A tribute to Europe's strangest continental competition...

I found myself even more appalled than usual by the shabby nature of Channel Five’s UEFA Cup coverage last night. I mean, awful commentary and even worse punditry are a given on any match covered by Five, but what really struck a nerve was the apparent inability of the summarising commentators during the Portsmouth and Everton games to understand the away goals rule. After Portsmouth had brought the score back to 2-2 during extra time (which put them 4-2 up on aggregate) the summariser, whose name I can’t remember, declared that it was looking good for Portsmouth because now Guimaraes had to score twice in less than 10 minutes if they wanted to take the game to penalties. At the start of the Everton game (which was 2-2 on aggregate at the start of the night) the summariser was suggesting that Everton might employ cautious tactics in an effort to suffocate Standard Liege’s high tempo game and play for penalties. I have to assume that these two summarisers were once footballers themselves and so must have come across the away goals rule at some point in their careers, but even if they haven’t this is an awful gaffe for anyone to make, let alone two people on the same night who are supposed to know a thing or two about the game. Truly astonishing.

Anyway, enough of that. Something else which caught my attention last night was the revelation that Guimaraes did not represent Portsmouth’s first European opponents. That honour it so happens went to those giants of continental club football, Charlton Athletic in the first round of the 1992-93 Anglo-Italian Cup, perhaps the most pointless and ridiculous European competition ever created. Try to imagine the Intertoto Cup being played mid-season and without the prize of a place in the UEFA cup for the winners and you’d be on the right track. However, the mention of a tournament that everyone seems to have forgotten about but which provided European competition for such unglamorous clubs as Tranmere Rovers, Notts County and Port Vale has inspired me to take a closer look at this competition, hoping to discover why it came about and why it no longer exists.

The inaugural Anglo-Italian Cup was actually contested as far back as 1970. The competition came about as a result of a disagreement between the English Football Association and UEFA over the European governing body’s refusal to allow Swindon Town, winners of the 1969 Football League Cup, into the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (now the UEFA Cup) because they were in England’s Third Division. The FA soon stuck a deal with their Italian counterparts to stage an annual competition between the teams from outside both country’s top divisions. The competition ran for four seasons before it was abandoned in 1973 with Swindon Town, Blackpool, AS Roma and Newcastle United (See! They have won a trophy during the era of colour television! They truly are a massive club!) winning one tournament each.

So marked the end of the first Anglo-Italian Cup. However, the tournament was to be resurrected in 1975 as a competition for English and Italian semi-professional teams. Running until 1987 this competition was dominated by the Italians, with Sutton United in 1979 providing the only English winners. An interesting side note to this competition should be that the inaugural final in 1976 featured Wimbledon, who only 12 years later would be winning the FA Cup against a Liverpool team many considered to be among the best teams in Europe. A remarkable rise indeed.

The professional Anglo-Italian Cup was to make a return in 1992 as a replacement for the Full Members Cup, a competition for the teams in the top two divisions of the Football League, which had been wound up after the formation of the Premiership had seen England’s top division break away from the Football League. The new Anglo-Italian Cup was to be contested by the teams from England’s First Division and Italy’s Serie B. The competition began with a preliminary group stage after which 8 English teams and 8 Italian teams would remain. Four groups of four teams, all comprising entirely of clubs from one country, would then be drawn with the English and Italian teams competing home and away in a round-robin style tournament with the eventual top team in each group advancing to the semi finals. Clubs from the same country played against each other in the semi finals in order to guarantee an international final, which was always held at Wembley. Again, the Italian clubs were to dominate with Notts County in 1994-95 providing England’s only winners. However, the competition was only to last for four years. A general indifference towards the competition existed between the clubs in both countries, who viewed it as a time consuming distraction from the domestic leagues and cup competitions. Fans also criticised the pointlessness of the competition, with no major prize awaiting the victors, and were put off by the violence that often accompanied the fixtures. The subsequent poor crowds for all but the final stages of the competition and the fact that it was not covered on any major television network meant that the tournament was not cost effective and was abandoned for good in 1996. While it was a commercial failure, the Anglo-Italian Cup did provide the opportunity for many clubs who would otherwise not have had the chance; to test themselves against continental opposition and provided Portsmouth with their first “European” tie, a 3-1 win over Charlton Athletic, more than 15 years before last night’s terribly analysed tussle with Guimaraes, something which the club and its fans should never forget.

