Posts Tagged ‘Football Player’

Bougherra has let his team-mates down, says Smith

• Algerian in third late return from international duty
• ‘World Cup was a big thing for him,’ says manager

Walter Smith has attempted to draw a line under the latest indiscretions of the Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra, but admits the Algerian has let his team-mates down. Bougherra failed to return on time from helping his country secure a place in next summer’s World Cup. That tardiness, which Bougherra had displayed twice before, led to the influential player being left among the substitutes for Tuesday night’s Champions League defeat to Stuttgart.

“We have had one or two problems but I am sure things will now go back on to the usual path,” the Rangers manager said of Bougherra. “He is not the first football player to go away on international duty and not come back on time. There is maybe just a bit of refocusing needed from his point of view. The quest to get to the World Cup has been a big thing for him.”

Smith, though, admitted the 27-year-old’s actions severely disappointed Rangers’ other players. “I don’t think there is any doubt about that,” he said.

The Rangers manager has accepted a large degree of the blame for his club’s exit from Europe. Tuesday’s loss, a third out of three at Ibrox in Group G, means Rangers will not even be afforded Europa League football in the new year.

Smith, who has previously been criticised for a defensive style of play, attempted a more adventurous approach this season; a move which clearly backfired. “I have gone away from what I thought was the way for Rangers to play in these games by trying to play more forward players,” Smith said. “We have not quite been strong enough to handle that.

“Looking at it now, I would have been better sticking with the way we had played previously. People who criticised the way we played in previous tournaments have maybe got to hold their hands up now and say they were wrong.”

On the issue of Rangers’ current standing in Europe, and in reference to their financial plight, Smith added: “There is not a lot going on around the club at the moment that is doing it any good.”

The Celtic manager, Tony Mowbray, has confirmed that he will be unable to call on the services of the influential Scott Brown and Shaun Maloney for two months. Brown requires a second operation on an ankle problem while Maloney, who has tendinitis, has been ordered to rest.

Jury clears Gerrard of affray

• Liverpool star ‘unwise’ to get involved, judge says
• Fans gather outside court to cheer ‘Stevie G’ verdict

It took a jury less than 90 minutes today to clear Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard of affray even though he admitted punching a man three times in a bar.

Gerrard maintained that he had acted in self-defence during the brawl at the Lounge Inn in Southport last December, which was triggered by a row over control of music.

Gerrard, 29, had wanted to pick the music in the bar, but Marcus McGee, who was in charge of the CD player, refused his request. The trial was told that although McGee, 34, did not throw any punches, the player believed he was about to be hit.

Earlier in the evening, the England international and his friends had seemed to be in high spirits, singing and dancing as they celebrated a crushing victory over Newcastle United.

Minutes after he had been rebuffed by McGee, the footballer approached him as he sat on a barstool. John Doran, Gerrard’s friend, elbowed McGee in the face, making him reel backwards and forwards. Fearing that he was about to be attacked, Gerrard landed three uppercuts on his face.

During the trial, he apologised for what had happened. Around 100 supporters gathered outside court today and cheered as Gerrard left the building.

Gerrard said: “I would like to put this case behind me now and I am really looking forward to the season ahead and concentrating on football now.”

Judge Henry Globe, recorder of Liverpool, told Liverpool crown court after the verdict that the football player “could walk away with his reputation intact”.

The judge told Gerrard that in hindsight it “may have been unwise of you” to approach Marcus McGee following the trivial disagreement.

“However, that is far from saying you were criminally responsible for the violence that thereafter erupted.”

The judge said when the violence commenced the victim and his partner Gina Lond, who was standing nearby, thought that Gerrard had started it. Gerrard himself had initially thought McGee was the first person to deliver a blow.

“The CCTV evidence obtained later demonstrated conclusively that you were all mistaken,” the judge noted. The judge said the verdict was credible and the jury had demonstrably paid close attention to the full facts of the case.

Six of Gerrard’s friends, two of whom are Accrington Stanley players, will be sentenced next month after pleading guilty to charges of affray or threatening behaviour in connection with the brawl.

Having twice rejected the lure of Chelsea’s riches, “Stevie G”, as he is universally known to the red half of Liverpool, epitomises the one-club player, the local boy made good who has tried to maintain his links to the Bluebell estate in Huyton, where he grew up.

During the trial he appeared to well up as a statement from Kenny Dalglish was read out in court. “He is a very humble man,” the former Liverpool star said, who was “not the archetypal footballer” and had “never forgotten his roots”.

