Two Tribes

Journalist and Liverpool football fan, Tony Evans, has a new book set for release from Bantam Press. Two Tribes focuses on the 1986 FA Cup final between Liverpool and Everton, the first time the Merseyside clubs met in the showpiece final at Wembley Stadium.

In 1986, the eyes of the world were upon the two Liverpudlian clubs, a year after the Heysel Stadium disaster; a tragedy which had far-reaching impact upon the cultural and sporting landscape for years to come.

Evans has brilliantly constructed a time machine and cultural artefact looking at the cause and effect of the Heysel tragedy and why it might have happened, not blaming Liverpool fans as many tried to but focusing on the political landscape in the United Kingdom where a toxic environment of anti-government resentment led to protests upon the football terraces.

Evans' notes that hooliganism had been ripe in the football stands for many years not just in English stands but European ones when teams visited.  He notes that two weeks before Heysel, Everton played in the Cup Winners' Cup final in Rotterdam without any incident.  The contrast between the two was vast, partly because Liverpool was the best club side in the world at that moment, more of a spotlight was thrown on them and their fans.

Ultimately, the tragedy at Heysel was blamed on English supporters, with a blanket club ban on English sides in European competition for five years. This led to teams missing out on being in the best club tournaments, mainly Everton who won the league twice and could not play against the continental best.  This led to certain players moving to Continental Europe - Gary Lineker, Glenn Hoddle, Chris Waddle - to extend their careers.

Another reason led to things changing was the advent of a new money windfall as the 'Big Five' attempted to get more live football on television screens; broadcast companies would not feature live football apart from cup finals and major international tournaments for fear of broadcasting fights on the terrace rather than the beautiful game.

Evans makes good points on this influx of money and how it would change football and those who play it; the drinking culture is incorporated into a chapter on Frank McAvennie who helped West Ham to third in the first division when Liverpool won the double.

But for all the money, there is still a feeling that the clubs love their fans but are negligent to their safety as Heysel and the fire at Bradford were eerie harbingers to the ultimate tragedy of Hillsborough which was three years away.

It is important Evans states that football mirrors society at vital times in history; football during the mid-1980s was a place away from government where people seeked freedom from the monotony of social angst. 

Today we live in a world of isolationism, breaking away from Europe and selfishness; on our football fields we think our league is better than everyone else's yet our teams struggle in Europe and players are paid fortunes whilst fans are asked to pay more and more for a product that rarely delivers. 

Yet there remains in football a tribalistic mentality - us v them - that underscores many who watch the game, and seen at the London Stadium two weeks ago when West Ham fans made their bitterness known to the owners of West Ham United barraging them with chants from below as they sat in exulted seats.

Through the microcosm of one momentous year in English league football - from drunken footballers periously sitting astride the tenants of amateurism and professionalism; the Full Members' Cup in the absence of European competition - culminating in the coronation of one of England's greatest club sides, Evans has crafted a wonderful book that is part keepsake, part social comment, part football lore but fully brilliant.

Two Tribes is out from Bantam Press in Hardback from Thursday 22nd March.

My thanks to Thomas Hill at Transworld Books for the opportunity to review.

Out of the Shadows

Gary Jordan, a freelance journalist, has written a fan's perspective and history of the 1982 England World Cup side that despite being one of the best accumulation of talent failed to progress beyond the convoluted second round where two 0-0 draws eliminated a team that won its first three games confidently.

Harking back to the 1970 quarter final defeat by West Germany which was the end of that generation's playing time together and the end of international careers of Bobby Charlton and Martin Peters. Jordan makes pit stops at the terrible mid-1970s when England failed to qualify for two consecutive World Cup finals due to a mixture of being unable to change with the times and selection issues off the field as well as on it.

Ron Greenwood - England manager 1977-1982

Jordan does investigate and explain how England side-stepped Brian Clough twice; initially for his nemesis Don Revie and then the FA darling, Ron Greenwood.  However, the reason England stumbled throughout the 1970s was more a fact to an inflated ego and self-importance of the Football Association following the glory of 1966.  England felt they were the best in the world, yet they did not follow it up despite playing so admirably in Mexico 1970; tactical naivety led to Alf Ramsey substituting Bobby Charlton when 2-0 up prompting a West German fightback which England could not prevent.

The 1982 England World Cup Squad

Ramsey got too long in the tooth by 1973 when Poland denied England at Wembley, and Revie could not do much better in attempting to qualify for Argentina in 1978.  Revie promptly left England for the oil money of the Middle East leaving England as poison chalice for whomever took charge.

Greenwood comes across as an esteemable figure, lauded by his peers and hugely admired by his players who got the best out of youngsters and was able to combine experience and youth in a dynamic package.  Whilst he had the veterans of Kevin Keegan, Trevor Brooking and Phil Thompson, he equally relied on the brash Bryan Robson, Ray Wilkins and Terry Butcher who would all become mainstays for the next four years.

However, Greenwood still succumb to problems that regularly beset England managers at major tournaments - think of the crippling metatarsals to David Beckham and Michael Owen, for Greenwood it was the lower back injury to Kevin Keegan who did not seek help from a respected German doctor until it was too late; and then tactical downfalls and second guessing. England needing to win the second second round group game versus Spain decided to play tactically and wait for an opportunity to win rather than go for the 'jugular' as Terry Butcher suggests, leaving the calvary of Keegan/Brooking only 26 minutes to save the day.  Greenwood admits he was damned if he did and damned if he did not but the chance of glory should not be passed up.

