Here are some links on the subject-and if you want to read what I think then scroll down:
Who is Marcus Evans from Money Week
Who is Marcus Evans from Wikipedia
This, I think, is the official website for one of his companies
The story reported in the East Anglia Daily Times
as is this story
The story reported in the Daily Mail
This article is from This is Money
..and I think that story is pretty much a reworking of the story from The Official Clubsite
As I have said elsewhere on this blog- I have always had a bit of a soft spot for Ipswich Town FC since going to school near there in the late seventies/early eighties and now I've moved back to East Anglia I've been to watch them a few times.
I guess today could feature large in the not inconsequential history of the club as it has been announced that businessman Marcus Evans has bought the club. I don't know how this story will pan out -but the fact that Evans is successful, a bit reclusive and shadowy (as in private) means that there may be the kind of moral indignation that some journo's (especially those from the Guardian and those who have been refused access) and some fans (usually those from rival clubs) like to show. I'm not sure how Ipswich fans will feel about it- the club is doing rather well- a young team- the product of what is a really good scouting system (particularly in the Republic of Ireland). They are very well organised and could quite easily make the play-offs this season. Something like this could destabalise what has been built up.
However ITFC do have massive debts- a result of getting carried away last time they were in the Premiership (and something that resulted in them in having to flog off all the young players that had come up through the club). It would be nice to see Evans allowing the club to continue to develop the way it has over the last year or so- with his money being used to support what Magilton has being doing rather than replacing it.
So here are two predictions- it's the Summer of 2010 and Ipswich have just finished in a decent mid-table position in the Premiership- the only blip being two humiliating defeats by Pompey- and the Republic of Ireland-with a team built around a number of decent young Ipswich players are about to do rather well in the World Cup.
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
Five Players I wish I'd seen play live
These are in no particular order.
Johan Cruyff.
I started to become obsessed with football during the 1974 World Cup. My seventh birthday was on the day of the final-and my birthday party revolved around watching the game. From that point until I was about 13 or 14- the only team that I really supported was the Dutch national team- though that support really only consisted of watching them lose in the final again in 1978 and having a Dutch Subbuteo team.
Anyway here's a video.
Brilliant Orange is the best book I've ever read about Dutch football-(and is probably one of the best books I've read about football).
George Best
I remember seeing him on the telly towards the end of his career when he was at Fulham- (I can clearly remember seeing the match when he and Rodney Marsh, who was his own team mate, starting tackling each other). However the only time I saw him in a football ground was towards the end of his life when he was a regular visitor to Fratton Park. One of the times I have felt most proud about being a Pompey fan was when, after he died, instead of a minute's silence the fans at Fratton Park spontaneously started to give him a minute's round of applause and started singing his name.
Garrincha.
Of all the people on this list- Garrincha is probably the player I would have most liked to have seen. I guess my interest really started after reading the chapter on Garrincha in Alex Bellos' book- Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life. My impression is that he was every bit as important as Pele in laying the foundations of everything that the Brazilian team was and still is today.
Stanley Matthews.
The main reason why I've included him is because my Grandad told me about 740 million times what a good player he was and my Grandad was a great bloke who knew more about football than anyone else I know.
His biography The Way It Was: My Autobiography is a good read. It's certainly better than Ashley Cole's.
Jimmy Dickinson.
Probably the best player ever to play for Pompey- you can find a short biography here. The footage is not brilliant- but the song is fantastic- much better than most of the music people put on YouTube clips.
Johan Cruyff.
I started to become obsessed with football during the 1974 World Cup. My seventh birthday was on the day of the final-and my birthday party revolved around watching the game. From that point until I was about 13 or 14- the only team that I really supported was the Dutch national team- though that support really only consisted of watching them lose in the final again in 1978 and having a Dutch Subbuteo team.
Anyway here's a video.
Brilliant Orange is the best book I've ever read about Dutch football-(and is probably one of the best books I've read about football).
George Best
I remember seeing him on the telly towards the end of his career when he was at Fulham- (I can clearly remember seeing the match when he and Rodney Marsh, who was his own team mate, starting tackling each other). However the only time I saw him in a football ground was towards the end of his life when he was a regular visitor to Fratton Park. One of the times I have felt most proud about being a Pompey fan was when, after he died, instead of a minute's silence the fans at Fratton Park spontaneously started to give him a minute's round of applause and started singing his name.
