Category Archives: UK

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⚽️ Firing David Moyes does not mean Manchester United will become a great side again 🥅 🏟

22 Tuesday Apr 2014

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ANALYSIS – David Moyes whose tenure as manager of Manchester United football club came to an end with two messages on twitter always had a difficult task – for one he had to follow in the footsteps of a great man and perhaps more importantly the side he inherited needed serious surgery.  The decision by the board at the club clearly shows that they could not trust the man chosen by Sir Alex Ferguson to make those tough decisions. United currently languish in seventh place out of reach of any Champions League football next season and the manner in which the side has played particularly against Liverpool and Manchester City as well as the last poor showing against Everton points to a manager unable to motivate an ageing side in the way José Mourinho has done at Chelsea.

The decision to fire Moyes has been endorsed by a rise in the share price.

That however does not address the central problem with this football club, that United have been in decline since their star player Cristiano Ronaldo abruptly left for Real Madrid. After that the club was held together for sheer force of will which meant that United were a fixture on the Champions League but no longer a force. And as long as they continued to prosper in the Barclays Premier League, there would be no complaints from the owners who could guarantee at least a third place to the shareholders. With the club languishing in seventh place and dull performances on the field the decision to fire their manager after just ten months is clearly a signal that the Glazer family have lost patience. Whether getting rid of the failing Scot will answer the clubs long term problems is however another matter.

For this is a club that is in decline and one that could have done with a man like Mourinho at the helm to steer it through those rough times. Instead, it made the decision to appoint a man with no experience of winning top level competitions and now finds itself nowhere.

Firing Moyes was easy – finding someone good enough to restore this club to the heights it once enjoyed is another matter though.

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Budget 2014: Coalition can’t hide that Britain is suffocating under a failed economic policy

20 Thursday Mar 2014

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TEMPLATE ANALYSIS

George Osborne’s budget for the year 2014 was a clear attempt by the Conservative Party to shore up its core voters –  the old and the rich who have been largely shielded as the county has suffered under the weight of austerity.
But there was no real attempt to help those who have been hit by the 40 per cent rate of tax,  the very people that championed Thatcher and her reforms.
The Chancellor fears that they will move to UKIP during the next general election yet his budget did little to redress the central problem of the tax rates –  that middle England is paying the same rate as the very richest,  and all the while the level of debt this country owes has remained largely the same.
Even the news that the level of personal allowance is to be raised above £10 000 has a sting in its tail – it could mean a rise in temporary work.
That on top of of the few pence that were recently added on the minimum wage means that there was little to help the little man.
More than this Osborne’s demeanour and PR statements talking up how well he has handled the economy show that this is a party and coalition government that has lost touch.
All they need to do is take a walk down any street in any town. And they will see Britain isn’t breathing, it’s suffocating under a failed economic programme.

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⚽️ Four sides are up for the Premier League Title 🥅 🏟

17 Monday Mar 2014

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TEMPLATE ANALYSIS

So, in the year after the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson four sides that would have struggled had he remained manager are now bidding for the title of Premier League Champions.
Yesterday’s results that saw Liverpool humble the ageing giant that is now Manchester United,  and Arsenal grinding out a result against a Spurs side that showed plenty of energy but little else, means that the Premier League is wide open, and promises to be even more exciting this year than it was when Manchester City grabbed a winner in the dying minutes of the season to steal the title.
Only one of the top four has the distraction of Europe – though that should not be a problem for Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea, whose side’s shock defeat on Saturday to Aston Villa now means all bets are off.
Mourinho has the experience and steely determination to steer his side through two tough tournaments simultaneously, although his Chelsea side are not the sharpest in the Premier League – that is surely Manchester City who are now favourites to take their second title in three seasons.
Mathematically, Liverpool can’t win should Chelsea win all their games, although this remains a league where the bottom side can still inflict a defeat on the top one. And that leaves Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal who having lost to Bayern Munich despite a very encouraging performance, who are in with a shout for the FA Cup and who managed to make Tottenham look like a second league side despite their North London rivals having most of the possession.
Until yesterday’s win, most people had written off the Gunners’ chances.  But they remain contenders – whether they can make it count this season is of course another matter.

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Protected: Farewell Tony Benn, the Leftwinger who kept the Tories in power

14 Friday Mar 2014

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ARSENAL BLEW IT AGAIN

12 Wednesday Mar 2014

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TEMPLATE ANALYSIS

No one gave the Gunners a chance last night as they attempted to overturn a two goal deficit against the European Champions on their home turf.
Surely, lightning doesn’t strike twice, surely last year’s 1-0 win at Bayern Munich was a freak result.
Well, for the first twenty minutes or so it looked like Arsene Wenger’s nearly men were never going to get a sniff of chance at the opposition goal, as the powerful Germans played lockdown.
For the rest of the half Arsenal had their moments but nothing more.
And when Bayern’s Bastien Schweinsteiger grabbed a goal early in the second half, it looked like the floodgates had opened. But then something astonishing happened when the German forward Lukas Podolski literally brushed aside a Bayern defender and fired in the equaliser against his old club.
Podolski had expected to be booked but Arsenal had got back in and the manner had stunned the opposition who like the powerful national side folded now they were under the cosh.
After this Bayern looked ordinary as Arsenal had numerous opportunities to seal the deal. Trouble is they just did not have the quality up front to make that happen.  Mesut Ozil the man who had missed that penalty in the first leg and who could been the made the difference here had been subsituted for the second half of this leg for what later turned out to be a hamstring injury.
It could have been Arsenal’s day – a fact underlined by Bayern’s Thomas Muller missing a penalty in the last minute, after Lukasz Fabianski dived the right way and then dived again to prevent a follow up.
But Arsenal blew it – sure there were positives, Wenger’s men had made the superhuman Germans look ordinary, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was energetic, but he like the rest of the fowards just didn’t make it count.
And with that it another year out of the Champions league for the Premier League’s great underachievers.

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