EPL Talk » Joe Cole

Joe Cole Set To Quit Chelsea For Manchester City?

Chris Beckenham — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 01:02:30 +0000

With Joe Cole out of contract at Chelsea in the summer, there’s no surprise in there being a few Premiership Clubs ‘poking their noses’ into the status of the current situation regarding the player at the moment.

Negotiations are currently under way between Joe Cole and Chelsea, with Cole wanting around £50,000 extra on top of the £80,000 a week he is currently on. However, Chelsea are rumoured to be only willing to add a £20,000 increase.

Therefore, it is no wonder Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham are eyeing up the winger, who was out of football for 9 months earlier this season with a knee injury. With negotiations currently stalled, and neither side willing to back down, it looks as if things are about to get interesting.

City, United and Spurs are long-term admirers. But the Eastlands club, who failed in an audacious bid to land Chelsea and England captain John Terry last summer, are more confident that they can fulfil Cole’s current wage demands. With Cole being out of contract in the summer, City wouldn’t have to pay any compensation to Chelsea, meaning Cole wouldbe the big earner. And in the current economic climate it seems both United and Tottenham will find it impossible to match a City offer that would include a £5m signing on fee and wages of about £150,000 a week.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson made two approaches to West Ham in a bid to prise the player from their academy before Cole made his senior debut. Fergie openly rated Cole the most naturally gifted English player of his generation.

Harry Redknapp, the Hammers boss approached by Fergie back in the late 90s, turned down the Old Trafford overtures. Since then Redknapp has never disguised his admiration for Cole who he once claimed was the most skilful player he had ever come across.

He would relish having Cole in his squad again. Sources close to Cole claim he’s unlikely to back down in talks with Chelsea and is well aware he retains a position of strength in negotiations. He could potentially sign a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club if Chelsea laboured in negotiations and allowed him to reach the final months of his current deal.

They are unlikely to be impressed by City’s interest following the war of words that erupted after they tried to lure away Terry from the club by going public about their interest in the England captain.

Nerves Will Destroy Stewart Downings England Career

Paul Bestall — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:48:12 +0000

Why can’t Stewart Downing show us the form that makes him such a sought after player when he pulls on the England shirt? There is no doubting that at Premier League level, Downing is one of the most dangerous and creative players in the country but after Saturdays performance against Slovakia, it’s clear to see that the lad doesn’t feel comfortable in his own skin when he’s around the England squad.

Yet, now the situation is surely set up for him to succeed on the left hand side of England’s midfield. With his main positional rival, Joe Cole, injured, he’s really got a free run to install himself in Capello’s mind and make a strong case for a run in the team. He’s no real other rivals for the left wing slot, Kieran Richardson has really fallen off the radar England wise and Ashley Young is bang out of form right now. It’s the perfect time for him to put a marker down yet he seems to be suffering from the same malaise that affected England’s best left winger of the last 25 years, John Barnes.

Barnes was majestic for Watford and Liverpool but never transferred his sublime skills to the international arena on a consistent basis. I remember watching him in the 1987-88 season destroy Sheffield Wednesday on his own at Hillsborough, even simply walking the ball at his leisure down the left flank, jinking past the full back in the blink of an eye. It became such a consistent issue, that toward the end of his England career, Barnes was booed again and again with fed up fans at a loss to explain why he simply couldn’t cut it.

Maybe it was the lack of serious continental competition that blighted his international career. With English clubs banned from 1985 until 1991, Barnes was almost 29 when he started playing regular European club football, too late to bring a change in his fortunes in the white shirt of England. Yet Downing doesn’t have that excuse as Middlesbrough have had several European games that he’s featured in, especially the incredible run to the UEFA Cup final of 2006 including that incredible semi-final against Steau Bucharest.Downing’s deliver that game was in a class of it’s own.

Yet Saturday saw him look hurried, putting himself under pressure time and again and trying to pass the ball almost before he’d received it. Time and again his passing was way off target and he began to withdraw more and more. So what can he do to sort himself out? He needs to realise he’s in the England squad on merit, not by luck. If Fabio Capello thinks he’s good enough for the England set up, who are we to argue? That alone should show him that he deserves to be in the company of Gerrard, Beckham, Lampard et al.

