Where did all the good guys go?

Short on time, but felt that this deserved (at least) some passing comment. It’s sportingintelligence.com’s Big 5 player producer analysis. By Big 5, they mean teams in top-flight clubs in Spain’s La Liga, England’s Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, Germany’s Bundesliga 1 and France’s Ligue 1 and by “producer”, they mean “spent 3 or more seasons developing players when aged between 15 and 21”.

It makes very interesting reading, especially the English table, which has Sheffield United at 14th place, ahead of 8 Premier League teams.

engpro1

(you’d be a fool to overlook the mighty Skelmersdale United in joint 40th as well)

It’s a good indication of the draw of the Premier League and the issues that plague smaller clubs. While the talent flows ever upwards, in search of money, fame, fortune and glory, there’s scant compensation for the little guys who have spent time and money developing the the players in question. Sheffield United’s academy regularly provides 3 of the back 4 for England’s national team, but we’re still strapped for cash and disappointingly languishing at the wrong end of League 1.

I can only hope that we rise again to our natural haunt in the Premier League and become one of those clubs which pillage the talent of the lower league clubs, as soon as possible.

Team with dreadful record still has much support

For many, this weekend was the final straw. Yet another disastrous performance – letting the country down when we were all so full of hope – was just too much. There’s been repeated harsh (and entirely justified) public criticism – “useless” and “losers” just a couple of the words bandied around – but it merely seems to fall on deaf ears.

bf

It wasn’t the first time, either. It sometimes seems like we’re lurching from one poor performance, riddled with errors and incompetence, to the next.
For some, the problem is obvious: they choose to blame the man in charge, but I don’t think it’s necessarily that cut and dried. In my mind, the performance of the whole lot of them has been repeatedly calamitous. Fairly regularly, it’s actually been embarrassing for the country. You’d be excused for thinking that maybe they’re simply not up to the job in hand, and yet they’re highly paid and highly respected. How can this be?

It’s all so different to those glory days back in the mid-90’s. Back then – yes, perhaps under better management – things were so much better and the achievements were clearly there for all to see. Since then, however, while there have been occasional moments of triumph, it’s mainly been a steady downhill and 2014 shows no signs of bucking that trend. It’s actually rather sad.

And yet, there remains a huge level of support for these guys. Perhaps it’s because the population feels there’s no other team that is worthy of their support, or perhaps it’s habit, because they’ve just never supported anyone else.

But yes, the ANC will still win the elections again this year.
Incredible.

I’ll Just Leave This Here

Treating the blog to bit of footy after a long-overdue “good weekend” for my beloved Sheffield United.

Featuring a Man of the Match performance which has put Ryan Flynn’s talent neatly on display just in time for the January transfer window.
Oh no, here we go again… 🙁 

1-0

We did a lastminute.com and headed down to the Cape Town Stadium for Ajax’s biggest fixture of the season, against Kaizer Chiefs. It was 0-0 until the 88th minute, but at least it was an entertaining 0-0.

And then, up popped Tasreeq Morris:

image

I think Ajax would have been happy with a draw, so the three points are very welcome indeed.

The crowd was loud, cosmopolitan and generally well behaved. The atmosphere was superb, reminding me that I must go to more Ajax games this season.

And so should you.

EDIT: Here’s a great report by @ItsStillAyoba