Roberto Kusabbi
I manage social media, online communities and digital projects
Born and raised in London I love all things digital, below is a list of all my important spaces at the moment and my CV...well just in case you're interested.
If you want to know more email me below.
Twitter- LinkedIn
- Digital blog
- Instagram
- Football Blog
- Roberto's CV
- Hype Machine
- Email me
-
Tweets
- Just rediscovered why I loved @Flipboard. New update very clean & makes it easier to find content. That said, wish there was offline reading
- +1 RT @ChozL I cannot wait for this RT @Aiannucci Oh, & we've finished writing 7 eps of The Thick of It, to be shown on BBC2 later this year
- The new Nike Football advert, incredible! Everything is interactive within the YouTube video, great cameos: http://t.co/4nAl9s2U
-
Info
- I manage social media and online communitiesOnline Media | London, United Kingdom, GBSummaryI am very passionate about all things digital, especially content, social networks and communities.
I have worked for a number of football clubs before going into a more media centric career path I now find myself in the Third Sector. It is a very exciting time to be involved in digital output and social media.
In my current role I create and implement social media and communities strategy across all of our work and manage a team of community and social media champions as well as an Officer.Specialties: Social media, online communities and community building, third sector, people skills, creative ideas, organisational, project management, content development, online, digital, news, macs, media and photoshop.Experience- May 2010 - PresentCommunity and Social Media Manager (In-house digital team) / British Heart FoundationI manage the social media and online community at the BHF. As well our social media and community strategy I also delivered the first BHF branded online community including Single Sign On technology within 9 months of starting my role. I now manage that community, our social media and community strategy as well as line managing members of staff. I work closely with other teams at the organisation to make sure we deliver the best service to our members and fans across all our social channels. My key responsibilities - Develop and embed social media strategy - Manage online community and the product roadmap - Manage stakeholders in fundraising, news, policy and medical teams - Train staff on social media best practice - Organise and deliver blogger outreach - Consult campaigns to deliver a social user experience - Moderate social spaces - monitor and evaluate social media communications and campaigns using Radian6 - Manage and source agencies to build/assist on social campaigns I am also an account manager for 3 internal clients and make sure that their needs are met by our wider Multimedia team. The BHF Multimedia team is a CIPR Excellence award winner for best in house team. In December 2011 the BHF were voted number 1 UK charity for social media by Third Sector magazine. In April 2012 the BHF became the first UK charity and only 2nd UK organisation to be listed on Twitter's best practice business site, http://business.twitter.com
- Apr 2010 - PresentFounder/writer / One Foot In The GameOne Foot in The Game is a collective of football fans and writers, from Liverpool to Luton, we cover nearly every division in the UK, plus interests in Spain and Italy. I started the site during the World Cup in 2010 and edit, write and promote it online. I also recruit new writers. We have been listed in the 100 football blogs to read 2011 by the Guardian. Which was a great achievement in such a short amount of time We have had 15 contributors to the site, we blog on all things football as well as joining conversations on twitter via www.twitter.com/1FITG. As well as the twitter feed we are listed on newsnow.co.uk
- Jun 2009 - Jul 2010Online Content Manager For Young People / British Heart FoundationI managed young people's content at the British Heart Foundation. On the CBHF.net and Yheart.net websites. This involved: Designing and implementing digital strategy Paid for social media promotional campaign with agency New Content ideas Managing content on main site and social networking sites Speaking and managing agencies Managing and organising content providers Editing and writing content Photoshop skills Designing new pages either in the CMS or wireframes for new CSS/HTML templates Always thinking of new content creative ideas.
- Nov 2007 - Jun 2009Assistant Web Producer / Mental Health FoundationDevelop content Develop online promotional strategies for campaigns Project manage online campaigns Affiliate marketing management with agency Managing external agencies Design new pages Liase with stakeholders on their content Write and edit content Think of innovative and creative ideas to improve site Report traffic Send out mailshots Design HTML email Manage and moderate user generated content from online communities Implement and also manage social media channels
- Jul 2007 - Jul 2007Online Sports desk / Guardian newspaperExperience writing copy on the guardian sport website. I also watched the wires, edited and subbed copy as well as writing my own. Google Roberto Kusabbi & Guardian to find the articles.
- Oct 2006 - Feb 2007Freelance writer / www.777.comFreelance writing on gambling and poker. I wrote and sourced stories of interest for the gambling website 777.com. Including reviews and strategy as well as opinion pieces.
- Oct 2005 - Apr 2006Sports Scientist / Preston North End Football ClubSport scientist at the Preston North End Academy. Using my knowledge of sport science, I undertook a performance anaylsis project at Preston North End Football club. I project managed a 6 man team who performed the following tasks: Detailed reports for the head of development on the youth team players using a framework analysis approach. Liaising and being first contact for the head of development to organise sessions for us to visit. Videoing the sessions and organising the framework template
- Oct 2004 - Dec 2004Sports Scientist (Performance analysis) / Everton Football ClubPerformance analysis of Everton academy. This project was again performance analysis and concentrated on the U18 goalkeepers at the Everton academy. We performed 3 months work on the goalkeepers during matches and coaching sessions. Sessions were videoed and analysed using a content framework devised by the project team.
Education-
2006 - 2007The University of SheffieldMA in Online Journalism (NCTJ accredited)
Activities: MA website management, digital dicussions, photoshop, HTML and news reporting. NCTJ accredited course. -
2003 - 2006Liverpool John Moores UniversityBsC in Sport Science in Football
-
2001 - 2003Cardinal Vaughan Memorial SchoolA Levels in Physical Education, Travel and Tourism business, History
-
1998 - 2002Cardinal Vaughan MemorialGCSE's
Additional Information-
Websites:
-
Honors:Part of the BHF Multimedia team that won the CIPR Excellence awards for Outstanding In House Team
-
Interests:I enjoy the web in every form, technology and most sports - espeically football. I like fashion and good food.
