rockinjoeco · 5 years ago
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Has Coronavirus Brought Out the Tory Contemptous?
No matter where you are in the world, it’s hard to get away from the subject of Coronavirus. The new chancellor Rishi Sunak stated at the budget meeting that £30bn will be made available to tackle the virus. I’m sure conservatives everywhere will be declaring Mr. Sunak a hero, but it shouldn’t get away from the damage caused from the government over the past 10 years, such as 130,000 people dying through Tory austerity and the NHS being badly underfunded and understaffed at the expense of delivering Brexit. Even to this day, I’m still trying to work out the advantages of Brexit. Yes, there may be valid reasons as to why people voted to leave the EU, but do the arguments for Brexit outweigh the arguments against Brexit? Probably not. Has the damage caused by the Conservative party after a decade in government contributed to the coronavirus cases? Especially considering the perilous state of the NHS and those in poverty being made more vulnerable to the virus.
When Boris Johnson addressed the nation, it seemed reminiscent to the classic British slogan ‘keep calm and carry on’, which you’ll find many variations of that saying on many clothes and other merchandise. The slogan was actually from a motivational poster back in 1939 following the outbreak of World War II to keep up the morale of the British people. Boris’ speech, however, wasn’t as morale boosting as he had hoped, especially as there are many who are still dismayed at Brexit. On the Jeremy Vine show back in January, Remain activist Femi Oluwole explained to Conservative MP Mark Francois about the risks regarding the NHS surrounding Brexit. Oluwole stated to Francois that The Royal College of Nursing, The Royal College of GPs, The Royal College of Radiologists, The Royal College of Midwives and the British Medical Association (which represents over 140,000 medical professionals) all warned that Brexit could have a negative impact on healthcare, but Francois replied with; “That’s just an opinion!” And if that wasn’t cringeworthy enough to be an epic facepalm moment, he then proceeded to say; “Let’s try it!” Almost as if he was going to try a demo of a computer game or a 30-day trial on Netflix that you can cancel at any time. Brexit is no free trial, however. It is an investment of over £130bn which has particularly put the future of the NHS at stake. Mark Francois also had a heated argument with author and Remain campaigner Terry Christian, labelling Christian as “a living embodiment of why people voted to leave the EU.” This was after Christian labelled those who voted for Brexit ‘pitiable saps’ and ‘uneducated cretins’. Those scathing assessments may seem ignorant at first, but given what is happening right now due to the virus, you can’t help but feel that Christian may have had a point. The risks of leaving the EU were very well-documented and clear for all to see. Those who are opposed to Brexit had predicted a doomsday scenario, and the emergence of the coronavirus may make that prophecy become a tragic, devastating reality.
When it comes to the less fortunate, it is safe to say that the Conservative party aren’t the most compassionate political party in government. This reputation that Tory party are contemptuous is due to the more than 130,000 deaths, the rise of homelessness in the UK which has killed over 700 people each year and the millions of children who are living in poverty. On top of all that, cuts have been made from a number of public services, such as reduced funding in the NHS and in the police department, which helped spark a sharp rise in knife crime across the UK. Amnesty International produced a damning report on UK poverty last October, and you would’ve thought that would make people think twice about voting for the Conservative party during the last election. That was not the case, however, and that has caused more people to become more vulnerable, so you could argue that in the wake of the coronavirus, that has produced or exasperated any underlying health conditions that people have, making them suffer severe damage and even death by the coronavirus. The budget meeting announced an end to austerity, despite them last January appearing to abandon their pledge to end austerity by proposing more cuts, but it sadly doesn’t bring back those who have suffered in the hands of austerity. Jeremy Corbyn labelled the budget meeting an ‘admission of failure’ and has made Britain in a worse position to deal with the coronavirus. It showed that austerity and the cuts that were made completely pointless and the lives that were lost were totally unnecessary, showing utter contempt to those that have suffered from austerity and the cuts that were made. The astronomical amount that had been spent on Brexit also showed utter disrespect too.
On the Channel 4 News, NHS neurologist Dr. Jenny Vaughan warned that medical staff will be preparing to literally sacrifice their lives as they treat people with coronavirus. Vaughan said; “We will lose our colleagues; we will be burying our colleagues. We know that has happened in China and we know that has happened in Italy, but let’s make no mistake about this. The medical frontline is ready, willing and able to try and help deal with this pandemic. But we must have faster testing, more equipment and we must have the proper staffing to try and help us deal with this.” This grave interview was a tremendous display of courage from Vaughan and the staff should get nothing but praise for their noble deed. Not many people in the world would have the courage to do what they are about to do. It just makes you disgusted with how the government have treated the NHS in recent years, having struggled to cope with increasing demands and higher costs. In the financial year of 2015/16, the underlying deficit was over £3bn. This makes grave reading the wake of the coronavirus. The future of the NHS was a huge talking point as well as Brexit in the last general election in December, especially as there was speculation that Boris Johnson would sell and privatise the NHS. What’s also disgusting is the abuse of NHS staff, particularly racist abuse. Last month on Question Time, an audience member angrily said that the UK should completely close the borders and claimed that immigrants were costing public services too much money, and cited that some of the budget for the NHS were being wasted on translators for NHS workers who couldn’t speak English as their first language. It was revealed days later that the audience member was an ardent supporter of English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson, who had recently been accused of making false allegations about a teenage Syrian refugee which had led to the teenager and his family to be threatened by far-right activists. Robinson has also been accused of having racist incentive to do so and subject the poor teenager to such vile abuse. It’s easy to say that those who voted Brexit are racist and as I mentioned earlier, people may have had their valid reasons for doing so, but the majority of so-called Brexiteers are known to be racist (eg. Tommy Robinson, Katie Hopkins) and racism and discrimination has risen in the UK since the first Brexit referendum back in 2016. Hence why many people will have that assumption about those who voted to leave the EU. For the incredible sacrifice that the NHS staff are making in this moment of time, the foreign doctors, nurses and other members of staff there don’t owe us anything, it is us that owes them our respect and our gratitude.
The way the government has handled the pandemic has been nothing short of farcical. While other countries have taken strong action against the virus by going in lockdown, closing down schools, shops, restaurants and many public places, however on top of the variation of the ‘keep calm and carry on’ phrase as I mentioned earlier, Boris Johnson refused to close down public spaces and just adviced everyone to wash their hands while singing the happy birthday song. There have been 21 coronavirus fatalities so far in the UK, and you hope that this figure doesn’t increase. However, my faith in this government, as well as a lot of other people’s, is rather lacking in this moment in time and the laughable yet controversial ‘herd immunity’ plan, which is to deliberately infect 60% of the UK population and then for them to become immune as a result. Herd immunity is a phrase used when children have been vaccinated from a disease, but there is no vaccination for coronavirus, making this strategy such an alarming plan to tackle this pandemic, especially as it could result with masses of lives being lost and the plan not working. The Premier League’s handling of the current situation has too been farcical, when on Thursday night they announced that the next set of fixtures will go ahead as planned, despite coronavirus being labelled a pandemic by the World Health Organisation and the Arsenal squad self isolating after coming in contact with Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis who did test positive for coronavirus. However, moments after the announcement from the Premier League, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Chelsea winger tested positive for coronavirus, and then the Premier League followed suit from other major European leagues and announced the following day that the Premier League and the EFL will be suspended until at least April. There is talk that the season may be scrapped and everyone starts again the following season, providing the situation involving coronavirus doesn’t get any more dire than it currently is.
