The John Terry Issue

Like most of you, I have been shaking my head at the revelations that have come to light regarding John Terry’s personal life, and more specifically it’s encroachment into Wayne Bridge’s personal life. The judge who presided of the attempted injunction made clear his feeling that John Terry had been more concerned about how this may affect his income through his sponsorships than he was of the feelings of those involved. The question now is this; should JT now carry on as England Captain?

I think when we ask this question the situation becomes murkier, because it wouldn’t matter if Terry resigned or was asked to step aside the problem becomes who would be asked to step into the breach? Well, that is open to debate, but the leading candidates are not exactly covering themselves in glory, certainly not if Terry is stripped of his captaincy because he is deemed not to be setting a healthy example of a role model off the pitch.

Let’s look at the potential candidates.

Rio Ferdinand. Missed a drugs test eight years ago despite receiving a reminder that very morning and still took himself off shopping for the afternoon… and turned his mobile off whilst out. All very fishy at the time, and perhaps Rio has won the benefit of the doubt from most it has left question marks over the whole situation. As far as sex scandals go, Rio was one of the players who gave new meaning to the term “Roasting” a few years back whilst on holiday in Ayia Napa with Frank Lampard and Kieron Dyer.

Steven Gerrard. Appeared in court last year on charges of assault, and though acquitted there was some released CCTV footage that sticks in the mind that seems not to hold up Gerrards version of having acted in self defence. I feel he is very lucky not to be in Prison.

Gary Neville. United Captain, but not only has Capello not picked him in any team yet, Neville is struggling to get selected for United and with his age is unlikely to be putting in a consistent run between now and the World Cup.

David Beckham. The appointment of Beckham would be a return to the past, not necessarily a welcomed one. He is someone who has struggled for fitness in recent years and has struggled to impress Capello consistently, both for England and for Real Madrid. He is a fringe player in todays England squad. Beckham was centre of his own sex scandal when he is alleged to have had an affair with Rebecca Loos. Then Manager Sven Goran-Eriksson didn’t seem to mind the allegations, but then again Sven was repeatedly revealed to be playing out the role of sugar daddy to a number of women behind the back of long term girlfriend, and paparazzi friend Nancy Dell’olio.

David James. About to be relegated. Not necessarily England’s first choice goalkeeper, so unlikely to figure in any discussions as new captain.

Frank Lampard. Well, as mentioned there are sex scandals, and then there are sex scandals where the English language is changed forever. This would appear not to have been an isolated incident so in the wake of one England captain stepping down in favour of another, Lampard may find he is not in contention for the same reasons.

Gareth Barry. Perhaps the leading choice based on probability of a start and lack of personal scandal in the media. With Barry as Captain in a four man midfield Capello may be forced to choose between Lampard and Gerrard for the role alongside him in the middle of the park. It is worth remembering that Barry was stripped of the Aston Villa Captaincy when he spoke out against Martin O’Neil and the club for turning down Liverpool’s advances. B as far as scandals go, not one that made the front pages.

Wayne Rooney. In arguably the best form of his career for Man United and if his metatarsals are strong enough he will be on the plane and a certain starter at the next World Cup. Two things do stand out against Rooney in the context of this debate; firstly Rooney has been centre of his own sex scandals, most remember ably with Patricia Tierney, or as most people will recall “ye auld Slapper”. Though, this is looked upon more in the context of a very young man thrust into the lime light acting out. Secondly, and this is more a personal thing, I don’t like Captains to be front players. I have always felt that the best captains are those in Central defence or Midfield because their position puts them in the best place to influence others.

So, back to Terry… Like I mentioned, I am in the camp that feels let down by his behaviour and is ashamed to see yet another England Captain embroiled in a tawdry affair. This is not new territory for Terry. He has confessed to a number of affairs before his marriage, and was involved in both a nightclub brawl which resulted in an arrest but also the shameful events around the September 11th attacks when a group of Chelsea footballers (including Frank Lampard) were drunkenly heckling American tourists about the attack in a bar near Heathrow. But, it would perhaps be somewhat hypocritical to strip Terry of the captaincy only to hand it to someone else whose scandals are just a little less fresh in the mind. Terry should be stripped of the captaincy but the general behaviour of the modern international player at the top of their game makes it impossible to choose somebody who both deserves to be the first name on the team sheet and also reflect exacting moral standards; or, at least has a better track record of keeping his pants on.