-
Posts
- Mar 01, 12
I haven’t blogged here for awhile, something I am very keen to change in 2012, but for those who don’t know I do blog every other day (if not every day) on my football blog though.
But today I felt compelled to blog again, and that’s because I came across new Facebook advertising package “The Reach Generator”.
As we all know, Facebook ads tend to have a low click through, especially the basic link ads. What we also know is that as a Facebook Page we never reach 100% or even 30% of those who like our page.
That’s why Reach Generator is a very interesting prospect for brands and organisations.
In a nutshell Reach Generator allows advertisers to pay Facebook on an on going basis rather than the CPC or CPM model. Once switched on Reach Generator (and Facebook) guarantees a 75% reach of one story every day, over a month long period.
Apparently Ben and Jerry’s have been using this and they were able to reach 98% of their Facebook which is pretty astounding.
There is little more information at the moment, but what an opportunity for brands to reach even more people. Some may be cynical and say but we should be able to reach everyone who likes us, and yes I can see the point of view, but at the same time we know the game and we need to play it. It is also worth noting that the more engaged your page is, with better content, the more likely you are to reach more of your fan base too.
The only documentation on Facebook’s site I can find is a PDF of basic Reach Generator info but I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I also agree with as @BenAyers that you need scale and backing for it to work, which makes me think that the best use will be for big launches, big campaigns (like @TheBHF Vinnie Jones CPR anyone?) and brands with big existing reach.
The price? Not sure yet…
Related articles
- Facebook introduces Reach Generator packaged advertising solution to boost page posts (insidefacebook.com)
- Facebook Ads Get New Placements (adweek.com)
- Sep 28, 11
I came across SoloCo during Social Media Week Scotland and was immediatlely intrigued.
I remember when the Obama campaign was in full swing and I was working in my first charity job (many years ago) as Assistant Web Producer and my then CEO asked how could we fundraise like Obama did.
Not easily I remember thinking.
But that may change, SoLoCo is in Beta and is already looking pretty slick. At the moment it is Scottish based and there are 11 projects bidding for funding, including:
- A Radio project
- A youth Football project
- And SoLoCo itself who are seeking funding to support the site for the next stage of development.
But in the current climate for charities with reduced incomes it could be one to watch.
So what do you think of the crowd funding model? Is SoLoCo the future for community and smaller projects? Will other charities follow (CRUK are already doing something similar with MyProjects)?
Be great to hear your views.
- Sep 21, 11
From today you will start to see a ‘new’ newsfeed on your own Facebook profile. The two biggest features are ‘Top Stories’ feature and a ‘Ticker’ feature.
Top Stories
All of your news is now in one place with the most interesting stories featured at the top. If you haven’t visited Facebook for a while, the first things you’ll see are top photos and status updates posted while you’ve been away. They’re marked with an blue corner.
If you check Facebook more frequently, you’ll see the most recent stories first. Photos will also be bigger and easier to enjoy while you’re scrolling through.
Facebook determines whether something is a top story based on lots of factors, including your relationship to the person/page who posted the story, how many comments and likes it got, what type of story it is, etc.
How does this impact your page?
Well. We don’t know yet. But…I will be keeping an eye on how this impacts on our Facebook posts and engagement.
My theory, and it is just a theory, is that this should be a good thing for pages. Mainly because Facebook needs to be seen as a major media platform so you would imagine that they are doing this to make Brand Pages more obvious in the newsfeed. Keep today in your diary as a date to keep a close eye on your engagement stats
In addition, we may see that stories have a longer shelf life, maybe up to 5 days as people who don’t log in as much see our top story when they log in, which may be a few days after the story was posted.
The Ticker.
The ticker, on the right-hand side of your account, lets you see all your friends’ activity in real-time – yes, that’s right, just like Twitter…
When you hover over an item on ticker, you can see the full story and join the conversation as it happens….just like when you click on a Tweet on Twitter it opens that up for you.
Ticker updates itself as stories happen. This gives you a more complete picture of what your friends and Pages you are following are up to right now.
How does this impact your page?
Be really succinct, we have a rule that every Facebook post has a question or first line hook, this will become even more important to make sure people engage with us.
Finally, it will also mean – and again this is my theory – that less people will come your actual page wall but engage with you on posts that come up on their newsfeed, which is what happens already but I suspect will increase even further.
What do you think? Good or bad?
I have to say I think good and generally love the new design, wider and more relevant to me.
- Aug 01, 11
I blogged last year about offline integration of Facebook at Coca-Cola. Both fascinating and frightening.
Matt Rhodes G+ed this story today showing another example. Wonder how long til we see something in the UK…can see the Daily Mail headlines already: “BRAND TRACKS YOUR CHILD’S EVERY MOVE”
- Jul 24, 11
UPDATE: October 2011
Seems that with the new Facebook Insights that you can now export all the data that you need to make the below work again without using Export.ly. Plus there are some new metrics too, individual users who have seen each post as well as reach.
Good times!
UPDATE:
Export.ly seem to have been taken over by Simply Measured and don’t seem to offer the same, very cost effective, solution as what we did below. Hoping to find out more, but as you can imagine, I’m very keen to keep using them!
I was having a chat with a colleague last week and she asked me why we update our Facebook page twice a day and how do we make that decision? Was it just a guess or a hunch?
The answer to both was by using data.
At the BHF we have a very healthy Facebook community with lots of engagement, take a look – I am very proud of it. We have worked very hard to make sure that we are talking to our ‘likers’ every day and engaging them in conversation not just broadcasting at them, using our top class content to build better relationships.
But how did we make decisions about when we should post a Facebook update?
In April, we used Export.ly to export the previous 12 months Facebook data to a huge Excel file.
Our Analytics Executive Dan manipulated the Excel file and in a few hours we knew:
- Time of our updates
- Amount of likes per post
- Amount of comments per post
- Whether posts included a video, photo or if they were just a text update
- Our top contributors to our page
- Lots more treasures…
Now we had all that data we could cross reference the time of our updates by comments and likes and find out when updates had higher levels engagement – allowing us to make decisions on when we post using data rather than just a hunch.
