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FWA Shortlist for Football Book of the Year

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EACH YEAR, a select band from the national committee of the Football Writers’ Association, take some time out from writing their own words to read as many football books as possible before deciding on the Football Book of the Year, one of the main categories in the increasingly influential British Sports Book Awards. This year’s winner will be announced at a gala dinner at the Savoy Hotel on May 9.

Fifteen or 20 years ago, there were few intelligent, thoughtful and discersive books published about football, with cricket and rugby writers in general waxing far more lyrically, and in greater numbers, than those from our game. But all that has changed.

Now there appears to be more outstanding publications reaching the bookshelves than before and 2010 was no exception. However, the book committee of the FWA had to draw up a shortlist from the dozens of great books that were produced and after lengthy deliberations, their recommendations are listed below.

Mike Collett, chairing the Committee this year said: “What we are looking for is a book that tells a story in a special, unique way, and there were plenty of candidates to chose from before we settled on our final seven. We now have to give very careful consideration to the strengths and merits of these finalists and each one in their own way is superb and a deserving winner. . It is not going to be easy – but its going to be highly enlightening.”

The shortlist is (in author’s alphabetical order):
PATRICK BARCLAY: Football – Bloody Hell ! – The Biography of Alex Ferguson Yellow Jersey
MICHAEL CALVIN: Family – Life Death and Football. Integr8 Publishing
ANTHONY CLAVANE: Promised Land – The Re-Iinvention of Leeds United. Yellow Jersey
CATRINE CLAY: Trautmann’s Journey – From Hitler Youth to FA Cup Legend Yellow Jersey
JAMES MORGAN: In Search of Alan Gilzean – The lost legacy of a Dundee and Spurs legend. Back Page Press
BRIAN SCOVELL: Bill Nicholson – Football’s Perfectionist. John Blake Publishing
JONATHAN WILSON: The Anatomy of England – A History in Ten Matches. Orion Publishing

The committee will make its choice by the end of April with the winner announced by Queens Park Rangers manager Neil Warnock at the dinner at the Savoy on May 9.

FA must use new FIFA powers

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IT WAS good to see the Football Association finally admit that they CAN take retrospective action against players.

Footballwriters.co.uk pointed out last week that there was no FIFA regulation preventing the FA from upgrading a yellow card to a red to rectify an obvious error by the referee.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter confirmed this and the FA have intimated they will change their stance on the matter.

I have no idea why the FA have continually hidden behind a non-existent FIFA disciplinary regulation that if the referee sees an incident English football’s governing body was then powerless to take further action.

Blatter said: ‘This is up to the discretion of the national association. They can use video evidence in the discipline and control committee. If there’s violence the national association can intervene and punish a player – this is permitted at the discretion of the national association.’

Hopefully from next season we shall see a sense of natural justice for offenders.

I have sympathy for referees who have to make a split-second decision about an incident they see in real time from one angle. Not for them the luxury of slo-mo replays from different angles. Human error under such circumstances is understandable but now the FA have been told they can step in and suspend a player guilty of a bad tackle who had only been cautioned at the time.

The FA have been given the green light by FIFA to use video evidence and must ensure in future the punishment fits the crime.

Christopher Davies

Spanish FA to help Euro contenders

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The Spanish Football Federation are willing to help Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia if they reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League by allowing them to play on the Friday before the European showdowns.

The trio face Arsenal, Lyon and Schalke 04 in the second leg of the round of 16. The successful clubs will be given a minimum of four days to prepare for their Champions League quarter-finals ties – of course there could be an all-Spanish class as there is no country ‘seeding’ at the quarter-finals stage.

The federation and television companies have been in touch with the clubs and all parties are in favour. The only condition is that for TV purposes Real and Barcelona would have staggered kick-offs.

Jose Mourinho, the Real coach, has been the prime mover behind the idea because he is unhappy with having so little time to prepare his squad, especially for away ties when they have to fly the day before the game.

It means the Spanish clubs’ players will have an extra day to recover from any knocks while for a Wednesday tie they would have five days to be ready.

The scheme will no doubt give the Spanish representatives an advantage with Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Carlo Ancelotti and Harry Redknapp no doubt looking on with envy as English football would never entertain such a change even though European success has a positive knock-on effect on the Barclays Premier League.

CRISTIANO Ronaldo’s ‘perfect’ record of being the only player to play every minute of every match in the Spanish League this season has come to an end.

Barclays Premier League managers are obsessed by rotation but the Real Madrid winger is never rested and rarely substituted by Jose Mourinho.

