Political anecdote of the day

A funny anecdote concerning Arthur Scargill via a comment by 'Adamski' in response to a so-so post on Socialist Unity blog about Spain winning the European Championship:

"There is an anecdote about Arthur Scargill & the miners of South Wales that perhaps puts things in the correct perspective:

In 1972, Arthur Scargill rang Dai Francis the leader of the South Wales miners and said, ‘Look, Dai, we need pickets up at Saltley, in Birmingham.’

Dai said, ‘Where’s that?’ Arthur explained.

‘Yes, we can organise them. When do you want them?’

‘Tomorrow, Saturday.’

Dai paused.

‘But Wales are playing Scotland at Cardiff Arms Park.’

There was a silence, and Scargill replied,

‘But Dai, the working class are playing the ruling class at Saltley.’

Needless to say a big delegation of miners from South Wales were present at the Battle of Saltley Gate.

I have a wee difficulty imagining Arthur Scargill saying the above. Not because I don't think he's capable of such dry wit. I still remember that classic reply of his in the BBC documentary, 'True Spies', to the disclosure that during the 1970s, senior Trade Union leaders were talking and co-operating with Special Branch in the state's operation against what they considered 'subversives' within the trade union movement:

- BBC Interviewer: Does that surprise you, over 20 trade unionists, senior members of the trade union movement talking to Special Branch?

- Scargill: Yes it does surprise me, I thought it would be many more than that.

No, I am wee bit surprised because if the anecdote was truly verbatim, surely it would have read as follows:

‘Look, Dai, Arthur Scargill says that we need pickets up at Saltley, in Birmingham.’

Dai said, ‘Where’s that?’ Arthur explained.

‘Yes, we can organise them. When do you want them?’

‘Arthurs Scargill says Tomorrow, Saturday.’

Dai paused.

‘But Wales are playing Scotland at Cardiff Arms Park.’

There was a silence, and Scargill replied,

‘But Dai, Arthur Scargill says that the working class are playing the ruling class at Saltley.’

Only three people will get that joke, but it's the same three people who actually read this blog.

Further Reading:

Transcript of TRUE SPIES 1. SUBVERSIVE MY ARSE

Hello España '08

Germany 0-1 Spain

Got the score wrong, but I got the result right.

Spain deserved to win by more than one goal, but the final ball always seemed to be lacking. (Hence the need for the goal out of nothing from Torres.) And maybe Fàbregas didn't get to score his second international goal but he was immense in midfield. I think Arsenal could win the EPL next year with Cesc in that sort of form.

Germany? They didn't even deserve a sniff at the trophy. All the more reason to regret that Turkey couldn't get to the final. Ballack should have got sent off for his cynical and bad tempered tackling, and Lehman was always a stray back pass away from some comedy goalkeeping.

Brilliant tournament all round and, now that the monkey is off their back, Spain for the World Cup in 2010?

Farewell Espana '82

As my all time favourite International tournament is replaced by a new favourite, a timeout should be taken out to remember the brilliance that was Espana' 82:

. . . the French midfield . . . Schumacher's GBH in the semi final . . . Tardelli's goal celebration . . . the Kuwati pitch invasion . . . Narey's toe poke . . . Boniek's hat trick . . . Brazil in the early rounds . . . Gentile mugging Maradona . . . that Keegan header . . . Gerry Armstrong's goal . . . fucking great World Cup.

Germany versus Spain

A declaration and a prediction

Unless the final is a damp quib, this has definitely been the best international tournament since the Spain '82 World Cup.

And what will be the final score? Spain will beat Germany 4-2, and justice will at last be done. I can't tell in what minutes the goals will be scored, but I will predict that Cesc Fàbregas will score his second international goal tonight.

Christ, the game hasn't even started yet and I already miss this tournament.

Mixing Footie and Politics (6)

Jose Mourinho as revolutionary leftie?

I always pegged Mourinho as being from the same political managerial school as Scolari and Capello but, after watching this Adidas commercial for the thousandth time during the Euro Championship coverage on ESPN, now I'm not sure.