Yet again, England fans can feel a little aggrieved and pinned into a corner. Depending on how Terry plays this with the morally strict Capello, we will probably keep his place and the armband, but really it’s a reflection on the whole squad that there is nobody waiting in the wings in a position to assume this role given what has happened.

I lament educashon

I was just over at Super Six checking how I did (got one right, if you must know) and I seriously despair when I see this sort of crappy writing:

Late goal earns trio a share of the spoils

Liam Ridgewell's last-gasp goal for Birmingham proved a real winner for three Soccer Saturday Super 6 players as they shared this week's £5,000 prize.

Terry Stevenson from Woolwich, Andrew Mahon from Halifax and Jordan Fox from Leeds all cashed in as Ridgewell's goal earned Birmingham a point and secured all three players there fifth correct result of the afternoon.

 Tracy and Jennifer are among 19 runners-up each receive a £50 free bet.

It's just sloppy - I know people with good jobs who actually have to write to people and can't handle basic grammar either and frankly it's quite shocking - and it's written on a computer! Far too many people can't (or cannot) spell on their own, or bother to proof-read

Grammar Nazi?

Free Saturday Betting

Ladbrokes are back with their Grab5Grand competition again this week. All you need is a Ladbrokes online account and be over 18 to play.

Here’s my entry this week:

Liverpool 2 – 0 Bolton

Birmingham 1 – 1 Tottenham

Fulham 2 – 1 Aston Villa

Hull 2 – 1 Wolves

West Ham 2 – 1 Blackburn

I have taken the same scores for my Super 6 entry this week but added:

Wigan 2 – 2 Everton

Good luck!

One less Spaniard at Liverpool

Hello all,

It's been a while since I've been able to get on footie banter - my apologies, I don't have as much free time anymore and the past month has been mad

So anyway - lets look at the burning question of the day: When will Rafa bugger off?

Skybet have a reasonable 5/6 by the end of the season and let's be honest, he's got to go - FA cup at the first hurdle, Champions League at the first hurdle, struggling to get fourth in the league - this is all not good

I admit, one bad season does not mean it's the end and after last season I can understand some optimism, but clearly something has gone wrong, it's been four years without a trophy now, at least Arsenal are having a go and stick to Wenger's principles, Rafa just seems to float along making ridiculous decisions

You could defend him with the old 'Hicks and Gillett crippling the club' line - but their investment this year has been far more than United's and look at the disparity, Rafa has bought in both Johnson and Aquilani for nigh on 40 million, and now Maxi - O'Neill and 'Arry have done better with less, United are pushing first with no back four and are heavily reliant on Rooney and a Welsh OAP - so although money is pretty tight I don't think there's much excuse there, I simply can't see what Rafa is trying to build and haven't done for several years

In short, Liverpool are stagnant and I can't see how Rafa is going to mount a challenge on the league next season, nor any cups - so I think his time is up, the Pool are going nowhere fast

I think it's a sad state of affairs when clearly the owners couldn't give two hoots about Liverpool's performance and just want all the merchandise and tv cash

Personally I still think Rafa is a decent manager, maybe he's just lost his impetus through lack of support or what-not, although I don't think I'd pay for him through the nose like Juventus might

And so, as I said in December - bye-bye, Rafa (sorry for basically repeating myself, but it's the big issue right now I feel - it's that or the Glazers...)

Next up: who the bloody hell replaces him?

New - Wikio Labs

Dan the Man from Wikio has emailed me today with news of the launch of Wikio Labs and having just gone and had a play around with some of the tools I have to say I like it. It will not be for everybody, but will be of interest to a number of bloggers. It requires no log in so is a tool which is open to the blogosphere to do some analysis. I understand that some of these tools have been designed based on the feedback from bloggers.