Ronaldo brought his total to 2,327 consecutive minutes of league action in the 7-0 thrashing of Malaga last week when he scored a hat-trick (though remarkably Madrid-based newspapers make the figure higher as they include stoppage time).

He picked up a hamstring injury scoring his third goal in the 77th minute and left the field – as Real had used all three substitutes they played the remaining 13 minuites with 10 men. Ronaldo missed Real’s 3-1 win over Racing Santander on Sunday and is expected to be sidelined for between seven and 10 days.

The former Manchester United player had not been substituted in any of Real’s 26 Primera Liga matches until Malaga when strictly speaking he was not substituted. He has also played in all of Real’s seven Champions League ties, substituted once, and has appeared in all seven Copa del Rey games, one as a substitute.

Mourinho paid tribute to the Portugal international’s long playing record. He said: ‘Cristiano Ronaldo is an essential player for us.

‘The problem of playing a game every three or four days is not so much of a physical nature but rather psychological. It is hard but he is a man and a man is a creature of habit. Therefore a player is a creature of habit.’

But now Ronaldo has joined the ranks of mere mortals and will be out of action for another week or so.

AROUND 20 of the Barclays Premier League’s top players will have virtually no rest this summer because of the Copa America – South America’s equivalent of the European Championship.

The tournament will be held in Argentina and runs from July 1 – 24. Finalists will want their squads together two weeks before the tournament starts so players representing favourites Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay are set to be away for almost six weeks.

Argentina will probably call on the Manchester City pair Carlos Tevez and Pablo Zabaleta plus Newcastle’s Fabricio Coloccini.

Brazil, rebuilding after a disappointing 2010 World Cup, could include eight English-based players: Heurelho Gomes and Sandro (Spurs), Lucas and Ramires (Liverpool), Rafael and Anderson (Manchester United), David Luiz (Chelsea) and, if fit, the Blues defender Alex.

Ecuador will want United winger Antonio Valencia who has almost recovered from damaged ankle ligaments with new Liverpool striker Luis Suarez a certainty for Uruguay.

United’s latest star Javier Hernandez will play for Mexico as will Arsenal striker Carlos Vela, currently on loan at West Bromwich.

Sir Alex Ferguson, Roberto Mancini, Kenny Dalglish, Harry Redknapp, Carlo Ancelotti, Arsene Wenger and Alan Pardew will not be happy at having key players in action throughout the close season, joining up with the rest of the squad as pre-season friendlies begin but there is nothing they can do about the situation.

Christopher Davies

Football crime can’t pay

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THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION maintain they cannot take action against a player if the referee has seen the incident even if his decision at the time seems obviously wrong.

FIFA, the FA say, do not allow this course of action so Wayne Rooney escaped disciplinary action for what most observers believed was an act of violent conduct on Wigan’s James McCarthy.

I doubt if I am alone in believing that had a player done what the Manchester United striker did during the World Cup finals FIFA would have found a way of punishing the guilty party.

The FA are happy to ignore one of FIFA’s disciplinary rules. Article 18 (4) states: ‘An expulsion automatically incurs suspension from the next subsequent match.’

Yet if a player successfully appeals against wrongful dismissal the red card stays on his disciplinary record though he serves no suspension…contrary to the regulations of world football’s governing body.

I have searched for the FIFA regulation (yes, I know I should get out more) that says ‘if a referee sees an incident the national association cannot take further action’ but can find it nowhere.

However, I did come across Article 77 of FIFA’s disciplinary code – specific jurisdiction – states that the Disciplinary Committee is responsible for:
a) sanctioning serious infringements which have escaped the match officials’ attention;
b) rectifying obvious errors in the referee’s disciplinary decisions;
c) extending the duration of a match suspension incurred automatically by an expulsion (cf. art 18, par. 4);
d) pronouncing additional sanctions, such as a fine.

Surely B allows the FA to look again at incidents where the referee, perhaps understandably from one angle in real time in the heat of the action, has made a human error? While few would be comfortable with matches being re-refereed, at the same time there should always be a natural sense of justice. A dangerous elbow in the face of an opponent should be punished accordingly even if initially the referee deemed it only a yellow card offence. Football crime must not be seen to pay.

While I accept the laws of football should the the same at all levels of the sport I find it difficult to comprehend why a national association cannot have their own disciplinary system. Well, they do. In

Spain for example players can appeal against yellow cards which is not the case in English football. In Italy players have been banned because they have retrospectively been found guilty of simulation which wouldn’t happen here.

