Antonio's Left Foot

Cristiano Ronaldo was always going to be irreplaceable. When he left United he and Messi were by far and away the world's two best players, and neither of them were even as good as they are now. The goalscoring hole left by Ronaldo seems to finally be filled by Robin Van Persie (despite the best efforts of Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov in the last few seasons, neither has truly compared), however with the mouth-watering clashes between United and Real Madrid coming up in just over a month's time, I do not believe there is a single United fan who is truly over our former Portuguese genius.

At the beginning of this season, I did in fact believe that there was an opportunity to finally lay our Ronaldo dreams to rest. With RVP signed, we had a man with the ability to score as many as the man himself. We also had the Premier League's best right-footed winger of last season, the man bought in 2009 who was never going to replace Ronaldo, but has given United a much needed extra dimension out wide, Antonio Valencia. Between the two, it looked like we may finally have the closest we could ever get to a Ronaldo successor. RVP has not let anyone down, he is proving himself to truly be the best striker in the world, with Falcao being the only true competition for that crown (apologies to Liverpool and City fans but Suarez and Aguero just aren't quite that level whatever delusions you may have). The let down of the season however, and his failings have certainly been covered over by United's defensive frailties, is that man Valencia.

Voted the United fans' and players' player of the season last year, it has been an almighty fall for the Ecuadorian and until Boxing Day, I myself had been in denial about these problems. Every below par performance from my former favourite I had defended profusely, unwilling to believe that he was really playing that badly. Even his absolutely dire performance in the 1-0 defeat to Norwich didn't deter me, I still claimed Valencia was the league's best winger and it was only a matter of time until his performances picked up again. They haven't. The 4-3 win over Newcastle was the final straw in my defence of Valencia. He didn't play particularly badly, certainly it wasn't his worst performance of the season, but what I realised is that defenders have simply worked out what every United fan has been frightened of for a long time, which is that Antonio Valencia only has one foot.

Now by that I do not mean he is one-footed. One-footed in reference to a footballer usually means they are much stronger with one foot than the other, but in times of necessity they will attempt a shot, a cross or at the very least a pass with their weaker foot. When it comes to Valencia this is not the case. I genuinely do not think I have ever seen him attempt to do anything with his left foot other than use it for standing. There is nothing more frustrating for a United fan than watching him being shown onto his left foot. As soon as it happens the sight in front of your eyes becomes the same as when you leave your PlayStation on and forget to pause it. For anyone who does not know what I mean by this, when playing FIFA if you are to let go of the controller and leave a player standing over the ball, what they will do is shuffle very slowly in the direction they are facing, doing nothing of any worth whatsoever. Now if I could sum up Antonio Valencia's season in one line, I think that would have to be it. Every single time Valencia gets the ball in a position which in seasons gone by would have defenders trembling and crying like Helen Flanagan in a bushtucker trial, he is duly shown inside by said defender. Any other player in this position would at least attempt to make a short pass to the nearest team-mate, but not our Tony. Whether this nearest team-mate is 6 feet or twenty yards away, Valencia looks down at his left foot, bellows "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" in the style of Gandalf, attempts to turn and go back down the line, swings back his diamond encrusted right foot and kicks the ball straight into the readily prepared defender. Meanwhile 70,000 people inside Old Trafford groan in frustration while I openly weep in the street in front of a shrine to Jesper Blomqvist.

It has genuinely become beyond a joke now the lack of usage that left-foot gets. He may have suffered a serious injury on it and that could certainly have damaged his ability, but the fact of the matter is he goes out of his way not to use it in positions where it is even obvious to birds flying overhead that it would be the most productive thing to do. Yet every single time without fail, Valencia will attempt to either turn it back onto his stronger foot and cross it in (which defenders now expect and easily block), or he will pass the ball backwards like an over-excited Joe Allen. We are all crying for the same thing, we beg him to take the man on, shoot, cross, whatever, just USE YOUR LEFT FOOT. Even if he really cannot physically get any power behind the ball when using it, at least using his left foot to make a simple pass would carry on the build up play, unlike his small backward passes.

As far as I can tell, Valencia is possibly the most one footed player in the Premier League and defenders have now figured that out, meaning they know how to stop him. He was once arguably the best crosser of the ball in the league but defenders now know what he is going to do meaning the majority of his crosses are blocked. He only has three assists this season which says it all. Amazingly, it seems his low left-foot capabilities and dire performances have not been picked up on by pundits as of yet and in my opinion he is getting a very easy ride at the moment. It is very easy to criticise United's defence, and have a go at the likes of De Gea, Ferdinand, Nani and Rooney when they are under-performing rather than the more quiet Ecuadorian. Valencia is seen as a nice guy who just gets on with his job. He has avoided controversy so far in his career by being a consistent and solid player for both Wigan and United, especially when compared to the disgustingly inconsistent Nani and Tom Daley inspired Ashley Young. However, it will not be long before his poor performances appear on the media's radar. No player, however quiet they may be, can avoid being criticised in the long-term and Valencia is no exception. He is certainly not someone I want to have a go at, and he has been my favourite player of the last couple of years, but it is the frustration of knowing how good he has been that makes me worry about this left-footed inability.

