In a world of Sanity
Well, there's not much to brag about atleast from the Emirates and Anfield who are doing their worst in trying to join the bandwagon of 'also-rans'.
However, I feel my imagination deserves a pat on the back(!). I can envisage some events which can change the landscape of English Football. Following are the headlines that flash across my mind frequently.
1) Following Titus Bramble's rock solid performances at the back helping Newcastle avoid relegation on the last day of the premiership and in guiding the Geordies to Quarter-finals in UEFA cup, he has been awarded the coveted Ballon D'Or in a grand function to be held at the Stadium of Light, just a few miles across the St.James Park. Titus joins the likes of legendary defenders like Mathias Sammer and Franz Beckenbauer and our very own Michael Owen(People still can't digest how Michael won the award 4 years back. All the legendary figures, kindly forgive me)
2) For his consistency in front of goal (in scoring or missing is an entirely different issue altogether), Aston Villa's prolific hitman Juan Pablo Angel is being awarded the Players' Writers Association award of the year.
3) The situation is like this: A new award is being constituted to be given at the end of the season for the Most Fair play Team award which commits minimum of fouls and shoulder barges.The headlines goes as follows:
Under the astute helmsmanship of Kevin Nolan and Sam Allardyce, Bolton Wanderers creates history by picking up the inaugural Fair play award for this season.
4) It's that time of the year when all the hardwork and perseverance of players will pay off. From a tough shortlist that included Patrick Vieira and Mark van Bommel, Didier Drogba manages to come out trumps and claims the prestigious World Player of the Year. Chelsea Manager Jose Mourinho had this to say: "He should have won this long time back. Though it has come late, it's a just reward for his all round displays" (All round includes pulling shirts, diving, using all parts of the body including hands to nick a goal and surreptitiously evading yellow cards).According to inside sources, the apparent reason why PV and Bommel missed out inspite of them being the masters in the fields of card collection and diving respectively is that they lacked all round qualities like Drogba did.
The harbinger for these rude shocks has to be the continuing stupidity in picking winners. Right from 2003 when Zidane was picked for virtually no great feat performed that year, things have taken turn for the worse. In 2004, Ronaldinho was awarded because his influence helped a struggling Barcelona to second place, likewise if a previously relegation threatened Portsmouth manage to get a UEFA cup spot at the end of this season, they should give World Player award to Kanu who incidentally is joint top scorer in EPL till now. Plain logic. Barcelona from midtable to second, Portsmouth from the fangs of relegation last season to UEFA cup spot. By that logic someone from Blackburn Rovers must've got it now. Shouldn't they? There should not be any favour towards specific players in specific clubs in specific leagues.
Cannavaro and Zidane who had very average and poor seasons respectively with their clubs are chosen for World Player just on the basis of their World Cup Heroics. Ronaldinho, on the contrary is there inspite of the most insipid performance in the World Cup. Henry, who had an above average performance individually has not even been considered. Deco who had a good World Cup showing to back his two medals with Barcelona isn't there. There has never been any talk of the dirty work being done before Cannavaro decelerating the opponents. If Lippi was the brain, Gattuso was the soul of the Italian fightback. Cannavaro can be termed brilliant for his individual performance (without Gattuso and Pirlo, imagine!) and his marshalling of his troops. Nothing more.
Time and again, this awards process has been proven to be a farce. This only reinforces my belief.
Well, there's not much to brag about atleast from the Emirates and Anfield who are doing their worst in trying to join the bandwagon of 'also-rans'.
However, I feel my imagination deserves a pat on the back(!). I can envisage some events which can change the landscape of English Football. Following are the headlines that flash across my mind frequently.
1) Following Titus Bramble's rock solid performances at the back helping Newcastle avoid relegation on the last day of the premiership and in guiding the Geordies to Quarter-finals in UEFA cup, he has been awarded the coveted Ballon D'Or in a grand function to be held at the Stadium of Light, just a few miles across the St.James Park. Titus joins the likes of legendary defenders like Mathias Sammer and Franz Beckenbauer and our very own Michael Owen(People still can't digest how Michael won the award 4 years back. All the legendary figures, kindly forgive me)
2) For his consistency in front of goal (in scoring or missing is an entirely different issue altogether), Aston Villa's prolific hitman Juan Pablo Angel is being awarded the Players' Writers Association award of the year.
3) The situation is like this: A new award is being constituted to be given at the end of the season for the Most Fair play Team award which commits minimum of fouls and shoulder barges.The headlines goes as follows:
Under the astute helmsmanship of Kevin Nolan and Sam Allardyce, Bolton Wanderers creates history by picking up the inaugural Fair play award for this season.
4) It's that time of the year when all the hardwork and perseverance of players will pay off. From a tough shortlist that included Patrick Vieira and Mark van Bommel, Didier Drogba manages to come out trumps and claims the prestigious World Player of the Year. Chelsea Manager Jose Mourinho had this to say: "He should have won this long time back. Though it has come late, it's a just reward for his all round displays" (All round includes pulling shirts, diving, using all parts of the body including hands to nick a goal and surreptitiously evading yellow cards).According to inside sources, the apparent reason why PV and Bommel missed out inspite of them being the masters in the fields of card collection and diving respectively is that they lacked all round qualities like Drogba did.
The harbinger for these rude shocks has to be the continuing stupidity in picking winners. Right from 2003 when Zidane was picked for virtually no great feat performed that year, things have taken turn for the worse. In 2004, Ronaldinho was awarded because his influence helped a struggling Barcelona to second place, likewise if a previously relegation threatened Portsmouth manage to get a UEFA cup spot at the end of this season, they should give World Player award to Kanu who incidentally is joint top scorer in EPL till now. Plain logic. Barcelona from midtable to second, Portsmouth from the fangs of relegation last season to UEFA cup spot. By that logic someone from Blackburn Rovers must've got it now. Shouldn't they? There should not be any favour towards specific players in specific clubs in specific leagues.
Cannavaro and Zidane who had very average and poor seasons respectively with their clubs are chosen for World Player just on the basis of their World Cup Heroics. Ronaldinho, on the contrary is there inspite of the most insipid performance in the World Cup. Henry, who had an above average performance individually has not even been considered. Deco who had a good World Cup showing to back his two medals with Barcelona isn't there. There has never been any talk of the dirty work being done before Cannavaro decelerating the opponents. If Lippi was the brain, Gattuso was the soul of the Italian fightback. Cannavaro can be termed brilliant for his individual performance (without Gattuso and Pirlo, imagine!) and his marshalling of his troops. Nothing more.
Time and again, this awards process has been proven to be a farce. This only reinforces my belief.
posted by Marauder | 7:54 PM
4 Comments:
Great blog. I've linked you up ;)
Great post! You said it all. The kind of form that Henry has been in over the past 4 seasons, he deserved both awards at least once. AS you say this is a farce! But these awards mean little to fans. I like Henry whether he wins such "prestigious" titles or not.
How very maddening to watch as some players deserve at least a candidacy in the World Player of the Year slip off the list, like - as sriskandhs mentioned - Henry. With all due respect, Zidane, Cannavaro and Ronaldihno are all top-notch players. And even Cannavaro, who has yet to win the award, should have won it some years back. All but this year, in my opinion.
Anyway, great post and keep it up.
P.S. I like the way you commented Drogba as an all-rounded player. Well, comedy aside, I think these are real facts many people try to hide.
@Soccerguy
Well, you are right. Nobody is lilywhite. The thing that he fails miserably in trying to disguise is what makes me laugh. Sometimes I dive, sometimes I don't'. It was really comical to hear Drogba crap around.
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