Lessons Learnt for Lewis

This day was going to be the day that everything went right for Lewis Hamilton, sweep the lies and the poor performances under the carpet and prove he is prevailing King here at Monaco.

Unfortunately for Lewis it did not quite happen. When you are tipped to succeed, it often tips in the other direction. This weekend there was no lies or poor performance but a man obsessed. He can walk away slightly more grown up and thankfully for what he does have.

He wanted to do well, he needed to do well but his egotistical self once again out did him. No one to blame but himself and with that he needs to refine what he wants and what he needs. He wrote off his chances soon into qualifying as he lost his car’s back end on the entrance to Mirabeau’s hairpin and smashed into the tyre wall, breaking his rear suspension.

McLaren worked hard for Lewis and the car looked like it’s going to compete and it would have probably competed.

But he has dropped out and will be starting down in 16th on Race Day, he is far better than that and he does know it.

It was good to see Lewis be aggressive and he contributed many quick lap times. His hero Aryton Senna had a formidable record here and if Lewis is going to emulate him, he needs to understand how to concentrate his aggression and where to direct it.

Lewis still has time on his hands but he demands perfection and it’s a great quality to have. He should not always point his finger to the direction of his team when something goes wrong but take responsibility. His lying to Stewards in Australia lost him many fans, but he walks away from this weekend grown up and as he has accepted his mistakes.

“I don't know what I was thinking, I made a mistake," he told BBC Sport. "I apologise to the team for wasting their time.

"It's been tough but you learn from these mistakes. They are bound to happen, but it's just a shame it happened in the first qualifying session.

"My race weekend for a win is for sure over."

For once his weekend was not ruined by his team, trust issues need to be readdressed quickly before the rest get too far ahead. But Hamilton show signs that

Last season’s triumph is still fresh in my memory, and Lewis looked a man to beat rather than a man to win as opposed to this term.

I am still convinced he will do well hear and if any unexpected showers were to fall, I’m sure Lewis would find himself somewhere near the front.

(theformula2009.blogspot.com)

The £60 million Game

So it comes to this, a one off £60 million pound decider. Sheffield United and
Burnley go head to head for a place in the Premier League.

There is no separating the two, both have done so well and both fully deserve their place in the Final.

Sheffield United has had a remarkable season, especially with losing their star striker James Beattie in January; they finished third, ending the season on a
formidable form.

Many players have contributed to their season but under the guidance of Kevin Blackwell, they haven’t done too much wrong. He has built and assembled a very good bunch of players that all are eager to play top-flight football. Many see it as justice is being done after harshly being relegated despite West Ham fielding illegal players.

They may be without Darius Henderson, Jamie Ward and John-Joe O’Toole as they are all out injured but Blackwell with give them until the last possible minute to recover just in case they can have any influence.

Despite having lost only once in the last 14 league games, goals have been coming all over the park as no one apart from Beattie has scored more than 7 goals in the league and they may need to rely on strikers if they are going to score at Wembley.

Burnley, on the other hand, are completely taking the Championship by storm. They have had a long long season with so many games being played but they look like the team with momentum. Captain Graham Alexander has been vital to his team success; he has been the influence and rock in the team, playing every game, he must be relishing a summer’s break knowing that top-flight football awaits him.

Owen Coyle must take his fair share of credit, on a small budget he has taken Burnley to the six round of the FA Cup, Semi Finals in the Carling Cup and guided them to fifth place in the Championship there is not a lot he has done wrong.

Burnley have played 60 games this term, second only to Manchester United in the league and they have used only 23 players during the whole campaign suggesting that a small knitted squad can do wonders. Coyle has managed them well.

Martin Paterson has been in great form for the Clarets and his stunner against Reading just shows how good he actually is, his 13 league goals show that as well.

Robbie Blake has been in the form of his life, Coyle’s given time and movement to express himself and it’s worked. The players play in harmony with their manager and there style reflects Coyle’s attitude.

It is so difficult in deciding what team will win, but I think Burnley will scrape it, as they know how to win these big games and momentum is possibly with them after crushing Reading’s dreams.

(Champ Corner, Football Fancast, 2009)

Gunn Bangs any Norwich Hopes

Norwich’s fall from grace maybe unpleasant for fans but I believe that the Canneries won’t be flying high in League One either with the permanent appointment of Bryan Gunn as manager.

Ian Butterworth and Ian Crook will try to help Gunn to master their return to the Championship but for a club of the stature of Norwich I feel this appointment is rather weak. They took over from Glenn Roeder in January 2009 and failed to save the club even though being in a fairly good position to do so.

And losing 4-2 to bottom of the table Charlton on the last day of the season gives no indication that this squad is even good enough for League One. This was a game they desperately had to win and they ultimately failed. It showed no heart or desire.