We are due another data mine soon and due to the substantial increase in ‘likes’ that we have had since April I think that our timings may change slightly. I’m keen to find out whether our updates with a question are more engaging with our ‘likers’ than one’s without too as well as some more extensive work into what topics get more engagement (if you’re reading this Dan then that’s what I’m going to ask next week..).
For the record, our highest engagement came between 11:30-13:00 and 18:30-19:30…
N.B We had to pay $50 dollars for our Export.ly file due to the size of our Facebook page, but if you’re managing a page with less ‘likes’ then you may not have to pay at all. (We have 100,000+ likes now).
Related articles
- Facebook’s Study of Journalist Page Engagement Reveals Page Post Best Practices (insidefacebook.com)
- Jun 23, 11
- Jun 15, 11
I’ve been involved in online communities since I can remember, having grown up with an Ollivetti PC with AOL dial up; forums, messageboards and chat rooms were all we had until MSN really kicked off. Building an online community at the British Heart Foundation has been a huge challenge; the community ”soft” launched today, please do visit the site and tell anyone you know that is interested in the BHF.
Here is my (rather long) experience…It would be great to hear your thoughts!
For as long as anyone can remember our supporters have been asking for a space online where they could meet other people and share experiences. That might be talking to others about their heart condition, or talking to a group of people who are trekking to China to raise vital funds for our work.
Two years ago we began a global navigation review of our website. This was a nine month project looking into our website, how people used the site and how they wanted to.
We ran lots of focus groups with every person imaginable; teachers, current users of our site, doctors, professors, people who take part in events and even people who hated going online and found out what made them tick and what they wanted or didn’t want from our website.
We put our users at the heart (excuse the pun) of our website and it paid off hugely. We now have a fantastic website that was developed in partnership with our audience with innovative features like our patient pathway (the strap across the front page from Prevention to recovery).
People wanted to connect
The feedback from the review told us in no uncertain terms that our supporters wanted to connect with people in similar situations. Similar sentiments were coming in from all areas; focus groups with our Health at Work practitioners were telling us they wanted to talk about delivering Health at Work with other practitioners online. Our eventers wanted to share tips and meet others going on treks or taking part in marathons online. Our Facebook audience was increasing at a phenomenal rate (from 20,000 12 months ago to 98,500 today) and they wanted to share their stories and how they were feeling and we wanted to build these relationships between our supporters and with us. People were even going away and starting their own forums but without the infrastructure or man power to deliver. We knew we had to step in.
A year ago we started in earnest to look at what a BHF online community would look like and how that would work for us. Like many large charities we have a lot of audiences and we also have a lot of data which we wanted to make sure was connected. Someone told me (outside of the BHF) that if they wouldn’t start an online community in a charity today because it is a data and registration nightmare!
How do you solve a problem like “Single Sign On”?
We didn’t want the community to be an add on or a second thought, but rather a hub of conversation about people’s experiences and what people were doing so that people could build relationships with each other and with us.
The biggest beast to tame was “Single Sign On”. Because our community is a different platform to our main website and hosted elsewhere we wanted to make sure that if you were a member of any of our online environments that you could use 1 login and you could use them all and for that solution to be scalable for any other online space we may add in future. Trust me when I say that this was a huge project but one I was lucky to be managing.
The people and the platform
We decided to talk to 8 agencies that had experience in building communities. We knew we wanted a community for all, not just for an event or for delivering health advice. We wanted a community that was for the whole BHF and we wanted our users to be able to seamlessly be able to engage and use their existing membership with us.
We decided to pick SIFT Groups. They work on the Drupal platform which is open source and have experience in charity working. It seemed like a great fit, they also brought a vast amount of experience in community management and training. We were all especially impressed with Elena Goodrum – a community manager and how she trained and spoke so passionately about community.
We already had buy in from the very, very top, we knew our supporters were chomping at the bit and we had our platform. The next step was to work very closely with SIFT to make the user journey as simple as possible, using all the information we have from the past two years we stripped back the community as much as physically possible. Do we need this? Do we need that? Can we ask our users about this bit? We questioned everything. But when we got to UAT and live site, it was all worth it.
At the same time “Single Sign On” was ongoing as a separate project. We were working both with SIFT and our web development agency Positive Technology to make sure that we could build a “passport” for users who sign up to the BHF website (to register for events, order publications and our Heart Matters service) so that they wouldn’t have to login to a new website, this had to work and was a critical part of the tech side of the project. We also had to make sure if a supporter signed up to the community they could sign up to all the other great things our website offers. All on another online environment. Tricky stuff! But we got there, and I won’t bore you about the tech side. Feel free to ask me any questions though!
But back to the people… (The best bit).
We had been working with our staff from the get go. Now we started working with the whole organisation on the community. We trained up 20 Heart Health nurses on how to use communities, how to moderate and how to engage online. We then trained our events staff so that they could help in the community management of the site. We got our customer service teams involved, how to moderate, how to engage, tone of voice. Luckily we had social media guidelines done and dusted and we also had a tone of voice guide, so this was a bit easier than it may have been elsewhere. How useful they proved to be!
We then started recruiting champions outside of the organisation. We used our social networking channels, we used our emails lists and anyone who had shown an interest in the BHF and doing more. We then invited them in to meet us, and gave them a sneak preview of the community. It was difficult, but it was so worth it when they saw it, we speak to the regularly, updated them about progress. We just kept them up to date and they loved being part of something. Sounds so simple huh.
Only at the first step…
All through this process we had been tweaking and adding to our growth strategy. With the different types of audiences and the sheer number of people who we talk to on a regular basis we wanted to make sure we didn’t launch with a big bang only to whimper a week or month later. We decided to phase specific audiences on to our site at soft launch, we picked our heart health audiences and eventers will be sign posted to our site and then a gradual evolution both natural (them finding it on our site) and us prodding them via email. We have a plan from launch in June all the way through until November already and that is just phase one of our growth.
