Category Uncategorized

The formula for success for any football club, from the early amateur days of the game to the multi-billion pound industry that it has become today, is strength in every area of the team. While the attackers may make the headlines and more often than not grab the awards, the old-fashioned centre backs, the anchor men and the sweeper keepers – though less glamorous and show-stopping than those who score the goals – are equally as important. For every Lionel Messi there needs to be a Gerard Pique, for every Andriy Shevchenko a Paolo Maldini, and if an equal degree of emphasis is not placed on defence, midfield and attack, then the chance of glory at the end of the season is slim.

The crazy world of the Premier League likes to do things a bit differently, however. After five successive seasons in which more than 1,050 goals were scored – only the 1999/2000 campaign can match this in the league’s 38-game format – the Premier League’s lust for goals shows no sign of resting. The memo this year seems to be a wilful disregard of all notions of defence and protecting one’s own net in favour of simply scoring more goals than the opposition. With a current average of 2.86 goals per game, this season is on course to being the highest-scoring Premier League campaign ever.

José Mourinho’s league leaders Chelsea – who once prided themselves on their parsimonious defence, especially during the Portuguese’s first spell in charge – have already conceded seven goals in their opening five games, three more than 19th placed Burnley. Liverpool and Manchester United, two clubs with serious top four aspirations, have conceded eight apiece, while Everton – who impressed many last season with their record points total – top the charts, having let 13 goals slip past Tim Howard.

The fact that the teams who usually occupy the top positions of the league have come to mind first when talking about defensive incompetence is significant, as it suggests that the fight for the top four is going to be tighter than ever. Whilst it is usually the teams that possess the greatest firepower or world-class talent that manage to qualify for the Champions League, this season it seems to be a case of the teams who can actually be bothered with defending effectively.

Liverpool’s defensive shortcomings were evident last year despite finishing as runners-up, and the departure of Luis Suarez has exposed this to an even greater extent. Based on their performance in the League Cup victory over Middlesbrough, Kolo Toure and Mamadou Sakho are like the Laurel and Hardy of English football, with the constant potential for cringe-inducing calamity and slapstick blunders just around the corner. Fortunately, this is not Liverpool’s first-choice centre-back pairing, though Martin Skrtel is no stranger to gaffes either.

Meanwhile over at Manchester United, Louis van Gaal has adopted an extreme laissez-faire approach to his defence, pinning all his hopes instead on his star-studded attack to score enough goals to win the game. While this can work at times against toothless opposition such as Queen’s Park Rangers, it is a recipe for disaster against any team who shows the slightest amount of attacking intent. The sight of the hapless United backline – bearing no structure or shape whatsoever – being trounced by a rampant Leicester City attack was compelling and will surely encourage other teams to take the game to the Red Devils.

At Everton, Roberto Martinez seems to be engaging in some well-intentioned yet defensively costly act of philanthropy, giving the old timers of Phil Jagielka, Sylvain Distin and Tim Howard one last season to stretch their ageing legs on the turf of Goodison Park – with not a care in the world about the industrial quantities of goals that are shipped into the net – before they are handed their zimmer frames and nudged gently towards the exit door.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

This unprecedented, almost comic disinterest in one of the most rudimentary and vital aspects of football means that the fight for the Champions League spaces may be more unpredictable than ever this season. If teams vying for the top four simply remember to close one door – the all-important defensive door – then a more lucrative door may very well open in May.

It could be worse Nando, you could be one of these guys…

[ffcvideo file=”TopFiveVideosoftheWeek” type=”mp4″]

Oh how I miss Alan Curbishley. Every Friday I watch Curbs analyse the weekend’s coming matches on Sky Sports News and reminisce back to when I was a young man sitting in the stands at the Valley, singing “Valley Floyd Road” with my pre-pubescent voice-box, spoilt rotten with two Premier League promotions and privileged with high quality football. Little did I know the pain I would suffer as a result of the demise of Charlton Athletic.

