Blast from the Past

Non-League Crawley Town take on Manchester United in the fifth round of the FA Cup this evening, a dream fixture for the eleven Crawley players that will take to Old Trafford, the Theatre of Dreams. It has been seventeen years since such a scenario was last seen, when Kidderminster Harriers were the team in mention, but how did the  Harriers famous FA Cup run fare?

They reached the fifth round in 1994 shooting to national fame after defeating Birmingham City 2–1 away and Preston North End 1–0 at home in the previous two rounds. They then lost narrowly (0–1) at home in front of nearly 8,000 to West Ham United.After Leaders of the GM Vauxhall Conference, sprang one of the big surprises of the FA Cup, dumping Preston North End out of this year's competition, harried out of it in front of a 7,000 full house at Aggborough as Delwyn Humphreys' second-half goal sealed the fate of the Third Division high-fliers.

The Harriers' manager Graham Allner said after the game,  'I just don't know how good this side is. We went to First Division Birmingham City and won at their ground and now we've beaten one of the most difficult sides in the Third Division.' 

Paul Davies who scored both the goals that beat Burton Albion in the 1987 4^th round replay, the last time Kidderminster won a place in the fifth round two goals among 243 in 513 games for his home-town club, who had in folklore his place already assured remarked 'I didn't think I'd have a moment to beat that, but this is starting to outstrip even the Trophy,' he said. 'I'm 33 now and I consider that I've had a good career, but I had never gone a long way in the Cup or won the Conference. If we are still in the same position at the end of the season, I could retire happily.'

Sadly the dream was to come to an end as 8,000 people saw West Ham beat Kidderminster 1-0 thanks to a Billy Bonds Goal, but the Kidderminster team were always to be fondly remembered for their cup round, now it is Crawley towns turn and all eyes will be on Old Trafford come teatime today.

Whatever Happened?

Every Friday we will be discovering what ever came of those promising young footballing sensations that failed to live up to the ultimate hype, descending into footballing wilderness. Our inaugural subject this week is Liam Miller. 

Liam Miller, now of Hibernian.

Miller was born in Cork, Ireland to a Scottish father and an Irish mother, and joined Celtic in 1997 as a youth player, and made his professional league debut against Dundee United on 21 May 2000. After six-month loan spell with AGF Aarhus, who considered making the deal permanent after impressing, Miller broke into the Celtic first team during the 2003-04 season and after proving himself in the Champions League, scoring in the 3-0 win against Anderlecht Miller was offered a long-term contract. Despite this signed a pre-contract agreement in January 2004 with Manchester United. A move which greatly disappointed Martin O'Neill, who had intended to build a new Celtic team around Miller. Miller also found himself at the end of much abuse from the Celtic supporters who seen miller as a figure of disrespect after Celtic had shown such faith in the Corkman’s talents.

 

After the start of his career for the Red Devils, he found first-team opportunities rare towards the end of the 2004–05 season. Miller later commented that "Man Utd didn't work out but I have no regrets about giving it a go”. In August 2006, he transferred to Sunderland linking up with new Sunderland manager and Ex-team-mate Roy Keane. He left Manchester United after playing just nine league games in two seasons^. After being sent off for the second time in his Sunderland career against Chelsea in December 2007 Manager Roy Keane placed him on the transfer list on 27 February 2008 due to a 'lack of discipline' and 'poor timekeeping', evidenced by his frequent lateness arriving to training sessions. A six month spell with QPR followed however Miller was left without a club after the summer transfer window in 2009, training with clubs in Ireland to maintain his fitness.He offered his services to Hibernian manager John Hughes, who was surprised that Miller was available to him on a free transfer, offered a two year deal, which Miller signed in September 2009. Miller has since established himself in the Hibs first team, with Graham Spiers describing him as the "king of Hibs" after a 1–1 draw against Rangers. He has made 55 appearances for Hibs, netted 5 times.

On Tuesday evening Manchester city had the welcome distraction of European football to keep them entertained after the disappointment of losing the Manchester Derby at the weekend albeit due to a magnificent effort from Wayne Rooney to win the game. At the Kleanthis Vikelidis the citizens were widely expected to beat unknown Greek outfit in the first-leg, last-32 clash, however not find a way through a determined Aris Salonika could defence.  

