Transfer Bans For All

Ben Wilkinson calls for a transfer ban on all big money spending club.

A transfer ban should be issued to every big spending club, no matter where they are in the league.

PSG and Bayern Munich are the biggest clubs in their countries league as well as European football. However because English football fans don’t tend to watch ligue 1 and the Bundesliga, they don’t tend to realise the club domination in those leagues. PSG have won ligue 1 for the past three seasons and have won the coupe de France 9 times. Bayern Munich similarly have won their league for the past three seasons. This is obvious superiority and this needs to stop.

How does Uefa stop this? Financial fair play was introduced by Uefa to prevent clubs that qualify for its competitions from spending beyond their means and stamp out what their president Michael Platini called “financial doping” within football. He explains that big companies throwing millions of dollars into football clubs is ruining the game and it is for reasons like spending millions on players in one transfer window that ruins leagues, because of the lack of financial support, to clubs lower down in the leagues. Leagues like ligue 1 and the Bundesliga become monotonous which leads to less publicity.

However, in some scenarios like Leicester city in the Premier League they are the underdogs that have overcome critics and are now intimidating big teams in England’s top division. This inspirational Leicester team are becoming a real force and it will only get better. Even if Leicester don’t win the league, the amount of tv licensing money they will get from playing European football, will undoubtedly boost their transfer budget and dispense that money on quality signings that will boost the morale of the squad as well as adding to their squad depth.

This prodigious Leicester team are new and exciting but this doesn’t necessitate on the teams that are dominating their leagues. Furthermore, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid were given a transfer ban so they have been punished by world governing body Fifa for breaching rules over the transfer of minors – both clubs say they will appeal. This means that Real Madrid could not pursue with the transfer for Manchester United’s David de Gea because he could only play for them until the start of the 17/18 Liga BBVA season.

Despite the fact that teams have been criticized for as well as buying high profile players at extravagant prices, there should be a ban on all clubs that have bought players that are just there as a squad rotation option. This may sound diminutive but this sort strategy ruins players’ careers. Fabian Delph has destroyed the rest of his career by accepting a contract from Manchester City in the summer transfer window. He has only played ten games in the last of Manchester city’s 36 games played so far. However he has been out with injury since Man city’s pre-season friendly against Real Madrid in July 2015, but seeing that he was worth £8 million plus add on fees, he surely must be an important part of the team.

This hopefully is the start for Uefa turning the heat on clubs such as PSG, Bayern Munich and Manchester city on spending money that doesn’t protect the minors of their respectable leagues.

There’s no racism in football? Sure…right.

Football chanting turns to racism once again. Will Brandon Ross-Lea beat the crowd?

Racism is a problem for football across Europe and is an important factor in the problem of football hooliganism itself. It should be dealt with, it should be punished and it should not be happening in today’s world.

Anyone caught racist crooning at a football game should be stripped naked and made to have a tattoo of their racist chants on their forehead while being paraded through the streets of London.

Racism is against the law so why do it? It’s not funny and it’s not fair. Everyone should be allowed to show off their skills without having loathsome and repugnant comments thrown at them. If players are not liked because of their skin colour then you should keep it to yourselves and leave it at home instead of bringing it to a stadium which is all about respect within the club and the crowd.

Admittedly supporters only care about their team and how they are playing but surely if you’re a true football fan and it’s a tense game between two teams, it’s worth enjoying even if the team has players of different coloured skin or religion, so why are the supporters so judgemental to players of the opposite team? All footballers should be respected for their talents no matter whose team they are on as it’s about showing off skills and playing the game they love.

Racism has calmed down over the past few years during football games however it is slowly creeping back in. It was just last night that a Referee halted Lazio v Napoli Serie A match after racist chants were heard. Kalidou Koulibaly said “I thank my team-mates, the public and our fans, who have been a great support against these ugly chants.” This shows that true supporters will stick up for their team no matter the colour of their skin and it shows the true respect in football.

Racist chants are proving that football will eventually come to a pause. An example is in March 2014, J-League club Urawa Red Diamonds had to play to an empty stadium; their fans had been banned following racist banners displayed in previous matches. If racist chanting carries on, surely the game will soon die down from supporters as so many will be banned meaning that it is unfair for the supporters who enjoy the game for what it is and do not mind who is playing. Yes there is a tense atmosphere in the stadiums between supporters but it should not come down to racist comments and banners being thrown.