I don’t think it’s got anything to do with playing for Middlesbrough as some “pundits” will have you believe, though there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll not be there next season if Boro fall into the Championship. Downing just needs to believe in himself more when he wears the three lions otherwise he’ll see his England chances disappear, which would be a crying shame. A bit more belief would also give England another avenue of attack and one that Downing can make his own.

Carlos Tevez Uncertainty and is Stewart Downing This Winter’s Berbatov?

Johnathan Starling — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:47:03 +0000

Well the rumblings of yesterday have come to fruition today, on two counts. The first happening in South America, the other happening at the Riverside.

I can understand Carlos Tevez wanting his future sorted. But the situation with Manchester United seems to get crazier by the day. After firing back at Ferguson’s claims of rejecting a contract offer and saying he nor his agent had seen a contract, Tevez fired what I think could be the fatal jab when he admitted that he’s going to start hearing offers from other clubs.

In my mind, Carlos Tevez is skating on ultra thin ice right now. You’re not an out and out starter at Manchester United and I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you’re wanting mega pounds to stay. However to more or less say you’re ready to leave Manchester United and (while I’ll admit this comment is off handed), saying he’d love to play for Real Madrid, the corner that is being back into is not an easy one to walk out of.

Tevez needs to understand that being a squad player means you are not going to make what you think you’re worth at Manchester United. Only the week in and week out players guaranteed in the starting eleven will. If you think you’re bigger than the club, do yourself a favor and simply go ahead and leave. Ferguson won’t deal with the headache.

The other story from last night that came home to roost was the formal transfer request Stewart Downing made to Middlesbrough. It appears clear that Downing wants to continue his career under the wing of Harry Redknapp at Tottenham, but not only was Downing’s formal transfer request denied, Tottenham’s 12 million pound bid was also denied.

This situation reads to me very similar to the situation we saw last year with one Dimitar Berbatov. Downing seems to be doing everything possible to get ouf of the club, be damned about the relationships made and the respect of the fans you have. While I understand we haven’t hit the sulk level yet, I expect that to happen in short order. The intentions have been made clear, and the impression I get is that Downing isn’t going to stop until he’s out of the Riverside for the comforts of North London.

Steve Gibson is in a tight spot. While I agree with him for making a player honor a contact, how much more of this nonsense will he tolerate. Gibson though saying ‘I repeat: none of our senior players will be leaving the Riverside Stadium this month’ tells me that he’s ready for the long haul that this January window will bring. But one thing Gibson should realize is Daniel Levy has very recently been in Gibson’s shoes, and knows what the final outcome ultimately will be.

Other Stories
Add Arsene Wenger to the back of Sir Alex Ferguson in saying the fixture list is ‘unfair’. Where to do I get my tissues? You’re supposed to be top four sides. Quit crying about who you have to face and when you have to face them.

Joe Cole seems a tad bit unhappy about being replaced for the 13th match in a row and is wanting to meet with Scolari about why that is the case. Just another fire for Scolari to put out. It’s funny though all these little fires are growing into one big inferno.

Wayne Bridge promises that his best is yet to come. As one Manchester City fan put it to me ‘that is until he gets injured’.

Tony Pulis thinks that bringing in players will lift the mood around the Stoke City squad. That is until they decide to take pop shots at each other during a match.

A Column to go Home By
Peter Bills questions if Chelsea have the stomach to fight for the title, FA Cup, and Champions League. I’ve been asking that same question as a Chelsea fan since the second week of the season.

Kalou Keeps Chelsea Streak Intact Against Manchester United

Johnathan Starling — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:08:43 +0000

Salomon Kalou’s header ten minutes from time cancels out Ji-Sung Park’s opener and preserves Chelsea’s unbeaten record at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea and Manchester United ends honors even at 1-1.Unlike the Liverpool/Manchester United clash last weekend, this was more typical big four fare. The game wasn’t pretty by any means, plenty physical and full of controversy. If a game was ever going to challenge the new FA’s respect campaign, this was it. It didn’t help that Mike Riley was way too quick to use the whistle as depending on which source you believe, there were either 34 fouls (the Guardian) or 40 (Soccernet). I did attempt to find the number on the Premier League’s website, but was unsuccessful in doing so.