Garrincha.
Of all the people on this list- Garrincha is probably the player I would have most liked to have seen. I guess my interest really started after reading the chapter on Garrincha in Alex Bellos' book- Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life. My impression is that he was every bit as important as Pele in laying the foundations of everything that the Brazilian team was and still is today.
Stanley Matthews.
The main reason why I've included him is because my Grandad told me about 740 million times what a good player he was and my Grandad was a great bloke who knew more about football than anyone else I know.
His biography The Way It Was: My Autobiography is a good read. It's certainly better than Ashley Cole's.
Jimmy Dickinson.
Probably the best player ever to play for Pompey- you can find a short biography here. The footage is not brilliant- but the song is fantastic- much better than most of the music people put on YouTube clips.
Friday, 26 October 2007
Great British Losers, the sacking of Jol, Holloway, Liverpool's problems.
This has nothing much to do with football- it's a list of the 50 biggest British Losers in Sport from the Times.
The main story of the day is the sacking of Jol- and here is a good piece on that subject from the Times
..and this is from the Guardian on the same subject.
This is the Telegraph's round up of what papers are saying on the subject
..and this is what the Telegraph thinks.
And this is what one of their fan's thought after Spurs lost against Newcastle.
Here is what else I read and liked today...
A piece from the Times about the sanitising of the game
Also from the Times- an article about Fergie's legacy
This is from the Guardian- Liverpool's owners expect Benitez to win the Premiership. I cannot see that happening so I guess his future is not looking too bright. This is also about Liverpool's problems.
This is about Plymouth and Sylvan Ebanks Blake- who was named after a horse and who had never heard of Plymouth
...and here is Ian Holloway's weekly column from the BBC
...and this-from the West Ham (sort of) chairman is just daft.
The main story of the day is the sacking of Jol- and here is a good piece on that subject from the Times
..and this is from the Guardian on the same subject.
This is the Telegraph's round up of what papers are saying on the subject
..and this is what the Telegraph thinks.
And this is what one of their fan's thought after Spurs lost against Newcastle.
Here is what else I read and liked today...
A piece from the Times about the sanitising of the game
Also from the Times- an article about Fergie's legacy
This is from the Guardian- Liverpool's owners expect Benitez to win the Premiership. I cannot see that happening so I guess his future is not looking too bright. This is also about Liverpool's problems.
This is about Plymouth and Sylvan Ebanks Blake- who was named after a horse and who had never heard of Plymouth
...and here is Ian Holloway's weekly column from the BBC
...and this-from the West Ham (sort of) chairman is just daft.
From an e-mail sent to me by a Spurs supporting mate.
I don't think he wrote it-and it was written after last Monday's match against Newcastle and prior to the sacking of Jol. It made I laugh
"Pointless Dawson. Abyssmal first touch. Abominable awareness. Sloppy, sloppy marking. Where's his attention?
Pointless Chimbonda. Ooh, it's on his left foot! Better manoeuvre it onto his right foot, because he can't kick with his left! Ever. Tappy, tappy, manouevre, manouevre. That's it. Complete player, he. Well, half of him.
Pointless Malbranque. Huff and puff, dart and dash. Storm in a teacup. Ineffectual. Touch, tap, accelerate.... then lose it. Track back. Get shunted aside. No presence. No point.
Pointless Tainio. Kick and clatter, punt and pass. But pass to whom, to where and to what end? Run forward, run back. Look busy, do little. Pointless.
Pointless Jenas. Has everything going for him: young, tall, athletic. Should be great by now. Bottles it. Rises to the occasion about as frequently as the ice-caps melt. That should be soon, allegedly. Don't count on it. Greenland will turn tropical first.
Pointless Zokora. Stretch and strain, leap and lunge. Drive headlong into a cul-de-sac. If he rode a bike like he plays football, every time he braked he'd plunge over the front wheel. Used to be a good player, so they say. Must've been a while back now. Lost in the mists of time.
Pointless Lennon. Quick, quick, run, run. No control. Kick like a girl. Has been sussed. Stuck in time, frozen in development. Speed not enough now. What for those chunky little legs if they can't thump the damn ball into the net once in a while? What for that pace without craft? Just a sprinter with a ball.
