SA PSL Picks - 1st and 2nd November 2008

Three South African PSL games this Saturday and the balance on Sunday. We haven't really done much commentary around local soccer picks and the up and down performances of the 'big' teams have probably proven that decision right.

Saturday
Free State Stars v Orlando Pirates - Pirates win
Kaizer Chiefs v AmaZulu - Chiefs win
Ajax Cape Town v SuperSport United - Draw

Pirates have FINALLY gotten into gear after a very poor start to the season. Even missing some key players, they should do the job against Free State stars.

If Chiefs don't win here (and win convincingly), then nobody shoud take them seriously.

SuperSport top the PSL after the first but we're worried they will slip up here against Ajax. We're calling a low scoring draw.

Sunday
Moroka Swallows v Bloem Celtic - Swallows win
Thanda Royal Zulu FC v Bidvest Wits - Draw
Mamelodi Sundowns v Bay United - Sundowns win

Bloem Celtic are scraping the bottom of the league with one draw and four losses. Swallows should do the business here in front of their home crowd.

Wits have shown flashes of form but Thanda Royal Zulu haven't been the worst side around either. Coupled with home ground advantage we suspect Royal Zulu can at least pick up one point here.

Sundowns got an important win against Wits earlier in the week and management and coaches will be very aware that the 'powers that be' and the fans have not been very accepting of the average results delivered so far. Sundowns should win and win big against a Bay United still trying to find their feet at this level.

Source: Sports Trader

Saturday 1 November 2008 - Sports Trader premiership picks

Wow! Another weekend of the English Premiership is here. Chelsea managed to restore 'the world order' with a comprehensive 0-3 thrashing of Hull and it will be interesting to see how the Tigers respond to that loss.

Hull take on Manchester United at Old Trafford today. United are also desperately seeking points to make up some lost ground so it is going to be a juicy match up.

Our predictions for the Saturday are as follows:

Chelsea v Sunderland - Chelsea win
Man Utd v Hull - Draw
Middlesbrough v West Ham - West Ham win
Portsmouth v Wigan - Portsmouth win
Stoke v Arsenal - Arsenal win
West Brom v Blackburn - Draw
Everton v Fulham - Everton win

The game we are a little wary on is the Stoke vs. Arsenal matchup. We've gone the safe route of the Arsenal win but Stoke have the ability to frustrate and they have the ability to score goals.

Happy Hunting Punters....

Source: Sports Trader

Sports Trader Premiership picks - 2008/10/29

Following a cracking weekend of English premiership football, the teams are back in action tonight with the next round of games and there are some crackers on the cards....

All eyes are focused on the Hull vs. Chelsea game. Hull have been the surprise package and enjoy homeground advantage against the Blues. But Chelsea will still be smarting from a homeground loss against Liverpool and will want to make amends. I'm going with a sentimental bet here and going for a Hull win.

The other game where I expect a surprise is Portsmouth trip to Anfield. The Liverpool fans are probably going to shoot me down, but I expect Liverpool to drop points here and am predicting a draw.

Our predictions here are as follows

Fulham v Wigan - Fulham win
Hull v Chelsea - Hull win
Aston Villa v Blackburn - Aston Villa win
Stoke v Sunderland - Draw
Liverpool v Portsmouth - Draw
Arsenal v Tottenham - Arsenal win
Bolton v Everton - Everton win
Man Utd v West Ham - Man Utd win
Middlesbrough v Man City - Man City win

Happy hunting punters.

Source: Sports Trader blog

Villa drub Wigan

It may have been Martin O'Neill's 100th competitive game in charge of Villa but four was the magic number for the Villa boss.

A quality quartet of goals guaranteed maximum joy for O'Neill and ensured claret and blue supporters went back down the M6 in joyous mood.

Gareth Barry opened the scoring midway through the first half from the penalty spot.

Gabby Agbonlahor doubled the advantage just before the hour mark when he deflected home John Carew's towering header.

The Norwegian striker finished off a wonderful move just after the hour mark, heading home an Agbonlahor cross.

And Steve Sidwell, making his Barclays Premier League debut for Villa, fired in an unstoppable drive at the death.

