FOREIGN IMPORTS IN A PREMIER LEAGUE PLAYGROUND

Ever since the induction of the Premier League in the season of 1992 - 93 , there have been a steady influx of World stars with massive reputations arriving to show their skills at our grounds up and down the country .
Sky TV ploughed in over £300 million for a 5 year contract with the promise of changing the game forever . They kept their promise
Back then there was only one foreign manager , Irishman Joe Kinnear in charge of Wimbledon .
16 of the 22 sides were managed by Englishmen .
20 clubs had British born captains ( the other 2 were Irish )
How times have changed !

It was also the start of Manchester United's dominance of the competition with the mercurial Frenchman Eric Cantona scoring 15 goals to help his side claim their first league title in 26 years.
They had a top class Goalkeeper in Peter Scmeichel , a flying winger Andrei Kanchelskis and in between a splattering of well-timed fantastic British talent coming through to compliment the older heads . A perfect mix .
The year saw the emergence of Ryan Giggs who at 19 was voted Young Player of the Year .
In twenty years of playing at the top level , no one has witnessed the change as much as him.

Now I know there were successful foreign imports in the English game before the start of the Premier league but since the money started rolling into the clubs , the vast majority of World stars played in Italy because it was considered the best and maybe the most lucrative in terms of wages, Dutchmen Ruud Gullitt , Frank Rijkaard and  Marco Van Basten all turning out for AC Milan and having great success. Diego Maradonna and the cream of  South America were also there .
We were still exporting players abroad, the most high profile being Paul Gascoigne and David Platt who both arrived in Italy because that was the league to be in.

It was only when English clubs had the same bargaining power as the Italians and the Spanish did they compete for the top players signatures and offer more substantial wage packages.

In the first couple of years the British transfer record was broken numerous times but the players being transferred were British born or already UK based .

Clubs began to shop overseas for much lower prices and were getting arguably better players with proven track records for there money.

In 1995 , the first Italian arrived to play in the Premier League, but Andrea Silenzi was a bitter disappointment to Nottingham Forest Fans he 'performed' in front of.
They had not been put off thou and better Italians came to Britain , most notably Ravanelli , Mancini,, Guttuso and Carbone .

 Quality players were soon arriving , Ruud Gullit,, Gianfranco Zola, Frank Lebouef, Roberto Di Matteo and Gianluca Vialli all came to Chelsea .
With these players on their staff,  Chelsea  were becoming a real force but it is hard to think of another British player to develop through the ranks other than John Terry from this period to the present day.
In 1999 Chelsea became the first side to field an entirely foreign starting line-up.

When your team is successful and challenging for trophies , few supporters care where the playing staff are assembled  from . The clubs make a fortune in shirt sales with a big name arrival.

Whilst Manchester United sprinkled foreign stars in amongst their British ones , Arsenal had a heavy French and Dutch influence which broke Alex Ferguson's stranglehold on the title to establish Arsene Wengers Gunners as the main rivals to Manchester's dominance.
Wenger was the first to name an all foreign 16 man squad.

With African nations performing well at the 1994 and 1998 , the top clubs widened their scouting networks to include Africa as well as Asia after South Korea'sand Japan's rise to prominence in 2002.

In fact you would find it difficult  to come up with a Country that has not been represented in the Premiership by 2012.

The quality of pitches have vastly improved and the suspicions that the South Americans would struggle come winter time have been largely dispelled and other reasons can explain the varying success rates.
For every Juninho , Gilberto Silva or Carlos Tevez, there was a Fabio Rochemback , Alfonso Alves and Emerson (sorry Middlesborough).

Whether the players struggle to cope with the physicality of the premiership,  get homesick or simply find the sheer pace and direct nature of the game here difficult to handle is open for discussion.
Many have come up well short of what is required of them .
It is the same as any job in terms of learning the language , and communication and even understanding the dressing room banter is vital to not feel isolated in strange surroundings .

 Some thou,  have showed real commitment , sparkled in the limelight and have enhanced their reputations .
Most notably the midfield pairing of Petit and Viera along with Dennis Bergkamp and of course Thierry Henry at Arsenal.
 Cristiano Ronaldo , Ruud Van Nistelrooy , Nemanja Vidic at Man Utd .
There are of course many others who have added flair and an abundance of skill very few British players could dream of .
 David Ginola won many fans at first Newcastle and then Tottenham with his silky skills , and maybe the female interest due to his french accent and the hair . He was worth it as the advert told us .

The country has still produced top class youngsters but whether the amount of foreign players in the league has had a detrimental effect on our young players coming through and although this is hard to measure from an International standpoint as we haven't been any good from 1967 onwards,  I do feel it hasn't helped .

The top 6 clubs at present in the league have only one first choice English goalkeeper, the thankfully outstanding Joe Hart .
Wayne Rooney is the only striker guaranteed a starting place , so there is foreign player influence at the business ends of these sides .

Despite employment laws being tightened to stem the flow of foreign players , only 8 of the 25 man squad have to be ' home grown ' . This rule only applies to over 21's.

It was calculated that in 2001 , 36 per cent of players in the premier league were foreign .
By 2009 only 40 per cent of the squads had English born players but had an average of 13 footballers from abroad on their playing staff.

