Julian Alsop may well be remembered for sending shock waves through the footballing world in the Autumn of 2004. I hear you ask was it his silky skills? Was it his cunning ability to outwit the opposition? Or was it his tireless performances which inspired many a youngster to put down their playstation control and take up the beautiful game? Unfortunately Alsop will not be remembered for any of the above but for an incident which has gone down in football history as “Bananagate”.

Julian Alsop at age 31 was playing for Oxford United in the Autumn of 2004 when he allegedly attempted to shove a banana up the rear end of a youth team player in a prank that went too far. It was reported that a play fight which had occurred on the training pitch had irked Alsop and in revenge he had grabbed the 16 year old youth, stripped him naked and whipped him with a towel. That not being enough of a punishment in Alsop’s eyes he then reportedly got another player to hold the lad down and then allegedly tried to ram a banana up his back side.

Now everyone knows that a football changing room can be full of jokers and high jinks are to be expected but this story shocked fans across the country as a prank that simply crossed over the line. The incident was not reported to the police at the time as according to the Sun the youth was afraid “it may affect his future at the club”. Despite the lack of police intervention manager Graham Rix (who by the way was a previous feature in our sex scandals anthology) didn’t escape an ear ache as the boy’s concerned parents demanded action be taken for what they regarded a serious assault on their son. An investigation was carried out and Alsop was duly sacked from the club following the incident. Three other Oxford youth team stars also were disciplined in the wake of the incident.

This story never seems to amaze fans as many questions remain unanswered such as where did the banana come from? Who fetched the banana? Why did no-one intervene? The incident is still clouded in an air of mystery as thankfully the youth’s name was never revealed thereby saving him from a life full of taunts from the terraces. You can just hear the away fans at Oxford now “Bend over for the half time show, bend over for the half time show, etc, etc” following by a fabulous rendition of “Does he take up the arse?”. Thank the Lord for small mercies son!

There was no doubt in my mind that football was becoming more defensive in a tactical sense. I?m too young to remember the 2-3-5 days first hand but in this day and age its hard to imagine that such free-flowing gung-ho attacking football ever existed, and Real Madrid seem to prove why all-out-attack has lost it?s way in the game. But I can could see how 4-4-2 naturally progressed as the biblical football formation, with its solid defence, the chance for attacking wingers on the flank, an engine room with the choice of defensive or attacking options and the opportunity for a deadly strike partnership.
(more…)

Graham Rix began his footballing career back in 1974 as an apprentice with Arsenal. He made his debut for the first team in April 1977 and quickly became a regular fixture becoming captain in 1983. His career at Arsenal faltered when a series of injuries kept him sidelined and he was finally released from the club.

Rix continued to play football for smaller clubs before becoming Chelsea youth team coach in 1993 and then being promoted to Assistant Manager under Rudd Gullit in 1996. His career seemed to be going from strength to strength until allegations arose concerning Rix having sex with an underage girl aged 15.

Rix admitted to the charge of unlawful sexual intercourse and in March 1999 he was convicted receiving a 12 month prison sentence. Rix was 41 years old at the time and had been married for 17 years when he had sex with the 15 year old whom he met in a West London Hotel.
(more…)

It was almost thirty years ago (December 1976) that the Sex Pistols burst onto the scene, declaring that they were anarchists. Let’s just stop for a moment to reflect on that: the punk movement is thirty years old. It probably has two kids and a mortgage now.

But while the Pistols were happy to proclaim their anarchic tendencies (amongst others) to the world, in the thirty years since, there haven’t exactly been many people willing to step forward and declare their bigoted nature.

It is widely accepted that racism, sexism, disability related discrimination and religious bigotry are plain wrong. It seems to be taking longer for the equivalent message for homophobia and age discrimination to get across, which is a shame, but inroads are being made, and I feel that my generation (despite growing up in Thatcher’s Britain) are more tolerant and less bigoted than any preceeding generation.