Source:
http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~1432579,00.html

Robinho rocks for Man City

Manchester City and their one man wrecker Robinho were on a mission today. Three nil passed Stoke is not a bad result... now if only the can get a few other players to contribute to the effort and this side would be mean!

Topsy turvy South African PSL

Who would have imagined that the South African PSL would be looking like this after four rounds?:

Team
SuperSport - 10 (Points)
Bidvest Wits - 10
Arrows - 8
Maritzburg - 8
Swallows - 7
Ajax - 7
Sundowns - 7
Thanda Royal - 7
FS Stars - 6
Bay Utd - 4
Santos - 4
Plat Stars - 4
Chiefs - 3
AmaZulu - 3
Pirates - 2
Celtic - 1

Glamour clubs, Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs have also been knocked out of the big money Telkom cup just to rub salt into the wounds.

I guess its not unusual to see 1 big club get off to a slow start but Sundowns, Chiefs AND Pirates has to be a little perplexing for their supporters.

Alonso sinks Chelsea

Xabi Alonso has sunk Chelsea and fired Liverpool to the top of the Premiership when he scored his 15th goal for Liverpool.

Its been a while since the Chelsea fortress at Stamford Bridge has been breached....

Are Liverpool finally confirming that they are championship material after many seasons of being also rans?

Plenty of football to be played but a huge psychological win for Liverpool and a blow to the Chelsea aura...

With Everton snatching a last minute draw against Manchester United, Liverpool will probably see the weekend as mission accomplished.

If Chelsea can bounce back quickly they'll still be a very real threat for the championship..

Open letter from Tottenham Hotspurs chairman Daniel Levy

Dear Supporter,

How quickly things change in football. Our pre-season form, our start to the transfer window and early summer signings had everyone optimistic for the season ahead. The last few days of that window and our poor start to the season has seen all that change. This has been a difficult period for the Club and many questions are being asked and much criticism levelled. I should like to update you on some important developments announced a short while ago, to answer some of your questions and also to outline our thinking as we look to improve our current position going forward.

We have faced many key challenges as we have progressed over the last few seasons and we have had to take important decisions at crucial times - without the wonderful benefit of hindsight and always under full public scrutiny. As such, they have been judgement calls. Some of our decisions and judgements may at times be unpopular with our fans but we always take decisions we believe to be in the best interests of our Club, at the time we make them, and for the right reasons. In many cases, it is simply not possible or practical for all of the factors involved to enter the public domain and I do understand that this can alter or impair the perception of why something has or hasn't been done.

Today, as formally announced by the Club, I have made one such important judgement call and in doing so I have taken some very difficult decisions. Relieving Juande Ramos, our Head Coach, and Juande's assistants, Gus Poyet and Marcos Alvarez, of their posts is not something I have undertaken lightly.

Unfortunately, our record of just three League wins since our memorable Carling Cup victory against Chelsea last February, combined with our extremely poor start to the season, led the Board and I to determine that significant change was necessary as a matter of urgency. We are grateful to Juande, Gus and Marcos for all their hard work - they are incredibly professional, committed individuals and I regret that their time in the Premier League has not gone as well as we had all hoped..

The English Premier League is an unforgiving competition - time was no longer on our side and was a luxury we simply could not afford. We have quite clearly not performed to the best of our ability for many months now and our poor run of form is not something we could allow to continue unchecked.

In appointing Harry Redknapp as our new manager, we are delighted to have secured the services of someone we have long since admired and whose track record and knowledge of all levels of football, including importantly the Premier League, is outstanding. I know Harry is relishing the opportunity of managing a Club he knows well, not least from his son Jamie's time here as a player and Captain, and of re-invigorating and restoring confidence to a squad of highly talented international players. With his great knowledge of the game and his excellent motivational skills, Harry has inspired his teams to consistently over-perform, whilst his preferred attacking style of playing the game sits comfortably with our Club's history, heritage and the type of entertaining football our fans want and expect to see.