I am sure I have missed lots; it was a huge team effort with a lot of highs and a lot of lows. We have a lot in the pipeline and our site now is going to be very different in 12 months time. But it was a fantastic journey for me personally and one of the biggest projects of my career.
We have been on a hell of a journey already, and the first step only starts today.
P.S – if you’ve read to the bottom here – thank you!
- May 10, 11
Our Analytics Executive Dan (who has no social media presence – through choice) went to a high level meeting about the potential cookie laws, I thought it would be interesting to get him to blog on the very complex subject, here are his notes.
“Cookie Law The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 are expected to be adopted into UK law around the end of the month although this may slip.
There is no clarity around what companies should be doing to ensure compliance. Thankfully the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has indicated that they won’t be expecting compliance from companies for at least a year after the regulations are adopted.
Wording of the regulation:
‘Member states shall ensure that the storing of information, or the gaining of access to information already stored, in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user is only allowed on the condition that the subscriber or user concerned has given his or her consent, having been provided with clear and comprehensive information in accordance with Directive 95/46/EC, inter alia about the purposes of the processing’
There are different interpretations around what constitutes consent/what counts as functionality and what counts as clear information.
What will this affect?
Services which use cookies will be affected. This includes:- Core functionality (shopping baskets, sign-in) -
- Tracking (and 3rd party tracking
- A/B and multivariate testing
- Any behavioural advertising -
- Any regular digital advertising
What we know works
The DCMS has said that the voluntary frameworks published by both the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) would be considered compliant with the act but that they are not the only solutions to the issues. They have also been very clear that they are likely to be very tough on what constitutes essential site functionality (shopping baskets would be acceptable, recommended products would not fit in essential functionality)Unclear Issues
- What constitutes consent (opt-in, opt-out, what level of granularity is required) -
- Who is responsible for compliance when advertising (the publisher who is displaying an ad, the network arranging distribution of the ad or the advertiser who is paying for the marketing) -
- Level of compliance with other countries required. In theory if a person from Germany visited the site then we would be subject to the German interpretation of the Directive, despite being UK based and UK compliant.
Worst Case Scenario
- The strictest interpretations of the directive are followed. We would probably end up needing a pop-up before any of our sites which explained which cookies we used, why we used them, and then giving the option of itemised consent to the user. This would need to be presented whenever a visitor came to any of our sites as we wouldn’t be able to store the answers past that session.
- In addition we would have to have IP geolocation in place to either block or present customised warnings/solutions to non-uk visitors.
- We would have to take extra care when planning campaigns to ensure that any digital advertising on our behalf is totally compliant/run through compliant networks/on compliant sites. – The detail on our tracking plummets as people are forced to opt-in.
Best Case Scenario
Currently consent is considered to be given because browser settings allow you to choose the level of cookie you’re comfortable with. Ideally, this would continue to cover all the responsibilities in the directive.
Most likely Scenario (Dan’s interpretation) – We would need to update our privacy policy with details of what cookies we may have in place and how we use them. We would also need to include a link to Your online choices website.
If we were to run behaviourally targeted advertising then we would likely need to sign up to the IAB’s technical solution (not yet created), but this is likely to be handled by the networks rather than individual companies.
We have a year and most people seem to be waiting to see what other companies do. Unfortunately it looks like much of the clarity will come from breaches of the regulations being pursued.“
- Mar 28, 11
So I have the new iPad and it has given me inspiration to blog again (simple pleasures/simple minds).
On Saturday the WWF tweeted at me asking to spread the word about earth hour. I had no problem helping out, I like the WWF a lot and my first memory of a “charity” was of the WWF logo back when I was a child.
I noticed that they had also asked a lot of other people to do the same. Again I didn’t mind at all, I have done the same thing at the BHF to MP’s to support some of our campaigns, all part of trying new methods of engaging and experimenting, we have also had some MP’s who we were not as warm with talk to us because of it, which can only be a good thing.
It did get me thinking though, do people find it spammy? Or is it just another way of using Twitter with “influencers” to spread the word? Does it make a difference? And please…no mentions of slacktivism.
Be really interested in your thoughts.
And a big well done to the WWF for another year of earth hour and raised awareness of global sustainability.
Related Articles
- Independent View: Earth Hour 2011 – Sign up and switch off! (libdemvoice.org)
- Earth Hour 2011: Help spread the word (wearesocial.net)
- Nov 03, 10
http://www.cinchcast.com/cinchplayerext.swf
Click the link to play the interview.
I am doing a lot of work around single sign on (long story) but interesting to see Facebook talking about it and also mobile/location. No Facebook phone at the moment, but the concept of single sign on with your Facebook ID across all sites (without having to re login) is interesting.
Also in the interview talks about deals and social deals. Obviously an idea that will evolve (as with places) but nice to hear such a big company talking about doing things slowly, when they are ready.
Love the passion for making online experiences social, massive culture shift. For me I wonder what this means for organisations/charities who are set up with their databases. If people use their Facebook data and ID to interact with websites. Awhile until this is an issue, but the iceberg may come.
Also, some interesting bits on Places. Apparently more people are going to places on their mobile app rather than their newsfeed. Which makes sense. Places is going to be big people!! It is so relevant in mobile for sure.
What do you think? Long and VERY interesting interview.
Related Articles
- Facebook Announces Single Sign-On, Location Upgrade, Deals Platform (webpronews.com)
- Facebook Bringing Single Sign-On (SSO) for Mobile – No Passwords Needed (Ever) (intomobile.com)
- Facebook Presents Single Sign-On. Login, Location APIs, and Deals Platform at Special Event (slashgear.com)
-
Photos
-
Posts
- May 16, 12
1) “England are one of five or six teams with a realistic chance”
Ever since I was old enough to comprehend a football commentary, I’ve heard this mantra intoned with a confidence normally reserved for a fundamental law of physics. So immutable is this law, that even when England failed to qualify for Euro 2008 we technically still remained “one of a handful of teams that could win it”. The fact that England have rarely troubled the latter rounds of this tournament remains an inconvenient detail which is best ignored.
