lookupsport

Just a few short months ago Harry Redknapp turned down the Newcastle job, stating that he was happy at Portsmouth and “this would be his last job till he retired”.  A couple of months later and Portsmouth have won the FA Cup, had a solid start to the season, are playing in Europe, and he has left to join Spurs.

I have no problem with players or managers moving on as I’ve said time and again.  At the end of the day, its a job like any other and despite what fans say, they owe the clubs they are employed by no loyalty whatsoever.  If they have a bad run of results, then the knives come out pretty quickly from the very people who question that loyalty, so why not cash in when they can?

What I do have a problem with though, is the comments made by players and managers alike, where they pledge allegiance to the club.  It happens time and again and it is this sort of comment, which justifiably annoys fans, when it subsequently turns out to be untrue.

As a Pompey fan it really is no surprise.  Whenever things look to be steady and improving, something happens to rock the boat, normally of their own making.  It’s not clear if this was of their own making on this occasion though.  As always there are two sides to every story.

Redknapp insists that the club need the £5M compensation they will get, whilst admitting he wants to manage at a “big club”. Peter Storrie has since said the club in no way needs the money.  Let’s hope Harry is trying to put a positive spin on something which he knows will upset a large number of fans and reduce the backlash.  If the club is in such a financial crisis that they are desperate for £5M then the end is nigh.

Kevin Pietersen has come out and said his side will not be “flash Harry’s” should the win the $20M prize in next months Stanford Twenty/20.  He has also said that should they win he will be giving a lot of it to charity. These are both noble sentiments especially from a man as confident and some would argue arrogant as the England captain.

However, should they do well enough to scoop crickets biggest cash prize, should they feel any embarrassment?

Well certainly with todays credit crunch and talk of Worldwide recession, with the average man in the street facing a tough couple of years, you could be forgiven for thinking its an obscene amount of money for what is essentially a days cricket.

However, lets put it into context.

These guys are professional sportsmen.  Up until very recently they have probably enjoyed a better salary than the average guy, and at the top end had this topped up with lucrative sponsorship deals.  However, lets not forget the life of most sportsmen is a short one.  Although they may earn more than most for a period of about 15 years, many have nothing to fall back on, and end up in low paid jobs for the remainder of their careers. Therefore money earned during this short period has to be invested to look after them later in life.
Now lets look at the Stanford prize in particular.  Yes, it is a lot of money for one days work.  However, let’s compare this prize fund to the type of money splashed around in Football, Rugby, Snooker and Golf for example.

The $20M prize fund pales into insignificance, when compared to the sums on offer in other sports, and which have been on offer to them for a number of years.  Premiership footballers are earning £50 - £120k per week - guaranteed by the way, and winning a Major golf tournament will make you an overnight millionaire.  In fact there is so much money on offer in golf now that average pros can become millionaires without ever winning an event.  Cricket has a long long way to go to get anywhere near these sort of numbers.
So is the amount of money on offer obscene. Yes, I guess is the short answer.

Should cricketers be embarrassed about earning it.  Definitely not.

A good weekend for British sport and a chance maybe to wax lyrical about the successes of Andy Murray, winning his second ATP Masters, or Lewis Hamilton’s steady victory in China yesterday, which takes him to withing touching distance of the F1 World Championship.  However, my mind is drawn sadly to the Aston Villa vs Portsmouth match, which saw a fourth official struck by a coin, thrown by a Villa fan.

I say thrown by a Villa fan but in truth this could happen at any football ground anywhere in the UK and probably around the world.

What is it about football that makes the “supporters” believe they can behave in such a way?

In the last few weeks we have had abuse hurled at Sol Campbell by Spurs fans still angry that he once played for them and then joined Arsenal, Atletico Madrid fined for their fans racial abuse, England players racially abused in Croatia and now this.  I haven’t included the Ashley Cole booing antics as I feel that’s a slightly different topic, but I could easily have done so.

