Ask any Reading fan if they can believe what has happened to their team in the last 7 months and overwhelmingly the answer will be “no chance”.

To put this into perspective, Reading travelled to Doncaster on September 17 on the back of 5 straight losses and needed to win to avoid going bottom of the championship, they got 3 points and started a run of 39 games that yielded 86 points and secured promotion by April 17  with 2 games to spare – an astonishing turnaround and one of the great runs in English professional football in recent years.

The architect of this stunning run is Brian McDermott their former head scout now in his second full season as manager of the Royals having taken them all the way to a Wembley play off final in his first full season. Only those on the inside will really know the secret of his success but following Reading all year I suspect their success is centred around three key areas: hard work, a strong team ethic and Brian’s ability to improve players. The latter is founded on his belief that working on a players strengths is a subtle but effective alternative to persisting with trying to improve a players weaker abilities, as he said in a radio interview this week “if you only thought about what a player can’t do you’d never sign anyone”.

It’s this kind of pragmatism that has allowed McDermott to mould a capable group of players into a near unbeatable squad who clearly want to work hard for each other and believe in the old adage that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This is McDermott’s greatest achievement, that despite a terrible start to the season the squad have stayed together, have maintained belief in themselves but most importantly they’ve never lost belief in their combined potential as a group and have been prepared to work hard to ensure that the team was able to attain levels of performance over the last 40 ganes that no one else in the Championship could live with. In the fast paced world of the Premier League this unity may well prove to be their trump card.  

As the playing and coaching staff enjoy an open top bus tour of Reading before embarking on their summer break, the premier league pundits will no doubt be readying themselves for a host of predictions that Reading are favourites for relegation, but throw in McDermott’s coaching and man management skills and I suspect that they, like us fans this season, might end up surprised.

In years to come this might be the week that we look back upon as the tipping point.

For reference “The Tipping Point” was a book written by a guy called Malcolm Gladwell at the start of this century in which he tries to pinpoint causes of change. Sound boring? Well mainly it is but one interesting insight in the book is that he describes the tipping point as “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point” and I can’t help wondering that this is what we’ve seen at Wembley in the last 8 days.

For starters we’ve seen speed and deciciveness of action and for those of us well versed in lobbing critical petrol bombs at the FA we know that these 2 attributes are about as common as a learner driver attempting their first 3 point turn. But rather than stalling in the middle of the road in heavy traffic, the FA performed the sports administration equivalent of a 60mph handbrake turn by immediately announcing that John Terry would be relieved of his captaincy duties once the courts had pushed his court appearance back to July, 1-0 to the FA.   

They followed this up with a quick second by taking the decision without consulting Fabio Capello, a tactical masterstroke that I suspect they knew he would not only disagree with but would also feel compelled to comment on. So in taking a 2-0 lead they also set up their 3rd strike with a juicy piece of bait that no self-respecting, proud Italian would be able to resist and, sure enough, within 48 hours Fabio was whining to his Italian media friends that the FA were acting against his wishes. Voila. (or whatever that is in Italian).

At this stage the fat lady was warming up for the final kill as by Monday morning the admirable David Bernstein and colleagues knew that they had their man right where they wanted him, all they now needed was for the jury in the Harry Redknapp trial to do what the whole country was willing them to do by finding him not guilty and it’s 4-0 to the FA, hat trick and man of the match performance for Bernstein and we can all go home happy. Sure enough the jury delivered (Harry against the tax man was there really ever going to be a different outcome?) and Bernstein could go into his Wednesday morning meeting with Capello with all the confidence of the Pakistani cricket team needing 10 English wickets for less than 100 runs – a sure thing if ever there was one.   

So exactly one week after a court announcement that Terry would be tried after Euro 2012 we find ourselves in this fantasy land whereby an embarrassment of a captain has been sacked (again), a manager who we didn’t want and who didn’t want us has vacated his post and the man that we all want to replace him is not only available but free of the criminal charges that have been hanging over him for 5 years. 

And so is it possible that we have reached our tipping point? Will England now play consistently well in major tournaments? Might we  start winning penalty shoot outs? Will we no longer be blighted by injury, suspension, scandal and poor decisions? In other words will we be able to hold our heads high with all the smug self assuredness that German fans have been displaying since 1970 (i.e. my whole life)?

You know what- I just don’t believe we’re that lucky and tomorrow I’ll wake up and I’ll be back at Wembley on that wet night in Autumn 2007 looking on in disgust at the wally with the brolly and queuing up for 2 hours in the pissing rain to get a bus home.

And so it continues.

The FA have yet again failed to provide any sensible moral leadership after the announcement by the CPS on Wednesday that they will be pressing charges against John Terry for racial abuse. This blog has made it’s position clear on John Terry and his inadequacies as England captain so we’ll turn our attention instead to this latest abdication of responsibility by the FA.

