I’m still silent, but this isn’t: a fantastic multiparter on Leeds at their Revie height. Thanks due to Leeds4EvEr1992 for posting. I think Part Two might be the same as Part One, but patience will be rewarded:

T. Gracchi has just tagged me with this meme. Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book
2. Turn to p.123
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the next three sentences
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Unfortunately, the nearest book to me at that moment happened to be this, and p.123 doesn’t actually have five sentences on it. But I keep 6-8 books on the go at any given moment, and went for the most physically proximate of those.

You don’t know how lucky you are - the next nearest was a bloodsoaked tech thriller about a anthropological pathologist..

Page 123.. (props it open with a First Capital Connect booklet).. fifth sentence… post the next three… here you go..

In 1922, the special spa trains to Scotland that had run during the War were discontinued, now that “it is cheaper to visit a French or Swiss spa than to make the journey to Scotland,” as a medical journal noted. “Let there be no mistake about it,” said one London society doctor, Continental spas were superior. “At the best of these establishments [on the Continent] treatment is carried to the nth degree.”

Given the calibre of my readership, I know I don’t have to bother giving you title and author.

Tag five people.. no point in tagging people who consistently ignore this kind of thing, and in all honesty my blog-reading of late has become confined to (1) people who are good enough to comment here (2) tech, science and money group blogs, most of them based Stateside. So I’m going to tag former bloggers - writers and thinkers from British blogging’s early golden age before the whole thing split down party lines. It’s highly unlikely any of these listed will see this, let alone reply in the comments, but stranger things. Naming the Dead, then:

1. Tom Hamilton
2. Scott Burgess
3. Marcus (from Harry’s Place)
4. “Junius”
5. Blimpish

Now to lapse back into silence.

Arsenal lost at the moment Adebayor turned to celebrate with the crowd, not with the young genius whose lifelong memory of a run created his afterthought of a vital goal. Sven was right to take him to the World Cup, and, but for the fake Sheikh, might have played him.

Enough of such things. Really, do take the time to watch this “fan video” of Germany v Argentina from 2006. It’s far and away the best piece of work of its kind I’ve seen. Let’s face it: they’re normally crap. But this is magnificent - a warm, witty visual essay about the life that still goes on through an often overcommercialised tournament.

Cheer yourself up - here it is:

A group of French film students take one of French football’s greatest heroes up a crane for an interview. The unusual context lowers his guard, which makes for some very thoughtprovoking answers:

Wales enthusiasts might enjoy this clip of Cardiff City taking the open-top bus route through Rhyader.

Link via this BBC website page

He hasn’t finished yet, but as things stand, midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 26 goals in 28 League appearances. Add in his 3 FA Cup goals and 7 Champions League strikes, and we can see that in 40 appearances (38 starts) he has managed 36 goals.

It means that if he scores a goal a game from here until the end of the Premiership season, he’ll join Alan Shearer and Andrew Cole as joint Premiership goalscoring record holder. And that’s good. But what’s more interesting about Ronaldo is not how he compares as a remarkable goalscoring midfielder up against modern out-and-out strikers, but how he compares against William “Dixie” Dean.

Because this is where the jaw really begins to drop. Dean, of course, scored more goals in his career than any other top flight English player. Arthur Rowley scored more, but at a slower rate, and for much of the time in lower divisions. Dean played one full season outside Division One.

What’s more, and again of course, Dean scored 60 goals in one 42-game season, but I’d argue that, great as that achievement is, it has more than a little to do with the 1925 change in the offside rule which brought several season’s glorious goalscoring chaos to the Football League.

It’s comparing Ronaldo’s season with Dixie’s other seasons that’s interesting.

Remember that Ronaldo has scored 26 in 28, or, if you prefer, 36 from 40, from midfield. (Only 4 of them penalties). Here’s Dean:

1925-26: 32 goals from 38 games.

1926-27: 21 goals from 27 games.

1927-28: 60 goals from 39 games.

1928-29: 26 goals from 29 games.

1929-30: 23 goals from 25 games.

1931-32: 45 goals from 38 games.

1932-33: 24 goals from 39 games.

1934-35: 26 goals from 38 games.