Despite my criticisms of the government, I am not for one minute blaming the virus on Boris Johnson, the Tories or leaving the EU. If we had stayed in the EU, it’s likely that the virus would still have happened anyway. However, the tories and Brexit has left the NHS in a vulnerable position in the wake of this pandemic, hence why there is a doomsday tone to what’s happening in the world right now. The media have certainly contributed to the way we’re reflecting on the situation, by sensationalising the issue just like they did during the swine flu pandemic back in 2009, which isn’t helping anyone’s wellbeing in all honesty. What we must do now is take the necessary precautions, like washing hands and keeping up our hygiene, and be aware of what the symptoms are, however mild they may be. If you need to self-isolate for instance, make sure you do so. I won’t end this blog post with a grave note, especially as someone who got through the bird flu and swine flu pandemics, but it’s important that we know the facts and do read the NHS website to understand coronavirus. I’m confident that it won’t be the doomsday scenario that everyone is fearing, especially as the devastating it’s had in other countries like China and Italy. Many people may label me a ‘remoaner’ and a ‘sore loser’ for being against Brexit, but when life and death is an issue, this is not a game. It’s a serious issue and anyone would be forgiven for thinking that the campaign was just spreading nationalist, far-right propaganda and throwing out slogans and buzzwords to appeal to the small-minded of Britons. There is nothing Britain could’ve done to prevent coronavirus, but there was a lot that could’ve been done in the way that this country was prepared for the pandemic and the way that it’s been handled in this present moment in time. Even after coronavirus is stopped, my views of the government and Brexit will not change. Boris Johnson has had a reputation of making misogynist and racist remarks and he famously hid in a fridge from a media interview, went on holiday during a looming war threat from Iran and scheduled an urgent emergency meeting about coronavirus for three days time. Therefore you can forgive myself and others for believing that Boris Johnson may not be able to handle any form of crisis, let alone a pandemic. Even his own voters are starting to doubt him, but many of us knew that he was never up to being prime minister, and also that the Tories should not be in government. They say that democracy won the election, but the reality is that sheer ignorance and complete idiocy won the election. We can now see that Brexit is having a more devastating impact than many would have hoped for, and we can see that couldn’t be any good reason for spending over £130bn to leave the EU. It seemed that austerity, poverty, cuts, underfunding the NHS and now Brexit was all for no other reason than greed.
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rockinjoeco · 5 years ago
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Is Jose Mourinho special no more?
It’s still a shock to so many people that Mauricio Pochettino was sacked as Tottenham Hotspur manager last November, particularly after finishing in the Champions League places four years in a row, developing home-grown talent like Harry Kane and getting to the Champions League final last season. His departure brought shock and dismay to many Tottenham fans, even though the club swiftly appointed serial winner Jose Mourinho as Pochettino’s replacement. Mourinho’s reign as Spurs’ manager so far hasn’t been smooth, having been knocked out of the FA Cup to Norwich, who are currently bottom of the Premier League, and have been knocked out of the Champions League by RB Leipzig. Tottenham are currently 8th in the league, 7 points behind fourth-placed Chelsea. Is the so-called ‘special one’ no longer special?
It has now been 12 years since Spurs last won a trophy, after winning the League Cup under Juande Ramos. When Pochettino was brought in as Tottenham manager back in the summer of 2014, becoming their 10th manager in 12 years, Tottenham had a very disjointed squad. The summer before, they spent over £100m on new players (Spurs did make a profit of over £6m that season thanks to the world-record sale of star player Gareth Bale to Real Madrid) and apart from Christian Eriksen, none of them had made the desired impact over the 2013-14 season. The Argentine manager was tasked with helping Spurs to Champions League football, which had been their for nearly 10 years and only achieved it once during that time. Pochettino earned plaudits for his previous job at Southampton, when he was controversially hired in January 2013, and produced great football as well as helping the homegrown talent there (namely Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Jay Rodriguez) earn their first caps for England. Although Pochettino didn’t win any trophies at Spurs, his tenure there will be remembered fondly by Spurs supporters and the way he took a disjointed Tottenham team from being a Europa League team to a Champions League team has seen Pochettino being linked with management roles at Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester United.
You would’ve thought that if Tottenham wanted to start winning trophies again, surely there would be nobody better to help them do that than Jose Mourinho, who has won three Premier League titles in two spells at Chelsea and has won the Champions League twice. Even though his previous job at Manchester United brought a mixed verdict, he still managed to help them win the League Cup and Europa League in his first season. What was evident during his second spell at Chelsea, however, was his so-called ‘third season syndrome’. After he won Chelsea the league title, he become the first Chelsea manager during the Abramovich era to be awarded with a contract extension. Since then, Chelsea’s results have dipped badly, his media interviews had been questionable, including constant referee-blaming and a seven-minute rant after the home defeat against Southampton, and that infamous row with club doctor Eva Caneiro during the opening day draw against Swansea. What also came under scrutiny during that period was the style of football Chelsea were playing under Mourinho and his youth policy, having seen former young prospects Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku establish themselves as world class talents elsewhere in the Premier League. Even though Mourinho has enjoyed plenty of success elsewhere prior to his return to Chelsea, it seemed that when he signed that new contract with them in the summer of 2015 that this would be where he would really build a dynasty at a club, as he has never been manager at a club for more than three years. However, seeing his misjudgement when it comes to youth suggests that he is a manager for the short-term and not as a long-term option, unlike the manager he had idolised; Sir Alex Ferguson.
If Jose Mourinho had been appointed as Tottenham manager in the summer of 2014 rather than back in last November, there would be a wave of excitement amongst the Spurs faithful. Now considering how great a job that Mauricio Pochettino had done, despite not winning anything, the mood is still one of scepticism, particularly given Mourinho’s reluctance to give youth a chance in the team, something of which that Pochettino was lauded for, and the style of football that Mourinho’s teams tend to play. Prior to Mourinho’s appointment, there were problems at Tottenham, such as not selling Christian Eriksen last summer when he had just a year left on his contract and the Danish international didn’t want to extend his contract. That would’ve been an opportunity to remove anybody who didn’t really want to be part of the team and get a suitable replacement in. The decision to sell Kieran Trippier to Atlético Madrid without getting a replacement was also questionable, as Serge Aurier is very erratic at right-back and inconsistent to be a first-choice right-back for Spurs. Tottenham are also lacking strength in depth in attack, especially with back-up striker Fernando Llorente departing for Napoli last summer and with Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min out injured. With this now being the second season in succession that he’s suffered a serious injury, there are concerns that Harry Kane may be becoming injury prone, not just from a Spurs perspective, but from England’s point of view too. Spurs definitely should’ve eased the goalscoring burden on Harry Kane and Spurs should’ve bought a new striker in January.
We can debate about whether Jose Mourinho is still ‘the special one’ or not, but you can’t argue with his track record. Hypothetically, if Spurs won the league cup, would it be a greater achievement than reaching the final of the Champions League? Probably not, but it may be more important. Winning a trophy, any trophy, may just be the catalyst for this Spurs team to go on to achieve greater things. While it was exciting seeing this young Spurs team develop under Mauricio Pochettino, there was a fear of whether the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Eric Dier would one day leave Spurs for a more elite club who specialise in winning titles. With Mourinho at the helm, considering the track record he has in winning things, would that tempt these key players into staying at the club? Even if Mourinho didn’t play the attractive football that Pochettino played and if he doesn’t qualify for the Champions League this season? That’s a question that many will keep asking, but also think about this; could one trophy under Mourinho be a catalyst for greater things, or a consolation for his upcoming failures?