2) “I don’t know much about this team.”
Little Englander attitudes have generally disappeared over the years. Globalisation has exposed us to a myriad of different cultures and broadened our horizons. However, there remains one last bastion of narrow sighted nationalism, where international ignorance is casually accepted with diffidence: football punditry.
Qualification may have finished 9 months ago, providing ample time for leisurely research, however, unfortunately our pundits will have been too busy working on their golf games than swotting up.
Players with long established careers in major European leagues like Serie A or the Bundesliga (even our boys are now aware of La Liga) will be labelled as “surprise packages” for simply having failed to make it onto Mark Lawrenson’s football radar.
And expect to hear complete ignorance of the current tactics and style of any team disguised with such blandishments as: “They always make it through” or “It wouldn’t be a tournament without them.”
3) “I just wish Italy would attack”
Usually heard on ITV, commentators and pundits bemoan that Italy, with all their talent, are never allowed off the leash. Usually followed by; “oh the Italians – so cynical and dogged in defence”. They seem to forget the 2006 semi-final, where Italy went toe to toe with Germany, and with the game stretched decided to bring on another forward rather than to shore up the midfield. Or what about the 2000 Euro final where Italy dominated the match, only to lose on a Golden Goal. It’s also worth noting that for a team supposedly obsessed by ‘catenaccio’ the Italians averaged the 3rd highest total of passes in qualifying, and usually play with 3 forwards with one of whom is Mario Balotelli. It’s not 1982, get with the script.
4) That Denmark came off the beaches in 1992 to win the Euros
If you mention Denmark most pundits and commentators cannot avoid mentioning the beaches. You’d think the Danes victory looked like the Normandy landings, with Peter Schmeichel leading the Laudrups and trusty corporal John Jensen to battle. In reality, it was more Club 18-30, than June 1944.
Tiresomely, despite being 20 years ago, the Danes beach sortie is likely to be mentioned by pundits contractually obliged to find reasons why England could win the tournament. Yes, the Danes won the Euros, yes they’d been on holiday, but don’t let that trick you into thinking that a lack of pre-tournament expectation translates automatically to a winning formula.
5) Spain have no Plan B
A charge that English football pundits have taken to hysterically shouting at the current Spanish team a bit like that crazed bloke you get in sci-fi films who’s trying to alert the world to the fact it’s being quietly taken over by aliens. The fact remains that Spain’s Plan A has successfully secured both the last European Championship and the World Cup. The last thing we need is for Spanish football tacticians to invent an even more sophisticated plan for world domination, so for God’s sake men, stopping harping on about it.
Related articles
- BBC pundits on Euro 2012 (bbc.co.uk)
- Peter Schmeichel says England has ‘big problems’ and lacks leadership ahead of Euro 2012 (goal.com)
- May 01, 12
Now that Roy Hodgson has been unveiled as the new England manager the time has surely come for him to resign.
Hodgson’s afternoon in charge of English football has been marred by failure. He has failed to bring success to the national team. In fact, he has failed to win a single football match. There is no hiding the fact that it is an awful record.
Apologists for Hodgson urge that he be given more time. Some deranged loyalists even arguing that he be given as long as tomorrow lunchtime.
They point to the fact that he hasn’t yet had the chance to choose a squad let alone play a game. But what his loudest cheerleaders choose to ignore is the truth that football is a results driven business, and the bottom line on the balance sheet is currently empty of trophies.
Hodgson has also singularly failed to make any impact on the English game. He was meant to be the architect for coaching and football in this country, but he has not only failed to build that future he hasn’t even shown us the blueprints for its construction.
England are one of the great football nations. As the country which gave birth to the beautiful game, it is unbecoming of our status in the global game to allow such a record of ignominious failure to continue. Hodgson is an honourable man.
In the parlance of the game he is a ‘proper football man’. There is no doubting his patriotism or his good intentions to end our country’s long drought of success.
However, the honeymoon period is over. We are now at a point where we must ask critical questions. We cannot shy away from uncomfortable answers, nor from the difficult conclusions we are forced to draw.
Roy, for the sake of English football, go now.
Related articles
- Hodgson In, Favorite Redknapp Snubbed For England Job (newsy.com)
- England poised to confirm Hodgson appointment (dawn.com)
- Apr 29, 12
Roy Hodgson as a head coach of Fulham F.C. Русский: Рой Ходжсон на посту главного тренера ФК «Фулхэм» (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The FA have confirmed that West Brom have given them permission to talk to West Brom manager Roy Hodgson.
The FA statement says:
Roy is the only manager we have approached and we remain on course to make an appointment within the timescale we set-out soon after Fabio Capello’s departure.
“Further conversations will now take place with Roy and my Club England colleagues before any further announcements can be made.”
With all the media led hype for Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp being the only candidate is this a smoke screen? Or will Harry be approached next?
The mood amongst Spurs fans is mixed after a poor run of results that mirrored last season.
Who knows, but you can’t argue with Roy’s credentials as a manager in Europe and managing International teams he’s got the experience.
We’ll see if the FA now make an approach for Redknapp too…
- Apr 27, 12
The end of an era has arrived at Barcelona with Pep Guardiola announcing that he will step down as manager at the end of the season.
There are many things that we’ll miss about him, his willingness to play possession based passing football that can look like a sophisticated dance routine, the way he rocks a shirt and v-neck jumper combo, the way he stands as a model for what balding men could look like given the right complexion and cheekbone structure, his almost faultless record against Mourinho’s Madrid which has caused Jose no end of comedic frustration, his drive to improve the way that Barcelona play and not sit back on his laurels. Not least the ability to recognise when his work is done and it is time to move on.
