December
2001 News
This is the latest news
of all the players who appeared in the 1970-71
FKS Publishers Ltd
Wonderful World of Soccer Stars Album
Postscript
Mills
and Barron Leave Birmingham City
Following
the appointment of Steve Bruce as manager of Birmingham
City, the caretaker-manager pairing of Mick Mills (Ipswich
Town) and Jim
Barron (Nottingham Forest squad) ends. Bruce will have
his own backroom team, which means the two Bob70-71
Players will be leaving the club.
The two
took over when Trevor Francis was sacked . However, the
appointment of Bruce was delayed by Crystal Palace who
took Birmingham City to court to prevent the move. This
has now all been resolved, but it allowed Mills and
Barron to be in charge for 12 matches. At one point the
pair hoped to be confirmed as permanent managers, but
this was not to be.
See BBC SPORT BIRMINGHAM CITY
Birmingham unveil Bruce
www.soccerbase.com - The
Internet Soccer Database
25 December
Smith
In Charge
Steve
Smith (Huddersfield Town) has taken temporary charge of
Bradford City following the sacking of Jim Jeffries (Hearts).
Steve was the Youth Team Coach before the appointment.
Jim has been in charge since November last season, but
could not prevent relegation to Division One last season.
Presently the side are a lowly 16th. Still Charles
Dicken's 'A Christmas Carol' does come to mind in terms
of the timing for poor old Jim !
Perhaps
more unbelievably, Stan Collymore is rumoured to be the
person in mind for the full appointment.
BBC SPORT BRADFORD CITY
Collymore eyes Bradford post
www.bradfordcityfc.co.uk
23 December
Top Bobby
It's
amazing that there is still a manager plying the trade
from the 24 named in the 1970-71 'World of Soccer Stars'
album, but Bobby Robson is not only the manager of
Newcastle United, but since last Tuesday, Newcastle
United have been top of the Premiership following their
3-1 victory away to Arsenal.
Most
neutrals viewed Bobby's appointment as a stop-gap
following Ruud Guillit unexpected departure. But he's
hung on and Newcastle have thrived. Bobby's approaching
his 69th birthday, and he has been in top level football
for 53 years.
Sadly, the
spell at the top was extended at least one more day as
Newcastle United beat 4-3 Leeds United away from home
yesterday, having been 3-1 down. The webmaster wept.
Ironically,
the team bobby was managing in 70-71 was Ipswich Town,
who are currently VERY bottom of the Premier League.
See BBC - NEWCASTLE UNITED
Robson The golden oldie
www.newcastle-utd.co.uk
Leeds
United Stars
Leeds
United players from Bob's 70-71 Pages have been seen in
the news quite a bit lately.
Jack
Charlton Is starring on the telly in Direct Car
Insurance adverts.
Johnny Giles Appeared on the 16 December
2001 edition of 'Panorama' about the court case involving
Leeds players Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer.
Rather
than watching the programme, here's the edited highlights
of the bits with Johnny in it ...
JOHN GILES: They're very, very good players and if
they're not playing for Leeds United for any reason
then they'll be a huge loss.........
JOHN GILES
Leeds United 1963-75
Woodgate is an outstanding player as well. He's a
young boy, defender, and I think he's one of the best
young defenders in the country. I think he's an
outstanding player who will.. I would have no doubt
will go on to play for England, and I'd be very, very
surprised if he didn't reach the very top.
FERGAL KEANE (reporter): Lee Bowyer was convicted of
affray and fined four and a half thousand pounds. The
judge warning he'd considered a gaol term. And Leeds
United also fined him four thousand pounds.
Peter McCormick, the club solicitor and a member of
the board, seen here with Bowyer, warned that any
repetition of such behaviour could lead to the player
being sold. It all seemed a far cry from the Leeds
United of legends like Billy Bremner, Jack Charlton
and Johnny Giles. But Bowyer's skill on the pitch
impressed the veterans.