Injuries aside, Dean kept it up for year upon year. And he started  younger  - Dean was born in 1907, and was Theo Walcott’s age in the first season that I’ve featured here. Ronaldo is 23, two years older than Dean when Dean met Babe Ruth.

But Dean wasn’t playing against five man defences every week, let alone five man defences with midfielders sitting deep to shield them.

I think Dean would have sympathised with Ronaldo. Dean was a target for rough play too, but at a time when this was seen as normal. (And there’s just a bit too much artificial disgust at Ronaldo’s diving: when Alan Shearer bent the rules or deceived refs, commentators used to say that he’d “used his experience.” Then there’s the young Stan Matthews’ shock on his debut at the stamping, kicking, surreptitious punching and gouging that went on in First Division games in the ’30s and no doubt still does..)

Ronaldo is not just scoring at George Best rates, in George Best’s best season. He’s not just scoring at Alan Shearer rates; he’s in Dixie Dean territory. Not quite Jimmy Greaves yet, but he’s quite clearly improving as a player and that can’t be ruled out. Because - this hasn’t been one of those “surprise” seasons, where a new player sweeps all before him Marcus Stewart style. And Stewart “only” managed 19 anyway. Ronaldo has been around for a few seasons now, and other teams know all about him.

It’s remarkable. We’re all here to see it at first hand, rather than having to rely upon the memories of old men and the exigencies of nitrate film. I expect the famous backheel of a week ago will be the moment that encapsulates it in years to come, but for me, that Dixie Dean-style header against Roma last night is the one that raises my echoes.

Although I’m not the only one pleased to see Beckham make it to his century of England caps, most commentators aren’t. In particular, it’s said over and over again that Beckham isn’t worth the honour when put up against his “colleagues” Shilton, Moore, Charlton and Wright.

That’s my instinctive reaction too. At least it is at first. Moore and Charlton were both World Cup winners, and but for illness might have been twice over. Shilton has Ray Clemence to thank for not passing 150 caps or more in his twenty years as an international. And Billy Wright.. has long been swallowed by the football nostalgia movement.

But add to that the suggestion that Beckham is long past his best, and should make way for a younger man, and add to that the suggestion that Beckham hasn’t been good enough for England for some time, and I part company.

I’m going to address these things in reverse order, beginning with the idea that Beckham is a long time past his best England performances.

The problem Beckham faces in this respect is that his best performance for England was the extraordinary, phenomenal one that it was. There is no doubt, in any sane minds, that Beckham v Greece in 2001 was the outstanding England performance of modern times.

Where’s the fabled John Terry performance? I can think of Sol Campbell ones, and Terry Butcher ones, but none for England from the slit-eyed man with scrub hair. Or the Gerrard one? Do we have to go back to “5-1″ for that? Or the Lampard one? I can think of recent Michael Owen performances, but he’s another man the oafs want to defenestrate. Lampard’s relatively minor annus mirabilis was four years ago.

If Beckham isn’t good enough, who’s better? Which colleagues’ performances have left his so far behind?

What of the other century men? I’ll take them in turn.

Peter Shilton

He, and Gordon Banks before him, stand out not only in English goalkeeping history but world goalkeeping history. But even Homer etc., and Shilton was keeping in both of the matches against Poland in 1973-4 that saw England fail to qualify for the West Germany World Cup. It does feel harsh to suggest, 34 years later, that he might have done better at Wembley once Norman Hunter had missed his tackle, because Shilton was part of a quiet golden age in England’s defence between 1982 and 1990. There is no ball-between-the-legs-against Scotland, no famous flaps, just endless hard work and a reliability that was always taken for granted. Why Liverpool never came for him will always be a mystery to me.

Shilton was worth his caps, and retired from internationals at exactly the right time. Which brings us on to…

Billy Wright

Wright hails from an era that was strange in its giving out of caps. He wasn’t the best defender of his day. He played in both of the gigantic 1953-4 humiliations against the Hungarians, and his most remembered passage of play came in the first of the two, when Puskas sent him flying in the wrong direction. On the other hand, he skippered the best ever England international team, that serendipitous 46-48 group which also boasted Raich Carter, Stan Matthews, Stan Mortenson, Tommy Lawton, Tom Finney and Wilf Mannion. Later, he skippered the 55-58 side of Edwards, Byrne and Taylor that, but for Munich, would surely have starred in the World Cup in Sweden.

