Don't believe the doubters

Despite the negative press reports and scare stories about crime and safety issues that have been prominent in the European media I found South Africa more than ready to host next year’s big event.

The superb stadiums are almost finished and arrangements are being made to improve transport where possible, but it is a big country that is still developing, poverty is the biggest issue facing the nation, so to expect an infrastructure such as the one we saw in Germany would be foolish.

On a personal level, I think it will be the warmth of the South African people that will make this World Cup so special.

The country is special for me; I’ve followed its fortunes since the days of apartheid to the freeing of Nelson Mandela. The World Cup will provide the platform for it to showcase its unique qualities to the world.

Inspiration in South Africa

I’ve just returned from a busy but inspiring week in South Africa, starting with a visit to the Soccerex convention in Johannesburg, which brings together some of the leading football brands and what you might call “movers and shakers” in the game.

One of the most fascinating sessions was Sepp Blatter's keynote talk, which included what could be best described as an interesting perspective on Thierry Henry and the France handball incident, and more positively an impassioned reasoning of why it had been so important to take the World Cup to Africa.

I moved on to Cape Town in the middle of the week where I helped to launch ‘Offside’, an exhibition looking at the role South African footballers have played in the British game, against the social and cultural background in both countries.

This is a joint venture between the British Council and the District 6 Museum in Cape Town, and Kick It Out, and the Sheffield-based FURD in the UK.

It is an exciting project that will tell us so much about our histories through the mirror of football.

As luck would have it, England were drawn to play their second game of the tournament in Cape Town, against Algeria. Having now been there twice I can tell you that England fans will be in for a treat, it’s a beautiful city with a spirit amongst the people that is unmatched.

Looking at the draw, it was a good one for England. The USA are a strong, well organised team and it would be foolish to write off Slovenia and Algeria, but like most people I am confident England will do well and progress to the next round.

On the 2018 bid front, it was a great week. The team were busy at both Soccerex and the draw and the presence of David Beckham led to some crazy local coverage and by all accounts many positive meetings with the people who will be doing the voting next December – the FIFA Executive Committee members.

There’s still lots to do, many more hurdles to overcome but to me things look good.

2018 bid can showcase diversity

Welcome back to my blog. I haven’t posted for while but will do my best to keep this updated regularly through the coming months, come rain or shine.

I’ve recently been appointed as a Board Director of the England 2018 World Cup bid to ensure the diverse communities of England are at the heart of the work being done to present our country.

The bid has been dominating the sports news agenda for some time now, the media focus has been on disunity and negative statements but I know that our bid sets out a compelling argument for the World Cup to be in England in 2018.

England has a passion for the game reflected in our history; some of the best stadiums in the world, world class transport and accommodation infrastructure, and a multi-cultural society that will make visiting fans feel welcome no matter which part of the globe they’ve travelled from.

It is also an opportunity for a worldwide event taking place on our doorstep to celebrate diversity and promote inclusivity of all members of society. When people talk about leaving a lasting legacy, these things are important to me.

You can register your personal support for the bid at england2018bid.com As a Board member I want to be as open as possible and so if you have any doubts I’ll be happy to answer them, email me at paul-elliott@hotmail.com

The host cities for the bid are being decided tomorrow (Thursday) and when you look through who is taking part you see a list of cities that balance heritage and modernity, with football a passionate part of their culture.

I’ll be at Wembley to be part of the process, if your city is in with a shout the decisions are announced on December 16th, good luck!

The plight of Newcastle and the Champions League Final

Every Newcastle fan's nightmare was confirmed at the weekend. Even Alan Shearer couldn't stop the Toon Army sliding into the Championship.

I'm devastated for the fans. Loud and colourful, they remind me of the Celtic fans I played in front of. And like them, Newcastle fans happiness is governed by the fortunes of the team.

They've been shortchanged by mismanagement and, in all honesty, they are yet to pay the full price.

I feel their demise can be traced back to the sacking of Sir Bobby Robson. He brought the team to the Champions League and fifth in the league. Letting a man of his background go was a huge mistake.