We have spent around £175m on new players over the last 3 years. The purchasing of players is a critical aspect of our Club and, given our current position, it is essential that we go into the January transfer window with absolute confidence in the advice being offered to the Board. Following a meeting of the Directors and a full review of our football management structure, I can also inform you that Damien Comolli has left the Club with immediate effect. Damien will not be directly replaced.

In my opinion, and with the benefit that comes with running our Club with and without a Sporting Director in the past seven years, the successful management of a football club is not about structures or job titles. As in most businessess, it's about people: their personal qualities, their knowledge, their experience, their relationships, communication skills, interaction with colleagues, leadership and, of course, their ability.

In Harry, we are also accepting with his appointment that now is the right time for us to move back to a more traditional style of football management at our Club. one which we believe will be capable of initiating our climb back up the Premier League table and to maintaining our challenge in the UEFA, Carling and FA Cup competitions.

However, I should stress that we are not in this current position because of any single factor or any one individual. Human nature often dictates the need to find someone or something to blame, but in these circumstances we need all our energies to be directed instead to supporting the team and improving our League position. Nothing else matters at this time.

That said, and without dwelling too much on last summer, I do also want to take this opportunity to address some of the other concerns you have raised. Many of the questions I have been asked and much of the reasoning for our poor start to the season has centred on our striker options. I do not believe this to be the sole reason, but I do feel it is important to set out the facts once again regarding the sale of two popular and talented strikers: Keane and Berbatov.

Robbie Keane's departure was undoubtedly the shock of the summer. I personally had an excellent relationship with Robbie and he was one player that I always thought would end his career at the Club. I know you all felt the same. I was as disappointed as any of you when he informed me that he wanted to join what he described as his favourite boyhood club. Against this background and despite his obvious professionalism, our coaching staff felt that it would be very difficult to expect Robbie to continue to be such a positive influence in our dressing room when he so clearly wanted to leave us. The decision to sell Robbie was therefore not a financial one, although in such circumstances it was vital for our Club to secure the maximum possible value for a player of Robbie's ability.

The sale of Dimitar was an entirely different matter. Dimitar first intimated to Martin Jol that he wanted to join Manchester United after just one season at our Club - and just 10 days before the end of the summer 2007 transfer window. At that time, the coaching staff's preference was to let Dimitar go and for us to replace him. This was not something I would allow - at any price - as I felt that Dimitar's request was completely unreasonable. From that moment on, we obviously knew we had an issue and we spent many hours over the course of the season that followed trying to persuade Dimitar to stay. I rebuffed a number of approaches from clubs , including Manchester United, this May and again in early July. Despite press stories to the contrary, there was no extended period of negotiation with Manchester United and their July offer of £20m was not increased until they contacted us again in the last few days of the transfer window.

The internal decision to sell Dimitar at the beginning of the window was premised on a suitable replacement being found and on the assumption that Dimitar couldn't be persuaded to change his mind. Under FIFA regulations, if a players signs a contract before his 28th birthday, he has only to serve 3 years of that contract before he can terminate it and join a new club. Whilst some compensation is payable under such circumstances the level of compensation is set by a third party body in accordance with predeteremined factors, and in Dimitar's case would have been but a small fraction of the fee we received from Manchester United. But even this was not the final determining factor in our decision to part company with him. Despite the potential cost to the Club and knowing that our efforts to sign an additional, experienced striker had failed, the final decision on whether or not to sell Dimitar was not a financial decision but a footballing one. It was felt that he had not been a positive influence on the pitch or in the dressing room and that this would continue.

The timing of the actual transfer of Dimitar was completely immaterial and unconnected to our bringing in a replacement for him. We had been aware for a long period that he was likely to leave and our negotiations to get the best fee for him was independent of our work to replace both him (as we did with Pavyluchenko) and Robbie, with experienced strikers.

The ultimate failure - as I have said before - of our dealings in this summer's transfer window was not about the departure of two good strikers, or because we have operated a structure that happens to have had a Sporting Director and a Head Coach, or because our financial parameters are too rigid - after all, let´s not forget that we did bring in much quality to enhance our current squad. Quite simply, we failed because we were not as decisive or as successful in identifying or replacing the two strikers as early as we should have been. Perhaps these insights will help once and for all to de-bunk the myths that have been perpetuated around these transfers.

