Spindlers List

So I've decided to start making my own team of the week here, players who I believe have played well on the weekend fixtures. I plan to only do a starting 11 though otherwise I could go on for pages, so lets start with my Winter Spindlers list.

Goalkeeper - Joe Hart
I think Hart has come back into form at just the right time for Man City, and whilst some may have questioned whether he was back in form or not I really feel that the Palace game proved he was back at his best. Man city were sloppy in the game really and should have destroyed Palace, if they hadn't decided to play their weaker team against a rejuvenated Crystal Palace, and really the eagles could have actually gotten something from this game if they hadn't had Hart between the sticks, he put his body on the line (Evidently with his wound) and really held the back line together as well as pulling off some great saves too. 

Left back - Maynor Figueroa
I have always liked Figueroa and really enjoy watching him when he is on form and right now, he is on some great form. I nearly gave this to Ben Davies who was fantastic for Swansea especially getting forward against Villa but on occasion he looked wobbly defending and that may have pushed me into picking Maynor. Getting forward he shows he can cross the ball to a well enough level, just as good as Davies but when he has to get back he always manages to hold his own and even against the bigger teams has been good, maybe Hull is better for him than Wigan ever were.

Right back - Seamus Coleman
Without a doubt is Coleman my right back, the lad has been a revelation this season. For the past few seasons he has been pushed forward into being the right mid and whilst he has that attacking flair he has never been quite good enough when playing in the midfield but right now at right back he has been fantastic and has in my opinion has had a better all around game compared to Baines but both of them are making Everton a serious force. Not only has his defending been great but his goalscoring is much better then Phil Neville's ever was, pretty sure he never got 5 in one season, maybe not even that in his whole Everton Career.

Centre back - Vincent Kompany
On  a bad week I still would have trouble pointing out this man's bad moments, he is probably one of the best centre backs out there and against Palace he didn't put a foot wrong. He was intercepting so much and not only that was a threat to the Palace goal whenever City had a set piece, for a centre back he really has it all. I don't think I have to say much more. For a defender who many were worried couldn't get back to his best after a string of injuries, he definitely will be earning himself a spot in the Belgium squad for the summer.

Centre back - Per Mertesacker
I nearly picked Nemanja Vidic for the shear fact he came back from Injury and put in that sort of solid performance for a United defence which has looked a shadow of it's former self but after arguing with my own thoughts I remembered big Per's performance against Newcastle and really believe he was quite a key factor in Arsenals win. The Gunners were not themselves at St James' park and struggled to out possess the Geordies, however Mertesacker really helped to get them through that and get Remy, Gouffran and Sissoko all quiet. 

Left Mid - Willian
I reckon quite a few may disagree with me here but it will make sense when people see my right mid too. He was absolutely amazing against Liverpool, the word that kept on popping up for me was relentless, he would always be causing problems for the Liverpool defence and if it wasn't their defence it was their midfield, he was back and forth all night and wouldn't stop, but it wasn't like that of a headless chicken, he was effective creating space for other players and having a hand in Chelsea's equaliser, this was one of his best performances in a Chelsea shirt.

Right Mid - Eden Hazard
In my opinion this choice doesn't need much explanation, he was just immense against Liverpool and not only came in with a goal of his own but played a part in the second one, but throughout the night he had two players brought onto him or was playing about with the ball and causing Liverpool players nothing but a headache, his passing with Willian and Oscar was amazing and so quick it was saddening when it all ended as the final whistle went but his goal was so well taken and his all around play was amazing.

Central Mid -  Tom Huddlestone
Finally he can get that bloody hair cut he has been waiting for, but all jokes aside Huddlestone has been a completely different player in a Hull shirt compared to when he was in a Spurs one. He has been the catalyst in the Hull Midfield and whenever they play it is rare to not hear about how well he played, even against Man United he was their best player by a long mile. Against Fulham it looked like Pirlo had been thrown into a Semi-Professional match, his passing was amazing and in a game which led to a game similar to that of QPR vs Fulham two seasons ago, he finally managed to score his first goal in 32 months. Very taken may I add.

Central Mid - Jonathan De Guzman
This has been a really hard choice to make, so many great performances from central Midfielders this weekend. I nearly picked McCarthy after his strong display against Southampton or Moussa Dembele for his great game against Stoke, Silva deserves a shoutout too who has returned to that form that helped City win the title. However painful it is for a Cardiff fan to say though, De Guzman was the best out of the lot, he was an absolute monster in Swansea's midfield, every play, every attack, anything good for Swansea was made by the Villa real man, this is the form that I had been told about at the beginning of last season, and whilst I struggled to see it before, that performance left me gob smacked, if he does this for the next few weeks well... He might not be a Villa Real player any longer.

