Football News Roundup - August 13
Just when you thought that the pain of reading shallow, tasteless autobiographies of football stars was over…
Steven Gerrard is the latest England player to have his autobiography serialised in the media, and if this first account is any indication it promises to be another indulgence to the already-dangerous levels of self-importance lingering in Gerrard’s mind.
Passionate football is Gerrard’s strength. Intelligent analysis clearly isn’t.
Hopefully this will be drowned out by the Community Shield clash between Liverpool and Chelsea today. Enough has been said in the news about the great ‘rivalry’ - with comparisons between Benitez and Mourinho constantly being drawn, and Liverpool’s squad improvements plus their form towards the end of last season mean that everyone and their mother is calling this season a slugout between Chelsea and Liverpool for the title.
Much as that rankles me, I’m actually happy that Manchester United have been written off by over-excited pundits. So what if no one remembers what we managed to acheive with a threadbare, injury-laden squad last season? So what if people think that it’s the players and not the system Benitez is playing that needed improvement?
Football predictions are usually bullshit, and so is mine when I say that Manchester United will win the Premiership this year. Oh well…
Other News
Sami Hamdan discusses David Beckham’s omission from the England squad. Kevin Mitchell from the Guardian is having a go as well - of course, no one wants to be left behind in the race to pile it up on Becks (just like no one wants to give up on their quest to rant against Chelsea).
While Premier League referees could start receiving help from instant replay cameras from the 2007/2008 season onwards, I think it’s coming through too slow. Kudos to them for trying though [News item].
Related Items from Soccerlens
- This Week’s Premiership & European Fixture List (22-28 August 2006)
- Football News Roundup - August 26
- WagSnatch Roundup: Beckham’s Hand, Danielle Lloyd and Alex Curran
- 2 New Columns on Soccerlens
- Football News Roundup - August 01
Funny you missed out on criticizing Wayne Rooney for subjecting the world to what goes on inside his mind. If Stevie G (who sounds like Einstein compared to Rooney in their interviews) has rubbish analysis, what do you think about Rooney’s literary marvel?
You’re looking for a controversy that doesn’t exist (although as a football fan you’re not alone in that regard).
The current spate of autobiographies (Cole, Rooney, Lampard (worst of the lot) and Gerrard) are there to offer fans a glimpse into the lives of superstars - the publishers make millions, the poor fans gobble up the trash in the vain hope that by learning a little bit more about what goes on in the lives of the players they admire they can maybe…well, I won’t pretend to know why people read this trash, except that it ranks alongside soap operas and lurid gossip as an absolute waste of time.
And yet I cant resist wanting to get my hands on these books. Oh well
I’m not looking for a controversy. I genuinely feel that Gerrard’s book is a comparatively better effort than the other three put together. Using his book as a case study of self obsessed footballers’ literary efforts is quite unfair, especially as he’s admitting that his performances at the International level did not merit the hype.
Ahmed, pls dont get emotional. Man Utd is not the same one that one 8 titles, coz they had only ’super’? squad in the premiere league until Arsenal came along. Now, Chelsea has stronger squad than Man Utd and Arsenal. Liverpool players arent good enough to win the league, only top 4. Same with newcastle. The rest are just dreaming and making up the numbers. Every season top 4 from now on looks like: Chelsea-winner, 2-3-4 from Man Utd, Newcastle, Arsenal and Liverpool. The rest… forget them.
The current spate of autobiographies… are there to offer fans a glimpse into the lives of superstars are they?
Funny. I thought they were there to cash in on the World Cup which they all thought they’d do rather well in - and unsurprisingly they didn’t.