Source: Daily_Mail
DES KELLY: Why Mascherano is top of the strops
It's time to find some new terminology for the ridiculous moment when a player stamps his foot and declares he is not prepared to play for the club that pays his wages.[LNB] To suggest that Liverpool's Javier Mascherano, Wigan' s Charles N'Zogbia or Stoke City's goalkeeper Asmir Begovic have been 'on strike' recently is a ridiculous distortion of the word. Instead, we should say that when they went 'on sulk', or elected to take 'strop' action. Strikes, by their very nature, require some unifying cause. [LNB]CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW DES KELLY ON TWITTER Fall out: Javier Mascherano (left) with Roy Hodgson[LNB]But I didn't see anyone waving protest placards outside the Anfield Gates last week declaring: 'Free The Mascherano One!'[LNB] They are simply spoilt children who refuse to play ball because they want more money elsewhere, regardless of their existing contracts, any obligation to team-mates or the obvious insult to the paying public.[LNB][LNB] More from Des Kelly... Des Kelly: It's good to talk! Ferguson should move on and speak to the BBC 20/08/10 Des Kelly: Look away now if you don't want me to ruin the season...13/08/10 Des Kelly: Don't let disloyal Cesc Fabregas stay as Arsenal skipper06/08/10 Get real Liverpool fans, we sold our soul to the Chinese ages ago05/08/10 DES KELLY: These ignorant racists clearly haven't evolved30/07/10 Des Kelly: Liverpool the biggest team in Britain? Only in distant memory, Joe23/07/10 Des Kelly: Why Santa's cause at rich Man City won't help England's future16/07/10 Des Kelly: A beach ball, ghost goal and plastic horns...The ho-hum World Cup09/07/10 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE [LNB]Ex-England manager Graham Taylor was among those incensed by the idea of a footballer downing tools in such a manner, although he too was somewhat loose with his terminology.[LNB] 'What these players are doing is tantamount to treason,' he said, 'and the punishment should fit the crime.' [LNB]While the idea of seeing Mascherano's head impaled on a spike at Traitors' Gate appears attractive in theory, it might be regarded as somewhat severe once the novelty had worn off. And the head had begun to smell a bit. And attract flies.[LNB] But I digress; what the entire episode demonstrates once again is that 'contracts' are a joke. Players break them at will and have a wellworn method to ensure it happens. [LNB]The new cliche used to describe their disappearing acts is that Mascherano (or whoever) is 'not in the right frame of mind to play'. [LNB]Yes, these poor little darlings find they simply cannot bring themselves to perform for the club who pay them £80,000 a week because they are so traumatised by the thought they might not be allowed pick up £90,000 a week elsewhere. So they mope about, complain and display an unshakable confidence in their own ability.[LNB] Not their playing ability, but their ability to destabilise a side to the point where a manager ends up absolutely delighted to be rid of them.[LNB] Obviously, this takes teamwork from the agent, a media contact, a friendly foreign journalist and the wife or family, who must all work together to manufacture a move.[LNB]First, the player's agent leaks news of an approach from another club, preferably overseas.[LNB]The player expresses complete surprise, adding that he is 'flattered' but committed to his current club and anything else is 'just speculation'.[LNB]When this transfer inquiry is rebuffed, the player then gives an interview to a foreign publication saying it has 'always been his dream' to play for Barcelona, Real Madrid or anyone offering more money. [LNB]He reacts to English headlines shrieking 'Let Me Go!' by stating he has been 'misquoted', 'incorrectly translated', or 'taken out of context'.[LNB] News is leaked that the wife is 'unhappy' because of the cold weather, or shopping or prevalence of ugly locals and this is offered as the motivation behind the transfer.[LNB] The player then expresses concern that the club do not match his ambitions and they have to sign more players as good as he is if they are to succeed. [LNB]He then starts running as if there is a lead weight in his boots, refusing to take a place on the substitutes' bench and generally behaving like a petulant child. [LNB]Repeat all of the above for a number of weeks.[LNB]If the transfer window is about to close, he then simply refuses to play, declaring that he has been unsettled by all the transfer talk and is 'not in the right state of mind'.[LNB]The deal is usually done the next day, often at a loss.[LNB] Take Mascherano. As things stand, he was sold by Liverpool for less than they signed him for, which means he somehow decreased in value by going from a peripheral figure at West Ham to establishing himself as the midfield anchor at Anfield, and as the Argentina captain.[LNB] That shows how the club's hand was forced by the whole pathetic charade. It also shames the idea that there is something called a Players' Union at the highest level. It's little more than a selfish free-for-all.[LNB] I read the other day that one of the miners trapped 4.5 miles along a tunnel in Chile was former international Frankas Lobos, who played for the national side in the 1980s.[LNB] An ex-footballer having to work down the mines? It'll be a cold day in hell before that happens to any professional player now. They don't do the hard work or the digging any more, just the strikes.