Fjordball learned at an early age that saying "Yum yum, dinner is good" at the family dinner-table drastically increases your odds of getting dessert, a lesson which has also proved ever so useful in later domestic life (wink wink, nudge nudge).
Having perfected the technique and made ourselves experts in this particular field, we recognize brownnosing when we see it. And so we say to you Trond Giske (Minister of Culture, nicknamed "the party minister" for, well, partying and "the turbo minister" for no obvious reason): You sir, are a sycophant of the highest order.
You see, the big cheeses of Norwegian and Swedish football have decided to explore the possibility of lodging a bid for the 2016 European Championships, and idea that if nothing else is less insane than Tromsø's doomed, deranged and utterly bonkers bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. So, the turbo minister (if in doubt, go for the random one, random is always good) went to visit UEFA's supreme overlord Michel Platini, as you do.
Now, as those of us who follow international club football will have noticed, Michel Platini has made it a big part of his agenda to try and decrease the number of players who move abroad, arguing that football teams full for foreigners will lose their "identity" and connection the local community. This in itself is an interesting stance for a Frenchman who spent the best years of his career playing in Italy, but the point is: Platini think clubs should try to keep it local.
So, what do you think turbo minister Giske, who wouldn't mind a bit of dessert from Platini, told the world after their meeting?
Well done sir, well done.
2 opinions:
He's got a point though, hasn't he? I mean these scandies move abroad far too early these days, it can't be good for them, their national teams or their first clubs.
I mean we didn't sign the blessed Roland Nilsson until he was 26, and he'd won the UEFA Cup by then. Quite why he thought moving to Sheffield Wednesday was a good idea is unclear, but the point stands - he got better experience and became a more accomplished defender by playing against Barcelona and Fenerbahce for IFK Gothenburg than he would have done if Jack Charlton had been forcing him to run up sand dunes for 6 years.
The arguably most accomplished Norwegian footballer right now Jon Arne Riise (who admittedly isn't having the best of times in Italy so far..) moved abroad to Monaco when he was 17, didn't do him any harm..
And anyway, you can always move back if it doesn't work out, there are more than a few players in the Tippeliga who went through the ranks of an academy abroad only to return home and do well here, guys like Tommy Knarvik (Leeds) and Hansi Ramberg (Ajax) spring to mind.
Anyway, there's no easy answer for when it's right for a youngster to move abroad. Will Håvard Nordtveit have a better development at Arsenal's academy than he would have had playing teams like NIL-Trysil and Hødd every week? Only time will tell..
What I think Giske has a problem with isn't as much the fact that youngsters are going abroad, but rather that people are brining in average foreigners rather than developing their youngsters. Nobody will deny that someone like Alanzinho adds to the quality of the Norwegian league, but for every Alanzinho there's a Rene Klingbeil who does bugger all.. Instead of getting cheap mercenaries from abroad to fill the gaps in the squad, teams should be looking around their local community..
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