JOHN GILES
Leeds United 1963-75
Well he's an outstanding young player. I mean he's a
lot of ability, he scores goals, he's been a very
valuable player to Leeds united and he's one of the
outstanding young players in the country, and
certainly over the next two or three years you will
expect him to either be in the England Squad or be
very, very close to getting in the England Squad.
KEANE: But Bowyer's footballing skills continued to
be offset by his ability to attract tabloid headlines
for all the wrong reasons. He became infamous for his
sexual adventures. Bowyer was a regular at Leeds
Majestic Nightclub where he met kiss and tell model
Emma Padfield, seen with him here. They fell out over
Boyer's fondness for lap dancing clubs. Still any
embarrassment caused by all of this to Leeds seemed
to be compensated for by his football talent.
GILES: The value of the player obviously becomes very
important to any particular club which doesn't make
it right but that's the way it is, I think not just
for football but in many walks of life that it's
expedient to overlook bad behaviour if there's a
value.. financial value on the particular individual
and Bowyer has been a financial asset.
KEANE: Jonathan Woodgate became a drinking companion
of Lee Bowyers. In one notorious incident they even
ended up in bed together with Emma Padfield. The
money and the fame seemed to fuel their bad boy
antics.
GILES: The players are more like film stars now than
ever.. well they were never like film stars in my day
anyway. But they get money.. they get a lot of money
today and if there is a flaw it will exaggerate that
particular flaw.
See BBC News PANORAMA Panorama
Football on Trial
Lashings
of Lorimer For anyone
that knows the story of Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate,
will know that the day after the trial the players were
fined by the club for being drunk on the night that led
to the Court case. Well first off Lee Bowyer refused to
pay the fine and subsequently Leeds put him on the
transfer list. Radio Five Live, Drive Time programme came
live from Elland Road to discuss the events.
Peter Lorimer was one of the people asked for his opinion by
the roving live presenter. Sadly I missed the interview
itself, so I don't know what he said as such, but he has
appered elsewhere saying Lee would be a loss to the club,
but must pay the fine. Lee must have heard him, as he's
now payed up and will play tomorrow versus Newcastle
United.
Peter has
had a high media presence lately. He continues to do a
Friday night column in the 'Yorkshire Evening Post', is
regularly heard on Radio Leeds commentry along with Norman
Hunter, and is
generally heard to opine about Leeds affairs on the
radio, internet , and papers.
Postscript-
Peter Lorimer was also on duty for the UK national
staion, Radio Five Live, on the last Saturday of the
year. Peter was commentating on Newcastle United versus
Chelsea, which Chelsea won 2-1.
George Best on Michael Owen
This story
appears on Liverpool's Official site. George Best, is
also a former winner of the European Player of th Year
Award, in 1968. See Best backs Owen to break all
records
George
Best is convinced European Player of the Year Michael
Owen will smash every goalscoring record in the book.
Best, who won the award back in 1968, also believes
the Liverpool striker will add the World Player of
the Year award to his collection of personal trophies
in 12 months time.
He said: "Michael's a great player and he'll get
even greater. He can go on to smash every goalscoring
record.
"Not many people score a hat-trick against
Germany - especially not there. He's just so cool in
front of goal, he never panics. Other teams are
frightened of him. Give him a chance and nine times
out of ten he'll put it away.
"I won it in 1968 and it?s a bit special. It was
the biggest award in football back then because there
was no world award.
"I wouldn't bet against him being the World
Player of the Year in 2002. He's a special player -
the most complete finisher I've seen in a long while.
The way he puts the ball away reminds me of Jimmy
Greaves at his very best - and Greavsie is my
ultimate hero."
18 December
Sir Bobby Charton on Michael Owen
Michael
Owen became only the fourth different English European
Footballer of the Year, this week. In the following
article the 2nd of them, 1966 winner Bobby Charlton
comments on Michael. The other English winners are Sir
Stanley Matthews (1956) and Kevin Keegan (1978 and 1979).
