The curse of Africa on Spurs?

This week saw the unfortunate announcement that Emmanuel Adebayor is to be heading to the African Cup of Nations in week to represent Togo.

Despite not really setting the world alight since his permanent move to Spurs, Adebayor is a talismanic striker with proven ability and strength – when he feels like it. So much like his predecessors Berbatov and Mido then.

There have been some calls for him to start as the lone striker ahead of Jermain Defoe – not something that I am especially fond of as I feel the extra man in midfield (often Dempsey or Sigurdsson) adds a lot of the balance and attack of the team. Plus neither Adebayor or Defoe are the type to track back.

But the impact of losing Adebayor on the team, despite his lack of goals and form, will be huge. Losing Pavlychenko, Keane and Crouch in the last 12 months and not replacing them has hit Spurs hard, and this month has seen us pick up a new left back (Fryers from Standard Liege) and midfielder (Holtby from Schalke) but a new striker is sorely needed.

In a way, the return of Adebayor to Togo is remarkable after the shooting on the bus at the last tournament left the team visibly traumatised. Perhaps it is selfish, but to lose one of your key players is really going to hit spurs where they are the shortest – up front.

The other concern is one of form. Spurs fans will recall Fredi Kanoute’s good form for Spurs after joining from West Ham, before he had an 11th hour decision to head to the tournament and play for Mali. Kanoute came back half the man he was and decidedly off form, so perhaps the off-form Adebayor will see the opposite effect, and rediscover the goal scoring form which saw him hit 17 for Spurs last season.

Of course the most legendary story for Spurs fans and the African Cup of Nations is around the call-up (and subsequent injury to) Benoit Assou-Ekotto which allowed Gareth Bale to start at left back in his place. The rest is history, which I also hope Adebayor’s poor form for Spurs will also be.

They still dont get it - Italian football and racism

Following the racist chants from their fans in a friendly against AC Milan, Pro Patria have been forced to play one game behind closed doors. The Lega Pro who are in charge of the lower league football have issued this punishment...well punishment at its minimum, following they claim incidents that have taken place before. Their verdict was the following

"(The Lega Pro) will impose on the club Aurora Pro Patria the sanction of the obligation to play a league match behind closed doors, with immediate effect, with the caveat that further breach will be evaluated as an

occurrence of multiple violations, for the purposes of the subsequent sanction."

Many of you would think this is a weak idea of punishment and you would be right. They have already received fines of 4,000 and 5,000 euros respectively for previous incidents. They stated that the previous punishment was ineffective....well if a fine of 4 or 5,000 euros will not make a difference to the problems, then a match behind closed doors is not going to make one bit of difference. They need to clamp down seriously on these issues. It needs the Italian football association to actually make a stand, but sadly we know it wont happen.

Things need to change and maybe it's time that UEFA actually had the bottle to stand up and be counted. They were quite happy to ban English clubs from European competition after the Heysel tragedy, so why cant they ban Italian clubs from European competition. The problem is rife up and down the Italian league and until UEFA take a strong stance to make the Italian football association wake up and take action themselves, we will no doubt see more of the same walk offs by players.

Handing out pitiful fines and games behind closed doors is not saying we take it seriously, it says the Italians are making the point of you've been naughty so dont do it again. 

Whilst I am not saying English football is racism free, the English FA and Football League are more positive in dealing with this problem. 

From top of the world to mid-table in league one in 26 years

Last weekend saw Spurs (my team, you'll see me write about them primarily) play Coventry City in the third round of the FA cup.

For the well remembered and stattos among you, or failing that those of you who read Saturday's sport sections will recall, this was a replay of the 1987 final.

It was watching the side of Hoddle, Waddle, Ardiles, Gough and Allen that swung me into following Spurs that day. You may feel that it is strange to choose the losing side and stick with them, but that is what I did and 26 years on, I am still with them.

Although there has been some tough times, mainly called the 1990s, supporting Spurs is a joy. Most people like them as a second team, we play attractive football and have a reputation of having classy players: Gascoigne, Ginola, Defoe, Modric, Bale.

However for Coventry, history has not served them so well. A famous exit in 1989 to Sutton United has been followed by relegation and financial issues, to the point that Saturday's match was probably seen as an unwinnable cash-cow.

The 3-0 win, with goals from Dempsey and Bale, seemed pretty academic from my Soccer Saturday standpoint. It also saw the return of Scott Parker and Benoit Assou-Ekotto to the first team but what was an academic win for Spurs was probably the biggest match of the season for our opponents.