But the message is still a long way from complete. Step forward the UK’s national sport and flag-flyer for bigotry ? football.
(more…)

I would like to say that I’m astonished that someone can still feel this way in the year 2006 but then I would be lying as I know there are people out there that despise the involvement of women in the game, however, I am astonished that someone has actually come out publicly and admitted it.
(more…)

I was going to write an article on international football and how friendlies should be scrapped in favour of a new international season period in both Summer and Winter. After discussing my proposals with a few friends who pointed out shortcomings in my arguments I have decided against that particular Pandora?s box for now and instead have decided to attempt to revolutionise the football disciplinary system.

It has been a long-serving debate about whether the yellow/red card system should be amended in order to facilitate sin bins. The plusses to sin bins being that if a player commits a small offence then he can be punished by being sent to the dugout where he can calm down and that games will not be ruined as one team is severely handicapped by having a two or three players sent off for an entire match meaning that the spectacle of a competitive match is hindered. On the down side it goes against footballing tradition and players may not be punished severely enough for dangerous fouls that may result in an increase in unsportsmanlike behaviour, or that a mass brawl may see two teams with hardly any players on the field for a short period of the match.
(more…)

UEFA have made the draw for the group stages of the UEFA Cup and there look to be some tasty ties ahead for the remaining British contingent of Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United.

Rangers are in Group A and will face Auxerre, Partizan Belgrade, Livrono of Italy and Maccabi Haifa. Spurs play Bayer Leverkusen, Club Brugge, Besiktas and Dinamo Bucharest. Blackburn Rovers play Feyenoord, Basle, Wisla Krakow and Nancy while Newcastle United have the toughest draw of all with games against Celta Vigo, West Ham’s conquerors Palermo, Fenerbahce and Eintracht Frankfurt.

The BBC explain the competition:

The top three teams from each group will progress through to the knockout stages.

The 24 qualifiers will be joined by the eight clubs who finish third in their Champions League groups.

There are four matches per club in each group, with two at home and two away against different opposition.

The group stage runs from 19 October to 14 December before the competition closes down until 14 February, when the knockout phase begins.

GROUP A
Auxerre
RANGERS
P Belgrade
Livorno
Maccabi Haifa

GROUP B
Bayer Leverkusen
Club Brugge
Besiktas
Dinamo Bucharest
TOTTENHAM

GROUP C
Sevilla
AZ Alkmaar
Slovan Liberec
Grasshopper
Braga

GROUP D
Parma
Lens
Heerenveen
Osasuna
Odense

GROUP E
Feyenoord
Basle
Wisla Krakow
BLACKBURN
Nancy

GROUP F
Ajax
Sparta Prague
Espanyol
Austria Wien
Zulte Waregem

GROUP G
Panathinaikos
Paris St Germain
Rapid Bucharest
Hapoel Tel Aviv
Mlada Boleslav

GROUP H
NEWCASTLE
Celta Vigo
Palermo
Fenerbahce
Eintracht Frankfurt

?The object of the game is to score by maneuvering the ball into the opposing goal.?

Well you certainly cannot accuse FIFA?s President, yes good old Sepp Blatter, of loosing his touch with age. The man with a million ideas has delivered yet again. He wants to scrap the penalty shootout by the World Cup in 2010 due to be held in South Africa. The tournament in Germany was the second in four to have been settled from 12 yards along with two of the last four Champions League finals and Mr Blatter it would seem has lost patience with this most unsatisfactory of methods to decide a competition.

He has given the boffins four years then to settle a dispute which has been raging since time memorial and has seen many innovations developed as a solution, from tossing a coin to replaying the game, drawing lots to the Golden Goal. All have been tried and all ultimately have been unsucessful.
(more…)

Some of us can only imagine what it feel likes to be one of the most famous footballers on the planet, earning record amounts measured in millions of pounds and playing for one of the world’s biggest clubs while captaining your country at the World Cup finals. David Beckham doesn’t have to imagine it, this is the way his life has turned out thanks to a combination of an impressive right foot, a face that isn’t out of place on magazine covers and a publicity hungry wife who used to pout in a girl “band”.

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? What happens though when the reason you first got noticed at all starts to wane and the murmurs of discontent start to grow to a steady rumble? Age catches up with us all and especially for those who find themselves in the relentless spotlight of the media, day in and day out. David Beckham is about to enter the most critical stage of his career since he first signed professional forms for Manchester United and I really don’t know how much of a say he’ll have in where his career is headed after this World CUp finishes.