See BBC - Charlton tribute to Owen - go to the page itself to hear
Sir Bobby talk.
Sir Bobby Charlton
believes Michael Owen deserves to be recognised as
Europe's top footballer.
The Liverpool and
England striker won the European Football of the Year
Award on Monday ahead of Raul, Oliver Kahn and David
Beckham.
Charlton, who won
the award in 1966 following England's World Cup win,
told BBC Radio Five Live: "Michael is a
marvellous player.
"He is
talented, gifted and certainly a player I would have
been delighted to play alongside.
"He's a
natural at scoring goals and he's a very exciting
player. I first saw him play when he was a
16-year-old and it was obvious he had a great talent.
"Liverpool are
very lucky to have a player of such promise and the
promise has been fulfilled.
"With the
great year Liverpool had this year not many would
argue that Michael was well worth this award.
"He's a very
nice, level-headed young person and he will wear it
well. He's a very nice person as well as a good
footballer."
Charlton insists
Owen's award and David Beckham coming second in the
Fifa World Player of the Year poll to Real Madrid
star Luis Figo are signs that the new era in English
football is gaining worldwide recognition.
Prior to Owen
winning the award there had been a barren period of
22 years since an Englishman - Kevin Keegan - last
won the award.
"I'm surprised
we haven't won anything since then although I suppose
we have been in the international wilderness,"
Charlton added.
"But it's
about winners. If you are that type of person who
wants to win you get noticed and it won't be a while
before we win more awards like this."
Pelé
at the BBC
An earlier interview
with Pelé referred to Michael Owen. In it he talks also
of the World Cup finals in 2002. See BBC SPORT FOOTBALL Pele
hails Owen - go
to the page itself to hear Pelé
talk.
"There is no
doubt that Owen can become the best in the
world," Pele told BBC Sport Online.
"He is still
young but he has experience and he is quick.
"Beckham is a
different kind of player. He is more technical and
can set up the team and the game
"Both of them
can be mentioned among the best in the world, but if
I had a vote for world player of the year I would
stay with Zinedine Zidane.
"Raul played
well last season and was impressive for Spain, but
Zidane has been stable at his level for as much as
eight years.
"Rivaldo is
good for Barcelona but for Brazil he did not do
it."
Pele also predicted
Zidane would complete a glorious summer by helping
France to the World Cup final again.
Not against Brazil,
but their South American rivals Argentina.
"You have to
respect all the big names," Pele said.
"I would
expect Italy to do well. Even if they don't play well
they can come good.
"You must
respect England. They have a good team, no doubt, but
it is unfortunate that we have lost Holland.
"For the World
Cup, that is a big loss.
"But, if I had
to choose two, then I would say that Argentina and
France would be in the final."
Having seen his
beloved boys from Brazil scrape through to the finals
in their last qualifying match, Pele believed they
could still challenge for an unprecedented fifth
world crown.
"In Brazil, we
never had it in our minds that we were not going to
qualify," though a wry smile suggested the
thought may have briefly crossed his mind.
"Who knows,
six months is enough time to improve the team.
"At the
moment, Brazil have a coach [Felipe Scolari] who
likes to play defensive football and that is not the
Brazilian way.
"The current
Brazil team play a hard game, but I hope that in the
six months between now and the World Cup he can put
together a team to play like Brazil."
As with
Eddie Gray last month, the BBC did a question and answer
forum with Pelé. Go to the page itself to hear Pelé
talk.
See BBC SPORT FORUM Your
questions to Pele
Q: Everybody in
the UK is very confused about Brazil's poor form. We
expect you to constantly win matches and qualify
easily for the World Cup. What is going wrong?
A: I think
the problem is the administration. We have a big
problem with the organisation in Brazil. Everybody
knows that Brazil have the best players in the world,
but when the administration selected the national
team they didn't pay attention or enough respect and
we nearly didn't qualify.
