Source: Daily_Mail
Des Kelly: This is just no way to represent our country on the continent
Should they happen to win the Carling Cup final on Sunday, Tottenham's players should be marched on to the podium to perform a unique ceremony before any trophy is handed over.[LNB]One by one, they should shuffle along the line, shake hands with whatever dignitary is on duty and, in exchange for collecting their medal, quietly drop something of their owninto the empty silver pot: their passports.[LNB]It's not as if they'll need them. They don't really want to be in Europe. The club won a place in the UEFA Cup as a reward for winning the same competition last year and look how they marked that auspicious achievement?[LNB] [LNB]Tottenham take on Manchester United in Sunday's Carling Cup final - but should they give up their passports if they win?[LNB]Spurs headed to foreign fields only to lie back, think of England, and pray that the unpleasant deed they were engaged in was over as soon as possible.[LNB] More from Des Kelly... Des Kelly: Smart money says Hughes has problems at City[LNB]20/02/09 Des Kelly: Why icon Giggs is top of my list[LNB]13/02/09 Des Kelly: Show pony Becks rides off for a new 'adventure'[LNB]06/02/09 There is nothing genius about Rafa's tantrums, they are just crazy[LNB]30/01/09 Des Kelly: Why Harry's mind games missus the big picture[LNB]23/01/09 Des Kelly: Here's the God, the mad...and the ugly[LNB]16/01/09 Des Kelly: Pietersen caught out as vanity proves costly[LNB]09/01/09 Des Kelly: Why magic must overcome greed[LNB]02/01/09 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE[LNB] [LNB]So why would they want to do it again? And, more to the point, why would we want to give them the chance?[LNB]Europe is little more than an imposition on the everyday business of running the club for Harry Redknapp.[LNB]The UEFA Cup means more fixtures, more hotels, more planes to catch, more injuries, a pocket full of those euro coins, and don't even mention the bleedin' exchange rate.[LNB]The UEFA Cup is like mosquitoes, a nuisance that can be avoided if you stay at home.[LNB] This is why Redknapp sent out a ragtag collection of reserves and youth-team players to face Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday night.[LNB]Nobody will admit they were a team designed to lose, but they certainly weren't a side sent out to win. And the Spurs manager had to stop himself from shrugging with disinterest when they were dumped out of the competition.[LNB]Priorities, said Redknapp. And there is a perfectly good train of thought to support that view.[LNB]The scheduling of European ties so close to a Wembley final was ridiculous, but - and here's the rub of all this - it's going to be much worse next season.[LNB]If Spurs could not represent the country on the Continent this time around, how will they cope when the UEFA Cup actually expands and becomes the Europa League next season?[LNB]The overblown, endless round-robin format of matches will gobble up more space in the calendar and pose an even greater test of commitment for any participating club.[LNB] Add that there's the World Cup finals in South Africa next summer and it won't so much be a fixture list as a crush.[LNB]But why battle for an entire season to claim a place in Europe if you are going to throw in the towel when it matters?[LNB]Spurs are by no means alone in this. Aston Villa also sent out a woefully under-strength team for the UEFA Cup tie at CSKA Moscow, with the inevitable consequences.[LNB]Afterwards, Martin O'Neill made conciliatory noises about it being a great education for a potential Champions League adventure, which was his stated target.Again, it was understandable and even prudent.[LNB] Tottenham Hotspur bowed out of the UEFA Cup against Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday night[LNB] [LNB]But if Villa don't make that fourth place the fans will know there will be absolutely no incentive to watch Spurs or Villa in the UEFA Cup next season.[LNB]Whatever the clubs say about being 'delighted and proud' to be representing the country abroad, as they charge through the nose for the 'privilege' of watching the reserves, fans will greet them with more and more empty seats.[LNB]Bolton bailed out in the final 16 of the UEFA Cup last season. Blackburn Rovers didn't seem too concerned to be dumped out of the FA Cup this week.[LNB]The Premier League is just gobbling up everyone's energy and that has a terrible impact on our cup competitions. Anything beyond the Champions League ceases to matter.[LNB]If good managers like Redknapp, O'Neill and Sam Allardyce at well resourced clubs cannot cope with the demands, if they believe the price of chasing glory is just too great a risk, then a Wembley win is not really all it's cracked up to be. [LNB] Manchester City's Micah Richards: Demands the right to bling[LNB] Diamond geezers without earringsHowever unfair it might be to all the decent professionals, the stereotype of the modern player for a sizeable cross-section of the public is a bling-encrusted, slack-jawed mercenary, living in an OK!- magazine, WAG-infested dream world, with more points on their driving licence than IQ test.[LNB]Manchester City defender Micah Richards didn't exactly challenge the received wisdom when he climbed out of his Aston Martin and on to his soapbox to complain about his right to wear jewellery.