My Diary

After the fuss of last night, I am looking for a quiet day today. Michel Platini is coming over for a celebratory lunch, and I must stock up on provisions. I get in the car and reverse out of the drive.

CLUNK.

Zut! I have hit something. I get out to investigate. I see my next-door neighbour running towards me; instinct takes over. I hurl myself to the ground and start crying.

“Oh my God, oh my God…Tiddles! Tiddles!,” shouts the woman. “You’ve run over my cat, you b***ard.”

I walk round the back of the car. I shrug, in that charming and insouciant way that I have. Sure enough, there is a little cat there. He is as flat as Arsenal’s play after my departure.

“Maybe I did run over your cat,” I say. “But I am not a traffic light.”

The woman is crying now. I put my finger to my lips, then shake it in her face, as if to say “no, no, no” – for I do not see why I should take responsibility for what I have done, just because I have done it.

Is it my fault that the cat is made of soft tissue and blood, rather than, for instance, reinforced steel or concrete? Of course not.

I did what anyone would do: I pressed my foot on the accelerator – this causes more oxygen to flow through the carburettor, and makes the car move. The cat did not see me, the cat bounced off my bumper and I drove on. I am not an RSPCA inspector.

Was it deliberate? It is not for me to say if something I have done is deliberate. I am reversing a car out of my drive, not an adult human being with free will.

I am considering apologising to the neighbour when Michel Platini pulls up in his Renault Clio.

“Nicole!” he shouts.

“Papa!” I say, which is a little joke we have and for which we get 150,000 Euros each per month for making occasionally on TV and whatnot. It is a short career and you never know when Gillette might get tired of you.

“This man just ran over my cat,” says the neighbour.

“Have you got it on video?” asks Michel.

“Of course I haven’t got it on video – are you mental?” says the woman.

“Never happened then, did it?” says Platini.

Just for safety’s sake, he gets back in his car and reverses over the corpse of the cat.

“Thank God she doesn’t have a video,” he laughs. “Her cat is gone, and we are still here – and that’s better for everyone worldwide. Vive La France!”

Richard Dunne, Ireland’s defensive stalwart, has begun the Irish assassination and targeting of the French coach.

“It [Domenech's management] could be a weakness or it could be a big smokescreen; France have played really well in their last few games. But if we can get on top of them and try to turn the game into a battle, we feel we have the stronger personalities.”

He continued by commenting on the reaction Domenech received when he took his players for a little down-time to the Paris Masters tennis tournament, and was booed by the crowd once recognised.

“You can see the reaction of the people at the tennis, when they put his face on the big screen,” Dunne added. “The whole place just booed him and his own players laughed at him.” It can hardly fill a population or team with confidence when the manager is a laughing-stock.

In Ireland by contrast, Giovanni Trapattoni would never receive that kind of ridicule or reaction from the public if he brought his team to a function or public outing. The Irish as a race of people, have far too much grace and humility to hang our dirty washing out for everyone to see and are polar opposites to the French who would strike and shout about their buses being 1 minute late, where as we would silently mumble discontent and give out into our pints. 

Whether you believe that the French team are in disarray or it is a big smokescreen, doesn’t really matter. What matters most is to still be in the play-off’s after the game on Saturday. Going to France chasing the game will only play into French hands and we may as well not make the trip. The play-off will be won in Dublin, make no mistake about that.

Getting any kind of result in Dublin, preferably a 1-0 or 0-0 will suit us perfectly, it’s what we do best, we make it difficult for the opposition especially on their patch. Keeping a clean sheet in Dublin is vital, so much so, any other result involving a French goal in Croke Park will favour France.

France having an away goal, means we will have to go after them in Paris and given their attacking threat on the counter with a stikeforce containing Thiery Henry, Nicolas Anelka, Karim Benzema and the new shining light of French football, (the Gypsy and no I didn’t make that up!), Gignac, who can all score goals in a second from anywhere on the pitch, would not bode well for this Ireland team as we don’t know how to chase games.

I believe this tie is winnable, but the Croke park 90 minutes is where Ireland’s hopes rest and rely upon. We can score away from home and I fancy us to get at least a goal in Paris, not sure we will get anymore, but I do feel we can get 1. If we have a lead or a clean sheet from Saturday’s game, in theory it’s really worth 2, under the away goals rule and this in turn will force the French to play into Giovanni’s hands and his master plan.

While, it will come down to the players on the pitch on both nights, do not discount the influence and passion that will be behind the Ireland team in their dug-out. In Marco Tardelli, there is a man in the Irish set-up who will want Ireland to win more than if it was his native Italy. Marco and Raymond have had a running battle and fight with each other over a controversial Under 21 game which Italy won under Tardelli and Raymond accused everybody and his dog in public that Tardelli had bribed everyone from the referee to the guy who drove the French team bus. No-one believed Domenech, but he still bears his grudge and Marco admitted recently it’s not his job to shake Domenech’s hand, it was that of Giovanni’s and if he wanted to, so be it. No love-loss there then!

