With Remembrance Sunday having just occurred a few days ago, we reflect on the men who gave their lives to their countries as well as giving their all on the football pitch. Their bravery on the field of play has been superseded by their courage and character on the field of battle even though some of them had little to no military education.

Here we commemorate and honour football’s top 20 war heroes in this list:

1. Bert Trautmann

The list starts with a goalkeeper as this shot-stopper enjoyed a very interesting career in England, particularly since he was WW II German soldier and he played there immediately after the Second World War. He joined the Luftwaffe in 1941 and he quickly gained promotion, firstly as corporal and then as sergeant of his unit. He earned 5 army badges for his superb work to the Germanic cause. However he was imprisoned by the British for his role against them in the war and he most of his sentence in Cheshire.

On his release, he farmed and played football part-time before eventually turning professional with St. Helens for a season. He then transferred to Manchester City in 1949, where he got a very mixed welcome  due to his role in the war. However 15 years later after leaving the Citizens, he etched his name into their history books as one of their finest ‘keepers ever.

He won both the FA Cup and FWA for Player of the year in 1956 on his way to making more than 500 appearances for the Manchester club. He also enjoyed spells in charge of Stockport County, Liberia and Pakistan before retiring from all footballing activities in 1983.

2. Alexander “Sandy” Turnbull

This Scottish striker etched his name into the hearts of the fans of both Manchester clubs in the early 20th century with his goalscoring skill. Having netted 143 goals in 230 Football League appearances, he had a sensational goal to game ratio.

Having won the FA Cup with Manchester City, he crossed the metropolis to join arch-rivals Manchester United where he enjoyed a golden period of success winning two First Division titles, but notably scoring the winner in the 1909 FA Cup final. However his career was cut short by the First World War as his last game came against Sheffield Wednesday in 1915.

He was also later found guilty of match-fixing and received a life-long football ban before joining the armed forces. Having risen to the ranks of Lance Sergeant in the Eight Battalion of the East Surrey regiment in the British Amry, he was killed on 3rd May 1917 in a battle in Arras, France. He was 32 but as a result of his heroic effort overseas, his ban was rescinded in 1919 after the war ended.

3. Eddie Latheron

Affectionately nicknamed ”Pinkie” on the terraces due his red hair and pale complexion, Latheron is remembered as a legend to Blackburn Rovers and a martyr for his country. The inside forward scored 94 goals in 258 appearances for his hometown club and it was this, coupled with his unselfish play that made him a firm fan favourite among the Lancashire faithful. The one-club man helped the Rovers conquer England twice during the 1911-12 and 1913-14 seasons as those First Division titles are his only silverware.

However the outbreak of the war in 1914 compelled him to enlist and within a week after his final game for Blackburn, he was a gunner on the front for the Royal Field Artillery. At 29 years of age, he was killed on 14th October 1917 at the Battle of Passenchendaele. Such is his legendary status, a group of Belgian Blackburn Rovers fans commemorated the striker on the 90th anniversary of his death at his grave located nears Ypres.

4. Vivian Woodward

Woodward was the Lionel Messi of his day when organised soccer began to gain prominence in Britain. Spells with Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea proved fruitful as he yielded 93 goals in 238 appearances. Having also appeared for the English nation side, it was his participation with the Great Britain team in the 1908 and 1912 which garnered him great fame. He captained the team to the gold medal on each occasion.

Woodward enlisted in the army and missed a huge portion of Chelsea’s 1914-15 season. However he was given special leave to attend his team’s FA Cup final but unfortunately Sheffield United beat the Pensioners 3-0 on the day. Having returned to the front for a second spell, his leg was badly injured by a stray grenade in 1916 and thus had to return home for the final time, with his footballing careers also in tatters. Despite being maimed, Vivian lived on until he was 74 years of age in 1954 and he will always be remembered as one of the pioneers of the beautiful game.

5. Walter Tull

Tull was the inaugural man who broke so much new ground up until his premature death in 1918 at the age of 29. The second ever mixed-heritage football player to ply his trade professionally in the English First Division, after signing with Tottenham Hotspur. However he has a short and unhappy time there as racial abuse seriously affected him and thus he moved to Northampton Town for a ”substantial fee.” In 3 years, he accumulated 110 games with the Cobblers, scoring 9 goals in that time-span.

When war broke out in 1914, he was the first Northampton player to enlist in the armed forces. Despite even more racial problems in the British army, he was promoted to Second Lieutenant, the first mixed-race men to do so. Having heroically fought through the Battle of the Somme, he met his end on 25th March 1918. He was gunned down in the Pas-de-Calais but his body was never recovered from that gruesome scene. Tull was recognised for his outstanding efforts to his country as he was posthumously awarded the military cross for his bravery on the front.

6. Fritz Walter

For anyone who thinks football’s a waste of time, tell them it saved this man’s life. Walter was enjoying a brilliant career with Kaiserslautern in the Bundesliga before having been conscripted to join the Nazi forces in 1942, where the forward was to fight for Germany.

However near the end of the war, he ended up being a POW after being captured by Hungarian soldiers. He wowed the guards with his exceptional skill but the time then came for him to be moved to another camp in the Soviet Union, where life expectancy was just 5 years and the guards would be more brutal.

However a football-loving Hungarian guard intervened at the last second and saved his life by aiding him in getting him out of the transfer to the Union and thus being fortuitously released from prison.

On his return to football, he restarted his career with Kaiserslautern and he retired from them in 1959 having scored a mind-boggling 380 goals in 411 appearances. Walter also won the German championship twice with his hometown club.  He also captained West Germany to their first World Cup victory in 1954, ironically over Hungary, the same nation where the guards came from who let him free.

7. Harry Goslin

A folklore legend for Bolton Wanderers, Goslin was also a sensational patriot to his country when he gave his life to the Allies during the Second World War. On turning professional in 1930, he joined the northern club for just £25 and he enjoyed nine years with the club scoring 23 goals in 306 appearances despite playing as a defender all his life. Before war broke out in 1939, he announced Bolton’s entire team would be joining the army.

When it did, Goslin led his team-mates in the fight against the Germans and their allies.  Within three years, his leadership qualities on the pitch transferred onto the battle field as he became sergeant in 1942. He also played a pivotal role in the withdrawal of troops from Dunkirk in that same year. However while traversing through Italy, he was seriously wounded by a mortar explosion under a tree. He bravely battled to live on four days after suffering the injury but lost his life on 18th December 1943.