[LNB]He moaned: 'Everybody calls me Mr Bling, so now I'm apparently not even allowed to wear earrings any more. As long as it's not affecting my football, I don't see it as a problem.[LNB]'When I was in the England team and wearing earrings and driving fast cars nobody had anything to say. Now they are saying I have lost my focus.[LNB]'I am still grounded. Every youngster wants to wear earrings and every little boywants to drive a fast car, so now I've got the chance and I'm doing it.'[LNB]What a working-class hero.[LNB]What do we want? More diamond earrings! When do we want them? Just as soon as that bloke valets my Aston Martin.[LNB]Richards' gripes came to mind as I watched a fascinating BBC documentary rescued from the archives called Six Days To Saturday, which can still be caught on the BBC iPlayer.[LNB]Written and directed by the legendary film maker John Boorman, the director ofDeliverance, Point Blank and Excalibur, this 1963 programme delved behind the scenes at Swindon Town and provided the first real examination of footballers' lifestyles.[LNB]Part of Boorman's rich commentary concentrated on the team's behaviour awayfrom the club. Just see if you can spot any subtle changes over the past 46 years?[LNB]Boorman says: 'Always in the public eye, the professional footballer must conform to public notions of virtue. They may drive a car, provided it is modest in size. They may accept a drink, but only one. And they must return every greeting.[LNB]'The men at [local factories] and locomotive yards admire their prowess but resent their freedom and high wages. Ill at ease in their own community, they defend themselves with modesty - decorum - politeness.[LNB]'They are neither extravagant nor ostentatious. These ordinary young men, differentiated only by their skill from other youths of their age and station, are Swindon's champions: defenders of the town's good name and reputation.[LNB]'They fulfil and embody the communal dream and must show the courtesy of knightsand the remoteness of heroes.'[LNB]Times change, but I think this is a more honourable interpretation of 'grounded'than Richards' modern plea to remain unapologetically flash.[LNB] Mayhem in Milan should be a final warning to UEFAI went to the San Siro in Milan to watch Inter's clash with Manchester United and joined the supporters in the away end on Tuesday night.[LNB]Despite the countless entrances available at the huge stadium, we were herded en masse into a single stairwell where a crush built up on the three flights as hundreds of fans tried to squeeze through the bottleneck of one door into the arena.[LNB]Once we pushed inside, most fans weren't in a seat, or not the right seat at least, as they grabbed the first safe refuge.[LNB] United fans in Milan on Tuesday: the away supporters were treated poorly in the San Siro[LNB]Others blocked the gangways because they had nowhere to go and yet there were plenty of empty areas on the periphery.[LNB]But the stewards did nothing to resolve the mess. They gathered in corners for a chat or skived in the canteen.[LNB]At the end, 45 minutes after the rest of the ground emptied, everyone was directed out of one exit again and the stewards had no apparent job other than to ensure they were all packed along that route, despite the alternatives on offer.[LNB]This was the kind of treatment supporters travelling abroad routinely endure.[LNB]There has to be security precautions because, like most clubs, United have a few unpleasant cretins travelling in their ranks.[LNB]But Italy appears to have learned little when it comes to the adage 'treat people like animals and they'll behave like animals'.[LNB]Little seemed to bode well for UEFA's decision to hold the European final in Rome, one of the black spots of football hooliganism in recent years.[LNB]If a few more UEFA executives got out of their platinum seats and tried to watch a match like a travelling fan, the situation would change.[LNB]Instead, they'll wait for something awful to happen and blame everybody else.[LNB] Let's not add to those adsLet's have a vote: hands up all those who agree with those proposals to extend thehalf-time break to 20 minutes?[LNB]Right, in favour we have every advertiser, commercial television company and anyone needing a few more minutes to get back from their expensive executivehospitality lounges.[LNB]It's a 'no' from the vast majority freezing their backsides off in the stands being bored to distraction by some local DJ 'entertaining' them while they wait for the second half to start.[LNB]Guess whose vote will count most when a final decision is made?[LNB] Paul Gascoigne [LNB] Gazza being taken for ridePaul Gascoigne was found to be suffering from serious mental health issues when he developed a habit of talking to toy parrots.[LNB]Now, in an effort to help him recover, Gazza is having 'Equine Assisted Psychotherapy' where he is taught how to talk to horses instead.[LNB]Is this any less insane? And who decides if it is? It's all very confusing.[LNB][LNB] Well done to Rafa Benitez for winning his power struggle at Liverpool. The downside is he now has nobody else to blame.[LNB] Pavlyuchenko bombshell - I dream of playing for United and Berbatov is an 'arrogant snob'[LNB]PICTURE SPECIAL: Spurs relax and enjoy a final fling before Wembley showdown [LNB]TOTTENHAM FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NET[LNB] [LNB][LNB][LNB] [LNB][LNB] [LNB]
