EPL Talk » UEFA

Transfer Ban for United?

Adam Mikhail — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:41:06 +0000

It seems like this is all coming out of nowhere. Any fan of the game knows that the “tapping-up” allegations have always been prominent but rarely has it been so harshly punished. From United’s perspective, they were accused of tapping up Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney in the recent past and accused Real Madrid of tapping-up Ronaldo(the accusing needed not be done, Ronaldo was caught on camera). Now, we have the tapping up issue of Paul Pogba.

This morning, FIFA announced the two-year transfer ban of Chelsea Football Club for acquiring the signature of Gael Kakuta, who had signed a non-solicitation agreement with French club Lens. This evening, The Times are reporting that a similar case has been filed against United for the signing of Le Havre youngster Paul Pogba and that the situation is not yet resolved, according the club’s managing director.

In a matter of days, we’ve heard about three issues that could potentially harm English teams. First, Michel Platini singled out Manchester City’s spending and claimed they would not be allowed to participate in Europe if they could not balance the books – all the while not mentioning the actions of Real Madrid. Now there are two more issues with top English clubs that could see a serious downsizing of the English club dominance – assuming the sanctions are carried out.

UEFA, You’ve Lost Your Touch

Adam Mikhail — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:17:58 +0000

“Giggs looking to pick out Rooney… who’s got there, is that a penalty kick?! What does Mike Dean say?! He says penalty!”

This whole routine is getting a little old, isn’t it? Screw diamonds, refereeing mistakes are forever. It’s like the referees all convene and decide whose turn it is to make mistake and forbid us from ever forgetting how truly inadequate they are. Just when we’re about to move on from one refereeing saga, the Eduardo dive, Wayne Rooney provides the perfect half-dive(he was already going down, but there was contact) to remind us of the skinny men(excluding Howard Webb) in black. Pretty good timing though, being international week and all. Thanks, Wayne.

It’s really unfair to demonize the referees without looking first at those who bestowed such an enviable task upon them – the FA, FIFA, and UEFA. Instead of giving referees a requisite arsenal for calling a fair and accurate match, they provide them with an extreme protectionism that only vilifies them more. What I mean by this is similar to what Arsene Wenger meant when he labeled Eduardo’s ban a “disgrace.” Although I believe Wenger worsened his case with some of his comments, particularly trying to defend Eduardo with claims of contact being made or mentions of his injury, he makes one very good point. UEFA retrospectively overruled a decision the referee had dealt with on the pitch, something that has always been forbidden by the FA and UEFA. We are constantly reminded: if the referee did not take action, the governing body cannot take action. The governing bodies do this to protect the referees and credit them with the final word. This was cited as the reason Jose Bosingwa was not banned for clear red-card kick on Benayoun and why Michael Ballack was not punished after the Barcelona match, just to name two examples. UEFA seem so eager to protect the decisions made by the referee that they blindly accept reversible mistakes. With the Eduardo ban, UEFA prove themselves to be hypocrites.

In last year’s Champions League semi-final between Arsenal and Manchester United, Darren Fletcher brilliantly stuck in a toe to legally win the ball from Cesc Fabregas, and he was handed a red-card. The only way to get the unjust red-card overturned, UEFA said, is if the referee mistook Fletcher for another person – in which case a different person would be banned for a legal challenge. As they always do, UEFA came to the rescue of the referee and punished the player – who actually plays the sport – with a Champions League Final suspension. In fact, Eduardo was not banned for simulation, he was banned for “deceiving the referee.” If they charge him for simulation, they accept that the referee made a mistake, but when they charge him for “deceiving the referee,” they make the referee the victim. In his own words Michel Platini removes blame of the referee,

“However, on Wednesday he showed disrespect to the game by his actions in winning a penalty against Celtic.”

The way he phrases this, you’d think Eduardo was the referee and awarded himself the penalty.

This is where I may surprise you. I wanted Eduardo to get banned for cheating, plain and simple. Bans for diving needed to start sometime and now is perfectly suitable. A friend of mine had a perfect analogy, “Cavemen used to kill each other for sport, does that mean we should never have made a law against murder?” However, in order for UEFA to really make a difference, they’re going to have to change a lot and to be honest, they probably won’t.