8. Fred Griffiths

This Welsh goalkeeper enjoyed a long and varied career having been on the books of 12 clubs as well as earning 2 caps for his country. Having the honour of playing for big London clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, he was renowned for being a reliable man to have between the sticks but unfortunately this never translated into any major trophies.

After his retirement, he spent his time training local teams near his home in Presteigne, Wales. And despite being one year above the conscription age, (41 was the conscription age at the time) he felt compelled to fight for his country’s future when he enlisted with the British army in 1915.

He became sergeant within his rank, the 15th Battalion of Sherwood Foresters, before dying at the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 at the age of 44.

9. Lev Yashin

Widely regarded as the best goalkeeper all-time, Yashin made his name Dynamo Moscow and the old Soviet Union during a trophy-laden 20 year career with each team. At just 12 years of age, in 1941, he began helping the Soviet Union in the only way he could in the war effort. Too young to fight on the front, the teenager went to work in the factories manufacturing arms, vehicle parts and more.

Yashin was finally able to begin his professional footballing career as a 21-year-old with Dynamo Msocow in 1950. With them he won the Soviet Top League 5 times and the Soviet Cup 3 times. He also helped him national team to continental glory by winning the 1964 European Championship with them as well capturing gold at the Olympics.

He made 324 appearances at club level, 78 at international level and was known as the ”Black Spider” around the world due to his amazing ability to save virtually goal-bound shots. His death came prematurely in 1990 when during relatively simple surgery on his knee went wrong and he passed away due to complications.

10. Ferenc Puskas

The Real Madrid and Hungary legend was remembered as a goalscoring phenomenon during his footballing career. However due to Hungarian law, he was conscripted to join their army and although never participating in infantry work, he rose through the ranks to become major. It was a combination of his rank and his footballing prowess while playing in the armed forces that earned him his lifelong nickname ”The Galloping Major.”

Puskas is revered around the world for scoring an incredible 157 goals in just 182 appearances for Los Blancos, where he additionally won 4 Pichichi awards during his Spanish stay. And he also netted 84 strikes in 85 games for the Hungarian national team in a truly remarkable playing career.

Having taken various coaching positions ranging from North America, Asia, Europe and even Australia, he briefly coached his nation during a four game spell. Puskas died on 17th November 2006 at the age of 79.

11. Ted Drake

The diminutive English striker’s playing career began with Southampton but blossomed with Arsenal during his 14 years in football. Scoring a handsome sum of 47 goals in 71 games for the Saints, he captured the eye of the Londoners, who signed the forward in 1934. He scored 124 goals in 167 games while at Highbury, with his finest game coming against Aston Villa. Drake netted 7 times in that single match, which is a record that still stands today in England’s top flight.

As well as winning two First Division titles with the north London side, he added a FA Cup medal to his collection. After periods in management at the helm of Hendon and Reading, he took charge of Chelsea Football club and guided them to their first ever championship in 1956. The end of his time at Arsenal was severely disrupted due to his participation with the Royal Air Force which restricted him to a handful of games during the war years. His playing career was prematurely ended in 1945 due to a spinal injury.

12. Stan Mortenson

Although this particular striker managed to only garner one trophy in his 21 year career, he was the man who led his country during a very difficult post-war era as well as being ridiculously lucky to have been able to play the game once you learn his story. Before he became the prolific striker that he is famous for, he began his wartime efforts in 1939 as a wireless operator.

Mortenson was involved in a disastrous air crash that same year when every single passenger onboard was killed except Stan. However even despite the injuries he sustained, he managed to carve himself a career out of professional football in the post-war era. Stints at Southport, Bath City and Lancaster City followed a golden spell that he enjoyed with Blackpool.

He scored 197 goals in 317 games for the side in a 14 year period (the first four of those being slightly disrupted by war commitments.) He also netted a remarkable 23 goals in 25 appearance for England as he helped put a smile back on his nation’s face after a long, depressing war.

13. Willie Thornton

Considered to be one of the greatest Scottish players of all time, Thornton was a prolific striker for Rangers during his 18 year career at the club, which book-ended his involvement in World War II. Debuting for the Glaswegian giants in 1936 at just 16 years of age, the striker enjoyed adulation from fans for his lethal touch in front of goal.  However his fledgling career was brought to a temporary end in 1939 due to outbreak of the war.

He joined the Scottish Horse regiment and as a result of his “acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire,” he was awarded a Military Medal for helping to defeat Germany on the battlefield. By the time of his retirement in 1954, he was well-known throughout Britain and he finished his career with 138 goals in a mere 219 appearances. He then became a manager of Dundee United and Partick Thistle for 5 and 9 years respectively where he had modest success.

14. Wilf Mannion

”The Golden Boy” as he was known as in his native Middlesbrough due to his streak of blond hair, endured a mixed time on Teeside but nothing negative can be said about his commitment to the British cause during the Second World War.  The inside forward played more than 350 times for Boro, scoring 99 times in his long career there but went on strike and retired in a bid to finally leave the club.

Although the reasons for his discontent are unknown, his dedication while playing was second to none, as he was with England, netting 11 times in his 26 appearances for his nation. He joined the war effort in 1940 and he was a key solider in the Siege of Sicily that occurred in 1943. Shortly after that he was allowed to return home and continue his footballing career. After the war, he joined Hull City and Cambridge United and perhaps his finest moment was being a member of the English squad for the 1950 World Cup in a career particularly special due to it’s amazing 24 year longevity.

15. Frank Buckley

Buckley took a more unusual route as he created a unique career in the game. Having joined the army as a teenager, he left by the time he was 20 in order to forge a football life for himself. He played for Manchester United, Manchester City and Aston Villa before the outbreak of World War I. He was commander of the Football Battalion for a large of the war and thanks to his previous stint in the armed forces, he rose through the ranks rapidly and eventually became a major.

However he was badly injured in the Battle of the Somme and returned to restart his football career. With the war finished, he managed many football clubs including Leeds United where he introduced the legendary Jack Charlton to his first taste of professional action. Overall, he spent nearly 50 years in his long and distinguished life in football.

16. William Angus

The word hero was conjured up exactly for this incredible man. With his footballing career cut short due to the declaration of war in Europe in 1914, Angus wasted no time in signing up and he was immediately mobilised out to the action. Before his war efforts, he played once for Celtic but left them for lack of first team opportunities. He was the captain Wilshaw Thistle when war was announced and within weeks, he had joined the 8th Royal Scots regiment.

His finest hour came a year after joining when he saw a comrade lying in a trench within the range of their enemies. Angus fearlessly went to save his fellow soldier and received 40 wounds for his courageous act, losing his left eye and part of his foot being his most serious injuries. Two months later as he was recovering, he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award possible for a British solider.