There is also an inaccurate perception that our Club is run entirely for profit and that football is secondary. Success on the pitch is the sole determinant to the future of the Club and its financial stability, so it would be entirely counter-productive to have anything other than football as our first and foremost priority and it is ridiculous to suggest otherwise. At a time when football clubs are criticised for losing money and for their debt levels, I am surprised that we should be criticised for running our Club on a sound commercial basis and for making a profit. Thank goodness we do make a profit because it has significantly supported the progress we have made over the last seven years and has helped to make us one of Europe's most secure Clubs. I make no apologies for the fact that we reinvest the Club's positive cash flow in both players and infrastructure.

And so back to looking ahead and to redress our current position.

Firstly, in Harry, we have secured the services of an excellent Manager of proven Premier League quality. Harry will be working with a squad of quality internationals. We must not forget that this team, without the benefit of three additional players at the time (Pavlyuchenko, Corluka, Campbell), gave a more than creditable performance against the current League leaders. I have spoken to the senior players in recent days and I know the players share our frustration and I know they will dig deep to produce the performances we know they are capable of - they have our full support - and support for the team is absolutely critical at this time.

We have all been subjected to much criticism - myself, the Board, coaching staff and players - having now made what I considered to be necessary, sweeping changes to our football management team, we must re-assert ourselves, regain our focus, and answer our critics in the best way possible - by winning games again.

Secondly, we must prepare ourselves to take advantage of the January transfer window. Harry's experience of the UK and international transfer market will be of critical importance and I shall be looking to Harry for clarity on our priorities. As Chairman, and as previously in our former structure, I must, ultimately, rely on the knowledge and judgement of my technical staff to give me a clear football-based view and recommendation on our transfer targets.

I can assure you that everyone here, from the Board to our most junior staff member, shares the frustration and disappointment of the season so far, but I can also assure you that all of us in every area of the Club are doing what we can to help the players to produce the level of performance and the consistent good results our fans expect and all of us crave.

We have achieved too much over the last seven years - three successive qualifications for Europe, a League Cup win, Training Centre planning permission - and still more to announce - to allow this to be overtaken and thrown away overnight. We have suffered a set back and we have taken strong action.

I have received numerous e-mails and letters from supporters offering advice and suggestions on how the Club should be run and what we should and should not do. I do appreciate the time people take to write to me and when the e-mails or letters are constructive and not abusive, I can assure you that I read as many as I can. And I do take notice of your views. Indeed, I have been heartened by the fact that the over-riding response from our supporters has been one of determination to get behind the team. Too often in difficult times supporters can forget that their support is needed even more than ever. The team will tell you how much of a difference it can make to them on the pitch. White Hart Lane needs to once again become the fortress it was, not so very long ago. With your tremendous support it can.

Finally, I know I am sometimes criticised for appearing too business-focused, too uncommunicative, or simply for not being emotional enough when it concerns our team. The majority of our fans know that it's simply not my way to seek a high profile. I do not crave publicity, neither do I believe it is necessary to do my job. I would prefer our team to make the headlines, for the right reasons. We now have a manager who is a great communicator to players, fans and the media alike and I shall also, personally, look to keep you all informed and your questions answered as we progress through the season.

Your support has never been more important - and we are grateful to so many of you for the messages of support and encouragement the Club has received during this difficult period. Now's the time for all of us to pull together and to get behind Harry and the team.

Yours, Daniel

Weekend picks

Another weekend of English Premier League football is here and Sports Trader makes its weekend picks.

The clash of the weekend is without question the Chelsea vs. Liverpool matchup. Chelsea are still carrying some injury knocks and if ever there was a chance for Liverpool to confirm their status as potential league winners, its this weekend.

Picks are below

Saturday
Everton v Man Utd - win Manchester united
Sunderland v Newcastle - draw
West Brom v Hull - win Hull
Blackburn v Middlesbrough - draw

Sunday
Chelsea v Liverpool - draw
Man City v Stoke - Win Man City
Tottenham v Bolton - win Bolton
Wigan v Aston Villa - win Aston Villa
West Ham v Arsenal - win Arsenal

Go Villa....................!