You can bet anything you want on it though, if Ireland do qualify and beat France over the two legs Marco will happily look for Domenech’s hand to shake at the end of 180 minutes. The other thing people need to remember is that Giovanni, Marco and Liam Brady are all winners.

Domenech by comparison is not even in the same room, in fact he’s a boot cleaner in the old Anfield boot-room set-up while Ireland’s management team are the equivalent of Souness, Hansen and Daglish from the all-conquering 70′s-80′s Liverpool team. Domenech by comparison was given a trail, told to clean some boots and then sold to Torquay United.

I have a lot more faith in the Ireland management team doing the right things at the right time, than I do Domenech having a tactical masterstroke when his team need it, in all honesty, and this is probably what it will all come down too, is that while France have the players, we have the management team.

Who will win this battle and fascinating contest is open to much debate and speculation. But I have a funny feeling Giovanni and Marco will not go quietly into that sweet night, while in France the general consensus is that Domenech should have been taken out for a walk into that cold dark night and left in the forest some time ago…..

If nothing else, she will be well within our January budget and can’t be any worse than Andrea Dossena, Jose Miguel Gonzalez Rey (Josemi), Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Philipp Degen, Jan Kromkamp, Mauricio Pellegrino or Gabriel Paletta who lasted a whole 12 months! I reckon we could do a whole lot worse than Karen to help tighten up our defense and give it back some well needed steel!

Now I know a bunch of you will think I’m joking, but to be honest our season is in such a shambles, and yes I appreciate we have had an injury list as long as the Berlin wall recently, we could do a lot worse in January than sign her! She could even come in as a coach.

I believe with those tackling skills and aggressive behaviour on the pitch she would hit it off straight away with Sammy Lee for a start. The rest of the first team might just get the kick up the hole they need at the moment, if nothing else, they certainly wouldn’t want to be substituted for a girl, so maybe they might just give each game a bit more focus and concentration, which is sorely lacking around Anfield at the moment.

When you take all these factors into consideration, it could just be the masterstroke we need this season to get us back on track. Drastic times call for drastic measures and I can’t think of anything more drastic than what I’m proposing…..

The Hype

Annually in September, every Leinster Rugby playing school holds its second most hotly contested competition for its 6th year students. It’s a voting process to decide who will be a cheerleader for the SCT, (Senior Cup Team).

Obviously, the hottest of contests is gaining a spot on the SCT squad itself, but for those who know they won’t or can’t play for the squad, being involved is just as important. Why though?

What is it about this competition that holds so much mystique and pride for the schools involved? Is it because of its difficulty to win; due to the fact that every year, every school bar Blackrock College is the underdog? Is it because if you’re on a winning side, you enter the annals of School folklore?

And that’s a fact; borne from the successful series of books written about the fictional Schools Cup winning captain, “Ross O’Carroll-Kelly”, by the Dublin writer Paul Howard.

A Brief History

The competition is known as the Leinster School’s Senior Challenge Cup and it is the premier rugby union competition for secondary schools affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the IRFU.

Attendances are extremely high for a schoolboy competition. They often reach up to 25,000 at the final annually. This match traditionally takes place on St. Patrick’s Day, March the 16th, at Lansdowne Road. Since 2007 however the final has been played at the RDS, due to construction of a new stadium at Lansdowne Road.

First held in 1887, the cup is celebrating its 122nd anniversary in 2009. However in all that time, only seventeen secondary schools have actually won the cup. Two of which no longer exist.

Historically Blackrock College have been the most successful school in the cup’s history, having lifted it 65 times. It is this tradition and consistency which make them favourites every year. They have a win percentage of 53% in 122 years of competition. On average, Blackrock College will win a cup every two years.

Maybe it’s because of this record that every other school takes the competition so seriously. Anyone but Blackrock College winning is usually seen as a major victory and giant upset at the same time. Sixteen other schools have won the cup a variety of times, (49 in total); much more though have never won it.

The Cup, and the Schools who play for it, have a history of producing fine rugby players, many of whom go on to play for Ireland. Players such as Denis Hickey who captained his St. Mary’s College team to win the cup in 1994, and Gordon D’Arcy have impressive senior cup records.

Unsurprisingly, the most international players produced have come from Blackrock College with players like Brian O’ Driscoll, (Current Ireland Captain), Victor Costello and more recently Luke Fitzgerald. And with the overall record Blackrock hold, it comes as no shock that two captains have gained the distinction of lifting the cup twice for them, Jonny Mion in 1989 and 1990 and Barry Gibney in 1995 and 1996.