Too many ? Is it too late to reverse the trend or is the main reason for the huge amount of foreign talent here due to our own players costing too much when an overseas player is seen as a better financial alternative.    
Joleon Lescott was bought by Man City for over £20 million in 2009, a year earlier they signed Vincent kompany for a reported £6 million.
In the january transfer window of last year Liverpool paid out £30 million for the inexperienced Andy Carroll , while his replacement at Newcastle Demba Ba was signed on a free transfer.
Two examples of how inflated a transfer can become between two Premier league sides for players not even considered good enough to play currently for their country.

 Twenty years on and we have Foreign investment in our clubs, only Wayne Rooney occupies a place in the top 6 Goalscoring charts.
There are still a healthy supply of British Managers amongst the 20 teams , but only 5 are English .
Surprisingly thou the number of overseas managers has dropped to also 5 .

 Harry Redknapp is quite rightly being touted as the next England manager but then there isn't a huge pool to choose from , unless we go down the recent trend and go overseas ......again
Sven flattered to deceive , and Capello is stuttering to the finish of his contract without any improvement noticeable in the national fortunes.

Let's hope not ..........

WRONG PLAYERS, WRONG CLUBS ????

Andy Carroll and Fernando Torres are Worlds apart when you compare style and ability and experience, but , their clubs and these players have very similar problems .

They both wear the number 9 shirt and moved clubs for a combined fee of £85 million .
So a year on with much expected after the huge amount of money spent , both Carroll and Torres have only 2 goals apiece this season and are struggling to hold down regular places at their clubs .

Fernando Torres wanted to move away from Liverpool and Chelsea were always going to be the club he joined . Liverpool were stuttering their way to a lowly league finish of sixth position and Torres' form was already on the decline so maybe it was the right move for the two sides to part company .
When Chelsea offered £50 million for him last January , the offer was too good to refuse , especially after Torres had suffered a few injuries in the last couple of seasons at Liverpool and had the look of a player disillusioned with life up north, despite numerous denials that the club were prepared to allow him lo leave , he was sold .
Liverpool fans immediately turned on the player labelling him a " Judas " and Chelsea supporters were at the time were happy that they had when on form , one of the best strikers in the game.
A record of 65 goals in 102 appearances for Liverpool was a fantastic return in the top league in the World .
Surely when Chelsea opened the chequebook and brought Torres to Stamford Bridge , they had seen how he had scored those goals and knew how he would improve their team .
All top clubs need a top striker to score 20 plus league goals a season.

He has struggled to fit into the style of play that Andres Villas Boas likes his Chelsea side to adopt and that has meant that he has become a bit part player in the squad with Boas, until recently preferring Daniel Sturridge or Didier Drogba as the central striker in favour of Torres .

At Liverpool Torres was the pivotal point of attack where Steven Gerrard had the ability to pick out his runs and provide the Spaniard with the opportunity to score the goals .
Chelsea play a more patient style and the runs Torres was making were being wasted because they would use an extra pass to retain possession rather than find Torres quickly as Gerrard would have .

Thirty club appearances and only 3 goals is testament to the fact that both parties do not work together well and it is hard to see how this can be altered .
Strikers more than any other player in a position thrive on confidence and Torres looks like he is carrying the weight of the world on his already sloping shoulders, and you wonder whether he can recapture the form of old that brought him worldwide notice when he was banging in the goals at the Kop end at Anfield on an unbelievably frequent occurrence.
The decline has been substantial and patience is wearing very thin .

There are similarities with Andy Carroll in the way that he cost the club a lot of money and to date netted just 4 times in 27 appearances in the red of Liverpool .
The amount spent thou was based on potential rather than finished product , one for the future they say .......
At his previous club Newcastle he was the the target man where he would use his aerial ability and strength to almost bully opponents. The style of play was direct and their players were instructed to seek out Carroll at every opportunity. At Newcastle he was the main man . As was Torres at Liverpool.

When Liverpool bought the English winger Stewart Downing and acquired Craig Bellamy on a free transfer they had two players who along with Gerrard could provide Carroll with the ideal service from out wide but countless times this season the ball has not arrived early enough into the box and opponents have had time to get numbers back into the area to make it harder for Carroll to have the space to get in headers at goal .
With Luis Suarez banned for 8 matches , Carroll had been given the chance to fill the void but he has failed to score and has been a substitute for a few of those games.
He isn't quite a one trick pony but he has also seems to have lost some strength and it has been pointed out that he is not the best of trainers , so doesn't look fit at times and his attitude has also been questioned.
Fans know when a player is not putting in the effort and would always appreciate a player who is off form but works hard for the team.
 Dirk Kuyt , the prime example at his club.

Carroll has time to turn it around at only 23 , and Torres 27, but both will need to start performing for their clubs pretty soon if they are to live up to anywhere near the expectations of the fans and more importantly the managers .
Chelsea and Liverpool will undoubtedly support their players publicly and will hope that they start to see a return on their most expensive signings before the season ends.
Both clubs are chasing Champions league qualification and with Tottenham currently sitting pretty in 3rd place , the pressure for Chelsea to fight off the challenge of Arsenal , Liverpool and Newcastle for the remaining spot is higher than ever.

A UNITED TEAM GB FOOTBALL TEAM AT THE OLYMPICS ??

For the last 30 years GB and Northern Ireland have had no representatives at the Olympic Football tournament as a result of the team being disbanded by the Football Association after they scrapped the distinction between Amateur and Professional players . 

