BBC Blog Network

User Profile

Joe Lewis

Listed below are comments made by Joe Lewis between Wednesday, 12th March 2008 and Sunday, 20th December 2009.

«Newer
Older»

Hughes harshly treated by Man City 11:08am on 20 Dec 2009 The manner of the sacking seems farcical and so typical of things that have been happening at City over the years. That said, it doesn't come as a surprise to me. I never got the impression that Hughes would be there beyond this season and that the new owners would put their 'own man' in charge.

You're right, some of his signings have been questionable (or more specifically, the fees paid.) Their defence is far too vulnerable for an assault on the top four though as we have seen, going forward they are a different proposition.

Will Mancini be a success? It's difficult to tell. He's been out of football for quite some time though did have an impressive spell at Inter and is used to managing the big personalities and egos. This is perhaps something that Hughes lacked.

An interesting point about Mancini, who BTW has Premier League experience with Leicester albeit very limited, his son, was signed by Eriksson on loan early last year though never featured.
Why Derby must keep faith with Clough 2:07pm on 07 Nov 2009 In our promotion season I remember us playing poorly against Sheffield Wednesday and some of the fans really berating the team. One idiot was sat behind me all game slagging off the players, really barking out his venom. We ended up winning 1-0 with a goal from an improbably angle by Dave Jones. The same fan was making more noise than anyone when the goal went in, absolutely delirious.

Not saying that people should put up and shut up, but so many football fans are notoriously fickle it's untrue. When Nigel took over many posters were full of praise and Nigel was going to do the business. Some fans even mentioned the playoffs.

Hopefully the board are sensible enough to realise that most fans will share your views Paul. We know we have been through the mill these last ten years. We've been a mediocre second-tier side for the majority of that time. We need stability and are doing well to balance the books. It's not the fault of Nigel or the current board that previous ones have messed our finances up. We need to get the wage bill down and keep money coming in.

The worst thing that could happen is for the board to get impatient and try and bring in someone to turn things around ASAP. That short-termism is what's gotten us in to such a mess.

Just to give you an idea of how poor we've been in recent years, Hulse's missed penalty last night meant that no Rams player has scored a hat-trick in the League since 1996 (Paul Simpson v Tranmere). It's going to be a tough season and will probably be a continuation of what we've endured thus far but as long as we stay up and keep the club running smoothly it's an achievement.
Money talks in Super Bowl 8:17pm on 03 Feb 2009 Yes in Premier League we have the footballing equivalents of ASDA, Tesco, Sainsburys and Morrisons in Chelsea, Man United, Liverpool and Arsenal.

Not very good for competition, and the critics level that accusation at socialism!

- Yes, NFL clubs can suddenly up sticks and move but the owner remains the same. -

This sucks.
England set for tough 2018 battle 11:44am on 31 Jan 2009 Given the farcical nature of the 2006 bid I sincerely hope that none of those morons involved are trying to help us achieve future events?

I liked the idea of non-football playing nations hosting the World Cup initially but think that the sport should be given to the people where football is a real passion in the home country.

One thing that makes me laugh though is the involvement of the Premier League officials - these guys are only ever supportive of international football when it suits them. In fact I very much doubt they really have any time for it at all.
FA Cup never loses magic 3:58pm on 04 Jan 2009 I agree it never loses its magic.

But if the BBC were that bothered about it they wouldn't have lost the television rights to ITV.
Fog and frisking end India tour 11:03am on 26 Dec 2008 England were dire throughout the tournament. Awful in the warm-up games, atrocious in the one-dayers and managed to turn a winning position in the First Test into a defeat. As for the Second Test, they didn't deserve to win and Aggers, England could have had another day to bat but had India really wanted to turn the screw, they would have done.

There are some plus points from the tour for England; Swann looks like he could be more than useful for the Ashes, K.P played a fine innings in the final test and Freddie is bowling well again. However there are many areas for concern; Panesar was inadequate, Collingwood and Bell would struggle to get a game for Zimbabwe and the pace attack doesn't look inspiring.

The attitude of the players to return after the Mumbai tragedy should be applauded but one suspects they also had one eye on the IPL when this decision was made as well. Finally, when will they ever learn? If they concentrated on actually playing the game and spent a little less time sledging then we might see results; India can back up their words with actions, our boys can't and it all looks a bit pathetic.

As for the Ashes, I can't see it being another walkover for Oz because they are now in serious decline, but it still could be a very hard summer for England unless there is drastic change.
Carsley - the Championship's most effective player? 3:26pm on 01 Nov 2008 Carsley did win promotion with us (Derby) back in 1995/96, in fact, he was excellent that season and had been switched to an attacking full-back role.

One thing that strikes me about Lee Carsley is that he knows how lucky he is to be playing and making a good career out of football. He often mentions this in interviews and is probably related in part to back in 1995 when Alan Thompson (then at Bolton) caught him with a dreadful tackle and broke his leg.
Have I got news for you? 11:59pm on 01 May 2008 Nick - why do you feel the need to dilute political jounalism so much that it should appeal to readers who would normally go straight to the television listings? "Ken-haters", "Boris-haters" - has it really come to this on the BBC?
The Poles are Coming 11:02am on 12 Mar 2008 issacnewton99 - I used to work in the Jobcentre and I can tell you this did not appear to me as though the presenter was just looking for difficult characters, as there were plenty of people that moaned about people "coming here and taking our jobs". But even if he did, it typifies the problems we have in this country re. work. People turn their noses up at well paid manual work - why? In the post-war boom there was a lot of mundane, manual work that people undertook and there weren't the problems.

There is a work problem in this country, British people can't face up to the fact that people from Eastern Europe are prepared to work a lot harder for their money.

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

Joe Lewis