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Rich_Owl

Listed below are comments made by Rich_Owl between Thursday, 5th February 2009 and Thursday, 22nd October 2009.

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Football's trusts must keep the faith 11:51am on 22 Oct 2009 Plently of folks talking about the Ebbsfleet experiment, but they key differences between it and what Matt is talking about are firstly the fact that fans pick the team, decide transfers etc. It's much more than a club owned by the fans (where the fan-led board are essentially there to decide on budgets and hiring/firing staff. I don't know many fans who would truthfully claim to have more knowledge on training methods and players abilities than a half-decent league manager). Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the owners of Ebbsfleet are not fans of Ebbsfleet. They have no REAL deep-rooted emotional interest. Evidence for this is the number who dropped out following both the announcement of Ebbsfleet as the club of choice and then after the first season. I doubt you would get this rate of attrition amongst true fans and so the comparison is slightly flawed.
What this article also doesn't acknowledge is that the reason for MK Dons and FCUnited (and indeed Barcas) success is that they were built from the ground up with no baggage in terms of large debts, poor pay structures/income streams etc. (if there was no debt and income exceeded expenditure then the fans trust wouldn't be there in the first place. Getting out of this hole takes REAL business acumen, time and expertise). The only top flight fan-owned club in existance is Barcelona, which runs many (successful) sports teams and stands in its community almost as a Catalan national team - a catchment with a passion which few other clubs in the world could replicate. And despite the democratic process and elections, they are effectively run by a chairman who was VERY successful and influential in his chosen career (law) before becoming president, much like many premier league chairmen. The only real difference is that he can be 'sacked' more easily that most. Perhaps, therefore, the answer is not fan-owned clubs, but simply making club owners and chairmen more accountable?
Semenya's sex test explained 3:40pm on 11 Sep 2009 Regardless of the findings, assuming that she is found to have not knowingly cheated, two things should definately happen.

First, She should be allowed to keep her medal (providing any gender anomoly was unbeknown to her at the time of competition). She eneterd a race, was allowed to enter it by the organisers and, as far as we know, has not cheated.

Second, whosoever in the IAAF revealed that she was under investiagtion should be fired. Drug cheats get protection until they are found guily. She may be guilty of nothing yet is having an intensley personal medical issue being played out by the media and, to their shame, SA politicians.

IF she is found to have a gender abmormalitiy, I fear that she may, however, not be allowed to race, certainly in a womens race, again. It would be only a short time before a competitor lodged a complaint (i.e. she has XY chromosomes, for example), which would dog her career. Perhaps she should be allowed to run in a mens race, based on her being genetically more similar to a male if she is XY?

One questions keeps bugging me, though. Her times have improved by a massive 8 seconds this year alone. If she has a congenital gender defect, wouldn't she have been this good since puberty? Why does the difference only kick in at age 18? Why are SA government being so aggressive in their stance? Or is there more to this than meets the eye?
How England can win the Ashes 09:30am on 11 Aug 2009 Kingsholm,

Absolutely spot on. What i would be tempted to do is put Bell back in at 3 and ravi at 4 perhaps, as the more technically correct Bell will do better against a newer ball? You have to stick by Bell - bringing him in for one test then droping him send out all the wrong messages, not least to the guy who replaces him (i.e. one bad test and you're history). Ditto Bopara - give him the full series and then reassess before the winter. We're playing the best side in the world here FFS and if anybody had said we'd be going tinto the last test at 1-1, with one 'winning draw' each I'd have bitten their hand off at the start of the series.
Capello close to World Cup goal 10:56am on 11 Jun 2009 RE Minnows playing in WC qualifying.

Surely the answer is a two tiered qualifying campaing. Something along the lines of the teams who finish in the bottom two/three places in each qualifying group this year play each other in a pre-qualifying tournament for a predetermined number (say, six) places in the main qualifying draw. The same is repeated for the following qualification cycle, where the six teams with the worst records in 'main qualifying' play alongside all the teams that failed to exit pre-qualifying in the previous cycle etc.

This means that all teams are entered in the World Cup and progress on merit (hence no elitism), that those who do well in qualifying are rewarded by a guaranteed place in the following seasons main qualifiers, and it still gives some 'minnows' a chance to improve to the level that they reach the main draw and could play at Wembley/NouCamp/StadeduFrance etc.

One other issue around the current system is that there is no motivation for the smaller nations to improve. They'll never qualify for a major tournament, yet still get the benefit of hosting (and travelling to) one or two major nations every couple of years. A two tiered system may well provide the motivation to improve training methods/funding/infrastructure to make regular qualification to the top tier a possibility
Barry gets England talking 4:07pm on 03 Jun 2009 Of course the cash is a factor and why wouldn't it be. However Barry was well paid (set for life?) at Villa and it's unlikely he moved solely for the money. As a neutral, good luck to him and I'd do the same given a chance. However two things do spring to mind:

- With the money City have, it's not unexpected that they will overtake at least Villa into Europe next season, with perhaps a shot at the chmpions league the year after. If Barry DOES want Champions League football, he probably has got more chance of getting it at City than Villa. Why not move to one of the big four, then? I don't think he'd get into the ManU or Chelsea midfields, or Liverpools if Xabi Alonso stays. He may get into Arsenals but they are most at risk of dropping out of the Champions League if City get in and its World cup year so he wants to be playing regularly......