Will they bounce straight back up next season? It depends who takes the reins as manager. But statistics show that only 40% of teams return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

And with 15 players on £50k or more, many of whom certainly aren¹t worth that, it¹s a tall order.

The Champions League final will be a contest between two teams easy on the eye. And it should be very, very entertaining.

Barcelona possess so much creativity, not to mention strength of character; to contain Chelsea in the semi final for 90 minutes then nick it at the last demonstrated this.

Messi, Henry, Eto¹o and Iniesta all have mouthwatering ability. But their equally talented full backs, Alves and Abidal, are both out. And I haven¹t been too impressed with the two centre backs either.

It's these failings that I feel Manchester Utd will exploit. My verdict? Fergie's men to win on penalties.

Grassroots talent the key for Charlton and Luton

As I predicted, the resolution of the Premier League season is going to the wire. But life for the 72 clubs outside the elite is almost over for another season. Two of my former clubs, Charlton Athletic and Luton Town, have been relegated.

I am naturally disappointed. Both clubs have a proud tradition, a loyal fanbase, not to mention a strong record in producing fine black players; Ricky Hill, Chris Powell and the Stein brothers spring instantly to mind.

I played for both teams in the 1980’s. I was involved in the Luton game when Millwall supporters rioted in front of a television audience of millions in the infamous FA Cup tie in 1985.

I also turned out at Kenilworth Road for a game in which eight black players were fielded by manager David Pleat. This was a pioneering move at the time and particularly for a club of Luton¹s modest stature.

My time at Luton Town was the happiest period of my playing career. But it was Charlton Athletic that gave me the bug. The council flat I grew up in overlooked the ground and I remember sneaking into The Valley as six year old.

10 years later, I made by debut for them against local rivals, Crystal Palace. Ironically, the club were forced to sell me to raise some much needed funds. The team that came in for me? Luton Town.

The reason for the demise of both clubs comes down to mismanagement. At Luton, financial issues led to a 30-point deduction before the season had even started.

Who knows whether or not the authorities were looking to make the club a scapegoat. Either way, reversing this would always be an uphill struggle. At Charlton, it was a number of honest errors of judgement.

In Alan Curbishley and Peter Varney, the club had two men of talent and integrity. Their departure, followed by an inexperienced choice of replacement and subsequent restructuring, helped accelerate the club’s fall from Premier League to League One in three years.

I feel for the supporters of both clubs and the staff who work behind the scenes.

I’ve used this blog to talk about the positive work done by Charlton with the CARE project; the same can be said about Luton who use their Football in the Community department to engage particularly with the local Asian population living in the streets surrounding Kenilworth Road.

It’s now vital for both clubs to look to their academies and unearth the players that can help them recapture former glories. Charlton’s parachute payments have now ceased which means they’ll be relying even more on the likes of youngsters such as Grant Basey, Josh Wright and Jon Joe Shelby.

In Luton’s case, their financial woes and non-league status mean they’ll be looking inward for raw local talent. But they can take heart at their Johnstone’s Paint Trophy win at Wembley last month.

The talent shown on the pitch that day, coupled with the terrific support in the stands, shows that the ingredients are in place for league status to be restored.

Chelsea high flyers

I really do believe in football’s ability to change lives and from previous blogs you will know of my work with the Charlton Athletic Community Trust.

I've also been very impressed with the CSR work Chelsea have been doing. The club may have become known for what they spend rather than what they give back over the past decade but I have been aware of their community, anti- racism and social inclusion work for some time.

Their key staff in this area, Shaun Gore who leads the club’s football in the community programme and Simon Taylor who is the Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, are great people putting the club on the map as much as the superstars on the field of play.

An example of the way in which their work is being recognised in football circles was that the club picked up the Intermediate Level of the Kick It Out Equality Standard last week, just a few days after launching a talent search for an Asian footballer.

On another Chelsea connection, I met David Baddiel recently who is looking at making an advertising film to highlight the fact that the word 'yid' is a racially offensive term. I support David's work and will be getting involved. The use of this term has gone unchallenged for too long and often leads to overt anti-semitism. Abusive terms like this just don't have a place in football anymore, whatever the context and we need to educate people as to its meaning.

