Monthly Archives: November 2014

Obscure Footballer of the Week #7: Ronnie O’Brien

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Obscure Footballer of the Week returns. TFN Editor Hugo Greenhalgh profiles Irish footballer Ronnie O’Brien…

How could a nominee for Time’s Person of the Century fade into obscurity? A man whose name at one point, sat alongside Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi? Irish footballer Ronnie O’Brien was an overnight cult celebrity and one of the first true “Year 2k” internet sensations. While the fad wore off quickly and his career was largely forgotten, he merits discussion as more than just a novelty figure but as one of the first European footballers to make their mark in America, in the pre-David Beckham MLS era.

Born in Bray in 1979, O’Brien was a member of the prodigious Ireland youth side that included Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne and Stephen McPhail, and won the U-18 European Championship in 1998. At the time he was a Middlesbrough player but failed to break into the first team and was released in 1999. This was when O’Brien’s career took a bizarre twist. Typically a Boro cast-off of his ilk might expect a move to somewhere like Hartlepool or perhaps back to the Irish league; what O’Brien did not expect was a call from Italian giants Juventus. Continue reading →

FIFA: What if they’re right and we’re wrong?

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Jonny Singer ponders the rights and wrongs of FIFA’s latest controversy, the Russia and Qatar World Cup bids…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past five years, you’ll probably know that there have been a few allegations of corruption against FIFA.

Since Qatar was announced as the 2022 World Cup host, to an air of general surprise and disappointment, football’s governing body has rarely been far from the headlines.

And, if the headlines you see most are written in English, and in particular if they’re written by Englishmen, you’re likely to have a pretty strong view about the issue.

As the news broke on Thursday that FIFA’s corruption report not only absolved Qatar of any wrong-doing, but also made accusations of corruption about the Football Association, the English press were almost falling over themselves to criticize, and mock, Sepp Blatter and his organization.

The response of almost everyone I’ve spoken to in this country is the same – FIFA are so corrupt that they’re attacking the only people to call out their corruption.

But are we right? Continue reading →

Derby County & the 2007/08 Season – Remembering the “Worst team in his-tory”

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TFN’s Piers Barber recalls Derby County’s 2007-08 season, the worst in Premier League history…

Ungainly own goals, inevitable late defeats, Dejan Lovren’s defending: each passing week seems to confirm the idea that practically every team in this season’s Premier League is almost entirely useless. Perhaps, then, a little perspective is in order. Derby County, relegated at the end of the 2007-08 season with a record low points total of just 11 points, may be just the tonic.

Despite a foreboding late season slump, Derby secured promotion in 2006-07 thanks to a narrow play-off victory against West Bromwich Albion. Despite operating on a proverbial shoestring budget, manager Billy Davies made a few not insubstantial outlays over the summer, bringing in Kenny Miller from Celtic and Robert Earnshaw from Norwich City to bag the goals to keep them up. Peculiarly, the club also deemed it sensible business to part company with £3 million to secure the services of Claude Davis from Sheffield United. Continue reading →

False nines, Fugazi and false idols

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TFN editor Greg Johnson reckons there’s something false about how football fans have come to use that very word…

People get very upset about others wanting to try and be clever or more ambitious with their language. It’s not fear. Too often when people whine, complain and criticise it’s put down to some sense of terror or jealousy, but that’s not the case. Instead, there exists a strange desire to manage how other people use the words we know, use and perhaps, in our heads at least, own to some extent. Seeing someone else misuse or mangle our special words, or try to bring in new terms into a semantic field we’ve already decided is settled, can conjure up great feelings of anger and entitled from those who object.

Take the talk of “false nines”. For some, it’s enough to set the old eyes rolling back and trigger dismissive scoffs of derision about people of a certain pretension, or whom are attempting to gain a level of knowledge or insight that their critic believes is above their station. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the idea of a “false” No. 9. In fact, once those embittered antagonists get over their own spite and consider the label, it makes sense. Continue reading →

Islam Slimani and Yacine Brahami enjoying life in Portugal

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TFN’s Hugo Greenhalgh believes that Islam Slimani and Yacine Brahimi can provide the basis for further Algerian success…

After producing one of the great World Cup surprises, two of Algeria’s international stars had a week to remember in the Champions League. Islam Slimani and Yacine Brahimi, now playing for Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon and Porto respectively, have continued to shine after enjoying impressive showings in Brazil. Slimani was on the scoresheet at both ends in Sporting’s 4-2 win against Schalke, while Brahimi scored one and assisted another in Porto’s 2-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao.

Both players were instrumental for Algeria as they qualified for the knockout rounds of the World Cup for the first time in their history. Slimani scored against Russia and South Korea, and was immense in their last 16 game against Germany in which he was unfortunate to have a goal ruled out for offside. There were plenty of offers for him after the World Cup and Slimani pushed for a move. However, Sporting held firm and the striker has since apologised for his behaviour. Continue reading →

Eliaquim Mangala: Over-Confident, Overpriced & Soon to be Overlooked?

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TFN debutant Luke Jarrett takes a look at why the Premier League’s most expensive defender is struggling to settle at Manchester City…

It’s no secret that footballers often need time to adjust to the different pace of life and football in a new league. Even so, Eliaquim Mangala’s flimsiness so far in a Manchester City shirt has looked troubling pronounced following his summer move to the Premier League champions from Porto. It cost the Sky Blues £32 million to bring the 23-year-old to England; a price tag that has only intensified the ferocity of the criticism thrown at the young defender.

After having impressed so many new admirers in the Champions League last year, the highly-rated Frenchman has looked more worthy of the Football League Show than Match Of The Day up against  the likes of Enner Valenica and Charlie Austin this season. His sudden fall from grace, and the sturdy promise he showed at the back for his former club in Europe, to becoming a damp squib for City is understandably unnerving for the neutral, let alone those forced to watch on from the stands of the Etihad. Continue reading →

Leeds United: The more things change, the more they stay the same

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Kyle Oliver Hulme gives us the low-down on what’s going on with sack happy Leeds United at Elland Road…

Since I last wrote, Leeds have sacked a manager, lost a few games and had more details about past, present and potentially future owners emerge.

You’ll have to forgive me if it sounds like I’m repeating myself – it’s just that Leeds United seem to exist in a Groundhog Day-like world where events seem bound to repeat themselves unless the protagonist changes the way they go about their business. But try telling that to Massimo Cellino.

Darko Milanic was sacked after just 32 days in charge of Leeds. He left behind his family, his successful team and bought a one way ticket to Leeds – literally. And as one might expect, being the third manager of the season already in the month of September, he found it difficult to motivate the squad and get them to play his way. Continue reading →