[LNB]Revealed: £5m cost of Cardiff loan star state...Cash deal: Craig Bellamy[LNB]Cardiff City are all fur coat and no knickers. They look expensive, they look the part, but it is all front. [LNB]Last week I joined the voices questioning why Manchester City's lavish funding of the Craig Bellamy deal is allowed. [LNB]Since then, I've gleaned precise figures on Cardiff 's hugely subsidised wage bill and the telephone numbers should alarm every Championship manager, chairman and supporter. [LNB]Cardiff's star man, Craig Bellamy, receives £85,000 a week. Yet Cardiff pay just £21,000 of this, with £64,000 being transferred to the Welsh club from City. Another of Cardiff's loan players, Seyi Olofinjana, is paid £27,000 per week, but only £11,000 of that is from the Welsh club's coffers. [LNB]The £16,000 shortfall in the Nigerian international's wage comes from Hull City. Jason Koumas receives £29,000 per week. Cardiff pay just £10,000, the remaining £19,000 is wired from Dave Whelan's Wigan Athletic. And Cardiff have just added Wolves striker Andy Keogh to their array of loan sharks. The player earns £22,000 a week and yet Cardiff pay £10,000 of this. Wolverhampton Wanderers cough up the other £12,000. [LNB]This means that Cardiff's bid for promotion to the Premier League is being subsidised by other clubs to the tune of somewhere in the region of £5 million. [LNB]This is more than the entire wage bill for a club like Scunthorpe, who are supposedly competing in the same division. [LNB]No wonder Doncaster Rovers chairman John Ryan says he feels 'let down' and complains that 'the integrity of the competition is undermined'. Cardiff are doing what they are allowed to do; they are ruthlessly exploiting the loan system.[LNB]But the Football League cannot sit idly by and pretend this is in any way fair. If the Welsh club make it to the Premier League, it will be a sleight of hand comparable to West Ham's infamous escape from relegation with a goal from Carlos Tevez, a player they infamously didn't own. [LNB]At Cardiff, half the team is owned by other clubs. If they go up, there will be an almighty street parade in the Welsh city. I just wonder whether they will take a detour via Manchester, Hull, Wigan and Wolverhampton too?[LNB]Russians are a cause for concernHot air? Let's hope FIFA's praise for our 2018 bid is genuine[LNB]I wouldn't have used a hot air balloon outside Buckingham Palace to promote the England World Cup bid. Hot air is the 2018 campaign's greatest enemy. [LNB]While the inspectors did their rounds, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg huffed and puffed about an 'unbeatable' bid, slipping just for a moment into the arrogant language that has cost English football so dearly in the past. FIFA President Sepp Blatter, the greatest windbag of all, also whipped his bellows out, hailing England as the 'safe bet'. [LNB]And if ever a nation was damned with faint praise, then this was it. While it sounded like a compliment, seasoned observers will recognise the hidden message with a twinge of alarm. [LNB]As I explained on BBC Radio 5 Live the other night, FIFA have a ghastly tendency these days to see themselves as some kind of global International Rescue, flying in and pretending to dispense wealth with their tournament kickabouts. They don't just want a World Cup. They want a cause. That is why South Africa was chosen for 2010 and partly why Brazil is next up in 2014. [LNB]But there is no social experiment to be had in England. All the paraphernalia is here already. There is no sense that football is breaking new ground or expanding frontiers. Had South Africa been a chaotic mess, England would be nailed on for the vote in December because it is 'safe'. The danger now is that FIFA will convince themselves to take another risk and try to 'make a difference' elsewhere. [LNB]So why not Russia, a land awash with petrochemical dollars but still in need of better transport infrastructure and new football arenas? 'You cannot deny Russia if they bid for something,' said Blatter. 'They are more than a country. They are a big continent, a big power.' [LNB]Just as Blatter likes it. I had lunch with a powerbroker in the business world the other day, the sort of figure who has prime ministers on speed dial and bends the ears of governments as a matter of course. [LNB]He was absolutely certain Russia would emerge as the eventual winner. Let us hope that is not the case. But, as the very slick England 2018 bid team know, when it comes to FIFA and politics there is very little that could ever be described as a 'safe bet'.[LNB] Bob Geldof never liked them and with good reason too. Mondays suck. This Bank Holiday we will bid farewell to the last official working day off until Christmas and, from here on in, the nights darken and a mind-numbing diet of Emmerdale, Coronation Street and EastEnders looms. [LNB]Unless the football is on, of course. There is something delicious about a big Monday night live game. It's an illicit treat and Sky's revamped show adds to the sense of occasion. Rather than line up the customary ex-footballers plonked in chairs yakking on, Richard Keys wanders round a Starship Enterprise set and prompts Andy Gray to zip through some in-depth analysis with all his graphics, gizmos and trickery.[LNB] It certainly added another dimension to Manchester City's win over Liverpool. I admit I half-expected Sky's Scotty Gray to demand dilithium crystals and cry 'She cannae take much more of this!' as he scrawled lines and arrows over Liverpool's defence on his plasma screen. But it was fascinating and all works rather well. [LNB] [LNB]
