It’s been a while (as always), I’ve been meaning to post
something (as always). Now I have tons to talk about. I’m going to try and be
as succinct as possible. Here goes…
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| He's the sort of bloke that used to come out and complain about you playing football in the street |
So straight off the bat, sorry off the bat is one of those w*nky things people say in work
meetings like Starter for 10 and Let’s park that! No more w*nky office
jargon. I’ll begin with the Premier League title race. It’s all but over now.
Thank god! I was getting seriously worried Tottenham were going to win it. So
worried I stuck £25 on them at 15/8 (would have won £65, including my stake). But
they messed up, they drew with Tony Pulis’ West Brom this Monday and have now
put Leicester in a position where they only need 2 points to secure their first
(and maybe only, in my lifetime) league title.
I bet Pulis was so happy! He’s got that “party pooper” air about him.
That, turn on the lights, “Everybody go home! Your parents have been called…!”
look about him (I think I’ve stolen that from the Football Ramble? Not sure? If
I have, sorry! I’ve just given you free advertising there anyway! And I kind of
thought that before you brought it up!).
Anyway Spurs probably won’t win the league now and I’m
delighted. There’s been a lot of Spurslike reaction to this too, “I bet all the
mugs backing Leicester are happy now… Shut up Arsenal fans! At least we got
this far…! It’s all a conspiracy (I’ve genuinely seen this)…!” This is my main
reason for not wishing my fellow Londoners well. While I know some decent Spurs
fans who are measured in their opinions on football, the majority of them show
about as much humility in victory, as a 5 year old who’s just won a game of
pass the parcel at their best mate’s birthday party! I genuinely fear for us
all if that lot ever win the league.
So come on Leicester! Pick up those two points so we can all breathe a sigh of
relief.
PS genuine well done to Tottenham (as much as it pains me to
say it), probably the strongest, but obviously not statistically the best, team
in the country this season. Please revert to type next season!
Let’s move away from talk of the league (in case Tottenham
do go and win it). As you may or may not know, this week in court, it was found
that the victims of the Hillsborough disaster were unlawfully killed.
While
this will never make up for the 27 years of hurt experienced by the affected
families or bring back any of the 96 people that died, I believe it’s a step in
the right direction. I’m always appalled by the when I read about the initial
reactions of the police, politicians of the day and media outlets when I read
the Hillsborough story; as well as the fact that the disaster happened in the
first place. I think it strikes a chord with me as I go to watch so much
football and see so many families and kids at games.
When I then read the sorts
of comments made by the likes of David Cameron (don’t even start me on that
guy), Margaret Thatcher and The S*n newspaper I’m infuriated. In what other
world would families go out on a weekend to an event, to see something they
enjoy, for entertainment; be killed as a result of negligence on the part of
the event organisers and then be criminalised by politicians and the media.
Yeah we had (and probably still have to an extent) a hooligan problem within
football in the 1980s, but 22 of the victims were kids! Were these hooligans?
Would The S*n/Thatcher have come out and said what they did had these been
middle class families at the theatre? Or more realistically, 96 nightclub
goers? It’s absolutely disgusting. In my opinion, anybody with a public voice
who has attempted to trivialise the disaster and its effect on the families
involved, or criminalise the victims should be held to account for their
comments, no matter how long ago, and sacked! And I will never EVER buy The S*n
newspaper (or even have it in my house), I can’t understand how any football
fan would. Just my opinion, mind you.
On to a more jovial subject. It’s coming up to summer in an
even numbered year, which can only mean one thing…! MAJOR INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT!