Unfortunately there is a culture in football, which for the most part is accepted as normal, and which brings out the worst in people instilling a mob mentality not seen with any other sport.  This is handed down through generations as parents take their children to matches and they learn how to behave, by watching their so called role models.

Within this culture it is deemed acceptable to swear and scream abuse at officials, opposition fans and players, and at its worst throw missiles. In days gone by, what can only be described as all out warfare was commonplace between rival fans. To get rid of this aspect has taken millions of pounds of tax payers money, and still takes hundreds of police on a match day to ensure violence doesn’t break out.

I’ve been to games and seen rival “fans” just sit and stare at each other with hate filled eyes, rather than watch the match they have paid a fortune to see.

Rivalry amongst fans can and should exist, but this should be a friendly rivalry where banter can be exchanged with good humour, and opposing fans can sit together, creating and enjoying the right environment for children of all ages.  This happens at cricket and rugby, where the rivalry is as intense and the will to win is as strong, but without the malevolence, which mars our so called “beautiful” game.

So its time for change.  The change has to come from within though - it cannot be imposed by the authorities with CCTV and heavy security.  It has to come from the true fans on the terraces and backed by the supporters clubs around the country.  The message has to go out that aggressive behaviour and chanting is simply not acceptable.  The supporters should police it themselves, refusing to join with such behaviour rather than follow a few mindless morons.

It wont happen overnight, but it would be nice if in 5-10 years it was a thing of the past and that the UK had led the way.  Imagine Arsenal and Spurs fans, Portsmouth and Southampton fans, Rangers and Celtic fans walking to a match without a police cordon.  A pipe dream I know, but unless we take action to make it happen, it never will.

So despite a poor first half performance, England managed to run out 5-1 winners over Kazhakstan this weekend.  However, such was the performance, that the biggest talking point is that Ashely Cole was booed for gifting the Kazhakstan team a goal.

For those that haven’t seen it an over casual back pass landed at the feet of the centre forward who knocked it passed the statue that was David James. This resulted in the Cole being booed by on section of the crowd every time he touched the ball for the next 5-10 minutes - until England scored again basically.

So why all the fuss?

Well like all controversial footballing moments, there are two very good sides to the arguement.

The people that were behind the jeering will say they have paid £80 a ticket, no doubt either paid to park or paid to travel to the game, bought a program and paid a small fortune for either food and/or a drink.  They will therefore argue that if the team or a particular player does not perform as they would like, they are entitled to show their displeasure providing it is not racial or discriminatory in anyway.

The counter argument is that every team and or player will have an off day at some point, and will make at least one mistake during a match.  This is the same regardless of how much they are paid - at the end of the day nobody is perfect and £100k per week doesn’t change that fact.  The role of a supporter, as the name suggests is to “support” his or her team.  The best way to do this is through encouraging the team and players, urging them to give 100%.  This should not only be done when they are playing well, but should be done especially when they are playing badly or make a mistake.  Confidence is fragile even in the very best of us, and to undermine that confidence, undermines that player, and is ultimately detrimental to the team.

So where do I stand?

Well, if I have paid the best part of £100 to watch a match, I would want to see them win, and ideally by playing free flowing and attractive football.

I therefore hope, that I would have the intelligence to realise that booing and jeering my own team, will not help this happen.  I guess what I’m saying then, is that the boo boys were almost certainly of below average intelligence, and or were more than likely Arsenal fans, who have a problem with Ashley Cole because he left them to double his salary - (in his position none of them would have done the same of course).

The small mindedness and pack mentality of football “supporters” is legendary - any player or manager, who ever leaves a club is victimised when he plays against his former team, no matter how much he has helped them achieve.  It appears that these idiots have more money than sense and are now prepared to pay £100 plus to watch a match in the hope that they will get the opportunity to watch their National team lose,  so that they will have the opportunity to vent their misplaced and childish resentment.