Beckham on Capello's arrival:
"It's an exciting time for English football and it's special to have someone of his pedigree in charge of the team...It has been tough recently but Capello is someone who has lots of drive and winning mentality...I was lucky enough to play under him and I know him as a person and as a manager and there are not many people as driven as him."
Hmm...drive...winning mentality...what do those things mean if Capello brings that to the table? That they are absent in the English, in English football players, managers, people? So what do I think? What are the cliches? That the English are noble and brave. That, yes, perhaps they don't have the drive, the winning mentality of the great Italian manager, Capello. And what does that mean further. Well...and I have said this in the past...that the English have failed because they are too "good" and too romantic. They have for too long believed that their pedigree and nobility would carry the day. And yet today Capello has a football "pedigree" that has won championships. And pedigree today might mean that Grosso goes down rather easily against Australia and Materazzi goads a God into a red...and Italia wins a fourth, FOURTH!, World Cup. To England's one.
Winning is beautiful? I just don't know. I just don't know.
Fair England...
Brave England...
Good England...
Source > 29.01.2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Messi Doesn't Like Losing, Even At PlayStation
"I don't know if I laugh, but every time I go out on the pitch I try to have fun. Of course, if I lose I feel bad and I don't want anyone to talk to me. I don't like losing. I never have, not even at PlayStation."
Source > 26.01.2008
Source > 26.01.2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
On Becoming Great (A Great Manager)
James Lawton reflects on the coaching circus being conducted at Newcastle United by the whims of Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer and explains what it takes to become a great manager.
But his piece is also simply a treatise on how you need to operate if you are to be great at anything:
"You do not dip into football management whenever you choose. You learn it, you suffer it. You do as Brian Clough did in Hartlepool and Bill Shankly in places like Carlisle and Workington, Grimsby and Huddersfield. You want it so much the taste of it is always in your mouth. You cannot wait to get involved. Sir Alex Ferguson did it for East Stirlingshire and St Mirren before launching himself to Manchester United with a body of work at Aberdeen which would have stood comfortably and impressively on its own."
Lawton applauds Gary Lineker for knowing himself and knowing who he wasn't:
"Who could argue with the wisdom of a Lineker or a Hansen in eschewing the agonies of management? Lineker was candid about his lack of ambition in this area. He saw the likes of Ferguson railing against the heavens on some tumultuous touchline and decided it was not for him."
And Lawton questions how "heroes" should behave:
"Shearer can say that it is a free country which bestows the right to retain your options. But sometimes a situation can come along which requires you to make a stance and decide who and what you are. For some time Shearer has been the lion of Newcastle, the man who sooner or later would rally to the cause. Like so much of the aura of the club, it may be so much romantic claptrap, but this is perhaps the time for him to declare it as such and get on with his life precisely as he chooses...For the moment one thing is certain. Sitting on the fence may be good for career calculations, but it is no place for a hero."
And people question the usefulness of writers and writing.
Lawton here demonstrates what he really is: an eloquent and passionate advisor and consultant. And he is worth his weight in gold.
Source > 22.01.2008
But his piece is also simply a treatise on how you need to operate if you are to be great at anything:
"You do not dip into football management whenever you choose. You learn it, you suffer it. You do as Brian Clough did in Hartlepool and Bill Shankly in places like Carlisle and Workington, Grimsby and Huddersfield. You want it so much the taste of it is always in your mouth. You cannot wait to get involved. Sir Alex Ferguson did it for East Stirlingshire and St Mirren before launching himself to Manchester United with a body of work at Aberdeen which would have stood comfortably and impressively on its own."
Lawton applauds Gary Lineker for knowing himself and knowing who he wasn't:
"Who could argue with the wisdom of a Lineker or a Hansen in eschewing the agonies of management? Lineker was candid about his lack of ambition in this area. He saw the likes of Ferguson railing against the heavens on some tumultuous touchline and decided it was not for him."
And Lawton questions how "heroes" should behave:
"Shearer can say that it is a free country which bestows the right to retain your options. But sometimes a situation can come along which requires you to make a stance and decide who and what you are. For some time Shearer has been the lion of Newcastle, the man who sooner or later would rally to the cause. Like so much of the aura of the club, it may be so much romantic claptrap, but this is perhaps the time for him to declare it as such and get on with his life precisely as he chooses...For the moment one thing is certain. Sitting on the fence may be good for career calculations, but it is no place for a hero."
And people question the usefulness of writers and writing.
Lawton here demonstrates what he really is: an eloquent and passionate advisor and consultant. And he is worth his weight in gold.
Source > 22.01.2008
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