Watching your club drop two divisions in three seasons is truely heartbreaking, and leads to internal discussions within one’s own head as to why and how you ever came to support such a club, when friends seem so much happier supporting Manchester United or Chelsea. I eventually worked it out by the way – a Charlton fan supports Charlton because their dad supports Charlton. Failing that, they support United but like the idea of watching a team in red play on a Saturday.

Chris Powell has certainly restored some faith and pride in the club amongst fans. A former player who always gave his best, Powell was the perfect fit after the club’s failure to get itself out of league 1. But following a successful promotion campaign, can the once-capped England international take Charlton any further than their current role as a middle to lower, possibly to much lower, Championship club? Or considering this is a similar position to where Alan Curbishley found the Addicks when he took over with Steve Gritt in 1991, was Curbs’ 7th place finish at the end of the 2003/2004 Premier League season the best a small club from South East London could ever hope for? Was he truly the Messiah? And now his time has passed, will we be forever banished from the promised land of top flight football.

[post_link url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/premiership/arsenal/charlton-acquire-highly-rated-arsenal-midfielder,https://www.footballfancast.com/premiership/liverpool/premier-league-giants-watch-over-charlton-youngster,https://www.footballfancast.com/football-blogs/the-top-ten-footballers-who-didnt-live-up-to-their-brothers-billing” target=”_blank” type=”tower”]

It does seem, following the departure of “the cockney great one”, the solution was simply to find another Curbishley. Although Iain Dowie was given a fair amount of money, which he may as well have stood in the Valley centre circle and set fire to, we have forever been a club without finance.

Part of the reason for the Robins’ eventual demise was a lack of investment into the team. Players such as Claus Jensen, Scott Parker and Danny Murphy were replaced with the ageing Matt Holland, Amdy Faye and Bryan Hughes – the most passive midfielder in footballing history (i’ve never seen a single player play so many consecutive games without touching the ball).

Charlton’s record signing still stands at £4.75million for Jason Euell, although future incentives for Darren Bent’s £2.5million transfer from Ipswitch have probably now exceeded that deal. The Red Robins have always been a club that relies on their manager to get the best out of their players, with limited financial backing or resources. Even the fan base is relatively small compared to the majority of Premier League and many Championship clubs, who have stadiums far exceeding the Valley’s 27,000 capacity.

Looking back, it feels we bit off more than we could chew. Perhaps it didn’t seem so at the time, but expectations remained too high in the seasons following our relegation from the top flight, and huge pressure was installed upon Alan Pardew and the players for results. Charlton took a gamble on their first season in the Championship to keep the majority of players and maintain the team’s quality. Unfortunately, this didn’t work out as the club finished six points short of the play-offs. The following year, the Premier League quality players left, to be replaced by youngsters and players from the lower leagues. Instead of pushing for promotion, we finished bottom of the table.

By the way, a warning to all Newcastle fans about Alan Pardew – when things are going well for Pardew, they tend to go very well. But when the wheels come off, the man becomes somewhat powerless. It is not only his record at the Addicks that suggests this trend.

Charlton’s story isn’t the only case study of former Premier League teams that have had a spectacular fall from grace. Both Sheffield clubs dropped to League 1 following spells in the top flight and Leeds United we’re once a competitive European team who also dropped the third tier of English football.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

This year’s Championship is filled with former Premier League clubs, many of whom are finding life difficult at the moment.  Bolton, Birmingham and Wolves are occupying the places above the relegation zone, and similarly Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough continue their long stay in the Championship despite once being top-flight institutions. Leicester City continually struggle with promotion but once finished in the Premier League top ten four years in a row. All of the above mentioned clubs outweigh Charlton in terms of resources.

I remember disgruntled Charlton fans moaning about Curbishley’s difficulty in getting the club into the top ten, often ending the season with relegation-form ten game runs, but considering the club’s finances, fan base, facilities and likelihood of attracting quality players, was a bid for Europe ever an achievable dream? I fear we are now feeling the hang-over for our success-addicted binge.