Blackrock College are followed by Belvedere and Terenure Colleges with 10 wins each, Castleknock College, with 8 wins, Clongowes Wood College with 6 wins and St. Mary’s College with 5 wins. The statistics show, we could be in the 22nd century by the time another school are in a position to challenge, let alone overhaul, Blackrock College’s win record. There are also eight schools who have won the cup once, but we’ll get to them.

The Competition Format and Rules

Currently there are 102 secondary schools affiliated to the Leinster Branch for entry into this schools competition every year. Each Schools SCT, participate in the Leinster Schools’ Senior League before Christmas – and then in the Leinster Schools’ Senior Cup in the Easter Term.

The Senior Cup is divided into three sections – A, B, and C. Results in the League prior to Christmas determine whether teams are drawn in the Lowest Ranking Section, (Section A), or the Middle Ranking Section of the Leinster Schools’ Cup (Section B) or the Strongest Section (Section C).

If drawn in Section A or B, teams can advance into Section C by winning through a cup competition, (The McMullen or Vinnie Murray Cup), between the end of the League season and the start of the final 16 and Section C element of the competition.

As a result of this protracted and difficult qualification process, if your school plays badly during the League, your chances of winning the Cup start to slide drastically. There are a number of factors which will contribute to your schools downfall if you end up in Section A of the draw. On average you will play 5 more games than a top 8 school, (as they have already qualified and are in the Section C draw), which leads to more injuries, fatigue and suspensions.

It is not unheard of for a school from Section B to win the competition though. If they were to obtain a first round bye in the qualifying cup, they could conceivably only play two or three more games than the top ranked schools.

St. Michael’s College notably completed this feat when they won the Cup in 2007.

The Outsiders who got their names on the Cup

So, we have established that Blackrock have the best record in this competition by a country mile, and they are not so closely shadowed by a number of other Dublin schools. There are some schools that have won the competition once but never been able to replicate the success. But what was the missing ingredient, the X-Factor, which allowed them their solitary name on the Cup?

Was it just that everything came right for one year, or is there something more fundamental or logical to it?

Maybe it was due to the fact that all eight of them had a number of players who would go on and win international honours with Ireland or had already played at junior international level. Or was it just that of those eight, seven did not have to play Blackrock in the final. So maybe, it was just luck on the day.

Rathmines School were the first to win the cup only once, back in 1891, in only its fourth year of competition. The school had to deal with some controversy over their win, which became subject to Branch approval. It was alleged that a centre on the winning team by the name of Kenny was actually working in the school and as such was not a pupil. If this had turned out to be true, Kenny and his team would have been disqualified for fielding an illegal player.

In time-honoured sick-note fashion though, the Branch were satisfied by a letter from Kenny’s parents and the result stood. The Rathmines hero on the day was their captain Frank Carnegie who crossed the line for the only score. The Rathmines School were a force to be reckoned with and were runners-up for the next two years, before the school itself had to close in 1899 and thus denied them any chance of a repeat win.

Seven years later and just before the turn of the 20^th century in 1898, Wesley College added their one and only engraving on the Cup. George Hamlet led Wesley College to their only triumph in seven attempts. He was one of three players on the winning team who would go-on to play for Ireland, the others, wing William Hinton and outhalf Trevor Robinson would also contribute handsomely in the final, scoring three tries. Wesley nearly lost two of their best players, the Organ brothers, Charles and William, the Christmas before the cup began as their father had been posted overseas. Players, pupils and masters rallied to ensure the pair stayed for the duration of the cup. It would in hindsight, turn out to be the right decision.

The following year, 1899, and it was now the turn of St. Columba’s School. Rathmines School had closed earlier that year and it opened the door for Corrig School to qualify in their place. St. Columba’s would destroy all comers in-front of them that year and would outscore their Cup opponents by a massive 92 points in just 3 games before the final. In the first round Columba’s thrashed St Mary’s 55-0 and hammered two-time winners Corrig School 34-3 in the semi-final. The final would see them face Blackrock and even though St. Columba’s had put all teams before them that year to the sword quite literally, They would still be seen by most as underdogs. They faced a Blackrock College school that had already won the cup eight times since the competition was inaugurated in 1887. The match itself was of no great vintage, apart from the distinction that of all our one-time winners, St. Columba’s are the only ones to actually beat Blackrock in a final. It was played in a heavy snowstorm with Shaw of St. Columba’s two tries and a conversion by winger Miller securing the winning margin.

We have to move onto a few months short of the start of the Great War, in the spring of 1914, before we have our next entry. Mountjoy School would be the victorious team this year. This was a classic case of the underdog upsetting the odds as a Mountjoy team, giving away about a stone a man in the pack, produced a courageously defiant performance to claim a first cup success. Captain Nick Hurst grabbed the final’s only score, a second-half try. Mountjoy had beaten Blackrock 9-0 in the semi-final. This triumph went some way to appease for the seven finals the school lost, which incidentally, was also the number that the beaten finalist’s Wesley would also compete in and lose. The school, first located in Mountjoy Square, moved to the Malahide Road in the late ’40s. It then changed its name in 1969 to Mountjoy and Marine before three years later acquiring its present title of Mount Temple.