Times do change - look at the demise of Bradford City, Sheffield United and many others in the championship, but if there was a gulf of quality in 1987, it's now an ocean in 2013.

It's not that I feel sorry for Coventry, they were one of the clubs that had the new stadium and having attended a match during Chris Coleman's reign, a very nice one it is too. However this undoing is all too common now and while many clubs 'need an Abrahamovic', Coventry have been better served than many others, and need to realise where things went wrong post-1987.

However I will not lie about it, I don't have a lot of love for Coventry. They had a touch of the Wimbledon about them and in the way Arsenal fans still dislike York City and Wrexham, losing in such a style does hurt.

So in a way, this does serve as some sort of recompense for me as a Spurs fan, and I hope the future is brighter from here on for the Sky Blues.

Suarez not to blame

Liverpool beat Mansfield in the FA Cup 3rd yesterday, but that's not the whole story. Luis Suarez who had replaced Daniel Sturridge was credited with the second goal which had come off his hand. The Uruguayan who thumped the ball in the back of the net in somewhat frustration expecting the goal to be disallowed, was probably more surprised that it was allowed to stand. Mansfield players rightly protested but the referee and the assistant allowed it to stand. The reason according to the fourth official was that it was accidental. We all know that referees change their mind like anything, so it was surprising that it didnt change once again.

You have of course those saying that Suarez should have owned up. Why should he? no one else has apart from Miroslav Klose. Do you see defenders who handle the ball admit to doing so? nope. Why should he do the job of the referee. To be honest it's not the first handball goal in recent times. Did you see Demba run to the referee to say rule out the goal, which gave Newcastle a point against Reading? nope. Did you see the one and only Lionel Messi own up to putting the ball in the net with his fist? Did Roy Carroll run to the referee or assistant referee to tell them that the ball had crossed the line? I certainly didnt see Terry Phelan hold his hand up and say the ball crossed the line in the 0-0 draw between Everton and Bolton. Had the goal stood, Bolton would have stayed up and Everton relegated.Therefore why should Suarez be any different. Of course Liverpool were on the receiving end of a bad decision with the beach ball incident. The game should have been stopped under the rules but it continued and Sunderland won the game. Had Arsene Wenger not been in a sporting mood, would there have been a replay between Arsenal and Sheffield United who knows.

It is upto the officials to make a decision. The rule is always play to the whistle. So I guess if any more incidents like this or similar happen., we should expect those players to stand up and sorry and the fans to criticise if they dont...sadly I cant see it happening.

Anti Halsey comments unacceptable

It has been reported on the BBC website that Mark Halsey has made a complaint to the police. It comes as he received comments linked to suffering from cancer via twitter. Some have referred to him dying of cancer. Frankly I find this extremely disgusting. Whilst we may not agree with decisions a referee makes during the game, it doesn't mean that anyone can make sick comments about cancer. Talk about the game yes and I'm sure many referees will accept the stick that they get from the games from bad decisions. 

Cancer is not a pleasant illness, for those who suffer or the families that have to cope with it and therefore to go onto a social forum and aim bile at someone who may or may not have made the right decision is completely unacceptable. Many of us have often slated the ref making a poor decision, it's all part of the job. None of us fans who are decent would have even thought about using personal insults or things relating to an illness.

Whilst I always been a person who believes in freedom of speech, even this cannot be acceptable for such a line. I hope those who have resorted to such pathetic behaviour will face the consequences for such behaviour. These fans are not reflective of the whole fans of Liverpool FC and hope that the majority of fans will condemn the actions of yet another minority of morons taking one step too far.

Hillsborough - The Truth At Last

I'm sure all of those who were around that fateful day will remember what they were doing. That Saturday afternoon on April 15th 1989. It was FA Cup Semi Final Day, one of the big days on the domestic football calendar. It should have been two sets of fans enjoying a fantastic day out watching Liverpool play Nottingham Forest for a place in Wembley. Sadly that day would be remembered for all the wrong reasons. It was the day 95 innocent football fans died. It would later become 96. It should have been a day when one set of fans would be celebrating a big day out in London but the game would be irrelevant as fans did their best to help fellow supporters to escape the crushing that had taken place in the Leppings Lane end. 

That day would not be deemed as a tragic disaster, it would be the start of a long fight to get names cleared, reputations cleared and ultimately the truth. The truth that would be denied for 23 years. As a Liverpool fan, it was wanting to see the truth of what had happened, wanting to see the families of the victims get the justice that they so deserved, their brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, nieces and nephews etc. These individuals who had just wanted to enjoy the club that they loved so much. For 23 years they would be seen as victims from drunken disgraceful Liverpool fans without tickets.