Charlton fans are pessimistic by nature, but I would like to end on a positive note. Chris Powell is a good manager, despite recent disgruntlement at the start of the season from the Valley faithful. We are in a league where anything could happen – we are currently 14th, but are just five points from sixth. I am yet to be convinced that Powell is the next Curbishley, or that we have the quality in depth required to gain promotion. But should the Addicks return to the Premier League, i’ll remember to count my blessings.

Liverpool and Tottenham’s hopes of signing Malcom from Bordeaux have suffered a blow as Inter Milan have put together a loan-to-buy package for the wideman, according to Sky Italia, via TalkSPORT.

What’s the story, then?

The report claims that the Italian giants have put together a bid of £7m up front as a loan fee and £27m later on after the season is over – £35m in total – to bring the winger to Italy.

They say that Inter do not have the funds to buy Malcom outright at the moment but they hope to fend off competition from the English duo with their latest offering.

Spurs are the better fit

Although the rapid nature of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool attack looks like a good fit for Malcom’s style, he would be very clearly a backup at Anfield.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

He would not offer a genuine alternative in the same way that he would in North London, where he and Lucas could be used as impact subs and move ahead of Erik Lamela in the pecking order.

Manchester United’s injury list has been something of a broken record this year, with Phil Jones, Marcus Rojo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all featuring more than once.

Jones and Rojo are also both questionable with knocks in the run up to Sunday’s game at Old Trafford, and questions have been raised about whether United’s coaching methods are the reason behind these recurring injuries.

Going into a pivotal game with Chelsea on Sunday, and as the race for automatic Champions League group stage qualification hots up, manager Jose Mourinho will be hoping that he will be able to keep these players out of the injury room, according to PremierInjuries…

Marouane Fellaini

When was he injured?: Fellaini was on the Wembley pitch during January 31st’s 2-0 defeat for all of seven minutes before he was subbed off for the same knee injury that had kept him out for a month over the new year.

Potential injury return date: 31/03/2018

Will he be missed?: Ander Herrera was carted off with a muscle injury last night, and with Michael Carrick mulling retirement at the end of the season, Marouane Fellaini will need to be a key part of Mourinho’s plans going forward.

What the manager said: “We are going to lose him for a few weeks. Two, three four or five, I cannot say at the moment.” (February 2nd)

[ad_pod ]

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

When was he injured?: After a 28 goal season last year, Ibrahimovic has only played seven times this season after suffering a serious cruciate ligament injury against Anderlect on April 20th.

Potential injury return date: 25/02/2018

Will he be missed?: The fact that Anthony Martial, a midfielder, is the second highest scoring United player just goes to show how much United have been lacking this season in the goal scoring department from their forwards.

Lukaku has scored 12 goals, but he has also taken more shots to get there than anyone else other than Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane, and Sergio Aguero – who have each scored over 20 goals this campaign.

Rashford is still young and Mourinho will need his experienced centre-forward  as United try to keep a hold of second spot.

What the manager said: “The date for him to be back training with the team is around the end of January.”(January 12th)

Marcos Rojo

When was he injured?: Rojo has picked up a knock in training in the past week.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Potential injury return date: None given.

Will he be missed?: Rojo has been in and out of the starting XI this season with Antonio Valencia United’s favoured right-back, but in the midst of an injury crisis Mourinho needs all the help he can get.

What the manager said: “[Marcos] Rojo, [Phil] Jones, [Marouane] Fellaini, Zlatan [Ibrahimovic], I don’t think they have any chance (to play against Sevilla).” (February 2oth)

Finally Manchester United fans can rejoice and celebrate after picking up their first win of the season this weekend.

The Red Devils won convincingly 4-0 against QPR at Old Trafford, marking to true beginning of the Louis van Gaal Era at United.

The R’s may not be one of the most difficult teams for United to beat, but it will bring confidence to the side to continue this form throughout the rest of the season.

Here are FIVE takeaways from this game…

[ffc-gallery]

Click on Angel Di Maria to reveal

[/ffc-gallery]

Angel Di Maria

The Argentine was simply sublime in this game. Since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid back in 2009, United have been crying out for someone to fill the legendary number seven shirt once worn by the likes of David Beckham and Eric Cantona.

