February 2008 Archives

I suppose it was just a little too much to ask, wasn't it?

Yes, I, Arsene Wenger, apologise to Martin Taylor for what I said about him and I apologise for my team's general behaviour . . .

Dream on. Wenger's first meeting with the media since Eduardo's leg was shattered and ankle left askew tells you everything about a brilliant manager, but a flawed person.

He may not care, Arsenal may not care, some of the London media may not care, but Wenger and his side have lost a lot of respect in these parts.

Today, at his weekly pre-match briefing, Wenger should have been man enough to categorically accept that calling for Taylor to be banned and banging on about murderers and violence was a major mistake.

Instead he, and the media at large, continue to glibly trot out the fact that he retracted his comments of post-match last Saturday.

No he hasn't if you analyse it.

He said he was now giving Taylor the 'benefit of the doubt' . . . 'if he was genuine'. Oh, merci, Arsene.

Taylor broke his silence on the whole affair today and came across as the sort of person he is: decent, genuine, intelligent, caring.

Blues will get to see another of the ones who got away this Saturday.

Spurs' Teemu Tainio was targeted by manager Alex McLeish soon after he took over.

Due to having to spread his money around, and Gary Cahill's snub, it wasn't until the 11th hour of the January transfer window that talks took place.

In the end, Blues withdrew from a £4 million - £5 million raid.

Tainio perhaps won't have been too disappointed as he collected a League Cup winners medal last Sunday.

Centre-half Cahill was another who slipped through the fingers of course, and the Georgia schemer Levan Tskitishvili, a cheaper alternative to Tainio (free, in fact), was denied a work permit.

Had anyone seen the pale, dazed look on Martin Taylor's face after the Arsenal game, then they would have realised exactly what sort of person he is.

Taylor was walking round the tunnel areas in a state of shock as the full extent of Eduardo's injury sunk in.

A genial, intelligent man, Taylor might be 6ft 4in but isn't your typical, cynical clogger of a centre-half.

He has been booked only six times in 234 career appearances and sent-off once before, nine years ago.

This is the man who Graeme Souness once remarked was ideal son-in-law material.

Judging from the back page headline in tonight's Birmingham Mail, you could be forgiven for thinking that Alex McLeish has gone all Barry Fry.

Attack! Attack! Attack! It says.

Nice sentiment, but McLeish won't quite be telling his side to perform with complete abandon against Arsenal in the lunchtime kick-off at St Andrew's..

Yes, Blues do need to be more productive in the 'goals for' column.

But equally, they have to improve on their clean sheet record, which stands at just three for the season.

McLeish, in his pre-match press conference, asked that his attacking and creative players step up to the plate.

But they will have to do so within a structure, as is his way, and as they know.

He said: "If we leave ourselves open against a team of Arsenal's quality we would be asking for trouble.

"We will go for it in controlled and measured way.

"If the strikers can hit form in the last third, there's no reason why we can't upset Arsenal."

For the uninitiated, Blues AGM is a wonder to behold.

You don't get supporter and shareholder pressure groups trying to hound out the board, you don't get arguments from the floor or even the manager presented on top table to have questions fired at him.

Last night's might have been different as an EGM was held straight after to vote on Carson Yeung's ill-fated plan to put Steve McManaman and Fan Zhiyi on the board.

But it wasn't really.

There was plenty for shareholders to get stuck into, what with the whole mess of the Yeung saga, Steve Bruce's departure and the commitment of the current co-owners.

Choose which you prefer: your team winning the FA Cup or avoiding relegation from the Premier League.

I once had this 'discussion' in pre-season with the Blues coaching staff and chairman David Gold in a German hostelry.

I said I would prefer to see Blues win the FA Cup than survive in the Premier League.

Steve Bruce could see my reasoning but didn't entirely agree, for David Gold it was top-flight status.

He was surprised when I told him, which is no wonder really.

Sone Aluko's strike against Bayern Munich was the first goal scored by a Blues player in proper European competition for 47 years.

It's been a long while since Bertie Auld got on the scoresheet in the December 1961 victory over Espanyol in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

Blues - who reached the final in 1960 and 1961 - went out of the competition as they had lost the first leg of the second round tie 5-2.

The loan to Aberdeen was just what Aluko needed.

Look at the turmoil Sheffield United are going through, and it makes Blues achievement last
season all the more impressive.

There is significant unrest among the Blades faithful, and the unhealthy atmosphere created
doesn't lend itself to an instant return to the Premier League.

They have got a very strong squad too, but lie 16th in the Championship.

Another relegated side, Charlton Athletic, are struggling to make headway.

Considering that Steve Bruce had to completely gut a team, then get a new, younger bunch of
players up and running whist coping with overbearing expectation, pressure and impatience,
both internal and external, the end result was highly commendable.

They say football's the same the world over, it doesn't matter where you are from.

Well, it's all Greek down St Andrew's - or should that be Scottish?

The tartan invasion has meant that your intrepid reporter has been left trying to fathom out what on earth Alex McLeish is talking about.