But what of himself? It’s almost as though he were captain in the cricketing sense, a fixture purely on those grounds, kept going by avoiding injury and delaying retirement. That’s nothing to be ashamed of, but it’s noticeable that of our centenarians, Wright is the only one who has never been considered one of the greats of the game, whereas he’s the one of the group who played alongside great players the most.

But he married a singer. No, Beckham’s done more, and been through more, for his hundred than Billy Wright.

What about…

Bobby Charlton

Bobby Charlton, of course, scored 49 goals for England, a record that sits waiting for Michael Owen’s next blue streak. Beckham’s only managed 17, the last one coming two years ago in the World Cup. But Charlton’s international goals come in a lump at the beginning of his international career. As a goalscorer, he thrived alongside Jimmy Greaves, not Geoff Hurst or Martin Peters. Charlton’s last 17 international goals took him six years to compile. Nevertheless, it was during this period, comparatively late in the day that Charlton truly came to be accepted as an international. Philip Larkin said of John Betjeman that his greatest achievement was to become Betjeman. Much the same could be said of Charlton, who did it during the 1966 World Cup. After his goals against Mexico and Portugal, all criticism of his inconsistency and selfishness on the pitch, so common before, fell away and were soon forgotten. So complete was his rehab that defeat to West Germany in 1970 is put down in part to his being taken off. Apparently, he’d kept Beckenbauer out of the game (Der Kaiser had in fact scored before Charlton left the field).

Did Charlton hang on too long? Three goals in his last nineteen internationals is comparable to Beckham’s three in his last 25. Charlton was 32 when he was retired by Sir Alf Ramsey, 35 when he eventually retired altogether, something he later felt he’d done too early (he was almost certainly right about this). No, in other words. There’d have been more, had he only realized it. Beckham knows there’s something valuable left in him, and won’t make Charlton’s mistake.

On the other hand…

Bobby Moore

Moore was Ramsey’s skipper as Beckham was Ericksson’s. He was England’s outstanding player in their outstanding performance, the 1-0 defeat to Brazil in 1970 at which international football peaked. He made England’s third goal in the 1966 Final with that last, long, sweeping pass for Hurst to run onto.

But he was only just into the nineties in terms of caps when the real rot set in for England. Moore skippered England against West Germany and Netzer in April 1972, and then there was this the following year - it’s at about 2:40 :-

Moore was dropped after that, only for Norman Hunter to repeat the error in the return match at Wembley. There’d be three more internationals, then an Indian summer at Fulham ending with a Wembley Cup Final. Life could have been fairer to Moore. He’d had to recover from cancer in his early career, which must have chopped years off his best playing days. Had any of the myriad chances gone in at Wembley, he’d have had an appropriate send-off at a World Cup Finals, as Charlton had had. (But for the string of injuries that raddled England in 2005-6, perhaps Beckham would have had his). But nevertheless, there is not the sense of unfinished business about Moore that there is with Beckham. Four months ago, this:

But there’s one piece of history that David Beckham can never claim. Because he wasn’t the first Englishman to score at the new Wembley. That was this man - and on that note..

I really don’t know. Do you?

England played on a Wednesday night, having had all of two days together, away from home and against one of the strongest teams in Euro 2008. And came away with a single goal defeat, France having had to depend on a penalty.

That sounds quite good, but England didn’t play well for much of the game. Unless, of course, that actually is as well as they can play, and one begins to wonder now if that is actually the case.

Win or lose, though, I’m thoroughly enjoying Fabio Capello, yet there are things that he’s doing that strike me as counter-productive. Let’s begin with the enjoyment.

John Terry being comprehensively hung out to dry. If the stories about his parking in a disabled bay are true - if the stories about his urinating over the bar in a night club are true - to say nothing of the others - then Capello has been instant karma. Terry’s “captaincy” was everything I don’t believe about the game: he was a fantasy figure for the press, a plastic Ingerland action man who, when you pulled his string, told you lies about what it had been like under Billy Wright, Kevin Keegan and Terry Butcher. The rousing team talks and the on-field shouting we were promised had no visible impact upon the team at all. Do you want to know why? It’s because they don’t work… (And what bull Terry talks anyway. I’ve taken to changing channel when he comes on.)