City manager Roberto Mancini may take comfort from the fact that Aris' two English opponents prior at the ground, Chelsea and Ipswich, went on to respectively win the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1971 and the Uefa Cup in 1981 after failing to win in Greece, as the draw was the Greek sides 25^th consecutive European home game without defeat.But who exactly are these relatively unknowns who halted the attacking force whom succeeded in where Manchester united could not and achieve a clean sheet against the blues? Well here’s a three minuet brief history to impress your mates down the local at the weekend.

Named in honour of the Greek god of war, Aris were founded on 25 March 1914 in Salonika and made a swift impact in Greek football, winning the first national title in 1928 under the guidance of Austrian coach Thomas Kessler; the star player in that team was Kleanthis Vikelidis, after whom the club's stadium is now named. Inspired by Dinos Kouis and Giorgos Firos, the Aris side of the late 1970s played some great football, but lost the 1979/80 title with a 2-0 play-off defeat against Olympiacos FC after the teams had finished level on points.In subsequent decades financial problems blunted Aris's competitive edge, but they regrouped in 2006 with the development of the Aris Friends Club under which supporters financially assist the club while having a say in the election of presidents. The club has been champions of Greece three times, and have won the Greek Cup once.The club currently languish in eighth place after finishing fourth in the Super League last year under Valencia and inter manager Hector Cuper, who left last month despite leading the team into the last 32 of the Europa league replaced by Giannis Michalitsos. Their Star players include Brazilian Neto, Greek keeper Michalis Sifakis and Spaniard captain  Sergio Koke, formely of Marsielle and Malaga. Well I Never.

Notice

Hello all,

After my term governing my own blog for my first college semester, of which could not be called a pronounced success judging by the number of followers I acquired over the time I worked on the Blog, I have grown to quite miss the drudgery and stresses that come along with the blog, so much that I have returned almost two months later to make another cerebral attempt to make a success of the blog. 

Whether it is wise in doing so, but I will continue with the subject of the blog being on the focus of all that is going on in the world of soccer. However i promise to add more features to the blog, as well as again giving my own views and opinions on the day’s events of the world of soccer.

Here’s to the journey ahead, John

Beckham Staying In the States For The Winter

 David Beckham declared his intent to return to Europe next month in yet another bid from the former England captains to win a place in Fabio Capellos squad. Beckham, whom was speaking after winning the BBC sports personality's lifetime achievement award on Sunday Evening said "I won't be going back to AC Milan this time because is not possible to go onto the roster for such a short length of time, but I will be going back somewhere as I want to keep myself fit and keep myself in with a chance of getting called up for England again. To do that, I have to be somewhere so fingers crossed I can sort something out." 

Beckham added that he would love to play anywhere in Europe to maintain fitness, like he had done in the two previous winters at AC Milan.However, he made it be known that he would resist offers from any other  club in England other than Manchester United, jokingly ruling out any offers from his former mentors son to return to play second tier football at Deepdale for Preston, where he was on loan as a teenager before breaking in to the United team. 

"It is a great league and one of the most competitive in the world. Maybe one day I will come back here but I have always said that it will only be for Manchester United. I am not holding my breath on that one, but we will have to wait and see."But definitely not Preston - it's too cold up there!"

Beckham on Sunday Night

The former Real Madrid and Manchester United star was understandably moved by the two Minuit standing ovation he received on winning his award and as speculation over the last few days paired Beckham up with moves to Bayern Munich, Benfica or Wolfsburg, LA Galaxy dropped a bombshell last night as they revealed they would be allowing either Beckham, or his teammate Landon Donovan, who spent a similar loan term to Beckham at Everton last year, to go out on any winter loan deal this year. It is understandable the MLS club wish to rest the player who spent a significant part of the season on the sidelines after suffering an Achilles tendon injury while on loan with AC Milan earlier this year , and the possibility of Beckham to return to Europe  on a training basis, like he did in 2007 with Arsenal was not ruled out although after Beckhams very public intentions to break into the England team this may not be enough for his  the midfielder and his international ambitions. Whether this disagreementin the players plans grows into something more, time will tell.

Tevez Storms Out Yet Again

It was only last week that Carlos Tevez claimed he was happy to play the part of the “sacrifice” in this Manchester City side that seems incapable of achieving any the ambitions Sheikh Mansour has set out for the club without its talisman. On discussing his future the Argentinean quelled any speculation over it by telling the press: "I'm happy here. I really am. I do miss my family, just like anyone would when they are not around. But I don't see retirement happening for a long time to come. A sacrifice has to be made when you make a commitment like I have done with City and it is something I am going to see through. Once that job is done I will have plenty of time with my kids."