Manchester United started out the promising side and were nearly rewarded nine minutes in. Petr Cech should have left the ball played in to his back four to clear but instead ended up 18 yards off his line when Berbatov volleyed goal ward. He didn’t have enough pace on it, but left it perfectly for Rooney, who only missed the far post by a couple of inches. Cech would have been beaten and it would have been an embarrassing opener to give up.

United’s pressure was rewarded eighteen minutes in. Patrice Evra is sprung on a great run and is able to center to Berbatov. Had Fletcher not made a dummy run in, Chelsea probably clear. However Fletcher’s run held back Chelsea’s line and Berbatov was able to put a shot on Cech. It was a shot that Cech should have saved, but when the ball sprung free, Park had an empty net to tap in, unmarked at that. Chelsea’s back line on the whole sequence left Cech out to dry, but it’s a shot Cech should have caught.

Two Chelsea players need to be taken to task for their shocking performances on the day. The first being Joe Cole who after Rooney’s volleyed miss stays onside, has Van der Sar on the ground, and hits the side netting. The second ties into the second player who should be taken to task, Nicolas Anelka. On the first occasion, sixty-six minutes in, Joe Cole was too greedy when Anelka was unmarked on the far post. The second one comes seven minutes later when Joe Cole centers to Anelka who pretty much blocked the ball off the line when he could have equalized for Chelsea.

Looking at Salomon Kalou’s equalizer, there are a few things there as well. How Manchester United let him into the mixer unmarked is beyond me. Secondly, while there was contact on Rio Ferdinand, it was barely the tips of his fingers and wouldn’t have mattered in the long run. And for those who thought there was a foul, Ferdinand was marking Terry heavily and pretty much ran into him about the time Kalou headed in. Mikel’s free kick was inch perfect.

Two injuries played a key factor in this one. The being Ricardo Carvalho’s injury thirteen minutes in, and probably had something to do with Manchester United’s opener as the back line was adjusting to Alex’s inclusion. The other being Edwin Van der Sar’s twenty seven minutes in. It was a nasty collision with Florent Malouda and Van der Sar took the brunt of the contact squarely on the shoulder. I give him credit for giving it another go, but only lasted six more minutes. You have to wonder if Edwin Van der Sar was in and not Tomass Kuszczak, would Kalou had had the easy header?

The last talking point I have from this game is the sheer number of yellow cards Manchester United got. Looking at the seven yellow cards, you could understand why Riley called them. The two dissent bookings were the ones that made me smile the most, but it should have been both ways. However when Evra gets in the face of a lineman shouting and Ronaldo is motioning to Riley that he was shoved, those are the easiest dissent calls to make. The ultimate act of disrespect though had to come at the end. For Rio Ferdinand to scream at Mike Wiley and call him and I quote “A shit ref” should result in some sort of FA sanction. Granted no one in the world knew if Riley had awarded a free kick or had blown for full time, but that is no excuse.

A few other observations
1) Had Manchester United not sat back after taking the lead and attacked with the same intensity that led to the opener, do they name their own scoreline?
2) Florent Malouda is a good player for Chelsea in the Champions League, yet never seems to be able to perform in the league.
3) How bad was it for Drogba that he wasn’t completely ready for the second half kickoff?

Picture via the Telegraph and Getty Images

Chelsea Ruins Manchester City’s Samba Party

The Gaffer — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:01:28 +0000

In less than three weeks, my wife and I have a new arrival planned for our household: our first baby boy. So while my wife was enjoying her baby shower yesterday, I ended up watching our three other children. Needless to say, I didn’t get a chance to watch as much live football as I would have liked, so I ended up watching the Manchester City against Chelsea match before dawn on Sunday morning. Here are some of my thoughts about the game:

