FA should focus on players feet rather than tweets

Today the Football Association stooped to a new low as they decided to charge Ashley Cole for an abusive tweet aimed at them while choosing to ignore the actions of Robert Huth, Cheik Tiote and Manchester United’s Robin Van Persie on the pitch.  

Cole who tweeted last week “Hahahahaa, well done £fa I lied did I, £BUNCHOFT****” was today charged and could face a fine in excess of £50,000 after the FA decided to ignore the Chelsea left back apology after deleting the tweet just hours after it was posted.

Cole is not the first to land himself in trouble with the FA over the John Terry racism row after Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand was found guilty and fined £45,000 for an abusive tweet earlier in the summer which labelled Cole as a ‘Choc Ice’. Terry’s race row has dominated the back pages for nearly a year now and the FA will be keen to see the saga come to an end.

The news that Cole has been charged will come as no surprise to most football fans who have now began to lose faith in the games governing body as they seem intent on kicking out criticism of themselves rather than violent conduct on the pitch, racism and homophobia within the game.

This weekend saw three incidents on the pitch which should have seen the FA use their powers to eradicate poor behaviour on the field rather than focusing their attentions on tweets off it. The first incident which the FA should have intervened took place at Anfield as Stoke defender Robert Huth violently stamped on Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.

The other two incidents both took place at St James Park in Sunday afternoon’s late kick off. Firstly Newcastle midfielder Cheik Tiote was lucky to not see red as he dived in with a two footed lunge and only escaped with a yellow card. The second incident took place minutes later as Robin Van Persie was clearly seen swiping an elbow in the face of Toon midfielder Yohan Cabaye.

It is disappointing that the games governing body has refused to intervene in any of these incidents when clearly if any of them were to take place in the street by me or you we would be serving a prison sentence for GBH.

The FA clearly needs to re-evaluate what their role is within the game of football. They must begin to learn how to take criticism and should probably accept that tweeting and social media now is a vital part of player interaction with media and fans.  The FA must focus on eradicating incidents that took place on the field at Anfield and St James Park this weekend.

Were the FA right to charge Cole but not Huth, Tiote or Van Persie?

As always let me know your opinion. 

Why Crouch should be towering above Carroll for England

22 goals in 44 appearances for your country and five goals in seven games for your club would often mean an international call up, however Stoke City’s striker Peter Crouch looks likely to miss out again ahead of England’s World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Poland next week.

The 31 year old has been in fine form so far this season; however his refusal to be on standby for Roy Hodgson during this summer’s European Championships means the current England boss rubbishes the striker every time it comes to picking his squad. Crouch last played for England two years ago in a 2-1 friendly defeat against France at Wembley.

That game saw Crouch score the last of his 22 goals for his country; however after netting twice against Swansea last week, it is becoming harder for Hodgson to continue to ignore the 6’7 striker. England’s disappointing 1-1 draw against Ukraine last month at Wembley highlighted the lack of goal scoring strikers within the squad. With no Wayne Rooney or Andy Carroll in that fixture, the exclusion of Crouch seemed even odder.

Crouch offers England a target man as well as goals. Not many strikers across Europe currently have a better strike rate than Crouch and Hodgson’s continuous exclusion of him could eventually cost the manager.

Ahead of Hodgson naming the squad tomorrow (Thursday), Crouch said “Playing for my country is the best thing I have ever done, but at the moment I just have to keep my head down and play well.

Of course there are those fans that think that Crouch doesn’t deserve his place in the side after turning his back on his country this summer. One England fan on a fans forum wrote “It should be a privilege to do so, so for me if you don’t want a chance at playing don’t bother, plenty of other players who would love to be on standby I'm sure.”

With Rooney and Carroll fit again it is unlikely that Crouch will feature in this or any future England squads. Crouch however is unique, he holds the ball up well, can use both feet and ultimately scores vital goals at vital times.

I feel Crouch could still offer a lot to England and should he continue to score goals for Stoke as he has done then Hodgson cannot simply ignore him, especially after taking on the job claiming he would only choose the squad on merit and not reputation. Behind Jermaine Defoe, Crouch is probably the most deserving English striker of a call up tomorrow when Hodgson names his 23 man squad.

What do you think? Should Roy Hodgson forgive Crouch and select him again or is the boss right to ignore the 31 year old and continue to look towards the younger players? 

@Ryanday100