The Sporting Hack

Fabio Capello’s resignation from the England head coach position was met with a raised eyebrow, a tilt of the head and a curl of the bottom lip before a slight nod (a bit like Harry Redknapp pictured above) – the right decision? Definitely maybe. But what’s done is done and the England national side is once again at a crossroads. The (sometimes) ponderous Italian, Capello who had a healthy habit of winning, also had a tendency to ‘put his foot in it’ and the media could not wait for their mock-up of pizza eating clown to make another error. The latest ‘gaffe’ centred around an interview on Italian television station where ‘The Don’ expressed his backing of now former captain John Terry – stripped of the armband for his major role in a much protracted race row of course. It wasn’t naive of the 65-year old manager to think no one might actually translate this interview from his mother tongue, it was stupidity. Speaking of mother tongue, Capello arguably did not endear himself to ...

It’s possible to suggest that Sunday’s Manchester derby had everything you could wish for from a football game – goals, controversial talking points, and the potential for a City shock, which had it been achieved would, at 3-0 down and with 10 men, have eclipsed that John Macken winner in February 2004 at White Hart Lane. It was not to be. However, the quality of the game, which United won 3-2, means that the main controversy and talking point - Vincent Kompany’s red card - seems to have partially slipped the radar. Maybe not to the blue half of Manchester though, who could wishfully remonstrate all day that, with a full complement of players, they would have made an even better fist of it. Chris Foy, a referee berated to the hilt by Spurs boss Harry Redknapp in recent weeks, for a dreadful refereeing performance in a league game at Stoke, was the man entrusted with making split-second decisions in one of the fiercest games in the land. He was bold, he was decisive, he was unluc...

Kenny Dalglish has this week refused to back down in his stance of Luis Suarez. Yet more blind faith from the Scot was spouted at his midweek press conference in support of the Uruguayan frontman charged with abusive racist language and banned by the FA for a subsequent 8 games. Backing ‘one of your own’ is a common trait among managers, many who are not envied for their endless and sometimes thankless task in charge of football teams. Liverpool did this collectively by wearing t-shirts with Suarez’s face on, to warm up at the DW Stadium last month before a league game with Wigan. It was crass and partially embarrassing to the outside world yet stood as a metaphor to underline their ‘innocent until proven guilty’ position over the matter. Suarez is guilty, he was found to have used the word ‘negro’ seven separate times against Manchester United’s black left back Patrice Evra. Suarez said it was ‘only’ the once – is that not bad enough? The tactless Dalglish gave his view, “I ...