Argentina, Spain and some African nations have used this tournament to give their risings stars the experience of performing in front of big crowds and getting them used to being involved in Competition life and the pressures that come with it. 
The worlds best footballer Lionel Messi and Man City's Sergio Aguero both played for Argentina in Beijing . Their full squad is here http://soccerlens.com/argentina-08-olympic-football-squad/8188/ some names may be of notice. 
Argentina have won the last 2 Olympic tournaments, Carlos Tevez top scored in 2004 with 8 goals.
I am not suggesting that without playing there that they wouldn't be the players they are today but many top "pundits" are always talking about experience and how important it is . 
Barcelona's Manager Josep Guardiola was 21 when he played in front of his country at the Barcelona Games 1n 1992 , Spain's only Olympic success in football . 
The Brazilians have always treated this tournament with the utmost respect , in 1996, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo and Dida all played. 


For too long now our Home nations have under-achieved on the World stage and maybe if our players had had more experience of competitions like these and others then it could only help them to do well in the Euro's and World Cups of the future. 
The odd penalty shoot-out would have been handy . 
The FA have not sought to put out a combined GB side ...........

Until now ..................

Maybe because we are hosting the 2012 Games and the only way we can really get David Beckham involved in the Olympics is to have a GB team competing in a Football tournament.
Cast your mind back to the last Closing Ceremony, If you remember he was on the big red bus at the hugely successful but strange Beijing Games 4 years ago, along with Leona Lewis being drowned out by Led Zeppelin's iconic Jimmy Page.  

The hand over was complete when "Becks" launched a football from the top deck to signal that the Olympics held in the stadium known as the "Bird's Nest" were over and it was ...er ...our turn .
Despite the ticketing fiasco and spiralling costs , I am sure that the London Games will be a success and this year the national sport of Football will be of ( some ) importance to the British public at this years Olympics. 


The Football Associations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are currently unsure whether to allow their players to join up as one Team GB because they fear that there will be more calls to form a combined British Isles side in future World Cups , maybe looking after their own interests too . 
Politics as per usual .

If the team is to be made up of players from the different nations fairly equally then our chances of winning Gold might be reduced but maybe that is the diplomatic answer to appeasing those FA's .

 Welshmen Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey(with England's Jack Rodwell, above ) have underlined their determination to play by posing in the GB strip at the unveiling . The Welsh FA do not want them involved thou. 
These are the type of players who would benefit from tournament competition as i mentioned earlier. 
Wales have not qualified for one since 1958, Northern Ireland 1986 , and Scotland have failed to qualify for the last 3 World Cups.
Scotland's young players would welcome the opportunity to play too.
The FA's would be foolish to stand in their way. 

The squad can only have a total of 18 players .

The team must be made up mostly of players under the age of 23 , with only 3 over aged players being allowed in Manager Stuart Pearce's squad . 
It has not yet been agreed that players who are going to be involved with England's preparations for the 2012 Euro's will not be considered for selection and their clubs are worried that 2 International tournaments in one year will be too much .

Stuart Pearce has a great job in front of him this year thou he may still yet be told who he can play and who he can't but I for one would love to see Gareth Bale steaming up the left wing and getting on the end of one of David Beckham's trademark long range passes and crossing for a young Scottish / Irish youngster to score in the final ...............

THE RETURN OF A LEGEND

A LEGEND RETURNS.........for 2 months anyway .

After 4 years away Thierry Henry returns to the Emirates stadium to a heroes welcome.

Without doubt one of the finest footballers to pull on the red and white of Arsenal Football Club and blue of his country France.
 Also not in question is that he is one of the finest foreign imports to grace the game in England making the Premier League the most exciting league in the World .

When you have a club record of 226 goals in 370 career appearances for the Gunners then legendary status will be bestowed upon you and the love of the supporters and the respect of his peers is richly deserved .
Arsene Wenger bought the Frenchman in 1999 for £11 million from Juventus of Italy, a bit of a gamble considering he had just finished a disappointing season as a winger, but Wenger knows a young player with potential like no other .
He had pace, but not only that , he had the ability to travel at searing speed whilst keeping the ball under control and this takes fantastic technique and skill.

He scored 32 goals in the Premier League in 2002 when Arsenal won the league and FA cup double not witnessed by the Highbury faithful since 1971.
Henry helped himself to 42 goals the following year and was named  PFA Footballer of the Year by his fellow professionals and by the writers who reported on his many star performances.

A one man team , definitely not but a vital piece in the jigsaw that saw this team daubed " The Invincible's" after completing the 2004 campaign unbeaten in the 38 game Premier league season and 49 overall.

He was unplayable at times, his movement off the ball found space for himself and others and was always a constant threat to defenders and could score goals from anywhere , just look on youtube to see some of his more outlandish strikes , and when you factor into it to that he wasn't a very good header-er of the ball , his goalscoring feats are even more exceptional .

Thierry Henry has cult status at Arsenal and only a month or so ago they unveiled a statue at The Emirates stadium in recognition of the success he helped to bring to this Club through the turn of the century.

He now thou , is returning for a short two month spell to aide Arsenal's push for a Champion's League position in the league and , which I think will be more important , being on the training ground alongside Manager Wenger in helping the stars of tomorrow develop with his experience.

As many players of varying ability , it is your speed that disappears from your powers first and it would interesting to see how Henry has adapted this side of his game whilst he has been away playing in the Major Soccer League in America .