Alternatively we could say that these comments are said due to frustration and people are trying to fit in with the crowd but this is no excuse and it should not be tolerated in games.

We find that racist chanting is not just happening in the stadium it’s also occurring out on the streets. For example, remember the Chelsea fans who disgraced themselves on the Paris Metro?  This shows that fans want to make sure everyone knows their opinion and who they support, also they want to be noticed and to do this it resolves them in shouting racist comments and chants to the public. This does show passion and commitment to the game but it shoes no respect to the players.

From now supporters and fans should start to think about what they want to say and what they should say, as yes racist comments are mostly said through frustration but that is just an excuse and not a reason. Racism should not be tolerated anymore and anyone found doing this should be punished and should be publicly embarrassed as that’s what they have done to the player. These players are all innocent. They want to play to have fun and most off all prove to the public and fans that they can play football and that they belong on the team they shouldn’t have to worry about being booed at if they make a mistake or loose the ball because as we know mistakes just make us better players.

Think before you act.

 

 

 

Is Jamie Vardy the key to England’s Euro 2016 squad?

A new striker is needed but it is a cloudy issue. Jack Cooke gets stuck in.

Is Jamie Vardy the key to England’s Euro success? The, 5ft 10, 29 year old is what the nation needs. 

Since signing a record breaking transfer fee of £1,000,000 for Leicester city, the golden lad has boosted the boys in blue to the number one spot, in one of the highest quality leagues of football. But his form and quality is not temporary. Before signing for Leicester he spent 2010 playing for Halifax Town making a name for himself by scoring 26 goals in his debut season. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

In addition to his goal scoring, Vardy is known for his high work-rate, relentless running, and direct approach; he is also an extremely fast and dynamic striker, who is good in the air, and capable of striking the ball with both feet, which is essential for penetrating and exploiting the defences of other vulnerable national teams. England coach and Sky Sports guest Gary Neville commented on how Vardy’s approach influences teammates: “he sets the tempo and the tone for the rest of the team and gives no other player behind him any excuse for not working hard.” Meaning he will also benefit his teammates and boost overall morale of team mates as well as the nation.

Many have recognised Vardy as a talented player but it remains that he is inexperienced in the field of national level football. Vardy has only ever played for four clubs in his career and only three of them being league teams. Not only having played for three league teams they have been seen as “underdog” teams consisting of; Halifax Town, Fleetwood Town and Leicester City. On 21 May 2015, Vardy was called up to the England national football team for the first time ahead of a friendly against the Republic of Ireland and a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match against Slovenia. He made his debut on the 7^th of June in the goalless draw at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, replacing captain Wayne Rooney for the final 15 minutes. Therefore reflecting the little time he has on field as part of a national football team.

At Fleetwood Town, the team was built around him and Vardy had always been the main man there. He settled in really quickly and wasn’t afraid to say what he thought. That’s the confidence that sometimes you need and you can see it with the way he’s playing on the pitch. So how does this stop him from adapting and settling in with the England squad? Clearly Vardy will be comfortable and innovate the team with his unique and attacking playstyle. He was a big man at a little club but the tides have changed and now he is a big man at a big club and has colossal chances to be the main man of one of the biggest teams in the world.

So Jamie Vardy may be what England needs but who knows? The only way to find out is give it a shot. England manager Roy Hodgson gave every indication Leicester’s record-breaking striker Vardy is very much part of his Euro 2016 plans. You can’t get much better contribution than match-winning goals, but he has done an awful lot of running, chasing, making very good runs behind defenders, constantly being a thorn in the side of every defence he has played against and working his socks off making him an ideal choice for England. His latest action that everyone is talking about truly reflects the audacious and mighty lengths he will go to for his team.

Nothing is more satisfying than seeing this prodigy score a 25 yard screamer.

Could Louis Van Gaal spark a wet patch within their Goal drought?

The notion of United’s drought in goals could mean the axe for the Dutchman, according to Jamie Riddell. 

Can Van Gaal entertain the devils? I believe so, as the United fans are becoming bored of the new ‘Manchester United ‘even though the pressure on the Dutchman is beginning to rise.

