Hall of Fame: Igor Stimac 1985 - 2002

Courtesy of www.dcfc.co.uk

RBB loves to write about some of the greatest players ever to grace the Premier League. But sometimes a player can become a legend at a club without winning titles and cups. Tom Stanley our resident Derby County fan writes why Croatian Igor Stimac deserves to be inducted into the RBB hall of fame.

Igor Stimac is quite possibly one of the best centre halves Croatia have ever had. After an opening statement like that I could quite easily end this blog, but instead I will set about proving this point to those of you who are not Croatian, or a Derby County supporter. Born in what was then Yugoslavia in 1961, Stimac was noted for his football prowess at an early age and was capped at under 20 level by Yugoslavia, before being called up by his native and then fledgling homeland of Croatia. During a 12 year international career, Stimac was capped 53 times and scored twice, whilst also appearing at both the European Championships and also in the World Cup where Croatia finished third in 1998.

Postcard from Obscurity: Boško Balaban

Courtesy of ave-it.net

Boško Balaban came to the attention of Premier League football fans when Aston Villa manager John Greggory paid £5.8 million to bring him to Villa Park. Unfortunately for Balaban the Croation international would not be rememberd for his footballing prowess. But a disastrous spell in England that would blight an otherwise decent career.

Listed in The Times list of 50 worst footballers in 2007, the Croatian forward spent two-and-a-half years at Villa Park but didn’t even make one league appearance. In fact, the forward only played nine games, scoring no goals. Talk about value for money.

He started his career with HNK Rijeka in 1995 and stayed with them until 2000 scoring 21 goals in 97 appearances. Not a great goals to games ratio, made even less attractive when 15 of the goals came in his last season meaning prior to that he scored 6 goals in 4 years. He would then sign for Dinamo Zagreb, playing only 25 games but scoring 14 goals, which is decent return even though it may not have been in one of the hardest leagues in world football in terms of talent, but I’m sure the defenders in the league were well accustomed to the darker arts of football.

League two - the run in

Courtesy of bbc.co.uk

In the third and final instalment of this series, RBB looks at League 2. Sides here may not be household names. Nor do many have a bumper transfer kitty to spend in the transfer window, but that does not mean the pressure or expectation on managers and clubs is any less. A good season can end with promotion and a season in the relative sunshine of League 1 whilst failure sees the trapdoor to non-league football open, and a quick look at the Conference table shows a league bristling with former Football League sides.

Promotion

Swindon Town and their colourful manager, Paolo Di Canio currently top the League 2 tree, and with a game in hand on their rivals look likely to make the jump back to League 1 next season. With 3 automatic promotion spots, and assuming that Swindon take one, then 2 are left to fight for, with Torquay United, Crawley Town, Shrewsbury Town and Southend United all in the scrap at this late part of the season.

Torquay have quietly come out of the shadows and their current good form could see them up if it continues. The only problem they have is that they have played one more match than their rivals, though of course a victory for Crawley or Shrewsbury is not certain and a gap of 3 points at this point of the season is a bigger mountain to climb than at its beginning.

League One - The Run in

Courtesy of caughtoffside,com

As the Football league season enters its final month, the majority of the 72 sides are still involved in promotion or relegation battles in their respective divisions. So with 6 matches left for most sides, who will go up, and who will face the dreaded relegation trap door?

In the second of this series, RBB turns its attention to League 1, which is never easy to predict. Here smaller teams mix with larger ones, and those predicted to go up as they are “too big” invariably fail.

Promotion

Charlton look a safe bet for the title with a 6 point gap between them and current 2^nd place incumbents Sheffield United. Therefore the 2^nd placed spot is the talking point here, and with League 1 sides passing it round like a hot potato at times this year, it could go anyway. After defeat to Carlisle on Saturday it looks like perennial promotion chasers Huddersfield Town will have to settle for the playoffs yet again. Thus meaning that 2^nd spot goes to one of the two steel city rivals United, and Wednesday.

Goalkeeper's Union: Wojciech Szczęsny - Arsenal's Saviour?

Courtesy of www.telegraph.co.uk

Despite Arsenal's heroic performance against AC Milan in the Champions League and their dramatic upturn in form that seems to have given them a real chance of finishing 3rd and a automatic Champions League position, Arsene Wenger is still under pressure from many in the stands and in the media because of Arsenal's now famous 7 year wait for a trophy. Whether it be with a move upstairs, to Madrid or to the French National team his position at Arsenal reamins in doubt. Some have questioned the Frenchman's judgment - whether he panic brought in the summer or whether his relucatance to spend big on establsihed stars means Arsenal may have to play second fiddle to north London rivals Spurs.