I am also an ambassador for and a big fan of the FARE network. It's their 10th anniversary this year, ten years of doing some great, challenging work. I'm looking forward to getting involved in the celebrations!

First there's a meeting in Budapest later this month to look at how the network operates that I will be attending, I'm an ambassador but I want to make sure I contribute as much as possible, not just as a figurehead.

Italian discipline working for England

England stuttered a little on Wednesday and made heavy weather against ordinary opposition. I think the level of expectation may have got to some of the players, resulting in a few nervy moments.

In amongst it all was another cap for David Beckham. With Bobby Moore’s record now beaten, he’s bearing down on Peter Shilton’s magic number of 125 appearances.

There have, however, been one or two dissenting voices, not least from Shilton himself. With Beckham coming on in the dying seconds of a handful of games the view is that many of the caps he’s recently won shouldn’t have been won at all,.

Certainly in Shilton’s era, caps were harder to come by. In modern football, squads boast much larger numbers, and some managers have been generous in awarding caps to players who might not have been in the reckoning in the past. I can see why he felt the need to comment.

Back to last night, and Capello continues to drive the team forward in his own assured way. And a key part of this is a disciplined approach. I experienced this first hand during my time as a player in Italy with Bari and Pisa.

There were no nicknames, cliques or in-jokes. We ate together, trained and travelled together. When we wanted to leave the table, we even had to make eye contact with the coaching staff to ask to be excused. I was only 23 but I enjoyed this kind of management.

My old club Chelsea go to the North East this weekend for one of the most eagerly anticipated games of the season. But the spotlight won’t be on Hiddink and his team. Alan Shearer’s return to Newcastle United as manager means all eyes will be on the home dugout.

It’s an interesting turn of events. He’s a wealthy man with a burgeoning media career. It will please many people, supporters and credible people in the game that he has come out of that zone. And it’s this that may have spurred him on to take the job. The managerial post at St James Park is far from comfortable.

Crucially, it appears he’s taken the job on his own terms. There’s a real sense that the team might go down which will have huge ramifications financially for the club. The chairman, Mike Ashley, is giving him sole responsibility to steer the club to safety. This might explain the departure from St James Park of my old teammate and friend, Dennis Wise.

Dennis is a capable football man. And he’s been instrumental in some of Newcastle’s successful signings this season. The circumstances were very unusual, with him being appointed director of football, particularly bearing in mind his credible managerial career. He was brought in because Mike Ashley wanted knowledgeable people to flank him during his first season as a Premier League chairman.

I think that what was always a tall order and became glaringly evident over time was the strange relationship between Wise and the fans. But ‘Wisey’ has a good pedigree in the game and he’ll be back. There’s a club out there for him, I’m sure of it. And with the ‘contain and counter’ game Chelsea are so good at it, the result tomorrow might not be what Shearer, or Ashley, were hoping for.

Capello's first experience of club vs country row

It is probably a reflection on the way in which Fabio Capello runs things in the England set-up that we haven’t had a club vs. country row for a while.

The latest, Ledley King’s inclusion in the squad for the friendly against Slovakia and the World Cup qualifier against Ukraine has caused some excitement partly because it involves Harry Redknapp, one of English football’s biggest personalities. But for me it’s a very sad story that involves one of the most talented footballers in England.

A fully fit Ledley King would be in any England starting line-up. His composure, temperament, leadership qualities and ball distribution would force him into most squads in European football.

But his injury record is chronic. Like a counterpart from my own playing days, Paul McGrath, Ledley is a player of talent whose injury problems are blighting his career.

King needs a week to fully recover from a game and doesn¹t train between matches.

Last year he only played four league games. He was also forced to pull out of contention for the World Cup squad in 2006. McGrath suffered similar bouts of bad luck when it came to injuries, again knee-related that, in all probability, curtailed a medal-laden career.

