Top 5 - Favourite Chelsea Players (No. 4)

4) Ruud Gullit

Back in 1996 Chelsea were managed by Glenn Hoddle. In his 3 year tenure at the blues, the club never finished higher than 11th nor lower than 14th, practically the definition of mid-table obscurity.

Of course the inevitable glamour of Hoddle as a player, and a manager, couldn't help but raise the club's profile and the introduction of a new passing philosophy, plus the excitement of numerous cup runs, meant that long suffering fans finally had something to chant about.

Perhaps his most lasting legacy however, was the signing of the dread locked Dutch man. Gullit was a considerable gamble, uncertain as experts were over the state of his knees. But despite being perceived as a little over the hill, he was the first 'big name' to come to Chelsea and as a result, I was enthralled by him.

His laid back persona and the grace with which he played made him an instant hit with the fans. Everything he did seemed effortless and his range of passing, vision and control were still all present even if some of the dynamism had been left behind in Italy.

My lasting memory of Gullit was a home game against Manchester City. Dad and I had got tickets on the cheap as it was a re-arranged game played midweek. It hadn't been a particularly noteworthy contest until Gullit came on as a sub midway through the 2nd half.

Instantly, he was directing play from the midfield and suddenly Chelsea were a different team. Picking the ball up in Man City's half he looked up to his left seeking a potential through ball. Nothing on, he turned back to his right, evading the attentions of a Man City player with ease. Still nothing on, he didn't, as many would, look to lump the ball forward in hope but with great elegance, strode forward to the edge of the box unchallenged and struck a rasper into the top corner of the net.

It was a great goal but more importantly seemed to sum up Gullit's ability to control a game with endless poise.

Top 5 - Favourite Chelsea Players (No.5)

After a discussion last weekend about favourite football players, I felt moved to get my top 5 down in writing. I should emphasise that these are my 'favourite' players rather than 'best' players although inevitably there will be some overlap. Anyway enough prevaricating, here we go in reverse order starting with no.5....

5) Gavin Peacock

As a young Chelsea fan, yet to enjoy the wonders of supporting a successful team, Gavin Peacock was a ray of hope.

Long before the crap goatee and the questionable punditry, the 93/94 season saw Chelsea acclaimed as the only team to beat eventual champions Manchester United both home and away. Both scorelines were 1-0 and both times the scorer was Mr Peacock.

In those days, much like today, to beat Man U was an unquestionable highlight but in this particular year Chelsea also had the glamour of a cup run to get excited about.

Peacock was pretty much an ever present, scoring in every round including an excellent strike from a vintage Tony Cascarino flick on in the semi-final against Luton Town. Manchester United awaited in the final and would famously clinch the double with a 4-0 thrashing, including two Eric Cantona penalties. Even Brian McClair got on the score sheet.

Obviously, I was devastated. I didn't expect us to win but those league results had given me hope. I certainly never expected that kind of humilation. However, there is one moment I always remember with fondness - at 0-0 early in the first half, Peacock unleashed a volley from outside of the box. It looped and arced over a surprised Schmeichel and for all the world I thought it was in. It crashed back off the top of the bar and was the last time the blues were to threaten.

It was an amazing volley and I'll always, until my dieing day, wonder what might have been had it gone in. I guess we probably would have lost 4-1 instead!

Harbouring sentiment

Last weekend, Laura and I travelled up to Market Harbourough for the wedding of our good friends Gareth and Charlotte. It was a wonderful day and all the more special for me as it was the first time any of my close friends had decided to tie the knot.

I'm afraid I'm going to get a little sentimental now, (yet, if a wedding's not an appropriate time for emotion, I don't know when is) but it reminded both of us how very lucky we were, not only to have each other, but also so many great friends, especially in a relatively far away place (I know the midlands isn't exactly Timbuktu but neither is it on our doorstep).

After eating, drinking and making merry on the day itself, we then had Sunday morning to ourselves, deciding to visit nearby Foxton Locks. Here the Grand Union Canal climbs Foxton Hill via an historic staircase of locks and in the morning sunshine it was fantastically picturesque.