In the past I have said that if he learnt how to use his left foot then he could be one of the best players in the world, now I think it is necessary just to prevent himself becoming a future failure at the club.

Football Pitches- A Criminal's Paradise

Keane on Haaland, Zidane on Materazzi, Fellaini on Shawcross.

These are just three incidents in modern football where indubitably, one player has purposely gone out of his way to assault a fellow professional. Injuries caused by horrendous fouls in football are an unfortunate but natural part of the game, examples such as Martin Taylor's foul on Eduardo and Ryan Shawcross on Aaron Ramsey are simply unfortunate errors of judgement. Tackles which are mistimed and lead to potentially career-ending (or at least career changing) injuries. The three incidents I have mentioned at the top of this article however, are very different, and for me they show that football can be a way for criminal offences to be taken about as seriously as Katie Price's music career.

Working in reverse order, very recently Marouane Fellaini was banned for three games for headbutting and attempting to punch Ryan Shawcross. This is just one headbutt or punch out of hundreds I could have picked out, they probably happen most weeks in the Premier League alone, however Fellaini's was made more bizarre as both his attacks were completely unprovoked. Often a player may headbutt an opponent in anger at a challenge made on them and although this is unacceptable in itself, it comes from a red mist descending on the player (for example, Samir Nasri very recently against Norwich). Fellaini was acting in this way in order to gain an advantage to score and he was doing it in a way which could have easily caused damage to Shawcross. Imagine for a second you are walking down the street quite slowly and a man behind you tells you to hurry up. When you fail to do so, this man then grabs you and headbutts or punches you. Now let's say there are thousands of witnesses to this, and cameras which can replay the incident over and over again so that proof of it is undeniable. In most respectable societies, this attack would lead to some sort of prison sentence or at a minimum, community service. In the case of Fellaini, he received a three game ban. So what? As far as the Belgian was concerned, it meant he got to have a very relaxing Christmas, rather than playing every three days like the rest of his team-mates, and bearing in mind he was the main force behind Everton's great performances this season, it probably came as a welcome rest. He returned from his suspension with a slightly damaged reputation as a person, but with no harm done to opinions about his playing ability, and he is allowed to carry on playing as if nothing happened. I am not saying Fellaini should be arrested or banned permanently from playing, but a three game ban is simply not enough. Football is the most played sport in this country, and in many others around the world and it is no exaggeration that these footballers have a huge influence on the behaviour of children. Following Zlatan Ibrahimovic's jaw dropping bicycle kick against England, there will have been thousands of kids the next day possibly injuring themselves in an attempt to try and replicate that sublime piece of skill. Similarly, there must have been many Everton fans playing football the day after their hero's "punishment" for his actions was announced, who will have seen it as a good idea to try and headbutt a friend so they could score their hat-trick goal. Don't ask me what the solution is, that is not my job, but it is plain and clear for everyone to see that a three game ban is not enough for behaviour which would get a member of the public arrested.

An example of just how bizarre the football justice system works comes from Zinedine Zidane's infamous headbutt on Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup Final. As Zidane was planning on immediate retirement after the match, a suspension of however many games would have been pointless. Instead, Zidane received three days of community service for his actions. Now although this would have been punished more severely had it not happened in a football match, this does show something about how footballers are treated by the authorities. It was almost as if now that Zidane had hung up his boots, he was allowed to be given a punishment usually reserved for a criminal offence, as should be the case for a disgraceful headbutt such as his, rather than retribution in the parallel universe we call football. If it weren't for his imminent rertirement, Zidane would have received a ban from several international matches and that would have been it. So why is it that a mere ban is permissable as a punishment in the footballing world, yet once the realm of football is irrelevant, more appropriate disciplinary action is given?

In my opinion, the worst intentional attack that I know of to have happened on a football pitch, was that of Roy Keane on Alf Inge Haaland and this alone, demonstrates that actions which would lead to serious repercussions in the real world, are taken far too lightly when they occur on a football pitch.

You will often hear a Man Utd fan defend Keane, by saying in fact it was not that tackle which ended Haaland's career. This is probably correct, but so what? Let us look at Keane's exact words from his autobiography, where he confessed the tackle was a premeditated attack.

"I'd waited long enough. I fucking hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you cunt. And don't ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries."

