often reaches double figures for both sides. For fans brought up on American football and basketball, watching two soccer teams grind out a 0-0 draw is not what appeals.

The crowd, many of whom were no doubt attending their first MLS match, were highly entertained as Beckham played his part in three of Galaxy's four goals, but was overcome by the talented attacking pair of veteran Angel and 17-year-old sensation Jozy Altidore, both of whom grabbed a brace. This was the largest crowd for an MLS regular season game at the Giants Stadium, and proof that the Beckham factor is enough to get peoples' bums on seats, but this is an isolated incident. Giants Stadium (above) in East Rutherford,, N.J. is one of the largest stadiums used by MLS and is traditionally home to the New York Giants and the New York Jets, teams in the NFL. Many clubs now use soccer-specific stadiums with capacities of around 20,000. The Red Bulls themselves will move to Red Bull Park within the next year. With a capacity of 25,000, it's more on-par with an average English Championship ground, meaning that this could very well be one of the last 60,000-plus attendances for the forseeable future.

So what of the future of MLS? The 2007 season saw the expansion of the Eastern Conference to include a new franchise; Toronto FC, the first Canadian team to play in MLS. Despite their relative poor form (they won just 5 of their opening 22 matches) they've gained a large number of supporters in Toronto, leading to the suggestion that another Canadian team should join MLS, most likely to be the Vancouver Whitecaps (badge left); current champions of the USL First Division, the second tier of soccer in America and Canada. Next season will see the return of the San Jose Earthquakes, one of the teams that dominated MLS in its early years before the franchise was placed on hiatus and the team, players and all were moved to Houston to become the Dynamo. The expansion to 14 clubs may be seen as the way forward, but there are some pitfalls that need to be considered.

Firstly, over-expansion was one of the major contributing factors to the decline of the NASL (North American Soccer League). Following the success of the New York Cosmos with players in their team like Pélé and Beckenbauer, many businessmen saw soccer as a way to make a quick buck and started opening franchises all over the United States and Canada. At its highest, there were 24 teams competing in the NASL. This resulted in the overall talent being spread too thinly between the sides competing, leading to the clubs having to spend big on foreign aging stars. When the money dried up, businessmen dumped their franchises just as quickly as they'd set them up. The league folded in 1984.

While precautions have certainly been taken to assure that the same thing doesn't happen to MLS, the decision to expand to 14 teams in 2008, with future expansion in the works, has similar pitfalls. MLS teams don't have youth teams. They can't go out and scout the country looking for the best players to play for them. They rely on players gaining experience in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), usually while they work their way through college, before they're drafted to MLS teams once they come of age. This is the same way in which other American sports function, such as American football, baseball and basketball, where the most promising players coming out of college are snapped up on muli-million dollar deals.

The same cannot be said for young soccer players. It's nice work if you can get it, but you only get it if you're good enough. Every year, a certain amount of players are selected to be Generation Adidas players. The aim of this initiative is to encourage early entry (without college graduation) of American players into MLS. These players are few and far between. There were eight players who were awarded Generation Adidas status for 2007, not even enough to go around the present 13 teams. If the league continues to expand, it corresponds that the amount of young American/Canadian talent will have to increase at the same time. Otherwise MLS clubs will be forced to look outside of the US for talent, which as a by product will stifle youth progression further.

The MLS is unique in world football. It functions differently to any other league and in the ten years since its inception it has steadily developed into the entity we know it as now. The standard of football has improved, and with the arrival of Beckham (left) and his fellow DPs, crowds are seemingly on the rise too. But the most important factor for progression, as any football coach will tell you, is development at a grass roots level. If more teenagers opt to play soccer as opposed to football, basketball, hockey or baseball, then the standard of the MLS and in turn the US national team will continue to improve. Otherwise the league should not look to expand any further than it already has, lest we end up with another NASL situation.

The Job of a Referee

The Toughest Job In Football?
By Abigail Richards

Did it cross the line or didn't it? Penalty or no penalty? Was it a handball or not? We've been hearing plenty from the Premiership about bad refereeing decisions. And I bet everyone thought that was over the day Graham Poll announced he was hanging up his whistle.

