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SHAWKY AND GEORGE 11-9-07
Toby Higgins
Next to wearing sunglasses at night and getting a Chinese tattoo on the back of your head that nobody can understand, but that the guy at the parlour told you translates to "Legend", international football is becoming one of the most pointless pastimes known to mankind.
Competitive matches carry with them all the excitement and anticipation of a trip to the dentist to get that achy tooth seen to and more often than not they are just as painful.
As for friendlies, why waste everyone's time? The bulk of the time the majority drop out of the squad, often before it's even been announced although, remarkably, are able to play ninety minutes the week before and after the international weekend. And those who do chose to 'represent' their country half arse their way through the game, doing everything they can not to tackle anyone, pass the ball forward or muster a shot on goal. This is an international friendly for Christ's sake; the last thing we need to break out here is a good game of football.
The decline in the appeal of international football runs inversely to the rising lure of the Champions League. The best players in the world can be seen competing in Europe against each other weekly, in strikingly different circumstances to the slow paced stroll of the international scene; because the players actually care. Clubs pay player's wages and that's where the loyalty lies. Whether you like it or not, that's modern football in a nutshell.
England's support will always remain; that 85,000 turned up to see Gareth Barry play centre midfield against Israel shows that the three lions are still enough of a lure for plenty of people irrespective of personnel or opposition. But Wembley holds 90,000 so why did 5,000 stay away? And is this the beginning of the end for die hard support that has followed England through the decades?
The images of Butcher '89 and Ince in '97 will almost certainly never be repeated because players simply won't put their long term futures at risk playing for their country. Money, and not pride or passion, dictate the game at the moment and it doesn't look like changing for a very, very long time.
Jamie Redknapp was surely taking the piss when he wrote in his column last week for The Daily Mail that in getting injured three times playing for England he ended up losing out financially because he couldn't cash in on a playing bonus'.
Tradition is something that many football fans, myself included, hold close to their hearts. But over the weekend of the 6th and 7th of October, tradition will hit an all time low and make history in the process.
On Saturday the 6th of October 2007 Aston Villa will play host to West Ham United in what will be the only 3pm Saturday kick of that weekend. Six games have been moved to the Sunday, including our game away to Manchester City, two games will be played on New Year's Day, and Manchester United will kick off on Saturday at 12.45pm, also on the 6th.
Match of the Day has been running for over fourty years having started in 1964. Just one match was shown on the first programme, Liverpool beating Arsenal 3-2. It wasn't until 1970 that a second game was introduced, and only the appearance of ITV's "Big Match" in the 70's meant that while MOTD was forced to move to Sunday afternoons, it was increased to three matches per programme. It was only as recently as 1992 that the goals from every Saturday game were shown.
All of that was for the benefit of the fan; a chance to see more football than ever before. Now, the importance of European Competition, as well as the dramatic increase in the number of live games, means that Match of the Day will still go out, but in the same format as the 70's, when just two games are shown on a Saturday night. And, given the form thus far of the teams facing each other, it could well be the first goalless MOTD ever. Progression? Regression? Both?
Tradition is dead; and where were we to stop its decline?
We look like losing tradition a lot closer to home, too. Boro, from my experience, seem to start seasons quickly - though we lost the first four games of Steve "magnificent" McClaren's first season - but lose momentum come late Autumn, and defeat on Boxing Day spells disaster for a dodgy Christmas period that could last until early March. The remainder of the season becomes a slog against the drop.
It emphasises another problem with International weekends. For us, it's a disaster. Our best league performance for years will be a distant memory by the time we turn up at The Boleyn Ground next weekend to face the in-form Hammers, and the weekend after, we entertain the Mackems who themselves will be happy for the chance to re-group. More on them, and that game, next week.
The eleven who started the game against the Brum could, based on that performance, be the eleven who start every game until the end of the season. The arrival of Gary O'Neill will put added pressure on the entire midfield, who could all at some point be axed to accommodate the new recruit.
It's hard to look at O'Neill and think that he's anything but a mistake. The last player who failed a medical and yet still found his name on our payroll was Robert Huth, who has still played no more than a handful of games. At least, having been signed on a pay as you play deal, O'Neill doesn't carry as great a risk. Still, if he appears more than 35 times in the next two seasons, I'll be pleasantly surprised.
Mohammed Shakwy sounds like a ready made replacement for Doriva, and so, with Shawky and George, the ball busters of midfield, and Fabulous, Julio and Stewy pulling strings in the final third, we could finally be in a position of relative comfort by Christmas.
Same time next week.
UpTheBoro
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