And here we are, as the 2011-12 season hurtles ever closer (and ever earlier, what the hell’s going on Scotland?! It’s not even the last weekend in July yet...) we close out our end of season awards for 10/11 with the one’s that really matter. Come inside for the best TV programmes, the worst signings and what made us really, really angry over the past 12 months
Best TV Programme: Goals on Sunday
Not an easy choice this one, especially considering the mid season turmoil surrounding ‘smash-it’-gate. Although arguably, Sky Sports match day coverage has improved since the departure of Andy Gray and Richard Keys.
I enjoyed a rasping Gray sound-bite as much as the next man, and the absence of “I’m sorry keeper, you just don’t save those” is a shame. However, over the last year or so, if you ever actually paid attention and listened to Gray’s commentary, it was often alarmingly misplaced and biased. I think the problem was that Gray had become too reliant on his trademark catchphrases and therefore lazy. And for all his amusing and quaint characteristics, the end of Keys is not exactly a huge loss. While the media reporting of the scandal was out of all proportion, perhaps it was time for Sky’s coverage to be shaken up a bit.
Nonetheless, Sky’s reshuffle is not enough to land it the Best TV Programme trophy. Last year’s winner, Match of the Day, is also out of the running. It remains a solid offering, but the continued presence of Alan Shearer is a real hindrance, and the lack of genuine and meaningful analysis is really quite disappointing. Replaying the goals and saves we’ve already seen does not signify “analysis”.
With quality low and the choices minimal, this CollinsBeans award is going to Goals on Sunday, an often overlooked highlights show. After a few Honey Dews the night before, and a slightly sore head, the Goals on Sunday set up is quite soothing and actually provides more depth then Match of the Day or The Football League Show. Attention is given to providing the viewer with some genuine insight. The guests, admittedly, can be somewhat hit and miss but often the formula seems to work best when two former teammates or close friends are invited on. While it loathes me to laud “banter” between footballers, the tendency for the guests to jostle with each other and highlight blunders from their past is quite entertaining, and regularly some interesting detail will be given about previous training regimes or player habits. Dion Dublin laying into the attitude and ability of Bosko Balaban is actually quite a good watch.
It’s certainly not a flawless piece of broadcasting, but for providing genuine analysis and a bit of entertainment on a Sunday morning, not to mention a timely opportunity to catch the weekend’s action from all the leagues, Goals on Sunday scoops this prestigious award. (James Platt)
Best Pundit: Jonathan Wilson
It may be twisting the rules slightly in that a ‘pundit’ has usually been associated with the mediums of television and radio but in this modern, technological age in which we live and in which social media has, if you excuse the pun ‘moved the goalposts’ for football analysis this award is going to recognise as such by nominating some names that look at the best and worst of the game online, in blogs and via podcast. Besides, this way Martin Keown gets nowhere near this.
The name on the ballot then is a man with an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the game. That’s not in a ‘Motsonesque’ stat attack way (although if you want to know more about a Moldovan left back then this is your man) but rather in an analytical, what does winning football look like kind of way. Jonthan Wilson is not known on The Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast as a floating brain in a jar for nothing but while he could easily be dismissed as too dry and too ‘geeky’ that does a great disservice to a man that writes excellently and often poignantly on football from all around the world.
Moving on from his brilliantly put together ‘Inverting the Pyramid’ Wilson is a student of the tactical side of the game offering fascinating insights into just why a 4-2-3-1 is currently en vogue and less sides like to use wing backs. However just like the best systems, Wilson is no one trick pony and as anyone who has read his book ‘Football Behind the Iron Curtain’ will testify he is equally adept at writing about history, culture and travel. A thoroughly welcome antidote from the ‘wow. He’s hit it. Great goal’ kind of analysis. (Matthew Snelling)
Best Buy: Javier Hernandez
Peter Odemwingie came very close to bagging this one. He was signed for £2.5m and finished the season with 15 goals, playing for one of the league’s weaker sides. A very fine piece of business from Roberto Di Matteo.
Despite his alarming drop in form during the season’s end, Rafael Van der Vaart was also an excellent signing for Tottenham at £8m. The Dutchman clearly thrives on being the big fish in a small pond, and initially he absolutely exploded onto the scene in England.
However, after producing a campaign which seemed to improve with every game. Javier Hernandez gets this prize. It is the obvious choice, yet Hernandez looks such a bargain at £7m. Some vital goals and a great workrate, Hernandez was key to Manchester United’s title win and run to the final of the Champions League. (JP)
Worst Buy: Joe Cole
Jordan Henderson....oh sorry, this relates to 2010-11 and we’ll have to wait 12 months to bestow that particular honour, so we’ll have to look back and see who really, really stunk up last season and proved to be the worst value for money since. It was tempting to nominate Fernando Torres or either Andy Carroll but while the two rather, aheam ‘overpriced’ forwards hardly set the world on fire, we don’t know, we just wanted to show a bit more faith in the two, be optimistic and say that they’ll both improve. It is to Liverpool though we look when doling out this award.