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rockinjoeco · 5 years ago
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The Case for Dean Henderson
This weekend saw yet another great performance from Dean Henderson for Sheffield United, making a huge contribution to their 1-0 victory over Norwich. Henderson’s latest clean sheet is his 10th of the season, making him have the joint-second most clean sheets of any goalkeeper in the Premier League this season, alongside Liverpool’s Alisson. Not only are there calls for Henderson, still yet to be capped in the main national team, to be in the England squad for Euro 2020 this summer, but for him to be England’s new starting goalkeeper.
Since the World Cup, Jordan Pickford’s performances have dropped and he hasn’t been able to build on his excellent performances from that World Cup. Last season, he ended up making less saves than the season before in his debut season for Everton and made more errors leading to goals, including in last minute of the Merseyside derby at Anfield, although he did make more clean sheets. This season, while Jordan Pickford has conceded 46 goals this season, Dean Henderson has conceded only 22. Out of any starting goalkeeper, only Alisson has conceded fewer goals. The other goalkeeper in contention for England is Burnley’s Nick Pope, who actually has the most clean sheets this season with 11. Pope has been capped twice by England and was part of the World Cup squad in Russia. Pope has made more saves this season with 89, compared to Henderson’s 70, although Henderson has a higher save success rate with 76.09%, compared to Pope’s 68.99%. Pope’s performances this season had prompted speculation that Chelsea may look to him as a possible replacement for Kepa Arrizabalaga, who has underperformed this season.
Dean Henderson’s performances this season has also seen many debate whether he should replace David De Gea at his parent club Manchester United this season. De Gea was seen as one of the world’s best goalkeepers a couple of years ago, but his decline in performances has brought up the debate whether he should still Man United’s starting goalkeeper next season, especially having seen Henderson’s performances out on loan. Even last season when he was on loan with Sheffield United in the Championship, he won the division’s golden glove award, finishing last season with 21 clean sheets that helped Sheffield United secure promotion to the Premier League. This season, Henderson has made more clean sheets, conceded less goals and has a better save success rate than De Gea, and rumours of a move to Real Madrid for De Gea have circulated once again. This time round, it would seem that De Gea is seen as replaceable and it seems that Henderson may be the man to take the number 1 jersey at Old Trafford.
At the age of 22, the future is very bright for Dean Henderson and if he is to be the new starting goalkeeper for England and Manchester United, the future could be bright for them too. If Man United choose to stick with De Gea next season, Henderson would certainly attract many suitors in the form of top clubs, with Chelsea also being linked with Henderson. His rise with Sheffield United has been phenomenal to watch, particularly seeing how he recovered after making an error in the defeat against Liverpool back in September. After the game, manager Chris Wilder said of Henderson; “If he wants to be a professional footballer, these things are going to happen, but if he wants to play for the top teams, he wants to play for England then he needs to do better.” Wilder’s ruthless assessment stated that Henderson had big ambitions to play at a higher level one day with England and with a big club like his parent club, and Henderson himself vowed to come back stronger. Wilder’s criticism seemed to have done wonders, as Henderson produced many impressive goalkeeping displays from then on and has played a huge part in Sheffield United’s rise up the league, putting them in contention for a European place. Like with any young player, it’s easy to get hyped up and start making comparisons to world class players past and present, but the way this season has shaped up for Dean Henderson, Jordan Pickford and David De Gea may have some serious competition on their hands for England and Manchester United respectively.
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rockinjoeco · 5 years ago
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The Stigma from the Media
In the wake of the tragic suicide of former Love Island presenter Caroline Flack, the topic of mental health has become more vital and sensitive than ever. It shouldn’t have to take a tragic suicide for people to start thinking about how they impact other people’s mental health, but it seems that’s where we are now. I could preach to people about thinking about mental health, etc, but it appears that in the wake of Brexit, those days where a majority of British people are kind appears to be over. If we are to tackle mental health stigma, then we need to get to quite possibly the key architect behind this stigma and influencing a toxic attitude on society; the media.
The media is a very powerful tool in our society and unfortunately it’s been proven so by influencing a poisonous culture on everyone. Is it any coincidence that dumbed down, exploitive outlets like tabloid newspapers are the most-read newspapers during a time when, as proven with Brexit and the election, that maybe a majority of the British public aren’t as intelligent as we’d like them to be. This isn’t an assessment I’ve made because an election result didn’t go the way I wanted. We all know about the problems caused by the Tory government, like many people being forced into poverty because of austerity and universal credit, how a knife crime epidemic started because of police cuts made by the government and we all know the billions of pounds wasted on Brexit, which I’m still yet to hear any logical reason as to why that’s a good idea, leaving the NHS to be underfunded. Yet the conservatives won the election by an overwhelming majority despite the hardship that they’ve caused for a lot of British people. Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour Party may not had been the formidable challenger to Boris Johnson as many would had liked, but Corbyn would have been more likely to fund the NHS and help those in poverty than Johnson. The theory is still that the media won Boris Johnson the election with a smear campaign against Corbyn, although the antisemitism allegations weren’t a complete fantasy. The media spouted propaganda to manipulate the public rather than being unbiased like any insightful journalist, and unfortunately too many people were gullible to believe some of the wild speculation they reported.
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decided to retire from royal duties, there was outrage amongst the public, but there were still people like myself who knew that the media treatment they had received was a major reason behind this. In the wake of Caroline Flack’s death, it’s a tragic summary of their brutal treatment of public figures and how it can seriously harm their mental health. The media relentlessly report on celebrities’ private lives, usually against their will, but for what reason? The private lives of celebrities isn’t exactly need-to-know information and doesn’t boast any insight into anything. It’s just a money-making scheme to sensationalise the most insignificant of events so the gullible and ignorant people can absorb themselves into. What we know now is the harm it does to the people that the news articles are about. Of course those in the media have branded Prince Harry and Meghan Markle selfish for stepping out of the media spotlight as an effort to excuse their abhorrent pursuit of them. They still make excuses for the car crash that killed Princess Diana in Paris back in 1997 and state that she was killed because the driver was intoxicated, but just before the crash, paparazzi were chasing the car that Diana was in and so it must be argued that the media had a part to play in the horrific car crash. The media are so powerful that they can get away with anything, even murder it seems.
We can debate about whether Love Island is a good tv show, and whether newspapers like The Sun, Daily Mirror and Daily Mail are good newspapers, but what must be talked about is whether or not they’re harmful. Let’s not forget that that two Love Island contestants, Sophie Gordon and Mike Thalassitis, also tragically took their own lives last year. Whether Love Island played any part in Caroline Flack’s suicide is up for debate, but surely the TV show should be under more intense scrutiny than ever, especially as questions about whether it damages someone’s mental health. Also last year, a guest on the Jeremy Kyle Show, Steve Dymond, took his own life and the show was cancelled as a result. For Love Island to not only continue, but add a winter series after two of their previous guests committed suicide raises a lot of questions and shows that ITV put ratings before the well-being of their participants. The media has now become more of a weapon, especially looking at Piers Morgan’s merciless vendetta against Meghan Markle and Jameela Jamil, all because he finds them irritating. Not because they’re criminals or because they’ve done any kind of wrongdoing. The phone hacking scandal by the News of the World demonstrates how certain media outlets have become weaponised to intrude public figures for the means of getting a story. Piers Morgan has frequently dismissed mental health awareness by stating that those who speak out are just ‘wallowing in self-pity’ and are ‘virtue-signalling berks’. If anybody else had tweeted that, they’d probably get in trouble at work, maybe even sacked. The fact that ITV haven’t punished Piers Morgan in any way shows contempt from the network as well as Morgan in regards to mental health and this is why there is still so much stigma around mental health. As someone with anxiety and depression, the media, especially ITV, is why I’ve suffered in silence for so many years.
