The Rules As They Exist

Let’s start this with a FIFA definition of Serious Foul Play:

A player is guilty of serious foul play if he uses excessive force or brutality against an opponent when challenging for the ball when it is in play.

A tackle that endangers the safety of an opponent must be sanctioned as serious foul play.

The great problem with the rules as they currently stand is the perception of what is deemed as Serious Foul Play by any individual. If there are rules and guidelines covering two-footed tackles I couldn’t find them (and if you can please share!) – however it’s generally accepted in the Premier League that any tackle which is either two footed, off the ground or with studs showing is considered Serious Foul Play. The punishment for Serious Foul Play is a sending off.

So, given that review of the FIFA rules on Serious Foul Play and if we accept that two footed, off the ground, studs showing tackles are to be deemed as Serious Foul Play, then it’s fairly straight forward to assess both incidents, i.e they’re both examples of Serious Foul Play.

The Problem Injuries Cause

Again I’ve discussed this in previous posts, but I believe we often see the severity of a tackle measured against the resulting injury (or lack of injury) as a marker on how fair a tackle was, rather than a clear assessment based on the rules. My two previous examples were that of Ryan Shawcross on Aaron Ramsey and Nigel De Jong on Hatem Ben Arfa, in both situations those players tackled suffered terrible injuries and long periods of time out of the game, both tacklers were sent off and heavily criticised in the process, in my opinion both tackles were not cases of Serious Foul Play, but produced unfortunate injuries for the tackled player because of ever so slightly late timing and an awkward fall respectively.

The two tackles we’re looking at today follow this same pattern, the difference is that they’re both clear examples of Serious Foul Play, however this time no-one was injured in the process. That certainly played a part in the referee deeming that the tackle by Glen Johnson was not Serious Foul Play when by the FIFA laws it clearly was. On Soccer Saturday (Sky Sports 1) after the Vincent Kompany tackle the panel proceeded to put their case against the sending off of Kompany because he barely touched the player and there was no injury caused, I expect a similar reaction today to that of Glen Johnson, because he made even less contact.

Stamping Out Horror Tackles

When the discussion comes around about ‘Horror Tackles’ absolutely everyone demands action, I feel that in these two high profile cases, whilst both received different outcomes I believe the reaction to the tackles has been extremely poor. Rather than the debate surrounding why Glen Johnson wasn’t sent off, it’s been based around why Kompany was and how it can be a case of Serious Foul Play if no-one was injured. There’s somewhat of a contradiction here, it seems the footballing community want’s to stamp out bad tackles in order to avoid serious injuries, but to only send players off if a tackle results in an injury. This is not stamping out horror tackles.

My concern is that here we have had two prime opportunities to say that uncontrolled tackles, jumping in with both feet off the ground, studs showing, is entirely unacceptable. Let me put this to you, if Lescott is half a yard closer to the ball when Johnson dives in? Lescott almost certainly breaks his leg as a result – is the tackle by Johnson then deemed Serious Foul Play?

To Surmise My Rant

In my opinion the position of the player being tackled does not directly influence the severity and in both instances the tackles appeared to be clear cases of Serious Foul Play. Players are injured for the most innocuous of tackles, a straight 50:50 challenge, a clash when heading the ball, the most basic of tackles all cause the most terrible injuries – and when this happens those players are deemed to have committed Serious Foul Play, they’re attacked by the footballing community and in the case of Ryan Shawcross their careers suffer as a result.

In complete contrast the tackles discussed here are clearly the most basic cases of dangerous tackles which can cause terrible injuries, if both had resulted in broken bones for the tackled player then I guarantee both players are sent off, and the tackled players were very luckily that wasn’t the case.

English football needs to get off its high horse on a number of topics and this is one of those.

We want to see tackling in the game

Our game is physical and tackles are part of that

These are the traditional exclamations and I don’t disagree, but we need safe tackles and we need to be consistent about which types of tackles are dangerous, we need to stop sending players off for fair tackles that result in injuries – but more importantly than that, we need to start sending players off for dangerous tackles, clear instances of Serious Foul Play, regardless of the presence of injury.

The Glory Days

Over the past 5 or so seasons the English Premier League has been held in a more elevated stature than normal and with good reason, the club sides have dominated the Champions League as a whole and players from far and wide have braved the English weather to prove their worth in the greatest league competition in the World!

