An angry QPR fan's rant about football's flaws.

I was sent this in an email forward by my Dad. If you're a football fan, you'll appreciate how funny and true it is. I'll just choose to ignore the anti-Leeds sentiments...

From Football 365:
I take more pleasure in seeing Chelsea lose than I do in seeing QPR win at the moment.

I sat through so many matches when we were absolute dogs**t under the likes of Ray Harford and with people like Paul Bruce, Matthew Brazier and Mark Perry in the squad and I never felt like this.

The club isn't ours anymore but moreso than that - football is just properly gash these days.

I mean really gash.

football generally.

I hate nearly everything about it these days....

I hate the Prem and the myth that it is exciting this year. Man City breaking into the top four isn't exciting. They spent loads of money. It's no more exciting that Nameless C*** getting to number 1 in the charts after winning the X-Factor.

I hate the myth of Arsene's kids. Buying some French kid when he's 17, playing him in the League Cup and then selling him when he's 20 after about 3 appearances in the league is NOTHING SPECIAL.

I hate hearing about Liverpool/Man Utd's debt but nothing ever happening about it. A club needs to go to the wall for the money thing to change but it doesn't happen. Why the **** are Charlton, Leeds and Southampton still in business?

I hate Frank Lampard's stupid f'ing face. I hate that Joe Cole's tongue is never in his mouth, the downsy spacker. I hate John Terry being England captain when he's CLEARLY AN OAF.

I hate the England team.

I hate young exciting wingers who have nothing but pace. Tony Scully had nothing but pace.

I hate the FA Cup. There may be little shocks like last night but for the most part you know who's going to win it. Unless a team throws away all their financial security to win it a la Pompey.

I hate Harry f'ing Redknapp. And Jamie Redknapp. And Louise Redknapp. And the Wii.

I hate James Nesbitt, Eammon Holmes and f***ing everyone.

I hate Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer.

I hate Garth Crooks.

I hate Garth Brooks for that matter.

I hate Sky Sports.

I hate that when a lower league player beats 10 players and chips the keeper it doesn't matter but if Rooney scores from more than 20 yards it's amazing.

I hate that everything football related has to have 'Club Foot' playing behind it.

I hate that female sports journos are now mandatory.

I hate Mark Lawrensen for not coming out. 'I do like a big man at the back'. I bet you do.

I hate any advert that portrays football to be about anything other than pain and disappointment.

I hate any advert that mentions pies at football.

I hate Lee Hughes and the fact that he makes a living from the game. I hate Marlon King and any team that signs him when he gets out. I hate that it'll probably be us.

I hate Phil Brown.

I hate 'well the ball is a lot lighter now and will cause goalkeepers real problems this summer' before EVERY F'ING TOURNAMENT.

I hate that Kieron Dyer earned more in the time I took to write this post than I'll earn this month.

I hate Adrian Durham, Ian Wright and Alan Brazil.

I hate Gazza. Either die or shut up. Stop f'ing lingering.

I hate hearing about Hillsborough more than I hear about Heysel or Bradford.

I hate that a comeback from 4-0 down at half time (TWICE) means nothing because we aren't f'ing scouse.

I hate Leeds.

I hate Roy Keane.

I hate grown men wearing football shirts of their team whilst shopping on a saturday when their team is playing at home.

I hate that I don't hate Roy Hodgson.

I hate Jermaine Beckford and any player who has neck tattoos.

I hate songs being inappropriately taken as club anthems and then sung in a manly way. 'I'm forever blowing bubbles....'. Gaylords.

I hate Danny Dyer and anyone he's ever interviewed.

I hate the book 'Cass' by Cass Pennant. It is honestly the stupidest thing I've ever read. Chapter 1: Millwall. 'Yeah we took 50 to Millwall. They had 1000 in their mob but we ran 'em up and down the street'. Chapter 2: Liverpool. 'Yeah we took 50 to Liverpool. They had 2000 in their mob but we ran 'em up and down the street'. Fk me... Jade Goody's autobiography is probably better. Even her non-ghost written one.

I hate that all good youngsters end their careers at Spurs before they start.

The much delayed new blog post.

It’s been a very long time since I last wrote a blog. I’d like to say it’s because I’ve been so very busy… but this would be a lie. Instead, I’ve just rediscovered Football Manager, been watching telly and eating grapes.

As I write this, my beloved Leeds are 1-0 down at Exeter City. This time last week, I was stood, freezing cold, at Elland Road, as they limped towards a 1-1 draw against Wycombe Wanderers. It’s fair to say it was a game that didn’t quite live up to the hysteria of the game it followed.