Now he has spoken of his intentions of using younger players and not relying on the loan system. It is clever thinking but those young players weren’t there last term, he must have some gems that he is going to introduce. But if he manages to pull it off he will be doing very well, he knows there is no a great deal of money to use, if any, so he will have all his hopes on these youngsters. He will need to demand full authority in that dressing room, which I don’t think he will have. A new man would demand instant respect, and the players that are left would need to prove something.

Many influential players are out of contract and will move on to pastures new; goalkeeper David Marshall and Lee Croft will be leaving so they will be difficult to replace. Youngsters will not be able to step into these huge shoes.

On Gunn’s side, he will know all about how Norwich operates; he was at Norwich when they ventured into Europe in the early 1990s and he remembers the good time but I think the board just decided to cut costs and make the cheap appointment instead of gambling on an experienced manager, one more equipped for the role.

(Champ Corner, Football FanCast, 2009)

Steve Coppell, You Will Be Missed

Some things are simply too hard to bare, Steve Coppell has left Reading after six years, giving us the best stint of our history. It was on the back of bad form and bad results that what was hard to take. I always thought he would call his time with
Reading on a good note so he can ride off into the sunset and look back knowing he has done well.

Instead, he looks back now at a squad that will be obliterated; it will not be his legacy no more.

Premier League has been and gone and it is Championship football again for another season at least. Ten years ago, even five, I would have bitten Sir John’s hand off for a fourth place finish in the second tier, now to many fans that is not deemed good enough and what fair-weather fans they are. Remember the 6-0 home loss to Bristol Rovers – we could have still been there.

End of an era indeed and an era that, in the future, my grandchildren will get quickly bored of the stories about Stephen’s Hunt winner against Everton, James Harper scarpering through against Liverpool, Glen Little’s chip at Plymouth, I easily go on all day. Coppell was the messiah and the composer of all what was good about Reading, he deserves all the praise he gets, if not more.

What Bill Shankley was to Liverpool, Coppell was to Reading. What Bill Nicholson was to Spurs, Coppell was to Reading. What Sir Matt Busby was to Manchester United, Steve Coppell was to Reading.

Coppell will not be able to boost the trophies the three great men have but his impact was very similar.

He may have only added a Championship Title to our embarrassingly small trophy cabinet but that small token means so much. It speaks volumes. It put us on the map. It made Chelsea hate us. It made Oliver Holt hate us even more. We won plaudits, and more importantly, we proved Mark Lawrenson wrong (insult added to injury, we salute you Robin Friday).

There should be a statue erected outside the stadium, at least; it would give us some much needed football culture, it gave us a history. The Coppell Stadium may be a bit too much. Renaming a stand? Possibly but his work should never be underestimated or forgotten.

I will be forever Coppell and no new man will ever be able to fill his shoes in the slightest. He would be the man that made my dreams come true, made old friends see top flight football for the very first time. Whoever this new man will be, he will have an incredibly hard act to follow.

And good luck to him. Just don’t spoil what has been done.

Urzzzz

Bikey - What was you thinking?

I wondered if you looked for the definition of the word ‘Twat’ in the dictionary it may come out with Andre Bikey.

Well that is what Bikey symbolises – a man who is a stupid, incompetent fool.

He gave away a needless penalty where he tugged an opponent’s shirt when the ball was not even close to him.

He then started to perform some strange S Club 7 dance routine after he was sent off for embarrassingly stamping on Robbie Blake.

He may have been throwing his shirt around ‘like he just don’t care’ but he was making a laughing stock out of himself and his club, Reading.

Bikey’s girly tantrum coincides with Chelsea’s Didier Drogba rant last week. There is no element of accepting a decision and moving on instead some player just cry about what has happened and refuse to be rational or gracious.

Steve Coppell found it hard to defend Bikey, so he didn’t. And good on him for doing that.

He said, “There is no space for that in football. He got it 100% what he deserves – I have no reservations about that.

“His reaction was just a hugely emotional one, given the five minutes he’d had. He was fouled first which frustrated him, but there is no excuse for is behaviour.

“We just don’t accept that at our club.”

Throwing his shirt to the ground after being dismissed was disrespectful and to the neutral, it probably appeared outrageously entertaining but for Reading fans it probably the confounding end to their promotion push.

The Cameroonian also refused to settle down when American Marcus Hahnemann came over to try to make peace. But his efforts just feel duly on death ears. He took an age to leave the pitch as his all round attitude and performance was a thorough let down.

Bikey has always been one to make headlines, he was sent off on a preseason tour whilst he was on trial at the Berkshire Club. And that was in a friendly in Sweden for a headbutt that Mike Tyson would have been proud off.

He moved from Lokomotiv Moscow, where he did not shy from controversy as he alleged racial abuse from fans of rival teams. This was his excuse for not settling.

Everyone would famously remember his sending off for Cameroon at last year’s African Cup of Nations. A bizarre incident to say the least, he pushed over a stretcher-bearer, with much force, who was helping his teammate Rigobert Song after he was injured.

It was as if that this was written for a comedy gaff DVD.

Bikey will be known for all the wrong reasons.