Holiday Stories

December 28 – 2006

While you were wearing sweaters with embroidered candy-canes and trying to kill the taste of egg-nog with Nicaraguan rum, the soccer world continued to churn out news at a dizzying rate. Here’s a quick round-up of some of the tidbits that went unmolested by Soccernista this past week:

• Charlton hired Alan Pardew. No one can fault Charlton for bringing the Les Reed era to a quick end; he looked more like a senior partner at Smith-Barney than a footie manager. But the logic behind hiring Alan Pardew seems fundamentally flawed. “Hey, that guy plowed a talented West Ham side into a regulation battle. Think of what he can do for our less talented Charlton!” Enjoy the Coca-cola, Addicks.
• Lord Stevens released his “Bung” study. And mostly found nothing. But the real story is the Soccernet coverage of the scandal, which continues to yield double entendres any 13 year-old boy would be proud of. Our favorites: “Big Sam relieved after Stevens bung probe” and “United have been given a clean bill of health by Lord Stevens’ bung inquiry.”
• Abramovich plans to curb spending, ostensibly because he expects the Chelsea academy to start bearing the fruits of investment. Sure. Drogba, Essien, Geremi, etc. were mere stand-ins until Ambrovich could grow some real players. The nerve of this guy.
• Fox Sports World announced they will broadcast a live show on the future of US soccer from the NSCAA convention. The all-star lineup includes Don Garber, Max Bretos, Christian Miles, and a chicken pecking out text-messages which will then be fed through a Stephen Hawking-like voice synthesizer. Mark your calendar.