High profile "mistakes" by Rob Styles (Liverpool vs. Chelsea), Lee Mason (Fulham vs. Middlesbrough) and Howard Webb (Manchester United vs. Tottenham) have lead to wide-spread complaints that refereeing in England's top league is not up to a good enough standard. Styles was even dropped from the referee list for this weekend's match program, which was dismissed as routine by referee's chief Keith Hackett, who told BBC Radio 5live that "It is just like with players, if they miss an open goal they are likely to be dropped."

I have to say that it's not the same thing. Yes, Styles made a refereeing error, but the solution is not to drop him and hope that he learns his lesson. Referees aren't players. Players are dropped when they're losing form or struggling from injuries, and usually return to the side when they've recovered. But Styles (left, with the infuriated Liverpool players) didn't suffer a loss of form, he made an error in his judgment. And who can blame him? With Chelsea's players surrounding him insisting it was a penalty, and the intense atmosphere of a buzzing Anfield, can anyone honestly say they wouldn't have done the same thing?

Sure, it could be argued that referees are paid to handle the pressures of taking charge of the big matches, but they're not machines. They don't have built-in goal-line technologies and can't rely on television replays before their decisions are made final. Like it or not, the referee and his assistants assume total control when they step out onto the field. They're trusted to do their jobs and should not be dropped for making bad decisions.

Instead more help and support should be given to the men in black. They do, I would argue, have the toughest job in football. Neither set of fans particularly like you and you're just as scrutinized (and possibly more so) if you make an error as any of the 22 players on the field. I for one am not totally convinced that goal-line technology is the answer, but surely there is more that can be done rather than 'dropping' the referee for a week? What does that achieve other than humiliating those who make the mistake? They're already practically forced into apologising and then after they do so they're told that they won't be able to do their jobs the following week. This is not the way to go about things.

Referees do not receive enough protection when they make these alleged "mistakes". Do we really want another Anders Frisk situation? Frisk (right) was the referee for the Champions' League clash between Chelsea and Barcelona a couple of years ago. After a match where none of his decisions were incorrect, at least according to the chairman of Sweden's football referees' association Bo Karlsson, Frisk and his family received numerous death threats and he decided enough was enough. This was not an isolated incident however. Frisk was also struck on the head by an object thrown from the crowd at Roma's Olympic Stadium during a Champions League match against Dynamo Kiev the previous September. UEFA punished Roma, but clearly the situation was no better 5 months on at Stamford Bridge.

On that occasion what did UEFA do? They blamed Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. They declared him the "enemy of football" as they pleaded Frisk to reconsider. Unsurprisingly Frisk did not change his mind. In a game where players are coddled and outspoken managers revered by their fans, the men in black are the outcasts, quite literally cast aside when they do something wrong. Along with working on goal-line technology, the FA, UEFA and FIFA should be doing everything they can to help out the men with the undoubted toughest job in football.

The Season Ahead

Scottish Football in 2007/08
by Abigail Richards

The season may only be four games old but already I can see Rangers and Celtic running away with it once again. Total domination seems likely after last week, when Rangers hit seven against Falkirk who managed just two in reply. That was followed up by Celtic hitting Hearts for five this weekend, this time with no response from a lackluster Gorgie side who look a shadow of their side of two years ago.

Rangers spent big this summer, with David Murray announcing that around £13million was spent with only £2million coming in. With that sort of spending, Rangers fans will be expecting success of some form. Another trophyless season will no doubt be unacceptable for the Ibrox faithful and I suspect they just might have it in them to take the title back from their neighbours. Their signings have impressed, and perhaps more vitally, Walter Smith has managed to dispose of practically all the remnants of Paul Le Guen's ill-fated tenure. Daniel Cousin and Jean-Claude Darcheville look good up front, DaMarcus Beasley (above) looks lively either up front or on the wing, and Carlos Cuellar looks class at the back. Add in the Scottish additions of Kirk Broadfoot, Steven Whittaker and Graeme Smith, and Smith's 27-man squad look very impressive.