Have a quick read of the transcript of Mourinho's words from the commercial (that I lovingly transcribed below) and try and tell me that the bloke is a not so secret Marxist-Shanklyite:

"Football is a special sport because it is co-operation between eleven for one target . . . and of course we learn solidarity, friendship, co-operation, support.

Don't try to be the new Kaka or the new Messi because you cannot be, cannot be the new. You must be yourself.

Kids in love with the game dream to be a top player,but I think it is much more important to be a top man."

Throw in the 'Impossible is Nothing' slogan at the end of the commercial, and it now transpires that the real reason that Mourinho has gone to Milan has less to do with managing Internazionale and more to do with the opportunity it affords him to attend Partito Comunista Internazionale fraction meetings.

'Two copies of this month's Socialist Standard, Darren. I want to pass on the extra copy to Carlo Ancelotti. I think he'd be interested in the Football: a capital idea article.'

FFS

Italy are going to win it on penalties. It bastard figures, I hate penalties.

Mixing Footie and Politics (5)

Old post alert

Only just discovered this old post from Steve Platt because of a sitemeter sighting:

"The politically-correct guide to who to support at Euro 2008"

You can tell it's an old post because a Thaksin City fan is gushing in his praise about Sven in the comments box. Wish I would about doing shit like this but I'm always after the fact with such idea. Apparently, it should have been Sweden but I'm guessing that Platt will now be rooting for Germany. Watch his space for more information.

Turkey's year?

Coming to a Pub Quiz near you.

Whatever way you look at it, an amazing stat from the European Championship:

"Turkey only been in front for 2 mins in 4 games great stat that."

Hat tip to Stavross over at Urban 75.

Quick question about the Croatia versus Turkey game

Was it Croatia's (understandable) over extended celebration after Klasnic's goal that allowed Turkey to equalise in injury time?

Where else did the two minutes of injury time come from? Only asking like. Thought the Croats deserved to win, whatever I might think of Bilic's dying swan routine back in 1998.

Mixing Footie and Politics (4)

Clarification.

Why do I think Buffon is a prick? 'Mr Eugenides' provides the background:

Gianluigi Buffon is still a fascist

"Italians' well deserved progress to the quarter finals of Euro 2008 tonight . . . " Eh? Wish he hadn't spoiled an otherwise interesting post with that piece of satire.

Euro Slacker

Christ, fell behind with the Euro Championship coverage which is a bit of a pain in the arse. I blame it on the excessively hot weather in New York plus the fact that I've actually been watching the games. In those circumstances, how does anyone actually get the opportunity to blog?

I guess I'll try and pick up the coverage again with the quarter finals but those are famous last words from this blog . . . until the next time.

I'll finish the post with some predictions. That way, if he get it totally wrong that can explain any forthcoming embarrassed silence with regards to the Euro Championship:

Portugal 3-1 Germany

Croatia 0-2 Turkey

Netherlands 2-1 Russia

Spain 1-0 Italy

With regards to the last prediction, that is total wishful thinking on my part. No desire to see Italy anywhere close to the latter stages of the tournament. Why? One name: Buffon. I hate that prick.

What did he just say?

ESPN's commentator Adrian Healey immediately after Wesley Sneijder scored the Dutch's fourth goal against France:

"It's a Dutch oven and the French are toast."

I take it Adrian's doesn't have the Urban Dictionary website bookmarked on his laptop.

Lest we forget

. . . why no team managed by Slaven Bilić should win the Euro Championship.

Blanc missed the final, and what makes it worse is the bullshit excuse that Bilić came up with years later to justify his actions.

You need hans

Group B

Austria 0-1 Croatia

Germany 2-0 Poland

Day two of the European Championships and I'm already regretting the Panini sticker series and the idea of posting day to day on the tournament as it goes along, but I guess i just have to suck it up. What else am I going to blog about in this stifling New York heat?

First up in Group B were co-hosts Austria playing against England's conquerors, Croatia. A game so boring that i actually fell asleep before it started. When did Austria get so bad? I think I missed the post-mortem. It's never a good sign when the first thing journalists can think of to describe you is 'plucky'. It conjures up images of the second round of the FA Cup and pub teams from the Paintball Division Two (South) going down kicking and screaming to Notts County.