Why things are looking somewhat hairy for the Rossoneri

Before you read this I apologise in advance for the long, sometimes rambling nature of this article, but this is such a large topic that it takes a lot of explaining. Right, on with the article…

Its 3.03 PM local time on Sunday the 5^th of May 2004. Andriy Shevchenko scores what turns out to be the only goal of the game as AC Milan, the reigning European Champions, beat AS Roma 1-0 at the San Siro to wrap up their 17^th Scudetto. The Rossoneri eventually finish the season with 82 points from 34 games, putting them 11 points ahead of their nearest challengers Roma and 13 ahead of Italy’s Vecchia Signora (Old Lady) Juventus. Shevchenko finished as Serie A’s top goal scorer with 24 goals, and was backed up by the ever reliable predatory instincts of Filippo Inzaghi. Carlo Ancellotti’s team also boasted a perfectly balanced midfield, combining the industry of Gennaro Gattuso and Massimo Ambrosini with the art of Andrea Pirlo and an emerging Kaka, and the incisive wing play of Clarence Seedorf. The defence, marshalled by the aging but dependable Paulo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta was one of the meanest in the league. Even without the inevitable arrogance and infectious optimism that comes with any title success, the future seemed bright for Carlo Ancellotti and his team.

Now fast forward less than 4 years to Tuesday the 4^th of March 2008. Milan, once again defending European Champions but by now a shadow of the team they once were, are dumped out of the Champions League at the Second Round stage after being out-fought and out-classed by a slick young Arsenal team. During the second leg at the San Siro, which Arsenal won 2-0, every Milan player lost his individual battle with his Arsenal counterpart and as a team Milan simply could not cope with Arsenal’s quick interplay and dogged determination. While watching that game I actually found myself agreeing with the ITV commentary team (and it won’t be often you hear me say that, dear reader) that this game took on a symbolic significance, as if the torch of footballing hegemony was being passed from the older generation of players, symbolised by Milan; to the new emerging generation symbolised by Arsenal. However, worse was to come for the Rossoneri. By the end of the season Milan were 5^th in Serie A, a massive 21 points behind champions Inter, and had failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in six years. Milan’s top goal scorer for the 2007-2008 season was Kaka who managed an admirable 15 goals from midfield, with only one Milan striker, Filippo Inzaghi with 11, finishing with 10 or more league goals.

Given the club’s dramatic decline in fortunes over the previous four years, it must be asked, what is wrong with AC Milan? Where has the current malaise come from? Who is to blame? And, perhaps most importantly of all, how long will it last? In this article I will explain what I believe are the causes of Milan’s problems both on and off the pitch and what must be done to rectify them if the club is to avoid the steady slide into mediocrity from which it may take years to recover.

Lets start with the obvious, compared to many of their rivals for the top prizes at home and in Europe this Milan squad is old, very old. In an era where teams with an average age of barely 20 can be seen competing at the top of Europe’s major leagues a squad with an average age of over 30 seems an anachronism but that is the reality at Milan. On any given match day at least half the Milan starting 11 are likely to be in their thirties; while club captain Paulo Maldini is still playing regularly at the age of 40. While the benefits of having a settled side that has been together for many years should not be downplayed, the wisdom of persisting season after season with a squad containing many players who may be past their peak must be questioned for a club with designs on winning the game’s biggest prizes every season. In recent seasons Milan have also displayed a worrying tactical inflexibility, which has been exploited by the opposition. Never was this more clearly demonstrated than during the 2005 Champions League Final. Facing a 3-0 deficit at half time, Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez withdrew full back Steve Finnan and replaced him with midfielder Didi Hamann. Unable to cope with Liverpool’s extra man in midfield and seemingly unable to adapt their tactics to do so Milan quickly surrendered what had appeared an insurmountable lead and went on to lose the game on penalties. The same appeared true in Milan’s match with Arsenal in last season’s competition. Unable to contain Arsenal’s midfield Milan desperately needed a tactical reshuffle if they wished to win the game. However, the club’s recent over-reliance on Kaka for goals from midfield meant that the system; initially set up to allow Kaka the chance to get forward as much as possible by limiting his defensive responsibilities; could not be changed and subsequently Milan lost the game. With other teams having apparently discovered the cracks in Milan’s system the issue of tactical rigidity, which has now been neglected for several years, will continue to cost Milan dear if it is not addressed.