Pointless Bent. Pointless, despite pointless service from pointless Jenas and pointless Zokora et al. Conjure something from nothing, lad! Deliver us a £16.5 million wondergoal! Hell, no! Just run aimlessly around and get coralled into corners.
Pointless Keane. Flick, blame, shout. Over-complicate. But don't do the simple thing. Ooh noo! Not. The. Simple. Thing.
Pointless Berbatov. A Rolls-Royce engine stuck in a Ford Fiesta. By which I mean Spurs are the Fiesta. The engine can really move but the chassis can't. Class of his own. No wonder he's pissed off. Realises he's in a pub team. He's painting Rembrandts and the rest are drawing matchstick men. Even the coach. That's what makes him really sad. Really really. And us. He knows it's hopeless. So do we. And pointless.
Pointless Spurs. How deep does the sickness go? How can a club have parts that are greater than the whole? Most of these pointless players are - in reality or potentially - good, or at least not all bad. But, as a team, they suck. They don't just suck, they blow. Then they suck some more.
Is there a Midas touch in reverse operating at White Hart Lane? Does everything that's gold turn to base metal? If not, why doesn't Jenas grow, Lennon ripen, Dawson mature, Zokora develop? Why must Kaboul's exuberance be his undoing - and that of Spurs? What corrosion is eating away at the fabric of players' confidences and abilities? And why are their reactions so slow, their movements so languid? Why is their thinking so sluggish? So often the simple ball forward into space is withheld. The moment passes and, inevitably, momentum is lost: the ball goes sideways or backwards. So often we lose out in 50-50 challenges, or even challenges that are 60-40 in favour. So often our players get caught in possession. Does Time move in slow-motion for a Spurs player? While he's got his foot over the ball - either pretending he's Colossus or else totally perplexed over what to do with it - some whippet from the other side nabs it.
Pointless: another game which illustrates the redundancy and sheer incompetence of the current coaching team. We aren't even treading water: we're sinking.
Oh, and pointless putting Cerny in goal until he's equipped with a proper defence. It wasn't his fault he let in three. No wonder Robinson looks a nervous wreck."
"Pointless Dawson. Abyssmal first touch. Abominable awareness. Sloppy, sloppy marking. Where's his attention?
Pointless Chimbonda. Ooh, it's on his left foot! Better manoeuvre it onto his right foot, because he can't kick with his left! Ever. Tappy, tappy, manouevre, manouevre. That's it. Complete player, he. Well, half of him.
Pointless Malbranque. Huff and puff, dart and dash. Storm in a teacup. Ineffectual. Touch, tap, accelerate.... then lose it. Track back. Get shunted aside. No presence. No point.
Pointless Tainio. Kick and clatter, punt and pass. But pass to whom, to where and to what end? Run forward, run back. Look busy, do little. Pointless.
Pointless Jenas. Has everything going for him: young, tall, athletic. Should be great by now. Bottles it. Rises to the occasion about as frequently as the ice-caps melt. That should be soon, allegedly. Don't count on it. Greenland will turn tropical first.
Pointless Zokora. Stretch and strain, leap and lunge. Drive headlong into a cul-de-sac. If he rode a bike like he plays football, every time he braked he'd plunge over the front wheel. Used to be a good player, so they say. Must've been a while back now. Lost in the mists of time.
Pointless Lennon. Quick, quick, run, run. No control. Kick like a girl. Has been sussed. Stuck in time, frozen in development. Speed not enough now. What for those chunky little legs if they can't thump the damn ball into the net once in a while? What for that pace without craft? Just a sprinter with a ball.
Pointless Bent. Pointless, despite pointless service from pointless Jenas and pointless Zokora et al. Conjure something from nothing, lad! Deliver us a £16.5 million wondergoal! Hell, no! Just run aimlessly around and get coralled into corners.
Pointless Keane. Flick, blame, shout. Over-complicate. But don't do the simple thing. Ooh noo! Not. The. Simple. Thing.
Pointless Berbatov. A Rolls-Royce engine stuck in a Ford Fiesta. By which I mean Spurs are the Fiesta. The engine can really move but the chassis can't. Class of his own. No wonder he's pissed off. Realises he's in a pub team. He's painting Rembrandts and the rest are drawing matchstick men. Even the coach. That's what makes him really sad. Really really. And us. He knows it's hopeless. So do we. And pointless.