Social media has also become more harmful than ever too. It has become a tool for users to harass and abuse people, especially celebrities. The cancel culture on social media is so brutal. Taylor Swift spoke out about how social media had impacted her when, following a public falling out with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, the hashtag #taylorswiftisover trended for days on Twitter and it was like being told to kill yourself and Twitter users were likening a human being to a TV show and they could just be killed off if they’re not how the public wants them to be like. Meghan Markle has also been victim of savage abuse on social media, as she admitted on ITV last September, and Lily Allen quit Twitter days after the General Election as she said that Twitter ‘gives a voice to the far-right’ and that it is used to ‘spread disinformation and lies’. When celebrities give their political opinion on twitter or if a news story has that sort of thing, the comments on twitter can contain people saying things like ‘stop talking’ or ‘stick to acting’, which is killing democracy in our country. Are celebrities not entitled to an opinion? Why are they less allowed to have their say than any non-famous person on social media? Nobody has to agree with them, but they have the right to an opinion, just like we are.
ITV has always been a poisonous institution, as any company which keeps Piers Morgan in a job would prove to be. Caroline Flack was forced to resign from Love Island following her assault charge on her boyfriend Lewis Burton, but many have pointed out that Ant McPartlin was allowed to keep his job at ITV when he was convicted of drink-driving, arguably a more serious offense than the one that Caroline was charged with. Because of McPartlin’s popularity, you could say that he is untouchable and can get away with almost anything, even if he did cause death by dangerous driving, ITV will still keep him on because he generates ratings, and that’s what comes first with ITV. The moment when Philip Schofield came out as gay on This Morning was a heartwarming moment and was seen as brave and inspiring to express your sexuality in the way Schofield did. Those inspiring moments are too few on ITV, especially looking at the suicides of their participants. Something at that company is wrong and their mental health campaigns seem redundant now. ITV care so much about ratings that it wouldn’t surprise me if they announced an autumn and spring series in addition to Love Island.
Caroline Flack said back in December; ‘if you’re going to be anything, be kind’. It shouldn’t have to take a tragic suicide for people to start being kind, but Britain has become a less tolerant and more crueller country than ever, especially in the wake of Brexit. People are so quick to pounce whenever a celebrity makes any kind of mistake, like all human beings do, and berate them in the most brutal way possible. While it is important to be kind, we still have to be brutally honest on important matters like mental health and we must get to the source of where it stems from; media corporations like tabloid newspapers and ITV. I, like many other people, hope that action is taken against the media for all the harm that they have caused people, because the media have too much blood on their hands.
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rockinjoeco · 5 years ago
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#WhitePrivelage - A trend or a concern?
Following up on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s decision to quit the royal family, the subject of racism has come into the equation in relation to the media’s treatment of Meghan Markle. A buzzfeed article emerged comparing the media’s treatment of Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, prompting a debate as to whether there’s a subconscious racial bias at work from the UK press. Many Twitter users will have noticed the hashtag #whiteprivilege trending following up on an ITV interview featuring Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, where she discussed the press treatment of Meghan Markle and whether there was a racist agenda against her. She also brought up the concept of white privilege, where white people are considered to be more privileged in the sense that they won’t be judged by the colour of their skin as much as those from another racial background. In my blog post, I stated that the media’s treatment of Meghan Markle and members of the royal family has been appalling and I can’t blame Meghan Markle for deciding to move to Canada. Looking at the buzzfeed article, it is certainly valid to debate whether there is a racist agenda against Meghan Markle, but the debate of whether racism is still rife amongst British society is one that has been in the making for a long time.
Racism is a topic that prompts many heated arguments from many people, because it is a very sensitive, serious issue. Unfortunately, it has been present in many different aspects of our society and racism has occurred whether it’s blatant sluts or vulgar subtlety to disguise any racist agenda with apparent insight. I am absolutely disgusted by racism as much as any other member of a civilised society, but as a white person myself, it’s hard for me to speak up against it as many would argue that I am unqualified to do so because, being white, I’ve never experienced racism firsthand. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have empathy for those who do suffer from it, and I am not blind to see that it still exists in society today. The topic of white privilege seemed to be interpreted as some kind in contest on Twitter to see who is more or less privileged than who, when actually it was made just to spread awareness. In fact, some have argued that the concept of white privilege is actually racist towards white people, as brought up by actor Laurence Fox on Question Time last night. He accused an audience member of racism for calling him a ‘white privileged male’ during a discussion of the media treatment of Meghan Markle, and Fox then responded by saying ‘I can't help what I am, I was born like this, it's an immutable characteristic. So to call me a white privileged male is to be racist. You're being racist.’ This sparked a large amount of backlash on social media. Whatever you make of Fox’s comments, it does beggar the question; how does a white person approach a discussion about racism? Nobody could ever do the discourtesy of downplaying the trauma that a victim of racist abuse goes through, and I most certainly wouldn’t. I first learnt about racism in year 7 history when I learnt about slavery and how black people were slaves in the 18th and 19th century. It was sickening to learn that people were treated this way because of the colour of their skin. It also sickens me that racism still exists today.
After the general election result where the conservatives won by such a wide majority, many argued that the result was driven by an increase of racism in our society, particularly as Brexit was a factor in the election. Since the first referendum back in 2016, incidents involving racism has increased and now there are more reports of racism than there had been before. Brexit has arguably brought out the worst of human society and while it’s easy to say that those who voted for Brexit are racist, I’ve learnt in life that there are people who have different needs and things that are important to them. We live in a free country where people can vote for whoever they choose, and to condemn them for voting for a certain party would be killing democracy. However, I haven’t heard a significant reason as to why leaving the EU would be a good idea. It seemed to me that the arguments in favour of Brexit were in the form of slogans rather than actually being informative. Having seen the billions of pounds being spent on trying to make Brexit happen for over three years, you can’t help but feel that money would’ve been better spent on an underfunded NHS and helping reduce homelessness and poverty in the UK. As many will know, Boris Johnson has been accused of racism many times, and he also once write a racist novel back in 2004 called seventy two virgins, which featured Arabs who had been described as having a hooked nose and slanted eyes and Jews that controlled the media, sparking outrage over its racist stereotypes.
Racism has also been prominent in the English football this season, as racist chanting has been heard during games such as Man City v Man United and Tottenham v Chelsea. Raheem Sterling was a victim of racist abuse last season, and he said that sections of the media were responsible for fuelling racism, comparing Daily Mail headlines about young Man City players Phil Foden and Tosin Adarabioyo when they bought a new house. When Phil Foden bought a house, the headline read ‘Foden buys new £2m home for his mum’, but as for Adarabioyo, the headline read ‘Young Manchester City footballer, 20, on £25,000 a week splashes out on market for £2.25million despite having never started a Premier League match’. Just like with the comparisons of Daily Mail headlines regarding Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, this has aroused suspicion of uncscious racist bias from the Daily Mail. Sterling posted it up on Instagram and has called for the media to give all players an equal chance, and then went on to receive praise and admiration for speaking out against racism. Earlier this season, an FA Cup game between Haringey and Yeovil was abandoned because of racism from fans, bottle throwing and spitting and the players marched off the pitch as a result. This happened not long after the Bulgaria vs England game when England players were subjected to horrific racist abuse from the Bulgaria fans. Prior to the game, England players had threatened to walk off the pitch if they received any racist abuse from the Bulgaria fans. During the game however, despite the match being temporarily stopped because of the abuse, the players bravely decided to continue the game and England went on to win 6-0. There is a three-step protocol from UEFA when there is abhorrent racist abuse at football matches. It’s first step is ‘Stop the match and instruct the stadium authorities to read out an announcement, calling upon the spectators to stop the discriminatory behaviour.’ The second step is ‘If this announcement does not have the desired effect, make another announcement, suspend the match and send the players to their dressing rooms for a specific period.’ The final step is ‘After consultation, abandon the match if the discriminatory behaviour still does not cease or breaks out again.’
