Patrick Collins - Mail on Sunday!

[podolipotter]

Under the heading of "A magical answer to the dull realists of the English game" - an article which lauds Barcelona's football as "the stuff of Dreams". In this otherwise well-written piece he takes an unnecessary and vicious swipe at Pulis, Stoke and Rory -

"It is impossible to imagine Barcelona, Arsenal or United (presumably he means the Shite) selecting an outfield player because of his ability to throw the ball. It is equally impossible to conceive of any of those clusbs resorting to the crudity of Routine One, then justifying the abomination through phoney statistics and tame sports scientists.

That kind of thing is for lesser clubs and lesser managers..."

True, he acknowledges that wealth and resources are vital but ultimately, he says, it comes down toa belief in the game and a conviction that the most effectiver way is also the most attractive.

While I think we would all love to play the Barcelona way every week, in reality football today is less about the beautiful game but more about the money and Collins is a dreamer if he imagines a Premier league without the difference methological approaches of managers such as TP, Allardyce etc. I also think he is being grossly unfair in suggesting that Rory is chosen simply because of his throwing ability.

Discuss. Sorry I do not have a linke to the article on page 24 of The Mail on Sunday Sport.

[GeneralFaye]

He's bent

[londonjamie]

cappucino sipping loafer wearing cunt.

[stokemark]

Nouveaux football fuckwit

[sheikhmomo]

Poor journalist working for a vile rag.

[scfc75]

Yep, it's apparently ok to have a player able to deliver a set piece from the ground with deadly accuracy - in fact in utilising players with this skill you are lauded as a tactical genius, getting the best from your players and using their strengths for the overall good of the team. Man Utd used Beckham's dead ball ability for years to great effect. However, if you have a player who can do the same thing but with his arms, it's described as cheating, timewasting, unsporting..... how dare we have a player who can put a throw in as good as a corner / free kick, and then use men in the box to take advantage. It's outrageous to think we would do such a thing.

I'm fairly certain that when I last checked, throw ins are a legitimate way of resuming play when the ball goes into touch, and despite all my searching I can't find the rule which stops a player from throwing the ball long and flat.

[sheikhmomo]

Anyone who thinks Rory is picked soley for his throw is a fuckwit. Anyone who thinks a fairly decent mid table outfit can carry a passenger who can only throw a ball for an entire season is a fuckwit. Anyone who refuses to give any credit to a very fit player still turning in non stop high energy displays in midfield at the age off 33 is a fuckwit. Patrick Collins is a fuckwit.

[Anto1962]

there will come a day when Stoke are 1-0 down with aminute to go and we have a throw in near the penalty box and Rory has retired and MOTD will say "where's Rory Delap when you really need him". They will miss him as much as we will.

[serpico]

Is he one of those know nothing know it all journos who sit around swilling coffee and smelling their own farts on sky of a sunday morning ?

[trebor63]

I wouldn't worry too much what is said by any journo or any other pundit for that matter.

I like almost every other Stoke fan is chuffed with my club at the moment we have com a long long way in a very short time. Only four seasons ago (FOUR!!!!) the final championship table told us we had played 46 games and we lost 22 of them!

Brighton got relegated and they also lost 22 games! We were an awful awful shambolic team. Fast forward four seasons and only the big four plus Villa Spurs Everton and moneybags Man Citeh are guaranteed to come above us with five games to go in the Prem

This is progress beyond the wildest dreams of the most optimistic fan I know! We are already looking like an established Prem club our points tally is improving our position is improving our crowds have doubled and our football is improving!

Some pundits are clueless hacks who have probably been introduced to football within the last few years and frankly see it more as a night out at the opera rather than a sporting contest. Let them write their drivel but I suggest you use it as emergency toilet paper rather than a serious debate

[mica]

I think you should go easy on Mr Collins. He's obviously doing his best. It must be very difficult to write about football when all you've done is see is a couple of games on the box and trot down to Stamford Bridge for a prawn sandwich and a glass of Bolly.

[podolipotter]

I have e-mailed Collins as below

Dear Mr Collins,

Clearly you too, are a dreamer but we really do live in a real world, hence the pragmatists, like Tony Pulis must, and do have their part to play in our Premiership.

Rory Delay does possess the best-ever flat speedy throw-in that football has ever seen - possibly because he was a former javelin thrower - but he is also a keen and vital member of the Stoke City midfield and has arguably been their most consistent midfielder. David Beckham has a renowned deadball skill and I would suggest that he won a lot of his England caps solely because of this skill rather than his actual tackling forte. As for the long ball dig, it may surprise you to learn that the majority of Stoke City goals have come from open play situations this season.

Also Stoke have suffered more than their fare share of terrible referreeing decisions this season and it is perhaps this heady, tangible issue that you ought to address your column concerns rather than a wispy dream like vision of something which, we will never achieve across the whole footballing world field.

I would welcome your response from a true supporter of all types of football.

Yours sincerely

[sutekh]

Dunna see why people get upset by this shite really,like most journos he is a grade A cuntwhipe who licks the anal cleavage of the bigger clubs yet condemns the smaller clubs at every opportunity.