How refreshing it would be for the FA to take the lead and say to FIFA ‘we are going to ensure that players who commit serious infringements of the laws are punished.’ Article 77 B of FIFA’s disciplinary statutes appears to suggest they can. I cannot see how FIFA could do anything. Their law-making body, the International Football Association Board, are responsible for the laws of the game but FIFA should not be able to control domestic disciplinary systems especially if they punish offenders. After all, FIFA’s slogan is Fair Play.

REAL MADRID are set to follow the lead of Arsenal and rename their stadium the the Santiago Bernabeu Emirates.

Florentino Perez, the Real president, has been in the Middle East for talks with the Emirates group who sponsor Arsenal.

The company are willing to finance the refurbishment of the Bernabeu stadium – named after the former Real president – to make it a modern sports complex.

Part of the deal is that the stadium would be called the Santiago Bernabeu Emirates with the Fly Emirates logo on Real’s shirts. Their current sponsorship deal with Bwin ends in 2013.

MAYBE JUST MAYBE members of the Football Writers’ Association will finally hear Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich speak in public.

The Russian billionaire has never given an interview since taking charge at Stamford Bridge, such secrecy adding to his mystique.

But Abramovich is set to appear in the High Court, probably in October, to answer claims of breach of trust and contract brought by Boris Berezovsky, a former friend and protégé of the Blues’ supremo. If the case actually goes to the High Court it is likely to last 10 weeks, according to the Times’ business section.

Abramovich is being represented by Skadden whose European head is Bruce Buck, the Chelsea chairman.

Christopher Davies

Report on FWA North East Dinner

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THE North East Branch of the FWA enjoyed a fantastic 30th anniversary awards evening at Ramside Hall in Durham.

Picking up the North East Player of the Year was Sunderland striker Darren Bent, watched by his manager Steve Bruce, chairman Niall Quinn as well as his team-mates.

Following the sacking of Chris Hughton just days before the awards, Alan Pardew made his first appearance at the event and was given a good reception by both Sunderland and Newcastle fans. His assistant Steve Stone picked up Newcastle United’s Team of the Year Award in Hughton’s absence as well as Young Player of the Year Andy Carroll’s accolade.

A special award went to non league Whitley Bay for winning the FA Vase Trophy for a second successive season while Niall Quinn was awarded the John Fotheringham Memorial Award for his contribution to North East Football.

A toast was raised to former FWA National Secretary Ken Montgomerie who sadly passed away last month.

Amongst those in the room were Phil Brown, John Hendrie, Stephen Pears, Jim Platt, Dennis Tueart, Adam Johnson, Frank Clark and England cricketer Graham Onions

Report on FWA Northern Dinner

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THE 28th Northern FWA Managers’ Awards Dinner was a significant occasion in the association’s history, as the £80,000 barrier was cracked for children’s charities.

The raffle and auction at the function, held at Manchester’s Radisson Edwardian Hotel on November 14, raised £4,500 with The Seashell Trust – formlery the Royal Schools for the Blind – and Friends of Muscular Dystrophy the two charities to benefit this year.

So we have now raised almost £81,000 for children’s causes.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, usually a regular attender of FWA functions, pulled out two days before the event, owing to a business trip to Qatar.

But all the other award-winning managers were present – Newcastle’s Chris Hughton, Blackpool’s Ian Holloway, Simon Grayson at Leeds, Rochdale’s Keith Hill, Ian Chandler from Whitley Bay, the Barrow double act of David Bayliss and Darren Sheridan and Mo Marley of Everton Ladies.

Richard Bevan, Chief Executive of the League Managers’ Association, congratulated northern chairman Paul Hetherington and national chairman Steve Bates, on the event.

Bevan said: “Reading the programme, going back to past winners like Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Trevor Cherry and Kenny Dalglish, it was great to read the history of the awards and to join you for the event.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and was honoured to sit at the FWA top table.”

Read All About It – Paper Review

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THE REASON people dislike Gary Neville is, strangely, because he has all the qualities we ask for in a footballer. The Manchester United full-back who had announced his retirement – though he could never be called retiring – was a dedicated one-club man, his passion for United equals that of any supporter, his consistency was as good as it gets and his honesty could never be doubted.

Rarely the most willing or easy of players to interview, perhaps the only thing Neville and the press have in common is their opinion of each other but Fleet Street was still ready to praise the former England international who intriguingly may join the ranks of the media as a TV pundit.

Andy Dunn in the News of the World wrote: “You don’t get to play 600-odd times for Manchester United merely because you stay on the training ground until dusk. Isn’t it a shame though that outside Old Trafford most people will remember his magnificent career as essentially one long scowl?

