A Fab-ulous joke

On a weekend when there were just too many things to talk about (United's late winner, the penalty that wasnt for Liverpool, the continuation of Torres' barren run etc etc), there was something more melodramatic that required words on this blog.

Fabio Capello has re-instated John Terry as the permanent captain. For the Wales game. Well done. Sense the sarcasm.

The arm-band being passed out like a frisbee in the recent friendly was an insult. So Fabio decides he needs to have a "permanent" captain. Oh wait, captain for the Wales game. So he overlooks Frank Lampard and gives the arm-band to John Terry. This, after he had said a year back that John Terry will "never" be England captain again. There are 4 dummies in this whole picture. Fabio, John Terry, England supporters and the armband. Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard - get over it..The Don has spoken!

A lot of football pundits (sense the sarcasm again) said John Terry should not have lost the captaincy in the first place. I concurred with their view. The Don made the captaincy issue a front page headline a year back. Was he satisfied with that? No, he wanted to out-do himself when he still had the chance. Now, he's on the front page of my blog.

Clap clap!

Politics 1 - 0 Sport

In my previous post, I talked about how the focus was shifting from sport to politics. Now, the focus has truly shifted to politics leaving the sport to suffer, right where it hurts the most.

Now, Rio Ferdinand has been named captain and Steven Gerrard vice captain following the sacking of John Terry as captain - because Terry had an affair.

Mr. Ferdinand has a fantastic reputation (what with missing the drugs test and banned for nine months) and Gerrard has a pretty decent brawling experience as well. Fabulous replacements. Who's next on the list? Wayne Rooney? I'm pretty sure he has a clean reputation under his belt.

John Terry being axed as captain of the English Team is a ridiculous decision in my opinion. Hey, who am I to question? But all I want to know is, was Capello's hands forced? If yes, Capello - I'm sorry to say your reputation has just flown out of the window. If no, well, your reputation stays, but England has flown out of the window.

As the title suggests, Politics 1 - 0 Sport

The Dummy

What is his role? Is he just a stop-gap or is he one for the future? Even if he's one for the future, will he actually be the "manager"?

Such are the questions asked when a new manager joins a high profile club. Instead of the team and the future of the team, its the "Who's in charge" which takes the priority. Just look at Real Madrid, Newcastle and Chelsea and you'll wonder why you bothered to come up with these questions.

When Ramos was appointed the "boss" of Real Madrid a week before the "El Classico", my mouth was open. When I found out that he's on a 6 month contract, I went into a coma. For a club like Real Madrid to have a stability like that is something astounding. And it all started when Del Bosque(the boss) and Hierro(the captain) were sacked on the same day-the day after they won the La Liga. Even the "Great Don Fab" was sacked after they won the La Liga simply because they did not play football which was easy on the eye.

Mourinho, in my opinion was one of the most "no nonsense" managers the EPL has ever had. Unfortunately, he proved to be a nuisance for Roman. Roman wanted someone to be his dummy. Enter Avram Grant. But everyone knew he was just a stop-gap and by the time the season ended, Roman was hit by the credit crunch and he knew he could not get a dummy.

These managers didn't even get their way in the players they wanted or did not want(depends on how you see it). Mourinho did not want Shevchenko, Grant did not want Anelka, but there they were; simply because Roman wanted them. Raul, a couple of years back, could not buy a goal. But Calderon didn't even consider the option of selling him because he was the image of the club. Keegan and Curbishley quit because they didn't have their say in the transfer window. Players came in and went out according the chairman's choice. Why wasn't the chairman coaching the players and teaching them how to play?

Everyone knows this is going to be the situation of every manager in these sort of clubs. The question is why would these managers go to such clubs in the first place? I'm not blaming Mourinho, Keegan and Curbishley. They simply didn't know what they were getting into. But what about Fabio, Carlos Queiroz, Grant, Scolari and Ramos? Is it because they think they can change something which their predecessors couldn't? Or is it just to have a "Managed [Enter Club] for [Enter duration] " on their CV?