Left Striker - Frazier Campbell
OKAY OKAY, yes I know straight away what you are saying 'Oh he only picked Campbell cos he is a Cardiff player' well no and yes, I love the lad and maybe psychologically it pushed me into choosing him as my first striker but his performance against his old club was amazing, tireless is really what it was. He never stopped during the 82 minutes he was on and his performance deserved the goal he got, maybe if he was in a bigger team he would get so much more praise but really I think his performance was class and has really pushed himself as the first name on Cardiff's team sheet.

Right Striker - Robert Koren
I am personally surprised a name like Suarez or Negredo isn't filling this space but really this weekend they haven't been great, Suarez was kept quiet by Chelsea and Negredo just wasn't his powerful self. Koren however has been a name sneaking under the radar lately but against Fulham he had one of the best performances of this year. He really gave the Fulham defence a bad day and was always causing trouble for them, I nearly placed Berahino here for his movement, but looking back at both games I felt Koren did much more for his team on a whole than Berahino did.

So that's that for my list, this is all my personal opinion for my best 11, some may agree and some may not, give me some feedback or agreement, thanks for reading.

Did the Galactico era really end?

So one of the largest transfers this summer was undoubtedly the world record deal to take Gareth Bale from Tottenham to Madrid, who could have imagined that a few years back this young lad from Wales who was nearly sold to Birmingham for 3 million pounds would end up playing for one of the best teams in the world. Bale has definitely not been a flop for the Spanish Giants, playing 15 games in Europe and domestic football and scoring 9 goals is a great record for the young Welshman. However this begs the question is the Galactico policy, which had supposedly ended according to Madrid President Florentino Perez, still in full effect and if so is Bale the next Galactico?

The Galactico policy began really when Florentino Perez was elected to Presidency in the Real Madrid boardroom. His election campaign was built on his promises to take an aggressive approach in the transfer market and lucrative deals. On the surface that seems like it can't go wrong but it doesn't take long to realise that there is a big flaw in the Galactico policy. What happens when you throw together some of the worlds best players (and largest ego's) you create one of the biggest let downs in Europe. Every player was thrown into the side with deals reaching up to 46 million, and expected to perform each game and create a side everyone would fear. Whilst some players were named Galacticos and weren't purchased for large sums, like Raul and Roberto Carlos, they still are known as Galacticos due to their hand they had during the era. 

It was doomed from the beginning the policy, whilst it seems great to buy the worlds best footballers, not all of them are modest, it leads to splits in the team, and in some cases players were bought more for their marketing potential than their ability on the pitch. Vincente Del Bosque revealed after being sacked that Perez took charge in the transfer market and when Perez would reveal to Del Bosque who he was investing in, most of them were out of form, for instance when David Beckham was bought by Perez he was poorly out of form and hadn't played consistent football since the boot incident with Fergie. Regardless of this he still signed the Englishmen. The best way to describe the problem with the policy though was best described by Steve McManaman, his autobiography describes "The Disneyfication of the Galactico policy was it's downfall, there is no way that you can buy a team full of stars in each position and expect them all to work well with each other, a team needs those smaller players who can do their job well enough that they aren't bad but still don't steal the limelight, otherwise you throw world class players together and it leads to them all being greedy and trying to steal the ball from each other to become the best of the best" 

So has there been any success from the Galactico policy, It's hard to tell. The official Galactico era began under Perez's first presidency and was the declared era of the policy running between 2000 to 2006 that is when the players of Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo and Beckham all joined Madrid under Perez's so called Revolution. Was it successful is what we are first answering though, and looking on paper it could be seen that it was quite successful, winning 2 la liga titles and a Champions league title but that is the same as Barcelona won within the same period. Barcelona spent 2,423,500,000 Euros over 6 years which is a massive sum of money to win about the same as Real Madrid, who originally I believed would have spent bucket loads more than their Catalan rivals, however upon research into their season spending sprees but Los Blancos actually spent significantly less than FC Barca reaching the total 1,293,500,000 Euros over the same six year period meant that Financially compared to Blaugrana it was a success by spending less they still one as much as the Barcelona team. However whilst they spent less than Barcelona (and yes I understand Atletico are decent now, at this time the La Liga was only Barcelona and Real so that is why I haven't brought them up) it necessarily meant nothing on the pitch. Whilst they spent less, they still won just as much, they can be seen as a victory but also to some extent as a defeat by looking at what the money was spent on, Barcelona had spent their money not just on current elite players but big potential, so while they may spend 30 million on Javier Saviola, they then would spend on young players like Messi, who is arguably now the best in the world. Real Madrid did not do that, the majority of their Galacticos were in their prime but there was no potential in the squad, when the whole squad would eventually pass their peak, then they wouldn't have the same ability and class of players to come in to replace them. So whilst financially it was a success in comparison to Barcelona, it never came across significantly on the pitch enough.

