GRAHAM TAYLOR had a favourite quote about media reports.
It was basically this: “When they report things are good, they are never as good as they pretend they are and, when they say things are bad, they are never that bad.”
A couple of instances have reminded me of that this week and why I think it’s a philosophy which is well worth buying into.
Firstly Town. A point against Ipswich is followed by three at Burnley and, suddenly, the world looks a different place.
Credit to the players and the new management at the club, because they have knuckled down to produce two clean sheets – and that’s what will ultimately keep them in the Championship.
It’s clear from looking at the table that Town don’t have a massive goal threat at the moment – only Ipswich have scored fewer goals all season – so keeping it tight at the back is absolutely essential and it will, if they can do it consistently, keep them up.
While they might not be able to put four or five past teams right now, Town can at least make it difficult for the opposition to break them down and that’s what they seem to be achieving with their latest results – although I’m sure Mark Robins will be reminding everyone there’s still a lot of hard work to do and a long way to go in the season.
Then we move on to Gareth Bale at Tottenham.
What an incredible turn-around for him – the ultimate ugly duckling turning into a swan.
When he first moved to White Hart Lane it was something like a year before he played in a winning team.
He was a left-back, he was always getting injured and, basically, Spurs were wondering why they had spent a lot of money on a young full-back from Southampton.
Fast-forward to Monday night and their win at West Ham!
Bale showed he is an incredible talent. As a defender, if you get tight to him he will just go past you with pace. If you stand off him, however, he will get the ball on his left foot and dispatch it into your net from 30 yards out.
At the moment, he is one of those players who looks unplayable, and there are not many of those in world football – people who just don’t seem to be able to be stopped.
Cristiano Ronaldo might be one, Lionel Messie another, even Liverpool’s Luis Suarez, and I believe Bale is now right up there in that category.
So it’s no surprise there are reports coming out of Spain that Real Madrid want to sign him – and we at Skybet are offering even money that he’ll sign for Real Madrid before September 1.
The simple fact is that if Spurs chairman Daniel Levy gets £50m-plus offered, we are not sure he’ll be able to turn it down being the businessman that he is.
It would be a fine line. That’s an awful lot of money for one player, especially when during January and February he has single-handedly propelled that club up to third. The players there look to him for leadership and he’s added goals to his game.
It would have a massive impact on Spurs if he left, because where would the inspiration come from? No wonder Sam Allardyce, the Hammers boss, said it was West Ham 2 Gareth Bale 3.
I HAVE every sympathy with Rafa Benitez at the moment.
When he was appointed at Chelsea I remember saying the fact he was called ‘Interim Manager’ totally undermined him.
That’s exactly what seems to have happened and it’s no surprise he’s taken as much as he can and finally snapped. Who can blame him?
The bulk of supporters appear to have been against him from Day One and to be put in that situation with that title by the Chelsea hierarchy basically means they’ve turned the club into a joke.
WITH the Cheltenham Festival around the corner, I will be in the studios today recording my first podcast.
I am working alongside colleagues Ed Chamberlin and Alex Hammond from Sky Sports and, fantastically, the champion jockey Tony McCoy (left) will be phoning in to join us as well - so we'll be looking for a few good pointers from him!
I am not sure exactly when the podcast will go out, but we will be highlighting a number of horses we think it's worth keeping an eye on throughout the Festival.
Just stay tuned and I'll let you know.