"My attitude was, fuck him. What goes around comes around. He got his just rewards. He fucked me over and my attitude is an eye for an eye."  (Haaland had previously accused Keane of faking an injury received in the 1997/98 season when Haaland played for Leeds. The injury kept Keane out for almost a year).

 Haaland claimed that the foul by Keane led to his retirement as he never played a full game afterwards. It is widely acknowledged that Haaland in fact retired due to a long-term injury in his other knee, but this does not make Keane's actions any more acceptable. Keane writing in his autobiography that he meant to hurt Haaland (whether he caused any damage or not), is the equivalent of someone confessing to attempted GBH. Imagine if a man you had a long-standing grudge against came at you in the street, again in front of thousands of witnesses, and attempted to break your legs. Despite failing to do so, he then admitted what his intentions were and claimed he had no regrets. If that happened to me I'd be more than a bit angry if my aggressor got anything less than a minor jail sentence. Haaland of course did not press charges against Keane, but in the football world is there ever an option to do so? The best a player can hope for is that their attacker gets a significant ban and fine. Keane did. He got three games and a £5,000 fine for the initial tackle and after admitting it was a motivated offence, received a further five games and £150,000. But this is not enough, it is as simple as that. As a role model, captain of his club, and a parent amongst other qualities, the fact that Keane managed to escape with his career for his actions says all you need to know about the difference between assault in the real world, and on a football pitch. That man is remembered by the majority of people (including me) as one of the greatest players to have played in the Premiership and for the way he played, deservedly so, but it has to be remembered that his actions were unacceptable and would have led to an arrest in the real world. Missing eight games and being fined £155,000 means absolutely nothing to a man who made 480 Manchester United appearances, and earned tens of thousands of pounds a week. In footballing terms, his punishment was just three games more than that of Martin Taylor, whose devastation following the breaking of Eduardo's leg was clear for all to see. In football, there is no difference between premeditated attacks and horrendous accidents, as long as it happens on a football pitch, it has no relevance to outside society.

Funnily enough, the actions of an idiot earning millions of pounds a year attempting to break someone's leg in front of millions of television viewers among which are young, easily influenced children, is actually a lot more relevant in influencing society than someone committing the same crime on the streets. No, I am not saying Roy Keane is as bad as your everyday criminal, but for the influence his actions could have, particularly on children who looked up to him and aspired to be like him, he deserved serious retribution. The media has portrayed the promiscuity of John Terry, Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole etc, in a way which makes them seem as if they deserve to be hung, drawn and quartered for their terrible influence on the kids who look up to them. When it comes to these affairs, you may as well be telling kids about Einstein's theory of relativity or Descartes' cogito. Under the age of 10 they'd have no idea what the problem is and any older than that they simply wouldn't given a toss. If the media are going to tar and feather any sportsman for his behaviour, do it to the ones who deserve it, the cowards who purposely go out of their way to injure their fellow professionals, and let's see some real punishment for these actions.

So no, I am not claiming Keane, Zidane or Fellaini are evil men who deserve locking up, but in the footballing world these people are punished in a way that will not do anything to demonstrate just how wrong their actions are, they can get away with murder (metaphorically, I am quite sure if Joey Barton murdered a PSG player while playing for Marseille then there would be more punishment than a 12-game ban). The point stands that these people can act in a way that is unacceptable in our society, but it simply doesn't matter because it's football, it's entertainment. Maybe we all need to open our eyes a bit, injuries and fouls are an inevitable part of the entertainment, but attempted bodily harm is not.

93:20, 13/05/2012- a United fan's analysis

I have not written a blog post in a while for various reasons, and in the time I've been away from writing a lot in my life has changed. Amongst many things I have become a university student, met many new and wonderful people, and decided I want to be a journalist/ some form of writer in my later career.

Aguero's goal which broke my footballing heart

One other thing that has changed is that football is not as huge a part of my life as it used to be. I put this down to one mere factor, one second of my life. 93:20, 13/05/2012. This moment will be recognisable to many as the second where Sergio Aguero's final shot of a brilliant first season in the Premier League, hit the back of the Queen's Park Rangers net and gave Manchester City the title. I don't need to explain why that one goal was the difference, we all know the story, and as a Manchester United fan everything about that goal was heartbreaking. It was not just losing the title in the dying seconds, going into those day's games we did not expect City to fail to win, we had already accepted that we had blown it. There was almost redemption for the bizarre Wigan defeat and extraordinary Everton draw, but when we looked back, it was clear that we did not deserve the title, City showed the grit and determination needed and were worthy winners. There was more to it than that, mainly that our bitter rivals (and I'm using the word "bitter" in more ways than one there), had done it. They had come from Division Two obscurity 13 years earlier to this, and us Utd fans never envisaged it happening. Everything about that Aguero goal was painful, and for me it felt like being shoved into a cardboard box, being sealed up and unable to escape. I was trapped by the deafening combination of the now legendary sound of Martin Tyler commentating "Balotelli, AGUEROOOOOOOOO", and the sound of celebration from the City fans. It was a noise like no other football celebration I'd ever heard, it seemed to be the release of every ounce of pain from the lives of each individual person in the stadium, whether personal or football related, and it was converted into that one, united scream of joy.