Robinho’s free kick was delightful (although partial credit should go to Mikel John Obi for the deflected header). But even more exciting was Robinho’s goal celebration and the way it pumped up the sold out crowd inside Eastlands, some of whom were wearing yellow Brazil shirts.
Even more classic was the ranting and raving between John Terry and Petr Cech after the goal went in.
This Manchester City team will look totally different after the January transfer window. While they started brightly, Man City’s marking looked very poor at the back, at times.
Vidic’s foul on Robbie Keane yesterday at Anfield was more of a red card than John Terry’s foul on Jo, but Terry got red carded and Vidic didn’t — at least for that incident. Even if Jo had gotten past Terry, the Brazilian striker wouldn’t have been in a one-on-one situation against Petr Cech. Poor decision by referee Mark Halsey. Unless he wins his appeal, Terry will be suspended for the Chelsea against Man United match at Stamford Bridge on September 21.
There were definitely some deft touches between Jo and Robinho that created a few good chances, but most of the opportunities yesterday fell to Stephen Ireland who was too indecisive in front of goal.
Even before Didier Drogba and Juliano Belletti came on as a double superstitution, it was obvious to see the gulf in quality between Manchester City and Chelsea on the pitch. Nice to see the return of Drogba. The Premier League hasn’t been the same without him.
Chelsea look like true title contenders this season. Big Phil has them playing some wonderful passing football and they do look much more attractive to the eye. As soon as Anelka and Malouda improve their form in front of goal, expect to see more goals from the Blues.
Joe Cole and Frank Lampard didn’t look they were suffering too much from the mid-week game for England against Croatia. Cole’s inch-perfect pass to Anelka was sublime, and Lampard’s goal was sensational.
Is it me or does Jose Bosingwa have the biggest unibrow you’ve ever seen?

What are your thoughts from the game? Share your feedback below by clicking the comments link.

Joe Cole Can’t Save England Blushes

Johnathan Starling — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:27:08 +0000

Fabio Capello asked for patience.

Between the Czech Republic last month and Andorra today, I would say the fans patience has run out.

England’s performance against Andorra this afternoon can only be described in one word, dire. From the team selection that had me wondering if Fabio Capello thought this was a friendly, to a first half that saw England huff and puff and not finish, it took two early second half goals from substitute Joe Cole to put this game away. Yes it must be said that Andorra played everyone behind the ball, but that is not an excuse for a failure to miss chances.

As I said above, I was shocked at Fabio Capello’s team selection. Understanding this was a somewhat weakened squad already with the absences of Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand, I was stunned to see Stewart Downing and Theo Walcott start. However, of the England starters in the first half, Theo Walcott was the only one who lived up to any potential on the pitch.

It wasn’t surprising to hear the reaction at halftime, and I would argue it was louder than the reaction England received during Euro 2008 qualification. However those boos quickly subsided with Joe Cole and Emile Heskey’s inclusion to the match. Joe Cole’s opener was a decent move off Lampard’s free kick. The flick on from Lescott to Joe Cole set him up perfectly to fire far post. It was Wayne Rooney’s deft pass that set up the second.

When it’s said and done, England have to accept they played poorly. However if you listened to the post match from Setanta Sports, they weren’t. Yes it was a job done, but a job that was poorly done at that. If their performance against Andorra is the same performance against Croatia on Wednesday, it will not be pretty for England.

Now with that said I have a little rant I need to get off my chest with regards to Setanta Sports. I know they do a poor job of advertising their Setanta Broadband package out in the general public and for that they should be ashamed. However to hide the fact that if you’ve paid for a year’s subscription to Setanta Broadband you would get to see not only the Andorra/England match, but the Croatia/England match is downright embarrassing and someone at Setanta has to be held accountable. The match at any point was never listed on Setanta’s live broadband page on the Setanta website, and it was only going to the PPV events page itself after signing in did you see the fact the game was being shown (after scrolling past GAA PPV reminders).

To more or less make people think they would have to pay the pub cover charge or the 20-25 PPV charge depending on your service provider makes you wonder if they wanted people to know at all. I guess you could say I’m doing their bidding for them, which is something that shouldn’t have to happen.

Chelsea’s Joe Cole Changes His Name To Jole Cole

The Gaffer — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:52:03 +0000

The Daily Telegraph must have been so mesmerized by Joe Cole’s performance on Sunday that it forgot what the Chelsea winger’s name was.See the screenshot above from the online version of the newspaper tonight, and don’t be surprised if the headline is fixed by the time you read the article.

