The Warm-Up: A romantic career comes to an end
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Published 03/10/2017 at 07:18 GMT
Also: Papa Neymar says he didn't want his boy to leave Barcelona, Robben has a dig and more...
England striker Rickie Lambert (C) celebrates scoring England's third goal during the international friendly football match between England and Scotland
Image credit: Getty Images
TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES
Hats off to a story of football romance
It’s international week, so other than England players mumbling tightly-controlled statements to half-interested journalists, there’s not a great deal of football news around.
But let us say goodbye to one of the more romantic careers in recent times. Rickie Lambert has announced his retirement, which perhaps isn’t a colossal surprise but is leant a little extra slice of amusement by the knowledge that, in the last week, he’s been in the news as a potential signing for Crystal Palace. If you’re given the choice between playing football for Crystal Palace or never ever playing football again, it seems the latter option is actually the more enticing.
So farewell then, Rickie. We all know the tale about him working in a beetroot factory, securing the jars of disgusting purple vegetables when most other top-level footballers were browsing ‘My First Porsche’ catalogues. Released by Liverpool aged 10, he then failed to make the grade at Blackpool before eventually signing for Macclesfield, eventually making his way up the leagues via Stockport, Rochdale, Bristol Rovers then of course Southampton, with whom he reached the Premier League.
From there, a return to his boyhood club, the sort of move that logically made no sense for Lambert or Liverpool, but was a move a fan would make. It didn’t work out, but who cares? The guy played for the club he supported as a kid. It doesn’t get much better than that. And then, the final cherry on the cake, scoring for England with his first touch. His first touch! Enjoy your retirement Rickie, you had the career we all dream of.
Papa Neymar wanted him to stay at Barcelona
Everyone was surprised when Neymar decided to leave Barcelona for PSG. Everyone, including his dad, as it turns out.
“I was surprised by his decision to come to Paris,” Neymar Snr told Telefoot. “We had a proposal last year from PSG, but we did not reach an agreement. This year was very interesting because I was the one who hesitated as it seemed better for him to stay in comfort. But he wanted to risk it.”
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Neymar fired a free-kick and a penalty as Paris St Germain hammered Bordeaux 6-2
Image credit: PA Sport
Old man Neymar went on to say that this whole thing about wanting to win the Ballon d’Or was poppycock, and that the move to PSG was all about winning the Champions League with this plucky set of underdogs who effectively spent nearly €400million this summer.
“They tried to persuade him to continue but he had made his decision ,” he said. He wanted this challenge and has come to PSG to win the Champions League. They have five years to get it and the club is on the right path to achieve it. If Neymar’s objective was solely to win the Ballon d’Or, he would have stayed at Barcelona.”
‘Sampson should have been sacked years ago’, says head of organisation who could have sacked him years ago
There’s a fair degree of damage control going on at the FA over the Mark Sampson affair. Naturally enough, given the mess they made of the whole business. But the thing is, every time anyone from the organisation opens their mouth, it poses more questions than answers.
Greg Clarke, chairman of the FA, gave an interview to Paul Hayward in the Daily Telegraph today. In it, among other things, he discusses Sampson and…well, this is what he said:
When you get to the point where the new chairman and the new chief executive find out something that wasn’t shared with the board a long time ago [details of Sampson’s time in Bristol], do you think – that’s a shame, we’d have done something if we’d known, or do you make a decision? Martin [Glenn, the chief executive] said – ‘Look, I found this out yesterday.’ I said – ‘Right, what do you think?’ He told me, I agreed with him and we had a board conference call. We sent out some papers, we asked some questions about legalities, facts, what happened when. And we made a decision. Now, that’s the sort of decision that should have been made three or four years ago, but you can’t use that as an excuse to duck the decision today.
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Football Association chairman Greg Clarke, pictured, says Mark Sampson should have been sacked years ago
Image credit: PA Sport
In fairness, Clarke and Glenn have only been in the job for a year, so the questions this raises are more to do with their predecessors than them. But it does make you wonder what on earth the FA have been doing for all this time. Why wasn’t Sampson checked out properly? Anecdotally, it seems these sort of allegations have been around for a while, so why didn’t someone bother to read the report that’s apparently been lying around for two years? A mess, and no mistake.
IN OTHER NEWS
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Zuletzt nur Ersatz: Robben und Ribery sollen es richten
Image credit: SID
This is usually the section reserved for an amusing calamity of some description, or something unusual occurring in the game. Arjen Robben chipping off at someone doesn’t exactly fit the calamity or unusual parameters, but we thought we should include this zing on Carlo Ancelotti somewhere anyway.
“There’s better training at my son’s youth team [than under Ancelotti].” Robben reportedly told a confidant about his erstwhile manager, offering either a withering assessment of the three-time Champions League winner or suggesting we should all lump on his son’s youth team to win the Bundesliga this season.
Oh, go on then…
DIRTY LAUNDRY
In yesterday’s Warm-Up, Adam Hurrey described Barcelona’s behind-closed-doors win over Las Palmas as a ‘glorious irrelevance of football’, but we disagree. Really, with the caveat that given the circumstances it was ludicrous the game went ahead at all, crowd or no, anything out of the ordinary at Barcelona should be embraced and celebrated.
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FC Barcelona Las Palmas
Image credit: Getty Images
Barca have won every league and European game they’ve played this season. They’ve steamrollered teams like Espanyol, Eibar and even Juventus. Last season they lost one game at home. Tuning in to their games at the Nou Camp is broadly a waste of time, unless you want to watch Leo Messi run around some glorified traffic cones.
So, anything of interest, whether that’s a defeat for Barcelona, empty stands or Messi deciding to play wearing nought but chaps and a jaunty hat, should be enjoyed and welcomed.
HAT TIP
Goodison Park was still empty enough to hear the shouts of the players and their coaches above Coldplay on the public address system. Perhaps much should be taken from the warm-ups taking place at each end of the ground. It was not that Everton were doing anything particularly wrong but listen to Burnley and you begin to really appreciate the role of preparation and attitude behind this team’s accomplishments.
In The Independent, Simon Hughes muses whether Sean Dyche might be the man to bring a little intensity back to Everton.
RETRO CORNER
A very happy 36th birthday to Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Back on the final day of the 2007/8 season, Inter needed a win over Parma to secure the Scudetto but their big dog was half-fit, healthy enough only for the bench. The first half was a rain-soaked frustration, so Roberto Mancini called on the big Swede. He scored twice, and Inter were champions. “You’re welcome,” he said Mancini afterwards.
COMING UP
Like that glorious few minutes of silence when the people you’ve had to stay – people you like, get on with and invited – have left, and your home is yours again, there’s no football. None. Well, obviously there’s a bit, but nothing you really need to concern yourself with. Just enjoy the silence.
Tomorrow’s Warm-Up will be brought to you by Alex Chick, who quite frankly will have his work cut out.
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