Pointless Spurs. How deep does the sickness go? How can a club have parts that are greater than the whole? Most of these pointless players are - in reality or potentially - good, or at least not all bad. But, as a team, they suck. They don't just suck, they blow. Then they suck some more.
Is there a Midas touch in reverse operating at White Hart Lane? Does everything that's gold turn to base metal? If not, why doesn't Jenas grow, Lennon ripen, Dawson mature, Zokora develop? Why must Kaboul's exuberance be his undoing - and that of Spurs? What corrosion is eating away at the fabric of players' confidences and abilities? And why are their reactions so slow, their movements so languid? Why is their thinking so sluggish? So often the simple ball forward into space is withheld. The moment passes and, inevitably, momentum is lost: the ball goes sideways or backwards. So often we lose out in 50-50 challenges, or even challenges that are 60-40 in favour. So often our players get caught in possession. Does Time move in slow-motion for a Spurs player? While he's got his foot over the ball - either pretending he's Colossus or else totally perplexed over what to do with it - some whippet from the other side nabs it.
Pointless: another game which illustrates the redundancy and sheer incompetence of the current coaching team. We aren't even treading water: we're sinking.
Oh, and pointless putting Cerny in goal until he's equipped with a proper defence. It wasn't his fault he let in three. No wonder Robinson looks a nervous wreck."
Thursday, 25 October 2007
Rochdale-not very good, God, Irish spin their own failure and the origins of football.
Rochdale are officially the least successful club in the history of English League football. From the Telegraph.
This is pure spin- also from the Telegraph- the FAI are eschewing all responsibility and are passing the buck over selecting their next manager- and are then patting themselves on the back over their decision making.
Cracking article this-from the Independent about the role of religion in the formation of a number of football clubs.
..and talking of origins-this from the Telegraph is about the 150th anniversary of Sheffield FC-officially the oldest club in the world. The article mentions the Cambridge University Team-which formed a year before Sheffield- so they are really the oldest club in the world and, in case you are interested, the plaque to commemorate this fact is pretty close to my house. Here's a BBC Cambridge report on the subject - (of Cambridge Uni. being the oldest club - not it happening close to my house)
This is pure spin- also from the Telegraph- the FAI are eschewing all responsibility and are passing the buck over selecting their next manager- and are then patting themselves on the back over their decision making.
Cracking article this-from the Independent about the role of religion in the formation of a number of football clubs.
..and talking of origins-this from the Telegraph is about the 150th anniversary of Sheffield FC-officially the oldest club in the world. The article mentions the Cambridge University Team-which formed a year before Sheffield- so they are really the oldest club in the world and, in case you are interested, the plaque to commemorate this fact is pretty close to my house. Here's a BBC Cambridge report on the subject - (of Cambridge Uni. being the oldest club - not it happening close to my house)
Thursday, 18 October 2007
The William Hill Sports Book of the Year ShortList
Up Pompey by Chuck Culpepper has made the William Hill Sports Book of the Year short list.
You can see the long and short lists here
Could be a nice footnote to what is starting to look like Pompey's best season ever.
You can see the long and short lists here
Could be a nice footnote to what is starting to look like Pompey's best season ever.
Russia England Match Reports.
I'm doing this to let off steam really but here is a round up of what the newspapers thought about England's defeat in Russia
This is the Times Report- there are links on the page to other articles reflecting on England's defeat.
Here's the Guardian's report.
Also from The Guardian- this is what Hiddink thought (and I think he's right about Lescott)
The Telegraph has round up of what the tabloids think- with useful links to the Sun and the Mirror.
Their match report is here.
The Independent says this.
If Russia do beat Israel the I suppose there is some solace in that the dull feeling I get when watching England failing to live up to expectations happened yesterday- and I won't have to experience it next summer.
This is the Times Report- there are links on the page to other articles reflecting on England's defeat.
Here's the Guardian's report.
Also from The Guardian- this is what Hiddink thought (and I think he's right about Lescott)
The Telegraph has round up of what the tabloids think- with useful links to the Sun and the Mirror.
Their match report is here.
The Independent says this.
If Russia do beat Israel the I suppose there is some solace in that the dull feeling I get when watching England failing to live up to expectations happened yesterday- and I won't have to experience it next summer.
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