There has also been a diversity row in the entertainment industry too, with the BAFTA and Oscar nominations listing prominently white and male nominees. There was a similar row when the Oscar nominations were announced back in 2016. This brings out the argument that whether the awards committee made the nominations out of genuine merit or from an unconscious bias. Stephen King said on twitter that he would ‘never consider diversity in matters of art’. This caused huge controversy with his followers and seemed to undermine the struggle that minorities go through when trying to get into the arts. I cannot say for sure the list of nominations this year had a racist or sexist agenda or not, but I can understand the debate about it. There was a documentary called ‘The Problem with Apu’, which explores the controversy of the Indian character Apu from The Simpsons. The documentary writer Hari Kondabolu talks about how he first idolised Apu on The Simpson’s because he was a main Indian character on a popular worldwide TV show, but then as he got older he started seeing problems with the way the character was represented and perceived the characterisation of Apu to be racist. This then brings up whether stereotyping in comedy is considered racist, particularly noting that Apu is voiced by American actor Hank Azaria. In the sense that white privilege can blind white people from seeing potential racism, our enjoyment of seeing Apu in the Simpsons has arguably blinded fans like myself from seeing that actually Apu is a racist representation of Asian people, particularly as this controversy was brought up 25 years after the character first appeared in The Simpsons. Amidst the criticism of Apu and the fact he is voiced by a white actor, nobody had mentioned the fact that the character of Cleveland Brown, a black character on Family Guy, is voiced by a white actor. Another example of stereotyping in comedy is in the characterisation of Manuel from Fawlty Towers, who is portrayed by the late English actor Andrew Sachs. Manuel is portrayed as a hapless Spanish waiter who is often abused by main character Basil Fawlty for his incompetence. Having found Manuel hilarious in Fawlty Towers, am I now guilty of laughing at racism? Has my apparent white privilege blinded me from seeing that this use of stereotyping could be considered offensive?
Racism is not the only form of discrimination existing in our society. There have been recent cases of antisemitism in Britain, such as a Jewish father and son being abused on the London Underground back in November and antisemitic graffiti being smeared onto a synagogue in London. The Labour Party were investigated for racism due to allegations of antisemitism. That is only the second time a political party in the UK had been investigated for racism, and the other time that happened was for a party of actual nazis. Departing labour leader Jeremy corbyn had been accused of antisemitism after endorsing an antisemitic book and his association with hate preacher Sheikh Raed Salah, who once claimed that Israelis bake bread out of their children’s blood. Although Jeremy Corbyn had been victim of a smear campaign by the media before, being Jewish myself, I do take these allegations seriously, as have many members of the Jewish community. Even though Corbyn has been smeared before and even though he has a noble background of campaigning against racism and volunteering at homeless shelters, but that shouldn’t clear him of any kind of wrongdoing. Those who speak of right-wing propaganda and how powerful the media establishment is forget that departing Lib Dem’s leader Jo Swinson was equally smeared and ridiculed by the media too, and was also excluded from the first leaders debate on ITV, prompting me to believe there was a hidden misogynist agenda from the broadcaster. Yes, I know that Swinson’s voting record wasn’t perfect during the coalition, especially when she voted If they had argued that another party leader was a victim of right-wing propaganda too, then maybe I would have believed in that concept. Even though some media outlets seemed to be more biased towards Boris Johnson, I didn’t believe that there was a conspiracy against Corbyn within the media, as I thought some people seemed to confuse criticism for propaganda and smears. Had they mentioned the bad coverage Jo Swinson received from the media, then they might have had a case.
Homophobia is also sadly an issue in our society, as demonstrated with attack victim Charlie Graham showing images of the injuries she sustained from an attack due to her sexuality. She told Sky News about how she was assaulted and the injuries that she sustained. Last summer, a horrific attack on a lesbian couple happened on a London bus which saw four teenagers sentenced last month. The image of the injuries sustained by the couple was one of the most devastating images of 2019, showing how this type of discrimination exists and the horrific effects of it. Sexism is another issue, with the prominence of the #MeToo movement becoming a trend back in 2017 following the sexual harassment case against Harvey Weinstein. The movement actually began in 2006 by Tarana Burke, who was a victim of sexual harassment herself, but it was in 2017 when it became a hashtag to promote feminism and hopefully end sexual harassment. Pay gaps in the workplace have also underlined the problems with discrimination. 78% of major companies in Britain have male employees being paid more than their female colleagues working at a similar level, despite the Equal Pay Act 1970. There is a similar issue with disabled employees too, with Tory MP Sally-Ann Hart stating during her election campaign last month that disabled people should be paid less than the minimum wage as they wouldn’t understand money. As a disabled person myself, it is extremely degrading to hear that people like myself apparently don’t have the right to be paid the fair amount like other employees.
There are many forms of discrimination, so along with white privilege, there are many different types of privileges. While I personally don’t believe that the criticism of Meghan Markle is racist, I can understand the debate. I would also say that while I understand the concept of white privilege, an awareness campaign which has unfortunately been confused for an attack on white people, I think Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu missed an opportunity to really cement her point by showing the comparisons in headlines of Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle from the Daily Mail and also the comparisons in headlines of those two young Man City footballers too, which shows that the Daily Mail have been guilty of unconscious racial bias before. Brexit has brought on more hate than before and claims that UK is a tolerant country seems to be completely laughable now, and events like the Notting Hull carnival which celebrate diversity seems to be rendered redundant and don’t really make much sense knowing what Brexit has made the UK become. Whether or not the criticism of Meghan Markle is racist, it is completely pointless and tabloid journalism (and also Piers Morgan) only speaks to the ignorant, uneducated population of Great Britain. The sooner this brand of journalism is killed off, the better. It is of no surprise that the majority of those who are against Meghan Markle and claim that criticism of her isn’t racist have voted for Boris Johnson and Brexit, which clearly states their stance on racism. I’m not going to compare which form of discrimination is worse, because ALL forms of discrimination are completely wrong and I, along with other good human beings, hope to see the end of discrimination once and for all.
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rockinjoeco · 5 years ago
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NEWS ALERT: TWO CONSENTING ADULTS ARE LIVING THEIR LIVES
In a world where there are devastating bushfires in Australia, a murderer is set to be released from prison without ever disclosing the whereabouts of the victim’s body and the possibility that a Third World War might occur after the assassination of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani, it appears that people are more concerned and saddened by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s decision to step back as senior members of the royal family. I’m not someone who’s obsessed with the royal family and gets carried away with all the hype surrounding them, but I actually applaud that decision from the couple and I have more respect for them.