Basically, Wikio Labs (still in the Experimental Edition) is designed to give those of us with blogs a bit of a look inside the Wikio aligned Blogosphere and it has to be played with to be appreciated properly. For example, ever wondered which backlinks were giving you such a good Wikio Ranking? Well, using the Backlink Factory now you can go see who has been linking to you. Likewise, you can see your outgoing links by volume to other blogs. The cool thing is, as an analysis tool, this works for any url that you pop into the tool, so if you want to know who is consistently linking to a particular blog, or how a particular blog has achieved a high ranking, Wikio Labs now give this tool to go and analyse these things. This tool might in itself prompt some lively discussions about blog affiliations already in place.

Speaking of Wikio Rankings, there is a tool which has tracked your rankings over time, so now there is the option to go view a particular blogs progress in the rankings over time in a tool called Wikio Sources. Enter the url and look through summaries and articles of that blog. There is also then the statistics which shows a graph for Overall Ranking, Sub Ranking (i.e. Politics, sport etc), Publication volume and Number of backlinks.

Buzz Clouds are included to show trending topics of discussion and link back to the main Wikio Page. Wikio Trends is a simple to help demonstrate how a particular trending topic has garnered attention over time, versus another trending topic. Here’s some I made earlier…

And

Conclusions. The tools are cool, I am just a big kid when it comes to things like this, and I think there is something for most bloggers here, even is some may not see value in it. Some of the big boy blogs and MSM blogs will definitely find some benefit in the trending tools, especially comparison by trending topics. MSM Blogs may wish to see if they are setting the agenda or following it. For those of us who do not necessarily need nor want the broader analysis tools, there is the Backlink Factory analysis tool which may (or may not) stir a few dramas about who is, or is not linking to whom. I have added to my favourites already for the occasional browse.

Crystal Palace Go Into Administration

Crystal Palace FC has gone into administration and will suffer an immediate 10 point penalty. 

P & A Partnership have been appointed as administrator to rescue the club by reconstructing the clubs finances and seeking new a new owner which they are confident of locating and claim there are many interested buyers.

The point deduction will take Palace from 9th in the Championship to just above the relegation zone which may be better than Southampton fared recently, but will be worrying for Palace's fans as the entire squad is basically available for transfer until the window shuts as the administrators will have no choice but to consider all reasonable offers in their reconstruction efforts.  Victor Moses is on a number of clubs shopping lists, and may now leave.

Robinho To Move On Loan?

Sky Sports is reporting that Robinho is looking to move back to former club Santos on loan until the end of the season so as to ensure that he is playing regular football prior to the World Cup.  As a player known in England not to perform well on away fixtures this is a move to very much home surroundings.

Robinho's City career now seems as good as over and should a bid be received it may well be accepted for a summer move.  Robinho moved to City for £32.5m in 2008, just three seasons after moving to Spain from Santos. 

Manager Roberto Mancini clearly feels that Craig Bellamy fits the bill and is ahead of Robinho in the pecking order, with sufficient cover both up front and coming in from the left with the other squad members. 

And yet another Brazilian Superstar follows his wallet whilst his talent dims.   At 26 though, there perhaps is still time for Robinho to recapture some form with a move to a sunnier climate, should of course he be prepared to agree to a sensible wage.

Dan's Super 6

Aston Villa 3 - 0 Brighton & Hove Albion

Wolves 1 - 1 Crystal Palace

Everton 2 - 1 Birmingham

Portsmouth 2 - 0 Sunderland

Bolton 2 - 1 Sheffield Utd

West Brom 2 - 1 Newcastle

More Free Money

Do you have a Ladbrokes online account?  Would you like a stake free chance at £5,000?

If the answer to those two questions is YES, pop over to Grab5Grand and select your 5 scores for the listed games and you are in line for a five grand payout, with free entry.

Here's my entry:

Portsmouth 2 - 0 Sunderland

Villa 3 - 0 Brighton

Wolves 1 - 1 Crystal Palace

Southampton 2 - 1 Ipswich

Man Utd 2 - 0 Hull


If you know anything about my Super 6 predictions, my scores are probably now worth avoiding.

Good luck!

Expert Advice

I have to admit that when I checked out the Football Banter inbox the other day there was an email that did surprise me.  It was from Dan at Wikio, who does email on occasion and has given Football Banter a few sneak peeks at the monthly rankings a few times.

