FOOTBALL: Robinho, Torres, Van Nistelrooy and ... Gomez?

It was one of those ‘what were you doing when…?’ moments. I was sitting in a pub on Tottenham Court Road, confronting my second pint. Dave, a friend from school, was describing some wonderful adventure he had had recently in New Zealand or Fiji or somewhere. However, the television screen on the wall was trying to catch my attention. A Sky Sports News presenter was standing outside Eastlands, with swathes of happy Manchester City fans behind him. I had heard of the takeover of City by Abu Dhabi United Group on the bus down to London from Newcastle earlier that day.

Then the moment came. ‘MAN CITY SIGN ROBINHO.’ I did a Rowan Atkinson-style double-take, but Dave continued. The pub had become a little quieter as people started to take notice of the screen. There was a gasp here and a ‘No way!’ there. Finally I had to stop Dave in mid-flow. I asked him to confirm that I was not seeing things. Manchester City had signed Robinho from Real Madrid for the best part of £35 million.

A few weeks on, the reality has sunk in, and thankfully sports programmes on television, radio and paper format have stopped the incessant talk of the new ‘richest club in the world.’ Whatever your opinion on how Man City will fare in the future, it is the relationship between Mark Hughes, one of England’s best young managers, and the new owners, that intrigues me. After seeing the power struggle between Jose Mourinho and Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, it begs the question how much interference will Hughes accept from the owners over the question of transfers. How much influence did Hughes really have over the signing of Robinho?

The Daily Telegraph seemed to shed some light on this in an article on Friday September 19^th. It is claimed that Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan personally insisted that one of a list of six players be signed on transfer deadline day, in order for the deal to go through. The eventual signing, Robinho, was one of the six. Another was Dimitar Berbatov, who City reportedly agreed to meet in Manchester before he was whisked away from under their noses by the team from the red side of Manchester. Former Manchester United striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy was on the list, as was Liverpool striker Fernando Torres. David Villa, Euro 2008 top scorer and reported Real Madrid replacement for Robinho, also made the shortlist.

It was the sixth man on this so-called ‘galactico’ list that intrigued me. Mario Gomez, born in Germany to a Spanish father and German mother, has acquired the nickname ‘Mr Reliable’ in Germany for his consistent goal-scoring, no-matter the form of his club, Vfb Stuttgart. While the media speculated that Drogba was leaving Chelsea at the end of last season, Gomez was mooted as a replacement. Coincidentally, the 6ft 3in striker made his Stuttgart debut against Chelsea in the Champions League in 2004.

Gomez’ Bundesliga scoring record is excellent. In his second full season for Stuttgart, he netted 14 goals in 25 games, helping them to win the Bundesliga. Last season, while his team struggled and eventually scraped into the Inter-Toto Cup, Gomez managed 19 league goals in the same number of games, as well as 3 Champions League goals. This is all very impressive, but I am still surprised to see him in the ‘galactico’ list. He is 23 year old, with only two full seasons behind, playing in a league that, while I enjoy watching the Bundesliga, offers a staggering number of high-scoring games for a top European league. The reason: most of the defences are mediocre at best, (note Bayern Munich, the team with by far the most money and historical success, conceding 5 at home to Werder Bremen on September 20^th 2008.)

Gomez is undoubtedly an excellent prospect, and every Stuttgart fan I have spoken to is resigned to him leaving the Swabian side at the end of the season. But how on earth did this young star, who unfortunately vastly underperformed while in the spotlight of Euro 2008 for Germany, get on to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s list? Regardless, barring injury, Gomez has a very bright future. Will we get the pleasure of watching him in the Premier League sometime? I have a feeling we will…

FOOTBALL: Aston Villa 2-2 Arsenal (26.12.08): Arsenal once more forget the winning formula

Arsene Wenger could not afford to lose this game. Arsenal have already lost five games this season, two more than the whole of the last campaign. A home win would have put six points between Villa and Arsenal; further strengthening the former's chances of securing a Champion's League place for next season at the cost of the latter.

Yet Arsenal could very easily have lost. From the off, Villa were brighter, winning the lion's share of 50-50s in midfield, sending balls down the flanks for the ever-willing Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young. The space created in the middle was amply filled by supporting midfielders and even defenders; Curtis Davies should have done better with a misdirected header early on and Luke Young forced a good save from Manuel Almunia with a deflected 25 yard strike.

Arsenal lacked direction and accuracy; a stray pass on the break from Emmanuel Eboue which comfortably missed the target of Robin Van Persie typified the Gunner's poor start. At the other end, Villa were piling on the pressure, hitting the woodwork three times in the first half. Steve Sidwell headed a corner onto the upright, James Milner snook in at the far post only to see his right foot stab come back of the post and Curtis Davies was very unlucky when his turn and lob just inside the penalty area struck the crossbar.

But just three minutes after Davies' effort, Nigle Reo-Coker tried to be a bit too clever in clearing his lines, letting Denilson first block and then cooly slide the ball under the advancing Brad Friedel. A brilliant Bacary Sagna overhead clearance off the goalline prevented a quick equaliser from Ashley Young. The Gunners had a 1-0 halftime lead.

When Abou Diaby finished a flowing Arsenal move just after half-time to make it 2-0 and van Persie struck a post not long after, it looked like all three points were going back to the Emirates.

But this season you cannot do much worse than to underestimate Martin O'Neill's men and Arsenal's inability to see out a game came to haunt them again.

With 63 minutes on the clock, William Gallas committed a clumsy foul in the area while tracking Gabriel Agbonlahor. Gareth Barry drilled home the resulting penalty. The final half hour was, in reality, a relatively equal affair with few chances, but Arsenal failed to sure up the back line and in stoppage time, Villa centre-half Zat Knight found himslef in space fifteen yards out and coolly slotted the ball into the bottom left-hand corner.

