This is Clarkeonenil’s regular comment column, cutting through the various passing issues of football and getting to the core principle in the shortest time.
Myths that need to be buried.
Sometimes you find that perception and the facts are incompatible and as a consequence the former becomes myth. One such case in point is Simon Grayson’s reputation in the transfer/loan market. Read the forums and the refrain is of how good Grayson is at picking up players and yet at the same time you will see a catalogue of complaint about the players he has brought to the club. Presently McSheffrey is just holding off Lowry as the least popular of the loan signings. Equally the hero worship of Gradel has diluted as his starts expose his limited ability. Basically the good will garnered by bringing in Naylor last season and Kisnorbo this has been squandered by the declining form of the former and a dozen plus flops.
The list of Grayson’s less than impressive introductions to the Leeds United squad via loans looks something like this: Dickinson L, Trundle, Sodje, Dickinson C, Doyle, Fielding, Vokes, Ephriam, Martin D, Capaldi, McSheffrey, Lowry. Of that list only Doyle gets “average” for his season long loan and Dickinson C comes under the “left-back the meatheads liked” category. The rest (including Sodje) are failures. On permanent signings, Naylor started well then declined, Kisnorbo started well but is yet to re-find his pre injury form, Higgs started well but is now clearly not going to remove Casper even if he ever recovers from injury, Crowe started well then declined, Bromby who has been good and bad in equal parts since day one and Gradel, who flattered to deceive by starting well from the bench but now doesn’t. Grella might be a decent enough signing if he started games and Somma comes into the “jury out” category. When analysed as a whole the record looks really kind of average (if that).
The point of this exercise is not to provide ammunition to attack Grayson, there is more to management than buying, but to nail that particular myth. If Grayson is to oversee an overhaul of the squad in the summer, he will need to do better than he has so far.
Truth hurts.
It never takes much for those intent on attacking the manager that gives the PL the most exciting football season in season out. It’s like Arsenal and Arsene Wenger and some form of alien life to the hoofball/Allardyce worshipping hordes of what used to be called Fleet Street. Their inability to see the accuracy of Wenger’s case about the treatment, and the consequences of that treatment, his young skilful players receive at the hands of thugs comes as no surprise but it is still shameful. The PL will never truly be the best in the world with the likes of Pulis, Bruce, Allardyce and Brown not only polluting the pitches with their ugly teams but also the airways with their nasty ways.
Getting back to the Ramsey injury I note this, when Adebayor gives Ryan Shawcross a minor brush-off he gets a 4 match ban with nobody in the media concerned it was a bad decision. When the aforementioned Shawcross slams into Ramsey 4 days later with the force of a runaway bus and commits the worst foul of the season he gets a stream of personal testimonials and a call up for England (a disgrace in itself but that’s a different matter). The fact will always remain, 99% of PL footballers will never commit a tackle like that and for people to spend their time defending a player who does shows a shallow understanding of the values of football.
Whilst it might be asking too much nothing would give me more pleasure than Arsenal win the PL this season, it would be the greatest achievement ever.
Marriage made in hell.
What are QPR thinking with the appointment of Neil Warnock? After 3 years of numerous managers signing shed-loads of average they give the manager’s position to a bloke with a grand total of one seasons worth of PL experience (plus one in the old Div 1). Now I could understand it if QPR were looking to spend the next 3 years bobbing along in the CCC avoiding L1 (which BTW its possible Warnock might be playing a part relegating 2 teams from the same division) but they are expected to mount a challenge for the PL in that time period. It’s a strange one, a team mostly known for flowing passing teams about to let a hoofmeister take the reins. I see only trouble ahead (but to be fair QPR would get that with Warnock even if he is a success).
You can see why Warnock left Crystal Palace, once the administration kicked in he was always killing time before moving on. What isn’t quite clear is what Warnock wants out of management anymore. When he took the Palace job he indicated it was going to be his last post before he retired to deepest Cornwall (like Rotherham based chiropodists do) and the way he put up with budget restrictions at Selhurst Park rather suggested he was coasting. Stepping into the Loftus Road chaos perhaps points us towards a realisation he just can’t let go.
Queens Park Rangers verses Crystal Palace as a L1 fixture next season; I’ll give up trips to both clubs to see Leeds in the CCC to see that!
