Five greatest controversies of 2009

By Zain Alvi | 9th February 2010

Five greatest controversies of 2009 | read this item

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As the John Terry saga is fading away quickly following the Chelsea captain’s sacking as England skipper, football fans are already anticipating similar controversies that may be forthcoming. For instance, will Rio Ferdinand’s questionable leadership spell the end of England’s World Cup hopes in South Africa? Will Arsene Wenger come up with yet another laughable excuse for his own failure to bulk Arsenal up to contender status? Will Jose Mourinho fall out with the Italian press to the extent where they personally pay to fly him far away from the Serie A?

At the end of the day, speculation is recurring and leads to little, if any, concrete conclusions. In contrast, using the rear view mirror to reflect upon the greatest controversies of the previous year seems to be a lot more reasonable. Therefore, let’s recall the five most memorable controversies of 2009 for the purpose of, well, simply a conversation.

(5) Real Madrid’s unusual makeover: Perhaps this issue has already been beaten around the bush way too much to be discussed further. But still, looking back at 2009, there is no way that any football fan – residing in any part of the world – can forget the manner in which Real Madrid controversially revamped their roster. In many other sports, quotas and restrictions would disallow the Madristas to unveil three of the market’s hottest stars – Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Karim Benzema – in less than a month’s time. While Real further sweetened the deal with the acquisition of Xabi Alonso from Liverpool, the fact that they went out of their way to offload a superb performer like Wesley Sneijder to make this deal work was certainly a turn off. All said and done, what makes Real’s reformation even more controversial is their humiliating early elimination in the Copa Del Rey as well as an indifferent performance as the second placed team in La Liga. They say controversy creates cash; it seems like Real Madrid threw a lot of cash to create controversy.

(4) Competition ends in the Serie A: The fact that more Italian managers were sacked than the number of times that Inter Milan relinquished its position at the summit of the Serie A speaks volumes about the downfall of Italian football. No doubt Jose Mourinho had to find reasons to confront the Italian media to keep himself busy over the course of a season that posed absolutely no threat to his side’s chances of Italian glory. The only factor that keeps the Nerazzuri even remotely wary of its domestic rivals is the club’s continued underachievement in the UEFA Champions League. If the reigning Serie A champions somehow add a Champions League title to their recent league dominance, I can completely picture all the opposition teams throwing in the towel even before the schedule is released for next season. Furthermore, it is safe to bet that Mourinho will create yet another “special” moment – or controversy – as we describe it in this article.

(3) The relegation of Newcastle United: Speaking of lack of stability on the management level, Newcastle United was not too far behind the Serie A. Forcing fan favorite Kevin Keegan to walk out of the club in controversial circumstances was not smart in the first place. But unfortunately, things became much worse when his replacement Joe Kinnear had to withdraw from leading the side to Premier League survival due to health reasons. Legendary Magpies striker Alan Shearer then occupied the hot seat, only to lead the club in the opposite direction. The fact that it still feels hard to imagine Newcastle United as a Championship team serves as a reminder that this was indeed one of the greatest controversies of last year.

(2) The chaos at Liverpool FC: By now, we are all familiar with Rafael Benitez’s handling of Robbie Keane at Anfield. With Fernando Torres often nursing injuries this season, Rafa could have easily used a proven finisher in the Republic of Ireland striker to somewhat fill the huge void. However, the Liverpool boss hastily sent Keane packing back to the Spurs, where he found it so difficult to recapture his form that he recently ended up in Glasgow as a Celtic player. But if anyone at Liverpool feels that Keane was the biggest loser in this controversial issue, think again. Not only did the Reds lose a significant chunk of their initial investment on the former Tottenham striker, but adding Keane to the squad limited the playing time of the extremely talented Ryan Babel. As a result, even after Keane’s departure, they could never quite fit Babel back into their plans, which meant even fewer goals. With the injury-prone Alberto Aquilani signed as a replacement for the instrumental Xabi Alonso, Liverpool guaranteed themselves a disastrous season quite a while ago. The results they have been seeing of late are just a byproduct.

(1) Thierry Henry’s notorious handball: When I say notorious, I am just putting it bluntly. After all, Henry’s handball – which sent France into the World Cup Finals at the expense of the Republic of Ireland – got an unprecedented level of hatred from across the globe. There was even a widespread belief that the Frenchman should have been barred from competing in South Africa this summer. That alone says enough to describe the extent of this controversy. And while Henry may have been deemed eligible to proceed with representing France in the showpiece event, he has guaranteed a life-long detestation for himself from the folks of The Emerald Isle.

Given the aforementioned series of controversies that were well spread out over the course of an eventful 2009, we can once again expect the arrival of controversies at frequent intervals during 2010. Therefore, feel free to keep guessing!

Niccolo Conte says:

February 9, 2010 at 10:39 am

I’d have to agree 100% with all of these, especially the Serie A and Henry handball ones. Those two are really ruining football for me.

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