February
2001 News
This is the latest news
of all the players who appeared in the 1970-71
FKS Publishers Ltd
Wonderful World of Soccer Stars Album
27 February
McFarland 'Steps Up'
Compensation
deals are too high to risk terminating a contract these
days, so Cambridge United's Roy McFarland (Derby
County) is the
latest manager to be sacked but not sacked !Cambridge are
18th in Division Two, just 3 places above relegation, but
with as much as 5 games ahead of one of the teams below
them.
There is
talk of Roy being 'kicked upstairs' Bill Nicholson (Tottenham Hotspur squad) style, and the official
statement is at pains to stress how grateful the club is
for his last 4 + years in charge. McFarland was manager
when Cambridge United won promotion in 98-99, but the
club has continued to struggle to consolidate their
position since.
See Cambridge United Football Club -
McFarland Sacked
BBC SPORT FOOTBALL Cambridge
sack manager McFarland
cambridgeunited.net - McFarland
Story - which
is providing the picture.
Best Fundraiser
The
following news snippet about George Best appeared in Suday's Observer
newspaper (25 February, 2001, Sports section).
Best
in show
English
Football legends past and present will be at Old
Trafford next month for the first of George Best's
fundraising events in his new guise as an
anti-alcohol campaigner. Denis Law, Bobby Charlton
and other ex-Manchester United stars will attend, as
will most of England's 1966 World Cup winners. Best,
who recently left hospital after a bad bout of
pneumonia, will draw on his 30 years of personal
experience of the demon drink in his speech.
professor
Roger Williams, his doctor, will talk about their
joint effort to raise several hundreds of thousands
of pounds to fund a new laboratory for research into
alcohol-related liver damage. With more than 800
tickets at 60 pounds-a-head already sold, and a
memorabilia auction planned, this excellent cause
should receive a hefty sum.
15 February
Staines on
Graham's Character ?
This
week's football weekly' Match' magazine has a feature by
'Georgie G' - none other than Bob's 70-71 favourite George
Graham, made to
look and talk like cult figure, Ali G. 'The word on the
street wiv de main man of de Spurs Massive!' As the
magazine would have it.
This
occasional feature appears in the amusing 'Route One'
part of the magazine, which mixes news highlights with
comedy features.
This week
Georgie G. writes,
"Booyakasha.
It is me, Georgie G ! I is fed up dis week and you is
lucky dat I'm even speaking to yer. I is been getting
a bit of stick from many of you for lettin' Andy
Booth into me posse, innit. Well dat is rubbish me
finks and I tell yer why. I is bin in charge here for
a while and all I heard since den is the crowd
chantin' 'Boooooth', 'Boooooth', 'Boooooth' at the
end of every game. I is thinkin' dat they want me to
sign him and so I get him in and dey moan some more.
Someone please explain dis to me ! Anyway, till next
time, check it!"
As it
happens ex-Spurs manager, Peter Shreeves (see news)
is saying he wants Andy Booth back at Sheffield Wednesday
as soon as his one month loan period with Geogie
finishes, maybe he's been hearing the 'Boooooth's ' too
...
10 February
Rodney Marsh Revisits QPR
Rodney is
now columist at the 'Four Four Two' website, it seems.
This week his column is about QPR, the club Rodney was
with in the 1970-71 season. Presently the side is
struggling one off the bottom in Division One. Original
members of the Premiership, QPR have not been as low as
Division Two since Rodney was part of the (old ) Division
Three Championship side in 1966-67. ClubCall.com reports ...
I
still feel a great fondness for Queens Park Rangers.
Jim Gregory and Alec Stock gave me my big break when
I was just twenty and I was there for seven years,
the longest I spent at any club. It’s really sad
what’s happening to them now, it feels like all
the work done in my era is being undone.
We
took them from the third division in 1967 to the
first in 1969, and won the League Cup. Now
they’re £20 million in debt, facing relegation
and owned by someone who wants out. It’s an
absolute disaster.
Although
they got relegated under Richard Thompson he was
close to getting things right. They were comfortably
holding their own with the big boys - regularly
finishing in the top half of the Premiership (in 1992
they beat Manchester United 4-1 at Old Trafford).
I have
been saying that Chris Wright was making a mistake
for some time now. His first move, turning the
football club into Loftus Road Plc with two
"subsidiary companies" QPR and London Wasps
rugby club, aroused concern. How on earth you can
combine rugby and football is beyond me.
Firstly,
ground share schemes never work. When Tottenham
shared White Hart Lane with American Football team
the London Broncos for a season they had to relay the
pitch twice. Secondly, it produces a pervasive
atmosphere of ‘second-rate-ness’ - I
remember Joe Kinnear saying the same about Wimbledon
sharing with Crystal Palace. And the team was badly
neglected by the ownership. The likes of Andy Impey
and Trevor Sinclair were sold but never replaced.