The poor scoring form within the league is continuing to string a set of rumours towards his philosophy to try creating attacking football. The recent defeat to Norwich City marked a six game winless streak which has eradicated them from the Champions League with comfortable fashion. Yet his team has been left demoralised with confidence being low and struggling to create a goal scoring attack. As star player Wayne Rooney, aged 30, is classed as being past his prime but the Manchester United manager is adamant he is the right man for the job, however this is just the tip of the iceberg.

In addition, within his first season at Barcelona, Van Gaal was able to maintain the  championship which he struggled to do within the his first year at United achieving a top four finish and currently sitting fifth in the league raising the question, are his team scoring enough? The answer is no.

Within the last ten Premier League games, United have only scored ten goals and six of these coming from Van gaal’s main man, Rooney. Yet ex player Javier Hernandez has scored eleven goals in his last ten games by himself who was classed by Louis Van Gaal deeming him as “not good enough for his system”.

However, after all throughout the season his team has maintained a steady spine in his defence as six foot four centre back Chris Smalling is performing with great prominence over the course of the 2015-16. Besides this, his recent form in the last three games in the cup and league have been goalless, creating a platform for Van Gaal’s team to kick on from.

Also,  I remember everyone shrugging their shoulders after Sir Alex Ferguson’s first season at the Theatre of Dreams. Look what he was able to embellish over time he was given to grow. 13 league titles. That doesn’t go amiss. So in belief of him wanting to succeed, you need him to grasp the concept of United’s origin of attacking. Why can’t give him a chance to improve? It wouldn’t affect the start of season his team are having. Taking a risk would influx the amount of chances, goals; and his team’s confidence overall to prosper within the league and challenge for the title next season.

Players who have been given the freedom on the pitch will be able to develop to their own living up their potential.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why school uniform is pointless

Uniform is pointless thinks Connor Draby.

Imagine you wake up, it’s dark you are tired, you want to sleep but you have to get up and go to school. But you don’t even get to choose what you are going to wear. Instead you need to wear an uncomfortable blazer and tie.

Statistics show that most students in America are against uniform, especially in the southwest of America and is least supported by the northwest of America. This means that uniform is mostly disliked.

Some of the reasons that uniform is disliked is because it does not let you express your personality freely. The uniform may be uncomfortable which will distract students as they need to be comfortable so they can work to the best of their ability.

In addition, uniform has got very dull or plain colours which can be very unappealing to the eye. Lastly the uniform can have an extremely high cost as you need to buy every part of the uniform e.g. tie, Wight shirt, black trousers, black skirt, blazer, black shoes and the school logo.

On the other hand, school uniform can be useful for when the school go on school trips as if the student gets lost, the uniform can help to find the rest of the group as the uniform shows they are part of the school. It can also be used for stopping pupils from getting bullied by the type of clothes they wear by making everyone wear the same thing.

One final example of school uniform being useful is that it prevents students from wearing any inappropriate clothes at school.

So imagine you wake up, it’s dark, you are tired and you still want to sleep but you have one thing to look forward to – that is choosing what you want to wear to school.

 

 

The Survival of Louis Van Gaal

According to Freddie Dukes, it’s time for Louis Van Gaals’ reign of terror to come to an end.

It’s time for the Manchester United fans cries to be heard.

It’s no secret that Louis Van Gaal is no fan favourite at the legendary Manchester club. His boring style of play has been constantly criticised for being, “afraid” to attack. It’s surely time the board realised that Louis Van Gaal’s Manchester United career needs to come to an unfashionable end.

Van Gaal’s style of football completely focuses on possession over attack. They don’t go out to play the entertaining game that football should be played by such a successful football club. Football is a spectator sport. The Manchester United fans pay well earned money to go watch their favourite team pass a ball without the urge or temptation to score. This is not the game that the previous, successful Manchester United played. This isn’t the game that the champions of England played.

In addition to this, another huge issue with the managerial skills of Louis van Gaal is positioning of his players. He has so many fantastic players at his disposal but hen plays these players out of position, lowering the confidence of such great footballers by picking players to play out of position instead of the original player himself. The result of this is the players feel the manger is filling a gap in the squad – the gap being them. For example Van Gaal spent a big amount of money on a winger such as Memphis Depay. Then puts the in form Depay on the bench and plays a player such as Juan Mata, a centre attacking midfielder, on the wing.

