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The Premiership is now a Bollywood destination. Or Stamford Bridge is rather than the Reebok.

On June 15, 2007, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom will open in Indian cinemas. JBJ as all Indian movies that prove to be hits need a catchy acronym is the story of Rikki, a starstruck soccer fan living in London who follows the fortunes of his favourite team, Chelsea. He is a fan of John Terry and Frank Lampard. Reportedly, Terry and Lampard, along with Jose Mourinho have walk on roles in the movie. Rikki is played by Abhishek Bachhan, India's biggest star and in real life, a huge fan of Chelsea.

Bachchan says, "I'm a big Chelsea fan. I get all the games taped for me in India and watch them when I come home from the film sets.

"One of my favourite players is John Terry and it has been great to see Chelsea live. The club have given me a jersey with my character's name, Rikki, on it.

I might have been impressed if Abhishek had said El Hadji Diouf and Bolton but Bollywood obviously knows its market.

The film also stars Bollywood hotties Lara Dutta, a former Ms Universe and Preity Zinta. Amitabh Bachhan and Sharoukh Khan also appear in cameos.

Come to think of it we need some new blood to replace Tom Alter. Terry and Lampard might want to try and think Bollywood after they retire. That way they can scythe down villains by well placed free kicks and get paid huge bucks to do so.

Official movie site with preview >>

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I was struck by the fact, watching the NFL draft which concluded recently, this is a league that has seen a decade of peaceful co-existence and unprecedented parity. The NFL is now the most popular sports league in the US. There are no teams griping about the Dallas Cowboys getting more than its fair shake because the equal sharing of TV revenues and the league’s salary cap, has restored parity to the NFL. Eight teams since 1992-1993 have won the Super Bowls with only the New England Patriots in recent years coming close to a dynasty with three titles in four years. Last year's champions, the Steelers did not even make the playoffs. The NFL has become wide open with teams finding it difficult to repeat as Super Bowl champions. It makes the Cincinnati Bengals, long the NFL doormat, a legitimate contender for the Super Bowl. The NFL's socialist structure is the main factor in its resurgence. Socialism in the US! Good heavens, what next? George Bush agreeing to a deadline for a troop pullout!

Compare this to the Premiership in its 14th year of existence. This year if all goes to form, Man Utd will collect its 9th title. Chelsea, Arsenal, and Blackburn are the only other teams to have won titles since its inception. 4 teams out of 20. In fact, Blackburn's title now looks like an anomaly. For the foreseeable future, it would appear that only Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool can legitimately contend. The most watched sports league in the world and it is a circle jerk of four clubs. Smaller clubs can only hope to win a title by being bought out by a businessman or a business consortium with deep pockets to afford those huge transfer fees. Portsmouth's recent success has everything to do with Alexander Gaydamak sinking in the money to bring good players to the team.

The liberating aspects of capitalism have been lost to the Premiership. An individual like Sam Allardyce with his years of dedication building a viable team on the cheap decided to quit because he realized that without the money, he was not going to take Bolton further. In recent years, critics of the present inequity in the Premiership would delight in pointing out Allardyce as an exception, a manager who inspired fear and awe in Stamford Bridge. Now that he is gone, they don’t have him to thumb their noses at the rich clubs. In its stead, the Premiership is a stultifying monolithic structure shaped by neo-liberal policies. The Premiership TV revenues that are shared by clubs, a nice chunk of change of 40-50 million pounds is swallowed quickly in salaries and debt financing, leaving some money for player acquisition, but not a whole lot. The absence of a salary cap allows teams with moneyed owners to pay as much as required to bring a player over. In Chelsea's instance, this can total over 300 million pounds in its last two championship seasons. Manchester United and Liverpool are not as profligate but compared to Charlton or Bolton they might as well be.

