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Now what is Harry Redknapp doing today , looking through Tranmere's
team sheet to see if they made any selection mistakes ! If I was Aston
Villa I would have gone for a complete disqualification and looked forward
to a semi final . Instead they have made a compromise and decided to replay the
game again. I wonder what John Gregory will think if he was to suffer long term
injuries to key players during the replayed match. As the present league
table stands Villa are seven points off a relegation spot, and the way the have
been playing looks likely they will be in the bottom half all season.
Doing the honourable thing might back fire on the Villa and could see them
playing football in the First Division next season. If this was to happen in
Italy say, I would suspect West Ham being fined , kicked out of the cup , Villa
being reinstated and trying to claim some kind of financial compensation , we
all might laugh but it is high stakes and in today's economy
money is king and if rules are broken they should be adhered to. We
will have to see what the outcome is , but I hope Villa won't rue the opportunity
that has being given to them.
Back to Harry Redknapp, we have all been reading about the cock
up and who was to blame , the club secretary , Harry himself etc etc . , but
what I want to know is why Manny Omoyinmi did not tell anyone.
Was he scared ? or did he genuinely believe he was able to play for two
clubs in the same cup competition. I cannot imagine he was scared , even
though he is young , Manny is a professional football and to get where he
is today you need skill and bags of confidence. I would have thought that a
young cocky lad would have had the foresight to tell someone. Which leads me on
to question his intelligence, this must be the answer , Manny , although being
good enough to make the grade as a professional footballer,
has got to have an IQ the same size as a single cell life foam. You may think me
harsh but it has to be the truth . There is no other explanation , Manny
was not articulate enough to convey to someone that he might be able to
play. Leaving poor old Harry up the proverbial shit creek without a paddle . I
wonder if Manny has played his last game for West Ham, or will they enroll
him in a course in communication skills !
Fletcher Pimms.
20/12/99
So Football Fans
we've got the Germans again. In a group that finds us pitting our very limited
football skills against Portugal and Romania as well. I fear that we might not
get through to the second phase. If the results pan out as I think they will we
will be needing a victory against the Romanians in our final group game to
achieve a second spot. Not to worry Keegan has always a philosphical view on the
outcome and his honesty, when being interviewed, is very refreshing. Maybe it's
time to blood the young lad Cole so he get use to competeing at this
level.
The England team need another Gascoigne , and Joe Cole is the
only candidate at this present time. As I look through the Premiership ranks I
cannot see any other players that have the ability to take players on and beat
them as well as producing a defence splitting pass. Please Kevin , put him in
your next match before it's too late.
Speaking of being too late , I rang up a few of my business associates
in Amsterdam to find out how many tickets they could get me for the Euro 2000
matches . To my dismay, not very many, and as for the real football fans, each
FA has been allocated 5000 tickets a match ! I can foresee trouble at the
Germany match .The little town of Charleroi has a ground capacity of 30,000 ,
Germany is 60 miles away, with their 5000 allocation and ours that means
there is another 20,000 to be accounted for , surely , they have not all gone to
corporate sponsors ,press ,TV etc. No , touts will have them and will try
and fleece the fans as they tried to in France . If any one can remember the
Argentine game, some England fans got really irate and near the kick off
attacked the touts and nicked their tickets.
With Germany being so near, and our loyal English following
there will a deluge of ticket less fans . The police will have their hands full
and violence will erupt . There is no easy answer but I 'd wish the authorities
that be would look at each match and decide what allocation can be given, let's
face it the England - Germany should be moved to a bigger stadium anyway.
Lucky for me , I have got tickets so I will cheering on the
boys all the way and for you unfortunates I will be giving you my own
personal view of Euro 2000 when I am there.
Well that's it for this week be sure to log on next time....
Fletcher Pimms
Last Updated 13/12/99
The draw has been made for the 2002 World Cup and England have drawn Germany
. What's all the fuss about ? If we had drawn Holland, Spain, Sweden,
Romania, Yugoslavia I would have been a little more concerned. Apart from
starting two World Wars ( they bombed our chippy in the Second,) winning
three World Cups and numerous European Championships . The Germans aren't the
force they use to be , in fact I would go as far as to say this is the
worst German side ever!
I am not a connoisseur of German football or intend to be , but in these days
of International Football you always hear about up and coming talents , and as
far I as know Germany haven't got any. We should rejoice in that fact and
consider that in a year or two , we will have Joe Cole wearing the England
shirt. With David Beckham, Michael Owen we will have at least three World Class
players, not to mention the likes of Robbie Fowler, Kieron Dyer , Paul Scholes,
Francis Jeffers etc etc . The one thing that does worry me will be the
defence, hopefully Tony Adams can carry on for the next two years. Sol
Campbell, although excellent in the Premiership, has not yet convinced me at
International level . He has a tendency to be rash in tackles and abhors
players running at him. A tricky player like Del Peiro would make the
England defender look very uncomfortable. As for the Full Backs it looks pretty
bleak, sure , we have the Neville brothers but let's face it , would they
be any good in an average side instead of Manchester United ? Sorry lads I just
think you are good Premiership players. The left side poses more of a dilemma ,
we haven't got anyone apart from Le Saux ! Michael Ball of Everton is naturally
left footed but hasn't lived up to his promise, as for Andy Hinchcliffe , well
what can I say , he will be playing First Division football next season if he
stays at Sheffield Wednesday and that won't do his England chances any good.
Hopefully , Keegan will sort out this problem and maybe we will get a batch of
players coming out of no where to impress ( I hope so).
As I said before the Germans are in a far worse position than us. Which leads
me on to the other Countries in our Group, and the old Adage "There are no
easy games at International Level." Albania will be easy , if we
don't win home and away we want shooting. What I do fear, though , is Finland
and Greece. Both countries are in the ascendancy and both have a sprinkling of
International players who ply their trade abroad. It wasn' t long ago we mocked
the likes of Norway and Denmark as being amateur and whipping boys and no
match for our superior teams. How wrong we where , and let us not forget that
both countries see the games against England and Germany as glamour ties and
their respective players will not need any more incentive than this in trying to
win these games.
I don't see it as clear cut as most of pundits do. I think either England or
Germany will slip up against the "Lesser teams" and will have to rely
on the other countries results in the group to finish in the top two. As for the
matches against Germany I will be happy with four points be will
settle for two. It would be nice if Germany really cocked up and came
third, but that would be dreaming....
Fletcher Pimms.
Last Updated 8/12/99
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