There is an old adage that says that you should never go back to somewhere where you had great success. He will not play many games and it is probably more of a PR coup than a footballing one and maybe Arsenal would be better off trying to sign a younger but proven striker to fill the shoes of the current goal machine Robin Van Persie if he gets injured. ...........as he so often does.

Gone , First of Many .........

Bruce in happier times 

Another one bites the dust ..........come in Steve Bruce your time is up .
As a small surprise to me anyway Sunderland .F.C have become the first Premier League club to thump down on the panic button !
November is always the time when Chairmen , Owners and Fans get the jitters and after only 13 games played in the league this year Sunderland have parted company with their manager , former Manchester United player Steve Bruce .
With only 2 wins to date , the club have decided that enough is enough and will attempt to halt their slide into the relegation zone with another manager in charge .

When i say i am surprised it is only because he was the first to go , but it may now prove to be the first of many if the new guy at the helm makes a bright start and lifts this team to safety .
A new manager with galvanising skills  is required until the much needed  transfer window opens in January .
If a new man is appointed early enough then he must first get something out of this weeks game away at fellow struggler's Wolves , and then continue to climb away from trouble to a safe mid table position .
Sunderland are in this predicament because they lack the goalscoring centre forward to finish off the half chances in close games that so far this season has seen them lose at home to lowly Wigan and Fulham and one win in 6 games is hardly inspiring with the least amount of goals scored only 15.

The usual suspects , Mark Hughes and Martin O'Neill have been touted as potential successors but both would need assurances that there are funds available to strengthen this under-achieving bunch of players .
Steve Bruce's failings to replace the last 2 seasons top scorers , Aston Villas Darren Bent and Danny Welbeck , who went back to his parent club Manchester United following a loan season is the main reason behind his departure . Also losing Asomoah Gyan who obviously fell out with the manager.

It also doesn't help that your bitter rivals Newcastle United are doing well and above what was expected this season and this also adds to the pressure when results are going against you .

Steve Bruce will get another job , such is football management , but don't be surprised if he doesn't rush back as this failure will have hurt his pride , and if nothing else he is a man of integrity.

It isn't the worst job to have in the premier league by any stretch of the imagination and with some good signings and an upturn in results would ensure Premier league survival which is all important .
There are also the likes of Blackburn , Wigan , Wolves and Bolton who are currently much worse .

THE SEASON SO FAR AND WHO I FEEL WILL FINISH WHERE

Are Spurs genuine title contenders this season ??? in a word , No .
The title will go unsurprisingly to the city of Manchester , thou looking slightly more likely that the blue half will be toasting their first Premiership success , but then i wouldn't be surprised if Alex Ferguson's Man Utd overturn the 5 point deficit to win the title for the seemingly umpteenth time .

Tottenham's form since their opening drubbings at the hands of the top 2 has been outstanding with wins against two of their top 4 contenders Arsenal and Liverpool albeit on home soil .
The flying welsh winger Gareth Bale has been unplayable and the loan signing Emmanuel Adebayor has been a fantastic addition alongside the highly talented Rafa Van der Vaart have kept the White Hart Lane faithful purring at the prospect of Champions League football for the second season in three.
My tip for the top 4 this year before a ball was kicked were Liverpool .
 If they can work out how to beat the less fancied teams at home ( Swansea , Norwich , Sunderland all gaining points ) as well as beating the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea away from Anfield then they can challenge for the holy grail of the highest club competition . Probably fall short this year thou .

Early season struggler's Arsenal have also recovered to occupy 7th position in the league with their best player Robin van Persie scoring goals for fun and his continuing great form and just as importantly, his fitness will decide whether Arsene Wenger's men are in the shake-up come the end of the season .
It is difficult to imagine Chelsea not being in the top 3 come May but after their worst start since Roman Abramovichs ownership , Andreas Villas Boas finds his side down in fifth and adrift of leaders  Man City by 12 points.
 As soon as Chelsea lose a few games the finger of blame is always pointed at the managers battle to gain control of the dressing room from the senior players who some believe , have been responsible for premature departure of previous bosses . Improvement is definitely needed to release the pressure and climb the table to where they ought to be .

The January transfer window this season will be possibly more interesting than in previous years as teams sense the importance in freshening up and improving their squads for the final months of the season.
Manchester City have the financial muscle to overpower any other team for a players signature but if they come through the busy Christmas fixture schedule with their lead intact, they may not feel the need to improve on their already impressive squad .
Chelsea seem to be the most likely to have a mini clear-out of staff as it is clear that the manager is determined to bring the players he wants to move the club forward .

Down at the bottom , the perennial struggler's Blackburn and Wigan are occupying the bottom two places and with all the promoted teams making a good start , Bolton are the surprise team sitting in the lowly position of 18th .
I am a huge admirer of Owen Coyle and I hope as a fan of the way he likes to see football played , that his side escapes the drop with him still in charge .
The relegation battle is arguably more exciting in the final weeks of the campaign with some teams managing to pick up vital points to escape the dreaded drop into the championship .
Your guess is as good as mine as to who will be relegated this season with such a long way to go but i will plump for Wigan , Norwich , and hopefully Blackburn .


My top three without being over ambitious is Man City , Man Utd , then Chelsea with Spurs fighting off Arsenal and Liverpool for fourth place .
Agree ???? probably not ........