But the England midfielder’s evident puzzlement, then anger, at the man who, in the words of the prosecution, dared to “say no” to Steven Gerrard betrayed the fact he could never be one of the lads.

Jon Holmes, the veteran football agent whose clients have included David Beckham, said: “Their relationship with their community and the world they’re from has changed enormously. The irony is that Gerrard is probably better connected to his community than others.”

Former Chelsea player Pat Nevin said that there have always been punch-ups and drunken incidents involving playersdown the years, but in the past they were less likely to make the papers.

“It existed when I was playing and probably before that. You had those whose heads were turned by the fame and the money, even when the money was just twice the average wage,” he said.

“You also have to think about the way society treats these players. They are treated like gods and they are ordinary people. If you treat them like gods you will be disappointed.”

Gerrard faces trial alone as co-defendants plead guilty to brawl

Liverpool football captain accused over fight in Southport wine bar while celebrating victory over Newcastle

Six co-defendants of the England and Liverpool football player, Steven Gerrard, today admitted their involvement in a nightclub brawl when they appeared at Liverpool crown court. Gerrard denies affray and now faces trial alone.

The Liverpool captain is accused of being involved in an incident at a wine bar that injured the Southport businessman Marcus McGee, 34, in the early hours of 29 December last year.

McGee suffered multiple injuries, including a head wound which needed four stitches, a black eye, and a lost tooth in the fight.

Gerrard, 29, a father of two, was out with friends at the Lounge Inn in Southport, celebrating Liverpool’s 5-1 defeat of Newcastle United last season, when the fight broke out.

Five of the co-defendants pleaded guilty to affray. They were: Ian Gerrard Smith, 19; John Doran, 29; and Paul McGrattan, 31, all of Huyton.

John McGrattan, 34, of Huyton, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of threatening behaviour after denying affray.

Beckham hits back at Donovan criticisms

• David Beckham will confront Landon Donovan over comments
• LA Galaxy team-mate reportedly claimed Beckham is a bad captain

David Beckham has called his Los Angeles Galaxy team-mate Landon Donovan “unprofessional” after the latter made derogatory comments about his captain without confronting him first. Beckham, who was making his first public appearance in California since returning from his five-month loan spell at Milan, said he had not spoken to Donovan, who called him a bad captain and portrayed him as stingy in an upcoming book The Beckham Experiment, written by Grant Wahl.

“It’s unprofessional in my eyes. In every football player’s eyes throughout the world it would be unprofessional to speak out about a team-mate especially in the press and not to your face,” Beckham said. “But I’m going to turn it on a positive spin because that’s what this needs. But in 17 years, I have played with the biggest teams in the world and the biggest players and not once have I been criticised for my professionalism. It’s important to get this cleared up and I will be speaking to Landon either this evening or over the next couple of days.

“I’m personally very professional when I am on the field. I don’t care what people say about me off the field, once I’m on the field I’m professional and if there is a chance for him to score, I will be giving him the ball. Me and Landon will talk, but that will be a private conversation.”

Beckham said he would not be reading the book. “This is an unofficial book that I have not participated in. I haven’t sat down one to one or spoken about the book, so there is not comment where I have sat down with the journalist and gone through. There are many unofficial books that have been published about me, so this is just another one on the shelf.”

Galaxy played on Saturday, with Beckham returning to his first practice with the team on Monday. He feels he will have no problem adjusting to the pace of the MLS after his time in Italy. “It’s not going to be difficult because we’ve got talent on our team. It’s just about confidence. It will be different coming back, but I don’t see any problems.”

Beckham added that he would return to Milan in 2010 if he is given the opportunity, to boost his chances of making one last World Cup appearance with England. “To be involved in the World Cup and to be involved with this England squad, I have to give myself the chance to be at that top level. I’ll do that personally and anything to do that. It’s just saying that for the moment, this is what I need to do. It doesn’t mean I’m running away from a project I believe in. I think the experiences I’ve had can only help this team.”

Big debate: Are fees paid for modern footballers a moral issue?

Yes

George Galloway, Respect MP for Bethnal Green & Bow

In a general sense, perhaps the jury is out on whether spending £8m, £20m or £108m on a football player is a moral issue. However, football and morality parted company long ago, when the age of the millionaire club owners began and supporters began to be referred to as "customers".

I once had an interesting conversation with Fergus McCann, when he was the owner of Celtic, in which I pointed out that supporters cannot be referred to as customers, as he had done, because if a customer does not like a product, he or she can simply shift their allegiance. We, as supporters, do not have that luxury. We are born with a team. But for Mr McCann to speak of "customers" told me all I needed to know.

