Well, what can you say about the World Cup. Rated up there with the best and yet fell at the second hurdle. No doubt there will be much wailing, finger pointing, distancing from any limelight just in case and gnashing of teeth from any number of the footballing hierarchy but it's the supporters I feel sorry for. The poor bu**ers spent well above an arm and a leg to follow their beloved country's team to the bottom of the planet and what do they get... 360 minutes of shambolic ineptitude from the top down. Sort it out for God's sake! How is it we can invent games but within ten minutes the world and his brother are better at them than we are?
And another thing, possibly trivial to some of you anti-royalists but important to me at least, shouldn't you be proud to be chosen to represent your country? Next time its on, watch the England rugby players when our National Anthem is played, chests are thrust forward and they are singing their lungs out with pride. England footballers, hardly any of them move their lips and even that seems an effort. Perhaps they don't know the words? Too busy getting their heads into the 'right place/mindset' I suppose. Overpaid prima donna's the lot of them. So they got kicked out early, never mind eh? Come back home on a specially chartered plane to a safe area away from any possibly angry fans; whisked away in German cars (how's that for irony?); home to their respective companions before jetting off to the Caribbean or the Maldives or somewhere equally exotic to recover from the stress. Good, get rid of them and replace them with footballers who play for the love of the game and country not just for the outrageous salary it can bring.
For one mistake, Ashley Cole was booed for several games afterwards. Except for Green-who to my mind was exonerated after several other keepers had similar problems with the new ball at the tournament- and James who was MotM against Germany, for such a lacklustre performance it should happen to all of them when the new season starts...for a long time.
The FA, (thats Football Association by the way, not the other abbreviation), needs to take a collective step back away from their sinecurist positions and start getting people in place who know the game: then listen to them once they're there. Wilkinson and Brooking are the proverbial voices in the wilderness, banging their heads against a brick wall of white collar aggrandizement.
Plus, don't get me started on the new Jubulani ball and that goal.
So now I have a bit of a dilemma. Being of Anglo-Saxon descent from way back in the genealogical mists of time and a proud Englishman, I naturally follow England. But the Saxon bit is very important because my surname is one of the few derivations of the word sax and actually means Saxon. So now I will transfer my allegiance to Germany, the better team on the night and eventual winners of the tournament. I hope. (Still, 5-1 is still better than 4-1 by my maths, so we are ahead overall.)
Bloody Hell, I could go on all night...but luckily for you I won't. I've had enough now anyway. Only two years to wait for the European Championship. Bring it on!
Mick
THE WORDS OF SUBEDAI An ongoing monologue about the trials and tribulations of life in general, being an avid reader, figure painter, terrain modeller, part time wargamer -with a rather scary fixation for the Mongols- part time rule writer, aspiring writer and photographer, very amateur artist and being a follower of both West Ham United and Sittingbourne FC...ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!