They may have finally found another name to add to the ‘Number Seven Legends’ list after Di Maria’s performance yesterday.

The £59.7m man may have had a bit of a shaky start to his career at United against Burnley, but he certainly picked himself up yesterday to provide one goal from a lucky free kick, and an assist to Juan Mata’s goal.

Ander Herrera

Some people may argue that Ander Herrera played just as good, if not better than Di Maria yesterday. To me, yesterday he resembled one of United’s best box-to-box midfielders ever, Paul Scholes.

The 25-year-old Spaniard also scored his first goal yesterday from a fantastic strike from just outside the box, and provided an assist to Wayne Rooney’s goal later in the game. This performance earned him a whoscored.com rating of 9.9, nearly a perfect score.

Shine bright like a diamond

http://lineupbuilder.com/350×500/?p=11&a=1&t=Man%20United%20starting%20XI%20v%20QPR&c=dc0000&1=GK_1%20De%20Gea_1_388_174&2=DL_5%20Rojo_5_311_50&3=DCL_6%20Evans_6_329_133&4=DC_42%20Blackett_42_327_217&5=DR_2%20Rafael_2_309_300&6=DM_17%20Blind_17_278_174&7=FC_20%20van%20Persie_20_77_126&8=MC_7%20Di%20Maria_7_213_115&9=MC_21%20Ander%20Herrera_21_214_235&10=AC_8%20Mata_8_148_173&11=FC_10%20Rooney%20%28C%29_10_78_224&c2=ffffff&c3=ffffff&output=embed

Whilst many questioned Louis van Gaal’s decision to play three at the back during United’s first three games of the season, nobody questioned why United operated in a 4-1-2-1-2 formation with a diamond in midfield that worked brilliantly.

The tactic brought the best out of United’s midfielders, especially one of their summer arrivals Daley Blind. The Dutchman played really well, sitting just in front of the defence completing 112 passes with four key passes and had 122 touches.

He resembled the midfielder that United have been searching for as he looked calm, composed and organised throughout the game. It will be interesting to see if United use this formation against bigger teams and how successful it turns out to be.

Juan Mata

After the arrivals to Old Trafford throughout the summer, many have questioned if Mata still has a place in the United squad, but yesterday the Spaniard proved his doubters wrong.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

In his preferred number ten role, Mata completed 98% of his passes and scored one goal before being substituted for Radamel Falcao part way through the second half.

I think it’s ridiculous that Mata could possibly leave the club after all he has scored eight goals in his last ten Premier League appearances for United.

Robin van Persie

Whilst United did manage to score four goals yesterday, Dutchman Robin van Persie continued his struggle to find the back of the net. The 31 year old is yet to score this season after four games and could pay the ultimate price because of this goal drought.

Many pointed the finger at Mata saying he would be the one to suffer from the arrival of Falcao at Old Trafford, but I think it could be van Persie seeing the bench sometime soon and replaced by the Colombian if he doesn’t start scoring soon. He must improve in United’s next game away at Leicester.

It was a less than convincing performance from the Gunners but with three points and a clean sheet to take away, Wenger and Bould will be delighted. The attention of Arsenals poor defensive form had largely switched to the return of Jack Wilshere, and other than a bit of match sharpness he looked like he’d never been away. Great news for Arsenal and for England.

Mannone 7: Very rarely came into action but was up to the task when called upon.

Sagna 6: Looked a little bit off the pace in his come back match, but made a few good attacking runs to link up with the forwards.

Mertesacker 7: Dominant in the air and solid at the back. Had a quiet evening but should have scored a header.

Vermaelen 7: Looked comfortable at the back without any noticeable incidents.

Andre Santos 6: Made some good attacking runs and was a threat going forward but looked a liability in defence.

Wilshere 9: It was great to see him back playing again, and to everyone’s relief he looked the player he was before his injury. Linked up well with Cazorla and put in an all round sterling performance.

Arteta 8: A hint of offside for his goal in the 84th minute but he was in the right place at the right time for a very important goal.