What can be said about Croatia? Most Spurs fans got their first sight of Luka Modric, I once again get to be incredibly irritated by Portsmouth's Niko Kranjcar (he makes Ronaldo look like an unselfish player in front of goal) and it looks like the BBC Sports website should update its page on Croatia more often. I had got momentarily dizzy at the supposed news that Strachan was looking to sign a player under the age of 25, only to discover that Croatia's defensive midfielder, Ognjen Vukojevic, signed a five year deal with Dynamo Kiev last month.

Fast forward to the second fixture in Group B with Germany playing Poland in Klagenfurt (Football tournaments were my geography lessons growing up). For reasons I don't properly understand, Germany are a lot of pundits favourites for the Championship. I'm not sure if it's because of their strong showing at the 2008 World Cup, the esteem in which Joachim Löw is held as a coach or just because they happen to be in the same group as Austria. Poland, on the other hand, have in recent years taken on the role that Greece once held when it came to International footballing tournaments: flattering to deceive in the qualifying rounds for major tournaments, only for them to perform piss-poorly at the tournament itself. However, what with Poland getting spanked 3-0 by the USA in a home friendly just prior to the start of the tournament, maybe they've cottoned onto the idea that the best way to shake off such a hoodoo is to do the imploding bit before a competitive ball is kicked.

With regards to the game itself, the Germans deserved their one goal lead at half time, but Poland performed much more brightly in the second half when Guerreiro replaced an injured Magic Żurawski. What sort of Polish name is Guerreiro? It's not; it's Brazilian. By sheer chance, Roger Guerreiro discovered that Poland has passport officials who have been trained by Daily Mail journalists circa 1984. I can't say much for their taste in British journalism but they know a good footballer when they see one. Fourth game into the tournament and Guerreiro has been my favourite player so far. Expect a bogus transfer rumour circulating around Celtic park in due course.

Anyway, I can't be too cynical about the Poles motives. The two German goals were scored by Lukas Podolski, who happens to be Polish born. And Podolski only scored because the other Polish born forward in the German team, Miroslav Klose, decided not to wear his scoring boots that day.

What does the opening matches in Group B possibly tell us? Germany will qualify as winners of the group. In an echo of the 2006 World Cup, they have a momentum in place that won't be truly challenged until they face the likes of a France, Italy or Spain. With regards to Croatia, I think they may flatter to deceive. They had their time in the sun turning over England (twice) in qualifying but they wont even get to be knocked out by Portugal in the quarter final. Poland will take the runner-up spot behind Germany in Group B. I know by making such a bold statement, I'm open to be bitten on the arse. So be it. Poland played some tidy football, and in Guerreiro and Smolarek, they have potential match winners.

And little 'plucky' Austria? Persons of a certain vintage will be doing google searches for the great Hans Krankl, and will find this YouTube clip of his two brilliant goals against West Germany at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. Whatever did happen to that West German defender by the name of Vogts?

That makes sense (staccato style)

Player gets crocked. Strachan wants to sign him. Derek Riordan last seen throwing himself under a parked Celtic bus.

Frei panned and the Swiss in Basel brushed aside

Group A

Switzerland 0-1 Czech Republic

Portugal 2-0 Turkey

Well, the Euro Championships is now off and running. Despite my perennial claim that the Spain will finally do the business this time round, I've not went into the predication business with this Championship. The truth is that I don't pretend to know the quality of three-quarters of the teams participating, outside of looking at the final tables from the qualifying rounds and spotting which squads have the most players prying their trades in the big leagues (Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga, SPL). I tempted to predict a Netherlands versus Poland final but maybe I'll hang back with the bullshit predictions until the first round of games have taken place.

First game up in the tournament was the Swiss against the Czech Republic in Basel. Nedved was a no show and Rosicky pulled a sickie (yep, it's going to be that sort of quality blogging for the rest of the tournament) for the Czechs. Nobody I'd heard for the Swiss. Good start to my close season punditry. Jan Koller was as anonymous as 6 ft 7in skinhead can be in a confined space, and the ESPN commentators made arses of themselves by berating Frei for falling awkwardly at the end of the first half. He left the pitch doing a John Terry and will miss the rest of the tournament with a twisted knee.