However, there is one long term Wenger dilemma that has been answered that the media seems to have largely ignored. Since the days when pony tailed David Seaman left, Wenger has had a problem in replacing England's former number one. The French professor has had several experiments. We all remember rosie cheeked Austrian Alex Manninger who Wenger single handely destroyed the confidence of; then there was English pretenders Richard Wright and Stuart Taylor who both promised big things but never produced. Both were once seen as future England number ones but Wright is now retired and Taylor has only played 21 compeitive games in 7 years since leaving Arsenal for Aston Villa and lately Manchester City.

The Championship – The run in

Courtesy of globalsportincolour.com

As the Football league season enters its final month, the majority of the 72 sides are still involved in promotion or relegation battles in their respective divisions. So with 6 matches left for most sides, who will go up, and who will face the dreaded relegation trap door.

Today RBB looks at the Championship, which with its mix of former premier league sides, sleeping giants and a cluster of teams performing what many would consider their natural position in the football hierarchy. This league is one of the most unpredictable and therefore one of the most open leagues in European football.

Promotion

After this weekend’s series of matches culminating with Southampton’s 3-0 defeat at Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road, the saints sit 2 points clear of Reading who head the chasing pack. This weekend’s defeat is typical of a Southampton side who have struggled recently without their talismanic striker Ricky Lambert. Without the striker goals have not come easy for the saints, but any player who can bag you 28 goals by the end of March would prove a major loss to any side. The run in for Southampton though should be eased with the return of Lambert to the starting 11 next weekend for the visit of local rivals Portsmouth. This should see the end to a current blip in form and Southampton look the favourites for the title and a return to the Premiership, which leaves Reading and West Ham fighting for second spot.

Big Interview: England Futsal Star Doug Reed

www.MarcTaylor.eu

After RBB's recent trip to the Point 4 arena in Hereford to watch the English National Futsal team take on their Swiss counterparts we thought we would follow up our interest by talking to one of the teams stars. Doug Reed was born in Birmingham and is a current England international. In the Summer of 2011 he was part of the successful Manchester Futsal team that won the FA Futsal Cup in Birmingham ending several years of domestic domination by London based side Helvecia.

Doug was also named player of the tournament a huge honour considering the best of futsal in the UK talent had been on show. Doug is currently playing his club futsal in Croatia for Uspinjaca Zagreb and one of the select few English futsal players playing abroad. We caught up with Doug and thought we would ask him a few questions about how he got into futsal, living and playing abroad and what he thinks the future holds for futsal in England.

Reader's Articles: Football for the many

Courtesy of PremierLeague.com

When Downing Street briefed its intention to include a plan to give football fans more powers in the running of their clubs in Labour’s 2010 general election manifesto, the critics carped that this was another pie-in-the-sky proposal from a government that was gasping for breath. While the cynics suggested it was a craven attempt to curry favour with a section of the electorate who rarely makes it to the polling station, Gordon Brown’s commitment to football governance had far-reaching consequences.

Eager to nullify Labour’s unexpected lurch into the beautiful game, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats rushed out their own pledges. After the formation of the coalition, there was even a commitment in the coalition agreement ‘to support the cooperative ownership of football clubs by their supporters’. For much of this parliament, there has been a strong cross-party consensus on the need for reform of a game that has slowly been eating itself. New sports minister Hugh Robertson described football ‘as the worst governed sport in Britain’ and a select committee inquiry into the game’s governance endorsed radical proposals like a more independent FA, a licensing system similar to the one that operates in Germany to eliminate debt and regulatory tweaks to give supporters’ groups more rights to run their own clubs.

Futsal in England

Courtesy of LakeshoreSportsClub.com

Futsal is one of the fastest growing sports in England so RBB thought we would check it out. When we heard that the England national side were playing against Switzerland in Hereford we thought this was as good a time as any... but hold on, what is Futsal?

Well according to the fountain of knowledge that is Wikipedia it is an indoor game played with five players on each side, over two twenty minute halves, with a smaller heavier ball and hockey sized goals at the end of a basket ball sized pitch. In other words it’s the closest thing to indoor football going. There is no annoying head high rule, any player can go anywhere and there is no wall along the pitch perimeter to turn the beautiful game into pinball like normal 5-a-side. For those of you hack merchants thinking this game sounds fun it requires a high level of technical skill and tactics play a large role in team set-up. Also there is no running time down in Futsal as the clock stops every time the ball leaves the playing area. Right - got all that?

Reader's Articles: Liverpool's season so far

Courtesy of Emlil.DeviantArt.com

About a month ago I commented on an RBB post about Liverpool and asked everyone to reserve judgement until after the Arsenal game on March the 3rd. Despite losing our first game at Anfield this season against the Gunners I figured it was due a revisit to the conversation.

Liverpool have won their first piece of silverware for 6 years (this is not going to turn into a debate on quality of silver, but a trophy is a trophy), they are in the last 8 of the FA Cup and are sitting in 7th in the Premier League. Considerable progress from when Dalglish took over about 14 months ago, but all Liverpool fans, the pundits and the football world in general won't call the season a true success unless there is a top 4 finish.

Is it possible? Yes.