WEAR IT WITH PRIDE

This Country, along with their brave allies fought across many a land , air and sea with such sacrifice that it is now hard to imagine what life would have been like if the allies had failed in their bid to stop Hitler from World domination during World War Two.
 Vorsprung durch technik wouldn't be the only sentence i can say fluently in my best deutsch .

The first World War ( 1914 -1918 ) , a  stand against the occupation of Belgiun and France produced 15 million deaths and over 20 million injured across both sides on all fronts

A timeline can be found at http://www.greatwar.co.uk for the full list of events that led up to the start of the first World War after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo,  which prompted the Austro-Hungarians to declare War on Serbia on the 28th of July 1914 .

Also this site has the list of graveyards where all the fallen now rest in comparative peace time as a sombre reminder of what went on nearly 100 years ago . Too many obviously.

 For the men and women who died on those battlefields in these Wars, the Falklands, and the soldiers who still fight on the front line whenever, and perhaps too often , our government commands them to in far away lands of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Their level of commitment never wavers and their bravery never questioned .
The soldiers do not make political policy.

All we are asked to do is show our gratitude through silent remembrance on the 11th hour , of the 11th day of the 11th month .
THE OTHER IS TO BUY A POPPY AND SUPPORT THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION ,
to show your respect and thanks for  what they did in the ultimate hour of need . 


Some people have said that the wearing of a poppy is a political statement and it shows support for  wars being fought around the world . 


The freedom that our fallen gave their lives to protect has given these people the FREEDOM  of speech in the first place to claim such things and in my opinion it is not political, it is about REMEMBRANCE ......SO PLEASE


BUY A POPPY , WEAR THAT POPPY . www.poppy.org.uk   

ROO TOO GOOD TO BE LEFT AT HOME ?????

Wayne , wayne, wayne , wayne ..........When you speak to football fans you always get divided opinions , and now that Mr Wayne Rooney jnr has been handed his 3 game suspension after his impetuous sending off in the Euro qualifier against Montenegro, a debate is raging (almost) as to whether the manager Fabio Capello should even include the countries best player in the squad at all .

WAYNE ROONEY 

Now if Rooney wasn't our most talented player then this debate would not even had started .
We do not have an abundance of world class footballers to step in and take his place , and so in the warm-up matches leading up to the tournament held jointly by Ukraine and Poland our much maligned boss Capello has stated that he will not pick Rooney in any friendly games .
This seems bloody obvious to me because you need to know who is going to step in and start those early group games that he will miss through suspension.

At the moment I am sure Capello has no idea what team he would play in that first match because he has, like previous managers , built his team around Rooney . So no plan B.
The candidates for the main striker role are the much improved Darren Bent , inconsistent Jermain Defoe and Theo Walcott . Surely one of these 3 will be given the chance to cement a starting position in the side . Should he want to change the playing style slightly then a Peter Crouch or Andy Carroll could play a leading role as a target man .
For me the untried Daniel Sturridge has come into the reckoning due to fine form for Bolton on loan last season and his continued good performances for Chelsea at the start of this campaign and he definitely has an eye for goal and maybe he could provide the answer if he is given a opportunity to shine.

We have had such a poor record in major tournaments since the Euros of 1996 , and we would need all our major players to be fit to even compete against Spain , Germany and Holland .

A fit and raring to go Rooney would be a massive boost to our chances should we proceed through to the knockout stages , but he is due a performance in a major tournament after the shambles of the last World Cup.
He needs to still prove he cares as much when playing for England as he does when pulling on the red shirt of  Man United. The undoubted talent he has isn't enough and needs to show that at the Euros next year he can be trusted not to let the team down with another mindless and pointless display of impetuous behaviour .

Why a life ban is right for Merritt,Chambers and co

Once a cheat always a cheat ?

FASTER , STRONGER , HIGHER 

In my view yes , that doesn't mean that athletes shouldn't be given a second chance .
That said the Olympics is the pinnacle of the the athletes career and to compete at the highest level should come with the knowledge and trust that once on those blocks the race is even when the gun sounds off .
Ability alone determines the winner .
The ruling from the Arbitration For Sport has overturned the IOC decision to ban any athlete from competing in the Olympics after falling foul of the drug ban policy. The UK athletics committee will continue to uphold the IOC ban .
Until now athletes who test positive for banned substances are still allowed to compete in other competitions like the World Athletics Championships or Commonwealth Games after completing the term of suspension handed down to them.
The reigning 400 metres Olympic champion Lashawn Merritt has been given the chance to defend his title won in Beijing . He tested positive 3 times in 2009/2010, once for Dehydroepiandosterone,  a steroid used ( and be prepared for this ) in a penis enlargement drug !!
I thought you could only get banned from aiding your performance on the track but it appears to also include the bedroom .
Drug cheats have no place in sport , especially the Olympics, and by missing out on them should act as a deterrent to young up and coming athletes of the future.
Just because Merritt and other previously banned British stars like Dwain Chambers and the Tour de France cyclist David Millar are now clean and have served their punishments it doesn't change the fact that they cheated out their peers of a spot on a team , a place in the final or even the glory of  a gold medal .
In Merritt's case he also helped The 4x400 metre US relay team to Gold and the World record time at the World Champs in 2008 so there would be suspicion over those performances too.
Maybe the athletes taking part at next years London games could protest in unity and refuse to compete against the cheats of the sport by refusing to leave their blocks and walking away but that is wishful thinking .