Hopefully that last paragraph rings with just a hint of sarcasm, because it’s fully intended. Whilst English clubs have dominated the Champions League final stages, they’ve not exactly dominated as winners and when coming up against the best teams the Italian, Spanish and German leagues have to offer they’ve often come up short despite the ‘strength in depth’ of the league.

Furthermore, have the Worlds best players graced the league for love or money? That’s difficult to say comprehensively one way or another, but what is clear is that the Premier League has paid players very well of recent times – something that’s started to pose problems as the spending power of the Spanish clubs has surpassed English clubs recently as a result of a more favourable tax and exchange rate conditions, the result has been some fairly high profile exits and several missed opportunities.

When Saturday Comes

If you’re not aware one of the biggest games in club football is being played this weekend, Barcelona v Real Madrid. This particular tie is more intriguing than most of the recent clashes because for the first time in a while Real Madrid are closer than they’ve ever been to Barcelona, in-fact there’s a fair few pundits tipping Madrid to beat Barcelona this time around.

Anything other than a Barcelona win should be a wakeup call for the English league, a Real Madrid win should send shockwaves. The aim for Manchester United this year, if not Chelsea as well, was to get even closer to Barcelona, but instead we’ve seen last years finalists out at the group stage and the rise of several of the old classic teams. If Madrid beat Barcelona the English clubs will have to worry about getting close to Barcelona first and Real Madrid second which on paper alone sounds like a daunting task. When you factor in the other emerging giants in Europe it makes for a grim outlook.

Look Around You

The problem as it exists is not going to get better any time soon, City fans can relax – that’s a team on the rise, but Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are all on a heavy decline and have been for a couple of seasons now. The arrogance I talk of is borne of TV rights and the intense build up the Premier League receives, but at the very heart the clubs can only have themselves to blame – lacklustre squad development set in two seasons ago, when clubs made business cases to restrict strengthening any further because the squads they had were competitive enough to challenge for the league and compete in Europe.

All the while, the Spanish league has been getting stronger – it has it’s own problems, but Valencia compete with two footballing giants and Real Madrid are the only team in World football who are close to besting Barcelona, not something you’d have expected given their European form in recent seasons. The German top tier is well mooted by those in the know, Bayern are looking like the team of old and even Dortmund are making a charge again. Most surprising of all is the strength in the Italian league, recently decimated by corruption and the dominance of the Milan sides Napoli against City and Udinese before that against Arsenal showed how strong those teams have become whilst the English teams basked in their perceived dominance.

A Change Is Coming

As the cold English weather blows outside the window, I believe the same winds of change are slowly creeping into football, but in an all too familiar way. I’ll not pretend to be a football historian, but one thing I am aware of is the double hit of English ignorance and arrogance that’s littered about footballing history. Reluctant to accept new ideas, with a perception of physicality over technique as the ultimate path to victory – an all too similar pattern regarding the ‘speed’ of the domestic game is emerging once again.

Whilst English football made merry from the decline of other European leagues and the well timed introduction of television money, the cracks are showing, teams are quickly adopting a ‘Spanish’ 4231 formation in a knee jerk reaction and trying to play technical football, yet when there’s 10 minutes left and you need a goal the long kick and rush game naturally finds its way even with the most continental of English sides. When presented against the ultra counterattacking Udinese earlier this season, Arsenal looked bereft of ideas, the comfortable football they’re allowed to play domestically did not suit and they looked lost, unable to adapt to new styles of play. If the technique focused players of Arsenal cannot adapt that does not bode well for the rest of the league.

Spanish football is on a steady rise, if you view the movement of football talent as an indicator of quality (rather than contract values) then that’s clear as day, regardless as a convert I can say the football is just ‘better’. German football is also rising steadily, soon they will have 2-3 teams who can provide a serious challenge in European competitions as well. Italian football is the real dark horse, surrounded by off-field issues no-one has really seen the sudden improvement that’s taking place, whilst the football is the same defensive, counter attacking style, there’s a new solidity in Italian football from otherwise mediocre sides which has been missing in recent times – remember Juventus? Well you’ll be seeing the old lady again very shortly.

When all is said and done, English football is about to once again pay for it’s own arrogance. The poor squad development of the past couple of seasons is coming home to roost where European football is concerned. Domestically there is more competition than ever, but the inward looking approach is making our club sides stale and awkward when faced with new challenges. What good will getting closer to Barcelona do, when Real Madrid play differently, when Napoli play differently again and when Dortmund and Juventus come back to the party?