In addition to the club’s problems on the pitch, Milan’s unadventurous transfer policy has done little to rectify the problems currently being experienced by the first team. In the summer of 2007, when Milan had just finished 4^th in Serie A and won a European Cup that many observers were saying merely papered over the cracks of what had been a disappointing season, the club welcomed Brazilian wonderkid Alexandre Pato to the club, having secured his signature the previous winter. The signing of one of the hottest young properties in the World, who had been interesting practically every club of stature in Europe, represented a major coup for Milan, with fans hoping that Pato would be the first of a number of fresh faced summer signings who would once again enable the club to compete for the Scudetto. However, Milan’s win in the European Cup seemed to have infected the club hierarchy with a serious bout of conservatism and the belief that the aging squad the club already possessed would be enough to both challenge for the title and defend the European Cup. Consequently only two players, both over 30, were signed; Brazilian central midfielder Emerson, to supplement Gattuso and Ambrosini who were both younger than him, and even more bizarrely winger Ibrahim Ba returned for his third stint at the club having previously been knocking around in the French Third Division. These signings, coupled with the arrival the previous January of the over-weight and increasingly injury prone Ronaldo did little to inspire confidence in the team’s chances at a time when Juventus were overhauling their aged squad and Inter were adding to their already formidable team. The travesty of a season that followed left the team crying out for an overhaul. At first the signs appeared good with Milan securing the signings of Mathieu Flamini from Arsenal, a dynamic young midfielder who could also play in the problem right back position, as well as Mathias Cardacio and Tabare Viudez, two Uruguayan midfielders who had impressed at the previous Under 20 World Cup. Defensive cover also arrived in the loan signing of Arsenal’s Philippe Senderos. However, the club then went on to invest substantial funds in bringing in two players whose careers appeared to be stuck in a downward spiral, first acquiring Brazilian Ronaldinho, who had been voted World Player of the Year in 2005 but had struggled for form and suffered numerous injuries and questions about his continued hunger for the game in recent months. Soon afterwards, Milan brought Andriy Shevchenko; now 31 and at least a yard slower than in his heyday; back to the club from Chelsea. The total outlay on these two players probably exceeded 30 million Euros with suggestions that the club would have been better served by spending that money on a younger striker such as Emmanuel Adebayor being commonplace. In spite of these new signings, the positions in which new signings were most obviously needed; in goal and at centre back as cover for the aging Nesta and Kaladze; were ignored. Unless these holes in the team are filled another season of underachievement could beckon. Early results this season have been a mixed bag, with defeats to Bologna and Genoa being followed by victories over Lazio and Reggina leaving Milan in mid-table while Inter continue to set the pace. Only time will tell if Milan’s risky transfer strategy will pay off but this writer remains sceptical.

No article on the state of AC Milan would be complete without an honourable mention for Silvio Berlusconi, the always colourful and often controversial billionaire who is the owner of the club in addition to being Prime Minister of Italy. Here lies the problem. Since being voted out of office in 2006 Berlusconi was able to devote more of his time to the smooth running and improvement of his other businesses, including Milan. However, the fall of Romano Prodi’s government in the Spring of 2008 and Berlusconi’s subsequent re-election as Prime Minister have distracted him from this task, just when it seems his team may need him more than ever. It was easy for Berlusconi to neglect his duties at Milan during his previous terms as Prime Minister when the team was doing well on the pitch but now, at what could be a crucial juncture for the club that he has guided to the most successful era in their history, Berlusconi’s dynamism and enthusiasm are concentrated elsewhere. During this time the overall running of the club has been left to chief executive Adriano Galliani, the man who believed that a 35 year old Dida can still play for a club with the ambitions of Milan, and who was supposedly instrumental in deciding to pursue Shevchenko over Adebayor in Milan’s search for a striker this summer. It would appear that as soon as Berlosconi has fixed the problems being faced by Italy’s economy, he will need to get straight to work on fixing the problems faced by Milan. Handing Mr Galliani his P45 would presumably be a good start.

Everybody loves Johan (not Raymond)

You may find it surprising that for my first contribution to this blog, I will be writing about the retirement of a player. This was one of the stories this week which caught my eye, and no, it isn’t Jimmy Floyd Hasslebaink. It is another player who in his prime, was one of the foremost playmakers in Europe and won great renown in his native country and then in Germany. It is Johan Micoud.

