Posted March 4, 200817 yr Made me think about some posters on this and other footy forums. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.j ... mot104.xml Don't be fooled by football's propaganda By Sue Mott "Do not be deceived by outward appearances. In which case may we dedicate this column to the Chelsea manager, Avram Grant, whose outward appearance is of a depressed bloodhound on Valium, but who was speaking no more than common sense last week when he pleaded: "Just wait a little with the knife." He had lost a match, for heaven's sake, the little-vaunted Carling Cup, but the knives, cutlasses, lances and every other form of bladed instrument were flying thick, sharp and fast. So much of football these days exists in a self-generating whirlwind of hype, that managers are regularly hoisted on to the guillotine, players are either axe murderers or flamboyant heroes and Arsenal's season has just degenerated into fear and failure following the emotional loss of Eduardo to a broken leg. Well, Arsenal are still top of the league, still in the Champions League and Eduardo is mercifully walking around on crutches already. The team may well blow their chance of the title this year but it will have little to do in the long run with their Croatian striker's broken leg, nor even that appalling FA Cup tie at Old Trafford, when they appeared to give up before they started. It will have everything to do with their youthful enthusiasm running out steam, that they can look a great deal more lightweight and vulnerable than the old hands at Old Trafford and Philippe Senderos is an unbelievably dodgy centre-half, which he proved on Saturday by scoring an own goal against Aston Villa. Far from being a recent phenomenon, Arsenal's drop in form has been evident since Nov 3, when they were lucky to achieve a home draw against Manchester United. It has simply taken a long time to find them out because most of the others teams are worse. Meanwhile, Newcastle must be relegated. Nothing less will satisfy the over-statement brigade. Admittedly, they look awful, but surely no more awful than half the teams that ornament the bottom half of the table, with their lumpen skills and bird-brain players rushing off to buy £160,000 Mercedes in their spare time. Dear old Robbie Savage probably thought that the fans would love him for flaunting his status in Derby County colours. But it merely confirmed his true status as a dipstick. Newcastle might very well be relegated this season given that their whimsically-appointed manager has not achieved a Premier League win in six attempts and only contrived two points from a total of 18. Given also that chairman Mike Ashley seems to have lined Kevin Keegan's nest with more coaches, sub-coaches and over/underlings, who knows what further pantomime performances will ensure? But they are not relegated yet. They are 13th in the league with 30 points to play for. It is clear they will not win the league, but they could mathematically amass sufficient points to play in Europe. It is too early to order the shroud. That does not mean we have to believe Damien Duff when he announces: "There's definitely a buzz around and rightly so, he [Kevin Keegan] is a legend around here." That is player talk for keeping sweet with the manager and that buzzing sound in his ears might be a chainsaw in the boardroom, anyway. Perhaps more than anything the Newcastle saga demonstrates the perils of conferring Messiah status on anyone, be they manager or player. It doesn't happen in other sports. We don't call British Olympian Gail Emms, for all her remarkable skills, the goddess of badminton. She would think we had gone barmy if we did. But football is an exception, partly because of its place in our culture and more so because its best interest is served by propaganda. Well, who's isn't? But football gets away with it just like M&S with their great plastic bag sleight of hand. (You want bags banned? Ban them, don't just get mug punter to pay for them.) Manchester United are odd-on favourites to win the title despite being a point behind Arsenal, but Chelsea - that team with the knifed manager who is just about to get the sack, according to popular opinion - are only six points behind United with a game in hand and the teams have yet to face each other at Stamford Bridge. We behave as though the Premier League is stuck in aspic. Where things stand now is the way they must be. Manchester United must win the league because Arsenal are traumatised, Chelsea won't do anything because they lost to Tottenham in the Carling Cup last month. Tottenham definitely won't do anything because they all got so drunk after the said Carling Cup. Everton and Liverpool will fight it out for fourth spot because they are locked in this specific area of combat at the moment. Nice guesses, but all could be utter nonsense by the end of the season. Rafa Benitez was on the verge of the sack two weeks ago, now it's Grant/Keegan's turn. Dear morbid Avram was absolutely right when he told the media in the week following the Carling Cup loss to Tottenham, "You can say the game was bad, you can say my decisions were wrong, but don't go further." He told the Maradona parable, as illustration. "He said the owner [at Napoli] came up to him and said: 'You're overweight'. So Maradona said: 'No I'm the same weight as before - I just haven't scored recently'." Just so. Arsenal are the same weight as before (light), they just haven't managed to score a victory recently."
March 4, 200817 yr excellent article. this country is full of single brain celled idiots, with a sheep mentality. they believe everything their told about a rival, and happily repeat everything they read to anyone and everyone, believing it to be their own opinion.
March 4, 200817 yr they believe everything their told about a rival, and happily repeat everything they read to anyone and everyone, believing it to be their own opinion. You mean Liverfool fans aren't all a bunch of c*nts?!!
March 4, 200817 yr I like Sue's style, Too much weight is put on what people read and more now because they seem to want to believe it, too many go around discounting Grant on his demeaner or his dress sense, many quote his record (3 losses in 36 games) as not being good enough, using the reasoning that we lost to two of the big four and drew with another, although excuses are obvious they get ignored but the strangest thing to me is when a manager has got players missing he is likely to have a harder time against better teams, it's not always because he is not a winner The end of this season I imagined to be a pretty uninteresting time for us Chelsea fans, I am well happy that we are competing and now the squad is all together, although I dont Expect, I do have hope we can keep it going right to the wire.
