In other news…

Bruce takes a moment, Rafa hits back, Players take blame and Austrians revolt
Steve Bruce was caught looking misty-eyed at the Birmingham City training ground this week as he prepared for an emotional reunion with his former charges Man Utd. Despite the tensions which surround the build up to an important league fixture such as playing the reigning league champions, Bruce was happily discussing old times with the fondness of a parent or old relative looking through a photo album, ‘At Man Utd we used to go in and have cups of milky coffee and there were dressing gowns, nice flip flops and heated floors.’ the former stopper sighed. Nice imagery Brucie, although Old Trafford sounded more like an old people’s home than the domain of the undisputed force of the 1990s. Bruce was attempting to draw a comparison as to how Birmingham City have improved and grown as a club since he first left Utd and joined the Brum as a player, and in fairness he did have a point, if laboured, to his trip down memory lane. He described training at St Andrews, ‘Before training we had to go and get rid of the geese. There was goose shit everywhere – and they shit like dogs, by the way. And you can’t chase them either, they are vicious bastards’. I think that it’s great to occasionally hear from Premier League managers, such as Bruce, something that is genuinely interesting, not pre-planned and that they actually want to say. I must applaud Bruce for this gem of an interview, and he continued in Ron Manager-like vein, ‘as far the training kit, I can remember Ricky Otto trained in a t-shirt that said “I’ve been to Benidorm” on the front “and I’ve shagged most of it” on the back.’ Top class stuff from Steve Bruce, I only hope he keeps Birmingham up so we can enjoy another seasonal sprinkling of locker room laughs.

If, not so long ago you thought our own national team was in dire straits (thank god for Micah Richards by the way), spare a brief thought for the Austrian national side. Despite qualifying automatically for Euro 2008 as co-hosts, fans in the homeland are petitioning for their country to be thrown out of the championships in a protest about their terrible performances on the pitch. Fans are convinced the national team will embarrass the nation at the tournament and cause them to be the laughing stock of Europe such is the team’s poor run of form. Maybe Steve McClaren can give them some fail safe advice, ‘trust in the oldies’. It worked for him with Emile, so maybe Austria coach Josef Hickersberger can track down the similarly heavyweight plunderer Toni Polster to give the team a boost. The only way is back!

You may have noticed a recent article on this site about the rotation system in place at Liverpool under Rafa Benitez, where I was critical of the goateed Spaniard’s insistence on keeping record signing Fernando Torres ‘fresh’ (i.e. on the bench). Rafa has been riled by all the attention his recently failing rotation policies have been getting in the media of late and came out fighting his corner this week, ‘If you say to me that I would have had to play Torres to be capable of beating Birmingham, then I’d say we couldn’t win the league. We didn’t win because Torres wasn’t playing, but because too many players did not perform at their level.’ A staunch defence indeed and Rafa will also point to his trophy-collecting successes at Valencia and during his time at Liverpool as a consequence of rotating squads. No doubt this is true, although, for all the memorable one-off nights in the cups, what Liverpool fans really desire is a league title. They last won the league back in 1990 and for many, visibly Alan Hansen, it is too long for a club of their stature. Steven Gerrard was probably caught in the cross-fire of divided loyalties with his manager and fans when he stated this week, ‘I don’t want to get involved in Rafa’s team selection, but I think any centre-forward who scores a hat-trick (as Torres did against Reading on Tuesday) really should be played in the next game because his confidence is so high.’ As is typical of the nature of football, Rafa was left perplexed at the weekend when Torres drew a blank and Liverpool only narrowly managed to beat Wigan 1-0. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t Rafa. So will Torres start next week? Watch this space…

Lastly, a refreshingly rare case of self-deprecation and tough criticism was both commendably and bravely displayed by a Premiership footballer this week as a player rightly held up his hands to a woeful display for his club. Modern day football is a profession swamped by ludicrous egos, where there is a general reluctance to accept blame when things go wrong at the expense of anything but themselves (referees, weather conditions, new balls, etc.). It came as a great pleasure and surprise then when Aston Villa’s new £10million defender Curtis Davies conceded, ‘You’re only as good as your last game – and my last game was that which doesn’t merit a pub game for me.’, following his contribution to the club’s Carling Cup third round exit at the hands of Leicester City. Villa fans will take heart from this admission, as it speaks volumes of Davies’ resilience, if not his present capabilities. My view is that Davies should be patted on the back for his honesty, while fellow professionals should also be taking note of his approach as it is something missing from the modern game. In an age where run of the mill Premiership players are earning £30,000+ I think this entitles us fans to the odd apology.