Ethical travel for 2010

Originally published on Fingertips on 15/01/09

The Haiti earthquake should make us all consider spending our cash in ways that can help others and ourselves at the same time

I recently received a gratis copy of Lonely Planet’s “Best in Travel 2010”, and thank God it was gratis. It is a truly mind-numbingly generic book that does nothing to set the peripatetic juices flowing.

Its suggestions for the top ten places to visit – or rather the top ten places to say you’ve visited in order to improve your hip credentials – include Germany, Greece, Nepal, Portugal and the USA.

Forget globetrotting self-congratulation

But instead of indulging the kind of travel that Lonely Planet specialises in, the recent earthquake in Haiti should encourage us all to be more philanthropic. Why not spend our travel cash in a way that can benefit others, rather than just using it to boost our own sense of globetrotting self-congratulation?

A recent Travelnomics report by Cheapflights.co.uk points in a direction that can help us to do just that, listing the 10 destinations that need tourist money the most in 2010.

It is based on the Forbes list of hardest-hit economies in the wake of the global recession, and its contents strike a harsh juxtaposition to those of Lonely Planet’s selections for the year ahead.

It runs as follows:

1. Latvia
2. Estonia
3. Lithuania
4. Iceland
5. Singapore
6. Venezuela
7. Jamaica
8. Ireland
9. Ukraine
10. Seychelles

The Baltic states that make up the top three arguably hit their fashionable peak three or four years ago when the stag parties started flowing in, while the likes of the Ukraine have never been fashionable.

But one destination sticks out amidst the eastern European getaways and the sun of the Seychelles and Jamaica, and that is Iceland.

The collapse of Iceland’s banks has been well documented, but so has its quirkiness as a location. It’s one of the few truly unique places in the world, offering a raft of natural experiences unavailable elsewhere, including dips in the Blue Lagoon and the Northern Lights.

Combine this with the fact that the exchange rate has tipped well in the traveller’s favour – from around 125 kronur to the pound six months ago to just over 200 to the pound now – and there has been no better time to visit.

And while few of us will be pumping our tourist cash into Haiti, we can all at least make a donation through the Oxfam website.

Our generosity at the beginning of this decade should overshadow the bankers’ bonuses and parliamentary expenses scandals that showed selfishness and materialism to be the defining traits of the end of the last one.

Why Liverpool should stick with Rafa

Originally published on Fingertips on 18/11/09

As Liverpool slip further down the Premier League table and closer to a Champions League exit, rumours that Rafa Benitez will be sacked are inevitably becoming more widespread.

But Liverpool fans on the whole are still behind him – mainly because of his magnificent Champions League win in 2005, runners-up place in 2007 and thrilling FA Cup win in 2006. And even if they look beyond silverware, which they certainly should, Benitez is easily their best manager since Kenny Dalglish left in 1991.

Between Dalglish’s three league triumphs and two FA Cups were the relative ignominies of a League Cup under Roy Evans, an FA Cup under Graeme Souness and a Charity Shield, two League Cups, an FA Cup, European Super Cup and UEFA Cup under Gerard Houllier.

It shows how far Livepool have come under Benitez that the highpoint of Houllier’s reign, his UEFA Cup win, would now be considered scant consolation for Liverpool crashing out of the Champions League.

To use a cliche, Liverpool will be cutting off their nose to spite their face if they are stupid enough to sack Benitez.

Their stuttering start to the season is in no small part down to Xabi Alonso’s move to Real Madrid. Losing one of the best players in the world is going to affect any side. Just look at how Manchester United without Cristiano Ronaldo – yet no one sees Sir Alex Ferguson getting his P45 any time soon.

To compare Benitez to Sir Alex once again, it took Ferguson almost seven years to get his first league title, during which time United twice finished 11th. After a poor start to the 1989-90 season many called for Ferguson’s head, but he went on to win the FA Cup that season, and, to employ another cliche, the rest is history.

Even if Liverpool come fifth in the league and slip out of the Champions League, how many of their fans would be unhappy with a Europa League triumph and/or FA Cup medal come May?