Now, if you have me as a friend on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, the chances are you caught sight of numerous statuses/tweets about just how crazy Sunday 3^rd January was. Knocking Manchester United out of the cup on their own turf, given the level at which Leeds lie at the moment, is as good as it gets. The point at which Beckford knocked that ball into the goal and the final whistle are two of the most incredible moments I’ve experienced as a football fan. I doubt they’ll be topped for a good few years.

But I think Leeds fans have earned it. Of course, there’s a huge amount of supporters that have been following Leeds since before I was even born, but in the few years that I’ve been a season ticket holder, I’ve seen a lot of… well… shite. Hell, we’ve been made to go to Luton. That should explain it all. (If you haven’t been to Luton’s ‘stadium’, you should go. It’s an experience to say the least.)

Being a football fan has given me some of the most miserable days of my life.

I’ve cried leaving Wembley after a 1-0 defeat to Doncaster in the play-off final.

I’ve cried as Leeds lost 4-1 against Bolton to be confined to the Championship.

I’ve felt that horrible, sickening, sinking feeling of flicking up teletext and seeing the headline “LEEDS RELEGATED AFTER ENTERING ADMINISTRATION”.

And I’ve not spoken for numerous hours after Leeds failed to show up at the Millennium Stadium in a 3-0 defeat against Watford.

I’ve even had to witness Sean Gregan play.

Yet it’s those depressing days that make the highs so much better. There’re certain aspects of football that I don’t think you can understand if you support a team like Man United or Arsenal. A disastrous season of those supporters is not winning a trophy. Poor them. Try going to bed at night not knowing if your club will still exist by the time you wake up in the morning.

It’s those memories of really desperate days that fuel the atmosphere on big occasions at Elland Road. Those experiences are what made a fan dive down a concrete staircase head-first when we scored against Millwall in a play-off semi-final. His face is inevitably smashed in now, but hey, he bloody loved it.

And, as I wrap this up, Leeds go 2-0 down. At EXETER. Bloody hell. Never mind, I’ll just store today in the part of my brain marked ‘low-lights’ and come back to it the next time something unbelievable, unexpected and downright fantastic happens.

Being a football fan is frustrating. It’s painful. It’s often excruciating and downright awful.

And I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Response to my last post from a representative of Ed Balls MP, Val Shiels

Dear Mr Allison

Thank you for your email dated 25 October, addressed to Ed Balls, about the teaching of politics in school.  As I am sure you can appreciate, Ministers receive a large volume of correspondence and cannot always reply personally.  Therefore on this occasion, I have been asked to reply.  I would like to assure you that the Government is committed to ensuring that young people learn the skills and develop an understanding of our political system.  It is very important that young people are taught about democratic systems and are encouraged to develop the knowledge and skills needed to play an active role in their schools and communities.  Citizenship encourages young people to take an interest in topical and controversial issues and to engage in discussion and debate so that they can develop informed views of their own.  There is a short course GCSE in Citizenship Studies.  There were 84,588 entries for the GCSE in 2008 – up nearly 17,000 on 2007.  The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) has developed a full GCSE in Citizenship studies to complement the existing short course GCSE and this became available from September 2009.  A new A level qualification in Citizenship Studies was available for first teaching from September 2008.   Through Citizenship education, pupils do learn about important concepts such as democracy, human rights, and the systems of justice, parliament and government.  They are encouraged to discuss topical issues, sharing their own ideas and listening to those of others. You may also be interested to know that the Department is supporting the Hansard Society to develop mock elections resources designed to give young people the opportunity to experience elections in their school.  Teachers register their school online and receive all the supporting resources they need to run an engaging Mock Election Day.  Students get involved by; standing as candidates, campaigning, acting as Election reporters and voting in the Mock Election.  Some of the resources were used to support teachers in advance of the European Parliament Elections in June. Further information may be found at:  http://hansardsociety.org.uk/blogs/Citizenship_Education/ Once again thank you for writing.

Yours sincerely Val Shiels Public Communications Unit

Why the future of the British National Party depends on Britain's classrooms.

The dust may have settled on Nick Griffin's hotly disputed appearance on Question Time, but the controversy as to the BBC's decision to include him in their panel show rumbles on.


His performance on the show has presented the party with a whole host of new recruits; we're told that after Thursday evening, the BNP enjoyed one of their biggest scoops of new members in their history.


So, how is it that Britain can oppose the BNP's recent rise in popularity?


There's an abundance of young people in this country who have little or no understanding of political party policy. Perhaps if they were educated more comprehensively in the views and values of the various parties, they would have a greater grasp or understanding of who they wish to see running the country.


Now, I'm not arrogantly declaring that I have a complete knowledge of British politics - not at all. But, I do feel, like a massive number of students in the UK, that I have a sufficient knowledge of politics to know who I want to give my vote to.


And that's good, after all, it's our generation that will be governing this country a few decades down the line.


