Hey y'all and welcome to over-time in the Pre-meer Cup Sem-eye final. OK enough soccer talk, we've had an extremely eventful couple of weeks on and off the football pitch.
Tevez was 'punished' by Man City by being suspended for 2 weeks. In this time he remained on full pay and was allowed to return to his native Buenos Aries to visit what he cherishes most in his life, Kia Joorabchian (his 'adviser'). After allegedly refusing to come on against Bayern Munich, Tevez is given a holiday. Didn't work out too badly for El Apache did it? He has now returned from 'suspension' but we have yet to see him in either of Man City's latest squads. Bizarrely, before Mancini's press conference, journalists were told they were not allowed to ask about Carlito. Hmm, team news for Aston Villa is what we're all relishing isn't it? What else is there to talk about but the soap opera that is TEVEZ: A true hero's story.
Now this is just a minor observation of what has been an otherwise equally absorbing couple of weeks in the world of Wayne 'Wazza' Rooney. When news broke that Rooney senior had been arrested on suspicion of playing a role in an illegal Scottish betting ring, we all breathed a collective sigh. While the tabloid hacks sharpened their pencils or maybe more appropriately upgraded their 'BS' software on their Ipads but that doesn't quite have the same ring to it. Anyone waking up to find out their dad had been arrested couldn't have enjoyed their cornflakes that morning or in Wayne's case, his daily maraud for flesh. He clearly wasn't in the right mind to play for England that evening against Montenegro. And it showed, it took just 1.26 seconds for him to return to the Wayne Rooney of old and petulantly kick out in frustration at his opponent. OK, it wasn't exatly assault but in the international game these days it is a sending off. And a 3 match ban? Now this is where I disagree with Uefa. In England, if you get sent off for violent conduct, you receive a 3 match domestic ban. That is fair enough but how many games are encompassed in an English league season. 38 plus a possible 12 games in the FA Cup and Worthless Cup if you weren't sure. The ban to total available games ratio is inconsistent and unfair when compared to how many possible games there are in the international calendar. On average, 10 per year. So the equivalent domestic ban would be 15 matches?! Completely ridiculous but Uefa epitomise the kind of idiots running football today. This is before I even mention such profanity as Sepp and Blatter but that is for another blog, we don't have time for that can of worms and the insipid vitriol that comes with it. So Rooney's ban should be 2 games at most, banning him for the entire group stage of Euro 2012 is ludicrous. However, the irony of all this will be when Roo breaks another metatarsal and will miss the tournament anyway.
Now to the most worrying developement of the past couple of weeks and the title story to this blog. The LMA have raised concerns that the Premier League may only need 4 or 5 more 'foreign' owners to push through an agreement to abolish relegation from the Premiership to the Championship. In essence an untouchable break-away bottomless pit of money. A closed league is not unheard of around the world but the idea of this in England doesn't translate. Such fantastic institutions that are ingrained in English football such as the Sheffields, United and Wednesday, Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Matt Le Tissier's Southampton, Blackpool, Hull, Ipswich would be lost. The list doesn't end there either. All the top teams have foreign owners, Man Utd (US, Glazer), LFC (US, FWS), Chelski (RUS, Roman), Man City (ABU, Mansour). These teams have no great worry about relegation so why would they be in favour of it? Relegation is none of their concern. So realisitically the notion is unlikely to come to fruition, although the number of foreign owners is growing to alarming levels. The threat of the '39th game' is very real. Until then we have a Manchester derby to contend with, maybe one day this could be played in Malaysia? One can dream....
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