Condemned, One And All

The problem is not money, it is not weather, it is not too many games, it is not poor youth development, coaching development or any other kind of excuse – it is the arrogance of English football over the rest of football as a whole. It considers itself superior, it considers itself to be leading the way when it’s behind the curve, and it’ll be to the demise of our top clubs, one and all.

A Lack Of Expertise

In most cases the salesperson you’re dealing with in-store has a tremendous expertise deficiency when compared to ‘The Internet’, even the most hardened experts would struggle against the wealth of technical and personal opinion available online so it’s unlikely to be a problem that’s solved any time soon.

As a fairly techy person and a gadget freak this rears its head on a regular basis when visiting my local Comet, PC World / Currys and the such because no matter how much training is done, the weekends and evenings salesperson can’t add anything substantial – so if I have a question, I’m forced to refer to the iPhone and look online. I’ve also encountered the same in my local Apple store (which you would expect to be more clued up than most) when I first moved to a Mac at the beginning of the year no-one had any clue on a decent way to store passwords – a few Google clicks later that evening and I discovered several options and made my decision from there.

To be fair those two instances are from an area of my personal expertise – digital cameras is a different matter however and last year I found myself confronted by a salesperson, completely out of their depth, but still trying to talk to me about digital cameras and the merits of SLR’s as if they knew what they were talking about. Still quite a gadgety product I could tell I wasn’t getting sound advice, but what happens to the unsuspecting consumer who thinks what they’re being told is gospel?

In short, most of the time in store staff are not well versed in the products they’re tending to, so they’re flat out not capable of performing that sales / informative role. As a nowt but a boy I saw it happen regularly in my first sales job, salespeople with no experience of the product providing poor / incorrect advice but ultimately making the sale.

No I’m Sorry We Can’t Open The Box

If the expertise gap is a problem that is unlikely to be solved, then this one is frankly inexcusable and drives me up the wall every time I’m presented with it.

We can discuss the competitive advantages online shops have all day long, but one thing they will never manage to replicate is the competitive advantage a store has in actually having the product on site so you can touch and feel it before making a purchasing decision. Far too many bricks and mortar stores completely forgo this advantage and simply say:

Oh we can’t open the box because we can’t sell it as new then.

This alone is enough reason for me to buy online, because if I can’t even see the product then why bother going in-store? I’ll just go online, get a better price, get better technical and personal advice AND see more of the product via of lots and lots of photographs, videos and 360 degree views.

I cannot suffer this excuse, it makes my bones itch and if high street stores want to thrive, then more of them need to be interactive with their products and make the most of the competitive advantages they do have.

Christmas Shopping (And Basic Business Studies)

I’d like to close this by saying very few of our Christmas presents this year have actually been bought online, although many have been researched online. When our high street shopping experience goes to plan we can browse a large array of products, that we can touch and interact with freely. We have gentle sales support on hand for basic queries and an honest answer if they can’t be sure. But often the most important aspect of all, the product is in stock and we can take it away with us – we don’t need to wait in for deliveries or run the risk of the wrong products being sent.

It’s basic business studies that teenagers learn – classic marketing mix, product placement is key – not just on the shelf but on the high street in general. If I can have my new toy now, rather than wait a week for delivery then I’ll pay more for that advantage – how much more? I’m not sure – depends what the toy is

There is a Magento module out there to purchase, which given the lack of information on Google relating to this topic I was really surprised about, but it seemed to require a declaration for each individual product and that wasn’t really suitable for the project I was working on, so here’s my solution.

The Problem

As I understood it via the brief we were given the scenario goes something like this:*

1. There are both VAT Inclusive and VAT Exempt products in the store, the VAT Inclusive products must charge VAT to every customer type.
2. Generic customers can buy both sets of products but must pay VAT as normal.
3. Customers eligible for VAT exemption can purchase VAT Exempt products without the VAT but still be charged VAT on VAT Inclusive products.

*Caveat Incoming: I could not tell you if the scenario described is accurate in every instance – it’s the brief we were given from our client and would suggest you find out for yourself the VAT terms you’re bound to in whatever scenario you decide to implement this solution in.

The Solution: Part 1

The first step was in getting Magento set up just right. We’ve 3 different tools at our disposal with which to do this, Customer Groups, Customer Tax Classes and Product Tax Classes.