It was this noise which broke my footballing heart. Now do not get me wrong, I am by no means a sore loser, in fact compared to most of my fellow Utd fans I was very noble in defeat and took it well, trying to be happy for my City fan friends. The reason that this moment has led me to not care quite as much for football as I used to, particularly in moments of Utd defeat, is that there will never ever be any moment in football more painful than that Aguero goal. It was like the worst possible break up imaginable- sudden, noisy, and simply heart-wrenching. In addition, no other break-up would ever be more painful than that one, or certainly in no imaginable way. Similarly, in footballing terms, Aguero's goal was the most heartbreaking imaginable thing to happen to a Utd fan, and no other future footballing moment will ever compare. This is why my love for football has dwindled slightly. I can simply not be as disappointed or upset by anything that happens, knowing what happened in that moment. 93:20, 13/05/2012.

Andre Villas-Clough

Let me start off by apologising to the fans of Derby County and Nottingham Forest. Brian Clough is an idol at both of these clubs and is a legendary football manager. Andre Villas-Boas is so far proving to be so inept at managing Chelsea that he could be out of a job in less time than any manager under Abramovich, and maybe should be so already. So I apologise for now going on to compare the legendary two-time European Cup winning manager to the Portuguese failure, but I can't help but see similarities between AVB and Clough during his nightmare 44 day tenure at Leeds United.

Player power is where the similarities are seen. Clough was virtually forced out by his players not wanting to play for him. They were Revie's men through and through and to see a young, cocky manager come in who had openly criticised them before, was not something they wanted to see. Villas-Boas did not walk into Chelsea in quite the same way, in fact his arrival seemed to create a buzz and sense of optimism around the club. This guy was the new Mourinho everyone seemed to think. It seems to have been proven however that simply managing the same club before Chelsea, is not a short-cut to the same type of success. This comparison to Mourinho may be AVB's ultimate downfall. Roman thought he was the new Jose, as did the players and fans and to put it bluntly, he's not. It is therefore no wonder the players have rebelled and refuse to play for him. He has treated some of the team's senior players in a disgraceful way. Frank Lampard may not be the player he once was but during the first-half of the season he was scoring when he played, but not playing every game. He can now barely get on the pitch. Didier Drogba may be getting on a bit, but in the last two seasons he has still been a major goalscoring force and one of the best strikers around. AVB has persisted with Torres all season to no avail and although leaving rhe Spaniard on the bench against Napoli may show he has finally lost faith in the former Liverpool man, it may be too late for Drogba to save his manager's job, and if he does then he will be sold.

As with Clough at Leeds, while showing rebellion against the manager, at no point have players stated that they want to leave the club. They have both, particularly Drogba who is desperately trying to secure a new two-year contracrt at the club, shown fierce loyalty to Chelsea, because they both love the club. It is the manager and his poor treatment of them that have caused their morale to drop. At no point during Clough's ill-fated regime did his loyal guard of players express any unhapiness at Leeds United itself, just the manager. Clough attempted to get rid of some of Revie's team so he could build his own, just as AVB is trying to do, but both's actions were wreckless and wrong. It was wrong for Clough to try and completely change a successful team, whether he liked them or not. Meanwhile, yes Chelsea do need rebuilding but why is Villas-Boas trying to get rid of Lampard and Drogba, when he has not found ideal replacements for either yet? Torres certainly cannot fill the Ivorian's boots and as for Raul Meireles who appears to be taking Fat Frank's place most of the time, well he has been woeful for his new club. Until the replacements are found and the foundations for a new team are there, AVB should not be thinking about throwing out the old guard completely.