17. Bernard Vann

Another man who was equally brave in the face of danger, Vann was also a recipient of the prestigious Victoria Cross for his valiant accomplishments while defending his nation. His football career was all over by 1907 at the tender age of 20 but he made appearances for Burton United and Derby County in his brief time on the football field. He then ordained to become a minister from the famous-named Jesus College but his chaplaincy was cut short due to be called upon for the war effort.

Having become a Lieutenant General, he earned his Victoria Cross by leading his subordinate troops into the face of death as his leadership qualities shone through impeccably. Rushing up to the line of fire, he surprised several German soldiers and disarmed three of them as he led his regiment on a crucial advance on enemy territory. However Vann missed the end of the war by a mere 4 weeks as he was shot by a sniper rifle in France on 3rd October 1918.

18. Billy Gerrish

William ”Billy” Gerrish was yet another tragic story which began on the football field and ended when he was fighting the front. An extremely promising young striker for Aston Villa, he scored on his debut against Arsenal and added to that with an even more impressive achievement by claiming a hat-trick against Chelsea. In his first season with the club, he helped them to win the First Division.

However he failed to live up to his full potential when World War I broke out and he was to join the British army. Having enlisted in the Footballers Battaltion Middlesex regiment, he lasted less than two years abroad. He was killed on 8th August 1916. In all, there were 40 other Aston Villa players who died as a result of their participation in that war, one of the highest of all the clubs in Britain.

19. Charlie Buchan

This beanpole striker was another goalscoring phenomenon who had his magnificent career due to his country’s involvement in keeping the peace abroad. Despite missing a fair chunk of his 14 years on the books at Sunderland, he racked up an impressive 209 goals in 370 appearances with the Black Cats.

He enlisted in the war effort as soon as it began in 1914 and by the time of Britain’s victory in 1918, he had been promoted to second lieutenant in the Sherwood Foresters regiment. He was also a recipient of the Military Medal. On his return to football, he rejoined Sunderland until 1925 when he transferred to Arsenal.

With them, he was equally prolific, scoring 49 times during the 102 games that he donned the famous red shirt. He wrote one of the first football manual’s, was a distinguished journalist and commentated on matches for the BBC for the remainder of his life up until his peaceful death in 1960.

20. Nikita Simonyan

This legendary Russian football man was too young to actively take part in World War II. However when the soldiers rolled into his town, he helped ease the pressure and stress of war life by organising football matches. The military personnel thoroughly enjoyed these breaks from the endless killings and Simonyan then realised football would become a focal point for the remainder of his life.

He has become one of the most successful Russian footballers of all-time by winning the golden boot in the Soviet Top League on three occasions.  He won the Soviet Top League seven times in total as a player and manager of clubs as well as on the victorious side of the Soviet Cup six times. His career reached its pinnacle when he was part of the Soviet Union team which won the 1956 Olympic gold medal in football. And just earlier this year, his efforts of nullifying tension between Russians and Armenians were rewarded by the President of Armenia during a ceremony.

You can contribute to this list in the comments below or by emailing us. If you like this list, you will find more football lists here.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Barring an almighty flop, England will qualify for Euro 2012. They’ll do so in marginally convincing fashion, maybe even topping a group which while not robust, provided more challenging than first thought. Now, England manager Fabio Capello said he knew Tuesday’s performance against Wales would be sub-par from watching the players warm up.

No-one’s championing the current incarnation of the Three Lions as potential champions. Journalists and pundits alike admit their faith has been misplaced in the past and refuse to be fooled into again predicting glory for Blighty because, well, there’s no reason to.

England’s “golden generation” is marking out the last days of an ultimately disappointing series of International careers. This qualifying campaign is likely to be their last. The next major tournament, Euro 2012, will also probably be their last. They’ll probably lose that tournament too, because Spain, Germany and the Netherlands are just that good. Winning won’t be the only way the tournament is considered a success – even a fighting semi-final loss could be seen as progress.

They also won’t win because of the simple fact England will not win anything until their Golden Generation has been removed almost entirely from the International picture. They have been enabled by Fabio Capello, who after insisting upon his appointment he would pick the best and most in-form players, has reneged and opted for the same old.

Given his reluctance to play England’s best goalkeeper at the World Cup due to a self-inflicted lack of competitive experience, this means should the Italian actually want to win the European Football Championships, he should drop the ageing stalwarts of England’s calamitous noughties. If he fears the consequences of playing untested players in major competitions, he should blood them now and embrace the possibilities ofered by English youth.

Perhaps he has started to do so already – through it’s unclear whether through necessity or choice. Joe Hart is unquestionably the best ‘keeper in England, if not one of the top five in world football. Gary Cahill looks almost certain to usurp Rio Ferdinand’s position alongside the GG’s leader, John Terry. When health allows, Andy Carroll and Jack Wilshere are the vanguard of the next generation. Chris Smalling’s debut at right-back was impressive last week and he coped well with Gareth Bale on Tuesday.

The world and his dog already know what the Golden Generation can – or can’t – do. If they were able to win a major championship, they would have done so already – or at least performed better. For nearly a decade England has struggled to combine their best two midfielders (Gerrard and Lampard) and boasted forwards unable to wreak the required havoc with inconsistent or inadequate supply. The Lions, while occasionally displaying flashes of individual skill, have been far less than the sum of their parts.

Although the season is young, the English players impressing most in the Premier League are of a different age to the current core of the team. It may be that generational change for its own sake isn’t the catalyst for change, but form. Looking through the International lens, these players are unburdened by numerous England let-downs and deserve a chance to grow together as a unit before the Golden Generation exits in a series of faux, enforced and never-ending retirements brought on by a Quarter-final capitulation in Poland or the Ukraine.

This is hardly a revelatory argument. Capello’s biggest contribution to English football could be to spot this fool’s gold for what it is and create a new legacy for the country with a generation whose players could become (or already are) World Class, led by Hart, Smalling, Wilshere, Phil Jones and (gasp!) even Carroll. It is time to forcibly – and perhaps conspicuously and even painfully – retire those English player who have proven themselves ineffective on the International stage.

When winning is at stake, there is little room for sentiment.

Matthew Wood contributes regularly to Soccerlens.  You can find more of his analysis and commentary at Balanced Sports, or follow him on Twitter @balanced_sports

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

With the domestic leagues finished and only the Champions League final to play on Saturday, football fans across Europe are probably feeling a little blue this week. Work rumbles on, the newest Icelandic ash cloud threatens to disrupt our holidays and, most importantly, the new season won’t get underway until August!

