Why should we give good education and respect rules to football players?

Why should we?

Well just watch this link, hoping this will never repeat itself in any game around the world. Let us think twice about winning at any cost.

I've always been respectfull of my opponent. As a player, as a coach and as a man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WnLwuZGGdQ

New rules - very hard ones - should be proposed to punish this kind of attitude on the field.

MASTERCLASS Champions League players no taller than 1,70m. !?!

Incredible Barcelona !!!
Magnificent creative football !!!


Oliver Kay, the Times: "If Sir Alex Ferguson felt beforehand that United are a club who deserve to have more than three European Cups to their name, he could hardly begrudge Barcelona their third success after a performance that was embellished by goals from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi, and illuminated by the midfield artistry of Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez, two wonderful players, who enhanced their reputations further on a night when no United player came close to living up to his." What happend to certain big names coaches and managers who were discriminating small players and praising tall big guys to play top football ?!?

The Champions League final was a big football lesson for certain "football expert"... and a big victory for those who believe in creative and magic football.

Did you notice that Messi, Iniesta and Xavi, starclass players, are no taller than 1,70 m. !?! What does that tell us?

Well, food for thought... goodbye. - coach De Ridder

SIGN OF QUALITY

"The first sign of quality is consistency."
- Arsene Wenger

I totaly agree with Arsene's vieuw. Beating one of the top teams in Europe is great, but if you can't repeat week after week this performance... - you are not a top team, you are just a "good" team and... certainly not a team who's going to win the championship.

It is important to reconize it and be aware of it.

Consistency is another key of true succes. I've seen a lot of clubs, journalist and fans being "bluffed" by some players or clubs.

A player who plays very well one game and scores a goal but can't repeat this performance two, three, four times in a row is not a top player, is not a star.. he is just a good player not more. You can include him in the team but certainy not make him a player where you build your team around... and certainly not pay him a "star" salary.

"Star"salary comes only when the player can shows his "magical" consistency game after game.

To win a championship or cup, I've always gave my preference to a player who is consistant, even if he is a little bit lesser talented than a player who can once in a while produce some magic. This type of player is going to play well five or six times in your season... but let you and the team down twenty or twenty-five games, because he's not consistant.

The ideal are players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Berbatov, Teves, Gerrard, Lampard, Scholes, Makelele, John Terry, Canavaro..ect. They have it all: consistancy and talend.

A key to consistancy: Great positive mental attitude.

- Coach De RIDDER

At big clubs, it’s absolutely paramount that the board show their class.

Fergie wades into Liverpool row

Sir Alex Ferguson has entered the debate about Rafael Benítez's increasingly precarious position at Liverpool by accusing the club's owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks of lacking "class".

The Manchester United manager said for the first time that he believes Liverpool are out of the title race and he questioned whether they would ever be regarded as serious challengers while there were so many political problems behind the scenes at Anfield. - Daniel Taylor, Guardian

"At big clubs, it’s absolutely paramount that the board show their class. Arsène Wenger has had great support at Arsenal and I’ve had great support, too, ever since I came here. So there’s a certain type of unity there." Sir Alex Ferguson on the importance of board room backing for a manager.

"I have to agree with what Sir Alex Ferguson says in this article, if a club wants to stay in the elite of their country, the board of directors have to show their class and maturity in order to keep the club in the top.

Players, coach, manager, director, fans have to show their unity in order to maintain the club at his best... but let's not forget that it is the board of directors duties to manage all these in the best interest of the club.

I remember the time, some years ago, when the big Real Madrid was winning nearly every game with Zidane, Ronaldo, Raul and Roberto Carlos... the board of directors decided not to level up Makelele salary to the other stars... as a result: he left the club. From that date, Real Madrid started to sink and never totaly recovered. The same club hired Fabio Capello as coach and sacked him, even when he brought back Real Madrid and became Champion.

Yes, I agree with Fergie... a touch of class is needed to be a big club board of director member." - Philippe De Ridder

Why do we love or hate charismatic coaches?

You love him or you hate him but...

"Johan Boskamp, 59, took over FC Dender, a first division Belgian Club , in just 6 weeks he saved them from relagation.

Boskamp is another true champion. He was the first foreign football player to receive the "golden boot" trophee (best player of the year) in his playing days - 1975. He has been my mentor for years in my young playing days at RWDM, taking me to his home and giving me the right values in the football world. Boskamp for all the "Boskamp boys", as people called us, was an inspiring figure who always tried to help and protect young players.

