|
Magill On Monday - contributed by Daniel Magill
With all the speculation and rumour surrounding the future of English
football, it seemed somewhat ironic this week that we were given a chilling
reminder of what could and should have been a glorious English past.
These days the names of Stan Collymore and Paul Gascoigne have about the same
chance of gracing an England team sheet as Jim Smith has of picking up a
Young Manager Of The Year award. However both men should now be heading
towards the final years of their careers, safe in the knowledge that they are
England legends.
Firstly Collymore. The ability that Stan quite obviously has is frightening.
Had the goal that he scored against Leeds yesterday been scored for England
in a World or European championship, Stan could have counted on immediate
elevation to world superstar status. The Stan Collymore who scored for fun
at Forest should have gone on to Euro 96 and World Cup 98 and formed part of
what surely would have been the world's most lethal partnership. Sadly of
course, he didn't, and even following yesterday's wonder goal, there are few
who would bet on Collymore making a success of what surely has to be his last
Premiership chance.
Meanwhile Gascoigne is in many ways even more guilty of letting down his
country. Whilst his recent run of brilliant form has surely vindicated Walter
Smith's decision to bring him to Goodison, Gascoigne should feel utterly
ashamed about the wasted years when he could so easily have been captaining
his country to success. Sorry Gazza, but it is an absolute travesty that the
pinnacle of your career was a goal against Scotland in the opening stages of
Euro 96. What a waste!
Of course lessons can be learnt. Players of such ability don't go come along
everyday. Next time one does, let's hope he can learn from the mistakes of
Stan and Gazza.
Elsewhere, it seems that the new 10yrd misconduct rule is really starting to
kick in. It could be just me but the amount of backchat from players
certainly seems to be on the decline. Of course if it had been up to me I'd
have liked to see the introduction of Taliban law to English football. Did
anyone hear the story a few weeks back about the
Afghanistan police who interrupted a game to arrest members of the Pakistani
side. Their crime? Well would you believe they had actually dared to wear
football shorts! Of course Taliban law states that shorts cannot be worn in
public and all football players are required to wear long baggy trousers. The
Pakistanis ignored this law and were duly arrested and taken to the cells,
where they then faced the possibility of a public flogging.
Fortunately for the Pakistani's the Taliban were in a charitable mood and
decided to let the players off with a simple head shaving.
Suddenly it all becomes very clear. Remember how after Beckham's fall out
with Ferguson at the back end of last season, he came back with a shaven
head? Obviously Alex is already learning from the Taliban methods!
|
E-mail me with any comments or views: dmabfc@aol.com.
|
|
|
|
|
|