But fear not! This could be one of the most exciting transfer windows for English clubs transfers in years, with clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool all looking to strengthen their squads considerably for the demands of an increasingly competitive domestic league. Here’s a look at some of the key transfers shaping up – make sure to add your own predictions in the comments!

The big three at this early stage of the summer are Atletico Madrid’s pair David De Gea and Sergio Aguero and Benfica’s left-back Fabio Coentrao.

Manchester United to sign David De Gea

Manchester United are painfully aware of criticism that, although they won their record 19^th Premier League title, it was with what some sections of the media regard as their weakest squad in years. They have rightly prioritised the replacement of retiring goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar. While Sir Alex Ferguson had all but confirmed the £18 million signing of De Gea, reports yesterday from De Gea’s representatives have suggested that a deal is far from being done.

United have also been linked with a move for Raphael Varane with the deal expected to be decided one way or the other in the next couple of weeks, and the Red Devils are also in the market for a creative midfielder, with Ashley Young, Samir Nasri and Luka Modric all mentioned. My money is on a younger player, so Nasri might fit the bill unless Fergie pulls a coup and brings in someone like Eden Hazard.

Manchester City, Chelsea and Real Madrid chase Sergio Aguero

Sergio Aguero

The pressure is on Manchester City’s Roberto Mancini to challenge for the Premier League title next season, so big things can be expected of them.

Following Aguero’s statement that he wants to leave Atletico, the smart money is on him moving to the blue half of Manchester, possibly to replace Carlos Tevez, with Sheikh Mansour’s deep pockets capable of meeting the transfer fee and Aguero’s wage demands.

Potential rivals for his signature are Chelsea, with Roman Abramovich seemingly ready to splash the cash in a bid to sit atop the Premier League again; Real Madrid, who have been tipped as a likely destination by those close to the Argentine.

Barcelona and Juventus have also been linked although smart money is on one of these three clubs signing him this summer.

Liverpool to sign Fabio Coentrao?

Fabio Coentrao

Fabio Coentrao, the highly-rated Portuguese, also seems set to seal a big-money move, though his destination is far more difficult to predict. Conflicting reports coming out of Portugal indicate Real Madrid and Liverpool as front-runners for his signature, with both clubs apparently having offers of around £25 million accepted. With Marcelo currently unshakeable in Real’s left-back position, however, the guarantee of first-team football at Liverpool may be the deciding factor.

Who’s the next Chelsea manager?

As well as players moving on, we will also see a couple of managerial vacancies filled. With Antonio Conte taking over at Juventus, there is now only really only one job up for grabs that will be a guaranteed talking point when it’s eventually filled and that’s…West Ham! Actually, it’s not. Sorry West Ham fans. It’s Chelsea, of course, and they do not seem to be short of options.

Guus Hiddink, who made a good impression with his FA Cup-winning six-month stint at Stamford Bridge in 2009 is the bookies’ favourite after admitting that he misses day-to-day club management in his international capacity with Turkey. Other names in the frame are Manuel Pellegrini, who continually crops up as a candidate for big teams needing a manager despite his never having won a major domestic or European trophy; Marco van Basten, same story and, in what would be THE story of the summer, Jose Mourinho, who could be tempted back to his former club after a reported bust-up with Cristiano Ronaldo.

And this is without mentioning Arsenal’s rebuilding efforts and Harry Redknapp’s challenge of injecting fresh blood into a Spurs side that looked increasingly jaded as the season drew to a close. What are your transfer tips this summer? I, for one, can’t wait to see what happens.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Out of the top leagues in Europe (Spain, England, Italy, Germany and France), Barcelona have scored the most goals and maintained highest goals per game ratio. They have scored 67 goals in their 21 La Liga games so far this season – an average of 3.19 goals per game. Barca have only conceded 11 goals in their matches; roughly one goal every two games.

Over in England, English Premier League leaders Manchester United have scored 54 goals in 24 games and conceded 22 at 2.25 goals a game. United’s Bulgarian striker has found his form this season and finds himself on top of the 2010/2011 Premier League top scorers’ sheet with 19 goals. That is great but that is also two shy of Barca’s top scorer, Lionel Messi.

In Italy, AC Milan are the Serie A leaders and they have only managed 39 goals while conceding 18 in 23 games at 1.66 goals per game. Inter Milan have also scored 39 at 1.77 goals per game are currently at the third position with one game in hand – they have conceded 24.

It seems like everything has been turned on its head in Germany, where Borussia Dortmund lead the pack after 20 games. Dortmund are also the top scorers with 46 goals at 2.3 goals per game and they have conceded 12. Bayern Munich are a staggering 14 points behind the Borussians and have scored 40 goals at 2 goals a game.

Whereas in France after 21 games, Lille top the Ligue 1 charts. They have scored 39 goals at 1.86 goals per game and conceded 21.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Barcelona’s great run of form almost came to a “Messi” end on the weekend after the Catalan club almost failed to show up against Osasuna! The La Liga champions had believed that their game had been postponed until Sunday because of the wildcat strike by Spanish Air Traffic Controllers.

However, and much to Pep Guardiola’s dismay, La Blaugrana found that the game had not been re-scheduled, and they had to leave the Catalan capital by high speed train with just hours to spare before kickoff.

In a mad dash, Barcelona’s first team high tailed it to Zaragoza by train. They left their home city at 14:00 with the match scheduled to kick off at 19:00. Fortunately, the game was put back to 19:45, as Lionel Messi and Co. only arrived at the Reyno De Navarra at 19:00, leaving the travel weary team just 45 minutes to limber up for a crucial encounter.

Osasuna had seemingly refused to move the game to Sunday following the strike with the Zaragoza based team, releasing a statement that said:

“Osasuna understands there is nothing that could justify the change of the day and time set for the match, according to current regulations.”

Barcelona also issued a statement on their website;

“expressing outrage at the Spanish Football Federation because their indecision has caused great harm to the sporting interests, the image and the fans of this club”.

Barca vice-president Jordi Cardoner was then quoted in the Spanish media as saying:

“The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) had assured us that if the air space wasn’t opened the match would be postponed.

“Obviously there has been a misunderstanding…”

It would seem that the indecision by the Spanish FA to step in and move Saturday’s fixtures to Sunday would have upset many teams, Barcelona included, but this only served to fire up a team who are already playing the game on another level completely.

Lionel Messi scored his 27th goal in 21 games as Barcelona served up yet another exhibition in devastatingly beautiful football.