But what next for the Pep?
Guardiola has always said that when he leaves Barcelona he would rest and take time out of the game, recharge his batteries and think about how to step it up a level again. In all honesty that would be the most sensible option for him. But speculation in the Premier League around Pep’s destination is going to be huge and is certainly going to be a distraction for everyone throughout the summer. What makes it worse is the distinct possibility that Jose Mourinho will also leave Real Madrid. We’re going to have months of pure speculation, interrupted only by the Euros and the Olympics.
Manchester United could see Guardiola as the long-term successor to Alex Ferguson. Would his availability prompt Sir Alex to stand down earlier than expected, knowing there was someone of sufficient calibre there to take over. Mancini at Manchester City looks to be in trouble, even if they manage to overcome Manchester United and win the league. Guardiola is the kind of manager that City’s Dubai backers would love to have at the helm. As with Manchester United, would Arsenal and Arsene Wenger consider Guardiola’s availability an opportunity that couldn’t be passed up, with Wenger moving upstairs. Chelsea are also on the lookout for a permanent manager, though Roberto di Matteo is making good work of his extended job interview there. Spurs may yet lose Redknapp to the English FA, in fact given the team’s current level of performance, some have said that they’d quite like to lose him especially if Guardiola could be tempted to White Hart Lane. Even Liverpool may consider putting King Kenny out to pasture if Guardiola could be brought on board (though given Guardiola’s record with tall strikers such as Ibrahimovic I can’t see him taking to Andy Carroll).
We shouldn’t be forgetting the numerous Italian clubs who will be clamouring for his signature, maybe even Bayern Munich. Pep will have all the top European clubs (except Real Madrid) either asking flat out for him to join them or at the least asking surreptitiously if, y’know, maybe he’d like to ‘have a chat’ about his future with them. Guardiola’s next job could be whatever he wanted, and we shouldn’t forget he said he loved his time at Brescia…
Or perhaps Pep will lie on the beach for a bit, read Jonathan Wilson’s ‘Inverting the Pyramid’, have a bit of a think and come back to Barcelona once Tito Vilanova gets tired of the job.
- Apr 12, 12
As we get to the business end of the season, the whinging about referees has started to increase in volume and frequency.
Kenny Dalglish as a menager during pre-season friendly Vålerenga v. Liverpool on 1st August 2011 at Ullevål. Result: 3-3. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
One can hear the petulant shriek (it’s just not FAIR!) of managers across the land, be it the whining of those facing relegation such as Mark Hughes, the perennial moaning of the title favourite Alex Ferguson or the excuse-making and swivel-eyed conspiracy theories of a manager under pressure such as Kenny Dalglish. We all love to have a scapegoat, someone to deflect the blame onto in order to mask our own deficiencies and for football managers the referee is just that.
But the truth is that refereeing standards are pretty decent. Yes, there are mistakes made, but then referees are, to use a worn cliché, only human and where humanity exists then mistakes and imperfection exist. Players and managers themselves are not perfect. A striker will not score with every chance, a player will not complete every pass (unless he’s Xavi) and a goalkeeper will not save every shot. Referees cannot be expected to get every call exactly spot on given the pace of the game and the interpretive nature of many of the rules.
Over the last decade there has been a lot of talk about using video technology. It’s been successfully brought in with other sports such as rugby and cricket and has generally been effective in producing better decisions. However it has made referees more cautious and more reliant on it to make the tough decisions. Video tech can also ruin those pure moments of joy when a wicket is taken or a try scored, as everyone waits for confirmation. In the end you get two celebrations, both muted, which does not make for a better spectacle or for more enjoyable games. Due to football’s more fluid nature when compared to the more stop/start way that cricket and rugby works you do wonder whether integrating video technology would work. Plus, the football authorities and to a certain extent many major media outlets just haven’t had an open and constructive debate about how it would work in practical terms.
If a manager is so concerned or incensed about poor refereeing then why are they not putting some of the formidable resource of their football clubs to bear on the matter? Players are trained and drilled to the nth degree ahead of matches so the opposition is known. Why do managers not have an informed view on whether the referee is likely to be inconsistent or susceptible to the roar of the home crowd. What are the areas of weaknesses in the way he applies the rules. If a ref is particularly fastidious about diving, for example, then managers should know and pass this on to the players as part of their match preparation. If it’s that important then it seems it would be worthwhile to employ a referee scout to stockpile dossiers on them.
But simply put, there is no grand conspiracy against any particular club by referees. Refs are easy targets who aren’t allowed to talk to the press about their decisions, so can’t talk back and defend themselves. And can’t offer criticisms of the way that managers and players act during the game, though I’m sure referees would have a lot to say about some of the diva-style behaviour if given a chance.
Anyway you look at it, a manager who whinges about the referee but hasn’t done anything to plan and mitigate around an inconsistent referee and the resulting impact is, frankly, a chump.
Related articles
- Daniel Taylor on the men in black (guardian.co.uk)
- Self-Entitlement (highburyheart.wordpress.com)
- Feb 28, 12
Or not so secret. Considering most of your newspapers will have his photo on the front and back pages tomorrow.
But Jose was certainly in London town.
Now the rumour will mill grind away, will it be Spurs (most likely in our opinion before he leaves 2 years later to manage Man United)? Or a prodigal return to Chelsea (less likely considering the team rebuild job and expense of getting ride of AVB)? Or will it be Arsenal (even less likely)?
It will probably be neither as Jose bides his time and strengthens his position at Real instead before he takes over from Sir Alex in 2 years.
But we all love a flirt with Jose don’t we? Flashing his Armani heels at us like a floosy.
Welcome back Jose, even if it’s only for this week.