Lets face it. There are not too many ways that you can build a winning Premiership team without the cash. Arsenal has a youth system that develops talent through the personal initiative of Arsene Wenger but it is an exception. Without salary restrictions, there is very little incentive in developing such programs in other clubs. Chelsea is just about beginning this process but it is still about 10 years behind Arsenal’s program. The Premiership cannot build through a draft because there is no system like that in place. Time to dust off a socialist measure and introduce it to the Premiership: The salary restriction. The restriction would be indexed on the average worth of all twenty clubs, i.e., the worth of each club is added up, averaged, and the salary restriction is an index of that average. For e.g., the average worth of a Premiership club maybe 100 million pounds, salary restrictions would be 15% of that figure. If a club wants to go after an expensive player and exceeds the salary restriction then it can do so but it will have less to work with next year. So there is a cumulative feature built in that allows for flexibility. Since the average worth of a Premiership clubs is in all likelihood higher than their European counterparts, the Premiership will still be able to attract top tier talent, except that they will be distributed in more clubs.

When this happens (wishful thinking!) lets see how Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex, and Arsene Wenger stack up against Sam Allardyce and Steve Coppell. Long suffering clubs like Charlton and West Ham may contend regularly for the title, lessening this unhealthy obsession with takeovers. You might actually get to see a lot more Hammer jerseys in New York compared to the ubiquitous Man Utd or Chelsea merchandise. In all, a more salubrious Premiership might be possible.

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Big Sam Allardyce whose pugnacious style of coaching revitalized Bolton announced his resignation in a shocker. The resignation is with immediate effect.

Why this unseemly haste in resigning? Allardyce could have waited till the end of the season. Bolton is still in the hunt for an UEFA cup qualification.

Does this statement make sense?

" However, after guiding the team to the verge of qualification for European football for the second time in three years, I feel it is the right moment."

It sounds like Big Sam decided to stiff Bolton when they needed him the most. The reason given is that the Wanderers CEO, Phil Gartside who has had his share of differences with Allardyce in the past especially with the bung taking controversy decided not to open up his purse strings to get Allardyce some of the big name transfers. In short, he wanted Allardyce to keep producing on the cheap like he has done for many years as Bolton manager. Allardyce had had enough.

Man City beckons as they are disenchanted with present manager Stuart Pearce. Even Newcastle has been mentioned as a possible destination. For Allardyce and the record he achieved at Bolton, there should be no shortage of clubs who would welcome him.

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Fabien Barthez - seen here as he once looked.
Apart from the hair he has lost over the years he has also eventually managed to lose the support of the Nantes' fans.He has made several goalkeeping blunders(see one here) in the recent past which ultimately led to a violent run-in with a group of disgruntled supporters.He has left his Nantes home by car - taking his his children along with him to an unknown destination.

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Goals from Julio Baptista,Emmanuel Adebayor and Gilberto Silva increased Fulham's relegation prospects.Simon Davies' goal had given Fulham a little glimmer of hope but the final score of 3 -1 sees them precariously perched at a point above the relegation zone.

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' The circumstances are difficult for us with the new football rules that we have to face. It is not possible to have a penalty against Manchester United. It is not possible to have a penalty in favour of Chelsea. We should have had a penalty, involving Stephen Carr, it was a clear penalty. I have the right to speak. I think nobody can punish me because I speak the truth and I am not saying the referees are not honest. But yesterday was a penalty and today was a penalty - and if somebody wants to punish me for that it means the end of democracy and we go back to old times.' - Jose Mourinho, April 2007 after 0-0 draw at Newcastle

Sometimes managers become more entertaining than the game. Especially when you consider that the two clubs fighting it out are Manchester United and Chelsea with a chance of winning the treble. With Jose Mourinho, the master who works the referees over, again in the thick of things.

Mourinho's rants works on many different levels. The 'outsider' who has to fight a system rigged in his opponents favour. His opponent in this case is Manchester United. In his words there is a suggestion that the English game has become undemocratic and it picks favourites. The status quo needs to be maintained by adopting new rules by stealth if necessary. It is not just Man Utd that opposes Chelsea, it is the FA and the Premier League also that is now in cahoots.

Mourinho is canny enough to realize that his argument would lose power if he spoke only in abstractions, so he personalizes it by going after Cristiano Ronaldo. In Ronaldo, he finds a polarizing target, a player who is gifted but is also well known for embellishing fouls. What Mourinho is trying in effect is to turn Ronaldo into Man Utd's poster boy, there is some tacit encouragement by Sir Alex to keep diving and lying about it. This deleterious effect on his game will prevent Ronaldo from realizing his true genius. Mourinho is cleverly planting the seed that Ronaldo may not achieve greatness if he stays on in Man Utd.