The way certain media outlets treats them, particularly Meghan Markle, is just vile and appalling. She had been vilified by the British media because she’s different from other members of the royal family, although some theorise that she’s treated with hostility because she’s of a mixed racial heritage. In the wake of their announcement, the media claim that Prince Harry has been manipulated and Markle was just seeking publicity. Many even claimed that Princess Diana would’ve been furious at their decision to quit the public life. If Princess Diana was to be furious with Prince Harry, then this would make the princess Diana award I won back in 2003 worthless. I don’t know for sure what the royals make of their decision, but this blog post isn’t about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and their private life. It’s more about the shambolic treatment they have received by the media and the way they report on the royals and other public figures which could potentially harm their wellbeing. I don’t even know what it is that the queen actually does, other than make a speech every Christmas. As far as I’m concerned, I believe that the royal family are a journalist’s plaything. They even stooped so low to invent wild conspiracy theories about Princess Diana’s tragic death in 1997, simply just to generate readership without any regard to the wellbeing of the royal family.
Piers Morgan is one of Meghan Markle’s biggest critics. According to his column in the Daily Mail, he claimed that he was friends with Markle but was discarded by her when she begun her relationship with Harry. If that is the case, then I actually won’t blame Markle. I’d actually applaud her for discarding him if anything. Piers Morgan is a glorified bully who oversaw the phone-hacking while editor of News of the World and the Daily Mirror and is seen as one of the main reasons why there is so much stigma around mental health. In his laughable column, he deemed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ‘spoiled brats’, but the only spoiled brat in this scenario is the author of the column himself. Prince Harry has founded a charity helping people in Lesotho and Meghan Markle was a global ambassador for World Vision, the world’s largest international children’s charity. What has Mr. Morgan himself done to ever earn his wealth? What positive contribution has he ever made to society? The fact that a man like Piers Morgan can earn lots of money from cold-blooded organisations from the Daily Mail and ITV for small-minded bigotry and showing contempt towards the mentally ill and other vulnerable people shows how broken this society is. Morgan also keeps bringing up Markle’s strained relationship with her dad and the fact that he wasn’t invited to her and Harry’s wedding. Whatever goes on between Meghan Markle and her dad is private and is not in the public’s interest. There is no law stating that every daughter MUST invite her dad to the wedding. This is just Piers Morgan’s pathetic attempt to make excuses as to why Meghan Markle should not have any association with the royal family. When Boris Johnson hid in a fridge to avoid an interview with Good Morning Britain, it was branded as an act of cowardice by the prime minister, but then again, I think anyone would happily hide in a sewer, a tank full of piranhas or even Hell to avoid this god-awful parasite. Most journalists care about reporting the truth on certain topics around the world and getting their voices heard in the hope that it will inform and inspire others. Piers Morgan, however, only cares about one thing; notoriety.
It remains to be seen where the royal family go from here and whether Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be stripped of their royal titles, but then that beggars the question; what exactly is the royal family? Is it, as the title suggests, a family of people who so happen to be royal in some way or is it some kind of bureaucratic dictatorship? We must remember that Britain is a free country, and even members of the royal family should be granted freedom too. As bizarre as it might sound, I believe that they’re, in fact, slaves to the British media who appear to dictate them. From watching Disney films, people dream of becoming a prince or princess, but being royalty in the real world seems more tragic than what Disney films might suggest. Being royalty means you’re constantly under intense scrutiny and you have expectations placed on you since birth. It does make me fear for the children of the royal family. Are they going to have to live their lives in whichever way will satisfy the British media and obsessive monarchists?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe that stepping back as a senior royal is against the law in any way. Prince Harry, like all human beings, has made mistakes in the past, but that doesn’t seem like a mistake to me. It just looks like two people doing what’s best for their family and their own wellbeing. Of course the British media will blame Meghan Markle is some way. It’s tragic that she’s effectively become a scapegoat and she will be blamed for the slightest malfunction in relation to the royal family. I don’t have an opinion about whether Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are good together, and I certainly don’t believe for one minute that Prince Harry has been manipulated. Prince Harry seems perfectly capable of making his own decisions. The big issue from this whole story is the media and the way they hype up everything the royal family do and journalists like Piers Morgan who will stop at nothing to come up with pathetic excuses as to why Meghan Markle is wrong for the royal family. If there was no more monarchy in this country, would it impact on our society? Will we descend into chaos if there was no more royal family for monarchists to drool over? Every right-minded individual thinks the royal family are overhyped, including myself, but the subject brings out the worst of the British media and the way they waste their energy reporting on something that’s completely irrelevant rather than reporting on any actual news. Whatever Meghan Markle and Prince Harry get up to is strictly their business, and nothing to do with the media and the British public.
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rockinjoeco · 5 years ago
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Manchester Disunited?
Another day, and another disappointing result for Manchester United. After 4th-placed Chelsea could only manage a draw at Brighton earlier today, Man United couldn’t capitalise and close the gap between them to 2 points as they lost 2-0 at Arsenal last Wednesday, who are also targeting a place in the top four. Man United can produce great performances that replicate the Man United back when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge, but those performances appear to be a false dawn and now they’re back to square one.
Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired from management back in 2013, Man United have been on a decline. It all started when David Moyes, who was actually chosen by Sir Alex, replaced the great Scot back in the summer of 2013. It was never going to be easy to replace someone who is considered quite possibly the greatest manager in the history of football, but David Moyes disappointed in his solitary season in charge, seeing United finish 7th in league and missing out on European football for the first time since 1989. David Moyes was then replaced by Louis Van Gaal, whose tenure at Old Trafford was also a disappointment, having failed to qualify for the Champions League in his second season despite winning an FA Cup, their first major trophy since Sir Alex’s retirement. Jose Mourinho followed Van Gaal, and his tenure saw United enjoy success in the League Cup and Europa League in his first season, and then a second-placed finish in the following season, their highest league position since Sir Alex’s retirement, but then United had a miserable season after, which saw Mourinho sacked in December 2018 and then replaced by former striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on a caretaker basis.
Solskjaer’s reign at Manchester United started off promisingly, winning 10 out of his first 12 league games and qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League by overcoming a two-goal deficit in the second leg away at Paris Saint-Germain. Many will recall the excitement of Rio Ferdinand on BT Sport when he said that ‘ole is at the wheel’ and urged the United board to give Solskjaer whatever he wants in a permanent contract. However, a first defeat in the league at Arsenal in March 2019 consequently saw Man United endure an inconsistent run of form. As of this moment, they’ve only managed to win 10 out of their last 30 league games.
Despite spending big in the last few years, Man United’s recruitment has come under criticism and had fans calling for a director of football in the United boardroom. The more recent £80m signing of Harry Maguire from Leicester has been one of the United signings that has been criticised, especially after a poor display at Arsenal last Wednesday night. The recruitment has seen the United board come under scrutiny, as certain managers weren’t backed enough in certain transfer windows, for example Jose Mourinho in the summer of 2018, when United first became interested in Harry Maguire but were unable to do a deal back then. Paul Pogba, who is currently United’s record signing at £89m, is another big money signing that hasn’t lived up to expectations and his future at Old Trafford is currently uncertain. Pogba spent his youth career at Man United before he was sold to Juventus in 2012 after refusing to sign a new contract. While Pogba has at times demonstrated his ability to be a world class player, his lack of consistency has been a source of frustration for many United fans, especially as we’ve seen great performances from him for France and at his previous club Juventus. I believe that if he has joined Real Madrid instead of United back in 2016, he’d probably win a Ballon D’or. I think he’d benefit under the guidance of Zinedine Zidane, who was Pogba’s idol, and his ability seems more suited to the Spanish league than the Premier League, although arguably the reason for his lack of consistency could be because he needs to playing for the right manager to get the best out of him rather than him being unsuited to the Premier League.
