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Football News: A Game Of Two Halves

A Game Of Two Halves
Image from: exclusivejoint.com

1. Dons return home
AFC Wimbledon have received planning permission for their proposed new stadium, close to the site of their former home, Plough Lane. The new ground will initially accomodate 11,000 but has scope for expansion to 20,000. Finally the community owned and backed team will return to play in the community. About time too.

2. Newcastle play for the cameras
There is a funny stat being bandied around right now, about how much better Newcastle United's performances are, in terms of results at least, when they are playing in a main televised match. While there are many possible reasons for this, including it just being a statistical anomaly and so utterly meaningless, the worrying thing is that the most likely reasons all revolve around the players. It really does look like this is a bunch of players with a lack of effort put in unless they are involved in the big games, as those are the ones that are on TV. This is not just a statistical anomaly, in my opinion, it is matched by the evidence of my own eyes, having watched them play so many times in recent years in matches that are not the main televised games. The talent is there to beat anyone, but the talent is not being applied week in and week out, which is why the talents have ended up playing for the Toon, when it is clearly not their first choice. Well other than the one player who does apply himself regularly but utterly lacks talent, Jack Colback. He wants to be there, but is just not talented enough to make a difference on his own.

 

3. United cancel their Xmas party
Following their embarrassing exit from the Champions League in midweek against VFL Wolfsburg, Manchester United players have decided to cancel their annual Christmas party, which was due to take place on Sunday night. While their form in the league, if not in terms of performances, has been good, leaving the Red Devils in position to qualify for next season's Champions League, their meek exit from a favourable group in this season's competition has led to the players deciding to put a hold on any celebrations. A good decision, whether it was really the players that made it or the club, as the fans would have been unhappy to see the players out having fun after that debacle.

4. Watmore becomes the second Prem player to get a first class degree
Sunderland forward Duncan Watmore is the first Premier League player to graduate form university with a first class degree since David Wetherall managed the feat way back in 1992. At least it proves that not all professional footballers are dumb, just almost all!

 

5. Rush keepers have spread to Uruguay
How about that for a goal in U14 football? Nice one keep!

6. Bit harsh ref!
Teofilo Gutierrez got booked for his goal celebration, after he borrowed the ref's vanishing spray:
The ref needs to develop a sense of humour, let's be honest.

 

7. Italian fans really like their protests
Lazio have not been at their best of late, and the fans seem to have had enough of the poor performances. To show their displeasure, they dumped 10 sacks of manure outside the training ground on Friday morning, to greet the players as they turned up to the Formello training complex; Along with the sacks was a banner which read: "You want to make us drown in sh*t. But first we want to make you eat it." Charming.

8. Barca planning to become the first billion Euro club
Barcelona are embarking on a massive commercial push over the next few years, as they aim to become the first football club to achieve 1bn Euros in revenue. Right now they have a long way to go, but realise they have a lot of opportunities to enhance revenue. First off there is a planned expansion to Camp Nou stadium, from 97,500 to 105,000, with VIP lounge seats, which are the most lucrative, jumping up from 1,800 to 10,000. There are major plans to expand the brand abroad, currently Barcelona have just one office overseas, which is in Hong Kong. They plan to open three more overseas offices, in Sao Paulo, New York and Shanghai, with the Brazilian one being an extremely unusual choice. Talks are ongoing regarding a renewal of the shirt sponsorship deal, with the current deal with Qatar Airways set to expire at the end of the season. The club have ruled out returning to the logoless shirts or charity logo they used in the past. Currently the club earns 33.5m Euros from the shirt deal, but it is controversial amongst the fans, due to the association with a regime that has a poor record on human rights and the association with the debacle of the Qatar World Cup and corruption allegations. It seems that Barcelona, who once claimed to stand for something more than football, now just stand for greed.

 

9. Thanks for the cliches Martinez!
Roberto Martinez has given every pundit the chance to trot out the old cliche of a game of two halves. Everton, utterly irresistible in the first half against Norwich City, came out for the second half looking like they thought the game was won already, despite the score only being 1-0 to them, though it was a miracle they only managed one goal. Once again the Toffees suffered due to their inability to defend set pieces, as Norwich equalised from an early second half corner. With Leighton Baines looking like a 55 year old filling in for the regular left back, rather than an England international returning from injury, and Tim Howard looking as dodgy as the day he was sent packing by Manchester United, what Everton did not need was to give away corners. One day Bobby Martinez will realise that a goal is a goal no matter how it is scored and practice set pieces, instead of being so arrogant as to feel it is not necessary. This is the best Everton side I can remember since the days of Howard Kendall, the only thing holding it back is the manager.

10. Time to look elsewhere
It is time England looked elsewhere for their keeper than the increasingly dodgy Joe Hart. Manchester City's defence is not helping him, but he is increasingly not helping them by letting simple saves fly past him. The option of Stoke City's Jack Butland is looking increasingly tempting as the Euros move closer. Hart is unable to organise the defence in front of him, which is much more important for a weaker team like England, rather than a stronger team such as Man City. Give him a player racing through one on one, and Hart is excellent, anything else and he is dodgy.

Written by Tris Burke December 12 2015 17:10:41