It crosses my mind that Capello might very well be teasing John Terry. Getting the other players to toss the captaincy around over his head as he jumps and chases for it: pulling him off in favour of Joleon Lescott. The whole Rio Ferdinand thing. The message seems to be, “get over yourself.” Or else, there’s no message and it’s all just vindictive. I’ll be happy either way.

Telling Beckham to play on. The English press deserve to have “DB” make it to 150 caps. Were I manager, I’d keep picking him, just to punish them for their little-Englander moment after the 2006 World Cup and its dire consequences. Don’t worry about 2010 David; make sure you’re fit for 2014. The press were out there again today, waving his obituaries. They’ll never get it, but until they never get it, they must be taught a lesson.

Not picking Sven’s rejects. Do you remember the outrage in 2006 when messers. Defoe, Bent, etc., were left behind in favour of Theo Walcott? So many English forwards “deserved to go” - Johnson’s another. Well, it’s now two years on, and not one of the players abandoned on the beach has done anything to suggest that their omission wasn’t entirely appropriate. The unlucky man of 2006, Dean Ashton, is, according to good sources, in receipt of assurances regarding his international future from Capello and Baldini. (The unlucky man of 2007 too; so many injuries, always it seems at the point where his international career is about to begin).

Reversing Steve McClaren’s reforms. The return of jackets and ties and proper shoes and decent eating habits. I can’t have been the only one to think that abandoning all of this was a bad idea. Sir Clive Woodward sought to make England rugby a glorious, elite experience, different and better for the players than their life with their clubs, so that players would aspire to England and do all they could to stay there. Much of Woodward’s work was dumped the minute he was gone - and look at the chaos and football-esque indecision in England rugby now. (At least they show signs of becoming aware of themselves now, but it’s about time).

But there are other things about Capello that I’m not so sure about.

Reading the team sheet out on the bus. This might be a temporary measure. Given the paucity of international players who are also English, Capello inherits Sven’s squad until either they all die of old age or young players begin to assert themselves. Given that Stuart Pearce turns out to have been born for the job of Under-21 England Coach (and he deserves to be that good at it), the latter is the more likely, but not yet. So Capello needs to use everything he can think of to differentiate what has gone before with what happens now. It has to become new and fresh again, albeit at cost. Because if you don’t know the team in advance, there’s less you can do to prepare, to become used to your team mates, to develop automatic understanding with them. As it is, the players are in the dark until the last minute, and have to maintain their training levels right up until they climb onto the Leyland Lion and growl off towards the Empire Stadium.

Picking players on form alone. This isn’t what’s happening, in actual fact. If it were, Nigel Reo-Coker would have played, as would Ashley Young. No: Capello is working his way through the limited number of players available to him in a methodical way, and his squads reflect that.

If he were to pick largely on form, I’d complain. England players aren’t together much, and need a “Club England” so that they can get used to each other and develop understanding. Constant chopping and changing helps no one but the press. And having to fight for your place, all of the time, creates too much pressure and fear - Capello himself has noticed that it’s fear, not lack of lumpen “passion”, that’s holding England back. There are a small number of English players who possess international quality and the ability to handle that pressure, but not enough to fill an XI, let alone a squad. There are more, of the type historically exemplified by a remarkable man named Geoff Thomas, who have the mental strength but not the actual ability. Once Rooney, Owen, Hargreaves, Crouch (ball to feet, please), Bentley and Beckham are in the squad, the remainder have to come from the skilful-but-less-assured group. (The only defender I’d put in that list is Gary Neville, who has spent his entire career on the verge of losing his United place to this or that expensive foreign player, but Neville is quite obviously unfit at the moment).

There’s one more thing. It’s almost certainly not the case, yet the thought crosses my mind. What if Capello is in the job for reasons other than the ones he gives?