Not to mention the £60million signing of Di Maria. The Argentinian international turned out to be a huge flop under the Dutch man, playing in centre attacking midfield in comparison to his usual wing position, leaving no option but to be sold a year later to PSG, where he plays on the wing and returning into the original Di Maria that everyone remembers.

However it’s also said the Dutch man has already proved himself as the manager of Holland. But club football is a whole new world compared to managing a national team. Furthermore, the ex Holland manager has been unfulfilling as a club manager. Nonetheless, the positives cannot be ignored. Manchester United were impressive in their recent 3-0 victory over Stoke; they showed a slightly new side to their game where they finally weren’t afraid to attack. However we’ve seen it before this season where a finally impressive attacking game was played against Newcastle, only to be let down by the defence. This was thought to be a u turn in the Red Devils’ season, before a few games later returning to the poor results such as consecutively loses to the Stoke City, Norwich City ad Bournemouth.

It’s surely obvious to the Manchester United board that the fans aren’t happy with their club’s performances. From fans booing their club off the pitch to an online campaign against Van Gaal, you can’t blame the fans for their outrage either when stats show only 31 goals scored, 6 goals and 5 points behind 4^th placed Arsenal and only a point separating 5^th placed Manchester United from 6^th placed West Ham and still have scored 7 less goals than them.

With all this in front of the Manchester United board, it’s surely time to say the final good byes to a very unimpressive Louis van Gaal.

Why mountain biking is underrated

People think mountain biking is expensive and dangerous. Callum Ebbutt thinks you should get on your bike.

Mountain biking is a fun sport but very expensive. Most people say it’s too much exercise but it’s not that bad. It can also be very dangerous in high places but if you have enough adrenalin, you should feel fine.

To be good at the sport it would be a good idea to get a decent bike that suits you well and do a couple of modifications. Practice well, then risk it and explore the world and see new places. A good bike to get would be a DMR which is a well-known trails bike made for mountain biking.

Mountain biking can be good exercise for the muscles in your legs and even arms. However it can be a highly dangerous sport for the rider in high spots which could be unsuitable for them. It also offers new places to explore until you get bored of the place and move on. Although the weather conditions may kick in, you could go for a ride in the woods and still get sheltered and also still be moving on to the next place. However it is a good experience to see new places but the bike price can be expensive so this means more time saving for a decent bike that cost almost one thousand pounds.

There are many good places to ride your modified mountain bikes and there can be bad places some of the best places are in your local woods or a woods nearby. A good idea is to build suitable sized ramps to practice jumps or stunts to get a rough idea of what you will face up in the mountains. Danny MacAskill is known for some of the stunts he does on the way home. He is also known for jumping of a ramp to the top of a London phone box.

If you have just the right amount of adrenalin this sport would be suitable for you.

Is the world of Superbikes a safe place to visit?

Health and safety is holding back riders and making Superbikes less enjoyable, says Charlie Collins.

The smell of petrol spitting out of the motorbikes. The sound of revving while smoke pouring out of the fire sparking exhausts. On the side lines, people are shouting and cheering in support of their inspiring rider they want to win.

Firstly, spectators will be getting less for their money if they’re not allowed to do this amazing thrilling thing. As a result, the riders might not want to do it any more and will not enjoy it.

On the other hand, health and safety exists for lots of very good reasons but for me, there is too much of it and it is holding spectators and riders back.

The motorbikes are going at an average of 222 miles per hour and it’s very rare that the spectators get injured. This shows that health and safety is to over protective about it. Spectators just want to get in there and be close to the riders. Why not let them?

But the people who own the track would not get as much money if they made health and safety more affective because people will not go and richer people will want VIP passes to get down to the start lines and watch the bikes set off spitting petrol and smoke giving the spectators the thrill and the best view.

Wouldn’t it be a shame if over strict rules prevented spectators from experiencing the roar the bikes, the smell of the engines and the sight of bright coloured motorbikes?

Is milk cheaper than water?

