I think that....

….I do not like the fact that in the last few years, a number of foreign athletes have been nationalised and will compete for Great Britain in the Olympics. I don’t think anybody will accuse me of being racist – I would have no problem if it was not so blatant, but it smacks of desperation to boost GB’s chances of reaching their medals target. If any of them win, nobody will complain, and history will only show the medals table, but I can’t think it is right.

….one of my favourite sports writers is Peter King of Sports Illustrated. He knows his NFL inside and out, and in turn, he helps his readers know a fraction of it inside and out. Along with Kevin Iole at Yahoo, Steve Kim at Maxboxing, and Thomas Hauser at Seconds Out, they are my favourite sports writers. For some reason, I have yet to find a favourite football writer – maybe I trust my judgement better than theirs.

….I will not be attending the David Haye v Derek Chisora fight. How the Luxembourg Boxing Board can sanction this fight in England demonstrates how poor and disjointed the administration is in the world of Boxing. I’m staging a mini protest for that reason…..and because I don’t think it will be a great fight.

….Pep Guardiola has done a fantastic job at Barcelona, but I cannot be convinced about him until he proves himself elsewhere, and I think that will be extremely difficult. The players were largely in place before he took over and the system certainly was. His transfer record was not the best. And I think he is largely overrated despite having a sensational record. That all said, watch Chelsea or another rich team throw stupid money at him, which he will eventually take. As an outside shot, I wouldn’t rule out him returning to Barca after one season….you heard it here first!

….as sad as it is for Rangers fans, they have an opportunity to rebuild the club from almost scratch and start again – managing the club and playing squad correctly. Unfortunately, I think it will be negative for the league, and will reduce the quality of Celtic too. Motherwell will be knocked out of Europe pretty quickly next year, and Scottish football could suffer further. What Rangers misery does mean, is that they will likely be forced to give young home grown talent a chance, and may be that is a blessing in disguise….if there is one.

….the example of a manager’s impact on a team cannot be emphasised enough when you consider Chelsea under Andre Villas-Boas and Chelsea under Roberto di Matteo. Perhaps even more importantly however, it shows the impact an owner or chairman can have in supporting his manager also – something AVB ultimately did not have.

….my feelings on Tim Bradley potentially upsetting Manny Pacquiao in June are still the same as my blog back in January….i think he has the stamina, speed, and toughness to cause Manny some serious problems. This is the first time in some time that I think Manny is fighting somebody at his peak, and in his natural weight class – and I think Manny will find it extremely difficult. Bradley is far from great to watch, but I think he is an extremely talented and solid boxer with a very good defence…so much so that I may even have a bet on him as there is usually value on anybody fighting Manny or Floyd. As much as the whole world wants to see Floyd v Pacman, I think there may be a spanner in the works at some point, and this could be it.

….the American businessman who is investing $20m in recruiting American heavyweight boxers, will pay them to train at his facility, and he will subsequently get a share if the profits from future events involving those boxers, could be on to a winner. If this is done correctly and they scout talent well at a young enough level, and they look at it as a long term investment, this could be a fantastic idea and concept. One thing is for sure, Heavyweight boxing is desperate right now and has been for some time. The only other sure thing is that there is big money to be made in it. I saw calculations that a Manny/Floyd fight would generate $300m. If this guy has hundreds of millions, then I think it is worth a shot. One of the most innovative ideas I have come across and I like it.

…..i was involved in a slightly bizarre interview this week and was asked a question that I have never been asked before. The candidate asked us ‘Why would you pick me over the other people?’ A strange one considering she was the second of nine people that we were interviewing, and a stranger one considering her profile. She did not make it, but she wins the award for best ‘asking-you-the-question-you’re-supposed-to-ask-the-candidate question!

You Can Choose Your Friends....

I wake up on Monday morning a little confused. The surroundings are not home, but I have become used to that. The time is later than we usually wake - we are used to getting up at 6am and it is 8.30am. I have a dream in the back of my mind but it is taking me some time to piece it together in my confused state. It was a football dream. No surprise there. I was playing....I've still got enough energy to charge round a pitch so again, hardly a great surprise. I go to the bathroom, where much of my greatest thinking occurs. I am playing football, with some friends, enjoying the game, bending some free kicks like Beckham....and I am wearing high heels. All my team-mates are wearing high heels. And we are all guys.