Tax Rules

We did the simple bits first:

1. Set up two new Product Tax Classes – VAT Exempt and VAT Inclusive, this means that we can specify on each individual product if it is eligible to be purchased VAT free or not.
2. We then set up two Customer Tax Classes with exactly the same names, we’ll use these a little later.
3. For the last of the simple requirements we created two new Tax Rates, again VAT Inclusive at 20% and VAT Exempt at 0%.

Now we have everything in place we moved onto actually creating the Tax Rules. We have three different Tax Rules set up now, they are as follows:

1. VAT: This is applicable to both Customer Tax Classes, the VAT Inclusive Product Tax Class and the VAT Inclusive Product Tax Rate.
2. VAT Exempt: This is applicable to the VAT Exempt Customer Tax Class, the Vat Exempt Product Tax Class and the VAT Exempt Tax Rate.
3. VAT Inclusive: This is applicable to the VAT Inclusive Customer Tax Class, the VAT Exempt Product Tax Class and the VAT Inclusive Tax Rate.

What we’ve essentially done is specify a default tax rule – VAT – and told Magento that it applies to both groups for VAT Inclusive products (and to apply the VAT Inclusive rate). This means that both groups will pay VAT on VAT Inclusive products as is intended.

Next we’ve specified via VAT Exempt that customers with the VAT Exempt class should not pay VAT on VAT Exempt products.

Finally, we’ve specified with VAT Inclusive that the VAT Inclusive Customer Tax Class should have the VAT Inclusive Tax Rate also applied to those products specified as VAT Exempt. This final rule is where the magic lies as it ensures that standard customers who should pay VAT are paying it on both sets of products.

Still with me? Good, onto the last change for this part.

Customer Groups

We set up two separate Customer Groups for our scenario, let’s call them Normal and VAT Exempt for arguments sake. Normal has the VAT Inclusive Tax Class assigned to it, and as expected VAT Exempt has the VAT Exempt Tax Class assigned. Job done.

By all accounts you could stop things here, by manually assigning each customer to the relevant group you can ensure that VAT is removed where applicable. This is only achievable after a customer has checked out or created an account, it’s a bit of a messy, manual affair and first time customers will get charged VAT. All in all it’s a bit of an administrative nightmare – so let’s automate things.

The Solution: Part 2

Again, our understanding of the brief given is that customers are actually responsible for their own tax relief, providing they declare to the merchant they are eligible and a few basic details are taken by the merchant for tax purposes, then there’s actually no formal checking on the part of the merchant to be done. See the previous caveat if there’s any misunderstanding of my description here.

In which case we’re allowing the customer to specify themselves if they’re a candidate for VAT relief, my first thought was to do this via a question on checkout, but then we’d have to make some module changes to ensure the customer groups were set as a result. However we instead stumbled on a cheap as chips module that allowed you to do just that – Customer Group At Registration.

For the tiny sum of $25 this little module will allow our customers to decide on checkout which Customer Group they belong to, what’s better is the module will allow you to specify which groups are available for selection – so we can still maintain different internal Customer Groups should we wish. So with a small amount of modification we’re able to insert a declaration on the customers part that if they select a VAT Exempt Customer Group they’re agreeing to the usual legal mumbo jumbo associated with it.

In Summary

What did we do? We created two Product and Customer Tax Groups, we specified three Tax Rules that applied the right Tax Rates where applicable and we then automated the whole process using a little module so customers can declare on checkout if they are eligible for VAT relief or not. I can be no briefer and no more pleased with my little solution. Correction – if you use it and it works for you then I’ll be more pleased than I already am. Enjoy!

It’s fair to say that I started the day with an air of apprehension; I’d come down to London on my own and it was chucking it down as I trudged across to the conference hall after getting up at a time I’d quite frankly not seen for a while.

The Presentations

After finally getting around to typing up my scrawls from the big day I’ve ended up with 3 solid pages of notes, very much in short form and each and every one of importance – for me that has been the summary of how successful this conference was for me personally. The range of content and the value of the information was incredible at times, here’s a quick taste of what I’ve got.