Ramsey 6: Looked lost being played out on the wing but had a few chance from central areas.

Cazorla 7: As always an influential threat going forward but failed to show his glittering form of late. Also missed a sitter which would have sealed the game.

Podolski 6: Created very few chances and was out of the game for large periods. In a game that called for a goal scorer he didn’t deliver.

Giroud 6: He was a focal point for Aresnal but was mainly feeding off scraps and was unable to really influence the game. He’ll feel he should of scored but you feel Arsenal aren’t playing to his strengths.

Subs:

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Walcott: 6

Arshavin: 6

Gervinho: 5

West Ham United announced on Tuesday that they had completed the signing of French defender Issa Diop from Toulouse for a club-record fee.

The 21-year-old has signed a five-year contract at the London Stadium, and is a coup for the capital outfit when considering the interest surrounding him.

It is expected to be a busy summer for West Ham, and new head coach Manuel Pellegrini has further boosted his defence following the signing of Ryan Fredericks from Fulham.

Diop, who is valued at £19.8m by transfermarkt.co.uk, leaves Toulouse having made 95 first-team appearances for the French club, which is very impressive for a man of his age.

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”257236″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch Five things we learned from England 21 Tunisia”]

Last term, meanwhile, the centre-back scored three times in 34 Ligue 1 appearances.

It is certainly a statement of intent from the West Ham owners, and the club’s supporters have been on social media reacting to the deal.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

It would be fair to say that the fans are absolutely delighted that Diop will be turning out in a West Ham shirt at the London Stadium next season.

A selection of Twitter reaction from the club’s supporters can be seen below:

Popular Southampton midfielder Oriol Romeu says the players, and not manager Mauricio Pellegrino, are the ones responsible for the club lying in the Premier League’s relegation zone.

The south coast outfit moved out of the bottom three when they beat West Bromwich Albion 3-2 at the Hawthorns earlier in the month, but a 2-0 defeat against Liverpool at St Mary’s on Sunday combined with other results going against them saw them slip back down to 18th.

Saints have only won five of their 27 top flight matches and while they haven’t been good enough going forward, they have also started conceding preventable goals from a defensive point of view too – Wesley Hoedt’s mistake led to Roberto Firmino’s opener for Jurgen Klopp’s men at the weekend.

Pellegrino has come under scrutiny from the St Mary’s faithful who are understandably unhappy with their position in the standings and the performances they have seen from their team, but Romeu, who won the club’s 2016/17 Player of the Year award, says it is down to the players, rather than their boss.

The Spaniard told The Telegraph: “It’s not the manager’s problem. We are the ones playing, and the ones that have to change this.”

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Southampton face West Bromwich Albion in the fifth round of the FA Cup at the Hawthorns on Saturday, before they look to face a season-defining run of five Premier League fixtures against Burnley, Stoke City, Newcastle United, Swansea City and West Ham United that will have a big say on whether they are staying up or going down.

The opportunity to start afresh under a new manager at Tottenham would appear to be on the table for Roberto Soldado, but if reports are to be believed, the club’s hierarchy have run out of patience with the Spanish striker and will look to offload him at some stage this summer.

The past 12 months has seen a mighty fall for the 29-year-old. Initially tipped to lead Tottenham into the Champions League, as he had done with Valencia on more than one occasion in the past, Soldado has done surprisingly little to repay the £26 million spent on him by the north London club.

The consensus was that Tottenham were not set up to get the best out of him. At Valencia, he was the team’s focal point. Soldado had hard workers flanking him and midfielders looking to release him through on goal. At Tottenham under Andre Villas-Boas, he cut an isolated figure in attack, seeing inverted wide players carve opportunities for themselves and little coming through the centre of the pitch.

What kept him going was the enormous fee spent on him, as well as the sporadic conversions from the penalty spot.

But Soldado’s time in the Premier League looks to be coming to an end. Atletico Madrid are said to be interested in bringing him back to Spain to replace the Chelsea-bound Diego Costa. Soldado had a forgettable, demoralising season in English football, but his recent history in Spain remains extremely good. He’s a twenty-plus goal scorer in La Liga and has experience in the Champions League.