It may take a few more steroids for Merritt not to look so small thou ....

ITS EGG CHASING ,but at least you are allowed to tackle for it

 The Rugby World Cup has reached the first round of knock-out matches at the quarter final stage .
After some terribly one sided trouncing of the minnows in the competition , the usual suspects from the northern and southern hemispheres of world rugby are gearing up for battle in some eye-catching ties .
The massive Australia v South Africa game tops the bill, the Irish face Wales to hopefully play a stuttering but resilient England in the semi finals after we (again fingers crossed) batter a French team looking capable of implosion at any point .
It is clear thou that everyone wants to beat England and as Ireland showed in a well deserved victory in Dublin in the Six Nations , that teams up their game and after beating Australia in the group stage they will fear no-one.
There have been only one real big surprise so far in this tournament with Tonga crushing a very disorganised and mentally unstable French side . Please turn up with the same attitude on Saturday please !!!

There is a colossal amount of pressure on the home nation New Zealand and they have been dealt a serious blow with the injury to the best player in the world the play maker Dan Carter but still remain slight favourites to win the trophy they have not lifted since the first tournament jointly hosted in Australia and New Zealand in 1987 .
England will have to improve and be more disciplined in not conceding so many penalties against stronger opposition if we are to emulate the the boys of 2003 and come away with the Webb Ellis trophy from down under . It will be a major surprise if we do but then we wasn't tipped to reach the final last time out either .

A date with the unpredictable le bleus is first up , so a morale boosting thumping would do wonders for the confidence and then an even looking semi against Ireland (probably) followed by a tough game with one of the big boys in the final .
Getting carried away a little maybe , but it looks an easier path through and we have as much chance as anyone, a winning Ashton swallow dive try in the corner followed by a resounding rendition of Swing Low would go down nicely thanks and then Mike Tindall can do what he wants with dwarves and get knighted for it.

Maybe................

THIS IS WHAT I DO !!!!

Shameless plug using my own blog site to promote the work i do day to day , week by week , year in year out.
Yes !!!!!!
In these economically tough times we have to use every kind of media to our advantage.
The recession has hit the Motoring trade just as hard as any other .
Regular readers of my blog are people who kindly have a browse through Facebook and may know what I do for a living , this is just a small advert and hopefully nobody will mind , thanks x

I have spent 15 years re-upholstering vehicle trim from cloth to leather in various vehicles including Motor cars,  Boats , motorcycles , and for a short but enjoyable time working on Lear jet planes .
We have a website full of images which is under a bit of construction and i will develop a facebook page shortly and put up recent pictures of finished Camper vans and other American muscle cars .
 The web address is www.conceptvehicletrimmers.co.uk and my email is reynoldo77@hotmail.com for any questions or comments .

Thank You for your time , just a few samples with varying styles , colours .x

FORD CAMARO

BMW M3

SEAT LEON

SUBARU IMPREZA

SUZUKI VITARA

A TOTAL MESS DOWN AT THE FARM

For ten years now Dale Farm in Essex has been home to a Gypsy travelling community , the Basildon council have now called in the bailiffs to remove the homes of the families off of the area of land which has been developed illegally . 

The Gypsy community are claiming that there is a breach of human rights and are vowing to fight the planned eviction which is said to cost the lucky taxpayer £18 million pounds . 

The Dale Farm site is the largest Gypsy community development in Europe and the council have said it will take up to two months to remove the families. 

It has taken ten years to get to this stage, when this ongoing saga started out as an illegal planning issue but it is  getting more complicated by the day . 

Britain has become a land of very strict planning law and if you want to build on the land you own then you have to be granted permission to do so, I know of one family who had to have their house demolished because they built on their original biulding without permission and had to be re-housed. 

The problem is that 1,000 people now live on Dale Farm and the local council are now embroiled in a battle to clear the site and return the land back to the protected green belt area it was before . 

Where do they go ? What about human rights ? What about the children ? . All questions asked in hope of making this story into something other than a basic planning issue , there is also suggestions of  'ethnic cleansing'  which seems ridiculous to compare this situation with the tens of thousands of people massacred in Yugoslavia and Rwanda under the same term . 

Local residents have been campaigning for this eviction for years and have described the whole ordeal living within range of the Farm as a "complete nighrmaaaaarrre" as only our Essex accent can .  

The local council now have the eyes of the world watching this situation and like many people i don't really understand why this has rumbled on for so long and the story will not go away , neither will the do-gooders like the actress Vanessa Redgrave banging on about human rights when people break the law, it is a shame when there are children involved and you wouldn't be human if you didn't feel sympathy for them ,  but how did the Gypsy community think this would end ? . 