Tough times

I blogged about it a while back, but the financial crisis is creating a serious problem in terms of sponsorship for professional sports across the globe.

Unfortunately companies are being forced to cut back on their spending or simply disappear leaving sports teams without much needed sponsorship to see them survive from month to month.

Sports is big business and sponsorship is the lifeblood of this business - if sponsors fold then all those nice fancy dinners and big money salaries become a little tougher to offer.

But most unfortunately, the areas that are likely to suffer are going to be the grassroots infrastructures offered by club setups.

The top end of the spectrum might go on about 'cost cutting' and might see a few personnel let go, but the bottom end of the budget (The guys who ask for R100 000 as opposed to R100m) are likely to feel it that much harder.

I know for a fact that our small amateur hockey setup had been counting on R20k in sponsorship which never materialised this year. These kind of problems are likely to increase and I guess a word of warning to sports administrators banking on money from sponsors - IT IS ONLY SPONSORSHIP WHEN THE BUCKS ARE IN THE BANK

Some tough times ahead and I guess for those sports administrators it is going to make their lives quite challenging at times.

Read an article today, highlighting some of the problems that the financial crisis is having on sport already and thought I would highlight some of them:

- Manchester United football clubs primary sponsor - AIG - has just been bailed out by the US government who will be looking to cut costs so that they can get their multi-billion dollar loan repaid

- David Triesman, the chairman of the English FA, has said that English soccer was collectively 3 billion pounds ($5.23 billion) in debt and that he could not rule out a top club collapsing

- West Ham and Newcastle are under huge pressure with sponsors folding

- Even a glamour sport like motor racing has had its seen administrators come out and suggest that teams forfeit their technical advantages and use standard engines in 2010 to try and help team survive this period...

Tough times ahead...

English premiership selections

From the Sports Trader blog

An interesting football weekend ahead in the English Premiership with a number of big name injuries putting pressure on the top flight clubs.

Saturday fixtures:
Middlesbrough vs. Chelsea
Aston Villa vs. Portsmouth
Liverpool vs. Wigan
Bolton vs. Blackburn
Fulham vs. Sunderland
Arsenal vs. Everton
Manchester United vs. WBA

Sunday Fixtures
Hull vs. West Ham
Stoke vs. Tottenham

Monday fixture
Newcastle vs. Manchester City

Predictions:
A pretty banged up Chelsea are probably providing Middlesbrough for their best chance of an upset. Didier Drogba, Deco, Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Essien, John Terry, Ashley Cole and Peter Cech are all on the walking wounded list at the moment.

Liverpool have concerns around Torres and Babel so will need to find some firepower up front.

Arsenal are missing defenders William Gallas, Bacary Sagna and striker Nicklas Bendtner.

Newcastle are missing Michael Owen while Man City should have Robinho fit again.

Middlesbrough vs. Chelsea - Draw
Aston Villa vs. Portsmouth - Aston Villa Win
Liverpool vs. Wigan - Liverpool Win
Bolton vs. Blackburn - Draw
Fulham vs. Sunderland - Draw
Arsenal vs. Everton - Draw
Manchester United vs. WBA - Manchester United win
Hull vs. West Ham - Hull win
Stoke vs. Tottenham - Stoke win
Newcastle vs. Manchester City - Man City win

The irony of South African sport

Sport remains a hugely political tool in South Africa and I think many ordinary people find it frustrating when government officials who haven’t seen a sports field (let alone run on one) start making bold predictions about how they are going to ‘fix’ things.

Upfront, I completely acknowledge that sport was largely divided along racial lines in the past so I don’t deny that there is some merit in the racial arguments.

However the landscape is changing. No side in South African cricket or rugby enjoys the backing of the likes of billionaire Patrice Motsepe. The South African football side is not subjected to selection criteria of local, black coaches or quotas. In fact if one adds up how much the national football side has spent on foreign coaches or advisors over the last decade, it must be a massive figure.

This week has been a case in point about government administrators getting on their high horse and focusing on the wrong aspects of South African sport.