This past season at Tottenham shouldn’t define him as a player. While he and Alvaro Negredo have had hugely contrasting seasons, there was often little to choose between them while both were in Spain. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were battling for La Liga and world supremacy, but on a smaller scale, a similar battle was being fought between two Spanish internationals.

WANT MORE? >> Tottenham transfer news | Latest transfer news

Both Negredo and Soldado have had very similar careers: playing for Real Madrid Castilla, developing into good but unwanted assets and shipped off, landing at smaller Spanish sides – Almeria for Negredo, Getafe for Soldado – before then moving up to Sevilla and Valencia, where their league scoring records were very similar for three years.

So can we attribute the downfall of Soldado and the success of Negredo to their environments in England? It’s the most obvious explanation. They’re slightly different players in the way they operate, but as centre-forwards and goal scorers they’re as good as each other.

Manchester City have a manager who knew how to bring the best out of Negredo; Tottenham had a manager who couldn’t, for one reason or another, and a subsequent coach who was instructed to utilise the previously discarded Emmanuel Adebayor.

Soldado is no longer a young player, and at 29 it doesn’t suit either Spurs or the player to continue on down this path into next season. It would be a little careless to say he doesn’t suit English football at all, but he obviously couldn’t work in a Tottenham team that produced so few scoring chances during games.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Cutting their losses and moving on would be the sensible thing for Spurs. It simply hasn’t worked out, which is normal. But Soldado must now look to get his career back on track. Considering the injury doubts surrounding Diego Costa, the lack of goals this past season from David Villa and Fernando Torres, and the decline in production from Negredo towards the end of the season, Soldado would certainly have been in contention for a place in Spain’s World Cup squad had he had another Valencia-like season this past year.

Going back to Spain is best for a striker in need of a significant confidence boost, and there are few managers in Europe at the moment better than Diego Simeone at providing that lift.

[ad_pod id=’ricco’ align=’center’]

When I heard the rumour that Dougie Freedman was the favourite for the vacant managerial position at Bolton, I dismissed it out of hand.

I honestly believed that there was 0% chance of him leaving Palace for another job. Non-Palace fans will think it’s strange, or arrogant that I should take this stance, but that is because they do not understand. In this week’s blog I’ll attempt to explain the legend, and the pain of this week’s events, which saw him walk away from the club that loved him.

Palace fans have put Freedman on a pedestal since his playing days, during which he scored 107 goals in 360 appearances. A less than 1 in 3 return is decent enough for good Championship level striker, but outsiders must wonder why a forward who was never the proverbial 30 goal a season striker, and rarely the 20 goal striker, should be lauded as a folk hero amongst the Palace faithful. The number of goals he scored commanded respect, but it was the big goals in big games that really set him apart. Goals against Wolves and Charlton in important play-off semis stand out, but the goal that will be forever etched on the minds of Palace fans came at Stockport on the final day of the 2000/01 season when Freedman dribbled through the Stockport defence to score the goal that kept Palace up.

But Freedman was so much more than goals. His guile and style set him apart from other British strikers, and he was more likely to dribble through a defence or smash home a difficult volley, than score a “traditional number 9’s” goal. And he seemed to love playing for Palace. He left the club in 1997 to join Wolves, and then had three seasons at Forest, but amassed only 28 goals in 4 ill fated seasons. When he return to  Selhurst in 2000 I recall him stating that he should never have left.

He was much loved at Palace, but other clubs just didn’t take to his style. By the end of the season Freedman had written himself into Palace folklore by scoring THAT goal at Stockport. From that point on it was clear that Palace and Dougie were a match made in heaven, and it would be difficult to prize him away.

Even as the striker’s powers were on the wane, he turned down lucrative moves to Leeds United and a rumoured £1m a deal to finish his career in the Middle East. It was characteristics such as this that made Freedman so popular. In an era where money seems to rule everything, it seemed that Dougie was letting his heart call the shots. Neil W*rn*ck’s arrival at Selhurst Park saw Freedman’s Palace playing career finally draw to a close.