Harry Redknapp was naturally quick to make his displeasure known toward the England camp and many people sympathised. Fabio Capello, however, saw things through a different set of lenses.

He saw an in-form defender whose defensive solidity is crucial to his club, and whose partnership with Jonathan Woodgate continues to flourish. In fact, I feel they’re as good a pairing as Manchester United’s Ferdinand and Vidic.

Woodgate is another one susceptible to long-term injury problems and as a consequence he has missed a lot of football. We've never consistently witnessed them playing as a defensive pair over a period of games until now.

King’s withdrawal from the squad means we can look at the situation from both perspectives. The club v country question always needs compromise. The outcome of this particular episode will no doubt delight Spurs fans and disappoint some England fans.

As for the fixtures themselves, I’m going for victories for England.

They top the qualifying group and they’re also commanding respect for their performances.

I put this down largely to Capello’s increased level of communication with the players. You have heard it before but football is a simple game and it is crucial for a manager to be able to convey his thoughts and ideas to the players. Otherwise, they won’t know what’s expected of them.

Juande Ramos is an example of this. A good manager but one who perhaps couldn’t quite overcome the language barrier in England. Capello’s grasp of how best to communicate to his players through language and long held knowledge of what players need is working, which can surely only be a good thing for our World Cup hopes.

South Africa, Warsaw and Chelsea all top of the agenda

The dust has now settled on our recent trip to South Africa, and I and my fellow members of the Charlton Athletic Foundation Trust have got the chance to digest another successful trip. After seven years of visits, carefully laying out our template to help some of the country’s most troubled areas, no-one expected the project to run and run like it has done.

It’s been an unqualified success and we’re looking at the World Cup in 2010 as the point where we hand over the reins to the agencies on the ground in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg. The legacy we leave behind will be key and, after what we hope to be an amazing four weeks of football, the country should be energized into using the power of the game as a force for good.

UEFA conference to provide direction on discrimination

I’ve just got back from the ‘Unite Against Racism’ conference in the Polish city of Warsaw. This comes as part of my work with the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network, a pan-European organisation dedicated to combating discrimination in European football.

These events can help the cause hugely. One only has to look at the English game to see the mix of nationalities and backgrounds in the Premier League alone. This eclectic mix makes for excitement but small-minded groups will always rail against it.

UEFA, in my opinion, have always taken a firm stance against racism at every juncture and whatever form it comes in. They’re ‘the daddy’ and do great work.

The ‘Unite Against Racism’ conference gave players, policy makers and fans the chance to sit down and talk about some of the burning issues we face in a constructive manner. And it’s not rocket science either. Good people, strong leadership and a commitment to the cause is a simple but effective recipe for progression.

Guus banishes the blues at the Bridge

It’s been a busy few weeks at my old club Chelsea. First Scolari leaves in a blaze of publicity and confusion. Then, they land one of the most sought after coaches in the world.

I’ve always held Guus Hiddink in great regard. From his days at PSV to his exploits with South Korea at the 2002 World Cup, his CV is impeccable. In my experience, the arrival of a new manager usually gives the players and the fans a boost.

But when it’s someone with Hiddink’s credentials, it could completely kick start a faltering season. And if recent performances against Juventus and Aston Villa are anything to go by, there’s still life in the title chase yet, though I still think its Manchester United’s to lose.

Hiddink has managed to get inside the players’ heads and make them want to play again. Look at Drogba. A player of unquestionable talent but who’s been underperforming. Now he’s firing on all cylinders. And Chelsea’s season is all of a sudden back on track.

They’ll face a tough challenge in the semi-finals of the FA Cup against either Arsenal or Hull, but with Hiddink at the helm, I see no reason to bet against them making a return trip to Wembley in May.

News from the Valley and South Africa

From the peak of the Premier League to the foot of the Championship and Charlton Athletic, the team where I began my career back in 1981, are having mixed fortunes.

On the field, they're having a torrid time. One win in 17 tells its own story. But off the pitch, the club continues to shine.

The club's Charitable Trust along with the CARE (Charlton Athletic Race Equality) Partnership is doing strong community work. I'm currently in South Africa as part of the club's international outreach work.