First, the next time Ronaldo, Messi or Kaka clearly dives in the Champions League, they should be banned for two matches. If they want to show they’re serious, they can make an example of a superstar and show football what nobody believes, that UEFA is unbiased. Second, the players need to be protected, not the referees. Why punish a player or a team to protect the least profitable and marketable aspect of the game, the referees? All decisions should be available for overruling if they are clearly incorrect. Lastly, give referees the technologies that any supporter of football has from his living room. The problem is that the governing bodies are run by older people whose playing days didn’t know anything of instant replay. The game has changed and technology has changed but sadly, they have not. This leads me to believe that instant replay and goal-line technology are inevitable, seeing as they are supported by the majority, just not the right majority. Adding an extra referee will further the problem, not solve it. If you’re playing with a flat football, do you go and get another flat football? As Slaven Bilic famously said, “Wake up.”

UEFA to Fine Arsenal and Manchester United £5,000, Why Bother?

tyduffy — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:46:28 +0000

UEFA will fine both Arsenal and Manchester United £5,000 respectively for fan incidents during last years Champions League semifinals. An Arsenal fan hit Nemanja Vidic with a plastic bottle. A Manchester United supporter hurled a smoke bomb onto the pitch. The actions were potentially serious. The fines are not.

UEFA functions like all bureaucracies. It continues actions without a hint of rational analysis, solely because it was policy beforehand. Has no one questioned the purpose of these penalties?

The sums under discussion are trivial. Both Manchester United and Arsenal measure turnover in the hundreds of millions. Five thousand pounds neither attracts attention nor deters future behavior. It is doubtful Arsenal will now institute a plastic bottle task force.

It does not stop supporters. If you throw a projectile into the pitch, it is assumed you will be banned. The thought of the club paying a paltry fine in addition does not factor into the decision.

The fines are also not cost effective. There must be a meeting to determine whether a meeting to discuss these incidents is required. Someone has to schedule, to organize and to provide amenities for that meeting, which, with UEFA, is probably a lavish lunch. They may even fly people in for it. Someone has to contact the clubs to make statements. Once the issue is deemed punishment-worthy, another meeting must take place. The process takes months. The sum cost exceeds the amount returned in fines.

UEFA penalizing Arsenal and Manchester United accomplishes only one thing. It re-publicizes unsavory events long-forgotten and ultimately insignificant.

Rationales are non-existent. The fines are useless. UEFA should give meaningful punishments, or none at all.

Do We Really Need A New Football?

Ethan Armstrong — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:00:03 +0000

Football’s magnificence lies in it simplicity. The rules, the tactics, the culture have adopted their own complexities over the years, but boots, nets, linesmen, banners and songs all become luxuries when we acknowledge the lovers of the game would play in the mud in bare feet if they had to. Pick two kids anywhere on the planet, give ‘em a football and kick ‘em out of the house for a few hours and those tykes’ll make a game of it. Rocks and sticks become goal posts. Any patch of open space makes a pitch and a round ball is all you need. That’s why it’s the world’s best loved sport.

So it baffles me when a football governing body introduces a “new ball” as UEFA did for the champions league final. Frivolous new technology in a sport of beautiful simplicity. Okay, UEFA: what have we got here?

The Adidas Finale Rome utilizes PSC-Texture™ which entails a series of bumps on the surface of the ball which is supposed to create a better grip for the players’ boots, thus making it easier to play with in inclement weather conditions.

Right.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not opposed to progress. I just hate when it interferes with the purity of the game.

If you can make goal-line technology work: fine. Put a sensor in the ball so we know when it crosses the line, etc.. If the change doesn’t affect the movement of the ball, it’s no problem. If it helps us clarify dubious goals and such without stopping the match for video replay, that’s a reasonable technological innovation. But if the weight of the sensor, say, somehow stunts the speed of the ball as it moves across the pitch or if it drastically alters its trajectory from a free-kick or corner, then I have a problem with it.

Watching the players try and get their feet around the Rome Finale ball was painful at times. The movement from freekicks and corners was markedly different, and the ball’s track across the pitch seemed stuttered and inconsistent. The technology interfered with play. Anyone could see it.

From kick-off, the difference was blatant . Barca gave up a quick free throw in dangerous territory because what should have been a simple pass from Valdes missed its man and went out to touch. Almost the same thing happened to United after Eto’o scored. A routine pass to van der Sar went well wide and Barca earned a corner kick.