The main similarities I see between the Clough and Villas-Boas regimes is the stark parallels between Leeds' Billy Bremner and Johnny Giles, and Chelsea's John Terry and the aforementioned Lampard. Bremner was Leeds captain, their rock and probably their best player. While Clough tried to change some of the other Leeds players, Bremner was not on his list of those to be removed. He wanted his new team built around Bremner, a figurehead of the Revie era and wanted Bremner to play as his player, not Revie's. The main problem was that the captain did not want to play for the new manager, the new regime and led the players in rebellion, meanwhile getting himself a long-term ban for punching Kevin Keegan in the Charity Sheild, meaning he was not even able to play for Clough  for the remainder of his short time in charge. Villas-Boas has had similar problems with Terry. The Chelsea captain has managed to lose himself the England captaincy with his racist comment to Anton Ferdinand, and currently has a pretty serious knee injury, meaning the manager cannot even build his defence around his captain at the moment (which is leading to hilarious consequences with Sideshow Bob and the world's best mid-table centre back Gary Cahill currently trying to hold together the back line). Terry has not openly criticised his manager, like Bremner, but it would be surprising if he was happy with Villas-Boas' treatment of the Chelsea Golden Era players, despite never being under threat of being sold himself.

Meanwhile Johnny Giles and Frank Lampard have similarities in that they were and are respectively, the number two players for their club. Bremner and Giles, Terry and Lampard, the figureheads of two successful teams and that was not something that should have been messed with. Yet Clough wanted rid of Giles, seeing him as a threat, despite being a genius player. He did not want him at the club but had to play him as he could work magic. He did not want to play for Clough and Clough did not want Giles playing for him but he was not able to get rid of him. What Giles did still want was to play for Leeds. This seems to be the same problem between AVB and Lampard. The manager doesn't want the player playing for him, nor does the player want to play for the manager, but Lampard does still want to be a Chelsea player, and as one of the figuerheads of Chelsea Football Club, no-one would want to see him go. He may be ageing but he still scores goals and however hard Villas-Boas tries, he will not be able to get rid of Lampard. At least not until he was found a replacement everyone is happy with, and Frank's time at Chelsea comes to its natural conclusion. If it ain't broke don't fix it, and Villas-Boas seems more intent on pursuing his own personal mission of removing a not broken Lampard, just as Clough wanted to force out the still very much working Giles.

So this is where I see similarities between Brian Clough and Andre Villas-Boas. They are very different managers in many regards, Clough being successful for a start, but there are no doubt striking similiarities between the former's Leeds days and those AVB is having at Chelsea. AVB may very well become a successful manager. Maybe he will be allowed to stay at Chelsea and rebuild the team over a decade, or maybe he will be successful somewhere else. It certainly looks more likely to be the latter, managers do not get the same chances these days as they used to (such as Ferguson for United between 1986 and 1990), and he will certainly not be given that chance while he does his best to desert the older side of the Chelsea dressing room. Clough did that, and very quickly he was gone.

Don't Do It Harry

Yesterday, my Twitter timeline revealed Henry Winter's latest tweet saying Fabio Capello had resigned. I froze in disbelief, could it be? "#capello" was not trending yet or anything of the sort and so I for a few minutes saw it as a piece of misinformation. I was wrong. I went on to the FA's website and there I saw the news that I had been desperate to arrive since June 2010, Capello was no longer England manager.

Now I am no huge England fan, of course I feel disappointment when we exit a major tournament but England winning a major trophy is not something I'd prioritise. To be completely honest I'd rather United won the FA Cup or beat City and Liverpool a couple of times each than England won the Euros or the World Cup. I may just be saying that as I have never experienced the joy of a successful English side, and if we were to maybe reach the semis or the final of a major competition in my lifetime, then I would feel different. I do admit to having patriotic images of leading a crowd through the streets singing Vindaloo during the last World Cup, but overall, and particularly since the Germany embarrassment in 2010, my affectionate feelings towards the national side have been lacking to say the least.

Yet in spite of this, when I saw the news yesterday I felt a sense of joy, the man who's awful management in 2010 had led to the demise of my support for England had now gone, another of England's evil forces has been eliminated (although this time it is by his own hand). I respect Capello in a way for not backing down, sticking to his principles and it is certainly unfair to an extent that he was not involved at all in the decision making process which saw John Terry's captaincy taken away. But the man has proved that while he may have been a great club manager, as far as leading a national side goes, he is not what the FA bargained for by paying £6million a year, and his lack of sensitivity and understanding towards the Terry issue proves he is not what we want for England. Maybe Fabio was just angry that the decision was taken out of his hands, but at the end of the day he was saying a man who may very well be proved as a racist within weeks of the Euros finishing, should be allowed to skipper his country. As an Italian, Capello was never going rto understand the issue in full, nor would another foreign coach, and this is why the next man who braves the English football throne must be English. But unlike the vast majority of the country, I do not think it should be Harry Redknapp.

