Latest Seagulls: Mark Brailsford on replacements
Farewell, then, ‘That Man From Argentina’. We shall not mention you (or Murray) anymore. As the song goes, so does the player. Ah well, we’ll always remember that last fantastic last-gasp-goal at Forest to clinch the play off spot … we won’t dwell on the countless fouls that the referees never gave you for falling over, or THAT penalty miss that is, at this very moment, still chasing the international space station in low Earth orbit.
What a great player he was at times, that Leo Ulloa. ‘Spanish Len’ we called you when you first came, mainly because we had a Spanish Dave (Lopez) and conveniently overlooked the fact that you were actually from Argentina. That goal sniffing, solo number nine role suited you so well. But £8million, that’ll do nicely. With add-ons it could be £10million! To put that into perspective, that’s the same as Liverpool paid QPR for Loic Remy, and he’s a French international. Well done; top poker playing there by the boy Bloom.
So, who do we get in his stead? Chris O’Grady from Barnsley, although we’re told he’s more of replacement for Ashley Barnes. Maybe a bit late in the day, but welcome all the same. Does this mean Albion are hot on the trial of a goal scoring centre forward? Who knows! It has certainly been quiet on the transfer front, and Albion fans could be forgiven for having a sense of deflated foreboding at the season ahead. It’s bad enough that the season starts way too early again, on 9 August, seven weeks before the end of the cricket season. Add in the fact that the dreaded transfer window of doom remains open until 1 September and you’ve got what we call, in show business, an extended preview before the run opens proper. The phoney war, if you will. How are clubs and fans meant to commit to the initial skirmishes if half the teams in the Championship haven’t settled on their personnel? It’ll probably all be over by Christmas.
So, forgive this column if it’s not too concerned with the first few games in August; nothing matters until Sky Sports News’ Jim White has counted down to the slamming shut of ‘the window’. The silver lining is there, though, you just have to peer through the guff of the ‘best brand’ (not the best league in the world BTW) in world football, and then we can read the runes. The plusses for Albion are that Sami Hyypia has had a pre-season (so not much room for excuses, Mr Hyypia) and he has some great young players pushing for a starting place. This wasn’t the case with Oscar Garcia, and the Albion still ended up in the play-offs. To come full circle – good luck Leo, you were great, but you probably weren’t mobile enough for the Hyypia methodology of swift transition-based attacks, and refs hated you anyway. Thanks for the memories, we’ll enjoy watching you on Match of the Day. Just make sure you put a few past Palace while you’re at it!
Premier League ready?
Some of you who have read this column (both of you!) will have noted a slight antipathy from us here at Latest Towers towards the league Albion aspire to join. Why is this, I hear you (both) cry? Allow me to explain. The Premier League, the self-styled ‘best league in the world’, is apparently the promised land, but the world’s best players all play in the Spanish, German and French leagues!
The World Cup in Brazil was a wonderful tournament and reasserted itself in world sport as the pinnacle of football. The Champions League, in comparison, is depressingly partizan and based on (at most) no more than 100,000 supporters each for the big teams. How can this compare to whole nations unified in a wellspring of emotion, in support of their national team?
Look at Costa Rica, who topped England’s group with only ten teams in their top division and a population the size of Wales. Their national self-esteem was transformed. Whereas a poorly under-performing England team merely made the majority of the country thoroughly and completely depressed. The fault lies with the Premier League. Look at the eventual World Cup winners! Germany’s top clubs are German-owned and mostly owned by fans, the normal working class supporter can afford to watch his local team, they can take their children, can share a beer in their seats without being shot, and have a majority of nationally qualified players plying their trade at the top of the Bundesliga. Result: World Champions. Superior to the ‘Premier’ League? Yeah, right. And look at how happy that made a whole country feel. Premier League ready? Hmmm, do we have to?!