It would be another eighteen years before there could be another singular entry in Cup folklore. This time Presentation College Bray in 1932 would go all the way. Bray had signalled their intent as early as two years previous when their Junior Cup team would annihilate all other schools in an unbeaten year. The winning SCT in 1932 was made up from the majority of that winning junior team. It contained players who would go on to line out for Ireland, Jack Doyle and Aidan Bailey. Like with their Junior Cup run, the senior team would emulate the same feat of going unbeaten during the whole season. The team was noted for its attacking, expansive brand of rugby, more akin to the 7’s format of the game or how one would expect Southern Hemisphere teams to play. This was mostly due to Brother Raymond Nealon who returned to coach at the school after a number of years in New Zealand, where it is commonly agreed he learned the game that would benefit Bray the most.

Then another forty-one years passed before the next one-time winner would step-up to collect the Cup. In 1973, High School would finally get their hands on the cup after years of heartbreak and near misses had scuppered several High School teams in the past. With future Irish internationals John Robbie and Ian Burns at halfback, the school managed to break their schools senior cup duck. It is widely acknowledged that the current heads of sports at High School, David Wright, was the outstanding player of the winning campaign. High School also did it the hard way, they beat a number of top 8 schools on their way to victory including famously beating a St.Mary’s side littered with future Internationals and Lions players; Tony Ward & Rodney O’Donnell to name but two. Ian Burns was the hero on final day as he crossed for two tries and also kicked two drop goals.

The next singular victor is particularly close to my heart, my old school; C.B.C Monkstown, who would record their only win in Senior Cup competition three years after High School in 1976. The coach Michael Mullen was ably
aided by a backroom staff full of former Irish International like Paddy O’Donoghue and Joe Brady. Not only did this help in generating huge motivation amongst the squad, but they also created a siege mentality within the school itself that year. Monkstown might have had one of the smallest SCT’s to enter the competition in thirty years, but this did not deter them in any way. The squad of players was mostly made up of athlete’s from other sports that played rugby as their second choice in the school. Jurgen Whyte was an All-Ireland triple jump champion, while the Keogh brothers, Mark and Brian, Michael Cryan, David Sharpe (sprint relay), Alan Jordan (hammer), Ken Sullivan and Eugene O’Connor (pole vault) excelled at various sports and won Leinster athletic honours also. As a group, hand-picked by Mullen and his backroom team, they had never played together on a rugby pitch before that September, but over the next four to five months, they would be honed into an extremely quick and light pack with the relay sprint team making up the backline. They won their final by only a single kick, but had proved themselves worthy winners that year by knocking out King’s Hospital, Newbridge and High School before beating the favourites Castleknock in the final.

Another quick thirty year wait would come to an end two years ago in 2007, when St. Michael’s would finally put to bed the ghosts of their previous two Cup final appearances.  Having been beaten only the year before by Blackrock College in the final, most learned followers surmised that St.Michael’s, bringing back 8 of the beaten 15 players would be the team to beat in 2007. They did not disappoint and would win their only cup to date, by being the best team in 2007 by some distance. And to add to their joy, they gained revenge on Clongowes Wood College for their 1991 defeat in the final.

What’s next?

The reality is that Blackrock College have the history, tradition and like Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, that winning mentality year after year instilled in their players. Unless there was to be a drastic upheaval at Blackrock College, their monopoly on the Senior Cup is not going to be broken any time soon.

The game is changing though, and will favour the schools who adapt the quickest and best. The current trail of ELV’s for a 12 month period within the domestic game by the IRFU could yet bear fruit. If the rule changes were to come in permanently, with the emphasis of the game changed from power to pace in most facets, it could suit a different type of player or school.

It could possibly be a school without Blackrock’s proud tradition in rugby, but rather their own proud tradition in athletics. This College now find themselves with a school of students more suited to the new faster game of rugby than track and field. Still, even if the changes come in and there was that awful business at Blackrock College, it will be beyond my years before anyone even catches their record. It could be because of exactly that reason, that schools from Bray to New Ross and from New Bridge to Terenure get so excited about the prospect of beating Blackrock College as much as winning the Cup. In essence all the other schools, whether they like it or not, are united in that common goal.

It’s not really healthy for the game that the same school keeps winning. But the underdog will always have their day, granted those days may be far and few between, they could be a couple or forty years apart. But they do happen. And maybe that’s it. Or it’s the fact that Irish schoolboys and girls alike love their underdogs; and going on the emotional rollercoaster of a totally unexpected Cup-run in your final year of school, with your friends, is almost as good as winning it?