Before the weekend, Osasuna had the longest unbeaten run at home in La Liga with Barcelona only having won there once in the last five seasons. So it came as no surprise, especially with La Blaugrana’s travel arrangements, to see Los Rojillos dictate the early play.

Los Rojillos should have had an early penalty when Pedro seemed to block Juan Fran in the box as the Osasuna winger was about to run free, but the referee waved play-on, much to the dismay of the baying home crowd who screamed foul.

That was to be Osasuna’s missed opportunity as Lionel Messi finally got up running. The little Argentinean put a superb ball through for Pedro on 26 with the right winger staying calm under pressure to find the back of the net.

After forcing all the early play, Los Rojillos had nothing to show for it, and all of sudden, Barcelona started knocking the ball around like they were the only team on the pitch.

Messi added the goal his play deserved after David Villa sent the little maestro through. His exquisite first touch set him up perfectly as he found the back of the net with his next.

Space was opening up all over the pitch as Osasuna probed for a way back in, but like any great counter attacking boxer, Barca kept finding a way through Los Rojillos wayward attacks. David Villa really should have wrapped the game up after Messi returned the earlier favour, but the Spanish striker missed the chance to give his team breathing space as the game closed out.

With the embers of the game dying out, Lionel Messi broke into the box creating all kinds of havoc amongst the Osasuna back four with Sergio duely obliging by whipping the playmaker down for a penalty.

The little man from Santa Fe dusted himself down and duly slotted the spot kick home to leave his team with an unassailable 3-0 lead as Ricardo dove the wrong way.

This victory for Barcelona was a huge one. Osasuna are always a stubborn opponent and would be one of the last teams you would want to play against ill prepared. The fact that Barcelona travelled 195 miles by train and coach, due to the air strike, in five hours and barely had time to warm up should not be lost on anyone and this result will be seen as the dot on the exclamation point after their incredible 5-0 win over Real Madrid last weekend.

In time, Barcelona’s run of results (3-1 vs. Villareal, 5-0 vs. Real Madrid and 3-0 vs. Osasuna) could be looked upon as the most important results of what promises to be an incredible season regardless of planes, trains, automobiles or referees.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

La Liga and the Premier League are, in most quarters, rightly recognised as the two strongest leagues in the world. Perhaps this is tough on Serie A; but it is no secret that most of the world stars occupy the two leagues in question.

It would be fair to say that, at this moment, the two best players in the world are Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid and Lionel Messi of Barcelona. The former sitting at the top of the goal scoring charts in La Liga with 14 goals in 12 games, the latter with 13. Spain may have the best national squad in the world and the best players but that does not make the best league.

It is no secret that coveted World Cup sensation Mesut Özil had a long list of admirers this summer before he eventually chose to sign for Real Madrid; whether this was due to the pull of the climate, or the money, or whether rising stars believe La Liga is stronger than the Premier League is debatable.

David Beckham once famously said, when you leave Manchester United, the only way is down, the only team who are on par are Real Madrid. That said, this is very much a British opinion; perhaps the pinnacle is to play for Manchester United. It is the same reason Cristiano Ronaldo left for Madrid, for any young Brazilian, Spanish, Portuguese player, the pinnacle is to play for Real.

Following Barcelona’s 8-0 drubbing of Almeria and Madrid’s 5-1 thrashing of Athletic Bilbao, it has been questioned whether the top two, who already lead the chasing pack by 7 Points, are ‘that good’ or whether the teams below are not up to much. Almeria do sit second bottom, that said, Chelsea or Manchester United would not go to Wolves and win 8-0, I would put my house on it.

Valencia are somewhat the third ‘power’ of La Liga, yet they finished last season 25 points adrift of second place; to add to their woes they lost their two best players in the summer, ironically one to the Premier League. They have made a decent start domestically this year but that does not hide the fact they have failed to make any real impact in the Champions League, either this season or previously. Although they have qualified for the latter stages after a thumping win on matchday 5, they will not be vastly feared and were defeated by a depleted and off colour Manchester United on their own patch earlier this season.

 The strength of each league is perhaps best tested by the Champions League. In the campaign of 2008-2009, four of the eight quarter finalists and three out of the four semi-finalists were English. This season, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United have all qualified for the latter stages with Arsenal likely to follow suit. Aside from Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia, there is no other Spanish representative.

 Below that are a crop of teams such as Villarreal, Athletico Madrid and Sevilla, who have failed to make any impact in the Europa League (where Villarreal, along with Getafe, are struggling in very mediocre groups this season), let alone the Champions League. The English equivalent of perhaps Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool; I will let you make your own conclusion on which crop is stronger. Tottenham and Manchester City both genuinely believe they have a chance of winning the title this term and don’t forget it wasn’t long ago that Liverpool won the Champions League and narrowly missed out on the Premier League title, that is a tribute to the strength of the league itself. The truth is, beyond the top five or six teams, the standard in La Liga is not and never will be up to the standard of the Premier League. Sevilla President Jose Maria del Nido admitted:

 “Sevilla are championing the fight for a better deal. Look at the Premier League results. Manchester United win 2-0, Chelsea lose 1-0 and Tottenham beat Arsenal at home. That is a league! Not Almeria losing 8-0 or Athletic Bilbao losing 5-1 at the Bernabeu. That is not a real competition”.

The inability of English Clubs to spend their way out of sight, bar of course Manchester City, has kept the league interesting. If a player coveted by the Premier League wished to move, he could realistically compete for trophies at Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool. The same cannot be said of La Liga.

Despite his heroics against Liverpool for Manchester United, Diego Forlan had a nightmare in England. Whether he wasn’t ready or whether the fact he scores goals for fun in Spain may speak volumes and remember Frédéric Kanouté, average at Tottenham, great at Sevilla. Giuseppe Rossi, unspectacular in England, quite the opposite in Spain. The fact I haven’t needed to mention the stars that occupy the Premier League is an important point in itself. Wayne Rooney, Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres, and Carlos Tevez would all feature in most people’s list of the world’s top 10 strikers.

This season and certainly next, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City will all contest the Premier League trophy. In La Liga, it will be one from two; outside Barcelona and Real Madrid, La Liga does not provide a platform to win trophies or create excitement amongst the public. Nearly two-thirds of all football fans in Spain support one of the big two and the rest distantly follow one of them, it reminds me of a league closer to home, dare I say Scotland.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Chelsea have made approximately 50 signings since the take-over of Roman Abramovich. About £470 million (and William Gallas) has been spent on these players – that averages out at just over £9 million (and one of Gallas’ hands) per player.

