1. “Kidney appears to be angling for a new contract and is not going to go down without a fight. It’s not exactly the most dignified end to his Irish managerial career, and by all accounts it will be the end.
“By sticking around and looking for a new deal, he’s putting out a message that this year’s Six Nations campaign (fifth place, one win, one draw, three losses) is an acceptable performance, when it quite obviously is not. While one can have sympathy with Kidney over the mounting injury toll on his squad, taking a step back and looking at how the series unfolded, it is clear that it was run in a most shambolic manner.
“Almost every press release issued from camp seemed to result in 48 subsequent hours of backtracking, while the oversight in failing to ensure Jackson took placed kicks in the week before his test debut against Scotland amounts to a seroius blunder and with every passing week, the non-selection of Ian Madigan appears to look more and more ridiculous. Even without such obvious catastrophes, there appears to be a malaise within the squad, and some fresh ideas and a new voice are needed.”
The ever-excellent Whiff of Cordite insist Declan Kidney should walk away.
2. “The story of Robert Beal, also known as “The man who hoaxed The Times,” might be amusing if it did not have such a dark and disturbing underbelly. The ‘lighter’ side of this extraordinary saga is Beal’s claim to be connected to QSI, the Qatari firm that owns Paris St Germain football club, and his claims he was a senior executive at a Paris-based company, 10Media. In fact, aged 38, Rob Beal (right) lives with his parents in Sheffield. He does not represent QSI and never has. To the contrary, a senior QSI source says Beal was served with a ‘cease and desist’ notice in 2011 for pretending to act for QSI in any capacity. Nor is there any evidence that the media firm Beal purported to run ever existed, except in his imagination.”
Nick Harris of SportingIntelligence introduces ‘the man who hoaxed the Times’. Well worth a read.
3. “During their disappointing 2012 season, the Jets became known for the butt fumble, caused by quarterback Mark Sanchez’s unfortunate collision with teammate Brandon Moore’s rear end. Across town, the Mets are countering with a derrière distinction of their own: the butt dialer. That would be Jay Horwitz, the team’s longtime director of media relations. Several times per week, and sometimes several times per day, Horwitz accidentally calls a current or former member of the organization. He has mistakenly awakened team executives at 4 a.m., roused coaches late at night and left former Mets around the league puzzled by missed calls from him. That would be Jay Horwitz, the team’s longtime director of media relations. Several times per week, and sometimes several times per day, Horwitz accidentally calls a current or former member of the organization. He has mistakenly awakened team executives at 4 a.m., roused coaches late at night and left former Mets around the league puzzled by missed calls from him.”
The Wall Street Journal’s Brian Costa profiles the ‘King of the accidental phone call’. We’ve all been there.
4. “Recently I took my sons to a Northern League match, Newcastle Benfield v Shildon. Buying a pie, I heard a cheer and turned round to see that the home side had scored what turned out to be the only goal of the game. Frustrating though it was to miss the winning goal, it struck me that this is a rare experience nowadays. You have to drop pretty low in the football pyramid to find a game that isn’t being broadcast in some form, either on television or via the internet.”
John Bourne of WSC on the Guardian talks about the ways TV has changed the ways we watch football.
5. “A brown face at a football match in London in the early 70’s often bore the brunt of casually racist comments by many and the threat of physical harm from some. But the one stadium in London he said he no-one said a word to him about the colour of his skin was at Arsenal. Of course it went on – it would be churlish and plain wrong to suggest otherwise – but to this day he swears he supported Arsenal because he came across no-one who was racist towards him. (It certainly couldn’t have been the football, with the 16th and 17th place finishes in the league in the mid 70’s the nearest we came to relegation since before World War One).”
It’s 12 years today since Highbury favourite David Rocastle passed away. He meant a lot to Sabotage Times’ writer Layth Yousif.
