FOOTBALL: 2005/2006 SEASON COMES TO AN END

Well, this season we have 4 major retirements in club football.

Zinedine Zidane
Roy Keane
Dennis Bergkamp
Alan Shearer

I arranged them in terms of honours won. They are all great players who had given our generation so much to enjoy on the field in a different way.

Zinedine Zidane is a total legend of this era. There is no doubt about it, but his legendary skills only came quite late in his footballing age. Therefore, we did not enjoy it for a very long period of time. He has won almost anything the best in the world needs to win and he is a gentleman both on and off the field. He is famous for his soft touches and less for his physical strength eventhough his size suggested that he is more suitable as a rugby player. I am glad I was born in this era to be able to witness him play on tv. I would wish so much if he could have come to Malaysia during the Real Madrid Asian tour. I will pay for the tickets to witness him in Kuala Lumpur. The last minute cancellation was a very sad thing to me.

Roy Keane is a charismatic captain for the successes in Manchester United for all the trophies won there especially during their peak era in the 90s when they dominated the league. He is a fighter who will never say die although many of us including me, hated his very bad boy image. Still, he is a tough nut who can really inspire a team! The Manchester United of the 90s always have the determination to fight till the very end of the 90 mins. This diehard mentality always give them this fighting spirit to come back even with so little time left to play for. They were famous at that time to be able to come back late and go for a draw or even a win if they are trailing. The team has alot of consistency because he is the reliability powering the engine room from the middle.

Dennis Bergkamp will always be remembered for his magical touches in the box. I had a hard time pronouncing his name with Beckham around at that time. Haha! Whenever he got the ball on his feet, you feel a sudden slowing down of time (bullet time?) as he has some quick 1,2 or 3 touches of brilliance on his feet before he goes for a shot on goal. It is always these 1,2 or 3 touches that are able to deceive 1,2 or 3 defenders along the way in the penalty box before he opened up the space clear to shoot.It was all these 1, 2 or 3 touches which always never failed to open my mouth wide in awe. I was like, what the heck, how did he do that? It is like time slows down and he was able to think of how to handle the ball with the obstacles he has in the penalty box and avoided them to score. Genius. It was a pity not to see him play in the final match! I wish I could see those touches of brilliance one last time! His fear of flying will probably make him the only person I can ever think of in the world of football to be like that.

Alan Shearer was the reason I started watching football in the mid 90s. His determination and ability as an underdog to win the league with Blackburn Rovers over the mighty Manchester United filled with superstars gave me so much to respect this guy that I decided to adore him wherever he goes. The amount of goals he scored all his career and the loyalty he has for his hometown is something very rare nowadays. Who on earth nowadays trade the chances of winning trophies in a very rich club filled with many talents than to play for your own hometown? He is probably the only one alive I can think of. For that, Alan Shearer has all the respect I have! There is no such player I can name to be like him!

As of today, you all know that I don't support clubs but players. To me, every player, even the management, even the coaches, even the directors change so often these days there are nothing left you can identify with the club to support it. My philosophy is simple. If there is no connection you can identify with the club, there is no point in supporting a club. Unless you are born in that place, you have what you call the home belonging support.

A player is a tangible thing so I support him wherever he goes. If he plays beautiful football, I will support him. A club changes players through the path of time and the football they play changes according to coaches and players they change. You can say that there are still a few people in the world who is loyal like some coaches and players. Well, my question is what about after they are gone, say retired? What excuse do you have to support a club? Loyalty is no longer something that is working for 99% of the football clubs in the world right now. Football is getting too commercialized. Money changes things faster and faster. Transfers are so common for every single season. Nothing is tangible anymore. Therefore, that explains my logic of no point supporting a club unless you are born there or you live there.

To be a football fan is to love the beautiful game played. The beautiful game can only be sustained by players who can make it happen. If they don't, there is no joy in watching a football match and hence, there is no point to fall in love with the sport. Don't give me excuses of history or culture or background unless you are related to it in some way or another. Those things will not give you any sense of belonging unless you try to cheat yourself and think that you belong there.

The issue here in now Alan Shearer is retired, I have nothing else to support in the English Premier League. Until I find someone who is respectable enough to support, I will not really support anything in the Premier League. When you have respect for someone, then you will pay for the worth of buying his jersey to show your support of the fellow.

As for Raul Gonzalez, his beautiful skills are all dead because of some circumstances. I supported him because of his lovely skills and the loyalty factor again he showed. Right now, I really don't know whether his skills will ever be back again. The management problem in Real Madrid made things so complicated. In Newcastle United too, all the management issues have created instability for the whole club. This season is really a bad one for myself. None of the two clubs are performing and spent more time worrying the management and coaches.

Probably the world cup will open up some new perspectives for me.

Finally, I just want to tell you club supporters not to flame me! Haha! All that I said are what I believed in and is my way of thinking the logic. It does not apply to your principles and values so if you don't like it, we can talk about it. It does not have to be a law or instruction that YOU MUST FOLLOW or I WILL HATE YOU! No, I watch football because I love the beautiful game of football. To me, the beautiful game is only possible because of some individuals who make it happen, no matter where or who they play for. This is my logic.

I cannot support a club because there will be a chance that one day they may buy players I hate. That will leave a very bad taste in my mouth. Imagine this, Van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney come to play in Real Madrid in the future. I hated these guys because of their dirty tactics, using physical strengths rather than skills and their arrogance. I can never support a club when they are in there because I have no respect to them and I hate them. Simple logic.

As for Thierry Henry staying in Arsenal, we already know the answer after his comments from the interview. The way he commented on Eto'o and Ronaldinho as well as the referee being a Barcelona fan, he is already making all the Barcelona fans angry. I won't want him if I am a Barcelona fan. Even if it is the emotions from the game, you have to be professional. If he did not mean what he said, he must have the humility to apologize. Many people told me he is too egoistic to apologize. Do you guys think he will apologize?

As for Drogba wanting to leave the Premiership because everyone is accusing him a diver and to go Milan or any club outside England which will offer him Champions League football, Mourinho's comments really made me laugh like crap!

"The situation is he has two more years of contract with Chelsea," Mourinho said.

"He is one of the players we consider not negotiable."

"So he has no chance to leave. He has to play for Chelsea."

"If he plays with happiness, fantastic. We get the best of him."

"If he doesn't play with happiness, he doesn't play. So it's his problem."

Hahaha! Slavery I tell you. Total slavery! Poor Drogba. Don't be sad anymore or else you cannot play! Now give Mourinho daddy a big kiss or he will get angry with you forever!