The future's bright for football and fight nights!

I have to admit that after hearing the starting XI for England's game in Moldova in I wasn't feeling particularly inspired by some of the weekend's sport; Along with international football, I'd become quite disillusioned with boxing for some time as well. Firstly, thanks to Roy Hodgson, and later on I'll make mention of Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Sport.

After deciding not to watch the match live, mainly because watching England has become somewhat tedious in recent times, I did decide to watch the highlights. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. Was the football mistake free? Certainly not, but the freedom and fluidity of the play was definitely inspiring from a fans point of view. In hindsight I think the injuries to Andy Carroll, Ashley Cole and Gareth Barry may have been a blessing in disguise. These omissions forced Hodgson to play Leighton Baines, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Tom Cleverley who played with a youthful exuberance that we haven't seen in a three lions shirt for quite a while. It also meant Jermain Defoe was tasked with the striker's role, and although he might have had a goal or two more on the night, his talent and club form over a number of years mean this chance is overdue in my opinion. I think Defoe is the most gifted natural English striker the Premier League has seen since Alan Shearer retired and I think his movement gave focus to England's play. It was also good to get a positive answer to the eternal midfield Gerrard/Lampard question. They may not be the long term answer to England's midfield, but at least we now know that two genuine midfielders can play together in harmony using good judgement to know when to go forward and when to sit deep. Gerrard tended to sit deeper while Lampard was making runs beyond Defoe and Cleverley as he did to head in Glen Johnson's cross for his second goal. Albeit England are still work in progress, their campaign could not have got off to a better start, so hopefully the good work will continue against Ukraine on Tuesday at Wembley. John Terry is the only doubt, but either his club-mate Gary Cahill or Phil Jagielka should make an able deputy. (If Jagielka plays, hopefully we don't hear any ridiculous pronunciations of his name!) 

As well as the football on Friday, the first big boxing show of the season was incredibly refreshing as well. Having heard an interview earlier in the year with Matchroom Sport's Eddie Hearn, he said that he was intending to bring genuine 50/50 fights to the public. He did this firstly with Kell Brook v Carson Jones in July where the Sheffield pugilist came through one hell of a gut-checker, and continued last night at Alexandra Palace with the excellent 'London's calling' show. This saw Erick Ochieng, Lee Purdey and Tony Bellew all win in enthralling fights, and creates a buzz and excitement for the coming boxing season. Perhaps Carl Frampton v Steve Molitor in a couple of weeks in Belfast is the prime example of Hearn's policy, and with the continuing Prizefighter series, Brook v Saldivia and Froch v Mack on the horizon it certainly whets the appetite. Perhaps the only blot on the weekend was that Darren Barker had to pull out of his fight, but hopefully the Londoner can get over his recent arm injury and get back in the ring soon. I have seen some talk that he should retire, but I think he is one of the classiest middleweights out there and the sooner he is back in the ring the better. Over the next two years Matchroom will provide Sky with twenty shows a season to bring to air, so hopefully fight fans will see 'deeper bills with more title fights and more competitive fights in packed out arenas' as promised. Thankfully for boxing, the future's bright....the future's Matchroom. I for one am glad that I don't have to see the over inflated ego's of boxers from other stables (no names mentioned!) win easy fights any more.  

Is British football in complete disarray? (Part two)

Unfortunately this tale gets more rather than less woeful. For a club to be mismanaged in to administration once is bad enough, but this has happened Portsmouth twice in about two years. It is the third time they have been in administration in fourteen years! The situation could possibly not be worse at Fratton Park without the club going out of business altogether. (Which is not beyond the bounds of possibility!)

The hallowed turf at Fratton 

Portsmouth are in a situation where if their debts are not sorted out very quickly then people will refuse to do business with them.
Portsmouth's creditors are rumoured to consist of other football clubs including Wolves, West Brom and Bristol City as well as The Football League itself. Portsmouth City council are also said to be owed £78,000, and the electricity and gas suppliers have been threatening to cut them off for some for non-payment of bills. You have to wonder how far can it go, and I have said all this without even mentioning the bill to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. It is also said that Portsmouth owe previous owners Balram Chanrai and Alexandre Gaydamak in the region of £20 million. Portsmouth are not even worth £20 million, they never have been and probably never will be, so how on earth can they be allowed to end up in this kind of mess?

As Portsmouth are the closest football club to me geographically, some of my friends and family are Portsmouth fans, and a lot of them are in complete despair, and who could blame them? Portsmouth fans are among the most passionate you could meet. They're trophy count might not rival the likes of Liverpool or Manchester United, but the unequivocal support they give their club certainly would. Do they deserve to be treated in this way by businessmen from foreign shores looking on the club as some sort of cash cow? In a word, NO!


The football powers that be have to take some accountability here. In a recent BBC Sport article it is said the The Football League were 'misled at best' regarding former owner Vladimir Anotonov's finances, but surely it is their job to leave no stone unturned in matters of this nature? Particularly as they had been in exactly the same situation less than twenty four months previously with the same club! The man had been refused a license from the GFSA to operate his bank in this country for not complying to rules and regulations, what more of an indication could you want?


All this said about the sad situations at Glasgow Rangers and Portsmouth, here are some further brief reasons why football needs a complete overhaul; starting at the very top.

• We have a player in Carlos Tevez, who does not come from a wealthy background, sees earning nearly a million pounds a month as being treated like a dog. He feels that bad about these abhorrent working conditions he went on strike.

• We have a governing body, that three months before the second largest tournament England enter, see fit to undermine (rightly or wrongly?) Fabio Capello to the point where he felt he had to resign leaving us without a full-time manager. 

• The custodians of our wonderful game also see fit to make the game a laughing stock, by on one hand banning one player for alleged racist remarks for eight games with little more than hearsay evidence. On the other hand, the England captain is caught on television cameras clearly abusing his England colleagues brother, and God forbid it should interupt his playing season we'll defer the criminal charges until the end of the season. 

• Players that want to retire from international football for one reason or another. David Beckham has it right; as far as he is concerned he will always be available for selection until he retires from the game completely. 

I don't intend to discuss the rights and wrongs of these issues, but all the average fan wants is clarity and consistency throughout the game on every issue. Please governing bodies, get your heads together and sort this mess out. We do not need to be the laughing stock of world football any longer.

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