Are farmers getting a fair price for their milk? Frank Mellor wanted to get to the bottom of the bottle.

When the milk tanker leaves the farm down the narrow lanes of Cornwall, the farmer stands as his milk goes to be sold for almost nothing in the supermarket and he gets paid even less than what the general public pays at the super market checkout. He is almost forced into selling his herd and farm, to put food on his own table. His livelihood has also gone with it.

Firstly, milk should not be cheaper than water and supermarkets should pay the farmer more to produce the milk because milk is not cheap to produce because of the technology in the parlour and also outside. For instance, the farmer needs to pick the right nutrition program and to do that he needs to buy the feed and also grow it and store the food which is not as cheap as it sounds because on top of that, you need machinery – a decent tractor these days costs around the £50K mark.

The farmer also needs to keep on top of the maintenance bills. When it comes to the cows getting sick, the medicine is expensive – around about £100 per bottle of antibiotics. It has happened when farmers were forced to sell all the cows and farms, which consequently when they came out of it the time was very depressing and has even lead to farmers taking their lives because they maybe lost the family farm or all what they worked for had been took from them.

The general public should be educated on what goes into farming. This is already happening by a day when farmers open up their farms called “Open Farm Sunday” which is a great day out for all the family and a really good way to see how your food gets from farm to plate.

On the other hand, if the milk is sold overly expensive and the price just rockets up, people will not be able to afford it. Therefore they will look for cheaper alternative for example formula or powdered milk and supermarkets might find that importing milk is a cheaper and put that on the self instead of British produced milk which is better because they don’t do as many food miles and helps Britain’s economy.

However if the public knew more about how the dairy farmers produce the milk, they may accept the fact the British milk is a higher a price and just go about it with no problems. That will benefit both consumer and supermarket but mainly the producer. Also if the public know more they won’t have question why the farmer wants more money and avoid a debate and a lot of disruption.

The next time you’re in the supermarket because you have run out of milk, spare a thought on the farmer who has worked all day, any weather and through tough times.

Is it fair that farmers get little for a lot?

The New Zealand Rugby team are still far and away the best in the world

People are saying all blacks aren’t as good as they were but Jake South makes the point that they are still the best.

Richie McCaw lifting the trophy was special – what a way for one of the game’s greats to bow out. This will be the image that greets us in Japan four years from now.

When England were the top team and maintained that position following victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. New Zealand took the lead from seventh June 2004. After winning the 2007 Rugby World Cup final, South Africa became the third team to achieve first place. The first two fixtures of the 2008 Tri Nations resulted in the top two teams switching places: the All Blacks regained the top spot after defeating South Africa in the Tri-Nations opener on 5 July 2008 in Wellington; a week later the Springboks returned the favour in Dunedin, scoring their first win over the All Blacks in New Zealand since 1998, reclaiming the top spot, only for the All Blacks to defeat both Australia and South Africa in August 2008 to regain the top spot by a considerable margin. South Africa regained the lead in July 2009 after beating New Zealand in Bloemfontein and kept the lead until losing to France in November of that year, allowing the All Blacks to regain the top spot.

The strength in the New Zealand’s eight-man scrum is very strong. Everyone goes at the same time to put more power in the push as they get the ball they will lose a little balance from using all their strength in the scrum. The speed on the New Zealand wingers is where the tactics come in. When the wingers come in to a tackle they will do a fake pass and pass it to the other side where the other person is so once they grab the ball they can run onto the try line. Steve Hansen is just too happy when New Zealand goes to score a try. Hansen trains them for a few hours a week and try gets some new things in like tactics, Steve is a respected coach, the test matches they do they win 76%.

It’s expensive to go watch a rugby match from the match tickets as Category A tickets selling from £715, Category B seats going for £515 and the StubHub tickets are ranging from £465 to an eye-watering £26,550 for the best seats there are in the stadium but most of the people go for the Category B seats because they are cheaper than the other ones as the Category A seats are more in the better view area.

New Zealand haven’t been beaten for two World Cup matches winning the Webb Ellis Cup two times in a row as they were the first team to win the Webb Ellis Cup.

At the end when New Zealand won the Webb Ellis Cup, Richie McCaw lifting the trophy winning all their matches in the World Cup finally winning it again for two years in a row.