It must be obvious to continental observers that our English players depend on technically superior French, Spanish and Portuguese players for much of their club success. And it must be obvious that we in England still don’t realize the extent of our problem. In ten years’ time, all will be well, if Arsene Wenger’s right about the quality of youth moving through the academies. But for now.. what if it’s all a big joke, an exercise to bring us down to size, to confront us, not with what we’ve lost, but with what we’ve never attempted seriously to obtain? What if Capello knows that we’re not good enough, whatever any manager does? What if Capello’s merely marching the players up to the top of the hill and down again in order to provide Beckham with caps and the rest of them with a humiliating experience? What if that’s what it’s all about: the regimented dining, the grown-up clothes, the teamsheet-on-the-bus routine, the unfamiliar formations, the squads with their golf-tournament-style “cut” and unpredictable manning?

It probably isn’t true, and Capello is probably serious about getting us to 2010. But if he is just here to spend his time in some extended, sophisticated, cynical exercise, in making the rosbifs dance to the bullets, then I hope he’s enjoying it. Because I certainly am.

Youtuber Kimjjj has posted the following COMPLETE MATCHES (and there are highlight reels too!). I know I don’t know where to start - there are many, many more after the jump:

Brazil v England 1970
Brazil v Italy 1970
Brazil v Romania 1970
Holland v Bulgaria 1974
Holland v Argentina 1974
Holland v Germany 1974
Liverpool v Gladbach 1977
Argentina v Italy 1978
Argentina v Brazil 1978
Argentina v Holland 1978
Italy v Germany 1982
Italy v Brazil 1982
Italy v Argentina 1982
France v Germany 1982
Brazil v Argentina 1982
France v Denmark 1984
France v Yugoslavia 1984
France v Spain 1984
Denmark v Yugoslavia 1984
Denmark v Belgium 1984
Spain v Germany 1984
Spain v Denmark 1984
Brazil v Algeria 1986
Brazil v N Ireland 1986
Brazil v France 1986
Argentina v Korea 1986
Argentina v Bulgaria 1986
Argentina v Uruguay 1986
Argentina v England 1986
Argentina v Belgium 1986
Argentina v Germany 1986
Denmark v Scotland 1986
Liverpool v Wimbledon 1988
Spain v Denmark 1988
Italy v Denmark 1988
Holland v England 1988
Holland v Germany 1988
Holland v USSR 1988
USSR v Italy 1988
Brazil v Costa Rica 1990
Argentina v Brazil 1990
Argentina v Italy 1990
Argentina v Germany 1990
Germany v England 1990
England v Cameroon 1990
Barcelona v Juventus 1991
Man Utd v Barcelona 1991
England v Denmark 1992
Denmark v France 1992
Denmark v Holland 1992
Denmark v Germany 1992
Barcelona v Sampdoria 1992
Barcelona v Real Madrid 1993
Argentina v Mexico 1993
Barcelona v Milan 1994
Argentina v Greece 1994
Brazil v Holland 1994
Real Madrid v Barcelona 1995
England v Germany 1996
Brazil v France 1998
Brazil v Denmark 1998
Brazil v Holland 1998
Brazil v Chile 1998
Denmark v Nigeria 1998
England v Argentina 1998
Juventus v Manchester U 1999
Spain v Yugoslavia 2000
Portugal v France 2000
Italy v France 2000
Denmark v Sweden 2004
Portugal v Holland 2004
Portugal v Greece 2004
Milan v Liverpool 2005
Barcelona v Arsenal 2006
Argentina v Mexico 2006
Spain v France 2006
France v Brazil 2006
Portugal v France 2006
Italy v Germany 2006
Italy v France 2006

It’s difficult to pick on one moment that exemplifies the Dutch moment in football. Two successive World Cup Final defeats were more than they deserved, and perhaps their 1974 demolition of then-champions Brazil is a better choice. Or the evening they ran riot at Wembley. But for atmosphere and feel, step down to the club game, and enjoy this:

Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player Manchester United have had since Best. But George Best wasn’t just skill: there was so much warmth, fun, charisma. Some courage, too, although nothing to what Ronaldo and Beckham have had to come up with to survive the neckless bigots who throng the English game. Best’s greatest moment came in the NASL, of course, and Europe had to settle for his performance in the ‘65 game against Benfica away. It’s hard to find this on Youtube, but it’s here, about halfway through.