It was no more than Villa deserved, especially considering their numerous first-half chances, but Wenger will be disappointed with Arsenal's gift of a first goal and conceding the second in the 92nd minute. Unsurprisingly, the referee bore some of the blame from Wenger in the post-match interview. Like Arsenal' inability to close out games, some things never change.

FOOTBALL: Taking a Stand: Should standing areas be re-introduced into top-flight English football?

One of my earliest football memories is being in the Roker End for a thumping 6-0 win for Sunderland against Millwall. Prior to the game at Roker Park, Millwall were top of the First Division, only to be replaced by the Rokerites at full time. I vaguely remember a Craig Russell hat-trick as well as goals from Martin Scott (almost certainly a penalty) and Phil Gray. Doing a bit of research, I also discovered that the manager of Millwall at the time was none other than Mick McCarthy. The game took place on Saturday December 9 1995 and within two months McCarthy had replaced Jack Charlton as Republic of Ireland manager. McCarthy later became Sunderland manager.

As great a result as this undoubtedly was, it is not the main reason that I remember that particular game (this result paled into relative insignificance compared to the record-breaking 9-0 win that I had witnessed nine months earlier at Old Trafford, where a ruthless Manchester United had made Ipswich Town look totally hapless). No, as far as I can remember, this was my first game on the terraces and remains one of very few games in which I have stood.

It was the events of April 15 1989 and the subsequent Taylor Report into the Hillsborough disaster which sealed the fate of the terrace in top flight football. As a response to a number of hooligan and crowd segregation problems in the 1980s, it became increasingly popular to erect impenetrable fences around the separate fans. Such a system was in place for the Liverpool-Nottingham Forest FA Cup semi final at Hillsborough in 1989. However, as the gates at the back of the Lepping Lane End were opened at kick-off to prevent problems outside the ground, the rush of people onto the terrace crushed the people nearer the front. 96 fans died.

The Taylor Report into the tragic incident, recommended that all top flight stadia should be all-seater, and by the end of the following decade the move was implemented. (I can remember trying to get into the Roker End in the 1996-1997 Premier League season for a game against Tottenham Hotspur. Sunderland was given grace to use terracing that season because they had a new all-seater stadium being built to be ready for the next season.)

Although all-seater stadia are now the norm in top-flight English football, especially to the younger generation, there remains a significant minority who continue to push for safe standing-areas at Premier League football grounds. In 2000, as reported by the BBC, Kate Hoey, the then Sports Minister, angered the families of Hillsborough victims by suggesting safe standing areas could be introduced. Last year 145 MPs signed a motion in Parliament for a rule change to allow for small, safe, standing areas in football grounds in the top two divisions. Even David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, said in January 2007 that "there may be some more modern ways of organising the limited standing areas."

The top German league, the Bundesliga, is the most common example given by pro-standing lobbyists of effective and safe terracing at large football stadia. The Bundesliga boasts some fantastic grounds, especially as many were revamped for the 2006 World Cup. There are certainly more 50,000+ capacity club stadiums in Germany than in England, all of which offer standing areas. With this in mind, I was very happy to accept the chance to experience standing in the Bundesliga. The Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion in Stuttgart hosted the 3rd/4th place play-off between Germany and Portugal in the 2006 World Cup, as well as England’s 2nd round tie against Ecuador. It has 4,187 spaces for standing out of a stadium capacity of 55,896. And I was there for Stuttgart’s home Bundesliga tie with Hamburg on Saturday 5th April.

The terraced area is different to the old Roker End at Sunderland. Every three steps, space enough in depth probably for two grown men or maybe three younger fans, is regimentally divided up by a railing about stomach-height of a grown man. They span the whole width of the standing area so that the only way in and out, is via the steps to the extreme left or right-hand side. The railings have temporary seats built into them, so that it can be used as a seating area, as was required during the World Cup.

Never for a second on the terrace at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion did I feel unsafe. Nevertheless, that is not my whole-hearted endorsement of the re-introduction of standing areas in the Premier League. As a young adult, I have largely grown up with all-seater stadia, and before my trip to Stuttgart’s stadium, I would certainly have said I was happy with the Premier League rules on football grounds. But my experience at the Gottlieb Daimler Stadion made me realise that safe standing areas in large football stadia is possible, workable and it seems, judging by the support for the idea in England, desirable.

The atmosphere in the standing area was fantastic; incomparable with seating areas. Due to the closeness of supporters to each other, the songs resounded in a way that would not be possible in the seats and the German tradition (and in other continental European countries) of jumping in unison was a sight I will never forget. It also encourages conversation between strangers much better than seating areas, and even yours truly with poor German managed a bit of talk with the locals, albeit most of it reverting to English. I am sure anyone who has experienced standing at football knows what I am talking about.

I was not alive for the Heysel disaster, and too young to remember the tragedy at Hillsborough. I did not experience any of the football hooliganism of the 1970s and 1980s, and can only rely on the memories of others, such as those penned in Nick Hornby’s fantastic book, Fever Pitch. It seems to me however that banning terracing in the Premier League was a simple blanket way of giving police greater control over fans. There is no doubt that the policing at matches is much easier nowadays, but the football experience has suffered. And football is entertainment. If supporters behave and clubs are prepared to create safe, standing areas such as those in the Bundesliga (of course clubs may be reluctant after spending so much money on erecting all-seater environments), then maybe there is a future for the terrace at the top of English football. Would a Cameron Conservative government fulfil their promise to "have a really good look at this"? Only time will tell.