5.2.14

Outside The Box - Top 5 Stories Of The Week



1.    Transfer Deadline Day – Most Boring Ever?


Transfer deadline day has been and gone this week, and most people are saying that it was the most disappointing for years. Unlike previous years there were a lot of transfers, but no big time transfers aside from the Juan Mata deal that took him from Chelsea to Manchester United for a reported £37 million.
Although I agree to a degree with what people are saying, firstly I would say that the January transfer deadline day is usually the most inactive, as lets be fair, how many great players are available at this time of the year? Also, there was a lot of activity despite no big time deals. I know I will be slagged on twitter again for doing this, but Cardiff City signed 7 new players during January as did Crystal Palace, and are players that will make a huge difference to their survival bids.
Arsenal managed to sign Kim Kallstrom on loan, but are now trying to send him back to his parent club as they discovered he hurt his back playing beach volleyball in the week leading up to the transfer and is out for six weeks. It can only happen to Arsenal can’t it? I would be worried if I was a Newcastle fan, as they sold their best player Yohan Cabaye to PSG and did nothing in the transfer market to replace him. In fact, I was listening to the radio and they were interviewing a Geordie fan who said, “Up here in Newcastle it’s not transfer deadline day, it’s just a Friday”. Says it all really. The loss of Cabaye will be heightened after they lost 3-0 in the derby game against Sunderland. I would be worried if I was a Newcastle fan.

2.    Brian McDermott is in, out, in, out, shake it all about


In another, of a seemingly endless amount of strange owner/manager sacking stories this season, Brian McDermott was supposedly sacked by new Leeds owner Massimo Cellino on transfer deadline day. However, a statement came out the next day to say that he was still in charge of the club.
So the story goes, on Friday afternoon, Brian was called by a lawyer of Cellino and was told that he was sacked. Leeds current owners GFH Capital released a statement saying that at the point that the lawyer phoned Brian, Cellino was not the owner of the club, so had no authorisation to action a sacking of the manager, so McDermott is still the manager of Leeds United. As of writing this, there has been no official word of what the status of the management of the club is.
I’m not a Leeds fan, usually as a Cardiff fan, I would revel in any embarrassing situation for that club, but having gone through something similar this season, it is one of the most soul destroying things for a fan who supports the manager affected 100% and thinking that the people you give a lot of your hard earned money to don’t give a damn about fans opinions. On top of that Brain McDermott has done a tremendous job with not a lot of money or backing, and as well as being a fantastic manager comes across as a lovely guy, so he doesn’t deserve this.
Should be interesting to see how this develops, but something needs to be done to safe guard managers and fans from these crazy owners who think they can do what they want without repercussions.

3.    Neil Lennon spat at while watching the football


Celtic manager was watching the Scottish League Cup Semi-Final match between Aberdeen and St Johnstone at Tynecastle, and according to his agent had to leave early as fans were spitting and throwing coins at him.
Although nothing official has come out, if this is true this is disgraceful. Ok Lennon is not everyones cup of tea, but neither am I, and if I was watching a football match and someone spat at me that I would expect that person to be thrown out. According to Neil’s agent, the stewards at Tynecastle were just watching this happen and not doing anything about it, which is nearly as bad.
But seriously, whoever these people are, they are the lowest form of human being not just football fans. I mean, seriously, spitting on another human being in 2014?! Come on!

4.    Real Madrid announce redeveloped stadium plans


Real Madrid this week announced plans to redevelop the Santiago Bernabéu to make it the best stadium in the world at a cost of €400million euros, and if they go ahead and come close to the graphics they released, they will achieve this.
As someone who appreciates good football stadiums (cheap plug for www.footballgroundguide.com where my videos of stadiums I’ve visited are), I will look forward to seeing the Bernabeu even more than I was already.
Apparently the exterior will show images onto the outside and have a retractable roof, it’s going to be one hell of a stadium.

5.    Chopper Dries The Pitch


Here in the UK, we have been having some of the worst weather that I certainly can remember in the 30 something years I’ve been alive, and the number of games being called off on some of the most advanced pitches has been awful. Usually you’ll see a whole slew of games called off because of snow this time of year, but not for waterlogged pitches.
German club Eintracht Braunschweig found a noval way of trying to dry their waterlogged pitch with an emergency helicopter hovering close to the pitch. See an image of this here.
These images were released due to the owners of the helicopter company being investigated, but I don’t care about that, I just think it’s brilliant.

By Haydn Gleed - @haydngleed

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