He believes in top football education where the first team and the youth are close related and interact. As a coach, he brought several times RSC Anderlecht to the supreme title in Belgium. Boskamp is a figure that you like at once or.. dislike at once. In my personal case, I love him. I have a lot of respect for his work and who he is... a simple man who loves football from all his heart... but most of all... still a friend" - Philippe De Ridder

Here is an article made by the Stoke City football redactor when Boskamp took over as Manager of the club:

Charisma.

Boskamp’s arrival at the club has certainly livened things up! I remember watching the live news conference on Sky when Pulis was appointed and found it a very downbeat affair, and really from that moment I struggled to warm to him. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was that made me reluctant to trust him fully or accept him, but I guess there was something about his character or charisma that give me a gut feeling that all was not well.

However I put my initial unease to one side and supported him for the greater good of the club. I even had his picture on my wall! I was largely satisfied with his efforts until his final season, but could never whole-heartedly warm to Pulis or trust him, and by the end of his reign I was openly irritated by him and was glad when he was sacked.

By contrast there is something about Boskamp that I can’t help warming to. He exudes a charismatic, humorous manner that I can’t help but like, and his aims, proposed methodology, and ambitions for the club make me desperate for him to succeed.

The ability to talk straight about matters, use humour, and bring a fresh and different approach to the club has certainly been for me a more positive change, and made me excited about going to Stoke again. This was in total contrast to Pulis who had removed what little enthusiasm I had left by the end of his tenure, to the point I was wallowing in complete apathy.

Boskamp promised a more entertaining and attacking style, and the opening few games seemed to bear this out, containing such drama, excitement, and even had broadsheet newspapers enthusing about our play for once. What a refreshing change from the negativity that hung over Pulis and the Britannia Stadium like a dark cloud. I was sick of Pulis’ post-match interviews, patronising us with talk of a working-class area wanting hard work, and Stoke City struggling to compete with other sides. I want hard work and commitment yes, but I want to see good footballing principles, and entertainment. Boskamp has a vision of how this can be achieved. It is whether or not he gets the time and the necessary support to bring success and entertainment to Stoke City in equal measures.

I accept that much of such feeling is entirely subjective, and down to personality preferences. I accept that more cautious fans might prefer a Pulis style of management, preaching safety first. But all I can say is that of the two styles and approaches, I warm more easily to a jovial “character”, who on the one hand can make jokes about his love of chips, while on the other believes in trying to play football that will entertain the fans. He makes me want to listen, as opposed to switch off. He makes me want to go to watch Stoke City again.

He has reignited the passion that Pulis had extinguished. There’s hardly a dull moment at the club now for sure!

What makes a great coach... great?

Wenger surprised and pleased by Keegan return
- By Richard Clarke

Arsène Wenger is happy to have Kevin Keegan back in football.
The former England midfielder returned to the manager’s seat at Newcastle earlier this week in a fanfare of glory on Tyneside. Like the rest of the football world, his Arsenal counterpart was shocked and delighted by the development.

“I was surprised and pleased,” he said. “I am pleased because he has a positive attitude in the game, he loves football and his teams try to play."

"Again, Wenger shows how great he is as a manager/coach. Good people are always pleased to compeet against each other in a positive and respectfull way. The mark of the greats." - Philippe De Ridder

Vous êtes comment vous jouez... You are how you play.

Wenger - My special way of judging players
- By Richard Clarke

Arsène Wenger has one virtually fool-proof way of testing the character of any potential new signing — he just watches them play.

The Arsenal manager is well-known for considering a player’s personality off the pitch as well as their quality on it before he decides to make a bid. And, according to the Frenchman, all the background research in the world cannot make up for a good, long look at a player in action. Wenger believes the way you play your football is the way you live your life.

That is why he has never signed a player from viewing videos alone. “You try to get as many guarantees as you can but when you see a player you can know his character,” remarked the 58-year-old. “There is no better study than to watch somebody play. When he goes on the football pitch he becomes who he really is. “In normal life you can hide. On the football pitch you show who you really are. That is why you should watch a player well so you can see behind his character because he delivers that with his performance.”

But, speaking at the launch of Arsenal TV, the Frenchman added that modern transfers do not give a manager the luxury of scrutiny. “It is sometimes a question of time,” said Wenger. “We need to make quick decisions because we are competing with the other clubs. Some you have to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ without the time to get all the guarantees. “You can go home at midnight and if you don’t make a decision by 5am then the guy has gone somewhere else. He’ll have two planes booked. One goes to, say, Paris St-Germain and one comes to London.”