• eCommerce Statistics – Just in case you needed to gee up your clients about why exactly eCommerce should be important to them.
• xCommerce – Clarification on what it is exactly and how it intends to develop.
• Personalised Shopping Experiences – Its potential to drive sales and just how it can be put to work.
• Magento Server Optimisation – Who doesn’t need to know about this?
• Loyalty Programmes – Generally discussing how it impacts NPS scores.
• Magento Best Practices – A great overview and had something for everyone.
• Shopping Cart Abandonment – Fantastic insight into how this section of your visitors behave and why.

As you can see, the notes I made were across a broad range of topics and represent what I found to be the most useful of the topics discussed. There were a couple more, one covered multi-store setups which I’ve a good handle on so didn’t discuss anything I wasn’t already familiar with and another on the future of cloud hosting.

The People

Given how highly I’ve rated the content I’d rate the people even higher, from those involved at the very top echelons of Magento to the small scale merchants and developers just entering the crazy world the Meet Magento UK 2011 conference completely surpassed my expectations in terms of how approachable and friendly the whole scene is.

I only have myself to blame on discovering this so late in my 2-3 year Magento career so far, being busy has generally been my excuses thus far, but I’ve since thrown that one out of the window – it’d be folly not to get involved now. So whilst I’m at it, a quick shout out to Tom and Nick at Meanbee, Tracy, Gillian and Deryck from Future Clients and Luke from Develodesign. Thanks for a fun 24 hours guys and gals!

The After Party

Take a selection of talented eCommerce industry experts, put them in a bar, in an arcade – and then give them drinks vouchers and turn all of the games to free-play. You know those adverts on TV about planning your funeral in advance? I think I’ve got mine sorted out now. All of this basically resulted in making a typically shy demographic that ever so slightly more talkative and made for a great night in general.

The Conference Overall?

In a word, fantastic. I’m already planning to attend again next yearand looking out for any similar conferences on the go in the meanwhile. From the actual content of the presentations, to the great people making up the community at large everything was incredibly well put together. I’m super pleased that I went, I even got that carried away by the end of the day that I ended up asking a question about HTML5!

This article is a re-post and merge of my now defunct OurFootballBlog football writing blog from 2010 – 2011.

Between Internet connection problems, a weekend and a bout of dog sitting it has been a whole week since our last post! Fear not, it’s been one worth waiting for as I bring you news of no less than three players on their way out of Arsenal in the very near future.

For those interested (ie most of you) it’s not difficult to name the three players who’ve been rife with recent speculation, however it seems as if this is quickly developing into serious transfer news rather than tittle tattle. Let’s take a look at the individuals.

Gael Clichy

Interestingly whilst Gael has a lower profile than the others abandoning the sinking ship at Arsenal the transfer speculation surrounding him has been some of the strongest. Over the past few weeks he’s been linked with several clubs, Roma in particular but with Liverpool showing a very strong interest. Tonight however it seems that another team is in the mix – Manchester City and from what’s being said it’s not a throw away comment, there’s talk of medicals and deals being done next week. They’ve really emerged from the shadows on this one after being linked earlier in the day with Baines from Everton.

Samir Nasri

Whilst not the most popular replacement for Scholes he’s quickly looking like the serious replacement after Wesley Sneijder ruled himself out of a move over the past couple of weeks and Barcelona’s Thiago signed a 2 year extension earlier this week. All of a sudden Nasri looks like the only serious option on the table and a rumoured £20 million bid would be difficult to turn down with a year left on his contract.

Cesc Fabregas

This is the last time I want to have to write about Csec until a deal is done. He should have been allowed to leave last season in my opinion, now he just looks like a broken man, just let him leave! Mini rant over, it seems I need not worry because Arsenal are resigned to losing him, Barcelona have agreed to up their valuation to more than the £35 million previously stated and assuming Arsenal can line up a replacement then finally this looks like a done deal.

Who Next? Arsene Wenger?

What a messy messy situation Arsenal is in at the moment, about to lose three of their best players to rival clubs, two in the same league and the other the only real rival to their brand of football. Much of the talk surrounding these three deals is that they’re going to happen and the only reason they aren’t done today is that Arsenal need a couple of their own signings ready to go at the same time to ease the backlash that will no doubt follow from fans. It’s a sad situation, it gives you an indication of the clubs aims and confirms something that has been thought for a long while, that top 4 is fine, the players know it, the fans now know it and Arsene has to admit he knows it.