Mindless stealing and Fat Snouts in the expenses cake

The justice system has had a busy time in the last few weeks handing down sentences to the rioters and looters that caused absolute carnage on the streets of the countries capital and other major surrounding cities .
Businesses destroyed by the troubles in July and the cost of extra policing will cost the taxpayer over £140 million.
It is then no compensation to hear that the acting Met Police commissioner wished that he had more Police on duty when the rioters strolled through shopping centres causing days of mayhem , Tim ( nice but dim ) Goodwin said " sometimes you suddenly realise how thin the blue line is " . .Er yes , well done .
These people named as the scum of the country by our political leaders were caught in the 'act of burglary with the intent to steal' or just burglary to you and me and are being dealt with by the highest courts of the land .
Prime Minister David Cameron condemned them as ' mindless selfishness ' and as the 'sick pockets of society' .
Hard line sentences and fines will no doubt set a precedent and are sure to act as a deterrent ...maybe

Now , on to people who should of known better , the people who were trusted to be whiter than white , transparent , trustworthy .............. that's right the politicians and lords who buried their fat snouts into the deep trough that was the the MPs expenses accounts .
Politicians from all parties were caught claiming for second home mortgage allowances and redecorating costs that beggared belief .
Lord Taylor , a Conservative peer was sentenced to one year in prison for claiming £11,000 on overnight stays at a bogus address. . He was released after only 3 months hard labour. It probably wasn't .
Lord Hanningfield was also released early from his sentence of 9 months of which he served only a quarter of .
So lessons obviously learnt.
He only claimed false expenses because " all the other peers were doing it " . Oh that's ok then , carry on Lord Piggys.
You should read about Labour mp Margaret Moran she really took the p*** .
False accounting , looting , acts of burglary with intent , all stealing to me and all cost the taxpayers fortunes.
Whether its the selfish lords or the selfish opportunists carrying out 50" inch TV's from electrical stores , there doesn't seem much difference .
Its just the justice system where there is .

A NATION EXPECTS..............OR DO WE ??????

The games of the XXX OLYMPIAD as they are officially known will commence on the 27th of July 2012, over 10,000 athletes from over 200 countries will descend on London to compete in what is billed as The Greatest Show On Earth .
There is no doubt that the stadia will be completed on time and all venues will look amazing and fit to hold such an amazing event not seen in the UK since London last hosted the Olympics after World War II back in 1948.
The XIV Olympics were known as the Austerity Games due to the poor economic climate !! sound familiar ? obviously Germany and Japan were not invited and the USSR chose not to send any athletes for competition , yet still a record number of countries attended.

There are high expectations that the Great Britain and Ireland team will surpass the medal haul of 19 Golds ,13 Silver and 15 Bronze achieved in Beijing last time out .
We always have strong Rowing , Cycling and Sailing teams but as the Aussies pointed out after finishing just behind Team GB in the medal table in 2008 , we only win when we are sitting down .
Sour grapes maybe , but we will need to improve on our showing at the the recent World Athletics Championships in Deugu , South Korea where we only picked up two Golds on the track .

The host nation always carries more expectation to perform, and despite the over complicated ticketing fiasco adopted by the organising committee , the stadiums will be packed full with boisterous flag waving British support which is sure to gain extra effort from our competitors.

Jess Ennis is London Olympics highly talented and maybe more importantly from an advertisers point of view , very photogenic poster girl .
She lost her World heptathlon title in Deugu and finished with Silver , as did the flamboyant Triple jumper Phillips Idowu , both tipped to win their events . Our best sprinter failed to wait for the starting gun and was disqualified.
The London Olympics will be a success as a sporting spectacle but our athletes will have to raise their standard when the worlds greatest sportsmen and women arrive , and the hope is that our chances of a record medal tally will be as bright as a British summer , just not this years , under a cloud .

GLORIOUS PISTORIUS THE BLADE RUNNER

Oscar Pistorius may have finished a distant eighth in his 400 metres semi finals at the World Athletics in Daegu , South Korea but to just be able to run against able-bodied atheletes was a dream come true for the South African named 'The Blade Runner' or somewhat less flattering the ' The Fastest Man On No Legs '

The double-amputee has specially fitted carbon-fiber blades to propel himself around the track and has so far broken his own 400 metre paralympic world record over 30 times and has won many Gold medals.

Competing against the World's elite at this years games is a true inspiration who despite not qualifying for the Olympics in Beijing never gave up believing that he would get his chance one day.

He has to use the same Prosphetic blades that he was tested on by the Arbitration of Sport and is not allowed to modify them .

There are advantages and disadvantages with having two prostheses , able-bodied runners use their calf muscles to push off from the starting blocks and as Pistorius doesn't have calfs he has to use his hips to get himself going and therefor always starts slowly.

  

Oscar Pistorius does have an advantage on the straights after he has built up speed ,and at the end of the race when the other runners would suffer fatigue in their legs . He has the ability to power on towards the finish line and catch up on time that he had lost earlier in the race .

This is an historic breakthrough for Paralympic atheletes to not only just qualify for the World Championships but to progress to the semi final and Pistorius dealt with the pressure, prejudice and the attention of the Worlds press to show that the improbable could be achieved .

 He runs in the South African 4x100 metre relay team later in the week .

 Truly Inspiring to read about a sportsman pushing the boundaries and proving that despite having the lower part of his legs amputated at only 11 months old, he has the drive and ambition to keep pushing his body to greater heights .

13 - 3 AS LONDON TEAMS GET BATTERED

Few fans would argue that after only 3 league games , the premier league title is looking like a two horse race .

Arsenal , with the team heavily depleted through injuries and suspensions, would only have had a glimmer of a hope at gaining a draw from their trip to Old Trafford before a ball was kicked .

Tottenham , finished last season in 5th place and outside the Champions League places and have made no significant improvements to the squad in the transfer market unlike Sundays opponents, 

Manchester City who qualified in 3rd place and have since made monumental strides in making their squad even stronger with some superb signings .