Now, while around these parts it’s felt that Roy Hodgson was dealt a fairly bum hand during his brief, and ultimately ill fated reign at Anfield it’s hard to deny that he didn’t half buy some god dam terrible players. Paul Konchesky, Christian Poulsen, Milan Jovanovic, there wasn’t half some competition in the Liverpool arrivals lounge for the gong but you have to admit that you really have to go some to be the worst ‘buy’ of the season when you didn’t cost a thing (not forgetting the rather hefty wages of course). So step forward Mr Joe Cole.
When in your first home game you get sent off and then in your second you miss a penalty you are either Jonathan Woodgate or setting the tone for a rather dismal tone. It’s not that Joe Cole is a terrible footballer now, he’s not, but my word, last season he was staggeringly bad. Wandering around looking lost, contributing next to nothing Cole just never got going and it was hard not to feel a little bit sorry for him, as rather sadly he did seem to actually be trying. So, this is a present to hopefully make him feel that little bit better, here’s the CollinsBeans worst buy of the season award. And to think, this is the man that Steven Gerrard tried to assure was better than Lionel Messi. Yes, Steven, of course he is. (MS)
Best Moment: Charles N’Zogbia’s goal in the Wigan – West Hame game
A slightly leftfield choice admittedly, but I’m going with Charles N’Zogbia’s goal for Wigan against West Ham in the penultimate round of fixtures. It wasn’t the greatest goal you’ll ever see, or the best game when it comes to quality, but what preceded it was the type of football you never really see anymore.
In the often-documented days of negative tactics, defensive play and millionaire footballers not giving a toss about the welfare of the club they play for, this was a game which more closely resembled two Sunday league sides slugging it out for the love and pride of their team. The last twenty minutes in particular were extraordinary. West Ham, 2-0 up, had squandered their lead and with the score at 2-2, the draw was not enough to keep them up.
Despite a poor season, the players rallied for one last time and surged forward in search of a winner to keep their desperate campaign alive. Wigan, also needing maximum points, did exactly the same. Play lurched from one end to the other as midfield was bypassed and legs tired. The quality was poor, but for sheer entertainment this was a thrilling watch. It was, literally, the kind of game you might see in the park; twenty two men hauling their frames up and down a muddy pitch.
Very, very presentable chances came and went, and with three injury time minutes played of the allocated four, it seemed that the dreaded draw was on the cards for both sides. Then N’Zogbia struck, Wigan went wild and the West Ham fans could finally put an end to a miserable nine months. They were far better football moments in terms of technique and skill I’m sure, but for a twenty minute period there was no game more entertaining during the whole campaign then this one at the DW. And it’s not very often that happens. (JP)
Angriest Moment: The extra Champions League officials
Sure, there are many, many worse things going in the world, but in the insular existence of football, the deployment of two additional men with flags in the penalty area, for literally no reason whatsoever, was infuriating to say the least. It was made considerably worse by UEFA president Michel Platini’s smug assertion that this move was not a complete and utter waste of time and resources.
At the season’s end, Platini stated: “The two additional referees in each area are a great help.” It’s a shame no one else could back up his ridiculous claim. The extra officials appeared incapable, or without the authority, to make a polite suggestion to the referee, let alone anything resembling a decision. In many games, offences were committed inside the area, two or three yards away from these men, and they simply looked towards the man in the middle, and timidly nodded along with whatever decision he made. It was so unclear whether these hangers-on were even allowed to make a call, and what their exact role was, that it served to rile players and fans rather than appease them. The whole thing was just a monumental farce and how UEFA can claim the move was a success is beyond me.
No goal line technology to correct inaccurate decisions of the most important nature, but don’t worry servile football fans, they’ll be two extra blokes in referee kits hanging around the penalty area. Doing nothing.
Cheers for that one. (JP)
The one thing that you want to see next season: have a go!
If last season seemed to show us anything it was that the teams at the top were actually *gasps!* fallible and that they could, you know, if you actually had a go at them, be beaten. For too long teams turned up at Old Trafford and the Emirates and adopted the ‘Aston Villa’ approach, i.e. arrive and play for gallant 2-0 defeat. “In exchange for not getting pasted, we’ll make sure e never take any points of you!” that kind of thing. Well last year teams started to have a go, and whereas in the past West Brom might have just turned up at Arsenal and played damage limitation, last year they were bold, direct and showed the ‘bigger’ team no respect. The end result was that they won.
Yes, over a season the bigger teams will generally beat the smaller ones, but it should never be as clear cut as it used to be, when teams would be virtually beaten before they even step onto the pitch (think a Sam Allardyce side playing on managed by Sir Alex Ferguson). Managers should be free to pick whatever side that they like (another thing we could get rid of, the fines for playing ‘weakened teams’) but it would be nice if it were never an issue due to far less managers thinking that they could go into every game with a chance of winning.Too often in the past teams took a pasting without ever seeking to do much about it, it’s a change in mindset that’s needed.
There are far from vintage sides at the top of the table and they are there, begging to be put under more pressure. So Managers of mid ranking Premier League sides, this goes out to you! Go on make them work more for their points! You’ll be surprised at how much more popular it might make you. (MS)
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