“Maybe not. Maybe railing against the outside world is what made Neville the unique footballer he was.”

Martin Kelner, in his always entertaining Guardian column, placed the emphasis on Neville’s alleged moustache. He was impressed by Match Of The Day’s “very useful guide to the several ages of Neville’s moustache.”

Kelner wrote: “Ostensibly it was a tribute to Neville’s achievements, with shots of him lifting trophies at various stages in his Manchester United career, but the montage also acted like one of those speeded-up sequences of a flower blooming you used to see on nature programmes, giving one a snapshot of just what has been going on underneath the Neville nose through the Premier League era.”

In the Daily Mirror, Oliver Holt said Neville’s commitment and desire should be the blueprint for any young player. He wrote: “Neville stood for things that people wrongly say have been lost to the game. He was proof that there are still plenty of footballers we can point to as worthy of our children’s hero worship.

“He was proof that, amid all the stuff and nonsense, there are still plenty of players out there who are true to the traditions of the game.”

Dave Kidd’s take on Red Nev in the People made the point that the new wave of owners could signal the end of loyal servants like Neville.

Kidd was angry at the criticism by Newcastle owner Mike Ashley’s “henchman” Derek Llambias directed at Alan Shearer who questioned the sale of Andy Carroll to Liverpool.

‘The contempt and loathing Ashley and Llambias show towards their own supporters is unprecedented. And the more men like these hold sway at Premier League clubs, the less likely it is that we’ll ever see the like of Gary Neville again.’

Carroll missed Liverpool’s 1-0 win at Chelsea where the debut of Fernando Torres for the Blues gave football writers the opportunity to dip their metaphorical pens in vitriol.

Torres lasted 66 minutes before being substituted and Steve Howard of the Sun, never one to sit on any fence, was at his best. “The only surprise was the travelling Kop didn’t hit him with the biggest insult of all – are you Shevchenko in disguise?.

“As debuts go it was a stinker.”

Torres started the game alongside Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka which many think is one striker too many. Howard’s Sun colleague Shaun Custis made the point: “There is a strong belief [Carlo] Ancelotti had little to say in the Torres signing, that it was all down to Roman Abramovich. But it is Ancelotti who has to find a way of sorting it out.’

Outside of Merseyside the result was seen as a Chelsea defeat rather than a Liverpool victory but the Daily Mail’s Martin Samuel was gushing in his praise for Kenny Dalglish whose three at the back formation worked a treat. Samuel wrote: “He…gets the best out of players like Raul Meireles and Lucas who have struggled under previous managers. He has taken a system that is hopelessly unfashionable in the modern era and won with it at fortress Stamford Bridge.””

Oliver Kay penned a thoughtful column on a player who was absent from the action, Joe Cole. Quickly becoming a forgotten man at Anfield and with England, Cole has struggled with an early red card, niggling injuries and – not for the first time – consistency.

Kay wrote in the Times: “[Roy] Hodgson got an awful lot wrong at Liverpool but who can accuse him of being wrong…with respect to Cole? Claudio Ranieri, Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant, Guus Hiddink, Carlo Ancelotti…Hodgson was just the latest manager who felt unable to indulge Cole. Kenny Dalglish seems certain to be the next.”

Christopher Davies

Celebrate among yourselves and keep your shirt on

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So did Peter Walton REALLY have to show West Ham’s Frederic Piquionne a second yellow card for his goal-celebrations against Everton? No…and yes. Welcome to the subjective land of the laws of football.

FIFA guidelines state: ‘Leaving the field of play to celebrate a goal is not a cautionable offence in itself but it is essential that players return to the field of play as soon as possible. Referees are expected to act in a preventative manner and to exercise common sense in dealing with the celebration of a goal.’

So despite the common belief that running to celebrate a goal with supporters is a mandatory yellow card, that is not necessarily the case but the guidelines add: ’While it is permissible for a player to demonstrate his joy when a goal has been scored, the celebration must not be excessive.’

Let’s not get into the law that says leaving the field of play without the referee’s permission. That would open up not so much a can of worms as a barrel-load.

Journalists, players, managers and fans want consistency from referees but that is impossible because what one referee might see as a cautionable offence, another might not. Most of the laws are based on the opinion of the referee and as in life, people have different views on the same situation. What one referee regards as excessive another will consider acceptable. The laws are not always black and white.

Personally, I go along with Gerard Houllier who said that the best way to celebrate a goal is for the scorer to run to the team-mate who has laid on the chance. Too many celebrations these days are negative – the cupped ear or finger over the mouth – rather that what should be a moment of absolute joy.