United Must Recruit a Masterful Striker to Bolster Their Trophy Hopes

Sam Dalton — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:01:00 +0000

With Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, Salomon Kalou and Andriy Shevchenko in their striking ranks, Chelsea own one of the most exciting, powerful and experienced attacking line-ups in world football. And complemented by the offensive starlets of Deco, Florent Malouda and Joe Cole, who themselves sit in front an immensely strong central midfield duo of Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack, means they have world-class ammunition lethal enough to fire any club down on their day.That is the proposition that Manchester United are up against this season in their quest to regain both their Premier League and Champions League titles. They faced similar dangers from their fiercest competition in the last campaign and overcame them to great success, albeit by only two points in the league and by one penalty in the European Cup. The Portuguese threat of Deco was not against them then, but him aside and Sir Alex Ferguson’s men triumphed over their London rivals quite emphatically on all fronts.Whether they can reproduce their glory this season remains in considerable doubt though, despite the fact that there have been no significant departures from the club and, other than Deco, no arrivals of the same magnitude to Chelsea. Both squads remain almost parallel to the level of quality that they were last season, and that is likely to be reflected in another tight and hard-fought battle between the pair on all fronts.The two clubs have been in the media spotlight for very different reasons throughout the summer months, and there is no doubt that the extra attention afforded to Chelsea was welcomed much more by the club than the added interest on Manchester United. Whilst many column inches were expectedly filled when Luiz Philippe Scolari became the new manager of former, the latter’s desperate attempts to resolve the ongoing Cristiano Ronaldo transfer saga caused unwanted debates and discussions from all corners of the nation and beyond. Sir Alex Ferguson was forced to fly to Portugal just to restore the player’s faith in the club, and for the time being turn his head away from the mouth-watering prospect of playing for his dream team Real Madrid.And whilst Ferguson’s actions have succeeded in convincing Ronaldo to stay at Old Trafford for one more season at least, the uncertain cloud which hung over the club disrupted the pre-season focus somewhat. Ronaldo is not fit to start the new Premier League campaign on Sunday against Newcastle, but when he does return to action in around two months time his every move will be closely watched and scrutinised by fans and the media. How commited he really is to the club is still in some doubt. We will soon find out the answer though.With fewer attacking options at the beginning of the season, United have been left well short of the quality possessed by Chelsea in that area of the pitch. At his age Ryan Giggs can now only take part in a limited number of games, and Paul Scholes is walking along the same path gradually. Nani is still learning but can produce moments of explosive brilliance, whilst the team lack attacking drive from the centre of the park. United managed to achieve truly special things last season with these same problems, but whether they can pull off the same feats this time around is still a mystery. At least they began the season in the same vein as the last with a penalty shoot-out victory in the Community Shield match on Sunday.The biggest problem for United is their strikeforce, and Wayne Rooney’s untimely virus means that Carlos Tevez must lead the line alone in the opening matches of the new campaign, unless Ferguson feels young prodigy Frazier Campbell is ready for first-team football. This will happen only if the club do not sign a new forward before the end of the transfer window on the last day of August.A quality accusation in this area is a must for Ferguson if he is to feel fully confident of his side regaining their domestic crown. With Tevez, Saha (who is always injured and is expected to leave very soon) and Rooney as their only three senior strikers, a fourth would be much welcomed. The current pair offer hard-work, endeavour and great skill at times, but neither act as a target man of any sorts to the rest of the team. Rooney prefers to sit deeper than the regular forward, so playing him up front on his own is almost suicidal, whilst Tevez is also more of a creative player rather than somebody who likes to lead the line. United have lacked this kind of individual ever since Ruud Van Nistlerooy left for Madrid, as Louis Saha has been injured for so much of his time at the club.Tottenham star Dimitar Berbatov has been heavily linked with the club, and seemingly wants the move to go ahead himself, and Valencia forward David Silva has recently been courted by the manager too, though the Spaniard says he wants to stay in his native country rather than move abroad. It appears that Berbatov would be the best option for United, although his services could prove expensive. He oozes class though, and his exceptional touch, control, technique and finishing ability would help the team so much in their push for silverware.A significant signing of Berbatov’s level needs to be made this summer by Manchester United if they are to be anywhere near as strong as Chelsea in the offensive department, but with this new addition Ferguson’s men could well march on to yet more glory in this coming campaign.