Last year, we had the pleasure of following Garreth Barry and Cristiano Ronaldo  on their summer holidays. However, and this is where it gets interesting, despite the “Credit Crunch” this summer could put all before it in the shade. There are already a lot of long running stories popping up every so often in the tabloids since January, casual reminders of what’s ahead for 3 months of the year.

If you believe what you read, Dider Drogba has been leaving Chelsea ever since Jose Mourinho landed in Milan. It hasn’t happened yet, but Drogba’s latest outburst at TV cameras covering their defeat to Barcelona is possibly the last straw for him in England. A bit like Cantona, I hope it’s not what he is remembered for if he does leave English shores for newer continental ones. Every time I think of Eric, I see him leaving the pitch horizontally and introducing his boots to a fan’s face at Selhurst Park.  Drogba may not have played his last game for Chelsea and realistically hasn’t and will probably still get a swansong at Wembley in the up-coming FA Cup final against Everton. Dider could be joined on his adventures to leagues new by the German captain Michel Ballack, whose chasing down of the referee and tag-rugby tackling style has condemned him to a serious UFEA sanction, along with Drogba. I do feel somewhat sorry for Ballack though as he has lost every Champions League final he has played in to date and he probably saw this as not only an opportunity to dispel some demons, but more realistically it could be his last chance for a winners medal. He may be going back to Germany or France or follow Dider to Italy or Spain, who knows apart from agents,  players, oh and of course Ramon Calderon & Florentino Perez!

Samuel Eto may leave Barcelona and come join the big bucks of the Premiership. He may also be joined by a number of other players currently plying their trade in La Liga. Rumors are ever present on Merseyside that more Iberians could be on route this summer to both clubs either side of Stanley Park. The Portugesse midfielder Joao Muthino has longed been linked with Everton and has both European Championship experience with Portugal and Champions League experience with Sporting Lisbon. David Silva and David Villa have both been linked with joining the other club in Liverpool and considerably adding to their mainly Spanish national team and Stephen Gerrard.

Both Silva and Villa together would be an unbelievable signing for any club in England and with their knowledge of each others game from growing up on a pitch together at the Mestella in Valencia are truly a joy to watch, when on song. Unfortunately, The likeliness of it happening is slim, very slim. Both clubs in Manchester could do it, and if Chelsea were to break their spending hiatus they could as well. In my heart of hearts, I would hope that the Americans in charge of funding at Liverpool could pull it off, but my head knows unless other investment is found from somewhere quick, Liverpool will need to sell to supplement any purchasing. Still the prospect of them continuing to play in tandem is mouth-watering. But I fear if they do both come to England and I doubt it, they would only end up as opponents in the current climate as most of the big clubs need a number of players and not just two marque names at close to an estimated Stg£70million.

There could also be quite a few comings and goings in Manchester, on both sides of the city. The inevitable Cristiano stories will rumble and rumble on until he signs a new contract, where that will be, who knows, it could still be Manchester. Carlos Tevez also looks like he is on his way out of Manchester United after pretty much stating he will be playing somewhere else next year, this week to any newspaper or radio that would listen. I have mentioned it before in this blog that someone really needs to tell him, he won’t win against Ferguson and his constant, “tell all to anyone approach”, for the last few months won’t have done him any favours at board level, where it is being seen as a, they don’t want to spend the money slight on their character.

Across Manchester in the blue half of the city, the self-styled “Richest Club in the World”, could change everything or only a few. After their audacious January foray into the transfer market with a bid for Kaka of a reported 100million plus package, no-one really knows.

They have been linked to at least 4 players for every position they have at the club, so in honor, I thought I should just include a photo of the whole squad as I have no idea who is going and who is staying. No matter who does come in or go out, Mark Hughes must stay. If they change the manager, they go straight back to square one regardless of who is plying their trades at Eastlands next season.

The 17 year old Frederico Macheda, who no-one outside of Old Trafford had heard of before Saturday, became the latest in a long line of youngsters to fulfill his potential on the biggest stage. Whether you like or loathe Ferguson, no-one can ever question the amount he has done for young players at his club and the English game in general during his reign.

The now infamous “you’ll never win anything with kids” quote thrown at him during a season when he broke both Neville’s, Beckham, Giggs & Scholes into the limelight to mention but a few seems so long ago now, that it is standard practice for most EPL teams to have someone of 18-20 years of age either playing in their first 11 or certainly on the bench.

He proved all those years ago that you can win with kids and the fact he is still doing it is admirable to say the least when you think of the squad of 50+ internationals they have on their professional players books currently. 

However, there is a side to Ferguson which shows just what kind of man he really is that the scared British media never talk about. He is the worst loser in the game and doesn’t care too much about shielding his players or taking any onus onto himself when they lose. 