Arsenal have stuck by Arsene Wenger throughout his barren spell and that may well pay dividends this season. Patience is a virtue (sorry, another cliche) and Liverpool need only look to Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, or closer to home in Middlesbrough to prove that changing managers doesn’t always bring about a change of fortunes.

Who could replace Benitez and do anywhere near as good a job with a far from brilliant Liverpool squad?

Some names being mentioned are Steve McClaren, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Frank Rijkaard, Gareth Southgate and Jose Mourinho, all of whom have either done badly in the Premier League, have never worked in England or have no reason to want to move to Liverpool.

If Benitez goes Torres might follow, along with Reina and even Gerrard. Torres threatened to go if Benitez was fired in 2007, saying: “Benitez is not just another manager. He created a team and put his faith in players that owe him a lot.” There’s no reason to believe his opinion has changed, and if he, Reina or Gerrard were to leave then Liverpool really would be in trouble.

Yet more Looney Toons

Originally published on 90minutesonline on 01/04/09

Newcastle must have really rushed to announce Alan Shearer’s appointment before midnight last night, because otherwise everyone would have thought it was an April fool.

As it is the only fools are the Newcastle board and the Newcastle fans for thinking that a man with absolutely no managerial experience can pull them out of the mire.

This is a typical “heart over head” decision and it could, nay will, go tits up in the same way as Keegan’s recent return to the club. For anyone able to put head over heart for even a moment it’s obvious that the odds are stacked against Shearer succeeding.

You need experience outside the Premiership before you can succeed there

The only manager in the Premiership with no experience outside of it is Gareth Southgate, and look at where Middlesbrough are in the table.

Southgate’s clash with Shearer on May 9^th could decide one, if not both, of their team’s fates.

Even then it’s still difficult

Paul Ince excelled himself as a player at a range of clubs and as a manager in the lower leagues.

He saved Macclesfield from relegation, won the Football League Trophy and promotion to League One with MK Dons, yet made a total fool of himself at Blackburn.

Roy Keane managed to win the Championship with Sunderland in his first season and guide them to 15^th in the Premiership after that.

Things soon started to go wrong though and Keane quit with Sunderland 18^th in the league after a 4-1 pasting by Bolton.

Strikers don’t make good managers

Most of the British managers who have pulled off the transition from the lower leagues to the Premiership were defenders or midfielders in their playing days.

Steve Bruce was a rock in the Manchester United defence for nearly ten years. He worked his way into Premiership management through promotion with Birmingham, but only after having managed in the lower leagues for around five years beforehand.

David Moyes played for a host of less glamorous clubs as a centre half before taking the reigns at Preston North End.

In four years there he gained promotion and transformed them into a solid Championship side. His hard work was rewarded with a contract at Everton and he has similarly overhauled them from regular relegation candidates to a top six side worthy of European competitions.

Gary Megson spent most of his playing career booting the crap out of strikers and failed as a manager before he succeeded. He eventually got some glory at West Brom, taking them from the brink of relegation to the third tier into the Premiership, bagging the 2002 Nationwide Division One Manager of the Year award and the title “Lord of the Manor of West Bromwich” in the process.

Meggo then boing boinged the Baggies down to the Championship and up to the Prem in successive seasons before getting the boot.

Only now after 12 years of management at all sorts of clubs has he figured out how to get a club to mid-table Premiership mediocrity.

Sam Allardyce is another centre half who carved his own route into the Premiership.

His work at Bolton was nothing short of outstanding, getting them to sixth place and UEFA Cup qualification in 2005.

He was unfairly overlooked for the England job after Sven’s departure in 2006 and given very little time at Newcastle, but his arrival at Blackburn has seen them find some semblance of form and pull out of the bottom three.

What about Zola?

Gianfranco is doing well at West Ham and yes, he was a striker, but unlike Shearer he had some experience as assistant coach of the Italian under-21 side before coming to the Premiership.

He was also a much more intelligent, unconventional striker than Shearer, playing a lot of his game outside the box. During his time at Chelsea in particular he exhibited a far more incisive knowledge of the mechanics of the game than Shearer ever did during his time at Newcastle.

So what will happen?

Unless precedent is tossed out the window Shearer may well get the opportunity to garner some experience in a lower league next season.