Sometimes it is good to wake up, even if you are short on sleep. This was one occasion. Some things in life you choose. Some things are chosen for you and you play with the card you are dealt. This dream was dealt to me, and the only choice I have is to embrace the dream and hope and pray it was a one off.

It's a bit like the old saying about being able to choose your friends but not your family. I liken it also to how you begin supporting a team. Little Bobby never wanted to be a Leeds fan like the rest of his pals at school. They were in the second division at the time, while Everton were riding high. Not that it made much of a difference, as I would not have chosen Leeds any way, just to be awkward. I am not the kind of guy who likes to be different. I do have a track record of being awkward at times, and this was one of those moments.

There are two phrases that are used at Everton.....and they are cheesy as they come. 'Evertonians are born, not manufactured' and 'Once a blue, always a blue.' You often hear of people supporting one team during their early years and occasionally making a switch – that does not happen with Everton fans. You may switch to Everton, but you will not decide to shelve them and go for somebody else. It happens with other clubs and there is an example in my family. My cousin’s son TJ, whom you may know from the dance floor if you attended our wedding, used to be a Manchester United fan. I took him to Wembley in 2009 to watch Everton v Man Utd in the FA Cup semi-final, and before kick-off, he was wearing blue. That may have been something to do with being surrounded by hundreds of slightly tipsy singing Evertonians on the train, but he knew what was good for him. It may not have been the Leeds United his father would crave, but it is not Manchester United, which surely has to be a bonus living in Leeds. Anyhow, he is stuck with the Blues now, always a Blue.

So many of us choose a team when we are young and with twenty years hindsight, you wonder why you made the decision. Nobody has ever called me a glory supporter as it has been downhill ever since but that was in essence what it was with Everton dominating in the mid-eighties. Unfortunately, you can ditch your friends, you can change your car, but the team becomes part of the family and there is no escaping that even when times are bad.

Another season is coming to a close and another season of raised hopes but inevitable disappointment for my boys. It is looking like a seventh place finish which on the face of it is a fantastic finish with the resources we had available and the circumstances faced. It may end up being one place higher than those in red, and if it does, that will be a small consolation. It could have been better, but it could have been much worse.

I finished a fantastic book last week called the GM by Tom Callaghan. It gave great insight to the role of the General Manager at an NFL team. Effectively, he is the only guy in the teams that must think long and short term. He makes the calls on player recruitment, and always has an eye on the long term development of the team. Some are good, some are bad as in any sport. At Everton, we are lucky, to have had a great manager for over ten years now who has had the possibility to consider long and short term. That is not the case for so many other managers and coaches who change clubs with such frequency, that long term planning is impossible. It is a serious flaw in the game, particularly English football. You have the guy whose future depends on the next few results, signing players on four or five year contracts – where is the logic? I do not suspect it will change as it is certainly endemic in English football, and these things take years and decades to change. Heck, even heels may be adopted before that happens.

Some clubs have tried to bring the role in, with Liverpool being the most recent team. They fired Damien Comolli a month ago after it was deemed that his methods of player recruitment had proven unsuccessful. No surprise that it was American owners that brought him in, but even they may have realised that it is difficult to adapt to. The other side to the logic is that you are asking a coach to coach players that he may not want or like. Maybe in that sense, it is better to stick to tried and trusted method that has existed for years. It will likely lead to mistakes proving extremely costly, (Andy Carroll any one?) but the truth is that those kinds of mistakes still happen where GMs are in place (Albert Haynesworth perhaps?).

When I was younger I remember reading a story about a child who tried divorcing her parents – a pretty radical idea at the time, and still is really. It got me thinking that perhaps you can indeed have some choice in your family. I must admit that it did cross my mind once or twice when I was in trouble, but it is fair to say that it was nowhere near as much as my parents wishing they could divorce me no doubt. I liken the role of parents to that of the GM – they have to have the long term development and perspective in mind, but they have to get through the next day and week with the kids. A bit like supporting Everton, you may have fleeting thoughts of divorcing them too when they lose a key semi-final against the enemy, but they are part of the family, and regardless of the options that exist in different colours, you’re ultimately stuck with them. You can choose your friends, but not your team, nor your dreams.