Warnock didn’t fancy him, and gradually forced him out, first making him train the reserves, before finally loaning him out to Leeds and then Southend (who he eventually joined a permanent deal.) In 2010 W*rn*ck did the dirty on Palace just after the club had gone into administration, and left to join QPR. Paul Hart was brought in as caretaker manager to steady the ship and he brought Freedman home in a coaching capacity. It was a shrewd move by Hart, who also brought in Palace cup hero John Pemberton, who immediately won over the fans by bringing in the club hero.

Palace again managed to avoid relegation on the final day of the season, and the team of Hart, Freedman and Pemberton were hailed as heroes.

The club, which was teetering on the edge of obscurity, was brought out of administration that summer by the current owners, and they appointed George Burley as manager and he kept the Doog on as his assistant. Burley was sacked by Christmas, and Freedman was handed the reins as the main man. He saved the club from relegation for a third time, steering them to safety on the penultimate game of the season. “He saved us three times, He saved us three times! Dougie Freedman, He saved us three times!”

As a Palace legend Freedman was always going to be a popular appointment, but he genuinely seemed to be the right man for the job. He understood the club and its fans. He knew that this was a club that had a passion for youth development, and bringing through young players from their academy. He talked sense. He seemed to understand where the club was coming from in terms of its weak financial background, and was prepared to work with the club on putting it back on an even keel. He was prepared to buy cheap players and coach them to make them better. He seemed to be Palace through and through. He knew that beating Brighton was important and lead the team to victory away the Amex, and even bucked a trend by beating Millwall and Charlton in the derbies. He’s always seemed to protect Palace’s interests over his own.

Freedman has often talked about developing and looking after the young players, acting like a father figure to them. He’s encourage the likes Nathaniel Clyne and Wilfried Zaha to avoid leaving the club too early and damaging their development where the likes of John Bostock didn’t have that kind of guidance.

If only he could take his own advice. He’s been a manager for less than two years, yet he’s already jumped ship for a bigger and ‘more ambitious’ club. He’s also rumoured to have trebled his salary. And this is ultimately why Palace fans are so shocked and aggrieved at his decision, which seems to have come out of the blue. They loved him because of his Palace-ness, his passion for the club, its ethos, its players and its fans. He seemed to spurn the modern footballing greed for a higher calling. He seemed to embody loyalty and old fashion values.

And then he p*ssed all this up the wall for half a millon a year, and a bigger transfer budget.

To say everyone connected with Crystal Palace FC is gutted would be a spectacular understatement. From the owners to the tea lady, and the fans in between, we’re heart broken.  They say they you should never meet your heroes because you’ll always be disappointed. Well we now know who Dougie Freedman is, and he’s just the same as ever other chancer. I’m not going to hang anyone out to dry for accepting a job on more money, nor joining a ‘better club’. What hurts is that we all thought Freedman was above all that. It turns out he wasn’t.

All the values that we had associated with the man and the manager have gone out the window, and it’s bitterly, bitterly disappointing. The reasons that Freedman was worshiped were based on lies, and therefore I withdraw from the fan club.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

I know that players come and go, but the reasons we love or hate them are different. We mostly worshiped them for their performances, but Freedman was supposed to be so much more than that. But ultimately, he wasn’t. I know some people think this is about football, and results. And that’s why they don’t understand. This is about so much more.

Palace could be rock bottom of the league and I’d still feel the same way – utterly cheated. Freedman was my all time Palace hero. I have his shirt, and my brother even got Freedman to send me a wedding card last month, along with a signed photo. I would even have considered calling my first born son Dougie, I certainly won’t be now. And I’m considering a Dougfire for my Freedman memorabilia.

I’m gutted he’s gone, but in the end the reasons we loved him were based on a mythical figure that didn’t exist. For me, the last thread of the romance of football is broken, and it’s hard to see how I, football, or Crystal Palace will ever recover. 23rd October 2012 – the day the music died.