Friday, November 23, 2007

Roger Mitchell: Scot Influencial Soccer Voice, Tells Scots to give Italians Credit Due

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Roger Mitchell, is  founding chief executive of the Scottish Premier League,He also happens to be one of the most influential voices in Scottish football this past decade. and had his pride pricked by the misguided campaign claiming the "injustice" of losing to Roberto Donadoni's superior collection of Italian footballers.

 

Mitchell conveyed his astonishment at the mock controversy surrounding Scotland elimination from the Euro 2008 finals after Christian Panucci's last-minute winner.

"We gave the World Cup winners a fright and did not get thumped, yet the following day all I read about was how we were robbed. It was utter nonsense," said Mitchell. "I can understand Alex's disappointment but, when I heard what he had to say, I just thought stop this now'.

"If people watch the game objectively, they will realise that, had the referee not cancelled out a legitimate Italian goal, and legiitimized an illegimate Scot's "offside" goal, the match would have been a damp squib."

The qualification campaign that has restored respectability and vastly improved Scotland's ranking has, according to Mitchell, ended on a sour and uncharacteristically mean-spirited note. It was uncharteristically  ungracious to not celebrate it's enormous progress, and able to feel pride in their effort, not embarrassment

"I must admit I was proud of what I saw," he said. "I watched the game over here and Scotland emerged with great credit and praise,  Afterwards, the Italians were genuinely in awe of how well the Scots can organise an event and how their fans look at things. For the Italians, it was a celebration of sport. I felt 1000ft tall.

Mitchell: End the Revisionism

The Herald - Glasgow,Scotland,UK
By Darryl Broadfoot

Enough already.

A nation that has patented glorious failure is in danger of lurching into murky business of ungraciousness.

The public backlash to an apparently contentious defeat to the World Cup winners, Italy, on Saturday has stopped short of a public inquiry but has spawned a preposterous petition to have the decisive European Championship Group B qualifier replayed.

Even Alex McLeish, normally a cerebral and rational individual, has bought into the we wuz robbed' mentality and fuelled the frenzy after a disappointing but hardly undeserved defeat. Rumours of Machiavellian plots and conspiracy theories have permeated the period of mourning. Even the indignant tabloids have dispatched their hounds on a stakeout for the hapless referee, Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez.

One Scot exiled in Italy has had his fill. He also happens to be one of the most influential voices in Scottish football this past decade. Roger Mitchell, founding chief executive of the Scottish Premier League, had his pride pricked by the misguided campaign after the injustice' of losing to Roberto Donadoni's superior collection of footballers.

In a frank and impassioned interview with The Herald, Mitchell urged a reality check, advised Alex McLeish to leave with his reputation at its peak and expressed his fears over the blind optimism with which Scotland enter Sunday's World Cup qualification draw.

Now residing in Lake Como, and working as an advisor to the Italian Football League, Mitchell conveyed his astonishment at the mock controversy surrounding Scotland elimination from the Euro 2008 finals after Christian Panucci's last-minute winner.

"We gave the World Cup winners a fright and did not get thumped, yet the following day all I read about was how we were robbed. It was utter nonsense," said Mitchell. "I can understand Alex's disappointment but, when I heard what he had to say, I just thought stop this now'.

"If people watch the game objectively, they will realise that, had the referee not cancelled out a legitimate Italian goal, they would have sat back at 2-0 and the match would have been a damp squib."

The qualification campaign that has restored respectability and vastly improved Scotland's ranking has, according to Mitchell, ended on a sour and uncharacteristically mean-spirited note.

"I must admit I was proud of what I saw," he said. "I watched the game over here and Scotland emerged with great credit and praise, especially Alan Hutton and James McFadden. Afterwards, the Italians were genuinely in awe of how well the Scots can organise an event and how their fans look at things. For the Italians, it was a celebration of sport. I felt 1000ft tall.

"I feared what might happen after the result when I saw how the build-up was unfolding. We were marched up to the top of the hill with all the talk of their unlucky number 17 but it was meaningless."

England having followed Scotland out of the tournament in even more dramatic circumstances, Mitchell considers the events of the past week endemic of British football's chronic problem of technical deficiency and, in England's case, undeserved superiority complex.

As the SFA's delegation arrived in Durban, South Africa, for the World Cup qualification draw, he also sounded a note of caution against over-expectation after a promising, but ultimately unfulfilling, effort against both World Cup finalists. McLeish, the object of Birmingham City's desire, has served his country.

"This might sound controversial but, if McLeish has any sense, he will leave," said Mitchell. "The feelgood factor is exactly that and I am sceptical of it. It is like Inverness beating Celtic: it doesn't mean they are better than Celtic.

"We nicked a couple of results against France but I do not think we are learning from it. For the last six years, I have gone into every international - against Estonia, Lithuania and Georgia - saying they are a better team than us. We now have a much better system and a better status in terms of rankings. None the less, if we are drawn in a group with the likes of Romania, Poland, and even Hungary, and you asked me if we will qualify, I would still be inclined to say no'.

"Look at Celtic; there is a huge advantage to playing at home but away from home is a different story. If you look at it coldly, I would not be confident. Have we progressed? Definitely. Can we qualify? Yes but only if we do well at Hampden."

To reinforce his point, Scotland would have qualified for the Euro 2008 finals at France's expense had they managed to defeat Georgia in Tbilisi. "The Italians expected the British style of football but how many times in the last decade - with England more than Scotland, it has to be said - have we come to the crunch and discovered we just cannot do it?" he said. "There is a more fundamental issue than just bad luck; we do not have the technique to keep the ball and, if you cannot do that, you are in trouble.

"We, as a football-supporting nation, insist that the ball be played forward quickly. There is an ideological issue at the centre of the problem. I wonder how many people watched the first 30 minutes and thought why don't we try to play like that?' You can only improve when you realise there is something to improve upon.

"Aside from 1966, when there was a fair wind behind England, it has been a desert: no final appearances, a few in the quarter-finals but compare that to Italy and Germany, who are consistently in the latter stages of competitions. Their school of football is a winning school."

Education is essential in perpetuating and bolstering the enthusiasm wafting through Scottish football. Mitchell praised the tactical pragmatism that has helped repair the damage to credibility, at club and international level, but he maintains genuine prosperity will only occur when the coaching infrastructure is altered to emulate and not counteract the brilliance of their rivals.

"Rangers and Celtic have shown in the Champions League in recent years that they can produce a specific style - the same British football - but with much better tactical nous," he said. "McLeish and Walter Smith have realised you cannot go man-for-man with these teams because we are not good enough. I remember a board meeting after Celtic lost a qualifier to FC Basle and there was general bewilderment that a team, who did not have the same money, could look so much better than Celtic.

"It was the same this week when Croatia played one or two passes around England and could get a shot at the goalkeeper. I always remember Fergus McCann saying we need to bring foreign coaches in because they know more. I don't necessarily agree but I could see where he was coming from, when you look at supposedly lesser teams turning up looking far superior."

Scott Brown was cited by Mitchell as the best example of the modern Scottish footballer but considers there to be a quantum leap between success on these shores and genuine expertise in his chosen craft. "Scotland have done very well in the last decade, with a lot more players coming through. We are ticking a lot more boxes. Scott Brown is an excellent player who could do really well with a top-six club in the Premiership. He is not, though, at the international level of a France or Italy, when you compare him to an Andrea Pirlo, for example

http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/headlines/display.var.1853795.0.0.php

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