Real Madrid are in a state of flux. The “Galactico” regime is crumbling, the players they spent their vast fees on are old and ready to retire or be replaced. Zidane, Figo, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo, Beckham - the names that used to strike fear into opposition sides can now be looked at with eager anticipation by a young, fast and skilful side who can use their natural pace to exploit the tired legs. Figo’s departure to Inter last summer was the start of the breakup and this year will see many more casualties, starting with Zidane’s retirement.

Madrid have made noises about David Beckham finishing his career with the club but will the continued income stream from his merchandise range really make up for keeping an ageing, off the pace midfielder in a prominent team position and if not, will Beckham accept being a bench warmer, willing to accept an occasional cameo appearance to please the sponsors? I think not. If a new coach comes in, maybe Arsene Wenger or Fabio Capello, will they want the ego of Beckham botching up their plans for a new generation of Madrid stars just so the club shop can sell a few jerseys? I know Wenger wouldn’t for a start so if Beckham is going, where would he go?

Manchester United won’t want him back, his problems with Sir Alex Ferguson haven’t went away despite the few years break they’ve had. Wenger, if he stays at Arsenal, won’t want him as ageing primadonnas with no pace don’t exactly fit into the Arsenal setup he’s created. Chelsea, while going down a neo-galactico route this summer themselves might just see the England captain as too much of a burden on the pitch to carry, being honest, Becks is no match for Michael Ballack or Andriy Shevchenko even at a similar age to these guys.

So where’s left? Liverpool doesn’t seem likely, again he wouldn’t fit their system. the polciy oif buying young English players at Spurs would rule him out from joining his grandfather’s favourite club and the continued success of Aaron Lennon means there would be no sense in playing him anyway.

In my opinion, the only place fo him to come back and be accepted into would be that great purveyor of overpriced players, Newcastle United. With Michael Owen’s injury ruling him out until 2007 and Alan Shearer’s retirement, the board need a big name signing to placate their season ticket holders and they don’t come much bigger than David Beckham. Is it so ridiculous to imagine the England captain in the black and white next season? I don’t think so and the main reason is that there is really no other takers that he would accept going to, a feeling Michael Owen must be very familiar with after his own departure from Real Madrid last summer.

You all know that we don’t go in for conspiracy theories here at State of the Game, we know they rarely turn out to be true and when they go tits up they usually leave the theorist looking like a plank and completely devoid of any credibility.

Frankly we don’t care for idle chitchat and tittle tattle on most subjects but a good old Arsenal, Real Madrid, FA stitch up really gets our interest so here goes with the latest one that’s reaching us from Espana’s sunny shores.

It’s no secret that Real Madrid presidential candidate Juan Miguel Villar Mir has his eye on Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger but what’s been rumoured today is that instead of just trying to woo Mr Wenger, Villar has actually used his considerable clout and position as favourite to be elected as Real Madrid’s president to convince Arsene to agree to take over as Real Madrid coach if he wins the election on 2nd July.

David Dein has apparently not stood in Wenger’s way as he knows that he really wants to go and has already lined up his successor. Think about where we are going with this one folks: David Dein, FA, potential manager who was released from his very lucrative contract with nowhere to go in surprising circumstances. Put that all together and it spells (not literally) Sven Goran Eriksson as the new Arsenal manager.

Maybe that puts a whole new spin on why Sven took Theo Walcott to Germany with England even though he had absolutely no intention of playing the young lad under virtually any circumstances. I’d go so far as to say that if Sammy Lee has brought his boots with him then he’d stand a better chance of making the pitch for England in this World Cup. Why they did this is anyone’s guess and to be honest I still can’t fathom it on any level other than a brown envelope financial one. Answers on a postcard.

Is it so far fetched as to be unbelievable though? Real Madrid always get what they want. Always. If a presidential candidate says he will be signing a player or coach for definite once they win the election then they DO it. Anything else makes their position completely untenable. As for Sven to Arsenal, why not? He needs a new job, Arsenal would need a new big name coach as they move into Ashburton Grove and David Dein obviously appreciates Sven’s fine way with the ladies and is willing to fund his forays.

The more I think about this the more it sounds perfectly reasonable. Now I just need a bookie to take my money on it. Hello, is that Paddy Power?