The Mrs is already dreading it. I’ve given soft signals as to my unavailability
between Friday 10th of June and Sunday 10th of July. I’m
even going!! Yes! Italy v Sweden in Toulouse on the 17th June. I
can’t wait! Oh by the way, I forgot to mention what tournament it is, for any
lay people who still read this (I fear those numbers have dwindled). It’s the
European Championships aka the EuropeanWorld Cup (not The Euro or The Euros! God I hate that phrase)! It
took a while for me to get excited for this one. I think that happens with
every European World Cup, due to the more low key build up in the media
compared to a “World” World Cup. But I’m well up for it now. And I’ve started
my countdown doing what any self respecting saddo would do, scavenging and
scouring the internet for info, videos & stories to add to the stuff I’ve
already seen (or know) about past European World Cups. Just to top my really
weird obsession, I’ve split my “research” by tournament and by week starting
with Euro 88. I’ll get on to why in a
minute but I’ve already f*cked this up because there are 7 tournaments for me
to look at but only around 5 weeks until the tournament starts, saying that I
probably won’t be that fussed by the time we get to the last few tournaments,
although Euro 2008 was one of the best tournaments in recent years in my
opinion.
So why start with Euro
88? Well if you’re a geek like me and know you European Championship
history, you’ll know that pre 1980 it wasn’t much of an actual tournament.
There was a long qualifying competition which resulted in 4 teams being left at
the end to play the semis and the final. It all had a bit of a glorified
Emirates Cup feel about it. I mean Germany (West pre 1992) didn’t even enter
the first few. Then 1980 was an awful competition from all I’ve read, so awful
that I can only just about remember the finalists and the score. Apparently it
was dominated by hooliganism and low scoring matches and played in half empty
stadiums. It will be of no surprise to some people to hear that Euro 80 was held in Italy (all though
the low scoring thing doesn’t ring true nowadays, but that’s another subject).
And then Euro 84, which by all accounts was a marvellous tournament, seems to
have been wiped off the face of the earth in terms of any historical footprint.
I think it’s because we didn’t qualify and everyone thought it was going to be
as sh*t as Euro 80.
Then came Euro 88,
and the game changed! First of all, amazing stat, Euro 88 is the only major
international tournament (of the modern day at least) to have not had a single
red card, own goal or knockout match decided by penalty shootout. Based on my
hatred of penalty shootouts (bring back replays for big games), that’s a winner
in my opinion. And Euro 88 looks
great! By that I mean images of it, both still and moving. It’s not as bright
and colourful as Mexico 86 but it’s
certainly not as dark and dingy as Italia
90. I always think World Cups and European Championships can be married up
to an extent, in terms of fashion i.e. kits, haircuts etc, tactics and to a
lesser extent star players. Euro 88
was definitely more in line with the aforementioned, and historically popular, Mexico 86. It also shares the fact that
missed it due to my being not that interested in football at a young age (not until
the winter that followed, when I was around 8). God I wish I’d have started
watching a year earlier! I think the mystique of it being a tournament that I
missed, makes it all the more interesting.
Much like Euro 84
and 80, in fact any European World Cup, Euro
88 wasn’t our finest hour. England’s record at the tournament reads: played
three, lost three, scored two, conceded seven! The key moments of the campaign
being an opening match up with the Republic of Ireland, making their debut at
the European World Cup (parallels with Wales this year?); and an epic battle
with, the eventual champions, Holland, where Marco Van Basten sunk us with a hat
trick.
I managed to dig out a video of the ITV build up, along with
half time and full time analysis for the England v Ireland game, which in my opinion
is hilarious due to the late Brian Clough’s completely dismissive, “We’re
England you know!” attitude when speaking about the Irish chances of winning
the game. In addition I dug out THE FULL official video of the Tournament
(produced by Worldmark as always) Tor!
Total Football, which is narrated by none other than Craig Charles. I must
say I impressed myself with this find, it’s the height of “Geekiry”. I didn’t
even realise European World Cups had official videos, if you’ve got a spare
hour (and you give a sh*t) I can recommend it!
Right I’m off to immerse myself in Euro 92, which will largely involve me wondering why Graham Taylor
subbed Lineker (he deserved Rooney’s record) and saying “…Brolin! Dahlin!
BROLIN!” in my best Barry Davies accent.
That wasn't very succinct was it.
Chat sh*t get banged!