Well, as an England fan, I do want Redknapp to be the manager, he is by far and away the best English manager around, arguably one of the best manager's in the world at the moment and he has Spurs playing phenomenal football most weeks, and on the weeks they don't play as well they still seem to grind out results (such as at Anfield on Monday). He has not had to spend big to do this, all he needed was a 40 year old goalkeeper, a 30 year old relegated midfielder and an unreliable, wayward striker. If it weren't for City's billions or United's astonishing resilience in challenging at the top with a fairly average team, then Spurs would be Champions. They are certainly not out of the title race and would be even closer to the top had Jermaine Defoe not missed that chance and Ledley King had not given away that penalty a few weeks ago. It is extraordinary what Redknapp has done with Spurs and with various financial fair play rules coming in that could limit City's spending power, I would not be surprised to see Spurs as title favourites next season if Redknapp is still at the helm. 

So I ask on this basis, why on earth would he leave? The England job is something that all English managers probably aspire to and it can be quite painful if they do not get it, Brian Clough remains the greatest manager England never had and Redknapp could certainly challenge for that crown if he does not take on the job. But Champions League football is all but assured for next season, and with that there will be a feeling of "don't stop us now" around Tottenham. Luka Modric and Gareth Bale are bound to be linked with moves away again, but where would they go? Modric flirted with Chelsea last summer, but I am sure he will feel satisfied as he watches the Roman empire crumble while he is playing for the best Spurs team in decades. Bale is more likely to be linked with a move abroad and although this may be tempting one day, I do not see him leaving Spurs while they are challenging in Europe and on the home front. Champions League football, another crack at the title, and a strong likelihood that their best players will stay and better ones will come in too, Redknapp simply should not leave the haven and safety of Tottenham and make his way down Wembley Way.

'Arry may just be successful for England, he may take us to a final, he may even win something and if this happens then he will have made the right decision. He will bring the team together, with Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand already tweeting their support for him (of course they may just want him away from Spurs before they climb above United in the table), but it does seem to that Redknapp is genuinely the man everyone wants. What if it doesn't work out though? Capello was sacked for speaking his mind and Harry isn't one to mince his words, if has has an opinion he will say it. Will he be given the same freedom in picking his backroom staff and his squads as Capello was? English managers have never seemed to have too much. As for his salary, that will almost certainly be less than Capello's, but he is already earning £4million a year at Spurs so the wage cut compared to Fabio will not doubt have to be less than the FA will have wanted. The other major problem would be possibly tarnishing the fantastic reputation Redknapp has built for himself. Southampton aside, he has been a success wherever he has been and if he became an England flop then it could ruin the image of a manager the whole country respects. His innocence in his tax evasion trial has only consolidated his popularity, and if the risk of being found guilty did not compromise his support, then not much will. One thing that will always hurt the reputation of great managers is the England job. Glenn Hoddle and Kevin Keegan are now bit part pundits on ESPN, Sven has recently been sacked from Championship club Leicester City, and Capello will now forever be remembered as a failure. But the most striking example of a great manager humbled by England is Steve McClaren. The man was a Treble winner as assistant to Fergie in 1999, he won the League Cup with Middlesbrough and took them to a UEFA Cup final, very similar to the achievements of Redknapp with Portsmouth. But since his ill-fated spell in charge of the national side, his previous achievements have been wiped out. He is (unfairly) a laughing stock in this country thanks to his title of the "Wally with a Brolly" and that tremendous Dutch accent on his arrival at FC Twente. Although he has been a success in Holland, failures with Wolfsburg and Nottingham Forest have damaged him further. Redknapp is a better manager than McClaren, but their achievements are similar and if 'Arry was to have the same failures as the latter, he would not be remembered as the man who won the FA Cup with Portsmouth and built one of the greatest Tottenham sides ever, but as another failed England manager.

I am not saying Harry will fail, and he is certainly more likely to succeed than anyone else and for this reason it is right that the FA chase him for the job for as long as they can. If he takes it, then it could be a great victory for both parties. Even Spurs could benefit, with Jose Mourinho on the brink of leaving the Bernabeu, Champions League football back in England with Tottenham would no doubt tempt him. But it is for the same reasons Redknapp should stay, he has a comfortable job with Spurs and his team are going to get a lot better before they get worse. His reputation is impeccable at the moment, and if he were to fend off the FA, although disappointing for the national side it may be, he will have earned further respect. Not many managers would turn down the job with their national side, for what could potentially be the last time it is on offer in their career. Staying at Tottenham would be a mark of respect to the board who have always backed him, particularly during his trial, and to the fans and players who adore him. It would be such a great morale boost for Spurs too and success would be ready for Harry to take with both hands. England may be a fascinating and rewarding challenge, but the turmoil that goes with the job and the potential blows to any manager's reputation, make it a much less desirable one to take.

So my message to the FA, please fight, please do all you can to get this man to take the job, he is at the moment, one of the only chances this country has of success. My message to Harry Redknapp? Say no. There is too much at stake by taking the job. At Spurs he has nothing to lose and everything to gain, at England he also will have everything to gain, but everything to lose too.

