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Alan Swann: on Scotland, the Champions League and the Ashes
I'M sure George Boyd will do Posh proud and I wish the club's most gifted player all the best on his international debut tomorrow.
I'M sure George Boyd will do Posh proud and I wish the club's most gifted player all the best on his international debut tomorrow.But he shouldn't be playing for Scotland any more than Arsenal's Spanish goalkeeper Manuel Almunia should be considered a potential England player.
Boyd is about as Scottish as Alf Garnett. I'd bet my last quid that as a kid he dreamt of emulating John Barnes rather than Jimmy Johnstone - indeed I doubt whether he'd even know who Jimmy Johnstone was unless his Glasgow-born grandfather told him.
I don't really blame Scotland for trying it on. There is such a dearth of talent up there, they must struggle to find 11 players who can trap a ball. After all this is the country who gave an international career to average Englishmen Matthew Elliott and Don Hutchinson.
Boyd's reasoning appears to involve taking a Scottish cap because an English one was never going to arrive. Hardly a statement likely to endear him to Rab C Nesbitt and his mates.
Patriotism comes a poor second to pound signs these days. Anyway Boyd has made a tactical error. If Stuart Downing can win England caps on the left-wing, Boyd wasn't totally without a chance.
FOOTBALL purists, a group of which I am a fully paid-up member, will be cheering for an Arsenal/Barcelona Champions League Final, but I fear we will be subjected to another bore-off between Manchester United and Chelsea.
For all Barcelona's whinging about Chelsea's abysmally negative tactics, they looked worryingly clueless for most of the 90 minutes. Even that supposed genius Lionel Messi, a man who never scores against English clubs, was rendered impotent by a right-footed left-back.
In tomorrow's second-leg Didier Drogba is likely to wreak havoc against a Spanish defence containing just one natural centre-back, and he's a Manchester United reject. For this theory to work Drogba has to concentrate on his football rather than trying to beat Barcelona's Brazilian full-back in a play-acting competition.
As for Arsenal, words fail me sometimes. Arsene Wenger continues to talk a good game, but his refusal to beef up his back four will always haunt him in the biggest games.
United were so superior in the first leg of their semi-final thanks in part to their Posh-style tempo of play, but also because half the Arsenal team didn't look like they knew what they were supposed to be doing - unlike Emmanuel Adebayor, who carried off his attempt to sulk and pose like a lower-class Berbatov to perfection.
I hope I'm wrong and the grace and style of Arsenal and Barcelona are on show in Rome, but barring an injury to Rio Ferdinand and the Spaniards developing some grit to accompany their class, we're in for another muscular contest between Chelsea and United.
AND Chelsea are one of the biggest culprits in what I believe has been a shockingly poor standard of Premier League football.
Arsenal have been watchable at times and, surprisingly, so have Liverpool, but there is very little else to get excited about.
Everton are awful to look at and yet could finish fifth, Fulham's manager Roy Hodgson is hailed as a genius in some parts because he appears to be a nice bloke who has taught a team how to draw 0-0.
And anyone watching Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Sunderland over the weekend must have despaired at the lack of passion, know-how and basic ability of all three teams in the North-East.
No wonder they all have so many fat fans. They're comfort-eating.
THE Ashes are about two months away and England still don't have a clue about their best team. We're in serious danger of starting the only Test series that truly matters on the back of another defeat to the hopeless West Indies.
England bosses spend too much time fretting over the form and fitness of past-it cry-babies like Michael Vaughan, or pea-hearted pros like Ian Bell, and too little time identifying players with potential.
Mind you finding English diamonds among the plethora of foreigners on the County Championship circuit can't be easy. It would be much simpler picking a South African side as there are so many over here blocking the progress of our boys.
I might go on holiday from June to September. The inevitable crowing of the arrogant Aussies as they sweep to another 5-0 Ashes series win is a prospect I can't stomach.
I DIDN'T think it would be possible to find a worst piece of sporting business than the 5 million Hull City splashed out on 31 year-old midfield crock Jimmy Bullard.
But French rugby union club Toulon are apparently going to pay 1 million a year to Jonny Wilkinson, a man with an injury record which makes Darren Anderton look a picture of health.
That works out at roughly 1 million per game he's likely to play.SWANNY'S FANMAIL
The Posh promotion is a tremendous achievement so why not focus on that and the associated positives.
There was no need to mention Leeds United. You appear to be more of a Leeds hater than a Posh fan.
Building the new Posh stadium on Bretton Gate is an excellent idea. There are superb transport links to the A47 and the new stadium would put dilapidated stadia like Hillsborough and The Riverside to shame.
Mr Blackbird
Dogsthorpe
With AFC Wimbledon getting promotion to the Blue Square Premier League, I hope MK Dons fail to gain promotion themselves.
The prospect of AFC Wimbledon gaining ground on MK Dons is something those against "franchise football" will enjoy.
FTR
I am mystified as to how anyone could think that the rather tatty and very small London Road ground is a better place to watch football with an average 6,000 people in it than the much larger and significantly less tatty Elland Road with an average 23,000 people in it.
Posh will not be able to even think about matching Leeds' crowds until they find somewhere to build a decent stadium.
And even when they do, I think it is unlikely that they will fill it with the numbers which make a good team viable at Premier League level because the city is simply not big enough nor wealthy enough.
Bretton Resident
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