One recent case, of course, has focused this issue. Spending, or attempting to spend, £108m on a footballer, even one as good as Kaka, is definitely a moral issue, and it certainly is one for a Muslim sheikh. Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester City on the first day of Ramadan. Presumably he was fasting when he promised to spend whatever it took to bring success to the club. On the first day of Ramadan, or on any day of that period, theoretically all Muslims have certain duties regarding the distribution of their wealth.

I sent a letter to Sheikh Mansour, pointing this out. He has not responded. I asked him if he had considered the plight of the Palestinian people, who, under siege, were eating from garbage heaps. Their situation has now become a thousand times worse. I have extensive and deep links with Muslim populations here and abroad and I can say that many of them are, to put it mildly, disgusted with the notion of spending £108m on a footballer when one group of Muslims, in Gaza, is dressed in rags, suffering from hunger and living in ruins.

I would now invite Sheikh Mansour to come to Gaza with me in a convoy that is setting off on Valentine's Day, or to spend some of his money on providing things that are needed by the Palestinians, which we can take to them.

The £108m that was offered for Kaka will probably not be beaten. There are not many people in the world richer than Sheikh Mansour, and those who may be close, like Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, seem to be tiring of the game.

I do not think there were many City fans who did not want Kaka at their club, even at £108m. If any more big- money moves are to be made I would, however, offer a cautionary tale. Rodney Marsh told me that he thinks Malcolm Allison's decision to sign him in 1972 cost City the title that year. Rodney was a magnificent, flamboyant player, but he unsettled the team. Might Kaka or someone like him do the same? After all, Robinho has not set the place on fire.

But to come back to the size of the fee that was offered for Kaka, we have to remember that this was for one player. City will probably buy many more, for the best part of a billion dollars. For a religious believer, at any time, this is immoral, even if we only consider the Muslim population in Gaza whose needs are so great. A charitable explanation of Sheikh Mansour's spending is that he has done so for the glory of Abu Dhabi. Nevertheless, it is being done when the needs of some Muslim people are great.

George Galloway is a presenter for Talksport radio

No

Mel Stein, Secretary of the Association of Football Agents

As The Royal Bank of Scotland prepares to confirm a record loss for a UK corporation and expects the taxpayer to foot the bill, it ill-befalls anybody to criticise professional footballers for seeking to make as much as they can in what is likely to prove a short (and risky) career, and indeed to criticise any club for running a successful business. It is similarly ill-advised for jealous criticism to be aimed at those clubs who have more money to spend than other clubs, and aspire to greater success.

Football never has been a level ­playing field. The fact that small clubs exist at all is due to the fact that money trickles down from the monies garnered from television deals. Don't fool yourself that football in this country is run by the ­Football ­Association, the Premier League or the Football League. It is run by Sky and Setanta, ITV and the BBC.

I do not pass judgment on that because the fact that there is a demand for football on our screens speaks for itself. There is no doubt that the Premier League has become the greatest league in the world. Most of the world's most talented players aspire to strut their stuff in the shirts of Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal. Sadly, writing as a Newcastle United supporter, nobody seems to want to play for us.

I have been disappointed (although not surprised) by some of the comments made in relation to the recent furore over the sums that were offered for the acquisition of Kaka. When the owner of Fulham Football Club suggests that there should be a salary cap, then you do begin to raise your eyebrows and slowly shake your head in disbelief.

Had Kaka come to England, it is rumoured that he would have been on a salary that could have brought him at least one if not two major banks. But that is what open market forces are all about. If you have a product to sell then you are entitled to sell it for as much money as you can obtain. Nobody is holding a gun to the head of the new owners of Manchester City and telling them they have to pay that sum of money and indeed nobody held a gun to the heads of Milan or Kaka to say he had to accept the offer.

We may well be seeing empty seats at the moment but this is in no way due to the fees paid for players, or the salaries paid. It is simply because we are in the middle of a global recession. Fans' unfortunate circumstances are not the fault of the clubs or those who play for them. There is no moral reason as far as I can see why transfer fees between clubs should be limited or salaries should be capped.

What is obscene is banking fat cats taking huge bonuses in return for their failure to supply any form of competency. Contrary to what the press might like to think, players do take pride in their performances and in the shirt that they wear. There is of course a dark underside to the game but that is not reflected in any way in transfer fees or salaries that are not only freely negotiated but totally transparent.

It is time for football to be left alone. As I said on Radio 5 this week, there is no point in buying gold-plated taps for a bath when the plumbing system doesn't work, but if the owner of the house can afford the taps, then what the hell.

Mel Stein is a sports lawyer and the author of the novel Football Babylon

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