I’m
not certain that it was Wright who made the
managerial appointments, but Stewart Houston was a
strange choice. Especially when Bruce Rioch came
along too, for a bit of role reversal from their
Arsenal days. Very strange! I couldn’t see how
that was going to work.
Sometimes
managers just don’t work out because of
circumstance. For success you need the right man, in
the right job at the right time. Perhaps, like George
Graham at Tottenham, Ray Harford was the wrong man at
the wrong time?
Gerry
Francis is completely blameless in this mess. When I
first met him, as a youngster at the club, he was a
spoilt brat. But I like him as a coach, he’s
done very well considering the circumstances.
He’s had very little to work with and he’s
been made to look the fall guy.
Wright
deserves some respect for admitting failure. That
said, his timing was very bad. It leaves the club in
limbo: The manager doesn’t know whether
he’ll be there next season, so the players
won’t sign new contracts and supporters –
the main revenue stream – are left confused and
anxious about the future. Alan Sugar did the same at
Tottenham, preseason is a better time.
Chairmen
used to be at a club for 25 to 30 years. Nowadays
five years is a long time. Spurs, Fulham, Manchester
City and Crystal Palace have all lacked continuity
and part of the problem is that new chairman have
unrealistic expectations. They expect to be
successful, but after a few bad games they’ve
had their eyes opened and realise success is never
instant. Mark Goldberg at Crystal Palace is the prime
example of what can go wrong and Wright’s public
statement on Wednesday said it all for me. He wants
to sell QPR but he’s going to stick by Wasps. He
has no concept of what it is to be a football
chairman.
Twice
I’ve been asked if I would get involved with
Rangers. In 1994 I was approached by Thompson about a
role as chief executive, but after a week
negotiations broke down because I wanted more control
over the club. Four weeks ago I was approached again
about getting involved. I don’t know if it was
an official approach or not but I was told, by a
great source, that as well as their debt they are
losing £60,000 a week. To say that put me off a
little would be an understatement.
Reversing
a clubs’ fortunes is far more difficult than it
was, even ten years ago. That’s because football
is completely and utterly only about money - a good
manager will get nowhere without it. Look at Terry
Venables, he had little to no impact at Crystal
Palace or Portsmouth and he’s one of the best
coaches in the world. Alex Ferguson couldn’t
turn QPR around in their current state.
It is
a devastating time for the hoops. They’ve been
milked dry, they’re languishing in mediocrity on
and off the pitch. Turning Rangers around will be
like turning Queen Mary around in her bath tub. The
short term plan must be Division One survival, but
it’s going to be very very tight.
Pelé Cursor
For anyone
wishing to convert their computer to a 1970-71 Football
zone (i.e. me) it is now possible to go one step further
than wallpapering the Desktop with pictures of Billy
Bremner. Thanks to Cursors and Mouse Pointers at
CometZone - Free Website Cursors you can now change the cursor
to show a picture of Pelé ! But,
being the father of a seven year old, I've actually got
Mr Hanky the Christmas Poo ...
Pelé can be found at CometZone - Category Search For
SOCCER
9 February
Venables Manager of the Month
Surely
this is the first time the Carling Premiership Manager of
the Month award has been won by someone other than a
manager ! Well done anyway to Terry Venables (QPR) for getting this month's award
for inspiring the amazing 11 game unbeaten run at
Middlesbrough. It is looking more and more like
Middlesbrough will keep their Premiership status ... for
another season at least !
Sky Sports Football -
Middlesbrough
reports ...
Terry
Venables’ Riverside revolution has been rewarded
with the Carling Manager of the Month award.
The former England
boss’ official title is head coach at
Middlesbrough, but he has still been honoured after
guiding his new side to a seven-match unbeaten run in
January.
Venables joined
forces with Bryan Robson in October and has hauled
Boro out of the bottom three.
They have gone 11
games without defeat and their impressive month also
saw them move into the Fourth Round of the FA Cup,
where they face a home replay with Wimbledon.
Boro recorded four
clean sheets in January, including a shut-out at
Anfield, and are currently one place above the
relegation zone.
And after the 1-1
draw with Man City last week, Venables warned that
there is still a long fight ahead for Boro.
He said:
"There are a lot of fixtures to be played, tough
ones, and it's not a fairy story.
"The
reality is that it's going to be hard for all the
teams who are in that area."
8 February
George Best In Hospital
Well, I
did previously promise to not report every single drink
relapse for fear of depleting my webspace allowance. But
George has hit the headlines again for being in hospital
in Belfast with pneumonia. George had been taken ill
whilst at his home in the fishing village of Portavogie
in County Down. Thankfully the reports are that the
condition is not life threatening. Get well soon George !
See BBC News NORTHERN IRELAND Best
'poorly, but improving'
See more February news
at the following ...
|