Dan's question to me was, would I like to be listed on the Wikio site as their Sports Blog "expert", with a nice blurb and link back to the site?... Hmmm.... sure, thanks very much.

So that's it, I am hereby installed to the lofty title of Wikio Sports Blog Expert and will be helping Wikio with a few things on the Sports Blog side and in turn I hope to do my bit to help the Sports Blogs take off, and offer some feedback and opinions as well as new links that I may come across.  There are some excellent blogs out there already; a look at the ranking speaks for itself.  There are many blogs that are closer to sports clubs than this one, and there are many blogs more frequently contributed to and better supported, I read a number of them.  There is more to come from the Sports Blogging arena, and I will be a small part of that.  My opinion on Sports Blogging in the UK overall is that we have only just scratched the surface, there is massive potential for more blogs and of differing character.  Large and small, all shapes, sizes and sports - it is not just football blogging to which I am referring.

I personally started blogging because I had been following Politics for a long time and Politics Blogs.  After I had set up my own blog, the same principles seemed to transfer across to football so very easily; I was surprised both at how many Politics blogs there were, and how few sports blogs.  Politics dominate the Wikio rankings partly because they are so numerous and partly because the political media have embraced them.  They have become required reading in their own field.  The realms of Political Blogging have been widely explored to an extent that Sports Blogs have not, well at least not yet been explored.  At the heart of the rise of the political blog are two key points.  1.  A desire from the masses to take more and more of their information from uneditorialised sources, and 2.  The desire of people to also have their own say.  By using those markers, the potential for sports blogs are great. 

The next challenge for the sports bloggers, new and established is to challenge the existing main stream media sites by offering rival content, written by fans and for fans.  The Sport Blog community is our community, we can make of it whatever we wish, and we can have a lot of fun along the way.

Final point I would like to add, is to acknowledge my co-author Tarquin.  I have said before that I would have wound this blog up if he had not of come on board to keep the content flowing more regularly and insightfully.  If Wikio have looked to this site and thought of me that is in no small part at all to Tarquins contribution to this blog.  Thanks.

Rafa Poll Closes

Last week we put up a poll after Liverpools 2-1 defeat to Reading.  Well the poll is closed, here's how you answered.

1. Should Liverpool sack Rafa Benitez?

Yes = 60%
No = 40%

2. Will Liverpool achieve a top four finish this season if Rafa remains in charge?

Yes = 20%
No = 80%

Worlds Longest Throw In

I just saw this on Eurosport so I thought I would share.

A PE teacher from Yorkshire has set a new world record for the longest football throw in caught on camera.  The throw of 49.78m beats the previous record set in 1998 of 48.17m.

Here it is:

PE teacher breaks world throw-in record @ Yahoo! Video

Dan's Super 6

These scores are now officially jinxed

Chelsea 2 - 0 Sunderland

Man Utd 2 - 1 Burnley

Portsmouth 1 - 1 Birmingham

Tottenham 2 - 1 Hull

Wolves 2 - 1 Wigan

Sheff Utd 2 - 1 Middlesbrough

Rafa Poll

Following on from Liverpool's 2-1 loss in extra time to Reading tonight in the FA Cup the big questions once again loom large.  Should Liverpool sack Rafa? Will Liverpool finish in the top four with Rafa still in charge?

Let us know what you think.

Click here to take survey

Rafa Gets Maxi

Rafa Benitez has secured the signature of Maxi Rodriguez on a free transfer from Atletico Madrid.  The 29-year-old player signed a three-and-a-half year deal after Atletico who are languishing in 11th place in La Liga deemed Rodriguez surplus to requirements and with his contract set to expire in the summer, and with no offers on the table the club seem to have felt that the players prospects for first team football in Madrid so bleak that it was better for them to get him off the wage bill.

This is another gamble from Rafa, but this one at least has not involved a sizable transfer fee.  Rodriguez, if he settles quickly and can adapt to the fast pace and tough tackling of the Premier League could prove a useful utility forward, who can play on either wing or provide cover for, or, alongside Torres.  Either way, he give Benitez some options.