So, after such claims it came somewhat as maybe a minor shock when it was revealed on Saturday evening that Tevez had handed in a transfer request, hours after the clubs 3-1 wins over West Ham. Tevez bizarrely had decided to come clean with the “truth” as it seems, claiming that he was, in fact unhappy at the club and had wished to leave the club as early as the summer but was convinced into not doing so by advisors. Tevez states his problems do not lie with manager Mancini, however the player has a history of such play acting in the past.

After breaking into the Boca Juniors Team, Tevez revealed the Argentinian press intrusion was too much to endure and the club were failing to do sufficient work in which to support him, after a public bust-up with the Boca head coach, Tevez then moved onto Corinthians, where after one season he went on strike and battling against the board as well as the management staff over a period of months tevez finally left south America for the glamour of European football. 

After his arrival in Europe and a surprise move to West Ham, Tevez almost immediately falls out with the manager and players. Alan Pardrew is sacked soon after his onset along with fellow Argentinian Javier Mascherano and one point he threatens the club he would go on strike after being substituted. After keeping the club afloat of relegation Tevez moved on to Manchester United for which he complains in his debut season of being strongly overplayed, he becomes unhappy in his second for being underplayed, managing just five goals despite playing more minutes than Fernando Torres, one of the league’s leading scorers of the season. Another managerial bust up leads to Tevez’s move from greater Manchester up to the city central for which it seemed Tevez was finally about to make a lasting impact on a club with strong performances for the club.

So, was it really a surprise to find that Tevez is homesick and missing his children, although press releases would claim spending time with his mistress in his home country does fall in the same category as quality time with his children, claims there is to much greediness in Britain despite being the most paid player in Britain. The fact Tevez claims he does not like football and then complains in such a juvenile way in being substituted further ridicules Tevez’s reason for leaving.  What remains now is that is Tevez’s claims are another Rooney-esque story, after Tevez’s history what club in their right mind would take on the Argentinian, and what will happen if Tevez does not get his way in leaving the club?. Retirement has been discussed, however time will essentially tell. 

More Drama With The Looney Toons

This week after weeks of debating the  Premier League finally saw its first managerial casaulty,and with some suprise it was Chris Hughton, whom was first to recieve the chop.

For the past few weeks rumours have been rife of who exactly was to be first to get the dreaded sack. Carlo Ancelotti? Last year’s double winning manager has seen his side unable to carry on his accolades this term and since the removal of Ray Wilkins as assistant manager has seen his side take a desperate run of form. Avram Grant? The Israeli has been unable to revive good fortunes at Upson Park, as his bosses and supporters alike look increasingly uneasy at his sides reluctance to leave the foot of the table, Roberto Mancini and Ray Hodgson are finding it hard to match their respective sides ambitions while Mick McCarthy and Roberto Martinez are also feeling the pressure.

Hughton - Sacked

The removal of any of the above would surely have been taken with a justifiable shrug, so it was a shock to find it was not any of the previously mentioned managers, but a certain Chris Hughton. Since Bobby Robsons reign ended in 2004, the Toon army have experienced tremendous instability.Souness, Allardyce, Roeder, Kinnear, even the return of "King Kev" Keegan and Big Alan Shearer have all failed to match the blind ambitions of the club, in the end leading to their relegation in 2009. Hughton, initially taking role as manager as a stand in until a more “suitable replacement” was found was left to pick the pieces, only to propel the club from the ashes and return to top flight in his first season at the helm, topping this by wins over Arsenal and decimating Aston Villa and Sunderland with 6-0 and 5-1 wins,it was only a month ago when the side were as high as fourth and Newcastle seemed to finally achieve stability,so why in god names was Hughton given the sack?

 

Pardew - Tipped As Next Manager

It is to bluntly honest, a disgrace to the club for not even giving the very figure who turned the fortunes of the club around a chance when the club are currently in mid table. Fans and legends alike at the club have shown their disgust at the move. The argument from the suits at the Tyne, is that they seeked a man who had more “Premier league experience”, so it is a bit amusing to hear that it is Alan Pardrew, a man whom with limited experience in the top flight with west ham and briefly with Charlton, a man who was plying his trade until august in the third tier of English football before being sacked. It seems Mike Ashley’s foolishness has again got the better of him, and I would not bet against his meddling, as we have seen with Chelsea so far, in team affairs, blowing in the owners face and facing a tiresome relegation fight for the rest of the season, as I cannot see this Newcastle side take to the man who replaced the man that build the team and whom it was clear they all worked to play for, and in such circumstances.