Every few years, sports administrators (typically those with political ties), will get together to hold a sports indaba of sorts where the ‘future strategic direction’ of sport will be covered. Ironically senior figures in cricket, rugby and soccer are normally not invited to give their input.

A hot topic this week has been the future of the Springbok emblem worn by the national rugby team. The politicos it should go because they believe it divides South Africa along racial lines.

The ‘logical decision’ is that it must go to unite South African sport.

Please note that senior rugby administrators and players were not invited to comment at this congress / indaba / conference or whatever they want to call it.

(Bear in mind – nobody actually knows if these guys have any legal backing to the ‘decisions’ that are taken here nor do they enjoy backing of the ruling government party, even if it is convened by some of its more militant members).

Now let’s remember that South African rugby has won 2 World Cups, a Tri-Nations, has a good black coach that is there on merit and has been able to attract an increasingly mixed racial audience to its grounds.

Soccer on the other hand is plumbing new lows. Millions have been spent on foreign coaches, the players themselves are reluctant to play and pick and choose the games they want. The national side is barely competitive with the minnows on the African continent that have budgets probably one fiftieth of what Bafana Bafana enjoys.

The national Olympics team managed a single medal at the 2008 Olympics campaign. We took along more non participating members in our squad than actually athletes, sponsors were disappointed or more interested in sponsoring the Paralympics squad and despite this, the athletes were poorly managed.

Throw in the fact that we have local government departments trying to sell off the land on which grass roots sports clubs operate to make sure that their books balance at the end of the year and the minor issue of a global financial crisis that is robbing all sports disciplines of sponsorship money and we have a pretty grim sports scene.

But no – the priority is to make sure we get rid of a brand that is highly successful, generates a lot of revenue for grass roots sports development.

I think we all agree that sport in South Africa is not perfect, but the meddling of sports officials is somewhat ironic. They talk about wanting to improve sport, but the idea of actually focusing on the problems is something that escapes some people’s agendas.

Disgraceful South African football

It is not often I watch South African football. I believe the standard is weak and many of the players play with a glory boy mentality instead of focusing on delivering the goods on the field. But in the last 3 weeks, I have seen 2 disgraceful tackles that have made me think I was watching a version of cage fighting rather than ‘the beautiful game’.

A couple of weeks back, Maritzburg United Defender Gary Goldstone, smashed open the face of Kaizer Chiefs striker Tshepo Bulu by simply dropping his shoulder and intentionally body checking a player who had beaten him.

Then this weekend Supersport United's Firku Tefera stomped on the throat of Thanda Royal Zulus, July Mahlangu.

He didn't just stomp on the guy inadvertently. He jumped over him, aimed his kick and then kicked him straight in the unprotected throat.

It was an absolute disgrace and in any other league, the guy would be facing criminal assault charges.

South African soccer needs to clean up its act and soon. You cannot have guys literally gunning to take guys out of the game when they get beaten on the field.

Personally I think this is why we are failing to deliver the goods at international level. We allow mediocre players to play dangerously in leagues which are supposed to be showcasing our football talent.

Unfortunately it also has implications for the wider game in the country. Why should foreign clubs (such as Ajax Amsterdam) partner with local clubs and send their European talent to come and get some experience and game time in our leagues?

Why should Manchester United or Liverpool or Real Madrid send teams to South Africa to try and boost our local game when thugs are busy smashing up local players?

Maybe football administrators, coaches and players should see the bigger picture. The game doesn’t need idiots like this destroying our football culture. If you want to attract talent and you want to attract quality players and teams to come and play in South Africa, you need to get rid of this kind of behaviour.

I think the referee deserves a pat on the back for the decisive decision to send him off but this shouldn’t be allowed to rest. Quality players need to be looked after in the leagues and this can only be achieved by sending out a strong message to all involved.

SA interest in Newcastle United

A consortium which includes Richemont CE Johann Rupert, Bidvest boss Brian Joffe and mining veteran Brian Gilbertson is said to be in the lead to buy a stake in English Premiership football side Newcastle United.

Joffe already has an interest in football through local Premier Soccer League side Bidvest Wits.

Read the complete article here.