Time will tell if Rodriguez proves a good signing, but I have my doubts that this signing will be the one that will bring Liverpool a top four finish and win back the increasingly deflated fans... If he bags a last minute winner in his first couple of games there could be some hype, but in my mind Rafa has brought in a squad player to fill in for the departure of another after Veronin's move to Moscow.

Sol Campbell To Rejoin Arsenal

The news comes as a bit of a surprise but shouldn't really, but Sol Campbell looks to be close to agreeing a short-term deal with Arsenal.  Arsenal have obtained a special registration which will allow Campbell to take part in a reserve team match against West Ham reserves tonight.

Campbell has been training with Arsenal in Hertfordshire since soon after leaving Notts County and will act as cover for Thomas Vermaelen and William Gallas until the end of the season.  This strikes me as a good signing as Campbell is a first class defender, and was key to Wengers 2003/04 Invincibles Team will provide confidence in the event of absence or need for rest to Wengers key centre-halves which will lend Wengers title chances more credibility.  He is also available for registration in the Champions League which again is an added bonus.  For Arsenals blossoming young players he is a hero of recent memory and will likely act as positive motivation and as another source of leadership.  His experience will benefit the team greatly.

There is also the potential benefit that if Campbell somehow finds himself in an extended run of games before the summer there is another solid defensive option available to Fabio Capello who will surely take a good look at Campbell now given his experience of two prior World Cups.

Wenger would be hard pressed to have found a better signing if he had of opened up the cheque book and spent big. 

This certainly spells the end of Philippe Senderos' Arsenal career, and he will be regretting not joining Everton in the summer.

There Must And Should Be A Better Option Here

I may be alone here in feeling a little outraged on behalf of the players of Togo at what I have just found out... but I doubt that I am somehow.

Everybody knows that the team where attacked by machine gun fire on Friday and that thus far the death toll stands at three. Most people will also be aware that despite some uncertainties about whether Togo will return to the tournament they left after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and Angolan Government officials were unable to make guarantees regarding the player’s security.

However, the CAF have told Ghana, who were due to play Togo on Monday that they must proceed as if the Group B match is going ahead; Togo will then be officially disqualified from the tournament for failing to field a team for the match. Ghana may be forced to take to the pitch in full strip and stage a mock kick off before the game will be cancelled and Togo officially withdrawn.

Togo may also face sanctions from the CAF for failing to field a team.

This, to me is frankly shocking behaviour. The Togo team are clearly worried for their security and grieving their countrymen, their team-mates, their friends. The actions or perhaps the stated probable actions of the CAF defy grounding in humanity. Togo's Prime Minister said today that the country had withdrawn completely and that reports that the team may return after three days of mourning were quite wrong.

"We withdrew our players on the basis that they were victims of a terrorist attack."

"Our analysis is that they want it to be seen as a non-event and the show must go on as planned; there mustn't be an official change and Togo is causing problems to the festival"

Clearly my sympathies are with the Togo team. I wonder if UK teams could get together some games to compete with the African nations in which the Togo team could come play in.... Man United have a free weekend late in January, courtesy of Leeds United.

I of course hope that no such event happens again, but I would like to think that if any similar atrocity were to occur that UEFA would not force a similar farce to take place.

Sneak Peek - The Latest Wikio Rankings For Sports Blogs

Here, thanks to Dan at Wikio is the sneak peak of the latest ratings on the Sports Blogs. Arseblog continues it's vice like grip on the top spot, and Football Banter has climbed back a couple of spots to 13th.

1 Arseblog (=) 2 Gunnerblog (=) 3 BBC Sport - Football blog (=) 4 East Lower (+5) 5 Off The Post (=) 6 Line and Length - Times Online WBLG (-2) 7 West Ham Till I Die (+4) 8 SoccerLens (-2) 9 Bitter and Blue (-1) 10 BlogF1 (+4) 11 The Corridor (a cricket blog) (-1) 12 BBC Sport - Phil McNulty blog (-5) 13 Football Banter (+2) 14 F1 Minute (-1) 15 Goodplaya (-3) 16 F1 Fanatic (=) 17 Test Match Special (+5) 18 The Gunning Hawk (+28) 19 King Cricket (-2) 20 Twohundredpercent (-2) Ranking by Wikio