You’re better than this Mr Wenger, your principles are sound and you have the right methodology for a modern football club. Move along and work somewhere where mediocrity isn’t celebrated and you’ve the time and finances to develop a seriously top club, oh and not just that, but where there’s the pressure of having to succeed – you’ve become indispensable at Arsenal and that breeds complacency and these players see that complacency at every level of the club, the same complacency fans have seen in recent years, and the same threat of falling out of Champions League football next season as a result.

This article is a re-post and merge of my now defunct OurFootballBlog football writing blog from 2010 – 2011.

As Manchester United secure their second signing of the summer I’ve had a number of requests to take a look at the lucky pair and cast my ever scrutinising eye over them. Sorry guys but here goes!

Phil Jones

I was pretty vocal last year (granted not on the blog!) that I’d not really seen a great deal of English football, however amazing the battles all over the league were I just found myself gravitating to the time schedules of the Spanish league instead. Anyway – one thing that didn’t pass my attention were the performances of Phil Jones in a Blackburn shirt, he appeared pretty much out of nowhere last season but quickly gained a lot of admirers and upon losing out in the chase Harry Redknapp stated him as an England captain of the future, high praise indeed.

However, if there’s one thing I hate about football currently, it’s that 6 good months seems to do the world of good for a players value and salary, and talent aside it seems United paid £16.5 million for half a seasons worth of performance. As such this is a deal I’d consider a gamble, but what it says about the wider context of the game is that gambles cost a lot more than they used to. My gut tells me it’ll pay off, if there’s anywhere a young player can flourish it’s Old Trafford and this is a real intent from United to build from a young player base again.

As a slight aside, I don’t however believe he’ll be playing in his favoured centre back role, at least not initially. One thing the team lacks at the moment is strength in the middle of the pitch and given Jones played as a defensive midfielder on a few occasions for Blackburn I’d suggest that’s where he’s headed in the short to medium turm and could quickly become a first team regular as a result.

Ashley Young

The headliner of this post has been confirmed this afternoon as a Manchester United player for around the tune of £16 million. Don’t compare the two fees and wonder why Jones was slightly more, Young’s contract was up next season and it was clear he wasn’t signing another, what’s interesting in that respect is the lengths teams have gone to to sign this player, it’s not cheap given he’ll cost nothing next summer but obviously no-one could wait.

What will he bring to the team? Honestly – probably the same things that Nani and Valencia bring to the team already, I don’t really see this as a signing that adds a new dimension to the team, but perhaps just gives it a bit more strength in depth particularly with Giggs ageing rapidly in recent months (ahem super-injunction). He can play all across the attacking midfield and has been known on more than one occasion to play behind a striker, I don’t see that being his role at United with Rooney enjoying a better season behind a main striker… unless – no, we’ll save that for next week I think

Overall I don’t think he’s a bad purchase, right player at the right price all said and done. He may well come on leaps and bounds at Old Trafford and it’ll be interesting to see now if he’s a regular fixture in the England starting lineup rather than just flirting with it as he did at Villa. We’ll see then how much it matters which club you play for, it can only do his chances the world of good anyway.

The Focus On Youth

I had an argument with Luke this week over the focus being put on youth players at certain clubs and not at others. Let’s just say he felt that United were doing more on the younger front that others – which in fairness may not be too far wide of the mark.

These two transfers to highlight two things, firstly that youth does seem to be the name of the game at the moment, I’d go as far to say that given the pending financial fair play rules United (and other clubs) are building teams that will stand them in stead for 10 years even if they cost a fortune at the moment – if United secure the services of De Gea then they’ll have a back 5 that’s almost a current first team and all in their late teens early 20s.

But here comes my point, this type of ‘youth development’ is no better or worse than signing an overpriced 30 year old either, with the exception of the Da Silva twins who were signed at 15 – though still not exactly home-grown, the other 3 places in that back 5 will have cost upwards of £45 million and not one of them ‘came through the ranks’ which is equally devastating to the genuine home-grown players as they’ve even less of a chance, at least an older player is going to move on sooner! What it tells me is that United aren’t producing the great players of tomorrow at the moment and surely Evans has to be questioning his future with the arrival of Jones. Further forward is no better, £16 million on a wide player who’s main role looks to be to bulk out the squad, are there no reserve or youth team players who could have stepped in alongside Nani and Valencia for those two positions? Really?