Q: Would you
like to be part of the administration?
A: I was the
minister of sport until last year, but as everybody
knows I had a big problem with Ricardo Teixeira the
president of the CBF. I understand we have the best
players in Europe, but if you organised the team with
only Brazilian players we could do a lot better than
in the qualifiers.
I hope that now,
with eight months to prepare the team, that Brazil
will be one of the four for the finals.
Q: Which other
sides do you expect to be in contention?
A: I think
we have to respect all the big names. Teams who have
experience like Italy, even if they didn't play well
in their qualifiers, we still have to respect them.
England now have a very good team. Unfortunately we
have lost Holland, which is a big loss. If I have to
pick two teams now, I pick Argentina and France. But
eight months from now maybe things will change.
Q: If you had a
vote for the Fifa World Footballer of the Year, who
would you choose?
A: Today, I
still pick Zidane. Zidane is a stable player. There
is Raul, who plays very well in Spain. You have to
see how long a player is stable, Zidane has played
for more than eight years to the same standard.
Unfortunately Rivaldo has failed to perform in the
Brazilian national side.
Q: How about
Michael Owen?
A: He is
still young. He can go on and score a lot more goals.
Two years ago, the last time I was here, I saw a
Liverpool game and I said then that he would be a
good player. He has proved his talent, he is an
excellent forward, he is quick and he has experience.
There is no doubt he could be one of the best
players.
Q: And David
Beckham?
They are very
different. Owen has a quicker style, but Beckham has
a more technical style and helps to set up the team.
There's no doubt he is a big name too.
I think today you
can mention both of them as the best in the world.
Q: We have the
draw for the World Cup finals coming up. I know that
Sepp Blatter is keen for a world competition every
two years, instead of every four. Do you think that
would be a good idea?
A: I work
with Fifa and have had a lot of discussions about
that. We have a problem to find one calendar for the
whole of the world that would enable a World Cup
every two years. There are different climates around
the world and that causes a problem. I think for at
least the next eight to ten years, we cannot afford
to do that.
Q: Do you think
the accusations of corruption and mismanagement in
Brazil have had a negative impact on the national
side?
A:
Definitely, there is no doubt. I was the minister of
sport until last year. I had a big fight with the
Brazilian federation about that. We have a problem
with all the teams. Most teams in Brazil sell most of
their players however most of them are bankrupt! This
is something that the Government should see but they
don't because the corruption is too much. All the big
teams in Brazil are having financial difficulties.
I think we have to
have a law that says the President of a club should
be responsible for all the money that he spends. A
club should not be able to spend more money than they
are bringing in.
Q: Could you
ever imagine a World Cup final without Brazil there?
A: I don't
think about that, never! We came close and nearly
didn't qualify, but the World Cup without Brazil is
not really the World Cup.
11 December
Hollins
Returns
Great to
see John Hollins (Chelsea) return as manager of Rochdale
on a five month contract. Rochdale are 5th in Division 3
at present, and lost their manager Steve Parkin to
Barnsley earlier in the season. Caretaker manager David
Hamilton will revertback to being coach. Hollins was
sacked by Swansea City in September, despite the fact
that he was Manager of the Year in 1999-2000, when he
successfully promoted the club to the Second Division.
See BBC SPORT ROCHDALE
Rochdale appoint Hollins
Rochdale Football Club
10 December
Best
Liver
George Best is to have a liver transplant
as he has damaged his own so severely with drinking. It
is likely to happen next year.
From Best transplant -
Football365.com
Faint and
Wheezie
Footy Mad! 'Get ready to go
footymad!!' are
featuring an animated cartoon in the style of 'Saint and
Greavesie'. Whether Ian St John (Liverpool) and Jimmy
Greaves are
involved or not, I'm not sure, but it isn't very funny...
Actually as I write the whole site's not there perhaps
everyone's agreed with me and kicked it off the Net !?
See more December 2001 news at the
following ...
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