Before we move on to the main question, we have to look at the official end of the Galacticos or what everyone else declares as the end, 2006, the resignation of Florentino perez and the final Announced Galactico leaving for pastures new, David Beckham joining the LA Galaxy. After Real lost to Mallorca on 27th February 2006 Florentino Perez stepped down from his position as President of the Real Madrid board declaring that "The club needed a new direction and whilst I have no regrets on my policies at the moment, Real Madrid needs a new way forward, but I shall stay involved" which he did, and actually ended up becoming president again, which we will come back to, however Perez's resignation did not mean that the Galacticos era would come to an end. Ramon Calderon, the man who became president after Perez, would sign Ruud Van Nistelrooy after he had felt the full wrath of Sir Alex Ferguson's hair-dryer treatment and also brought in Fabio Cannavaro, the man who captained Italy to the 2006 world cup, from Juventus after being relegated for the match fixing scandal. However they did not receive as much attention as players like Ronaldo and Figo, as well as this, they cannot be regarded as true Galacticos due to the rest of the players leaving for new oppurtunities in some way or another. Players like Higuain, Fernando Gago, Robben and Sneijder were brought in however these players would either struggle to cement a place in the side or worse would have a place in the side but more due to reputation or previous exploits, even leading to Sneijder taking control of his younger brothers supposed move to Real, explaining how they ruined his careers potential. This was the apparent end of the Galacticos glorious tale, and no longer would Real buy elite players for massive money... 

Wait, wait, wait! They still do that don't they? I mean Florentino Perez is once again President of Real Madrid, the man who began the Galacticos era, and he has brought in elite players for record fees, so doesn't that mean the Galacticos era is still carrying on. Within Perez's first year back as president of the Real side he brought in Kaka for 60 million Euros, Xabi Alonso for 36 million, Benzema for 30 million and the most important Christiano Ronaldo for the previous world record fee of 96 million euros, more than any of the other Galacticos, these players generally cost more than any of the Galacticos. In 2010 Perez then carries on with his promise of atleast one Galactico each year but Ozil, Di Maria and Khedira for a combined fee of 51 million Euros, 2011 was a slow year for Perez only bringing in Coentrao for 30 million euros (it is rather hard to call 30 million a slow year with a straight face) same with 2012 ONLY spending 33 million on Tottenham Hotspurs croatian playmaker Luka Modric, and of course we now reach full circle Isco and Illarramendi were acquired by Los Blancos for a fee of 59.2 Million for both, but more importantly Welsh Wizard Gareth Bale became the worlds most expensive player but this all together is what I am really trying to make everyone understand, if you ask everyone about the Galactico period they will say the years 2000 to 2006 were the real periods however what I am saying is that it never really ended whilst Perez left, the years without Perez big players were still being acquired along the lines of the Galacticos era, like Robben and Huntelaar, and now with Perez back it has gone into overdrive once more and it is identical to the previous era with how they are aiming specifically towards attacking players and less towards defensive players. 

So in conclusion what I am saying is that the Galactico era, or more so policy, never ended when Perez left and instead has now become the basis in how Real Madrid constructs their team and goes about their business ever since 2000. Bale is just another one to be added onto the list of the many expensive elite players. So my whole aim was to hopefully change your opinion on the Galacticos era and realise that it never ended in 2006 and yet instead has become a foundation of the club just like any over part of Real Madrid, will it finally work for them, only the future will tell, we can already see potential new Galacticos with Luis Suarez currently being tipped into signing at the end of the season especially in his current form. 

Thanks for reading. 

Introduction

Hey there

My name is Harry Spindler and this is my sports based blog, I love all sports and really enjoy discussing my views about each and everyone of them, I really have set up this blog to get my points across but also hope that you guys and girls can give me some constructive criticism on what I can improve and also what you like thanks so much for reading and hope you like the page, feel free to discuss too!

The Olympic legacy, Failure or Triumph?

It’s been over a year since the success of the Olympic games in London. During the Opening ceremony it became known what our legacy of the games would be, to support the future generations in their careers, increase our tourism and primarily to develop elite athletes as well as encourage participation in sports by creating a wider range of sports that the youth can get involved in. They all sound fantastic ideas however after a year, have we really seen any of these points implemented at grassroots levels? Or will it flop and fade away like other young sports initiatives in Britain?