Micoud isn’t a player whose name jumps off the page at you. That I can agree. However, for many the football connoisseur; Micoud was a luxury, a Ferrero Rocher player whose vision, technical skill and expertise from a dead-ball situation, meant he was always a danger to the opposition and player who always seemed to be a fans’ favourite. His career started with a very successful spell at Bordeaux, in which he helped them win the League, then on to a more difficult period at Parma. The best football of his career however was with Werder Bremen. He was the main man, the dogs bollocks, the creative force behind the team. His great influence was one of the main reasons behind their double success in 2004, the first in the teams’ history. His play earned him glowing reviews and interest from several top European clubs including Liverpool and Bayern Munich. They were probably deterred by the nineteen million pound asking fee.

For all his club success however, at international level he was stifled. This was down partly to the fact that his position was taken up by the best player in the last twenty years, Zinedine Zidane. It was also down to the madness that is Raymond Domenech. Micoud’s contempt for Domenech was apparent after being left out of a friendly against Slovakia. He called him ‘a blind man’ and said that ‘maybe I am not in the squad because my star sign is Leo, and there are too many in the French team.’

This would not be surprising considering Domenech is a grade A twat. He is a man whose management style is baffling, consulting the stars before selecting his team and insistence to play Pascal Chimbonda at any opportunity. Many might say, ‘he made a World Cup Final, surely that is enough?’ No it bloody well isn’t, especially considering their display in the European Championships. Totally shit is a phrase I would use. Austria played better football than France in that tournament. He did have a tough group, but his tactical naivety was apparent when he played two holding midfielders against the weakest team in the group, Romania; a team France should be beating with the players at their disposal. France should have been beaten but for a Mutu missed penalty. They were literally the most boring team I have seen ever at a major championship. They even wheeled out Claude Makelele for a few games. In the end, I don’t care. He can destroy French football if he wants. The French FA has kept him on as manager saying his, ‘results were not catastrophic’; they went on to lose against Austria, but kept him on anyway.

At 35, Micoud has retired after not being given a contract by Bordeaux after his return to the club from Bremen. It is sad to see a fine player and an honest professional retire, Raymond on the other hand, can piss off gladly. It would do French football the world of good.

Arsenal 6 - 0 Sheffield Utd, The Unsung Heroes

This was a match that was to make the headlines for a number of reasons. The fantastic personal performance of one Carlos Vela, scoring an emphatic hat trick. The average squad age of 19 or Gael Clichy mark 2 in the form of Kieran Gibbs. However I would like to draw attention to the players who played their part and shared only a very small slice of the tabloid riches.

The 3 players who caught my eye were Johan Djourou, Alexandre Song and Mark Randall. Song and Djourou had a very solid game at the back, outplaying the Blades attack, passing out of defence even from the byline. They were first to the ball at every possible occasion and the one time that Alexandre did miss a header Djourou was covering well to clear the ball tidily.

The match itself was a very pedestrian affair with few chances of note for the first 20 minutes or so, at this point Johan Djourou made a marauding forward run ending with a beautiful one-two and a fine shot that was subsequently saved by Paddy Kenny in the Sheff. Utd goal. This action seemed to spark the young Arsenal side into action. As soon as Djourou began to leave his post in the centre of defence my eyes were taken to his position expecting to see a gaping hole waiting to be exploited by
a blades counter attack. To my surprise and also delight I noticed the hole had been plugged by Mark Randall who was clearly playing a holding role. He continued to do this throughout the evening whenever either of the 2 centre backs made their way forward to join the Arsenal attack.

He also gave them an easy passing option whenever the ball was played out to the defence by tracing across the back four whenever any of them had the ball at their feet. It was this attitude, hunger to have the ball at their feet that meant Arsenal dominated possession. As well as helping the Gunners keep possession this pulled Sheffield Utd players out of their formation to try and win the ball opening space for the more attacking, flair players to orchestrate play in the more attacking areas of the pitch.

The only downer of the evening for myself was having to see Song go off with an injury that seemed to be a side strain, as of yet no mention has been made as to how serious the injury was. So I can only hope that no news is good news.

The youthful players that were on show certainly have a lot of promise, if they develop at the same rate over the coming season then I believe that next sesaon Arsenal could have a squad that is capable of winning some quality silverware.

