The Government's response to safe standing

I posted a blog entry, showing the contents of an email I sent to Damian Green MP regarding safe standing at football grounds. Today, I got a reply from the man personally. Below is the contents of that reply.

So the attitude towards safe standing appears to still be rejection from the government. What we all know, though, is that the Bundesliga have a lot of standing terraces, and Mr Green mentions this in his reply.

I'd like to think there will be some discussion about this as standing terraces is VERY IMPORTANT to the game and its history. Probably will take a lot to convince them though. 

I sent another email to Tottenham's MP David Lammy, so hopefully I'll get a reply from him as well.

Basel: The Journey Continues

At the start of the season, I had the attitude to the Europa League that everyone shared: it's a distraction from our league objective. More games to play. More chance of injury. Travelling. It didn't seem worthwhile. Well, it certainly didn't seem worthwhile when Redknapp was playing second teams in the group stages.

Thankfully, AVB does not share my former attitude. He values the competition for what it really is: a European competition. A good run would boost morale and a trophy would leave the fans elated. He won the competition with Porto, along with the unbeaten league title. Therefore, he has approached the competition with the  respect it deserves but not always gains.

Attitude

Whether or not the players value the competition is a different kettle of fish. We have not one away in the competition this year, with draws against Panathinaikos, Maribor, Lazio and Lyon and a horrific 4-1 loss against Inter Milan at the San Siro. Thankfully, that has been our only loss in Europe this season.

What is clear, though, is that it's time for the players to step up their attitude. All 7 of the other teams have to have been good to get to this position, and we are fully aware of the likes of Lazio and Chelsea. We have been VERY LUCKY to even get this far, despite the quality in our squad. Late goals have got us past Lyon and Inter. Late goals will not be good enough again.

Home Fortress

The late away goal at Inter. I hope to God we don't need this again

Our home performances, however, have been very positive. With 4 wins out of 5 at home, we should be very happy with that side of the competition, notably thrashing Inter at the Lane last month (that was probably one of our best performances all season). On paper, therefore, we should look at Basel and think we should try to settle the tie in one leg, not two.

That's never the case though.

All we needed is one away goal at the San Siro to finish Inter off. It took a fortunate Ade tap-in in extra time to win us the tie. In contrast to the game a week before, that was the worst performance of the season.

Basel, NOT BASLE

Marco Streller, carrying the team.

Basel sit on top of the Swiss league table, only losing 3 games all season and none at home. Their top scorer in the Europa League has been their prolific captain 31-year-old Marco Streller, who averages almost a goal every two games for Basel. They have only lost one in their last six.

However, I don't like saying it but someone has to: they are only Basel. I'm sorry. I had to say it. Apart from Alexander Frei and Streller, there are no stand out names on team list. Even Frei is on his way out of football, after saying he'll leave Basel at the end of the season.

What should be noted is that they did knock out Man United last year in the group stages of the Champions League, with strong performances in the competition last year. However, that was with their star talisman Xherdan Shaqiri, who is now making his trade at Bayern Munich.

After knocking out big-money Zenit in the last 16, I think they are feeling as fortunate as us to be in this position.

The Journey Continues

The Europa League has turned out to be an important competition and  an outlet for us this season, a break from the stress of the Premier League. At Spurs, we have a little motto, words spoken by Danny Blanchflower years ago: the game is about glory. And guys, what is more glorious than European silverware?

The journey continues. I'll be at the Lane on Thursday and whether you are there with me or watching the tele, I am sure you'll be cheering us on. COYS!

What's worse, the fascist or the frenzy? My thoughts on Paolo Di Canio

Fascism is the far-right ideology that promotes totalitarianism, military states, ethnic superiority, imperialism and rejects democracy, liberalism, communism and socialism. Fascism is linked to the brutal regimes of Hitler and Mussolini, responsible for the deaths of millions.

Paolo Di Canio is a fascist and proud of it.

I don't pretend to admit that I did not know or care of Di Canio's political views before he was appointed Sunderland's n
ew manager, after the sacking of Martin O'Neill. However, it didn't take long after his appointment before the social networks informed me of his preferences.

As the story goes, Di Canio said both in an interview several years ago and in his autobiography that he was a fascist, stating his political views over immigration and culture. Some of his views I can easily predict are secretly shared by thousands in the UK, from the BNP radicals, to the beer-chugging working class blaming immigrants for his lack of employment.

A Swindon Favourite, donning the club scarf.

To be honest, I don't care a great deal about Di Canio, or his fascist views. He probably doesn't make a habit of segregation or racial abuse like some people in the footballing world (*cough* Terry *cough* Suarez) and he probably doesn't impose them on anyone else - at most, it was a passing comment.

What does bother me, though, is the media frenzy surrounding a) his appointment and b) his political views. He has not hidden his views, or disguised it through actions; he made it long ago on paper. Why is it then that on every sports/news channel people are discussing it? Ian Holloway has said enough contentious things in his career to make an entertaining montage, yet nobody was too bothered about him!

Instead, the media has cocked-up by completely ignoring the main issue: the appointment. Sunderland have a tough last 7 fixtures, including Chelsea, Everton, fellow strugglers Villa and Spurs. In response, they sack the perhaps overrated but decent manager O'Neill and have appointed... well, a cartoon. At least, that's what I thought he was when he managed Swindon. Fighting with players. Making stupid comments. Odd interviews. Even my Dad adds him to his odd bloke list (includes Redknapp, Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Savile).

I found it incredibly annoying, too, that the media zoomed in on his appointment of an all-Italian backroom staff, as some kind of racially-motivated decision. Next time a manager appoints an all-English backroom staff, I wonder if they'll say it's because he hates foreigners.

Di Canio won't succeed at Sunderland, unless you call keeping a mid-table team from being relegated and achievement. He will probably have this fascism tag circulating and speculating his every news article throughout his tenure.

That point, of course, is dependent on his Premier League status, you know, because this shit only matters if it's in the Premier League -_-