Let’s assume for the purposes of the argument that the FA are the board of a corporate entity and that John Terry is their CEO. Let’s imagine that this entity is a public company employing thousands of people and that their shareholders are the biggest public pension funds in the country and thus represent ordinary men & women from all walks of life.

Now lets imagine that one of the employees makes a complaint that the CEO has called him a “black c**t” and that a number of fellow employees have witnessed the incident. Based on the above scenario my question is this, would the corporate board:

 a) Put out a statement saying innocent until proven guilty and that the CEO will remain in position pending the outcome of a criminal process.

or

b) Immediately suspend the CEO pending the criminal process on the basis that as the CPS believe there is a case to answer their CEO’s position is at least temporarily untenable.    

The answer is so obvious that even my 9 year old can work it out and it is baffling that the FA seem to think that their “innocent until proven guilty” stance is anything but a cop out. The England captain should be a shining example of moral & behavioural standards in English football and even though the current incumbent has breached these requirements on numerous occasions surely a criminal charge is the alarm bell that will jolt the FA into some sensible action by at least suspending him from England duty pending the outcome of the criminal case. There is clear evidence that the huge amounts of money in English football are creating a moral vacuum and it is in this environment that we need strong, considered and brave leadership – instead we get the FA with their indecisive, weak and morally empty response.

I don’t dream of England success in Euro 2012, I’d much rather see strong leadership emerge at the FA and with it a team that I can be proud of, win or lose.

Leader?

Sepp Blatter has been a pompous , self serving, ethically shallow administrator of the world’s only global sport for many years, but his latest comments regarding racism in football travel beyond incompetent buffoonery  into the murkier waters of moral bankruptcy.

Under Blatter’s stewardship FIFA has sailed a fine line between right & wrong on numerous occasions,  but his comments this week demand that strong leaders across the footballing world rise up & show him the door to a long & lonely retirement.

Forget the corruption that rots at the core of FIFA’s world cup host selection process because that is but a sub-plot. Turn a blind eye to the ethically illogical tax demands that FIFA places on the governments that queue up to host it’s tournament because why should they pay tax when the grassroots supporter of the game can do that for them. Care not at the folly that allows them to say, straight faced, that wearing a poppy is a religious, political or commercial act.

But to stay quiet while he, the leader of world football, says that calling someone a black c**t can be resolved by a handshake and a post match prawn sandwich? No. I’m sorry Sepp but that’s unacceptable at anytime, anywhere and any place.

What baffles me most about the arrogance of the man is that, having been faced with a barrage of disbelief that he voiced this opinion, he didn’t rush to retract it and gloss over the details with some polished PR work, no he chose to re-iterate his views and get into a public twitter spat with one of the most famous black footballers of the last decade. If it wasn’t so sad and frustrating it would be funny.    

Stephen Lawrence was an earnest young black man stabbed to death 18 years ago by a group of white youths for no other reason than they saw him as a worthless nigger (their words, not mine). How ironic it is then that his face adorns the front pages as 2 men are finally brought to trial for his murder whilst the back pages are dominated by a man whose own understanding  of racism in football would seem to be stuck, with Stephen Lawrence’s last breath, in 1993.

Captain Disaster

The phrase “John Terry, England captain” sticks in my throat.

Now let me be clear,  I’m no Johnny  come lately to the” how can this man be England captain” bandwagon – I’ve been a fully paid up member for years but it does seem to me that the allegations against his suitability for the role are so over-whelming that it beggars belief that he’s clung onto the armband for the best part of 5 years.

Allegedly sell the England Captains box to corporate punters? Not a problem. Allegedly take backhanders for people to go round the Chelsea training ground? Play on. Shag one of your team mates’ girlfriends? Par for the course. Allegedly call someone a black c**t? All in a day’s work.

I’m sure that so called friends and teammates will rally round and offer support, sycophantic journalists will defend him as “a man’s man” leading by example in the tough, tough world of premier league football and they’ll all call his spat with Ferdinand nothing more than a case of Gucci handbags at five paces.  But this highlights a deeper problem which is that so idolised are these players that normally lucid people lose their ability to rationalise this appalling behaviour in a sober & measured fashion.

Anyone with a small semblance of reason can see that John Terry is a bad example to young kids, his behaviour demeans the men of character who have preceded him as England captain and who have borne that great honour with dignity, respect  & humility.

Nothing would please me more than to hear that Rio Ferdinand has decided to withdraw from the next England squad on principle, to be followed by other men of character in the England team who are prepared to sacrifice a game of football for a deeper & more meaningful stand against all that is wrong with certain elements of the footballing elite in this country. Sadly this is about as likely as a player coming out and saying that referees are undervalued, under-paid and deserve more respect (all of which are true by the way).  

John Terry has no place being the England captain, he’s an embarrassment and the sooner he’s replaced with someone who is willing to use the position to make a positive contribution to football in particular and society in general the better.