The January transfer window will be crucial for Man United so that they can continue their rebuilding process. It’s believed that they’re after a central midfielder, an attacking midfielder and a new striker to replace Romelu Lukaku, who left for Inter Milan last summer. United seem to mainly be targeting British players, which could be a positive for the British game to see homegrown players sign for an illustrious club but could be beneficial for Man United because they will understand the honour and privilege to play for Manchester United. It’s painful for United fans and former players to criticise Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was a legend for United, especially after scoring the winning goal in the Champions League final back in 1999, which saw United win the treble. Despite the great start that Solskjaer had to his managing career at Man United, I thought it was gullible to offer him a permanent contract in March rather than wait till the end of the season because Solskjaer’s track record as a manager isn’t as impressive as his playing career. He’s had a successful spell with Molde, but the Norwegian Premier Division isn’t as competitive as major leagues in Europe. Even the Championship is arguably more competitive than the top division in Norway. Solskjaer did manage in the Premier League previously with Cardiff back in 2014 but was relegated with the Welsh outfit and was sacked at the start of the following season when a poor start saw Cardiff languishing in 17th in the Championship. Therefore the United board shouldn’t have got carried away with his excellent start as United manager as the club arguably needs a more experienced manager to try and rebuild the club and Solskjaer is at risk of tarnishing his legacy at Old Trafford. We all know how big a club Man United are, and Solskjaer knows this as well as anyone, but the board seem to be more interested in commercial revenue rather than footballing matters. The crisis at Man United is not just because of poor results and performances on the pitch. It’s actually much, much deeper than that and will take fundamental change at Man United if they are to be back to their best.
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rockinjoeco · 5 years ago
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Liverpool FC - Champions Elect?
There’s a real stigma about using Liverpool and champions elect in the same sentence. Liverpool haven’t won a league title since 1990 and have come so close so many times since then. The two in recent memory were in 2014 when Liverpool were two points off the top and last season when, despite getting 97 points, they finished a point behind a world class Man City team. Despite winning the champions league last season, you can forgive Liverpool fans for believing that they were a cursed team. Now I ask the inevitable question; is this Liverpool’s year?
The Premier League is what the Liverpool fans are desperate for. It’s been too long since their last league title. Liverpool have been top of premier league at Christmas four times previously, in 1996, 2008, 2013 and 2018. Of course, they failed to win the league on those occasions. Liverpool are currently 13 points clear on top of the league with a game in hand and are unbeaten in the league. Liverpool won comprehensively at second-placed Leicester last Thursday, and with Man City sitting in third place, 14 points behind Liverpool, this gives cause for optimism that this could be fifth time lucky for Liverpool.
Liverpool made no major signings last summer but will have Japanese winger Takumi Minamino joining them next month from Red Bull Salzburg for a bargain £7.25m, after he impressed against them in the Champions League this season. Having spent £75m on Virgil Van Dijk, £66.8m on Alisson and made other big money transfers on Naby Keita and Fabinho in 2018, Liverpool couldn’t afford to make other big money transfers last summer. It’s now easy to forget that Liverpool sold Philippe Coutinho, arguably Liverpool’s best player for the last few years back then, back in January 2018. Liverpool fans and ex-players were worried about the prospect of his sale, but if anything, Liverpool seem to have improved because of the big money they got from Barcelona that had allowed them to sign the likes of Alisson and Van Dijk to improve the team.
The faltering form of Man City has contributed to Liverpool’s comprehensive lead at the top. Although they signed Rodri, who I felt was an important signing for them as they need a long-term replacement for Fernandinho, their failure to replace their departing skipper Vincent Kompany has cost them, which was proven when Aymeric Laporte suffered a long-term injury. John Stones’ form seems to have declined, as having had the season of his life back in 2017/18, he’s gone back to making silly mistakes and costing Man City games. It remains to be seen whether Man City decide to sign a centre-back next month, but they’re now 14 points behind Liverpool and it will take a monumental effort from them, along with a monumental collapse from Liverpool, for Man City to retain the premier league this season.
While Man City have been so scintillating to watch this season, with their style of football replicating guardiola’s Barcelona side, Liverpool have developed a german-like efficiency about them. I say German-like in reference to their similarity in play to Germany’s World Cup winning teams. They were never spectacular like Brazil or Spain, but they knew how to win and were always able to win whatever the circumstances are. Since the start of last season, Liverpool have only lost 1 game in the league. Winning has become habitual to Liverpool, especially as they were able to win without playing well, like against wolves yesterday, though the victory was amidst more VAR controversy.
Jurgen klopp has done wonders with Liverpool. He has managed to build a winning team from a team that had finished 6th the previous campaign, and had only qualified for the champions league once since 2009. His achievements at Liverpool are very similar to what he achieved at Borussia Dortmund, where he really made his mark as a manager. When Klopp took over as Dortmund manager in the summer of 2008, they had finished 13th in the league and hadn’t won the Bundesliga since 2002, which was also when they had last qualified for the Champions League. Since his appointment, Klopp had taken Dortmund from strength to strength, winning two successive Bundesliga titles and qualifying for a Champions League final. During his tenure at Dortmund, he has made world class players out of Mats Hummels, Mario Götze and Robert Lewandowski.
Klopp’s rebuilding of Liverpool feels reminiscent to the rebuilding process by Bill Shankly. When he first took over Liverpool in 1959, they had average players all over the pitch, and therefore Shankly made radical changes in all areas of the squad, signing the likes of Ron Yeats and Ian St John which played a part in Liverpool getting promoted to the old First Division and then winning three league titles, 2 FA Cups and a UEFA Cup, which would be Liverpool’s first ever European trophy. Klopp’s Liverpool team is very similar to the swashbuckling side in the 1970s and 80s, when Liverpool enjoyed their most successful era winning numerous league titles and European Cups.
If Jurgen Klopp can secure the Premier League title for Liverpool to add to their Champions League success last season, then there is no doubt that Klopp will go down in folklore with Liverpool fans and he could be placed alongside Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley as one of Liverpool’s greatest managers. Liverpool have become giants of European football once again under Klopp, and winning that all-elusive title for the first time in 30 years will place Klopp in legend and bring joy to the red half of Merseyside along with pride for the spirits of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley.
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rockinjoeco · 5 years ago
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Chelsea Turbulence
In my first blog post, I will be talking about my beloved Chelsea football club and reviewing our season so far, including the bad run of form (including the Southampton defeat yesterday) that’s seen us lose 5 out of our last 7 league games, four of which were worryingly against teams in the bottom half of the premier League.
This inconsistency of ours is very reminiscent to Chelsea before Abramovich. There were times when we would get an amazing result, and then a disastrous result the next. For example, in December 2001, we won at Manchester United 3-0, a wonderful result considering the comprehensive nature of the win and that Man United were champions back then and the favourites for the title back then. However, a few days later, that 3-0 win at Old Trafford was followed up by a 1-0 home defeat to Charlton Athletic. For me this season, it’s easy for me to be in despair as a Chelsea fan as losing 5 out of 7 league games is relegation form, but what is important to remember is that we were on a transfer ban, therefore meaning we couldn’t buy anyone, including a replacement for our star player Eden Hazard, who departed for Real Madrid last summer, so at the start of the season, I would’ve just been happy to avoid relegation! Christian Pulisic finally being available to play for us has helped us though, even if he doesn’t fully compensate the departure of Hazard. Hiring Frank Lampard as our new manager, replacing Juventus-bound Maurizio Sarri, gave me some joy as seeing a Chelsea legend returning as our manager was always going to be good to see, but also seeing our former academy coach returning as assistant manager of the whole team rather than just managing academy players meant that our youth players will finally get a chance in the first team. I know we are a big club and therefore us Chelsea fans will be very demanding, but Lampard himself know how competitive we should be and while there’s no doubt that many of our young players have talent, it will take them time for them to become players of the highest standard.