Related articles
- Mourinho has already decided to LEAVE Real Madrid (tribalfootball.com)
- Sunday Sun kicks off with RVP on the north London derby & Jose Mourinho on the Carling Cup final (101greatgoals.com)
- Feb 24, 12
There’ll be more an edge to the League Cup final on Sunday than you’d initially think for two teams that have little link or rivalry. A lot of this may come as a surprise to Liverpool supporters.
One reason is that there are a lot of Liverpool fans that live in South Wales. And I mean a LOT. The jokes were that the two best supported teams in South Wales had got to the final and they weren’t far off the mark.
The high level of support owes more to Liverpool’s past glories than being any reflection on their current abilities, and the unbelievable crapness of Cardiff during the 80s and 90s contributed a lot to the attractiveness of supporting Liverpool. Many City fans will have grown up with the majority of their mates supporting Liverpool and giving them stick for going to the City.
Now the gap between the teams has narrowed and it’s heartening to see as many City shirts being worn by kids in South Wales as Liverpool or Manchester United ones. But for the older generation the chance to put one over on Liverpool is a huge motivation, even if it is simply so they can walk into work on Monday and brag to the Liverpool supporters.
Another thing that’ll be confusing for Liverpool fans is that the majority of the country will be behind Cardiff (a novelty for Cardiff fans too) and not simply in an ‘oh-the-British-love-an-underdog’ fashion.
Liverpool have always been the media darlings of football. Ex-players have gone to work in high-profile TV and radio jobs (just look at the regular MOTD sofa) and Liverpool have always had a smooth ride. Everyone cheered them on in Istanbul, the same can’t be said for Manchester United in Barcelona. Liverpool built up a reputation and a stack of goodwill from the football community in general, but their reputation is in tatters after the Suarez incident and the way the club handled it. Every football team has a ‘no-one likes us’ attitude among it’s support but at Liverpool it’s been slightly delusional and coupled with a bit of a victim complex. However now the ‘no-one likes us’ view may be justified. It’ll be interesting to see how Liverpool players and fans react to that on the day. Perhaps a spell as a genuine underdog would help soften attitudes towards to Liverpool.
It’ll also be an interesting game for Craig Bellamy, who was at Cardiff last season and is a Cardiff boy through and through (just listen to him talk, pure Cardiff from the accent to the mannerisms to the attitude). Like many South Walians he grew up a Liverpool fan, but if he does manage to score (and many Cardiff fans are resigned to the fact that it would be bloody typical if he did) then the chances that he’ll celebrate it are slim.
On the pitch, Liverpool shouldn’t underestimate Cardiff, who are a decent side pushing for promotion in a strong division. Though their form hasn’t been great lately they have genuine ambitions to be in the Premier League in the near future will be looking at the League Cup as a way to show that they’re serious about that. Of course on paper Liverpool are stronger than Cardiff, but Cardiff have a solid defence and an industrious midfield, sprinkled with the inspiration of Peter Whittingham, whose link up play for the ever alert Kenny Miller will cause problems for Liverpool if they’re caught napping. Most people will be expecting a Liverpool win and anything less would be a disaster for Kenny Dalglish.
Cardiff won’t be looking to merely ‘put up a decent fight’ and for their fans to have a jolly day out. They will be going there to win. And Liverpool fans would be minded to recall that Cardiff have played at the new Wembley more times than Liverpool have.
Related articles
- Cardiff City vs. Liverpool: Preview and Live Stream for 2012 Carling Cup Final (bleacherreport.com)
- Carling Cup : Reliving Liverpool’s 7 Wins in League Cup Finals (bleacherreport.com)
- You: Dalglish Cardiff Deserve Maximum Respect (sportsviews.com)
- Feb 19, 12
As the full-time whistle blew yesterday at Stamford Bridge, bringing to an end a disappointing 1-1 draw against Birmingham City, the boos rung out and fans leaving the ground could be heard muttering the words Jose and Mourinho. With the score at 1-0, City fans even chanted his name – Chelsea fans must have been more than a little tempted to join in.
Chelsea seem like they’re in a bit of an awkward moment. People like AVB, but how much longer can he continue when results and performances aren’t what they should be? With a 3 year contract on reportedly £150,000 per week, and the club having already paid out £69m in compensation for the six managers sacked since 2004, something other than sacking AVB is needed. A solution is needed that avoids another big payout.
1FITG is delighted to bring Roman Abramovich…
Five Ways To Nudge AVB Into Resigning
1. Make subtle changes to parts of his office
ALB is known to be a bit of a perfectionist according to those that have worked with him. Everything in his office is therefore likely to have been meticulously placed. By moving all of his furniture, general belongings, a couple of centimetres one way or the other, he’s likely to be driven mad. This could be combined with:
-reducing the size of his office a little each day, making him feel as though the walls are closing in on him
-replacing a lightbulb with one that flickers and hums incessantly
-releasing a fly into his office each morning before he arrives2. Take a leaf out of Russia’s book
Abramovich will be aware that when Vladimir Putin had served his limit of terms as President of Russia, he still found a way of essentially continuing as President by beefing up the role of Prime Minister and then taking that instead. Keep AVB as manager, but bring Jose in anyway in some sort of role that for all intents and purposes looks separate. Club Secretary perhaps. Just quietly transfer some of the responsibilities over a gradual period of time…
3. Inception
We’re not quite there yet technology-wise for Abramovich to actually enter AVB’s mind and place the thought into his subconscious, but that doesn’t mean this couldn’t be attempted via other means. Perhaps have a few staff talking loudly outside his office about how lovely Portugal is at this time of year, how in a year’s time the UK will be approaching Children of Men levels of bleakness, or how if you don’t go on a round the world trip before you turn 35 you won’t get another opportunity in your lifetime.
4. Cut AVB off from Chelsea’s social links
This is fairly simple for the Chelsea staff to do. About to send an all-user email regarding Abramovich’s birthday party this year? Just remove AVB’s email address. Make sure he hears about the latest departure from the club from the groundsman, 3 weeks after it’s happened, that sort of thing. You could also change his phone number, so that not only does he no longer receive any phone calls, but whenever anyone gets a call from him he’ll hear noticeable surprise on the other end, as though they were expecting someone else – always unsettling.