We sat and took in the beautiful view and I was moved to comment that the landscape wouldn't have differed an iota were we looking at it some 100 years ago. All rolling hills of green, there was not a road, electricity pylon or modern building in site.

A glimpse of permanence in an ever changing world, somehow it seemed an appropriate metaphor. Life is constantly in flux, our world forever in chaos, yet still, 'these three remain...faith, hope and love'.

I warned you I was going to get sentimental.

Album Review: Grace/Wastelands - Peter Doherty

****
Pete(r) Doherty the artist has been with us for some time now. Since 2002 he's accounted for a body of work consisting of two Libertines albums and two Babyshambles albums plus an EP.

2009 brings us his first solo release which amounts to a total of 5 albums and an EP in 7 years - not bad by todays standards and contrary to the oft portrayed wastrel image that the tabloids are so overly keen to cultivate.

'Grace/Wastelands' sees Doherty reunited with 'Shotters Nation' producer Stephen Street, widely credited for being the first to coherently produce this ramshackle group of tearaways, he knocks previous knob twiddler, 'deaf' Mick Jones', efforts into a cocked hat.

Again here, it appears Street has tamed the beast and, along with Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, skillfully steered the good ship Albion away from the perilous rocks. Many of these songs have been around in one form or another for some time but, whereas I chastised Morrissey for including pre-released material on his latest album, at least here we are treated to the full realisation of previously scratchy, slip shod outakes, as intimate and charming as they were. Coxon's understated guitar work and Street's ephereal production allow the melody and the poetry of Doherty's songs to shine through perhaps like never before.

'Arcady' begins by skipping jauntily through a beat poet lyric and lead single 'Last of the English Roses', although repeating overplayed sentiments, includes some crafty lines as in the couplet, "Oh in '93/She could charm the bees knees of the bee."

'1939 Returning', benefits greatly from this haunting ambience as "urchins grey with dust" peer out at us from wartime memories of an ageing ex-evacuee. Doherty still has the ability to gleen beauty from the commonplace and tragic. To compare his voice to Morrissey, as one critic has, is tantamount to blasphemy but it's true that his aching lilt seems to have found a new delicacy here. Perhaps nowhere more so than on 'A Little Death Around the Eyes', possibly the oldest song included but breathed new life into in its current conception.

There are moments when you feel things may go a little ary, as when Pete personifies the elements on 'I'm the Rain' or presents us 'Sweet By and By', which never fails to evoke an image of Pete the lounge lizard, swaggering through a smoky jazz club. These hiccups negotiated, we are then treated to 'Broken Love Song' and 'New Love Grows on Trees' the latter disappointingly not included on 'Shotters Nation' after it emerged from the 'Stookie and Jim - Bumfest' session of demos.

This isn't the glorious magnum opus that everyone unrealistically craves (Doherty's never put his name to anything flawless yet) but it is a joyous and infectious listen and, just perhaps, his most realised work since those halcyon Libertines days, ironically when most of this material was written. You do wonder therefore, how much longer he can plunder the past for glories. In the meantime, 'Grace/Wastelands' is a welcome and refreshing display of the errant troubadours undoubted talents.

From Russell with love

In light of my blog yesterday, I just had to post this piece from Russell Brand who was actually at the demonstrations outside the Bank of England.

Despite having next to nothing in common with the man, I somehow know how he feels.

russellbrand.tv - Revolution

Enjoy!

Summit of all fears

Watching the protests as they unfold on BBC News coverage throughout the day, a day in which I was told to work from home to avoid any potential threat, I can't help but feel a strange mix of emotions.

It's unfortunate that the G20 summit has, due to the nature of recent events, had to focus on the financial climate rather than the environmental one, which is, after all, still the greatest threat to our current way of life.

