Jay Football Association Chairman

I think we have all known for a while that the Football Association (F.A) really have no idea on how to make England a successful national side. I think its pretty clear that when it comes down to it the F.A are more interested in money and a “great” football league rather than successful National Team. At the beginning of the 2013/14 season Arsenal and Chelsea had the least amount of homegrown talent with 5 British players, Manchester City 9 homegrown players and Manchester United 13 home grown players. According to the BBC only 32.26% of players in the premier league are homegrown players. In La Liga, home of World Cup holders and European champions Spain, Spaniards account for 59% of all minutes played. In Germany’s Bundesliga, Germans make up 50% (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24467371). Could it be a mere coincidence that both national teams have won the World Cup in the last 8 years? Is it not obvious that this is one of the reasons why we do not have a half decent national team? Can the F.A. not see this? Here is what i would implement if i was F.A. chief. Now i appreciate what i will suggest will have flaws, but nothing is perfect.

1. Overseas Player Cap – Starting 11 should consist of at least 6 home grown players of British nationality. This raises discrimination questions, you cant deny someone a job on the basis of their nationality, this is after all a job.
2. Salary Cap – I personally feel players dont need to get paid as much as they do, and i would put a cap on at £65,000-£80,000 a year, which i still think is generous considering players get sponsorship deals which in itself can earn the player a lot of money. And there would be no bonuses for players playing in the World Cup. I would like to think it would filter out the players playing for just money, and influence players with real talent to break through.
3. Referees – There is a real lack of respect for officials in the game. The popular excuse for this disrespect is adrenaline and heat of the moment. If this was the case why dont the rug by referees get an earful every time a decision goes against the players? I would fit a microphone just like rugby, if a player knows people can hear him he might think twice about being disrespectful.
4. Females – There should be more female officials, commentators and co-commentators. Hell there should be more females on the F.A. board, at the moment its a boys club with them all trying to outdo one another.

These are some of the points i would bring in, and i know for a fact these would never be brought in, in a million years. The F.A. really need to sort out the state of our national team and take responsibility for the state the English game. Because at the moment its all about the money than the football and i think many would agree.

Cant Sleep! Over thinkers Worst Nightmare

I am an over thinker, and this at times makes me a very bad kind of pessimist. So when im trying to sleep at night and i cant i go into over thinking mode. So here is a list of what i tend to think about

1. Money – Will i run out of money this month? Can i pay my bills, can i treat my girlfriend.
2. Friends – Do people fake like me, are they just keeping me happy by saying they are my friends.
3. Social Media – Why do people feel the need to broadcast their entire personal life over a facebook status. Why cant i seem to make new friends online when i share the same interests.
4. Emotions – Am i as emotionless as my girlfriend makes out? What can i do to help improve this?
5. 2009 – Yeah i still think a lot about this damn year.
6. Geocaching – Where can i visit next to fond another cache. If i looked harder i could have found that cache today, i want to go there now and find it.
7. University – I hate it, im not an academic person, i hate how un-organised it feels, i hate that i cant be a social worker because i cant write a very good essay on the history of policy.
8. Age – Am i really 31? I cant believe im 32 this year, next month. That leaves me another 30+ years for a with while career. And the last 31 years have gone far to quickly.
9. Football Association – How would i run English football, what would i implement, i know i would annoy a lot of football fans and football clubs.
10. Death – Not afraid of dying but i do wonder who would turn up at my funeral if i were to drop dead now.

So yeah a mixture of stuff really, mainly negative, such a glass is half empty kind of fella. But i will say a lot of the negative thoughts have stopped since i have been Grace. So she has her uses bless her. Sometimes the over thinking can help because i can get to the root of some of my issues, and it gives me ideas to stick in my blog, because of last night i have three more blog entries i can put up. So watch this space for Elisha Cuthbert, the Football Association and the perks of being average.

World Cup 2014

So i thought i would jump on the bandwagon and do a kind of review for the World Cup. Before the World Cup even begun i wasn’t interested in anyway, the 2010 World Cup still has a bitter taste in my mouth for being the most dull World Cup in history. But after the first game between Brazil and Croatia i was hooked, and so began my World Cup journey. And what a journey, it was great. It had a little bit of everything to keep it exciting. Good teams not performing well, outside teams playing extremely well, three best footballers in the world not performing, breakout performances, biting controversy and what appeared to be a friendly and exciting atmosphere from the Brazilians.

This brings me onto the Brazilian team and poster boy Neymar. Despite Neymar scoring 4 goals i personally didnt think he played that well, he didnt produce anything that was game changing. And then there is the Brazilian team as a whole, how they got to the semis is amazing, with there biggest issue being really undisciplined, they conceded i believe 34 fouls in the match against Colombia and only got i think 2 yellow cards. They were never going to lose the first match and the officials made sure they didnt with an array of dubious decisions. But it all came away when they played Germany, and i think they deserved to get thrashed, and good on Germany for teaching them a footballing masterclass.

Luis Suarez bite someone AGAIN, mixed reactions to his ban, some feel to was harsh, some lenient and some spot on, i personally think it was fair as it was his third time. However i think the four month ban should start from the beginning of the season of whatever country he is playing in. There is no denying the class of Suarez but what concerns me is that he isn’t learning from his mistakes, and i dont fully blame him, i blame the yes men that surround him, dragging this biting incident on is only supporting what he has done. Lets see what happens in Spain eh? I can write a lot about about the World Cup so what im doing is going to list things i like and things i hate about the World Cup.

Things I like

1. Germany showing the World how awesome they actually are
2. Costa Rica, showing its about team and not one player
3. Brazil getting thumped
4. Stand out Goalkeeping performances, Tim Howard, Keylor Navas, Guillermo Ochoa, Manuel Neuer
5. Exciting counter attacking football
6. Goals, Goals Goals
7. Spain getting thumped
8. James Rodriguez winning Golden boat
9. General atmosphere provided by the Brazilians
10. The Brazilian guy handing replica World Cup to a German supporter

Things I hate

1. Brazil not being the Brazil we know and love
2. England National team, more notable the English FA
3. The Suarez biting incident
4. Cristiano Ronaldo’s face ( i just really dont like the guy)
5. The BBC’s obsession with Neymar
6. Johnathan Pierce commentating on BBC and Andy Townsend co-commentating on ITV
7. The debate of not being a legend if you dont win a World Cup, makes little sense
8. Ghana sending over £3million in player bonuses, that doesn’t sit right with me

So yeah thats the World Cup so thank you Brazil and perhaos now you can concentrate on your widespread poverty.