The Goal that Never Was

I was at Vicarage Road on Saturday to witness what was without doubt the worst mistake I have ever seen an official make in football. I don’t really know where to begin with describing how amazing and terrible the whole incident was.

No one knew what was happening; it was a complete mystery as to when the goal was scored. It took about 90 seconds after the incident occurred before any of the players realised that a goal had been given- I don’t think any of the fans realised when exactly the ball was supposed to have gone in the net. No announcement was made over the tannoy of who the goalscorer was. The “goal” was at the opposite end of the pitch from where I was sitting (which happened to be next to the away supporters), but I had a clear view of the incident; I was directly in line with where the ball supposedly crossed the line for a goal- A GOOD 3 OR 4 YARDS TO THE RIGHT OF THE POST.

How? How I ask? I just don’t understand how one man could get it so wrong. It wasn’t even close to being a goal. Nigel Bannister, you are an incompetent disgrace to your profession and have rained down shame upon the glorious sport of football. You were fooled by an “optical illusion”- were you high on hallucinogenic drugs? Were you drunk? Even if you weren’t just say you were; you’ll receive professional help for your problems and sympathy and forgiveness. But no, no, that was not the case, you have no such excuse; you are just a moron unfit to do his job.

And I do not forget you Mr Attwell, the referee who allowed this to occur whilst the beautiful game was entrusted to his stewardship. Of course, I accept you were influenced by the chitter-chatter of a fool in your ear, and this is hard to ignore; you presume the assistant has a better view than you, and thus you listen to his words- he’s there to help. But I saw you Stuart, I saw where you were standing; you must have been able to tell that ball did not go in the goal. I could tell, the whole world could tell. You should not have allowed such a travesty to pass. You are the law on the pitch, the judge, jury and executioner. A simple “No Nige, it really didn’t go in” would have done the job. The officiating team have dealt an almost fatal blow to the respect campaign; how can you respect someone that cannot do their job? It was simply obscene.

OH YEAH, A BIG CLUE THAT THE BALL ISN’T IN THE GOAL IS WHEN AN ATTACKING PLAYER CLEARS THE BALL AWAY FROM THE LINE. What did you think Noel Hunt was trying to do? An inkling of common sense, and this would have been avoided.

A lot of interesting talk has arisen in the aftermath of this incident concerning the conduct of the Reading players following the “goal” and what they possibly should have done. It’s a tough one to call. If someone gives you a goal, you’re not going to look a gifthorse in the mouth. However, when it was such an obvious and grievous error, I really think it’s not in the spirit of the game at all to let such a thing happen and not say or do anything.

This is what Reading’s Stephen Hunt had to say on the matter: "We can't do anything about it. It's not our mistake, but what can you do? You can't say 'no ref, it wasn't in'”.
It’s 5 words Stephen. Just 5 words. You could, nay, should have said them. Yet you ran off celebrating because you were given a gift from heaven (plus you’re a twat). Like I said, it’s tough to know what to do in these extremely rare situations, but the Reading players, like everyone else, knew it was not a goal. We’ve seen teams let others score before to right wrongs, and the more I ponder on what happened on Saturday, the more I think that Reading should have done something about it. They knew what went on wasn’t right, yet they did nothing.

The repercussions that follow this should be severe. I think the referee should at the very least be constricted to officiating games below the top two flights of English football for the rest of the season. For the assistant, I think that this could well be the end of the road for his career. In the majority of other professions, an error of such epic proportions would not be tolerated, and I do not see why it should be any different for football. For the respect campaign to work, officials need to be held accountable for their mistakes. There must be a way for some semblance of justice to be gained when these mistakes are made. It’s not quite the same as the lost 2 points, but I will gain a certain degree of satisfaction through seeing these officials appropriately punished. I also think calls for the use of video technology will increase due to this, something I have long been in favour of.

There is indeed a certain degree of bitterness in my writings; Watford were served an unbelievable helping of misfortune and probably denied a valuable win. But I am fair; there have been rumblings of discontent about Reading’s equalising penalty. It was a definite penalty- Eustace, unsurprisingly, dived in foolishly. Bikey’s goal was correctly disallowed; he had mounted the defender, like a cowboy mounting his noble steed before setting off into the sunset.

But these were minor issues on a sunny Saturday that will be remembered for a goal that was never scored. A Saturday where justice died and the glittering game of football was forever tarnished by one man and his flag.

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