Udayan's Corner - Without An Alaidiere In The World || Middlesbrough F.C. news, reviews and comment

WITHOUT AN ALIADIERE IN THE WORLD 27-2-08
Udayan Mukherjee

Here we go. On the week that will commemorate Middlesbrough's 'first' anniversary of the Carling Cup triumph, we have again got a tangible sense of excitement.

As it stands, if the Boro win the games that their football and ability says they should, then we should gain a few places in the Premiership and get to Wembley at least once.

Middlesbrough play against Sheffield United in a replay to determine who goes into a plum draw with Cardiff City at home in the quarter finals of the FA Cup.

Without getting too ahead of ourselves, this could be a way of getting into Europe and is most certainly achievable.

However, we had this anticipation last season when we got to the quarter finals, but it is no good hanging your hopes on a cup run and then failing to achieve. Anything short of a final appearance does not really linger on in the memory for too long.

I feel a good showing in the cups in necessary because our final position in the league is not likely to change very much due to the gap between tenth and eleventh position, currently occupied by West Ham and Tottenham respectively.

Common sense tells us that barring an appalling end to the season from the teams placed tenth and above, Middlesbrough will not break into the top ten this season.

This makes the cup match even more important.

Given recent performances, Middlesbrough should be counted as favourites.

The performance against Liverpool was excellent and in terms of willingness to attack and chances created, we were worth at least a draw.

We had two goals disallowed but they were goals that had it not been for a matter of inches, in both cases would truly have been excellent ones.

Tuncay's disallowed effort was for handball but I wonder whether the Turk was trying to shoulder it in instead of going for the easy option of heading it. It wouldn't be the first time that he has missed glorious opportunities by trying to be too cocky in front of goal.

Apart from that, however, his general play was excellent. He scored a goal on his return to the first team and was not far away from another and an assist.

His partner in crime Aliadiere again gave 100% and led the line brilliantly. Unfortunately, an act of petulance led to a red card and a three match suspension.

After an appeal by the club, an extra game was added to the ban due to the appeal being branded as 'frivolous'.

Aliadiere seemed to react involuntarily to a clearly premeditated attempt at a wind up by Liverpool's Javier Mascherano, who had pinched the Frenchman's nose.

As anyone who has had their nose pinched will attest to - it is bloody annoying and if someone were to do it to me, especially when I was agitated, then I would either lash out involuntarily or give the antagonist a piece of my mind.

It seems that the referee saw the incident and hence decided to ignore the act of provocation by Mascherano.

In reality, no one should have been sent off. There should not have been a free kick because there was no interference with play, no attempted interference with play and the complete absence of any violent conduct whatsoever.

It is a fair point that losing your rag will lead to recklessness and hence it is not an excuse, but surely antagonising an opponent to get him sent off is at the very least ungentlemanly and at worst cheating of the highest order.

I realise I may sound bitter here but if we are to apply the letter of the law then surely Mascherano's 'offence' is much worse. He raised his hand to an opponent's face and it was a premeditated action.

It makes one wonder why a light tap to the face is treated with a three game ban as this is the same as would have been given had Aliadiere properly punched Mascherano if the face.

Indeed, is it right that violent conduct is treated equally regardless of the severity? Is stealing a packet of crisps the same as robbing a granny?

Middlesbrough Football Club have members in higher management that are astute business men. People may disagree with some decisions that Gibson or Lamb make but no one can call them stupid.

These men decided that an innocuous retaliation should not have resulted in a red card and exercised their right to an appeal. It seems that the FA have decided that an appeal based on common sense is 'frivolous'.

Is it frivolous that Aliadiere received a worse punishment than the Birmingham player who (probably) unintentionally but undoubtedly recklessly has possibly ruined the career of Arsenal's Eduardo?

Is it frivolous that many clubs appeal decisions like this and have no sanctions taken against them?

Is not the missing hundreds of millions overspent on a Wembley that subsequently failed to even have a playable pitch frivolity of the highest order?

I find it completely and utterly frustrating that a bunch of clowns like the FA, who have consistently messed up big decision after big decision, have no accountability for their actions.

I find it incredible that the decision to send off Aliadiere and then allow the decision to stand has actually been taken.

To then add another game to his ban is simply unforgivable.

It seems that the FA will condone anything if it is by a favoured club. Over the years, acts of cheating and genuine nastiness have been ignored if at all possible.

Indeed the piece of business that involved West Ham United and Mascherano and Tevez was plainly in violation of FA and FIFA rules. West Ham, the favoured team of prominent FA member Trevor Brooking, blatantly cheated and then lied about it. They then get a farcically light punishment.

They were deducted £5million pounds - a figure that is clearly very little compared to the prize money that a Premiership team is guaranteed each season.

It is all the more galling that Tevez almost single-handedly kept West Ham up that season.

Boro, on the other hand, got three points docked and were relegated for a lesser crime that was done out of ignorance and with the best of intentions.

Perhaps I am being overly sensitive and am detracting from the point. That point is that the Football Association needs to be accountable for their actions, especially given their recent and not so recent shortcomings.

English Football is now so far behind that two of our recent England managers have been foreign and we have failed to reach the finals of a major competition. The French established the Clairefontaine Academy nigh on a decade ago, while English football languishes far, far behind in terms of success.

That the people who have performed so incredibly badly are still given free reign to control the footballing interests of this proud country is simply ridiculous.

To illustrate my point I ask you who was consulted in the appointment of the England manager? How are the big decisions made and how are the people who make them qualified to do so? How are the FA financed?

This isn't any old company. They are the supposed enforcers, decision makers and regulators of football in this country. Of the beautiful game in the country of its birth. Of our beautiful game.

So we must progress with no real way of achieving justice or contesting a decision made by 'nameless, faceless' suits at Soho Square.

Tonight we play in the cup that carries the name of this rag-tag organisation and its faceless suits and we have a great chance to get to the quarter finals.

Let's really piss them off and win it.

Up the Boro.

Udayan Mukherjee.

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