Manchester City beware. The European signs are that complacency on the pitch has already drifted into the stands and Wednesday night’s Champions league fixture against Villarreal was a case in point.

Take other teams enjoying their first foray into the CL & and their fans are at bursting point with excitement, Blackburn

A lacklustre night at Etihad stadium

in the nineties, Tottenham last season and especially Newcastle and the 2 seasons they had amongst Europe’s elite.

But Wednesday night at the poorly named Etihad stadium was not even a sell out  – a sure sign of fan complacency in only their second ever champions league home game, and a must win game at that.

I went to the game excited to sample what I presumed was going to be an electric atmosphere generated by passionate City fans watching their expensively assembled fantasy team. What I got was a dreary experience from a stadium only 80% full and, with a couple of notable exceptions, a City performance more akin to a pre season kick around than a critical CL game.

My point is this. I think the City players & fans are more interested in the Premier League than the Champions league and perhaps that’s no bad thing. The chances of winning the CL are negligible at the first attempt but their played 8, won 7 drawn 1 start to the PL gives them a real platform to challenge for the title, especially in a season where Arsenal are anaemic, Chelsea are ageing and Liverpool are re-building thus leaving United as their only serious rivals which makes the derby game on Sunday a big one.

But despite all this surely they’ve still got to give it a good go in the CL?

Are City more interested in the PL than the CL? I think so. Is that acceptable from such a highly paid squad? Not really. Do the fans seem to care? Apparently not. Would Fergie allow that to happen at Old Trafford? Not as long as the blood was still running through his veins.

And therein lies the difference, United are steeped in more than 50 years of European tradition whereas City are virgins at the European top table – and unless they show a bit more leg they’re going to remain European virgins for a while.

With a 4-2 record and 2 thumping losses in consecutive weeks it would be easy to write the Gators out of BCS championship contention, in fact it’s the logical & obvious thing to do. They were stifled by the Crimson Tide in Gainsville 2 weeks ago and dominated by LSU last week, but despite not even being ranked they’re not out of it yet and here’s why.

At 2-2 in the SEC East they’re only a game behind SC who they play in Columbia in 3 weeks time, next week they face Georgia at the swamp and if they can get W’s in both those games then, assuming a win in-between at home against Vanderbilt, there’s every probability that they win the SEC East.

Sounds like a tall order? Sure. Fancy taking that on with a rookie freshman QB? Not really. But here’s how I think it will go down.

First they face an Auburn team tomorrow who have flattered to deceive so far and they squeeze out an ugly win, all of a sudden their confidence is high & rookie QB Jackoby Brissett returns to The Swamp against Georgia October 29 and shows why he was so highly ranked in High School recruiting reports. All of a sudden the Gators are off to the races and after disposing of SC they’re heading to an SEC championship game in Atlanta against LSU or Alabama, the winner of that game goes to, and wins, the BCS championship game in New Orleans on Jan 9.

So really the Gators season comes down to 2 games, this week at Auburn and a big one against one of the current top 2 ranked teams in Atlanta in December for the SEC title.

So what’s the magic ingredient that will unlock this Gator turnaround? Simple. His name is Will Muschamp and he falls strictly into my favourite category of competitors who hate to lose, right now the Gators need a bit of grit and he’s the right man in the right place at the right time to give that to them.

I’m British & I’m probably wrong but Gator nation shouldn’t write off a trip to the Superdome just yet, and if they do make it?  Well you heard it here first.

The Right Man

Normally the anxiety of supporting England in a major  soccer tournament starts a few weeks before the action kicks off.

Rooney sees Red in Montenegro

In 1996 we had the distraction of some pre season high jinks in the infamous dentist’s chair in Hong Kong whereas  2 years later it was Teddy Sheringham sharing a smoke with a mystery blonde in a Portuguese nightclub.

Ahead of the World Cup in Japan in 2002 we stepped  things up a gear via the “will he, won’t he” saga of Beckham’s broken metatarsal in a Spring Champions league game and that particular injury again got our worry levels going prior to 2006, with Rooney the victim this time around.   In 2010 we moved away from injuries & booze related faux pas to a new genre of pre tournament distraction when the England captain decided it was a good idea to have an affair with the Mother of one of his team mate’s children and was subsequently stripped of the captaincy, but in a quick return to normal service his successor was then injured & left the squad shortly before the first group game.

My point is this, 3-4 weeks ahead of a tournament I’m not only ready for but expecting a series of catastrophe’s to befall the England soccer squad – it is the natural way of things.

However ahead of Euro 2012 (which starts June 2012) we have now broken all pre tournament anxiety records with the news, a full 8 months prior to the tournament and with 8 teams still involved in play offs, that we’ll be without our best player for the 3 group games.

I have no quibble with the stance taken by UEFA against Rooney, he’s had plenty of chances to amend his behaviour and should know better, but my God it’s hard work being an England fan.