Of course, the opposite tack is used by Sir Alex as he lashes back and says Mourinho is impugning the English game. Always a good way to get the knackers of the natives in a twist. After all it is Europe that is Machiavellian. Sir Alex also casts aspersions of his own by observing that the atmosphere in Stamford Bridge is probably poisoned "I bet the birds at Stamford Bridge wake up coughing." A pointed reference to Mourinho's recent difficulties with his boss Roman Abramovich. Mourinho might have had some fellow sympathizers in Rafa Benitez and Arsene Wenger, fellow outsiders and no strangers to controversy themselves but he committed the cardinal sin of going after them too. So there is the unusual spectacle of Benitez and Sir Alex teaming up and administering a joint whipping to the man who everybody loves to hate.

All in all, it makes for good theater. A point that needs to be noted is the way Man Utd is playing. It is destiny that guides them. A loss to Roma followed by a unreal thumping in the return. A goal down against AC Milan in the CL semifinal and then scoring two goals in quick succession. The winner in stoppage time. The come from behind win against Everton this weekend. Mourinho might be right that there is a conspiracy except that this conspiracy might have some other worldly explanation.

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Man U took a 5 point lead over Chelsea when they beat Everton 4 -2 .Chelsea could only manage a 2-2 draw against Bolton.All the goals below.......

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....and if you still think it is safe to dive after seeing that try and do a better job of it than the fellow below.....!

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Jimmy Greaves, Peter "Cat" Bonetti

One of the remarkable features about England's win in the 1966 World Cup was how it was accomplished without the contributions of its best player, Jimmy Greaves, undoubtedly England's finest striker. Greaves was kept out by injuries and then jaundice. But Greaves absence threw up an unlikely hero in Geoff Hurst.

Another point to muse was the surfeit of fine goalkeeping talent that England had at its disposal. There was of course, Gordon Banks. Very little can be added to his legend that has not already been said. However, I do want to mention that his understudy was probably one of the finest replacements who never saw a sustained England career, Peter "Cat" Bonetti. I think Bonetti's goalkeeping abilities were just as great but he was unfortunate that the 60's and 70's threw up first Banks and then Peter Shilton. Bonetti was known for his litheness and his lightning quick reflexes. Old time Chelsea fans will remember him.

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" For all his long, successful career as player and manager with Arsenal, Everton, Blackpool and Southampton, as manager of Portsmouth, Southampton and Manchester City, Alan Ball, who died today of a suspected heart attack, will surely be remembered above all for his superb display for England in the World Cup Final of 1966 at Wembley against West Germany."

Here is the rest of Glanville's fine tribute to Alan Ball >>

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Osasuna upset the reigning UEFA Cup champions Sevilla with a 1 - 0 home victory.Roberto Soldado scored in the 55th minute.


Espanyol did their bit to try and make it an all spanish final by defeating Werder Bremen 3-0 in the other semifinal.

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It's just too bad that the NY Red Bulls can't just drink Red Bull and finish on top of the MLS every year. You still need good players. Either that or like Alecko Eskandrian who swigged Red Bull on the sideline, decided he did not care for the taste, and spat it out. It was supposed to be a commercial for Red Bull but it ended up getting a product placement. Things are looking up this season though and Juan Pablo Angel is the big news.

The country's future in soccer lies in its burgeoning immigrant base, many from Central and Latin America, especially in metros with large populations from countries in these regions. It makes much more sense to bring soccer stars from countries of origin in these areas than to try and bring a player like David Beckham. Playing for the Premiership made Juan Pablo Angel attractive and he was still a vital part of Aston Villa, although his playing minutes diminished with John Carew's arrival on the Villa squad.

His attractive index is even higher because Angel is Colombian. There is a huge base of Colombian fans in the NY metro who will come to see Red Bulls games. The Red Bulls have long been MLS doormats and have had sparse viewership but things are looking up of late. They have Claudio Reyna and now Angel. Their 2007 start has been promising and they have looked good in the opening games.