Celtic have bought well too. Massimo Donati looks like he has the required attributes to replace Neil Lennon in midfield, and Scott Brown has to be one of the most exciting youngsters to come out of Scotland for a long time. His £4.5million price tag may be steep, but I feel he has it in him to live up to the tag and not fade away into the background at Parkhead, like his former Hibs teammate Derek Riordan.

And what of Hearts? Gone from their Scottish Cup winning side are Pressley, Hartley, Skacel and most importantly of all, Craig Gordon (left). It remains to be seen if Hearts will actually spend any of the reported £7million received from Sunderland, but if they're going to even match last season's fourth place finish, they'll surely have to. It will infuriate the fans if the only reinforcements brought in following Gordon's departure are another gaggle of Lithuanians who'd struggle in the Scottish First Division. Perhaps most important to Hearts' hopes is to find a strong leader in the dugout. Coach Stephen Frail has admitted that there needs to be a stronger voice barking orders to his players. And with days till the end of the transfer window it seems unlikely that anyone will be put in place in time to make any kind of impact.

Last season's third placed team are also struggling. Like Hearts, Aberdeen lost their best player to Sunderland. But unlike their rivals, they were not quite so handsomely compensated. Russell Anderson (right, in red) fetched just £1million. A price that no doubt reflects the former skipper's inability to fight his way into the Scotland starting XI. Given that Anderson was given a start against South Africa at Pittodrie last week despite hardly featuring for Sunderland so far this term, many Aberdeen fans (myself included) will be feeling that it's not how well you're playing, it's who you're playing for. And these days, if you're not in the Premiership or playing in Glasgow or Edinburgh, your chances of making it into the Scotland first team are slim. Craig Brewster has undoubtedly been Aberdeen's strongest player in the opening four matches, and his imminent return to Inverness means that surely the two Jimmys will need to step up their search for a striker, with just five more days till September.

Hibernian look to be the best bet to finish 'best of the rest'. Some shrewd summer signings seem to have made up for the fact that they lost the majority of their best players over the summer, with Chris Killen and Scott Brown making their way to Celtic, and Steven Whittaker arriving at Rangers. Yves Makaba-Makalambay is a giant between the sticks and should provide them with the stability they lacked in goal last term. Much will be expected of young Steven Fletcher (above), who will be looking to make up for a poor U20 World Cup display in Canada by getting in amongst the goals. Clayton Donaldson is the only major arrival up front and he will have the task of replacing the influential Killen. Despite some major personnel changes, I back Hibs for a third place finish.

And what of the rest? Kilmarnock will surely be expecting another top six finish after seemingly managing to hold onto Steven Naismith for yet another transfer window. Their fans will surely be hoping he doesn't turn into another Kris Boyd, who left the club for a miserly £400,000 in January 2006 as his contract ran down. Naismith is a more complete player than Boyd, and must surely be worth more than the reported £1.5million Rangers et al have reportedly been offering.

Dundee United will have hopes of a top six finish too. After an excellent start to the season Craig Levein's men look better than they ever have in recent years. They were unlucky against Kilmarnock following a dodgy red card shown to Christian Kalvenes and they were very impressive against Aberdeen and Inverness. Expect them to be mid-table and pushing for higher by the end of the season.

Motherwell have also had a good start and under new manager Mark McGhee could be the surprise package of the season. McGhee has made some good signings and the side look far more organised than they did under Maurice Malpas last season.

Falkirk, St. Mirren, Inverness and Gretna will no doubt form their own 'mini-league' of relegation candidates this season. Of the four, Falkirk and St. Mirren look the most likely to secure their places in the top flight for another year. Inverness will hope the imminent return of Craig Brewster (right) to the dugout, and possibly the pitch, will inspire them to their first victory of the season. But sorry Gretna don't look like an SPL side. They haven't bought well and the confusion over who exactly is manager won't be helping matters any. Providing Inverness sort themselves out, Gretna will no doubt go back down where they came from at the season's end.

My predictions:

1. Rangers
2. Celtic
3. Hibs
4. Aberdeen
5. Hearts
6. Kilmarnock
7. Dundee United
8. Motherwell
9. St. Mirren
10. Falkirk
11. Inverness CT
12. Gretna

CIS Cup: Hibernian
Scottish Cup: Celtic