If you stand still in this league you go backwards and the disastrous starts to the 2011/ 12 season made by Arsenal and Spurs have shown that they are under pressure to bring in some fresh faces before the transfer market closes on 31st August .

The defeats suffered by the London clubs confirm that they are well short of the quality needed to compete at the top of the Premier League.

The way that Arsenal were dismantled  8 - 2 by Wayne Rooney and co yesterday must have been humiliating for gunners fans to witness and there were no reasons to be cheerful at White Hart Lane either as a Hat-trick by Edin Dzeko for Man City thumped Harry Redknapp's Spurs 5 - 1 .

A team from Manchester will finish top this year with Chelsea and Liverpool the only other viable challengers .

Arsenal and Tottenham , will have a tougher fight to keep hold of their better players like Robin Van Persie , Luka Modric and Gareth Bale if they don't bridge the widening gap between themselves and the two sides who handed out the thrashings this weekend .

MONEY MONEY MONEY , ITS A RICH MAN'S GAME

 Once again Manchester City appear to have completed another summer signing .
Samir Nasri , soon to be former Arsenal player is the latest Premier league star to join the sky blue revolution . The sum of a reputed £24 million will change hands between two clubs who finished third and fourth last season .
The Premiership is the most lucrative and expensive division in world football and within a couple of seasons a new spending power has emerged out of the daunting shadow of bitter rivals Manchester United to become a major force in English football .
A simple medical is all that stands between the Frenchman Samir Nasri from finalising a summer move that has rumbled on to its inevitable conclusion , the usual stumbling blocks of personal terms and transfer fee seem to have been overcome .
The owners of Man City , the Abu Dhabi United Group have spent a staggering £270 million in transfer fees alone in the last 3 years to now establish itself in the top four and may be the main challenger to win the league and European honours for a long tine to come.
They can buy anyone on their vast shopping list and have now obtained a top player from one of their main rivals for the main silverware this term .
This would suggest that Arsenal are in danger of going further backwards into the chasing pack than they already had after allowing Captain Cesc Fabregas re-join his boyhood heroes of Barcelona a couple of weeks earlier.
It has been said that you cannot achieve success by just assembling expensive parts and then hoping they mould together but , when you look enviously at the quality of their attacking line-up it is very hard not to see this method working. The owners will demand it and you can't see the money running out any time soon .

Nasri's former manager Arsene Wenger has now lost his two priced assets , but has £60 million to show for his ability to nurture young talent or make good players like Nasri into world class material .
With his due to contract to expire at the end of this 2011/12 season , Nasri knew that if Arsenal were to recoup any of the £12 million they paid French club Marseilles for him then now was the only time they could sell him to do so . When Nasri declared that he wouldn't be signing a new deal with Arsenal , their hands were ultimately tied and had to give up any attempt of keeping hold of him .

Riots In LONDON

After the third night of crime and disorder on the streets of London , our beleagured politicians have returned early from their summer holidays to trump out the same useful rhetoric condemning rioters and a promise to be tough on crime and the causes of crime . Action is what is required not words .
It is the only story on the news when you get in from work so everyone has made a comment on the people responsible for the seemingly aimless violence spreading across the capital city , Birmingham and latedly Manchester .
Frightened and stunned shop owners have been left standing outside their properties while these looters have stolen everything inside . Some reports have suggested that the police have stood by in some cases and not prevented the thieves.
There have been various excuses given as to why these hooded louts are roaming the streets . All of them not reason enough when people are having their livelihoods destroyed.
I can understand the anger on Saturday in Tottenham when according to the Met Police a man was shot dead after he first opened fire on them . Since the original statement it is now being reported that no shots were fired from the gun that Mark Duggan was alleged to have been holding . Until the exact truth from the incident are known , suspicion will once again fall on a police force that few in the urban areas of London already have no trust in, or respect for . The family of the deceased man are the only people who deserve to have an axe to grind for this.
The resulting nights problems have got nothing to do with that incident .
' You will feel the full force of the law ' according to Prime Minster David Cameron .
Which means 16,000 police officers on the streets to help those already battling the masked yobs running about . I doubt that Cameron or any of his friends would like to make that 16,000 and 1 and help.
Will this protect the public and instill confidence back in our police force before we have vigilante groups taking on the rioters themselves . I doubt it will be enough.
Greed and not anger is whats behind the distruction of major companies on the high streets. Stealing from within their own community and putting more people out of work in areas where unemployment is already high.
Despite some racist opinion on facebook and twitter, if you look closely at the news pictures you will see all ethnicity represented . Scumbag doesn't have a colour .
It has also emerged that a lot of those responsible are teenagers so the question has been asked ' where are the parents' . Maybe the answer is . They don't care .
Some Mp's have called for the Army to be involved which will be a difficult decision and one that you cant see ever being ordered .The presence of an army hasn't exactly calmed the problems in Libya and Syria , which our government welcomed in the uprising against their rulers and rightly so.
It is clear that order has to be restored and the government have to back the officers in battle gear lined up to quell the disturbance.
Our Police are there for a reason and that is to police the streets and to protect the public and their property, and therefore they must be given the oppurtunity to do so whichever way they deem fit and without the threat of a law suit from some masked headcase walking out of a building he and his mates just robbed and then set alight just for being a little bit heavy handed .