But there's not enough young people using their vote in this country. Or, not enough people using their vote and understanding who it is they're voting for. If they did, then perhaps the BNP wouldn't be enjoying it's current increase in popularity.


This was proven in the European Parliament elections in June this year. There was a massive quantity of people on social networking sites making declarations as to their non-plus attitudes towards voting. It's unfortunate, but some of these people gave their vote to the BNP, simply because they didn't know who else to vote for. They take their insubstantiated prejudices and act upon them by putting what they believe is an insignificant little 'X' next to the name of their local BNP representative.


If the recently-turned-18's who are casting their first ever vote had been better informed as to party policy in their time at school, then perhaps we wouldn't have such radically right-wing and race-motivated parties being given the air-time and credibility that they frankly don't deserve.


There are vague attempts to teach Politics in school, but it takes a conscious decision from these pupils to opt to take the subject. Only at GCSE and A Level does Politics come into it's own, while brief glimpses and attempts to cover the topic in Citizenship and History are simply not enough to educate young people about it properly.


If school children were comprehensively educated as to the various party policies, then there would be a greater enthusiasm to use their vote and oppose the rise of such immoral organisations as the BNP.


Inform young people properly as to Griffin's views on immigration. Inform them of his wish to force homosexuals 'back into the closet'. Inform them of his frightening concept of the Youth BNP and the resonance with which it echoes aspects of the Hitler Youth.


Politics should be taught throughout high school. I struggle to understand why the authorities award subjects such as Geography, Home Economics and Drama their own curricula, while cramming a topic which deals with the future of the country into a bit-part existance, scattered through vaguely-related courses.


Perhaps then the BNP would be irradicated, discredited and comprehensively opposed.

There's a glimmer of Hope for women in the male-dominant football industry.

It may have been rigorously denied by The FA today, but speculation tipping England Women's coach Hope Powell for the top job at Grimsby Town is sure to set the football world talking.

Sky Sports reporter Andy Burton set tongues wagging among the Twitter community with his post yesterday evening:

"Some very interesting rumours (unconfirmed) about the next Grimsby manager. If it’s true, it may be football's biggest story of 2009," he said, before later relaying a suggestion from a fellow 'Tweeter' that Powell was the potential recruit. Cue a burst of gossip in today's press as the story hit the nationals earlier today.

Burton, is no doubt, correct. If Powell was indeed to leave her post with the national side and take the hot-seat at Blundell Park, it would certainly be all that the football world was talking about for a number of weeks. Forget Real Madrid breaking the bank to secure Cristiano Ronaldo from Man Utd and the shock of Sven Goran-Eriksson signing on at Notts County – this would be the year’s big story.

The whole mini-saga becomes hypothetical in light of The FA's comments this afternoon. Powell’s employers have dismissed the rumour, denying any contact.

But, what if?

What if Grimsby did indeed appoint the Football League’s first ever female manager?

Would there be a resultant backlash from the Town faithful or does Powell have the pedigree to lift the League Two strugglers away from danger and up the table?

Powell is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished figures in women’s football, proven after guiding England to the final of the European Championships this summer.

It’s her achievement from 2003, however, that really catches the eye. Powell’s UEFA Pro A-license places her up with some of English football’s greatest figures. The former-Women’s international is as equally accredited as Arsene Wenger, Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho. She remains one of only two women to have secured the qualification along-side Everton Ladies boss Mo Marley.

So, to what it is that stands in the way of success for Powell in the male-dominant British game. It’s a sad indictment of the game to see the dated and sexist remarks that riddle the message-boards just hours after this story came to light. Less than a minute’s reading of BBC’s 606 or fan sites will prove it.

“A woman!?”

“I’m sorry, but she’s a bird!!”

“One, she is s***! Two, just no!”

Yet the same would have been said decades ago about black footballers taking some of the biggest jobs in British sport. We now see Paul Ince enjoying relative success at MK Dons, John Barnes only recently relieved of an ill-fated spell at the helm at Tranmere and, going back a few years, Ruud Gullitt taking charge at one of the country’s biggest sides, Chelsea.

Sexist attitudes in football are dated. Women have a key part to play in English football - former-Birmingham City chief executive Karren Brady has become one of the most prominent board-room figures in the sport in recent years, while referee Amy Rayner has officiated in the football league. How ironic it would be if axed-Grimsby boss Mike Newell, who blurted out an incredible and openly-sexist rant about Rayner's presence in the game, was replaced by Powell.

Football and its avid and passionate supporters are proven to embrace social change as it contributes to the modernisation of the sport. A small minority, however, are inevitably going to stick by their prejudices. Powell, if she does indeed decide to apply for a job with the League Two strugglers, will be scrutinised. It’ll be a test of her metal as to whether she can successfully make the switch into the male game, yet in a few decades time, who’s to say that there won’t be a clutch of female figures in some of football’s biggest managerial roles?