5. Move AVB’s office to the basement at Stamford Bridge
In the film Office Space, in order to get problem worker Milton out of the way company head Bill Lomberg makes Milton move his desk to the office’s dimly-lit basement. Simply apply this oubliette tactic to get the man out of the way. Yes, if you follow the Office Space example to its conclusion, this might lead to Stamford Bridge burning down – though on the plus side, Chelsea do need a new stadium, are no doubt well-insured, and arson would probably be good grounds to cancel AVB’s contract without compensation.
Related articles
- Dressing-room unrest at Chelsea lands Roman Abramovich in awkward seat | David Hytner (guardian.co.uk)
- Porto president da Costa: AVB doing well at Chelsea (tribalfootball.com)
- Feb 14, 12
This weekend heralds the 4th round of the Budweiser sponsored FA cup. Dreams of Wembley are harboured by fans, whose clubs are still hanging on in the competition. The media like to talk about the romance of the FA cup. In its 141 year history, there have been many memorable moments. Ronnie Radford’s winning goal for non-league Hereford United against the mighty Newcastle. Trevor Brooking’s cup final header against Arsenal. Ricky Villa’s dramatic solo goal against Man City. All glorious moments etched in FA cup folklore. However, I remember something far more memorable than all of that. Something that really represents FA cup tradition. The FA cup final song!
There are probably a few spotty pubescent teenagers reading this, who don’t know what the hell I’m on about. Well that’s nothing new. I’m not cool anymore. Well truth be told, I was never cool. Hence the years of self-loathing. Anyway, I digress. The really tragic thing is, this generation has lost out. Forget about the rise in student fees or broken Britain. They are a host of people out there, who never got the chance to see tone deaf, multimillion pound footballers, make absolute prats of themselves. Well in ways other than family-related sex scandals, and controversial (non) pre-match handshakes of course.
For those who may not know. There was a time (way back when) that football clubs who competed in the FA cup final, would celebrate the occasion. The two competing clubs did this, by releasing their own individual songs. Yes, an actual living, breathing song that would go into the charts. There was even a real a chance this dichotomy of audio tripe, could reach the dizzy heights of number one. How ridiculous is that? Imagine footballers today, having the opportunity to topple modern artists like Rihanna and Ed Sheeran. In fairness, a lot of the FA cup final songs were better than Ed Sheeran, but that’s beside the point.
So picture the scenario. A group of professional footballers in a recording studio, warbling into a microphone. Some of them genuinely believed they could actually sing. Oh and the songs. Let me tell you about the songs. The lyrics were just a mess of random football clichés, with terrace chants thrown in. They were terrible, truly terrible. However we as football fans absolutely adored them! It was something about the silly, cheesy, naff nature of it all, that was well, very, how do you say……English. Plus all the proceeds from the songs sales, would go to a local charity or something wholesome like that (I think!).
Sadly, professional football in this country is a very corporate and commercial world now. Something seemed to happen at the turn of the millennium, and the tradition of releasing a FA cup football song was forgotten. It just doesn’t happen anymore. The media complains there are no sporting personalities. Well the FA cup final song made even the most gormless of morons (I’m talking to you Wayne Rooney), look like real entertainers. Don’t just take my word for it. Have a look at the attached videos of past FA cup final songs. I dare you to watch them and not sing ‘the Anfield rap’ or ‘Arsenal hot stuff’ afterwards.
I was even contemplating the return of International football songs. You know, the ones a nation would record and release before a major tournament. Now this is really exciting stuff. We could have a football version of Eurovision. Where players from each nation would sing and rival countries would do the voting. Oh think of the politics, the backstabbing, and the bribery. FIFA and UEFA would bloody love it! Instead of thinking about formations and zonal marking, the England manager would be wondering if Darren Bent and Joe Hart could finish off their perfect falsettos. Absolute genius folks! I reckon I’m onto something here. Someone get me Simon Cowell’s number, quick.
So, who’s with me here? Let’s see the return of the FA cup final song. With your help this dream can be achieved. We can do it together people. I could even start a petition. Let the future of today revel in football music awfulness. Thank you! I’m off to listen to my Baddiel and Skinner ‘Euro 96’ Three Lions cassette.
Related articles
- Premier League fixture clash with FA Cup final avoided (tribalfootball.com)
- Lehmann: FA Cup can spark Arsenal season (tribalfootball.com)
- Feb 13, 12
There seems to be some flirting going on at the moment.
And not for Valentine’s day.
But Belgian International and perennial transfer target for all of Europe’s top clubs *seems* to have *suggested* that he may move to Spurs in French Football Magazine.
Now, he he does seem to suggest (as he has previously) that he’d welcome a move to England, he then goes on to say:
“Maybe it will be Tottenham. This is a big English club. I said I will go to England and there are very good players.”
He also seems to suggest (and apologise if our French isn’t up to scratch) that he doesn’t want to be part of a team with too many players so that he can have game time.
Before we all denounce the rumour, French Football Correspondent and generally fantastique journalist said in defence of the journalist who wrote the piece:
@JoshHawksworth Vincent Villa is a very serious, well-informed and reliable reporter, who’s been proved right many times before.
— Philippe Auclair (@PhilippeAuclair) February 13, 2012
So what do we think? Is it such a crazy idea? I don’t think so, Spurs play fantastic football, are 10 points ahead of Arsenal and Chelsea and maybe Hazard is young enough not to remember the best of the Arsenal years. Who knows. But from some of the Arsenal fans tweets tonight, they’re certainly worried…
Related articles
- Eden Hazard Wants Premier League Move This Summer (football-talk.co.uk)
- VIDEO: England ‘ultimate’ but focus on Spurs (bbc.co.uk)
-
Roberto's CV
-
Loved Songs