Why Capello Has Reason to be Positive for England Furture

Sam Dalton — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:36:54 +0000

England’s performances against USA and Trinidad and Tobago can hardly be described as spectacular, but Fabio Capello has learnt some extremely valuable lessons for when the real business begins in September.

Of course, supporters will expect a much more vibrant and cohesive display of football against Andorra and Croatia in the opening two World Cup qualifiers, but in those matches Capello will be starting his best eleven, based on what he has viewed so far in his post as manager.

There will be no room for sentiment, and the Italian will need to make some serious decisions which will leave big names upset and disappointed. But this is England, and we need to play the system that suits us best with the players that suit that system best on the field each match.

This will be a vast contrast to previous boss Steve McClaren’s regime which involved picking his team on reputation, and despite terrific domestic form shown by players such as David Bentley, David James and Gareth Barry last season, for much of the time he stuck with underperforming stars like Frank Lampard and Paul Robinson.

This way of work seems ridiculous to Capello though, and English supporters across the nation believe his style of ruthless management will bring the best out of the decreasing number of English players available for his selection. If a player isn’t performing to the standard expected of him, then he will be out – it’s as simple as that for the Italian. Just because somebody scored twenty goals for his club a few years back, it does not give him any flicker of advantage over his international colleagues.

Frank Lampard is a prime example of this. A huge amount of sympathy must be felt for the Chelsea midfielder, after the tragic death of his mother and his club’s narrow failure on both domestic and European fronts, but quite frankly his England form has simply not been good enough in recent times to merit a prominent role in the side.

Capello has stated that he still believes Lampard is a very good player, but the rise of Aston Villa skipper Gareth Barry can surely not be overlooked. His central midfield partnership with Steven Gerrard has flourished quite beautifully, and if his expected transfer to Liverpool is completed this summer their relationship in the centre of the park can surely only blossom further.

Capello must have seen how Barry’s control and calmness on the ball drove England to stable wins over USA and Trinidad and Tobago in the past week, which was complemented perfectly by Gerrard’s energy and attacking force. It is looking increasingly unlikely that Lampard has a regular place in the balanced midfield that Capello has unearthed, unless the Italian sees the Chelsea midfielder a workable proposition on the left-hand side.

But the creative gem of Joe Cole, the improving Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing, Blackburn’s quality David Bentley and the experienced pro of David Beckham will surely be the favourites to fill the winger positions, which means Lampard must be subject to the substitute’s bench.

And will he even be the third choice central midfielder? Manchester United’s energetic mystro Owen Hargreaves has consistently performed well for club and country, and despite not starting all too many of United’s games, he has done brilliantly to break up the opposition’s attacking play when on the pitch for England. In fact, his showings have been so good that it would be regarded as terribly unfortunate if he missed out on a starting role, which looks likely as Barry and Gerrard are still remarkably one step ahead.

These are the decisions which Capello relishes, but McClaren feared. But being brave and ambitious is the only way to be England manager, and Capello knows his methods will eventually pay dividends.

But there are some lessons which he has learnt that will mean the axe for some players who were previously in serious contention for substantial involvement. Dean Ashton had a real shocker against Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday night, and although a player cannot be properly and fully judged on just forty-five minutes worth of play, if a professional cannot perform well against such minnows then who can he perform well against? Capello will definitely have noted his inability to perform on the international stage.

Jermain Defoe, however, proved himself to be a very classy finisher in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and his two goals will have put him in amongst Capello’s first-choice array of striking talent along with Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney and Peter Crouch.

So with David James excelling himself between the sticks, the defenders looking particularly relaxed and comfortable, the midfield taking shape quite beautifully and the strikeforce proving they can score some goals, Capello’s England look like they might be a very serious force to reckon with in the World Cup 2010.