What next for England?

Ding dong the witch is dead
Which old witch?
The (allegedly) racist witch

Finally, the moment has arrived. John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy, and if he is found guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand on July 9th, then it will be for good.

I am being harsh here, Terry is a great captain. particularly for his club, a natural leader and one of the best centre-backs of the Premier League era, however he has absolutely no right leading his country into Euro 2012. In the extremely unlikely event of England lifting the trophy, a man who cheated on his wife with a team-mate's girlfriend and (allegedly) racially abused Anton Ferdinand should not be the face of English football for future generations, alongside Bobby Moore on the shoulders of his team-mates. Within two weeks of the final, the alleged comment to Ferdinand may be proved to be true and forever England will be remembered as a team who won the Euros with a racist as captain. A lovely example to the rest of the world.

Of course, England will not win, but the point stands and I for one do not want to see that man, who I would call "scum" whether he called Ferdinand a "black c***" or not, leading my country into Poland. There are not many men amongst the England team who I would like to see doing that (including Rio Ferdinand who has been so bad this season I do not see why he should play for England anymore, let alone captain them), but there are three stand-out candidates.

Steven Gerrard is of course one of them. Despite being a Man Utd fan I have a lot of respect for Gerrard and think he is one of the finest midfielders to ever wear an England shirt. Like Terry, he is a natural leader and is his club's captain. He has captained England before as vice to both Terry and Rio Ferdinand and is the type of player who deserves to lift a trophy for his national side. There cannot be any more inspiring sights than seeing Gerrard's headed goal in the Champions League final of 2005 when he made it 3-1 and ran straight back to the centre circle, lifting his arms up and down as if to say "come on, we can do this" and they did. At that moment, the country was behind Liverpool, I don't think even the most hardcore United fan could say they were upset at seeing Liverpool lift the trophy in the manner they did that night. Gerrard brought national solidarity, and this is something he would bring to England. On the other hand, he is ageing and has just returned from a serious injury. While this may not matter too much, it cannot be guaranteed how long Gerrard will play international football for, and if injuries continue to hit him then he may think about hanging up his boots, and the captaincy, sooner rather than later. The captain position has been rather unstable since David Beckham gave it up, and a long-term prospect may be what is required.

This is a problem with my second candidate, Scott Parker. At 31 he is no youngster, but unlike Gerrard who may be reaching the twilight years of his career, Parker is only just peaking. He is one of the key reasons for Tottenham's rise this season, being a natural leader, despite not actually being captain. How many of you thought he was West Ham's captain last season? I would assume a fair proportion, but you would all be wrong, it was Matthew Upson. Parker won player of the year last year and although that may have been unfair on many players who actually succeeded with their teams, if it weren't for Parker, the Hammers would have been gone before Christmas. He even managed to bring a lump to the throat of Carlton Cole with his half-time team talk in a comeback against West Brom last year. As for Spurs, he has proven his worth and that he was not just a big fish in a small pond, and has been a stand-out performer for them, probably only second to Gareth Bale. While Ledley King usually holds the captaincy, in the centre of the park he dictates the play and has been rewarded by becoming an England regular. Although he does not have a great number of caps, he is a leader at the peak of his powers and could easily inspire England to success. Not a long-term solution, but having just broken into the England team, he is unlikely to hang up his boots for a few years at least, especially if his current manager Harry Redknapp succeeds Capello. Parker would be my choice for now, and I would want him succeeded by my next candidate, who I wouldn't mind seeing as captain now either.

Wayne Rooney. The man is driven by success, it is as simple as that. Rooney always wants to do better and is the type of player who could single-handedly take England to glory.  He is the country's best player, he is United's best player and despite his knack of attracting trouble and attention, will drive his country to succeed whether he is captain or not. He wants to be a captain, he loves being the centre of things and captaining his country would be the pinnacle of that. Both England and United are centred around Rooney, when he is not fit or available, the fans panic. He may have still have a temperament and that of course needs to be harnessed, but when he turns it on he can beat anyone. It may be the case that the pressure is too much and he may crack, he may lash out at an opponent and may need to be stripped of the captaincy if the demands of the job take their toll, it may be that Wayne Rooney should be allowed to do what he does best, play football. If he feels like he is the type of player who needs to just be allowed to play and not be distracted by being the captain, then it is not the right job for him, but you do just get the feeling he is made for the role. No longer will he need to respond to the demands of players who are not as good as him, he will be the country's best player and their leader and he could thrive with that. He would also be a long-term solution, at 26 he could be playing as captain for up to ten years, only if he is successful of course. Wayne Rooney is born to lead and one day should be England captain, whether that is now is a different matter, but he should certainly be a candidate. Although considering he will miss England's first two games of Euro 2012, leading them into Poland could be a problem.