March 4, 200817 yr This is a very interesting article by a self confessed Arsenal fan who never misses an opportunity to find a silver lining amongst the Gunners clouds whenever they appear on the horizon. You might like her style, Chippy, but in the past she has never had a good word to say about Chelsea and I doubt that this particular leopard has changed her spots of late. This piece is, indeed, one of those not to be trusted unless you want to hear the passionate words of a supporter who is ‘hurting’ and I quote… “Well, Arsenal are still top of the league, still in the Champions League and Eduardo is mercifully walking around on crutches already. The team may well blow their chance of the title this year but it will have little to do in the long run with their Croatian striker's broken leg, nor even that appalling FA Cup tie at Old Trafford, when they appeared to give up before they started. It will have everything to do with their youthful enthusiasm running out steam, that they can look a great deal more lightweight and vulnerable than the old hands at Old Trafford and Philippe Senderos is an unbelievably dodgy centre-half, which he proved on Saturday by scoring an own goal against Aston Villa. Far from being a recent phenomenon, Arsenal's drop in form has been evident since Nov 3, when they were lucky to achieve a home draw against Manchester United. It has simply taken a long time to find them out because most of the others teams are worse.” Personally, I think she has got the Arsenal deficiencies just about spot on and has probably been able to do so because she’s an avid supporter, who has obviously seen them a lot this season, and therefore, whilst she can see beyond the hype of their season ‘degenerating into fear and failure’, she is nevertheless realistic about where the problems actually lie. The fact that she can express her heartache and bury it in an article that tries to convince people not to believe all they read in the newspapers is a neat trick, but please, we can all read the Gunners rallying call and sly dig at Spurs between the following lines… “We behave as though the Premier League is stuck in aspic. Where things stand now is the way they must be. Manchester United must win the league because Arsenal are traumatised, Chelsea won't do anything because they lost to Tottenham in the Carling Cup last month. Tottenham definitely won't do anything because they all got so drunk after the said Carling Cup.” …and we are no more than bit players in her own propaganda. Want further proof? The condescending closing remark about Avram tells me more about her than it does about him and she is, in effect, asking her readership to ignore her own [correct] analysis of her favourite team and go along instead with a ‘nothing’s wrong that a goal or two wont cure’. She may be right [hope not] in Arsenal’s case, as tonight’s game against Milan might prove, but please Sue, spare us the evidential truth of a parable, especially if you’ve got to put Maradona in it.
March 4, 200817 yr This is a very interesting article by a self confessed Arsenal fan who never misses an opportunity to find a silver lining amongst the Gunners clouds whenever they appear on the horizon. You might like her style, Chippy, but in the past she has never had a good word to say about Chelsea and I doubt that this particular leopard has changed her spots of late. This piece is, indeed, one of those not to be trusted unless you want to hear the passionate words of a supporter who is ‘hurting’ and I quote…“Well, Arsenal are still top of the league, still in the Champions League and Eduardo is mercifully walking around on crutches already. The team may well blow their chance of the title this year but it will have little to do in the long run with their Croatian striker's broken leg, nor even that appalling FA Cup tie at Old Trafford, when they appeared to give up before they started. It will have everything to do with their youthful enthusiasm running out steam, that they can look a great deal more lightweight and vulnerable than the old hands at Old Trafford and Philippe Senderos is an unbelievably dodgy centre-half, which he proved on Saturday by scoring an own goal against Aston Villa. Far from being a recent phenomenon, Arsenal's drop in form has been evident since Nov 3, when they were lucky to achieve a home draw against Manchester United. It has simply taken a long time to find them out because most of the others teams are worse.” Personally, I think she has got the Arsenal deficiencies just about spot on and has probably been able to do so because she’s an avid supporter, who has obviously seen them a lot this season, and therefore, whilst she can see beyond the hype of their season ‘degenerating into fear and failure’, she is nevertheless realistic about where the problems actually lie. The fact that she can express her heartache and bury it in an article that tries to convince people not to believe all they read in the newspapers is a neat trick, but please, we can all read the Gunners rallying call and sly dig at Spurs between the following lines… “We behave as though the Premier League is stuck in aspic. Where things stand now is the way they must be. Manchester United must win the league because Arsenal are traumatised, Chelsea won't do anything because they lost to Tottenham in the Carling Cup last month. Tottenham definitely won't do anything because they all got so drunk after the said Carling Cup.” …and we are no more than bit players in her own propaganda. Want further proof? The condescending closing remark about Avram tells me more about her than it does about him and she is, in effect, asking her readership to ignore her own [correct] analysis of her favourite team and go along instead with a ‘nothing’s wrong that a goal or two wont cure’. She may be right [hope not] in Arsenal’s case, as tonight’s game against Milan might prove, but please Sue, spare us the evidential truth of a parable, especially if you’ve got to put Maradona in it. Dorset We've had quotes from Journalists on here that are ardent Fulham fans and likely fans of many other teams but that should'nt distract from the essense of the Artical, which points at over reaction to events,
March 4, 200817 yr Let’s just agree to differ on the essence of the article for now, Chippy, although I will agree that the title of the piece is a cracker.