The reality of it was that the emergency services failed to act, they ignored pleas for help, pushed away as though their concerns didn't matter. Had the police reacted differently instead of seeing it as crowd trouble, many more lives could have been saved. It was not just the emergency services who should have been answering questions. The local council and the Football Association should have never allowed this stadium host this match let alone try and give Liverpool FC, which would have had a bigger fan base, the smaller end than the Forest end which had space.

It was not just the emergency services that Liverpool FC and it's fans were battling against. It was the media and certain newspapers that opted to jump on the bandwagon. To deflect the blame onto the fans would no doubt be easy pickings.  There had been trouble at Euro 88 the year before, so I imagine what better way than to focus the blame on the fans. This is just my opinion but during the 80's it was not the best time for English football abroad. Decent football fans of English clubs had already suffered once and didn't need to suffer again.

The police it would seem were more interested in pinning the blame elsewhere, questions regarding drinking being the notable ones aimed at those who had died. The disgusting thing being that many of the fans were youngsters and just out to support their team. That didn't stop there as the police would falsify accounts and move the real problem away from themselves.

Of course the police are not the only ones to blame. The Football Association and the local council and it would seem Sheffield Wednesday, must take their fair share. It would seem that Hillsborough was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. As far back as 1981 in an FA Cup Semi Final featuring Tottenham and Wolves, there were incidents. Recommendations were made and because of the cost, they were not implemented. Had they been in place, the Hillsborough Disaster would more than likely never have happened.

On a personal note as a Liverpool fan, I have found myself at times having to defend Liverpool supporters who on that day did more to help than anything. Defending the fact that the 96 didn't deserve to die, that the families of the 96 didn't need to be fighting for the truth when it could have come out. I may have not been directly affected, but as so many untruths were out there the reality had to be shared even if people wanted to ignore it. Now myself and other Liverpool fans and indeed many fans of other clubs who have wanted to see justice will also not have to defend the facts to those who swallowed the untruths.

To those families and groups that pushed and pushed, we salute you. Your determination to get the truth is admirable. You didn't want anything but the truth and finally it is here. Your journey is almost over. Only once people have been brought to justice it is when you can truly relax.

 You'll Never Walk Alone

Justice For the 96

Transfer deadline day - The fall out

It would sometimes seem that whatever you do in the summer, it counts for nothing unless you find that last minute transfer on transfer deadline day. Some Arsenal fans maybe thinking why didnt they sign anyone..well I think Podolski and Giroud do count for something. Wenger was involved during deadline day as Bendtner got a loan deal to Juventus. I wonder how long before he permanently leaves Arsenal.  The Dane was one of a few players to leave Arsenal on loan.

Man City players could feel reasonably happy after transfer deadline day, Javi Garcia, Maicon, Nastasic, Scott Sinclair and Richard Wright....Yes Richard Wright, the former England goalkeeper. Now they'll have to do a bit of commercial selling to get the income and stay inside the Financial Fairplay rules if they dont want to find themselves kicked out the Champions League in seasons to come.

The biggest fall out no doubt came at Liverpool, on the evening before Andy Carroll was allowed to go on loan to West Ham, a deal that had previously been seemingly shot down. Rodgers did attempt to bring in players but it was not to be. The club did allow players to leave either permanently or on loan and it led to the cut in the wage bill. The Clint Dempsey saga came to an end as the USA international made his way to Spurs for £6 million. Despite the signing by Spurs, Fulham still seem intent on taking forward a complaint for Liverpool's pursuit of Dempsey. The club believe that Liverpool did wrong. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out, but seeing as nothing came from it, I'd hardly see what value they get from it.

Spurs of course were busy themselves. They not only acquired Dempsey but French No1 goalkeeper Hugo Lloris who joined for £12 million. Day's after the arrival of the Frenchman Andre Villas-Boas stated that the new arrival would not be guaranteed first team football and I assume that he would have to battle with Freidel, Cudicini and Gomez. Naturally it would appear Lloris would not be impressed, but we do see that this is Andre Villas Boas and he seems to have previous at upsetting players. Giving that Lloris has only been here a few days, this could quite end up being a record.

Andy Carroll who made his debut on the Saturday pulled his hamstring and it would seem that he will be out for 6 weeks. Just to be honest what West Ham didnt want after taking a risk in him.