In this time Chelsea have had some really disappointing players, especially when you consider how much have been spent on some of these players. The likes of Quaresma and Mineiro will not be considered for this list because they have not taken up much time, not money.

Del Horno's challenge on Messi which saw him sent from the pitch and straight to this list

Taking money spent, time consumed, bad memories and general disappointment into account, here is a list of the 10 worst signings of Abramovich’s ownership:

10 – Neil Sullivan. He was free, he was only at the club for a year, he only played a handful of games, he was better than Ambrosio but he was also not very good. His inclusion in this list may seem a bit harsh but most of what I remember about Sullivan at Chelsea is his letting in of Reyes’ second goal in this clip.

9 – Asier Del Horno. This one is also mainly based on a bad memory (right). Leaving aside his red-card against Barcelona (which may have been unlucky, but was still stupid), he still was really not worth £8 million. Despite the fact that most of this money was paid back to the club when Valencia signed him a year later, he still must go down as a bad signing.

8 – Steve Sidwell, Claudio Pizarro and Tal Ben Haim. All of these players came on free transfers to Chelsea in the summer of 2007 and it was not really a surprise when none of them did too well. They were soon out of the door and forgotten. Things may have been different if Mourinho, the manager who signed them, had remained at Chelsea, but he didn’t, and they soon followed.

7 – Glen Johnson. His inclusion is slightly higher than it may have been mainly because he now plays for Liverpool. All the same, Glen Johnson was a defensive liability  for Chelsea – as he often is for Liverpool and England nowadays. He scored a few good goals for Chelsea and seemed like he might have a good future because of his age. This hope soon flew out the window along with Johnson’s starting-place when the reliable Paulo Ferreira took his place.

6 – Deco. Deco had a fantastic start to his Chelsea career but this was, by far, his peak for Chelsea. He had his moments even after the initial promising first month, but these moments were rare. The fact that we all knew what he was capable of made it even more disappointing and frustrating.

5 – Mateja Kezman. Number 5 is £5.5 million Mateja Kezman who was lucky to score more then 5 goals for Chelsea. He had a most unremarkable season for Chelsea; luckily for him, this was forgotten because Chelsea won the Premier League. He came with a lot of expectation; his scoring record in the Netherlands was about the same as Ruud Van Nistelrooy. The highlight of his career at Chelsea was scoring the winner in the League Cup Final; nevertheless, he was gone a within a year after arriving.

4 – Juan Sebastian Veron. The excitement surrounding his transfer to Chelsea was not as large as the anticipation of Manchester United supporters when they signed him 2 years earlier for £30 million. Claudio Ranieri was probably the most excited about the signing. After scoring on his debut, and Ranieri describing him as the best midfielder in the world, excitement grew. He, like many others in this list, lasted for 1 poor season.

3 – Adrian Mutu. Nearly £16 million was spent on this Romanian. He had a really good start for Chelsea but, after scoring 4 goals in his first 3 games, his form dipped considerably. The next season the club sacked him after he was found cocaine-positive. He is not higher in this list because of the fact that he has since been ordered to pay Chelsea Football Club back most of the money that was spent on him.

Only one man can save SWP's blushes

2 – Shaun Wright-Phillips. If SWP had broken through the youth system or been signed for a couple of million pounds from a lower league then he wouldn’t be in this list. The fact was that he was being chased by some of the biggest clubs in Europe and he cost £21 million. Despite lots of expectation and excitement, SWP’s Chelsea career, a bit like his England career, never really took shape.

1 – Andriy Shevchenko. He’s a predictable number 1, but you just can’t argue with it. He was expensive, there was so much hype over his arrival, he’d been, reportedly, courted by the club for years, he stayed for a bit too long and, at £30 million, he remains Chelsea’s record signing. Also, like Mutu, he actually had an acceptable start – scoring on his debut in the Community Shield. If you forget forget his previous reputation, the transfer fee and the hype surrounding his arrival, his Chelsea career wasn’t too dreadful. Take background information away and he was just an average player who just couldn’t quite cut it at Chelsea… comparable to Franco di Santo or Scott Sinclair.

You can’t though. Shevchenko has been Chelsea’s worst investment since Roman Abramovich took over the club… most probably Chelsea’s worst investment of all time.

Also See: Chelsea’s Greatest Signings Under Roman Abramovich.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Join celebrated football pundit, author, radio show host and DJ Andy Brassell every Monday on the Soccerlens Show.

In Episode 26, Andy Brassell talks about the second legs of the semifinals of Europe’s biggest and second biggest club competition – a.k.a. the Champions League and the Europa League.

Inter Milan and Bayern Munich have marched on to the finals defeating Barcelona and Lyon respectively. On the other hand, Atletico Madrid and Fulham defeat Liverpool and Hamburg SV to land a place in the final. Of course we all know, Inter and Bayern will play the Champions League final and Atletico and Fulham will play the Europa League final.

Andy talks about the heroics of the Inter Milan squad who defended their 3-1 lead from the first leg really well and how Ivica Olic’s second leg hat-trick in the Lyon home ground helped Bayern cruise through. In the second tier of Europe, Atletico Madrid lost 2-1 at Anfield but they got the all important away goal after going 2-0 down in the extra time.

You can watch the show below or by following this link:

Make sure you send in your feedback and questions through tv@soccerlens.com and Andy will feature the best of them in next week’s show.

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From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Join celebrated football pundit, author, radio show host and DJ Andy Brassell every Monday on the Soccerlens Show.

Episode 25 brings us the action in the Premier League where Arsenal completely lose their grip on the title completely, Chelsea slip-up against Tottenham and Manchester United grab a late goal in the Manchester derby.

Then Andy takes the discussion over to Portugal where Benfica has created a six point difference between themselves and second place Braga with just three games to go. Unless there is a catastrophic upset, Benfica are set to win the title with ease.

Whereas the Icelandic volcanic ash has affected the travelling semifinalists of the Champions League – namely: Barcelona and Lyon. The visitors have to take long and tiring journeys via buses to get to the venues hundreds of miles away. The over-pampered players might find that affecting their fitness levels and their performances on the field.

You can watch the show below or by following this link:

Make sure you send in your feedback and questions through tv@soccerlens.com and Andy will feature the best of them in next week’s show.