- Several Villa fans have criticised Barry because Villa CAN offer him european football next season. However, Villa were also in Europe this year and doing rather well until they played a second team in a fixture and got knocked out. Maybe he thinks that if that's the way Villa treat the Europa League then he's better trying to get in it with a different club, one that will be able to assemble a squad that can compete on more than one front?
Goal reached over political football 2:11pm on 01 Jun 2009 Shaunsjfc,

Historically England ruled over Wales, Scotland and Ireland, with the English monarch as head of state (as she is now, as head of the UK), and political and infrastructural decisions being made in the English parliament 9as it is now, as the UK parliament). Most English do NOT see England and GBm, although it's easy to understand why. What gets to me as a proud Brit who wants to see the Olympics succeed is the attitude of the SFA, whose spokesman claimed that this problem mainly concerned England as it was Englands Olympics. Surely London is the capital of the UK and the olympics is being overseen by the British Olympic Association, and hence it's also their Olympics?
Tell us your favourite Ashes moments 08:43am on 08 May 2009 Sadly I'm too young to remember '81. My first 'Ashes' was 1989 and Aussies were just too good. Most of my favuorites are understanbly recent. Several favourite moments come to mind.

Opening partnership of 300+ at Trent Bride, 1989
Warnes 'magic ball' to Gatting
Gattings 'X-marks the spot' interview after having his nose broken.
1993 - Athertons run out for 99 at Lords. Gutted.
2000 - Goughs hat-trick.
2001 - Nasser hit a six onto the rooves of houses next to Headingley.
2005 - Punters reaction to being run out by Gary Pratt
2005 - Trying to get into the last day of the Old Trafford test - I think we were inside the ground about 15 mins before the announcement came that it wa full. Phew!
2005 - The tension at the end of that day as Lee and McGrath batted for a draw was something I've never felt at any other cricket match.
2007 - Hoggards 5for at Adelaide

But my favourite for the sheer joy it brought was the final wicket of that Edgbaston test in 2005, giving England the narrowest of wins to get back into the series.
Bitter recriminations at the Bridge 10:53am on 07 May 2009 I think Phil has got it pretty much sopt on. Referees have made big mistakes in high profile games and they'll make them again. On this occasion Chelsea were on the end of a couple of howlers and its cost them a place in the final. Unfortunately that's sport. The behaviour of the Chelsea players was a disgrace. Did the ManUtd players treat the ref like that when they were denied a stonewall penalty in their FA Cup Semi, which ultimately cost them a place in the final and a shot at a 'clean sweep'? No.

Talk of a conspiracy is rubbish. If there were a conspiracy, barca wouldn't have had to find an equaliser for the last half hour with oly ten men, after the equally apalling sending off of Abidal, and the ref would surely have found more free kicks in and around the box.

I feel sorry for Chelsea that they were robbed by the ref. I felt sorry for manUtd for the same reason a couple of weeks ago. But the Chelsea players reaction was petulant, over the top and unforgiveable. As a professional sportsman you have to learn to lose as well as win with grace. Credit to Terry for congratulating the Barca players. Lots of credit to Hiddink who remained calm and classy in the chaos, as did the majority of his players. Ballack and Dorgba (and Cech) should be ashamed of their behaviour - they set a shocking example to the children who view them as role models and they give football players in general a poor name.
Cricket must seize day 09:07am on 06 May 2009 Why would the rise of the IPL affect sales of tickets for the Eng vs WI tests? Surely the rise of IPL gives the sport as a whole more exposure? And its not as though they are in the same country?

The cricket season ALWAYS starts slowly, primarily due to its overlap with the business end of the football season and the general lack of interest from the media about the county game (the game does not lack 'characters' like Ferguson and Wenger - they do not get the exposiure).

The most valid point in thsi blog is that the ECB decision to play tests first week in May is what should be looked at. When two opponents pulled out the ECB had the opportunity to cancel this series and allow players time with their counties to get runs on the board and into form. What really affects the scheduling though, is the sheer number of matches and tournaments to be played, as decreed by the ICC. In the 'olden days' the tourists would come for a long time, play five tests and a few ODIs and give time to build a 'narrative'. Now we have to host every test playing nation over a four year period, with series shortened as a result, along with Two world cups (T20 and 50-over), the Champions trophy, and these have to fit in around the scheduling of the IPL (note they don't have to fit in around the English county season or the mid-season break for our domestic T20 competition) and you end up with little choice but to extend the season at either end, and you are no longer surprised by the lack of interest in the county game when England are playing international cricket for 10 months of the year.
KP makes headlines again 12:06pm on 05 Feb 2009 Meldrew-Newportman (# 104)

It's astonishing that Jonathan Agnew should be critical of KP when in his three tests for England he scored a total of 10 runs and had a bowling average of 93.25.

------

True, but none other than Sir Viv Richards was also pretty critical of KP on TMS, and he knows a thing or two about test match batting.......

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