Before the Man City game last month, we were in the top 4 by 9 points, and now after our bad run of form, we’re only 4th by 3 points. As disappointing as this collapse of ours has been, Chelsea have already exceeded expectations this season, playing great football and our youth players like fikayo tomori, Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham have performed well this season, with the latter getting 11 goals in the league. For years, us Chelsea fans have been crying out for our manager to start giving our youth players chances in the first team, and it shouldn’t have to take a transfer ban for that to happen. It still pains me to see how we let the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Mohamed Salah go and then become excellent players elsewhere. Previous managers have been too hasty with our youngsters and that’s why we haven’t seen an academy graduate become a first team regular with us since John Terry. Yes, Maurizio Sarri have Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi a run of games in the first team last season, particularly in the Europa league, but he was under pressure to do so. Prior to the start of last season, Ruben Loftus-Cheek said he didn’t want to be loaned out again, which Sarri had planned to do. Loftus-cheek said he wanted to be part of the Chelsea team or be sold to another club where he will play regular first team football. Therefore, Sarri has to keep him and make him part of the squad. In January 2019, Hudson-Odoi had been interesting Bayern Munich, and as he wasn’t getting into our first team and having seen how well Jadon Sancho had been doing in the bundesliga, Hudson-Odoi wanted to leave Chelsea and join Bayern. Knowing Hudson-Odoi’s potential, Sarri didn’t want to lose him and therefore had to give him a run of games in the first team. Both Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi impressed when they played in the first team and gave a positive indication of what they can bring to our team. The impressive form of tomori, Mount and Abraham has finally vindicated our loan system which had been criticised for a long time. Would the trio of youngsters have made the impact that they have made if they came straight from the academy without being loaned out? Possibly not. Roman Abramovich has invested a lot of money into our academy and the loan system was invented to give our younger players the chance to regular first team football at a competitive level. Previous manager have abused that system and used it to profit from our younger players by eventually selling them rather than actually developing them so they can eventually play for Chelsea one day.
Even when we were on a great run and won 6 league games in a row, defence was an issue for us. Defence was an issue for us last season too. Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen don’t seem to have developed as much as we had hoped for a few years ago. It was a bad injury back in 2016 that has stifled Zouma’s development when his style of play was reminiscent to Marcel Desailly and it looked like he could be our main centre back for the next decade. It’s never nice seeing bad injuries on footballers, particularly promising young players. As well as Tomori has done this season, he still has a lot to learn and unfortunately has a tendency to make silly mistakes that unnecessarily gift chances to the opposition. There are times when we have won games that we should’ve won more comfortably but then unnecessarily gift the other time a chance to get back into the game and make things more difficult for ourselves. I actually believe the biggest loss this season has been Gary Cahill. Even though he’s not as good as he was a few years ago, his experience could’ve helped tomori’s development while also covering for the absence of Antonio Rüdiger, who we have really missed when he’s been out injured.
Thankfully we can finally be allowed to buy new players in January, and the first half of this season has helped us have a better idea of where to improve. I think we do need a world class winger who can always make something out of nowhere just like Hazard did. I think if we look at those home defeats against West Ham, Bournemouth and Southampton, we didn’t have someone who is world class to create chances that could’ve got us back in the game. Not only could we not have gotten a goal in those game, we didn’t create enough clear chances to do so. Callum Hudson-Odoi struggled against Southampton yesterday, and it looked like it will take him time to become a world class winger. Willian has done well this season, but I don’t think he’s as world class as Hazard was and for me, he’s more of a squad player who can do a job when someone’s out injured or can make something happen from the bench. Christian Pulisic has also done well for us, although it’s taken him time to make his mark on the team, but I don’t think he’s consistent yet, bearing in mind he’s still a young player. Jadon Sancho would be my first choice. He’s done excellently with Dortmund and England, knows Hudson-Odoi and Tammy Abraham through the England under 21s and knows Pulisic from their time with Dortmund. We’ve also been linked with Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha, who is an excellent player and can make something happen out of nowhere like Hazard did, but I think the £80m asking price is probably too much money for him as he’s 27 years old, whereas approximately £120m for 19-year-old Jadon sancho would arguably present better value for money.
Left back is another key position we have to improve on. Azpilicueta’s ability has unfortunately declined this season, having been a wonderful servant for us and can play anywhere in our back four, Émerson just doesn’t look like he’s good enough to be a starter for us and Marcos Alonso is more of a wing back than a left back, so when he’s been playing as a full back, he looks like he’s being played out of position. Ben Chilwell would be my first choice as left-back, who’s done so well with Leicester this season, and I hope a deal can be done with Leicester next month. If we have to wait till the summer to get him, I’d be happy with that, as I can’t think of any alternative targets for the left back position. The jury is still out on the centre back position, because I’m yet to see if Rüdiger and Tomori can pair up together in that position. It would be nice to see Nathan Aké back, who we shouldn’t had sold in the first place. Ake can also play as a left back too, which would be useful if we can’t get Chilwell in January. AC Milan’s Alessio Romagnoli would be good for us too, with many regarding him as the next Alessandro Nesta. There’s also been talk about Frank Lampard wanting you replace our goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. I personally have no problem with Kepa, I know he is still only 25 which is a young age for a goalkeeper. The thing I don’t get, however, is that when we signed him in August 2018, the club came out and said we’ve been tracking this goalkeeper for the last few years, but his contract was about to expire six months prior to us signing him for over £70m, so if we knew that Kepa was the man we wanted to replace Thibaut Courtois, who had been vocal about wanting to return to madrid to be with his family, why didn’t we make a move for Kepa then? It seemed unnecessary to buy him for a record fee in the summer after he had just signing a new contract with Athletic Bilbao six months earlier.
We should sell Olivier Giroud in January as he doesn’t seem to fit in with Lampard’s style of play, and I think a new back-up striker is needed, and it’s so difficult to buy squad players as every great player wants to play regular first team football, and even warming the bench for a big club like Chelsea may not seem an attractive prospect for them. We’ve been linked with Moussa Dembélé and Timo Werner, who could be good players for us, but would they want to just be deputies to Tammy Abraham? Possibly not, but I think Abraham himself needs some serious competition as he’s only got 1 goal in his last 6 league games and that competition could help him up his game.
We need to be patient with our young players as this season is a transitional season for us and it’s a big learning curb for them. We also have to remember that Frank Lampard, while he’s a club legend, is a young manager and has shown great potential as a manager when he was at Derby last season. I know many will argue that maybe we should’ve gone for a more experienced manager, but there weren’t many managers who we could’ve attracted with a transfer ban, and the transfer ban actually was a blessing in disguise for Lampard as it buys him time. What I found interesting was upon being appointed, Lampard said he didn’t want any special treatment from the board. We know how ruthless Chelsea’s board is, as you’d expect from any big club, and Lampard knows that whatever decisions the boardroom will make as it will always be whatever decision is best for the club. We have exceeded expectations this season, but being a big club that we are, we must always seek to improve so we can start winning titles again in the future.
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