I don't necessarily see Reyna as a good player but that maybe because he has always played in the exceedingly physical European leagues. He has never been accused of being quick or prolific, being further slowed down by frequent injuries. At this stage the slower pace of the MLS with its less intense schedule might bring out the best in Reyna, his vision and ability to create chances for others. That and being reunited with his mentor, Bruce Arena. Reyna might prove to be the ideal foil for Angel up front.

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Stan Kroenke moves to take over Arsenal. This is huge. David Dein has resigned and there is speculation that he will join forces with Kroenke, thereby giving both a 30% share of the club. British law would require them to make a formal bid for the team.

Intriguingly, this takeover is perceived as hostile because many shareholders have not welcomed it. Together they control over 45% of the stake. Kroneke will have to start persuading them to sell out their shares.

Kroenke's MO seems to be to sow as much disruption into shareholder proceedings and vote off the reluctant ones and force the remaining ones into an agreement.

In the end, this may all work out and given the fact that the Premiership now has almost half its clubs under control from across the pond, the heartburn from all this might be minimal. What is more worrisome is the future of Arsenal's players. Wenger's emphasis on youth is rubbing older, more experienced players like William Gallas the wrong way. He has been unsettled since he came on board and is now looking to moving to either Real or Inter. The loss of Gallas would be immense. Arsenal is now looking to bring Florent Malouda from Lyons.

The re-signing of Jens Lehmann is a mistake. The man has been out of depth in many of the matches and his form has not inspired much confidence. He makes some fantastic reflexive saves but he can also muff up a simple ball exchange. Wenger needs to seriously think of a new first squad goalkeeper. With Kroenke's kitty, they should be courting Gianluigi Buffon or Gregory Coupet. Both are steadier than Lehmann and have as much experience.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

1966 World Cup final. Alan Ball, Everton and Arsenal midfielder, was the scrappy, motoring midfielder with his socks down to his ankles, who set up Geoff Hurst's controversial third goal with a low cross. Alan Ball reminds me of Paul Scholes, red haired, pint sized, and under rated but blessed with great ball skills and tenacity.

Many who paid tribute believe that if it was not for Ball's unflagging performance, England would not have won the match against W.Germany.

Sir Bobby Charlton, his midfield partner in 1966, said: "He was probably the best player that day and if it had not been for his impact the result could have been totally different.

Sir Geoff Hurst, said "He was the youngest member of the team and man of the match in the 1966 World Cup final.

Alan Ball >>

Alan Ball's autobiography >>

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Johan Cruyff celebrated his 60th birthday yesterday.He is revered in Holland not only as the greatest player of all time but also as a cultural phenomenon who even has his own language: Cruyffian.
Examples....
"it doesn't matter if the opposing side scores a goal as long as you score one more than them".
"coincidence is logical"
"you don't get it until you understand it"
"Italians cannot beat you but you can lose to them".
More information about his language and on the birthday here....
Ajax retired the No. 14 jersey of Johan Cruyff on his 60th birthday in homage to a unique footballer and a living legend.

Posted by Anish at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am. With memories of the most fascinating and enthralling final played in CL history between these two teams in 2005 still fresh, a rematch would be a glorious and fitting finale. Watching a Chelsea vs Man Utd final would be stale fare considering these two are already vying for the Premiership and the FA Cup this year. Deja vu has its limits.

This rematch would see some memorable reunions and some new relationships. Silky smooth Kaka and Seedorf on top of their game take on the never say die Gerrard and cagey Alonso. Milan's central defense with veterans Nesta and Maldini against Liverpool's new additions, the high flying tear-aways Kuyt and Bellamy.

Paolo Maldini has appeared in 5 CL finals. A rematch will give him his 6th. At almost 40 years old he has defined his position.

But first Liverpool needs to get over Chelsea and Milan has its work cut out against Man Utd.

Here in all its glory, the 2005 CL final between Liverpool and Milan. Crespo, Maldini, Gerrard, Smicer, Alonso. A despondent Dida, an ecstatic Dudek. The highs and the lows. Once again for good measure.

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Some great saves from each end and finally a goal from Cole....

Match report...

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African champions Al-Ahly's centennial birthday celebrations were dampened a bit when Barcelona handed them a 4 - 0 drubbing yesterday.Goals below

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Well, it looks like we could have an all English Champions League final.