Subscribe to The Soccerlens Show

You can subscribe to the Soccerlens Show RSS feed to be automatically notified when there’s a new show, and you can also subscribe to Soccerlens’ Youtube channel.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

One year ago, an unusually reckless observer suggested that Shakhtar Donetsk, pride of Ukraine’s coal-mining Donbass region, were digging themselves into a hole at a rate which would have had Alexey Stakhanov going weak at the knees. One UEFA Cup triumph, one new stadium which ranks as one of Europe’s finest, and a raft of positive headlines from the worldwide sporting press later, and the gig is up. Everything is just fine at Shakhtar.

Or not. Last year I floated the idea that Shakhtar, thanks mainly to the astute backing of Rinat Akhmetov, the richest man in Ukraine, had largely immunized themselves against the difficulties faced by the majority of other football clubs in the country – and were instead, for no obvious reason, apparently set on creating their own unique set of issues.

To their considerable credit, some of these have now been fixed. In particular, the inspirational Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu, in charge since 2004 and the architect of three Ukrainian league titles, was finally offered a new contract towards the end of Shakhtar’s successful European campaign after some completely unnecessary dithering by the club’s hierarchy, who were rumoured to have been winking in the direction of CSKA Moscow’s 47-day-wonder Juande Ramos. Perhaps they caught a bit of coal dust in their eyes.

Even more importantly, Akhmetov and particularly CEO Sergiy Palkin have loosened up considerably in the transfer market. The former had already admitted as far back as late 2007 that the club’s ’golden cage’ policy, which tied players to lucrative long-term contracts with only a minimal chance of being allowed to move on to bigger things, was in fact proving damaging both to team morale and Shakhtar’s prospects of attracting players of a higher level, but only recently has Akhmetov begun to put this insight into action.

In the past twelve months Dmytro Chygrynskiy (the new toast of Barcelona – at least in Cornellà-El Prat), Evhen Seleznyov (whose strangely familiar appearance could lead one to query Palkin’s movements in November 1984) and Brazilian striker Brandão (a monster probably hewn from inside a rock somewhere under the Donbass) have all been allowed to leave with minimal fuss.

The choice of players to replace them also tells its own story. Lucescu has explained that raising the number of Brazilian attacking midfielders at the club to six with the signings of Brazil U-20 internationals Alex Teixeira and the much-hyped Douglas Costa – leaving the squad more top-heavy than Victoria Zdrok in a concrete bikini – is a preliminary to departures in the summer, and Costa for one has already voiced his intention to move on to Western Europe within two years. It also seems unlikely that his former club Grêmio would have been at such pains to include a 20% sell-on fee in the deal if they thought that, like Brandão, Costa was being sentenced to seven years in Donetsk.

Shakhtar’s Paranoia

So problems solved? If only. Unfortunately, Shakhtar Syndrome has entered a new and particularly virulent phase. From reacting to the absence of issues by creating their own, the club has now moved onto imagining them. Put simply, both the club leadership and Lucescu have become ever more convinced of a grand conspiracy against them on the part of the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU), and although this mindset is not entirely new, recent months have seen Shakhtar’s paranoia become increasingly pronounced.

The specific grounds for complaint are these. The club has, in numerous public statements over the past year, alleged that the FFU is running a concerted campaign to stifle Shakhtar’s progress on behalf of their principal domestic rivals, Dynamo Kyiv. These statements are almost too numerous to mention, although some notable instances include Lucescu’s comments in the run-up to November’s match between the sides where he named three referees he felt could not be relied upon to adjucate fairly, and the club press office posting a video compilation on the Shakhtar website of allegedly dubious on-field decisions given to Dynamo.

The supposed motivation for this campaign is found in what should probably be called the Axis of Surkis. The FFU is headed by Grygoriy Surkis, the brother of Dynamo president Ihor Surkis, and the various ploys claimed to be in use include deliberately inconvenient fixture planning, misleading media pronouncements, and attempts to unsettle key employees. Above all, the association is alleged to exert undue influence on referees, who are appointed by an FFU committee.

None of these grievances are particularly convincing. What is claimed to be a general issue with the scheduling of fixtures is in fact a simmering resentment over the two consecutive away trips to Lviv with which Shakhtar opened their title defence last season. The longest domestic trip possible for a side from the south-east and a traditionally tough away venue, Shakhtar picked up just a point in from the games in Lviv and then won just once in their next eight league matches, effectively conceding their crown to Dynamo by Christmas.

However, there is little in the current season’s fixture list which immediately suggests anything untoward, and the fact that the club received permission to postpone a league match with Metalurh Zaporizhia to prepare for their European Super Cup match with Barcelona in late August would appear to support this contention.

Unfortunately, the Lviv issue is not the only problem Shakhtar have with the calendar. The club was also critical of the decision by the FFU to clear the league programme for three weeks at the start of November in order to allow the national team to prepare for the World Cup playoff with Greece, instead seeing it as a ruse to give Dynamo a breather before their next game – coincidentally against Shakhtar.

That the Greeks had themselves arranged a similar (although shorter) intermission in their own domestic competition was seemingly lost on all parties, with the controversy subsequently descending into political point-scoring with Akhmetov – not without some justification – criticising the FFU for setting excessive ticket prices for the playoff at the Donbass Arena before offering to buy them all up himself to sell on to supporters at a discount.

The flat rejection by Surkis and the FFU of Akhmetov’s proposal or to even reconsider their pricing policy, resulting in a stadium which was less than two-thirds full for Ukraine’s most important game in recent years, does not exactly reflect gloriously on the association. Neither does their bizarre decision shortly after the match to offer the national manager’s position to none other than Lucescu, who although to all appearances was initially intrigued by the prospect of forming half of Europe’s first simultaneous father-son national management arrangement (his son Răzvan is currently coach of Romania), soon turned the offer down.

That the FFU in these and other matters come across as self-serving is indisputable – a sell-out for the Greece game would have raked in around $4.5 million for the association, who had previously been content with $0.3 million from the qualifier against England in Dnipropetrovsk barely a month earlier. The proposal to Lucescu, who was hardly likely to accept, was also a cynical piece of work clearly designed to irritate Akhmetov, who came out of the affair with his public image much enhanced at the expense of the suits in Kyiv. But it is a big step to claim that this politicking is also reflected on the field of play, and that Shakhtar are getting a raw deal from referees as a result of influence from the FFU. The only way to settle the issue is to look at the numbers, rather than the words.

How can referees change games?

How can a referee directly influence a match? There appear to be two main possibilities – the distribution of red and yellow cards, and the awarding of penalties both for and against. If Shakhtar’s claims are to hold up, it should be shown that the team is either awarded disproportionally more red and yellow cards, fewer penalties for or more penalties against than the other teams in the division – or preferably all of the above.