[block30row19]

Nothing to do with finance, resources and playing to your strengths then

[serpico]

Patrick Collins proving once again that football journalism is just lazy generalisations based on perceptions, must be such an easy living to make, just sitting there typing that garbage for a piece of shit paper. He doesn't watch Rory every week, he doesn't watch stoke every week, so really thats all football journalism is, huge generalizations .

[andyk]

Read that myself. His argument is completely hollow and pointless. Should Stoke go out and buy Messi, Iniesta and Marquez so we can play football of that quality? Of course we could always produce players like that ourselves, and they could go on to, er, be signed up by Chelsea, Arsenal, and yes, Barcelona. So his words represent basically nothing more than a huge pile of excrement, and we should dismiss them, and him, without any further concern.

[slangking]

Football was so much better when parasitic w@nkers like him hated it.

[mica]

This prick has pissed me off so much I've written this in the online comments bit of the godawful rag's Internet version.



"It is impossible to imagine Barcelona, Arsenal or United selecting an outfield player because of his ability to throw the ball. It is equally impossible to conceive of any of those clubs resorting to the crudity of Route One, then justifying the abomination through phoney statistics and tame sports scientists."

You're quite right, Mr Collins. The football league should ban any club that doesn't have massive crowds and/or a sugar daddy pouring in vast sums of money. After all, that's what sport is all about isn't it? We don't want those nasty poorer clubs trying to compete, do we? I bet they all speak with nasty provincial accents and can't serve up a decent prawn sandwich, either.

Please don't think I'm trying to be critical, by the way. It must be very difficult to write about football when all you've done is see is a couple of games on the box and trot down to Stamford Bridge for a prawn sandwich and a glass of Bolly.

[mickstupp]

This is the same guy who wrote two weeks ago that TP was English! Ignore him.

[Mr Jon]

mica - a good response which will probably not get past the southern media moderators on the MOS

[mica]

It'll be interesting to see whether they allow it, won't it? I don't hold out too much hope.

[mayf]

Did you see the way Burnley tried to play football out of defence yesterday ? Cost them 2 goals in the 1st 6 minutes.
Route 1 has it's place and indeed the likes of Chelsea,Man U and even Spurs are not immune to using it.
He can go bury his head in the sand with the rest of the journos

[nott1]

How can TP be classed as a lesser manager than an inarticulate thug and a whining Frog?

[cliffo23]

Well, after reading that rubbish it obviously shows why that guy is neither a player or manager in football.

[Jimmy Cooper]

Am I the only person who doesn't give a fuck about any other team or how they play? In my view, Barcelona are shit, the same way Arsenal are shit, Manchester United are shit, Leeds are shit, Vale are shit, Accrington Stanley are shit. I can't understand all the jizzing over another team, it's the sole preserve of gloryhunters and, the biggest threat to the game, neutrals. Stoke are my team, and my team are better than anyone else. End of.

[begovicnumber1]

What is it with Stoke fans and their continual citing of 'resources' for this atrocious 'brand' of football?

Tony Pulis has spent the best part of £50m on this squad, truth be known. As an attacking force, the team functions only to earn set-plays and throw-ins. I haven't got a major issue with this as the structure of football dictates that Premiership survival is imperative, though I do snigger when people suggest that Stoke's lack of style results from a lack of funds.

As well as Stoke are doing at the present time, their success is somewhat marred by the means by which it has been achieved. The present side is 'efficiency' personified, though there's little to get the pulse racing about the Pulis approach.

[sirstanliveson]

saw him talking couple of weeks ago on Sunday Supplement. Was quite obvious his comments are not taken seriously by other people.
He seems to have an arragonce that only justified in his own head. Would never trust or believe anything he says or writes.

what a nob jockey

[Anto1962]

Apr 4, 2010 12:41:59 GMT @begovicnumber1 said:

What is it with Stoke fans and their continual citing of 'resources' for this atrocious 'brand' of football?

Tony Pulis has spent the best part of £50m on this squad, truth be known. As an attacking force, the team functions only to earn set-plays and throw-ins. I haven't got a major issue with this as the structure of football dictates that Premiership survival is imperative, though I do snigger when people suggest that Stoke's lack of style results from a lack of funds.

As well as Stoke are doing at the present time, their success is somewhat marred by the means by which it has been achieved. The present side is 'efficiency' personified, though there's little to get the pulse racing about the Pulis approach.

Yes but we still have trouble attracting the kind of players that would make us tippy tappy lovely to watch premiership gay boys that would have cost us 100 million more and most still wouldn't have come. Welcome to the board by the way Begovic.

[mica]

Tony Pulis has spent the best part of £50m on this squad, truth be known.

Fair enough, and you make some good points. But we are competing against teams who can pay this much for a single player and pay wages of over 100 grand a week.

[wrighter]

He was probably going to Chelsea in the 70"s and creaming his kegs when Ian Hutchinson was doing long throws, mind, in those days it was a revelation[apparantley] !!