He is also a master at mind games. To illustrate my point, we’ll go back only a few games to the losses against Liverpool at home and then against Fulham away.

Put Chelsea under Jose or Arsenal under Wenger or Liverpool under Benitez and lets say they had lost the two games in question at this stage of the season.   Any of the other three managers when they win, will put the captain or another player out to talk to the media after a game and let them enjoy it, but if they had lost the game, any of those 3 same managers are big enough to face the media and shield their players from it.

Not Alex. After Liverpool beat them he refused point blank to talk to anyone, only sending out Mike Phelan, after it was pointed out contractually by Sky as the live Sunday game coverage station, that United were obliged to present someone to the public. 

A week later at Fulham, he did it again, only this time as it wasn’t a live game,  so he didn’t speak and sent no-one else to speak with either the BBC or Sky. As soon as they scrap past a Villa side who should and could have beaten them, he was out in front of the cameras milking all the applause he could get, grinning from ear to ear.

And the first thing he did, was not talk about the game, but stick to his own agenda and move the discussion straight onto the upcoming week of champions league games and boldly state that any remaining challenge to the title will be decided by 180 minutes or more of football over 7 days at Anfield and Stamford Bridge. Canny management I hear you say, I can’t disagree.

He knows exactly how to use the media and keep them in check.  Rather than stand back and take the easy questions, he went straight for the jugular of Liverpool and Chelsea and effectivily told them only one of you will challenge us now.

United are still well short of their best and last night’s result at home to Porto put the same ugly disgruntled face back on Ferguson similar to the one we all witnessed at Old Trafford and Craven Cottage before the International break.

I don’t know who’ll be proved right about the remaining challengers two games in the Champions League over the coming week. It could be Ferguson or Benitez. Benitez believes no matter what happens to his team against Chelsea, they will still challenge in the run-in over the next 7 games. Who’s to say?

What I do know is that’s by all accounts, from current to past players at Anfield is that it’s much easier when the games are coming quick and fast if your winning compared to losing.  And on that basis, Liverpool must be the happier squad right now, regardless of what anyone in Manchester says.

United looked rattled and completely out of sorts for most of the recent game against Fulham. While it came straight after Liverpool’s win at Old Trafford was troubling enough for Sir, he surely must have been relieved to let his players take a break for most of the week and get away from Old Trafford to play with their countries and hopefully come back with renewed vigour and fight for the run-in.

Liverpool and Rafa Benitez by contrast couldn’t have had the break at a worse time. The team is playing their best football all year right now and with at least 8 of Anfield’s preferred starting 11, probably starting one or two games for their countries over the next week, their rhythm and momentum is broken and could prove a crucial factor in the remaining games.

The United players have a chance to clear their heads and forget a horrible week by their standards. Liverpool, on the other hand, will have to come back and start building the momentum all over again if they are to keep up the pressure on Manchester.

While the break will take an equal amount of players away from both clubs, you would expect that United will have more squad players of quality that may not play a full part in their countries International games this week and as a result for Sir Alex, his squad could be the fresher come the next round of EPL games.

There is also an outside factor that most people have forgotten about; Arsenal. Wenger’s men still have to play Chelsea, United and Liverpool away and theirs could be the biggest influence yet on the title run-in. They are capable of taking all 3 points available in all those games on their day. How they perform against the other big 3, could yet decide just where the EPL title will end up this year; back in London, on Merseyside or on route back across the city from the newly styled richest club in world football.

There will be twists and turns yet to come and I really believe the next game after the international break will be crucial. United face an Aston Villa side at home, that is in free-fall and has lost their early season composure and promise to allow Arsenal back into the race for fourth place. Hopefully for Liverpool though, the international break will give the Villa players a chance to forget their recent mauling at Anfield and concentrate on the remaining games and mostly the one at Old Trafford.

Liverpool will travel to London to face a familiar bogey team at Craven Cottage; Fulham are no strangers to upsetting the applecart under Roy Hodgson and should prove a stern test for Liverpool.
However, if Liverpool can get 3 points in London, they will go back to top of the table for 24hrs anyway. This will leave United with 2 games in hand granted, but more crucially the Merseyside team will have turned a 7 point deficit into a 2 point lead by the time United line-out at Old Trafford the following day in just 270 minutes of football.

It’s a fascinating time for all involved with football in England with the title race truly back on for the run-in. Once the international week passes, the defining 90 minutes in both Liverpool and United’s’ premier league seasons will decide the destination of the title.

Full Flow

Let’s not start off on the wrong foot here; I have not won a Champions League or FA Cup, neither have I won two La Liga titles or ever pretended to have done so. With all this going against me in a straight comparison with Rafa Benitez, he wins hand’s down every time. So, why is it that I can’t fathom most of his selection choices surrounding injured players, that appear detrimental to me anyway, for the big games and the future of the club?

