January 2009 Archives

Sacré bleu! Look at this for an own-goal and it comes from Blues' very own Franck Queudrue.

The French left-back was playing back in his native land for Lens against Bastia when he produced this tremendous gaffe.

And don't worry Franck is not going to get away with this, I'm aiming to track the Parisian down on behalf of the Sunday Mercury to get his opinion on this moment of madness. Watch this space!

Seeing today's story about a parrot bringing a halt to a football match by impersonating the referee's whistle (which can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/ah68d2 ) reminded me of the days when dogs used to bring a temporary stop to games.

I'm not talking about a kick-about down the park with your mates, remember the days when 22 professional athletes would suddenly have to stop playing all because some flea-ridden mutt had got through a hole in a fence and swiftly taken a liking to their football.

That used to be briliiant! Dumb pooches used to always be seen aimlessley roaming around top English stadiums mid-match while players and referees would have to go scampering after them.

I reckon they should reintroduce dogs to the Premier League. Say pick one random fixture a week when man's best friend is thrown on to the pitch to cause temporary havoc at any point.

OK, so that will never happen but here's three 'dog on football pitch' videos to bring back memories of those good days. (Sadly judging by the only vids I could find, it only seems to happen in Eastern Europe nowadays)

IN my column in last weekend's Sunday Mercury I suggested that the best way to revive the Respect the Ref campaign was to wire up referees.

Not with the methods recommended by former Villa boss John Gregory, who once responded to a dodgy David Elleray performance with the following statement...

"I personally think referees should be wired up to a couple of electrodes and they should be allowed to make three mistakes before you run 50,000 volts through their genitals."

No, I commented that refs ought to be fitted with microphones so that their voices and those of the players could be transmitted to fans with headsets in the stands.

That way, I argued, footballers and officials would be conscious of how they communicated with each other and might, just might, show more respect.

It's not a new idea. It is used to great effect in rugby. And here is a short film of the first time it was tried in football during an eighties game between Arsenal and Millwall.

Ironically the referee in question was Mr Elleray.

But, probably much to the disappointment of Gregory, the Harrow school-master was only subjected to verbal abuse, not high voltage pain to his privates.

Take a look at the first in the series of Blues View, an new internet sports show produced by the Birmingham Mail and Sunday Mercury and presented by my goodself.
All comments (good and bad) will be greatly appreciated below.

...No, not Micky Mellon - a smashing pair up front that can really do some damage

Just been putting the finishing touches to a small piece for today's Birmingham Mail (Jan 14) on Howard Webb's thoughts after last night's FA Cup clash between Blues and Wolves.

And I have to admit that i admire the Sheffield referee for his honesty, his quotes were refreshing to hear.

For those of you who missed it, Webb not only waved away a blatant penalty to Blues but he also accidentally deflected a pass from Radhi Jaidi into the path of Andy Keogh leading to Sam Vokes' second-half goal seconds later, a strike that effectively wrapped up the result.

However rather than hideaway, Mr Webb was more than happy to speak to the quote-hungry press after the match and his damning verdict makes interesting reading (which you will see in due course).

It got me thinking - would post-match press conferences for referees (voluntary or involuntary) be a good thing for the game? After all they are the men who cause the vast majority of talking points throughout the fine sport of football so why not hear their views?

Over to you.......

EVER felt like flicking the finger at football? Well never mind the cussing kid above, the handy bloke below has the type of soccer skills that tell Subbuteo to go spin.

MILAN Jovanovic is rumoured to be one of Aston Villa's transfer targets - and this collection of goals from Standard Liege's Serbian star suggests why.

Presumably when Jovanovic's agent sent a DVD to Martin O'Neill he didn't include this techno-style backing track...

I suggest you enjoy this with the sound muted!

Blues' latest signing has been plucked from the depths of non-league football but will Robin Shroot turn out to be an unearthed gem? Here's a glimpse of the youngster in action...