England get to a final. On penalties.

For those of you who were unaware, tonight is the final of the UEFA U21 European Championships 2009. The two participants: Germany U21 and England U21. It couldn't be better. Well, it could, it could be at Wembley, and England could be wearing red, but because Germany want to be childish, we wear white, despite being the designated away side. But for England to get to a final in something is a moment to remember. Last time, back in 2007, England crashed out of the tournament on penalties (suprise, suprise) to Holland, and it appeared that our fate would be similar when it went to penalties against Sweden on Friday.

However, this is where the pessimism stops. Stuart Pearce did not want the heartache of another penalty failure in a competition. So he did something about it.

Over the past two years, Stuart Pearce has been going over hundreds of videos and pictures, and drew up an incredibly detailed list of penalty takers, and who could do it best. What's more, they didn't have a choice. Pearce put his foot down and forced his players to take a spot kick if he felt they were capable of doing a job.

Now those of you who play football on a weekly basis, like myself, will know that when you are put on the spot, not entirely confident in your ability, and forced to take a penalty, and if you miss you lose, his scary as seeing Michael Jackson in your child's bedroom.

But clearly it works. And it can't have been a fluke by the strikers, because the 'keeper, Joe Hart, scored as well. But is forcing your players to do things like this really the way of winning?

Maybe they will now feel that they can trust their boss, and be sure that whatever he tells them to do will be the right thing. Or maybe they will not perform unless forced to by their gaffer.

And that is the problem managers face. Force their players to do things they really don't want to do, or let them play the way they want to, but risk slipping into relax mode.

I'm glad I'm not a manager having to make that decision.

Whatever Stuart Pearce decides to do in the final today, good luck to him, because if it works, he could be a hero, and I agree with what Sven said earlier in the week about Pearce being a future senior manager, because he certainly has the ruthlessness needed.

Good luck to England U21 today. I don't care how it's done, but let's put another won over on them Germans, eh?

Gibbo

It can't get much worse for the Toon army, can it?

It is fair to say that there was a long period of time during which Newcastle United fans still tried to believe that it was just a bad dream, and that the Toon army were still in the Premier League. Having come to terms with this, there is now a new headline in Toontown.
Just when the Geordies thought life couldn't get any worse, along came the unveiling of Newcastle's new yellow strip, which prompted more scoffing than Shefki Kuqi at a pie convention.

It really couldn't have gone worse. While the official Newcastle United club website preferred to describe the strip as a "stylish new change kit", not too many fans shared the view, with one fan even likening it to "a side-on view of a custard cream".

And it seems that the press are having a field day coming up with puns on the new kit, while Matt Jensen, editor of The Mag, said to the Daily Telegraph, which is often all over Newcastle news: "My take on kits is as long as they're not red and white, I'm not really that bothered. There's certainly no chance of getting lost in the snow when we play Barnsley in December."

Joe on the Tyne Talk messageboard commented: "I think I just threw up a bit. But while the photoshop whizzkids had a reason to par-tay, producing these (right), and The Sun quickly got to work on an an update of their worst kits of all time feature, it seemed the players were quite happy with the 'deck chair from Blackpool'. A statement from Adidas, who designed and made the kits, read: "The feedback from both the players and the club has been extremely positive - vibrant colours are very popular at the moment." And the kit also had the backing of Ryan Jenkins, a (you guessed it) Sunderland fan. He said: "It's really appalling - I love it. It looks like Norwich and Blackpool got into a fight and this was the leftovers. Newcastle will have to call themselves the Toongerines."
In the words of Coldplay's Chris Martin: "Oh what a thing to do - and it was all yellow."


But Geordie fans weren't the only ones getting shirty over their new outfit. Man Utd supporters were demanding a rethink over their latest jersey, a month before it is due to hit the shelves, but by the sound of it it'll be staying there.

The well known red shirt is emblazoned with a black 'V', apparently to mark the centenary of Old Trafford, although fans complained it looked like Nike had just turned on Sky Sports and thought: "We'll have that one."was more suited to rugby league. On the bright side, at least Paul Scholes will be allowed six tackles next season.

Fans on United board Talking Reds were struggling to find any positives. Under the topic heading 'Who let a drunk person design the kit?', Gavinio said it be the new design that was the real reason Ronaldo left (and with Real Madrid reportedly inserting a £1bn transfer clause into his contract, he's unlikely to be back in a hurry - chevron or no chevron). Man City fans, however, are as competitive as ever, one fan saying "The new 'V' on their kit is like an arrow pointing down, which is where they're going" Shame Man U will always be top dog up their though isn't it?

But while the two Uniteds got in a bother about their new strips, they're lucky they've got one, as for poor old Stockport County may not have a kit for the coming season due to an ongoing debt problem. Never mind, chaps, if the protests in Manchester and Newcastle grow any louder, you may have a couple to choose from come August.

I found this childish whining almost as funny as the 'Liverpool sign Bent' joke doing the rounds (above) and Tweet by Gavin and Stacey star Matthew Horne: "Earlier today I saw a Newcastle season-ticket nailed to a tree. I thought 'I'm having that!' 'cos you can never have enough nails, can you?"

Mind you, I remember discussing this very topic about Palace's new kits only two months ago. Oh how fickle we football fans are!


Gibbo