The Swiss were unfortunately not to get a result, coming up against an in-form Petr Cech in goal and an absence of Milan Baros on the pitch. The Czech Republic literally win the game with a punt upfield and their only shot on target. Sverkos slides it home for the 1-0 victory, and the Czech supporters behind the goal do a variation of a butterfly flapping its wings with 5000 beer guts wobbling up and down simultaneously. Expect a tsunami to hit Lake Geneva some time next Thursday.

A better contest all round was the second game in Group A between Turkey and Romania. All eyes were on Ronaldo but we couldn't help ourselves, what with the director of programming at ESPN deciding to train all 43 cameras on the Portuguese Davie Provan. I spent the first five minutes of the game debating who was the better looking team. Decided that Chelsea's Paulo Ferreira shaded it for the Portuguese. The commentators kept telling me that Portugal were much too good for the Turks, but despite the final result, I couldn't quite see it myself. Granted Deco was on form and Ronaldo didn't go missing for a bigger game but it was the bloke named after the eighties keyrings who broke the deadlock in the game. Liked to see a joyous goal celebration for a change. I was bracing myself for Ronaldo scoring and then being subjected to his 'look at me . . .I'm the shit' pout and pose. But Cristiano we all remember that penalty miss in Moscow. A bit of humility should be in order.

What of Ronaldo's performance? Excellent in places. Nearly scored from a free kick in the first half but for the Turkish goalkeeper's superb fingertip save, but he just seemed to be trying too hard at times and what with the Turkish defenders doubling up on him, he seemed to run out of space far too quickly. I'm still not convinced that he can boss a game like the truly great footballers but that may be as much about his position on the pitch as anything else. I think I better stop this train of thought now before I break out the old Charlie Buchan Monthly and start drawing diagrams on the blog.

At this point in proceedings, Portugal and someone else will go through from Group A but I won't be that gutted if I'm proved wrong on the matter of Portugal. The sooner Ronaldo gets back to have a chat with Fergie, all the better in my opinion. I just wish I wasn't so squeamish at the sight of spilt blood, otherwise I'd love to be a fly on that particular dressing room wall.

A panini with a baloney filling to go

Brilliant. I need never suffer from bloggers block ever again. Just discovered the perfect space filler courtesy of Socialist Unity blog's posting of Mark Perryman's Euro 2008 article, 'Our Single European Currency'.

I need not concern you with the article itself right now - that isn't a criticism, per se - but I would like to mention that Mark's piece originally appeared in the German footie magazine, 11 Freunde.

Clicked on the link to the German language football magazine, and sad to say that my two years of day dreaming and messing about in German lessons in my second and third year of Secondary School has ill-equipped me to understand 99.9% of what looks like a fascinating website, but my eye did catch the 'Panini-Zufallsbekanntschaft' (roughly translated as 'Panini-chance acquaintanceship') on the bottom right hand side of the page. If and when you refresh the page, you get a new panini sticker from past World Cups staring back at you.

It totally appeals to my inner football-geekery and half-baked nostalgia, and comes at the right time when I'm getting overly excited at the prospect of the start of the European Championships.

Daft thing is that normally I can take or leave the Euro Championships. I usually just keep an eye out for the final itself at the end of the tournament and, before that concluding match, idly speculate on how England will majestically fuck it up this time on the international stage, but I guess that the end of the season high drama of that penalty miss and Celtic retaining its title against the odds has resulted in me wanting more and more football.

So, in keeping with this cheap all you can eat buffet of close season football, I've decided that, whilst the tournament is going on, the blog will be given over to alternating posts between the usual meanderings about the SPGB, cheap pop music and sightings of Glenn Matlock in the East Village, with posts that are about nothing more than subject of the particular panini sticker that is randomly thrown up by refreshing the page on the 11 Freunde website. I'm sure that the blog in the coming weeks will be by equal turn embarrassing, boring and overly verbose. Just another Saturday afternoon on the blog, then.

Two thousand posts here I come.