For me, Scott Parker has all the makings of an England captain. Passion, desire and natural leadership skills, he is also a decent bloke it seems, unlike many other players. He deserves to have a go in my opinion, he is a commanding presence and would be perfect for the job. He also has another 3 or 4 years in him and you would not expect controversy, so he could bring some stability to the role for a few years, before handing it over to Rooney.

To Jose or Not To Jose?

As the final whistle sounded at the end of another El Clasico on Wednesday night, Jose Mourinho trudged down the tunnel, looking like a man who was resgined to defeat. He may very well resign from Real Madrid come May.

This was Mourinho's eleventh game in less than two seasons against Barcelona and although for once Real could claim to be unlucky in defeat, having dominated for large periods of the first half and having fought their way back from 2-0 down to 2-2, they still found themselves out of the Copa Del Rey, a trophy which they are the holders of, through Mourinho's only victory over Barcelona as manager of Real in last season's final. Other than that one game, which was only won after extra-time, Mourinho has lost to Bareclona on nine occasions with Real Madrid, and drawn once (the other night's match). It is a record which angers the Bernabeu club's loyal supporters. They expected Mourinho would turn things around and take them back to the top of the tree. Halfway through the La Liga season, he appears to have done this, but this record against Barcelona is a black cloud over what has been a pretty successful year and a half for Jose in Madrid. Until the 38th game is played however, and Real Madrid are confirmed as champions, Mourinho will not be considered a success, and with another game against Barcelona still to play and the knowledge that Guardiola's side are simply a class apart from any other team in the world, it is not not going to be an easy ride to the finish line.

Even if he does win the title, the rumours are growing by the day of a rift between Mourinho and his players, Mournho and the fans, Mourinho and the Real Madrid directors, Mourinho and everyone. If the rumours are true, and there is no doubt that the fans at least are beginning to turn on the self-proclaimed "Special One", then he may well be looking for another job next season. Another challenge.

There is one job that Mourinho has not taken yet, simply because the post has not been available. But we all know he wants it, a large proportion of the fans would want him, and the current manager has not hidden his admiration for him. This post is of course, that of Manchester United. None of us know when Fergie will finally call it a day, we all hope that he never does. But one day he will and United, unless taken on by the right man, could crumble after Ferguson. Throughout all changes at United in players, ownership and success, Fergie has overseen it all and without the right manager at the helm, I think there will be a lot of people both in and around Old Trafford, who will simply not know what to do. Whoever takes on the job will be a brave man indeed. It would be a potentially suicidal career move. There cannot be many men with success in their blood, like Ferguson, who will be able to give United the continuity that the fans will crave. One of the few men who would know what to do, and would almost inevitably bring continued success to the club, is Jose Mourinho.

He has always admired Ferguson and Manchester United, United fans secretly love him, or at least love to hate him, and Ferguson admires him. He probably sees himself in Mourinho in some respects. Intellgent, and both craving constant success. The difference between the two is that when Ferguson becomes successful, he tries to build on it at United. He has never got bored of building new teams and looking for new challenges, within Old Trarfford. When United are struggling, it is the same, he builds up a new team and pulls United through. Mourinho is different in a way that when he is successful, he looks for new challenges and new teams, but at different clubs, and when he is unsuccessful, he becomes frustrated and again looks for a new club to try and be the "Special One" at.

That is the one worry with Mourinho, which makes me think he may not be right for the club. Of course he would bring trophies and success, but if he wins two trebles in two years, is he going to wanrt to stay? He will have proven that he can face the toughest challenges, continuing the success of a man who most would say is impossible to follow. But once that challenge is complete, he will want a new one. Maybe the Portugal job, which is something he claims he dreams of doing one day. Meanwhile, if he does not continue the success of Ferguson, he will become unhappy, and look for a club where he can get that success. You would not expect that to be the case, and so the success of Mourinho would be almost guaranteed. The longevity not so much.

What United need to replace Fergie is a man with a similar approach, who can rebuild the club into his own, make them what he wants to be, and even if that takes a few years to get right, in the long-term it will be a whole lot better. The fans want continued success and Mourinho would bring that, no doubt about it, but if he were to leave after two or three years, what man would want to take a job where the shadows of both Ferguson and Mourinho loom over them? The fans may want immediate success and continued trophies, but this may be something we need to sacrifice for the greater good of Manchester United Football Club.

So for me, if Mourinho does leave Real and wants to wait for Fergie to finally say farewell, or even if he takes another job before then, in the long-term I do not think he would be a good choice for the success of the club. There may not be many other managers with the same credentials, but we do not want instability in management, following over 25 years of continuity in that area.