Christiano Ronaldo got the first goal, but it was Rooney who scored twice to beat AC Milan, despite Kaka's heroic performance (2 goals) and brilliant play...

Kaka's better than Ronaldo, folks. No question about that. But Rooney's got that instinct, that luck, that whatever you want to call it.

A week from now we'll know the truth at San Siro. Unfortunately, Patrice Evra won't be on the pitch for the Reds. Let's see if Ronaldo and Rooney can get past Milan on their home turf.

Bring it!

Details>>

- Kaka dazzles stars at Old Trafford

- Manchester United 3 Milan 2: Rooney saves best until last to give United a fighting chance in Milan

- Rooney's genius gives United the edge

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Ronaldo becomes the first soccer player since Andy Gray in 1977 to win both awards.
Cristiano Ronaldo: PFA Young Player of the Year 2007

Cristiano Ronaldo :PFA Player of the Year 2007

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Inter Milan retained the Serie A because their victory at Siena gave them a 16 point lead over their nearest rivals Roma with 5 games left to play.While Materazzi did the scoring for Inter the more interesting goals came from the Roma - Atlanta match.Check out the second goal of the game by Riccardo Zampagna .A contender for goal of the season. He picked up the ball from Doni with his back to goal, flicked it up with his right boot and then hooked it over the head of the keeper.

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Shunsuke Nakamura's fantastic injury time free kick that gave Celtic the Scottish Championship.

He also won the Player of the Year award from the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association beating off the competition from team-mates Lee Naylor and Artur Boruc, as well as Aberdeen skipper Russell Anderson.He also won Goal of the Season for this lob against Dundee United on Boxing Day.

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Inter Milan were crowned Serie A champions on Sunday because they won 2-1 at Siena and nearest rivals Roma lost 2-1 at Atalanta.
Celtic won the Scottish Premier League title on Sunday when they defeated Kilmarnock.That game too had a score of 2 -1
Chelsea however did not score 2 -1 against Newcastle.They had a chance to close the gap all they managed was a goalless draw. The three point difference between them and Man U therefore remains unchanged.
Mourinho's philosophical reaction "It was a chance missed to close the gap - but at the same time we had an away game and Man United had a home game and at the end of it the gap between us is the same."

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Beckham bent his injured knee for Real Madrid again after a 6 week break.A free kick from him was headed in by Sergio Ramos. It turned out to be the winning goal in Real Madrid's 2 -1 victory over Valencia and it keeps them in the Spanish Title race.

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Mark Viduka's diving header saw Middlesbrough levelling the scores and sharing the points with Man U.If Chelsea beat Newcastle United then Man U's lead over them will decrease to a slender 1 point.It could have been worse for Man U had this penalty claim been given.

Elsewhere Liverpool cruised to a 2 -0 victory over Wigan (goals) and Rafa Benitez is sure that his team is peaking at the right time as they head towards their Champion's League semi against Chelsea.
And other semifinalists AC Milan showed their form by beating Cagliari 3 -1.Now who's calling me fat Ronaldo scored 2 out of the three . Goals here..

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The moral of this story is - never run up to the other end of the field during a game if you are the goalkeeper.

The goal was scored by Brazilian midfielder Diego in Werder Bremen's 3-1 win over Alemannia Aachen.Goalkeeper Nicht went forward for a free-kick late on and, as the ball was cleared, Diego launched that shot that went home like a guided missile.

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Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor scored a goal each to make up for Robbie Keane's early strike against Arsenal.Then Jermaine Jenas conjured up a bit of magic 4 minutes into stoppage time and the score was 2 goals each.

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Blatter's great new interest in Indian football may be as big an illusion as the great Indian Rope trick.In the original version of the trick a magician throws a rope into the air -climbs up the rope and then disappears.In Blatter's version of the trick he will throw a football into the air - and when everyone is watching it a great deal of money will disappear ..!
'Blatter has no interest in India' writes Siddarth Saxena in the Times News Network.Worth a read.

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Sevilla's defeated Deportivo La Coruna in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals by 3 goals to nothing.It was their first win at Deportivo's Riazor Stadium in 53 years.Talk about perseverance.The story of King Bruce and the spider pales in comparision...! Goals below.

