Matt Hughes: The Final Word

Given the abuse they have subjected him to, Frank Lampard’s description of the England’s supporters as “brilliant” on Saturday evening initially sounded magnanimous, but in reality could not have been more misguided. Even more depressing than England’s first-half performance was the return of the “no surrender” chants.

Ticketing restrictions prevent these morons attending England matches regularly, but it must be noted that their bigotry did not prevent many of them getting out of their minds in Barcelona’s many Irish bars well into yesterday morning.   

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The Newcastle United board has been quick to heap derision on Kevin Keegan, painting him as a has-been with little knowledge of world football whose only contribution was attempting to sign stars such as Frank Lampard and Thierry Henry on huge salaries. Given Keegan’s track record in the transfer market – and the fact that he has spent three years ball-juggling in a big tent in Glasgow – such allegations have the ring of truth, but lead to a more pertinent question that casts the stone-throwers in an even worse light. Why did they appoint him in the first place?   

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Manchester City won the FA Youth Cup last season with a largely home-grown team beating a Chelsea under-18 side worth more than £6 million in transfer fees, but with the club’s new owners promising to buy 18 new players in January, the future for the youngsters is no longer so rosy and their agents will already be looking to move them on. With Chelsea’s nose out of joint after missing out on Robinho, how long before they embark on a revenge mission to bolster the most expensive youth team assembled?   

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A new book, Learn To Speak Capello, is rising up the Amazon charts, but if the authors had produced a title explaining how to think like the England manager, it would have been guaranteed to top the bestseller lists. The Italian is as inscrutable as they come, making decisions with seemingly little regard to logic and pronouncements that regularly leave his players dumbfounded. If nothing else, such a tome would get England’s players reading again.   

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As they continue their managerial hunt, West Ham United would do well to reflect on the wisdom of a saying familiar to any child who has attempted to learn a musical instrument: more haste, less speed. While the club’s achievement in speaking to a range of high-calibre candidates so quickly is impressive, they risk missing out on the man they really want, Slaven Bilic, if they insist on sealing a deal before Croatia meet England. 

Comments

[oi]

oi,
i blame society

[Darren ward]

No shame in Chelsea's youth set-up! At least they give homegrown talent the opportunity to progress. Something that's sadly lacking at Premier league clubs up and down the country!

I'm an Oldham Athletic fan and our youth team regularly gets cherry-picked by larger clubs (City, Everton, Utd and Chelsea), at least the youngsters are getting a chance and we get a fee and sell-on clause.

[Chuck]

T is off base...Arsenal's youth team are full of rising English talent. It looks like somebody doesn't follow the English youth teams let alone Arsenal's academy.

[Andrew]

Most of the England supporters are a bunch of morons. It puts me off when I hear 'Rule Brittania' being sung. We don't rule the waves anymore and haven't done for quite a while now, and as for 'no surrender', well that's just embarrasing. I just wish someone would tell that bloody trumpeter at England matches to shut up.

[Richard Thomas]

As someone who attended the game on Saturday and will be in Zagreb on Wedsnesday, I somewhat object to being called a moron. Admittedly there was no need for the booing at halftime but I felt, especially given the utter shambles that accompanies a game at Wembley these days, that we kept a good atmosphere and roundly supported the team. I do disagree with the "no surrender" chants, just for the record.

[T]

So what exactly are Chelsea supposed to do Matt? Damned if we buy players, damned if we try and build a youth set-up, which had been shamefully neglected until recently.

We are recruiting young English players, with many now in the national set-up at various age levels and have spent huge money on building state of the art facilities, so they have as much of a chance as possible to succeed in the game. Given the recent comments from the new City owner and the Arsenal 'any kids as long as they're not English' policy, why not praise CFC for actually giving a damn about developing English youth? I won't hold my breath...