I have sympathy for Walton because no matter what most of my FWA colleagues apparently believe, celebrating with fans does present a potential danger. Jubilant supporters can be injured climbing over seats in an effort to share a hug or a high-five with the goalscorer. I remember being at the Valley when Manchester United scored and in the mayhem to celebrate with the scorer there was such a rush of bodies that a Charlton steward sustained a broken leg. Had the player stayed on the field this would not have happened.

Thankfully such acts are rare but they can happen so Walton can justifiably claim he was acting in a ‘preventative manner.’ Emotions run high after a goal and by sprinting to the crowd a player can, albeit unwittingly, present a potential danger. Remember, the laws apply to football around the world at every level and many stadiums are not as securely built as those in England.

Sadly, as we saw at Stevenage the other week when a player was struck by a supporter during a so-called good natured pitch invasion…it takes only one bad guy to spoil things.

The penny should have dropped by now that excessive celebrations can bring a yellow card but players still remove their jerseys after scoring, thus earning the most brainless of cautions which goes towards a potential suspension.

Servette midfielder Paulo Diogo scored against Schaffhausen, then jumped into the crowd to celebrate. On the way, he managed to catch his wedding ring on a fence and tore off the top half of his finger. To add to his pain, he was also cautioned for excessive celebration.

Those who believe a Half Monty celebration is part and parcel of football…the International Football Association Board made the removal of a shirt after goalscoring a mandatory yellow card for three reasons. Firstly, football is a world-wide sport and in some countries a bare male chest is considered offensive for religious reasons. Secondly, the undergarment players wear often bear the logo of the manufacturer, giving them free ‘advertising’ on television which does not go down well with those sponsors who have paid for the privilege. Thirdly, messages such as ‘happy birthday mum’ have become boring.

The lawmakers are either protecting the safety of supporters and players or killjoys, depending on your view. But if you know running to the crowd or taking off your jersey will bring a yellow card, whether you agree with it or not, why do it?

Celebrate among yourselves chaps and keep your shirts on.

Christopher Davies

Book Club: ‘Thank You Hermann Goering’

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In his time working for the Daily Sketch and Daily Mail, Brian Scovell probably reported on more Test matches and international football matches than any other English sportswriter. This fascinating, amusing and moving memoir is filled with hundreds of anecdotes and insights into top sports personalities and other public figures, including previously untold stories about Maggie Thatcher, John Major, Princess Diana, Brian Lara, Enoch Powell, and Alan Sugar.

Following a German bombing raid on the Isle of Wight in 1943, Brian spent two years in hospital reading articles by Tom Philips, the leading sports writer of the day. His mother wanted him to be a banker, but in that hospital bed Brian decided to go to Fleet Street, so he has Hermann Goering to thank for the way his life turned out.

England cricket captain Ted Dexter called him ‘Scoop’ and two of his scoops, both outside sport, concerned a secret meeting between Goering and Lord Jellicoe at St Lawrence, in a failed attempt to broker a peace agreement, and a German amphibious raid on a radar station in the same area.

One of the book’s central themes is Brian’s love affair with his wife Audrey, an artist who died in 2000 and continues to inspire his writing. As he contends with the boozy Cobbold brothers, weathers spats with fellow journalists and travels the world (meeting Pope John Paul II and Reverend Canaan Banana on the way) she remains his chief allegiance, more important than newsprint or sport.

THE AUTHOR
Born in 1935 on the Isle of Wight, Brian Scovell was one of the Daily Mail’s longest-serving and best-loved sports writers.He has written 24 previous books, most famously co-authoring the autobiography of the illusive Brian Lara for Corgi, but he has also written about Dickie Bird, Trevor Brooking, Bobby Robson and Ken Barrington. His books about England Managers and Jim Laker were both nominated for the Sports Book of the Year Prize. He lives in Bromley in Kent.

Book Club: Scovell achieves third Double

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Brian Scovell, our longest serving member on the FWA Committee, has achieved a third Double in the season that Tottenham Hotspur won the first Double of the last century. His biography of Bill Nicholson commemorating the 50th anniversary has been widely reviewed and his 25th book has just come out, a memoir entitled “Thank You Hermann Goering – A Life of a Sports Writer.” Frank Keating said of it “a triumph, it’s a terrific piece of work and I read it in one sitting, well, two.”

In 1982 he brought out “Ken Barrington: A Tribute” and “Times on the Grass,” the first autobiography of Bobby Robson and in 2006 his books “The Impossible Job – The England Managers” and “19-90 Jim Laker” were nominated for the British Sports Book Awards.