Houllier's cash benefit
Aug 19 2005
By David Prentice, Liverpool Echo
LIVERPOOL put a £7m price tag on Milan Baros' head; so Gerard Houllier is immediately planning an £8.5m bid.
Good to see the man who spent £10m on El-Hadji Diouf, £11m on Emile Heskey, £7m for Chris Kirkland and £5m for Salif Diao hasn't lost his touch.
Fighting talk folly
IS FA chief executive Brian Barwick having some kind of mid-life crisis?
Reacting to Alan Smith's decision not to play for England this week, he said: "Not the cleverest thing to do. I never got the opportunity to play for England, turning that chance down is a disappointment."
Barwick never got that chance because he was never a professional footballer.
Or even much of an amateur one.
"I was a very poor Barrow Sunday League centre-half," he recalled. "As the games took place on the mornings-after-thenights-out-before, I was usually quite languid in my approach and carrying an extra pound or two!"
Which is why I was so disappointed to see Danny Williams duck out of a British heavyweight title fight with Matt Skelton. You see I was never fortunate enough to get the opportunity to fight for a British title.
Well Brian Barwick started it!
Just plane madness
THE Scotland squad travelling to Austria this week was delayed on takeoff - because the charter plane was too small to handle all the luggage.
Walter Smith and his players were forced to sit in their seats for almost an hour and a half while the 737-500 remained grounded at Glasgow.
Ground crew and flight attendants joined forces to try to cram in all the baggage and at one point even the captain joined in.
For the return journey, the Scots were advised to leave behind all unecessary and useless baggage.
Suggestions that goal-keeper Rab Douglas was left kicking his heels on the Graz tarmac are still unconfirmed.
Rough justice
STEVE Bennett was honest enough and candid enough to admit he was wrong to dismiss Jermaine Jenas.
The red card he brandished has been downgraded to a yellow. I'm sure Graeme Souness is thrilled - after seeing his Newcastle team's sterling rearguard action at Arsenal wrecked 10 minutes from time after an erroneous red in the first half.
Did you expect praise for the most pompous, preening and petty match official in the Premiership - who sent a player off for a challenge he couldn't possibly have seen clearly?
THE donkey ears were affixed to images of David James' head this week - and under-standably so, given his uncanny impersonation of Wayne Sleep hailing a taxi as he hurtled off his line in Copenhagen.
But I found his post-match reaction strangely endearing.
James cocked up. But he admitted it, then poured petrol on the fires by admitting he didn't prepare properly.
The footballing mantra "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail" is drilled into footballers from a very young age.
But James admitted: "Be-cause I knew I wasn't going to start, for once I didn't do my starting preparations.
"The whole thing about preparation is that you could go on in the first minute. It is a lesson I try to teach youngsters and it is one I should follow through myself.
"Maybe I can get away with this one because it is a friendly and has no bearing on qualification.
"But I am representing England and I should have paid more attention. There were things I did which I will make totally sure I never do again."
In an age where footballers hide behind sound-bites, cliches and "no comments" it was refreshing to hear a footballer being so brutally honest. And a shame that his honesty will be used as another stick to beat him with.