But nothing too presumptuous can be said at this early stage, as the Italian manager is still in his baby years as England boss.

There’s A Little Bit of You Inside English Footballers

The Gaffer — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 02:47:00 +0000

By John Nicholson

Football provides many social functions in society, from instilling local and civic pride to giving people an excuse to avoid doing DIY on a Saturday afternoon. However, one of its least recognized but most important functions is what your psychiatrist might call, if they were uneducated in psychiatry and was in fact a football journalist, ‘transference of emotion.’

What I mean by this is that players, managers and clubs come to represent aspects of things we love, loath or are indifferent to in a broader social context. I first realised this about 35 years ago when watching Rodney Marsh playing for QPR against Middlesbrough. He was mesmerizing to me, as a 12 year old. If Rodney had played today he would have been lauded to the hills as a genius in the way that Ronaldinho’s is. He was capable of breathtaking skill played out on pitches that were frequently little more than a large muddy sand pit and he did it with an air of rebellious dishevelled glory. With long, scruffy hair, his shirt out and his socks rolled down, Rod looked more like a rock star than a footballer. To me, he became symbolic of an attitude, of an approach to life that I wanted to follow. Rodney was rock n roll football in excelsis.

By contrast at the time, Geoff Hurst, world cup hat-trick hero and still a top rank player at West Ham, was dull, boring and despite his qualities as a player, was symbolic of everything I didn’t want to be. Solid, respectable, neat and tidy, Hurst was everything Rodney wasn’t. He represented the straight world to me; the world of smart pubs, anodyne pop music, suits and ties.

These two footballers somehow enshrined and encapsulated qualities of life outside of the football they played. I’m convinced that everyone feels like this to some degree. Fans will scream abuse at a player because he somehow represents in his play, in his appearance or his attitude something in society more broadly that oppresses or just annoys them. Equally they will be a fan of player because we feel he is either like us, or how we’d like to be.

Referees are an obvious example. The worst referees and I’m thinking of Mike Riley here, remind us of weak, small men who have invested themselves with some power in order to make themselves bigger and stronger than they really are as people. We’ve all met men like that, whether it’s your bank manager, the shop steward in the factory or the useless fool in tech support. You can’t respect them because you know their true nature and yet in the environment within which they work, they have some power or control over you. That is really bloody infuriating. So when we see the likes of Riley mincing around a football pitch with his sparrow-like, bony legs sticking out of his voluminous shorts, he automatically plugs into a whole reservoir of emotions we have stored up inside of us. Consequently, the opportunity to hurl abuse at him is taken with relish.

While this may seem like some kind of bitter, scary psychosis, I consider it a healthy thing. Football provides us with an acceptable way to blow off steam. It releases pent up negative emotion that might otherwise be held in and swallowed down so deeply that when it does surface you’ll end up making headline news that will inevitably end with the words “….before turning the gun on himself.”

Players and managers become a symbol of greater values and thus Ashley Cole is narcissism and greed, while Stuart Pearce is honesty and toil. We might do this all on a subconscious level but it underpins the game and indeed, probably all sport. It is the working out of our psyches and our world views. It helps us from an early age to order, understand and organise the world. It allows us to vent our hopes, dreams and ambitions, bigotries and altruism. It allows us to assign blame to people for our failures and disappointments and it allows us to share glories. It also helps us understand each other. If someone’s favourite player is say, Kevin Davies they are likely to be a very different person to a fan whose favourite player is Joe Cole. A football fan would automatically gain an insight into that person’s character without knowing anything else about them. It is a short-cut to understanding.

So when people criticize you for your passion and obsession about the game, tell them it’s all part of your on-going project of personal psycho-analysis. This is especially useful if the Mrs wants you to go shopping when there’s a game to watch on the TV. Just say “I am working out the true nature of my psyche by measuring the intensity of my emotional response to Rob Stiles decision making, err……darling.”

And, though you may not stay married for long, you will, at least, not be lying.

John Nicholson writes each week for Football 365 and EPL Talk. You can listen to John’s wonderful stories on episode 30 and 45 of the EPL Talk Podcast, as well as purchase his excellent Footy Rocks book and order one of his unique rock’n roll T-shirts.