Maybe I’m the only person that thinks playing Torres tonight is a bigger risk to him and the club than not playing him. Don’t get me wrong here and jump down my throat for saying this, but if he’s not right, why put him out in a game of this magnitude against his natural footballing enemy, putting him in a situation where players on Madrid’s team who played against him in Spain will want to do him and thus put him at risk again of missing more domestic games for us.

We have barely had him at all this season and to be honest I would expect us to beat Madrid at home without him if we had too. I just don’t see the risk as being worth it? I’d sooner have him for 90 minutes against Manchester United at the weekend and for future rounds of the Champions League and the next few league games. In my humble opinion that would be much better than him getting 60 minutes tonight, going off carrying a recurring or new knock picked up in this game and he’s out till mid April.

The poor lad has practically been playing non stop since August 2007; he’s played the full 2007/2008 season and the Euro’s (all of it possible), then had a 4 week break and was straight back into it, it’s no wonder he’s picked up so many niggly injuries. He’s just not 100%.

With all that in mind and knowing how meticulous Benitez is in his use of science and medicine to determine who is fit and who is not, or who’s blood count does not look right to give him 90 minutes, why break these rules for Torres? Yeah, I know he is our best striker and such a huge talent, that some leeway should be granted, but at what cost to the teams goals and to the player himself. The player will always say he is ready, especially against his oldest enemy in football, the club which overshadowed his football schooling at Athletico Madrid. He is always going to want to play against Real and try and do them, for want of a better phrase.

But does that all mean he should be allowed too? Is it fair on his teammates, knowing he is not 100%? I understand that he is by far; bar one Stephen Gerrard, the player most likely to get us a goal. But in saying that, with 3 more days rest and time to train and strenghten his weak ankle and suspect hamstrings, would he not pose an ever bigger and fresher legged threat for us at Old Trafford?

I personally would go with Kuyt up front tonight and in doing so avoid adding the pressure to perform onto Torres, especially as he is straight back from Injury. Kuyt is our Champions League specialist!! And, I’d sooner see Torres come on with 25-20 mins to go and make an impact against a tired defence at that stage and help keep the lead and pressure from the front, rather than leading a line when we don’t need to chase the game or a goal. 

But then, I haven’t won numerous cup and league titles, so far be it from me to try and bring some sense to Benitez’s team selections. here’s hoping for a Liverpool win, with or without Torres.

7 Policemen killed, 5 International Cricketers injured to various degrees with shrapnel wounds and the on-going blaming saga of tit for tat between the Pakistani Cricket Board and the match officials who in their own words were left for dead and to fend for themselves. 

The world is a dangerous place; anyone with a parent or a good school teachers guidance knows this. Yet we all go about our business knowing these risks and not really letting them affect us in our daily lives. Normally, people in the spotlight also just go about their business and while they may have an army of minders, unless they are in a crowd, you wouldn’t notice them. That’s the way private security firms operate. The problem this time was no security and the little security that was provided, ran for their lives.

This cynical and cowardly attack on International sportsmen is being touted as the worst sporting terrorist attack since the Munich Olympics. Personally, I’m not sure about that. Both are tragedies certainly, and both were funded by terrorist organisations, but the politics involved are frighteningly different. Israel responded in their own way to the Munich attack of their athletes, backed by a government looking to save face with their people. This attack in Pakistan is political also, but with a hugely different cause and reason behind it. Currently the Pakistan Government have no hold over the terrorists, having already given them 10% of the country to run on their own and under their own laws. Pakistan’s government is fighting a war it can not win without international assistance; which it will never ask for.

In handing over control and law in their country to a glorified tribal gang and that’s what the Taliban, Al Queada and EFT all are. People who are nothing more than gangs with guns and rocket launchers, much like my own country Ireland 35 years ago was crippled by in-fighting and bloodshed between warring communities, it took international assistance and condemnation to resolve.

Granted 40 years later we still have a very unhappy peace, but peace none the less.  This latest move by terrorist organisations in Pakistan is a direct attempt to close the country off even more from outside interference and visitors. If no International sports team will travel there, no supporters, tourists and revenues generated by these games and events will follow.

This will cripple and make Pakistan an even more insular country than it already is and fighting wars on two fronts, in the north to Afghanistan and also still to the south where their uneasy truce with India is at breaking point in light of the recent Mumbai attacks which Indian officials are doing their best to blame on Pakistan’s door for allowing them gain access to India through their country. 

Whatever way you look at this recent atrocity, it’s a direct attempt by the aggressors to gain a bigger foothold on the countries map and to force the hand of the government officials to retaliate and give the terrorists even more ammunition with which to use in their latest recruiting drive. It’s a real mess. Cricket on the sub-continent, is like American football to Yanks, Football to Europeans and Rugby to New Zealand and Australia, players are treated like gods and to put this attack in some real context, it would be equivalent to attacking the superbowl teams bus on route to the final, attacking a Champions League finalists teams bus or the All Blacks on route to a home game in Wellington. It’s just not done, unless there is another agenda and a good one behind it.