We've linked up with the enforcement agencies in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg to help them forge long-term and effective links with young people.

The inner cities in these areas are blighted with crime, rape and other serious issues. But it's football that has the real hold on the youngsters there.

We're using our experience and know-how to help bind the police and the kids, using sessions and workshops and some good old-fashioned kickabouts too.

In the past there hasn't been too much in the way of trust between the two parties. But football is the tool to help change that.

Charlton has long received plaudits for its community work and rightly so. And as a fan, I'm hoping some of this positivity can translate to the pitch. I for one am keeping the faith.

Scolari, and patience, have left the building

Like a lot of people, I’m a little bit shocked. Chelsea are still very much in the race for honours but it appears that there’s been unrest rumbling with the players for some time.

Scolari has I think failed to draw on his undoubted class as a national manager and adapt to the day-to-day running of a high-profile club in a very difficult league.But despite all of that, do the results warrant a sacking this early in the season? I’d have to say no. And this simply reinforces the notion that Premier League managers aren’t given the requisite time to hatch success.

First Paul Ince, then Tony Adams, now Scolari, all talked up to be the answer and then dismissed before really having the chance to stamp their authority, influence and ideas on the team.

It’s a throwback to Serie A in the 80’s, where tolerance and patience where equally scant. Compare this sort of situation to the stability long in evidence at Arsenal, Manchester United and even Everton, a team not considered to be amongst the ‘Big Four’. The message from these clubs is that success comes in part through sticking by your manager and trusting his judgement.

Clubs' punishments must fit their crimes

Away from the domestic scene much of my work takes me into Europe. I am active in campaigning for racial equality across the continent. And one issue that is consistently raised in dialogue, is the problem in Spanish football.

We’ve seen the Spanish FA’s latest gaffe by penalising Real Madrid a mere 3,000 Euros after their fans made fascist gestures at a recent La Liga fixture. How can this derisory fine possibly serve as a deterrent to one of the richest clubs in the world?

For me, the solution is simple; implementation and enforcement of the law, alongside educational measures that aid integration. Governing bodies must get tough with incidents like the Real Madrid one. And, if key social messages are ever going to filter through to young football fans across the country, then the grassroots game needs closer inspection too.

I'll be watching the upcoming international fixture between Spain and England with anticipation. If we see a repeat of the vile monkey chanting of 2004, the Spanish FA must act. I’ve called for zero tolerance if we see a repeat of scenes in the Bernabeau of 2004 because I believe that footballers, like everyone else, have the right to work and perform in a racism free environment. Anything else simply isn’t good enough.

The problem with Chelsea

On paper Chelsea have got it all. Great players, a great squad, with a mix of European talent and English backbone. The pre-requisites for success are there.

But as we've been seeing over the past few weekends they are struggling and I cant help but think its down to one individual. No, not ‘Big’ Phil. Im talking about Steve Clarke, an ex-teammate and great friend of mine. Chelsea have been famed for the stubbornness of their defence in recent years. Now, they seem to be leaking soft goals. When I was playing at the club, Steve was a massive figure on the training ground, well respected and at the heart of all that was good about Chelsea’s defence. Now he’s gone, that steeliness is and ruthless rearguard appear vulnerable. And is it just a coincidence that his new club, West Ham Utd, are unbeaten in eight?

Another big blow is the absence of Michael Essien. This man is the embodiment of the modern midfielder; quick, strong, and gets himself on the scoresheet. His experience and dynamism is being sorely missed.

The other obvious factor is Scolari. The honeymoon period is certainly over and he’s quickly learning that the Premier League is a harsh environment. The pressure and constant media scrutiny is a world away from the different pace of national team management. And the off field wrangling is having a drip-down effect to the team. It’s the same situation with title rivals, Liverpool, who also have off field debates raging about ownership, contracts, responsibilties.. Compare this with the harmonious spirit at Manchester Utd and Aston Villa. They both keep winning …and with very little fuss from the moneymen upstairs.