When the idea first surfaced that English football should take a ‘COVID break’ over the festive season I thought it was a rather stupid plan. All I saw was potential to cause a chaotic pile-up of fixtures in 2022, a year that is already a scheduling mess thanks to FIFA’s mindless decision to have a World Cup in November and December.
But, in hindsight, my opposition to the idea appears to have been flawed. Why? Well, thanks to all the COVID postponements, we now have a situation where the fixture pile-up will still happen… but only for certain clubs. And that is going to undermine the fundamental fairness of the league system.
In the Premier League, for example, some teams have had three games postponed while others have not been affected at all. That means those with a backlog are going to have to squeeze those missed games into the second half of the season while those who have carried on playing will be comparatively relaxed.
And, as we all know, the second half of the season is where the football gets properly serious, where each game is crucial. The last thing any team challenging for promotion – or battling relegation – wants is to be playing extra, rescheduled games.
And this problem is not exclusive to the top-flight. Sheffield United, for example, have also seen three of their games called off – all following COVID outbreaks among their opponents. So, despite being perfectly able to play all those fixtures, United will now have to squeeze them into an already packed schedule. Those teams that called them off, however, may only have one game to fit in, and that is what makes this extremely unfair.
Fair enough, in normal seasons there are occasional matches postponed over Christmas due to weather. But that is generally just a handful across the whole league pyramid. This tsunami of cancellations is an entirely different kettle of fish.
Looking back, the sensible decision would probably have been to take a break and ensure all teams were in the same, fixture-congested boat. Alternatively, push on with all games but ensure teams were obliged to fulfil them, even if meant fielding reserves and juniors.
The sensible decision would probably have been to take a break and ensure all teams were in the same, fixture-congested boat
As things have transpired, the next five months of football is going to be messy, congested and grossly unfair on those teams who have seen their fixtures decimated through no fault of their own.
Claudio should have stayed away
Right now, the enjoyable myth that Claudio Ranieri is some sort of miraculous football manager is emphatically being laid to rest. And that’s a bit sad.
The Italian took over Watford in October after the club made an awkward start to the season, earning just seven points from their first seven games. But, since his arrival at Vicarage Road, things have got worse rather than better, with Watford managing just six points from Claudio’s 10 games in charge.
Even more worrying is that the last five of those have been consecutive defeats, with the club conceding 15 goals in the process. It’s not going well at all.
Ranieri is a lovely chap, the sort of person you want sitting round your Christmas dinner table telling amusing anecdotes and keeping your children entertained by pulling coins out of their ears. But as a football manager, he enjoys a reputation that stretches far beyond his actual talent. A reputation based almost entirely on one magical season with Leicester City.
That title triumph gave Claudio a sort of Robin Hood status as he stole the crown from the big boys (who believe they are entitled to share it only among themselves) and redistributed the glory further down the table. Retaining that mythical status would have been the legacy he deserved, but the only way that could have happened was if he steered well clear of England’s top-flight.
A poor spell at Fulham followed by this equally rough time at Watford is only making the Leicester success look more and more like an illogical fluke. Instead of being the driving force behind that title, it is now seems almost certain that he was just a passenger who happened to be in the right place at the right time.
The bubble has burst, and I think that is unfortunate because football needs legends and myths to keep it interesting. Had he stayed away from England, we could have always thought of him as a mysterious, lovable Italian who breezed into the Premier League and beat the odds for one momentous moment in football history before vanishing never to be seen again.
The more we see of him, the more that mystique unravels.
Ashes to ashes
Okay, I know cricket isn’t the most popular sport on Malta, but I need to have a moan. And, in the slightly twisted words of the famous song, it’s my column and I’ll cry if I want to. Because believe me, England’s performance against Australia in the current Ashes series is enough to reduce even the most casual cricket fan to tears.
This competition, widely seen as the ultimate battle in the sport, is supposed to be a best of five series of matches. Last Monday, it was all over when Australia took an unassailable 3-0 lead with two games to go, wrapping up that test in just three days.
But it wasn’t just that England failed in their bid to regain the Ashes that was so depressing, it was the manner of their capitulation – three games, three defeats and not the slightest inkling of a fight. It’s not even as if you could say England were unlucky or came close to victory. They were embarrassingly outplayed in all three games.
The truly tragic thing is they still, presumably in the interests of the finance department, need to go through with the final two dead rubbers even though there is nothing to play for. And don’t give me that “they are playing for pride” nonsense either – they lost the last few remnants of pride when they were bowled out for 65 last Monday, their lowest score in Australia since 1904.
Cricket is a game I have grown to love over the last decade or so. The current England team, however, I am somewhat less enamoured with.
Happy New Year everyone! Be safe and healthy.
E-mail: james@quizando.com
Twitter: @maltablade