This attack will not only affect Pakistan’s ability to field international teams, but will raise concerns at all sporting events held in the sub-continent for some time to come. The future of the IPL today was confirmed as going ahead but Pakistan’s involvement in the 2011 Cricket world cup certainly as a host is now gone. The first opportunity to show off their country to the world in a good light for over 25 years is now ruined and it probably won’t come again for another 30. So in essence this attack was not just on the Sri Lanka cricket team but on Pakistan’s people who will now be deprived of seeing their own country play any international games on home soil for years to come, with each passing year, interest wains and the terrorist’s new vision of Pakistan as a non-democratic and insular country becomes a prophecy fulfilled.

Porto’s last gasp goal, that youthful exuberant run down the sideline, punching the air and shaking a fist, by their too cool manager who did; he now admits, lose it momentarily. So upset by the shenanigans of this Portuguese upstart was Sir Alex Ferguson, that he refused to shake hands with Jose after the game. But, this single act was to be his downfall. Jose would never forget that snub and still to this day, even though both are on much better terms now, he remembers that single act as the driving force behind him taking the Chelsea job and doing his best to upset the English applecart of League and Cup processions that were taking place each May in Manchester.

“The Special One” arrived like a fresh Autumn breeze the following September in London, more than enough to grab your attention, but falling short of forcing it upon you. He knew how to work the media spectacularly, better than Ferguson, maybe? Any journalist who knows Ferguson will tell you; don’t get on his bad side, do and forget ever getting access to him again, let alone being allowed to talk to him directly…think of poor old Garth Crooks and the BBC. National Broadcaster or not, you pissed me off, therefore I’m not talking to you anymore. Childish, most definitely yes. But when you have the power Ferguson has to wield, every now and again you’d still like to flex the muscles and remind everyone who’s boss of the EPL. Maybe Rafa Benitez’s rant earlier this year had some truth to it.

Mourinho, unlike Ferguson who uses the old “throw the toys out of the pram” routine, stayed clam in his dealings with the press and dare I say it made them more colourful. He wasn’t afraid to court controversy, throwing caution to the wind often when dealing with Fleet Streets finest. Some say this was his downfall, his inability to toe the Russian billionaire who bankrolls Chelsea’s line when talking candidly and openly about the challenges Chelsea faced and his contempt for his fellow managers, especially and continuously getting up the noses of  Benitez, Wenger and Ferguson above all. He might have been bombed out of the club in spectacular fashion, but left a lingering legacy, which is more obvious now, with Chelsea on their 3rd manager since he left only 14 months ago.

Of course, new challenges will always present themselves to characters such as Mourinho, something new and different to get the teeth into ferociously. In taking on Inter, he almost followed the Chelsea mould which served him so well. A big sleeper club, fallen way short of expectations, but with potential. Inter were the Italian equivalent, yes they may have won the two Scudetta before he arrived, but one was handed to them, literally, after the match-fixing scandal which rocked Italian football and the following season it was a procession with all their main rivals either in Serie B or with a hefty points deduction starting the league. This year, in my estimation anyway, they will lift the title proudly for the first time in the 3 years of success they have had recently as this year they will have earned it with all the teams having started on a level footing.

So this brings us to tonight’s game, a game Mourinho knows he can win, his team however will need convincing. Mourinho has a fantastic record against Ferguson, having only been beaten once in 12 previous meeting between the two managers, granted a few draws are in that statistic, but Mourinho holds an undeniable psychological advantage going into tonight’s game. Transferring that mentality to his players who have won only one of their seven last 16 meetings with English clubs in the last decade may prove a might tougher however.  Both managers spoke to their respective press corps this week and promised a game the world should and will enjoy. They both talked up their big game players and name dropped their star filled line-ups and seemed to genuinely smile at the prospect before them. The potential this game has and the event it could become would have graced the final in Rome in May they would lead us to believe. If you follow any of the other 14 teams left in the competition you may beg to differ this claim. In any case, it should and hopefully will be a fascinating tie for the neutrals amongst us. History states and shows that in the last 4 years all the champions have gone out at this stage the following year and since it’s new Champions League name and title, no-one has defended their title as champions successfully. History and records are there for both sides to be broken, and in this heavyweight clash of European managers, the only safe bet is that one record will fall. Whether it’s United, getting past the last 16 stage as Champions for the first time in recent history of the competition, or that it’s Inter overturning an English opponent and making the quarter-finals for the first time in a decade, when all is said and done one of them will smile and rejoice and the other one will moan and begrudge.  Either way, history beckons for both men….