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Refereeing can be a high risk job sometimes.A Gambian referee John Mendy was attacked by angry players from Cameroon's Union Douala on Wednesday because a last minute penalty he gave against them resulted in their being eliminated from the African Confederation Cup.Elsewhere seven referees were temporarily suspended by the Italian referees association Thursday in Italy's ongoing soccer scandal.
But in the middle of all the hard times that Refs are having to go through these days here's one fellow who seems to be enjoying every bit of it...!

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Messi brings back memories of Maradona as he dribbled four Getafe players before going around goalkeeper Luis Garcia and scoring from a narrow angle at Camp Nou.It was Barcelona's second goal in their 5-2 win over Getafe in the Copa del Rey semifinals.

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Enzo Zidane is 12 years old and is following in his illustrious father's footsteps.
More on that story here and a video of some similar moves by father and son below..

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Francesco Totti inspired Roma to a 3-1 victory over Inter Milan to give them their first defeat in 32 matches this season and put their Serie A title celebrations on hold.

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In the end the opera singing wasn't enough to lift West Ham.Action from the first half....2 goals for Chelsea from Shawn Wright Phillips with one from Carlos Tevez for West Ham in between

The other two Chelsea goals from Kalou and Drogba can be seen here and here.....
and their relentless pursuit of Man U is still on schedule.
Elsewhere Liverpool defeated Middlesbrough 2 - 0 .Goals here...

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Goals from Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney early in each half saw Man U beat Sheffield 2 - 0 .Sheffield were denied what looked like a clear penalty.Luton Shelton was brought down by Gabriel Heinze but referee Rob Styles managed not to see anything amiss.( No death threats have been reported so far !)

Elsewhere Arsenal had to endure jeers from sections of the Emirates Stadium as they laboured to defeat Manchester City.Thomas Rosicky,Fabregas and Baptista gave them a 3-1 victory eventually.Video highlights here..

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West Ham United are turning to Icelandic opera singer Gardar Thor Cortes for some musical inspiration before they do battle with Chelsea on Wednesday.A must win game for both teams - The Hammers have five games to move out from the relegation zone while the Blues cannot afford to drop points in their bid to keep the pressure on leaders Manchester United.Chelsea have been on song for quite a while now and so West Ham have gone looking for one too...!Cortes is a compatriot of West Ham's Icelandic chairman Eggert Magnusson.He will sing Hammers anthem "I'm forever blowing bubbles" and "Nessun Dorma" -- an aria from Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot -- before kickoff at Upton Park. Pavarotti and friends can be seen and heard singing "Nessun Dorma" below.The aria was used by the BBC as the theme tune for their coverage of the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

Gardar Cortes can be seen singing "Nella Fantasia" here...

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Javier Turienzo is getting death threats. He was the ref in charge of the game between Real Madrid and Racing Santander.He did not make himself very popular with Real fans because he awarded Santander two penalties in the last 20 minutes of the match and also sent off Real players Ivan Helguera and Alvaro Mejia, in the 87th and 90th minutes respectively.Highlights below

Meanwhile Barcelona have stretched their lead over their nearest rivals thanks to this lucky much rebounded last minute goal against Real Mallorca.

With eight games left to play, Barca lead the table on 59 points, Sevilla have 55 and Real Madrid are on 54, one ahead of Valencia.

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Two goals and some first half action from the game between Indian NFL teams Mohun Bagan and East Bengal.What made things a bit more interesting was the fact that Sepp Blatter himself was lurking in the VIP stands and watching the proceedings from there.Bagan won the game 2 -1 eventually.Blatter is on a 3 day state visit to India these days.

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AC Milan won 3-1 at Messina on Sunday to climb into fourth spot in the Italian league.Kaka and Giuseppe Favalli scored in the first half and (now who's calling me fat) - Ronaldo added a third goal in the second half.

The first leg of the Champion's league semifinal against Man U will be played in Manchester on April 24 and the second leg is in Italy on May 5.Milan won its sixth European Cup at Old Trafford in 2003, and the team has advanced all three times it's faced Man United in the competition.But Ferguson is sure that Man U are more than up to the challenge.....

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