I digress, two signings with youth on their side, with at least one more all but signed, it’s not a coincidence that financial fair play is just around the corner – the question I ask you my humble reader is, will Manchester United be any better than last year with these two signings? I don’t think so and hence I refer you to my title for this post – you’ll never win anything with Young, bah I mean Youth!

This article is a re-post and merge of my now defunct OurFootballBlog football writing blog from 2010 – 2011.

So far it’s been a close-season of managers on the move and one position in particular has been hard to miss since the season finished – Chelsea are on the lookout for another first team coach (note my use of phrase) and after much conjecture it seems we may finally have a front runner, Andre Villas-Boas of Porto.

The Final Curtain Call

Love him or hate him it’s difficult to deny that Ancelotti was pretty hard done to in his final few months and it’s worth noting that those in the ‘hate him’ camp comprise pretty much of Roman Abramovich and a close circle of ‘Yes Men’. This sadly isn’t an uncommon trend at Chelsea with 6 managers so far in the 8 years Abramovich has been in charge with number 7 just around the corner, and with the managerial Merry-Go-Round in full swing it’s time to bring on the Chelsea Circus once more.

The Man, The Manager – The Coach? The New Ringmasters Apprentice

Most wont have heard of him before and those that do have probably only become aquaintend with him over the past 6 months through his work at Porto, but as it’s looking ever more likely this evening that the new number 2 at Chelsea (see what I did there again) will be the soon to be ex-Porto Manager Andre Villas-Boas, it seems wise to cover his background.

At 33 he’s a young manager, but he does have history with Chelsea and a certain ‘special one’ having been named Opposition Scout under Jose Mourinho. He was tasked with producing detailed reports on opposition teams right down to individual players including those featuring on the bench, it seems that attention to detail has always figured in his work and it’s this detail Abramovich may well be looking to harness to avoid some of the slip-ups that cost Chelsea again this year.

His managerial history is little, but successful. As manager of Academica in 2009 he took them from the bottom of the Portugeaus League to 11th place and 10 points clear of relegation along with a successful cup run to semi-final defeat against Porto. Whilst at Academica he played attractive but effective football, playing like the Spanish champions just wasn’t an option because the players weren’t up to it, but he did utilise his resources in such a way to create an efficient means of attractive football. Fast forward to today, after a year at Porto he’s won done the treble – namely winning the Portugeause league, the domestic Cup and the Europa League and with the same expansive style of play, this time more elaborate because of the improved standard of player – not quite Jose in disguise after-all.

Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea… does this fit or not? I can’t decide. Villas-Boas knows what he’s letting himself in for, he’s worked at the club before, so he must understand the pressures and the external influence on team policy and transfers that exist there – but Ancelloti knew this too and it didn’t help him. I can’t see him creating a rip-roaring change throughout the philosophy of the club so he’ll have to live with it regardless. At 15 million euros (oh yes that much) this isn’t going to be a cheap deal for Chelsea, so perhaps it does signal a change of emphasis for them, are we going to see Villas-Boas last 5 seasons minimum and be allowed to build a team? I think he’d like that.

One thing sticks out further than a sore thumb for me here – Chelsea’s previous form in manager selection, however ‘unsuccessful’ has been to pursue like a wild dog the manager who can bring European success and with the greatest respect to Villas-Boas he has very little ‘managerial’ experience, this isn’t the Hiddink selection Roman would like, it’s the polar opposite and whilst Villas-Boas is undoubtably capable it’s a very interesting shift in policy which may backfire for all concerned.

Too Many Rides & Sweets – Now I Just Feel Sick

I’ll come out and say it, I don’t think this is going to work out very well at all. I’d love to think that Chelsea will pay this 15 million euro price on his head and give him a 10-15 year contract, to come out and announce that they’ve signed the best young manager in the business and they intend to let him shape the club from the ground up. If this happens I’ll accept I’m probably lying in a hospital bed somewhere instead. The raw truth of the matter is it’ll be a fast start, that’ll peatier out and then come March the Circus will be back in town at Chelsea, because Roman will have thrust a new £40 million midfielder on him in January 2012 and semi-finals of the Champions League just isn’t good enough alongside another tight 3 way fight for the Premier League. Then finally, with as much fanfare and grace as the other managers before him were afforded, talk of the new manager coming in (most likely talk of Hiddink again!) will start before he’s even got his coat and Chelsea will be back at square one, I just hope the fans don’t get sick of the same old show.