As with the ball used in the 2006 World Cup, change has altered the path of the ball and forces the players to change how they play. In 2006, fewer seams altered the spin of the lighter ‘Teamgiest‘ ball and gave it an unpredictable trajectory. Keepers had their hands full (or not) keeping tabs on where the ball was going.

At least FIFA used the Teamgeist for the entire World Cup, though. UEFA waited until the Champions League final to introduce the Finale Rome. Yes, the name of the ball presaged that move. But perhaps we could have been using an Adidas Groupstage Rome with the same technology at the start of the competition so the players could get used to it.

While any of the United and Barca players who represented their country in last summer’s Euro have already been exposed to PSC-Texture™ in the form of the ‘EUROPASS‘ ball, the thing still seemed an alien concept on the day as players were clearly not used to the ball’s movement.

But the issue ultimately goes back to the concept of simplicity.

We don’t need this ball.

Playing in bad weather is as important a tradition for football as anything. And its the same soaked pitch for both sides. Until Ronaldo or Messi develops webbed feet and gills, it’s not as if one has advantage over the other. The ball’s goosebumps, dimples, pimples, whatever they are: not needed. “They are scientifically proved to allow better control in all weather conditions.” Yeah? Well, they invoked poor control on a sunny day at Wembley.

It didn’t change the outcome, as both sides had to struggle with the thing equally. But it forced them to change how they played and adjust to a new ball with little preparation.

Embrace simplicity, UEFA. The ball is round. You kick it. You can even do this without a high-tech nuclear powered boot designed by NASA. I promise.

We don’t need more whistles and bells on our football. I say, don’t &%#!@ with perfection™.

UEFA’s Appeal Committee Show No Common Sense

Paul Bestall — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:53:02 +0000

Why is it so hard to have a governing body with an ounce of common sense, UEFA just seem bereft of it every time it seems like they’ll do the right thing. Are your matches blighted by neo-nazi’s forming swastika shapes on the terrace? Here, have a fine of $3 and don’t do it again. Do your fans steal a visiting fans scooter, carry it into the ground, set it on fire and throw it on the pitch during a game? Never happened. English based player sent off for a foul he didn’t commit? The Red card stands!

Darren Fletcher’s red card, alongside Eric Abidals, was a travesty. The referee got it wrong, it was obviously a mistake so United must have been hoping that UEFA’s appeal’s panel would realise that the ludicrous and frankly absurd rule that you can’t appeal a red card unless it’s mistaken identity and it would see the opportunity for them to hold their hands up, say the referee got it wrong, and rescind it.

Of course they didn’t. Now I’m not buying into the conspiracy theories that are currently doing the rounds in the British press, though UEFA’s contempt for the Premiership is hard to ignore currently due Platini’s consistent anti-Premiership rhetoric, but honestly, they make you want to pull your hair out. Fletcher’s challenge was a wonderfully timed last ditch tackle that saved a goalscoring opportunity, or so he thought. Unfortunately referee Rosetti deemed it a foul and that’s the end of it.

To be blunt, it shows that the idiots in power at the top of UEFA have now entrenched so far into their bunkers that they can no longer see common sense. What is so wrong with doing the right thing? It’s the same for the Abidal sending off, an incorrect decision that all the world can see in the cold light of day but they will not budge on the matter. An incorrect decision, regardless of televisual evidence stands, cast in stone. A chance for UEFA to finally offer those who criticise the bloated, out of touch and idiotic board an opportunity to say well done UEFA, a common sense victory for football.

Yet, they once again sail off into the sunset, the winds of ignorance speeding them onward to the next calamity. How can these decisions support the referee’s who have to make these decisions, no-one is infallible, no-one is beyond making a mistake. By digging themselves into such a position, they make themselves ripe for ridicule, with the next calamitous decision just around the corner. Like holding the Champions League final at a ground with a history of violence from both the fans and the police in a country racked with hooliganism at every match.

I’ve been to the Stadio Olympico twice, both times were eye opening experiences for me as a fan. Both times left me very nervous about my well being in and around the stadium and they were for a Serie A game. Would I go there as an opposing fan? Not on your life!Hopefully, the British police will be there in large numbers to keep an eye out for rogue groups of Roma fans with their speciality of sticking a pen knife in you as you walk past them. And again, and again and so it continues.

It’s so disappointing to have an official body that won’t do the right thing whenever they seem to given a perfect opportunity time and again. It’s a real shame that Fletcher and Abidal will both miss the biggest games of their careers so far due to stubbornness beyond all reason.