Let us debate this by talking about each point of the legacy one by one, starting off with the future generations career options and opportunities. In the legacy doctrine, it explains what they aim to do regarding careers for the future, while the actual doctrine is full of big words to fill up paragraphs and pointless explanations let me cut it down for you, when the doctrine was written up they decided what they aimed for careers would not so much be new jobs are made, but more opportunities for current jobs are made available. This would mean that national organisations like the BBC, ITV and all those sort of places are putting their money where their mouths are and are getting behind the Olympic legacy, looking to move the country forward. During the build up to the Olympics, it was a worry for the committee whether the big organisations like ITV and BBC would be able to help with the legacy, or more so, would they be willing. With the fear of costs and having to spend more on creating opportunities, it was decided that the big TV stations, Radio stations, Newspapers and other organisations which were key in Britain would open up apprenticeships, Internships and other young career opportunities to train them ,in key skills. However we are not arguing whether they were on board at the start or not, we are trying to decide whether or not it has been put into action! I am glad to reveal however that these organisations have come through on their promises with the BBC and the ITV leading the way by opening up hundreds of apprenticeships, more than any of the other companies involved with the careers side of the legacy. So we are off to a good start on the Olympic legacy with one of the 3 points being implemented and completed.

Next stop Tourism! Now it is no question that during the Olympics our tourism had rocketed up, reaching it’s highest amount of Tourists since 2008 while also managing to receiving the highest amount on income from tourism since 2002, this amount of income was even enough to improve the country's economic state in total, taking us just out of recession according the economist magazine. However we are not saying that it wasn’t there the tourism from 2012, but that is not the legacies aim, it is aiming to keep these amount of tourism coming in for the next 5 years in a bid to improve the nation's economy.  However it hasn’t been plain sailing for the tourism side of the Legacy, while some officials will tell you that it has been successful but not in a steady way, for instance Jeremy Hunt, declared that the Olympics were a very good time for tourism, however it came in short bursts and not a consistent period as predicted, however companies involved in Britain for instance McDonalds or other widespread businesses have come out explaining how business was barely an improvement from the usual, with west end theatres claiming only a 5% increase in income during that period when they had been promised a predicted increase of 20%, thats quite  big difference especially when you expect the professional economists to get it right! To make it worse, the tourism from 2012 to 2013 which has been declared as the improvements from the Olympics hasn’t even spread further into the country, it has all been condensed into London and the surrounding area, meaning that the Tourist side of the legacy has been a monumental flop! 1 success and 1 failure.

Can the development in sport save the Olympic legacy? Unfortunately it doesn't look good from the start, for those who don’t keep their eyes on politics, the current Conservative government is cutting the budgets for multiple departments in the country and bad news sports fans but one of those departments included our sports initiatives. However this doesn’t mean they no longer have a budget and the government has promised to come through on giving a sufficient budget for the initiatives, which in all fairness they have managed to fund the FA, RFU, BBA, ECB and many of the other organisations, which means that the boards will be spending the money given to them on funding these movements to make sure we receive the next batch of elite sportsmen to improve our success in their respective sports right? Wrong, it turns out that out of the 8 bodies given funding towards a grassroots level nurturing program only two have actually used that funding, the first being the RFU, the Rugby board have seen the opportunity given to them, and with Rugby returning to the Olympic sports, will want to start bringing improved players to the England fold especially with the arguably weak batch with are their current youth sides, and the second board is the BBA, the British Basketball Association has been throwing their money straight into getting youngsters involved trying to create more Basketball stars to ship off to America, however in an ironic twist of fate, it may not matter if team GB doesn’t perform well at the next Eurobasket competition, with an ultimatum to show improvements or they cut the fund. So why no movement in the FA or the ECB?

Well if I can back up the ECB here, they are arguably England's biggest success right now, with an already successful national side which is always in contention to win any competition they win, they don’t seem to need improvement and with youngsters like Root starting to earn himself a cemented place in the lineup as well as other youngsters, you could argue they don’t have to look for more youngsters especially with how many there already are which could play in the squad. However the FA do not have the luxury of bringing up recent successes or being able to show off a bright young squad which can stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the worlds, especially with the Under 21’s horrific display at the Under 21’s Euro this year in Israel, it is looking desperate for some young stars to come through, and if the FA don’t find it soon they may risk losing their cushiony budget, which may I add is the largest of all the other boards, and have to show improvements before earning it back just like the BBA. So has their been any success in terms of young stars being created? Well it isn’t doom and gloom and old sports stars who need to quit, there is success in Hockey, both Ice hockey, which received no funding and is an independent board from the government funding, and field. Field hockey had a great display at the olympics with a fairly young squad with what appears the perfect mix of experience and youth it is growing and could be a source of success in the years to come. While the Ice Hockey side is currently struggling to perform, the talent is there and, like the field hockey side, is the right mix of youth and experience and if they keep improving under Doug Christiansen might be a big team in the future.

I conclusion however it is clear to all that the legacy hasn’t come through on it’s promises and ideas and this could be down to funding but I truly feel it needs to be regulated more, get the boards involved in grassroots sports. Make them use a percentage of their funding on young talent, make sure there's something there in the youth ranks, Nurture their talent, don’t just throw any youngster into the first team, and then when they are ready give them their shot in the side, and you never know maybe in 10 years time, we might just be a decent side once more, if we work hard at it.