Did you know that the four major competitions in England have been won by clubs with Jewish owners. Surely that bet would have been a decent price at the start of the season. Daniel Levy’s Spurs started things off by winning the Carling Cup final against Chelsea in February. Then Malcolm Glazer’s Manchester United pipped Chelsea to the post in the Barclays Premier League. Last Saturday, Alexandre Gadaymak’s Portsmouth lifted the FA Cup at Wembley, and most recently, we had the Champions League final on Wednesday between United and Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea.
All this happened in a week when Alan Hansen, one of my childhood heroes, told me that he believes Abramovich has been good for football. Hansen was the latest legend on my CV of A-list players interviewed. In fact, I could put together a pretty decent team of players past and present that I’ve had the privilege of interviewing over the years.
In defence I’d have Ashley Cole, Tony Adams, Rio Ferdinand and Gary Mabbutt who would get the nod over Tal Ben Haim. Midfield would consist of Sir Alan Ball, John Barnes, Yossi Benayoun and Graeme Souness which gives a perfect balance of flair and bite. Up top, Ronnie Rosenthal would line up alongside Ian Rush with Alan Smith on the bench. The only area I’m lacking is a keeper. Anyone know of a decent one? And, of course, WAG Louise Redknapp would have to be mascot! I’d have Pini Zahavi as my agent but would have to think twice about Steve McClaren as manager with David Pleat probably pipping him to the post.
Sunday is the last weekend of the JC MSFL season. All promotion and relegation issues have been settled with the exception of one. The re-match between North West Neasden B and Faithfold B in Division One should be a humdinger with Neasden needing maximum points to steal second place from Montana Boca United A.
Montana have been in the top two all season but the recent defeat against Faithfold could come back to haunt them if Neasden can repeat their display from last weekend when they thumped the Superhoops 5-1.
Bruno Frankel, one of the unsung heroes , came up trumps to put Neasden on the verge of a top-flight return and leave Faithfold staring relegation in the face. Having battled so hard to earn promotion last season, it would be a disaster if my former club became a yo-yo team.
They are packed with quality, with Yoni Raeburn pulling the strings. Like Neasden, their destiny lies in their own hands but they will have one eye on the match between Golders Green and Hendon United B. Golders are already down so if Hendon win, they could just save their first division status. Hornets keeper Nicky Rosenthal, David Atkins and Gav Noe will be key players for Marc Lewis’ troops on the day and I expect Sunday morning to feature many twists and turns.
Tony Kane, a former teammate from my Scrabble FC days, has admitted having a soft spot for clinical psychologist Tanya Byron. Perhaps that explains all the defensive lapses he had playing in front of me back in the 1990’s.
To get more from Life, click here to sign up for our free Life newsletter.