One other factor remains to be considered. A necessary corollary of the theory has to be that if Dynamo are to benefit fully from Shakhtar’s treatment, they must receive the opposite – in other words disproportionally fewer red and yellow cards, more penalties for or fewer penalties against.

A total of 532 yellow cards have been distributed in the first half of the 2009-2010 Ukrainian Premier League season. Dynamo Kyiv have received 41 of these – the third-highest total in the division. Only Metalurh Zaporizhia (42) and Obolon Kyiv (47) have received more. But interestingly, Dynamo have yet to have a player sent off, despite the high number of yellows. Vorskla Poltava are the only other side to have escaped any dismissals, although they have only picked up 30 bookings and are a generally upstanding side shaped in the image of their manager Mykola Pavlov, a principled fellow who once refused to countenance the club chairman making any new signings until his existing players had been paid outstanding wages.

The most logical way to explain the discrepancy is that the high yellow tally is in fact caused by the absence of sendings-off, and that referees are dishing out yellows to Dynamo where other teams could expect reds. But how significant is this? It has long been accepted – rightly or wrongly – that big teams get big decisions, regardless of country. And whether the yellows are serving as substitutes for reds or not, the fact that the average Ukrainian side has only amassed 1.6 red cards this season would still leave Dynamo with a notably high tally of bookings. One would imagine that a team supposed to have the league’s referees in its pockets would be more effective in keeping the former’s cards in their own pockets.

The penalty issue is more clear-cut. Dynamo have been awarded five penalties so far this season. Although this is the second-highest total in the league, three other teams have been awarded four and every team has received at least one. Dynamo’s numbers are, in other words, not unreasonable for a team playing an attacking style of football in a league where referees are not undisposed to give spot-kicks. Penalties against, on the other hand, are conclusive. Two have been awarded to opposition sides against Dynamo, whereas Chernomorets Odessa have been penalised only once and four teams – or 25% of the division – have yet to concede any at all.

These figures suggest that, on the whole, Dynamo Kyiv are not being unduly favoured by Ukraine’s referees. The main question, however, is whether Shakhtar are being discriminated against. The application of the same metrics as above to their games thus far in the 2009-2010 season throws up some fascinating results.

Shakhtar Donetsk have received 26 yellow cards this season – the second-lowest number in the Ukrainian Premier League and only three more than the side with the lowest total, their city rivals Metalurh Donetsk. That Shakhtar are falling victim to the reverse of Dynamo’s supposed arrangement by receiving reds where other teams receive yellows can immediately be discounted, as just one player – Olexandr Chyzhov against Zakarpattia Uzhhorod – has been dismissed so far.

The average number of bookings per team in Ukraine this season stands at 33.25. This means that Shakhtar get almost 22% fewer yellow cards than the average Ukrainian team – and almost 37% fewer than Dynamo. This is without any statistically meaningful increase in the number of sendings-off.

An examination of the penalty figures is similarly enlightening. Shakhtar are one of the four teams noted above who have yet to have a penalty awarded against them in league competition this term. However, it becomes a different story in the opposition penalty area, where Shakhtar have so far received seven spot-kicks – more than any other side. Given that the average team in Ukraine has been given 2.7 penalties, Shakhtar are awarded over 2.5 more penalties than the average side. Moreover, in a surely decisive blow to the claims of conspiracy, Shakhtar’s settling-in process at the $400 million Donbass Arena was smoothed by five penalties in the first four games at their new home, which included three in the first two matches and one after only 18 minutes of the inaugural tie against Obolon.

It is largely irrelevant whether these specific spot-kicks were deserved or not (in fact, most seem justified on review). The point is that were referees really out to get Shakhtar, they would not be given in any case. That these penalties were awarded at all – and at a rate which considerably outweighs any other team in the league – supports the similarly favourable yellow-red card numbers and leads to only one sensible conclusion.

Shakhtar, contrary to the club’s insistence, are at present not being discriminated against by Ukraine’s referees. Dynamo, meanwhile, are not receiving anything from the officials that Shakhtar themselves are not also getting in abundance.

Of course, a more extensive analysis covering all the years since the foundation of the Ukrainian league in 1992 would give a clearer picture. As a sample, however, the data seems telling, as it covers the period in which Shakhtar’s complaints have been particularly voluble. So why, if there appears to be no conspiracy, are they so convinced that one exists?

Reasons behind the Shakhtar Syndrome

Shakhtar Syndrome arises from a unique conjunction of factors. Firstly, the club has always seen itself in the vanguard of a regional identity clash between the scheming politicians and aesthetes of Kyiv and the honest toilers of the Donbass mines. A need apparently still exists to measure and validate the success that Akhmetov has brought to the side against its equivalent from the capital, rather than simply enjoying it for its own sake, and imagined conspiracies and plots by competitors are a way of reinforcing the achievement and also giving it a positive moral spin.

The combination of this mindset with Lucescu’s own psychological peculiarities is a potent one. A marvellous coach with a truly admirable footballing philosophy, the Romanian also drags around an enormous persecution complex which both feeds into and is fed by the atmosphere of suspicion which surrounds him. The result, as should have become all too clear, is a kind of institutional paranoia which is distinctly unbecoming for a club with designs on cementing a place amongst Europe’s elite.

All of this is not to say that the Axis of Surkis is not, in fact, ensconced in a bunker under Kyiv plotting Shakhtar’s destruction. However, any evidence of this would have to be found somewhere other than refereeing decisions, and Shakhtar would be well advised to avoid attributing to intrigue what can reasonably be attributed to incompetence – which the FFU has in spades. The association has often behaved inappropriately, both towards Shakhtar and other teams, but there is simply no evidence that this is due to anything other than poor management.

Much of what the association does is handled in an inept and amateurish manner (just ask anybody who wanted to see the Greece game), with point-scoring and general machismo highest on the agenda, and as far as Shakhtar are concerned, there is little reason to believe that the FFU would be any more successful in orchestrating a grand conspiracy than they are in arranging anything else.

The ultimate irony in all this is that overall refereeing standards in Ukraine are in fact pretty poor. But it is disingenuous for Shakhtar to continue playing the role of put-upon victim when the numbers just do not add up. Or rather, they add up too well.

Shakhtar’s protestations of martyrdom are only confusing the issue and delaying the proper reform for which numerous clubs in the country have been crying out for years. And in truth, they should be above all this.

Despite their nouveau-riche image, Shakhtar boast a proud history and a promising future, have great supporters and a great stadium – and stand not only as a regional, but following their UEFA Cup win, also as a national symbol. Why moan about the ref?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News