I never know how I feel about these mass protests. I always stand by people's right to protest and it's essential the masses are allowed to voice their opinion. Indeed, the spirit of revolution still flickers in a small, dark corner of my soul.

I was inspired by the international protests of hundreds of thousands who marched against, what was then, the proposed war in Iraq. It was fantastic to see so many unite in their desire to avoid an unjust war or, at the very least, a war being spun to us on unjust motives.

It didn't work of course as history will attest and many argue these demonstrations never achieve the desired outcome. Well this may be true but as R.P. McMurphy said in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest', "At least I tried Goddamit, at least I did that much."

If the current protest passes peacefully with a sense of carnival it will be a joyous day of revelry but, of course, there will be those who have alterior motives which can never be justified.

When you see individual protesters interviewed on the streets, they are almost uniformly unable to articulate their reasons for taking part in the protest at all. They are far more intent on taking their rage out on the police, the banks and the establishment in the wider, more general sense - evidenced perhaps by the everyday City worker being advised to dress down for fear of being targetted.

If there is so much as a mere skuffle today it will ironically blunt the impact of the message. The media, salivating for a dramatic story to tell, will highlight any clashes and thus undermine the validity of the protests.

Despite my misgivings, I envy them all. Cosy as I am in my upper working class/lower middle-class bubble, I've too much to lose from partaking in the glorious rebellion being shown - In a way, I regret that.

However, does all this detract from the actual issue? The fact is we are relying, as a global community, on the progress of the G20 summit tomorrow. We need more transparency in banking procedures, we need high risk lending to be regulated more fully, all with the ultimate aim of avoiding a repeat of the current problems in years to come.

This is the real story and discussions taking place between world leaders should be hogging the limelight. I fear it'll be a smashed window at a branch of RBS with the column inches instead.

Film Review - The Damned United

*****Films about football are rarely successful. Often they are beset by a lack of realism, uber cliched plot lines or merely the appearance of Sylvester Stallone. Thankfully, much like the character it portrays, this film revels in breaking the mould.

As in the book, the movie follows legendary football manager Brian Clough's 44 days in charge of Leeds United whilst interspersing the narrative with that of his previous tenure at Derby County Football Club. There, in partnership with assistant Peter Taylor, he would take a small club in a provincial town from the bottom of the 2nd Division to the 1st Division Championship.

In the 'present' we join him on his first day in the top job with Leeds, a side already champions and still loyal to their long standing and recently departed manager Don Revie. Needless to say, they are less than enamoured with the outspoken new man intent on turning the team from what, in his eyes, is a dirty, play acting, cheating group, into a disciplined side who play fair and appreciate the beautiful game as Clough admirably believes it is meant to be played.

That's the historical background then, but in fact the genius of this film, is that 'in the background' is exactly where the football remains.

We are treated instead to the highs and lows of the pairs relationship, each of whom bring their own skills to the table - Taylor with a hawk-eye for the right kind of player and Clough with an exceptional man management ability.

More than the game itself, we gain an insight into the ego's, the mentality and psychology of success, not just in football but in any industry where winning is everything. The fine line between self-belief and arrogance, ambition and obsession, is dealt with artfully whilst still being heart warming and at times very funny.

Michael Sheen masters the essence of Clough with ease. The glint in his eye, the wry grin and the fierce rivalry with his nemesis Don Revie, but also the self-doubt especially when over-hearing the players criticism outside the dressing room door after another Leeds defeat.

Timothy Spall as Peter Taylor is the consummate safe pair of hands. Lovable and long suffering, his role is essential in providing a moral conscience and he alone convinces Clough, the most single minded and stubborn of characters, to see the error of his ways. The final scene where the two are reunited is touching, if unlikely to based in reality.

Hold the back page then, this is a football film that works! Not by attempting to capture the thrill of watching a fantastic goal scored, which could never be enjoyed in film as in life, but by focusing on the humanity of sport, the excitement of success against the odds and the escape that the glory of victory can bring.

For all of these joys we should certainly show gratitude to the late, great, Brian Howard Clough.