Kevin Keegan - injury cost him a starting place

These are familiar pitfalls for all England managers and Gareth Southgate may well encounter these before Russia next summer but ultimately when you have a class of player at your disposal you should not pass it up, and while Southgate is attempting to incorporate youth in with mainstays, the foundation of any campaign requires goals. If you cannot score goals, you cannot win games.

The book is a nice read from Gary Jordan, short sharp chapters that recall the matches fondly bringing in all manner of cultural resonance from the Falklands War to the searing heat of Spanish summers which led to Paul Mariner losing a stone in weight wearing a heavy polyester kit during the opening France game.

Written with passion and fondness for a by-gone pre-1992 Premier League era, Jordan has written a great tome to a team that though full of talent is regularly forgotten about in the shadow of our recall.

Out of the Shadows is out now from Pitch Publishing.

You can follow Gary Jordan on Twitter, he is sports features writer for The American, a magazine aimed at Ex-Pats in England

My Sports Personality of 2016

It is always difficult to make a case for the illustrious Sports Personality of the Year or SPOTY as it is now reduced to a hashtag in this day and age. It is even harder to nominate or make the case for someone during an Olympic year when the shortlist of 10 nominees is harder and harder to sustain.

The problem with it being only 10 nominations, they probably should extend it to a full dozen in this special year of British sporting achievement, is that the 10 nominations will be strictly limited to Olympian medallists and them alone.

While I am all for the rightful adulation of our British sportspeople, considering that 20 years ago we returned from an Olympic Games with only two rowers worthy of first class seats on the flight back. Now we have a flight full of first class seats it still remains the regular people sitting at the top table. This year you are guaranteed to see nominations for Andy Murray, Mo Farah, Bradley Wiggins and the double Tour de France winner Chris Froome, who also got a bronze medal in the Individual Mens Time Trial.

My hope is that the nominees will draw up a shortlist and the fact that we did so well in minority sports will help the exposure for those same sports. Yet you add to those first four people the names Laura Trott (two Olympic Golds this year, four in total) and her fiancee, Jason Kenny (three Gold medals, making it six in total). That makes 6 people already.

Add double Olympic Gymnastic gold medallist Max Whitlock and Britain's first swimming Olympic Gold medallist Adam Peaty and you now have 8.  So based on the BBC criteria of 10 on the shortlist that leaves just two space. Luckily it has been a bad year for football with England doing so poorly in the European championships although the unlikely tale of Leicester City may generate a nomination for Jamie Vardy, yet when was the last footballer to genuinely have a personality?

Lewis Hamilton could garner a nomination if he retains his Formula 1 crown, although his poor media relations and childish behaviour in press conferences may put a dent in that.

Perhaps a nomination to cover the successful British sports teams, Kate Richardson-Walsh was captain of the Women's Hockey Team who won Gold on a Friday night and had the nation rapt with attention, it would be a nice nomination to commemorate her service to the sport also. Joe Root has again been England's best cricketer in all three formats of the game. A nomination for the England rugby union team perhaps in the form of Maro Itoje who was dominant throughout the Six Nations and the triumphant tour of Australia.

All valid claims I am sure you will agree and yet my nomination goes towards someone whose early calendar success was a surprise, as pleasant a surprise as Leicester City; who kept on climbing her rankings ladder with a drive and ambition rarely seen in her sport by British people and whilst she did not perform well in the Olympic games nevertheless she has maintained her form all year and is now ranked in the Top 10 of the world.  An achievement unheard of certainly for nearly 30 years in the world of British tennis.

My nomination goes to Johanna Konta, a young woman who plays with a determination and belief in her ability that stemmed from her unlikely run to the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January.  A succession of five victories that started with her defeating Venus Williams in straight sets and ultimately succumbed to the eventual winner and now World No.1 Angelique Kerber.  This success maintained and despite poor showings at the Grand Slams at Roland Garros and Wimbledon by her now high standards, she returned again and won her first WTA title at Stanford beating Venus Williams on her home turf at the end of July.  

This led to her fourth round exit at Flushing Meadows, which again was a second week exit. Gone are the days now when British players apart from Andy Murray, turn up and leave a Grand Slam within 48 hours. Konta has eyes on making the end of season Tour Finals in Singapore, she did herself a massive favour by reaching the final of the China Open last weekend losing to Agnieszkwa Radwanska in the final. Konta sits in the 8th and final position to reach the payday week another good week in Hong Kong will do her a great help again.

It is her ambition to keep improving, her desire to be a good role model to younger players and the achievement of getting as far as she does despite her limitations as a smaller frame in comparison to the taller bigger players on tour such as the Williams' sisters, Kerber, Kvitova and Radwanska. These players may be stronger, but the heart Konta has shown to come this far whilst keeping her private life out of the papers and doing it always with a smile on her face speaks volumes.

The award is Sports Personality of 2016, voters should remember that 2016 is not restricted to a two week festival in Rio.  It happens all year and all year Johanna Konta has played at a level beyond our expectation of her, for that she should be rightly lauded and acclaimed.