Friday Video: Bert Trautmann

Bert Trautmann's story has always fascinated me.

From Iron Cross winning paratrooper to Manchester City's FA cup winning hero.

A man who defied the odds in the war (only 90 of his 1000 strong regiment survived by the time of his capture by British troops) and survived a broken neck at Wembley in that successful 1956 final.

As it has entered footballing legend the story has been reduced to the rather simple tale of a "good" German triumphing against the odds to reach the top of the English game.

It's much more than that.

Trautmann, now living in Spain and in his late 80s, was a magnanimous and determined character, capable of inspiring those around him and working hard to overcome the initial outrage that greeted his move to City in the late 1940s.

He could also be difficult, rash and given to unleashing a wild temper.

Contradictory? Perhaps. But Bert Trautmann was the product of quite extraordinary times.

Part of a generation who saw their childhood stolen by Hitler's totalitarian Germany, he volunteered for the German war effort before being conscripted.

As a paratrooper he was suddenly forced to confront death, among both his own comrades and the nameless young British and Commonwealth troops he faced. It was a stark lesson in the futility of war for a young man who thought he was simply doing the right thing for his country.

As a high profile German in Britain he had to face the obvious anti-German feeling of many.

More than that, as a high profile German in Manchester, he had to face the anger of the city's Jewish community when signed for City.

Trautmann worked hard to overcome this prejudice. Where he could have been a figurehead for continued hate and resentment, he actually became a figurehead for improved relations between two countries.

Respected and admired in Britain he was feted in Germany for his role in the difficult process rebuilding that country's reputation.

Eleven years after he was captured as part of National Socialism's vanquished army, 1956 should have been Trautmann's greatest year as he was voted player of the year and won the FA Cup.

But in the course of that triumphant final he broke his neck. That he played on seems a story too outrageous for Roy of the Rovers and cemented his place in the hearts of British football supporters.

Just months later Trautmann was again coming face to face with tragedy when his young son was knocked down and killed.

Again he overcome professional and personal adversity to reclaim his place in the Manchester City first team.

In 1960 he became the first foreign player to captain an English League representative side - the closest he would come to international football.

By 1964 his playing career was coming to an end. 60,000 fans turned out for his testimonial game as a combined City and United side took on an international select. Just 15 years earlier 20,000 people had protested at his signing.

It was a remarkable end to a remarkable playing career.

English Premier League: Goals For Sale

Cuts. The new age of austerity. Money too tight to mention.

Aye, right.

Not in the English Premier League this January transfer window.

Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Aston Villa all spent big. And everyone of them threw cheques at attackers.

Money might have grotesquely disfigured football. But the essential simplicity of the game remains.

You have to score goals to compete. And you have to compete with massive money to score goals.

Mark Briggs has been hanging around Hadrian's Wall with his night vision binoculars to bring us a guest post on the comings and a-goings in the London Stock Exchange English Premier League:

What do we want? Goals! When do we want them? Now!

And we are prepared to pay for them!!

The January transfer window has a reputation as being a bit anti-climatic. All talk, no trousers. Damp squib. Any others? Pointless?

But not this year. The English Premier League is known as the most exciting league in the world and I think that is in no small part due to how much teams are willing to spend on strikers.

Firstly, and it almost seems to have snuck under the radar, Manchester City stumped up from of their vast reserve to buy in the ‘Bosnian Diamond,’ Edwin Dzeko.

After tallying 66 goals in 111 games for Wolfsburg he’s arrived at Eastlands to help out the one man attacking unit that is Carlos Tevez.

At a cost of £27million, he isn’t a gamble for City who don’t need balance books (yet). It does look like he will require City to change their tactics though, and play two up front. Maybe with a bit more attacking intent. We live in hope.

Villa were next up. Splashing £18million and rising on Darren Bent. Say what you want about him, he scores a lot of goals, where ever he’s been, however good his team.

At Tottenham, where a terrible miss and lack of interplay ultimately cost him, he is perceived to have failed, but scored at a healthy ratio. Villa need goals and they need them now, Darren saw something there which made him decide it was a good career move to drop around 10 league places. So the deal was done.

‘Crazy money!’ People cried. Little did they know what was coming on deadline day.

Torres £50m, Carroll £35m, Suarez £23m, plus David Luiz for another £25m. Big, big deals.

Liverpool could have waited to sign Carroll in the summer and maybe got a better deal. But in an interview with the Guardian John Henry (Liverpool’s new owner) said the team still had aims for this season, and Carroll would help them meet them.

He also, interestingly said the price of Torres was dependent on how much Newcastle wanted for Carroll. His negotiation tactic was he wanted Carroll plus £15million for Fernando Torres. I’d say (laying aside the mind boggling sums of money for a second) that’s a good deal.

Add in the sale of Babel and Liverpool are only £2.5million worse off, and probably have a better squad.

They failed with a last minute £14 million bid for Charlie Adam. He would add something to them, but is worth more than that to Blackpool who, in my opinion, need him to stay up. But he wont last till next season and, even if not to Liverpool, I think he’ll leave after being denied his big move.

So who has come out of this well?

I think everybody except Sunderland. They don’t have a replacement striker. And none are in sight. Yes, they have the money but players who cost that much might now want to play for Sunderland, no matter how high up the league they are at the moment. They need consistency at that level to draw in big names. Without their big player that may prove difficult.

You can repeat that last paragraph but read Newcastle instead of Sunderland.

Chelsea gave their team a lift, splashed some cash and said “we are contenders” and Liverpool can now think about who is coming in, not worrying about who is going out.

Did Arsenal need a centre-back? Tottenham another striker? Maybe.

This season has been damn good so far. Thrills, spills, big transfers.

Football is great again.

Now the trophies are up for grabs from here on in.

The Carling Cup must surely be Arsenal?

The Champions League is Barcelonas to lose?

The FA Cup is far too early to even guess. But, Chelsea?

The English Premier League?

Well, Manchester United are a good few points ahead and tend to get stronger in the spring.

I’m going with Manchester United, although I think it will be a proper title race, with Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester City all hopeful of a late burst to the line.

English Premier League: Bent Transfers In England

Football's versions of the January sales - inflated prices and manager's traipsing far and wide with the desperation of a father searching for a Buzz Lightyear toy on Christmas Eve.

Regular English Premier League guest blogger, Mark Briggs, is back with a look at the moves and speculation as Kenny Dalglish looks to revitalise Liverpool, Charlie Adam and Blackpool face up to a parting of the ways and a calm and collected Aston Villa are in no way panicked into a big money move for Darren Bent. And Scottish managers take control:

With December now behind us, and festive waistlines deflating quicker than English confidence in Wayne Rooney, it's time to look at the stage of the season where the games become mere fodder and filler compared to the noble art of transfer speculation.

Last month we saw Chelsea slip and recover. Aston Villa moved from saying “we’re not worried” to “we’re in a fight no doubt about it” in a week or two. It looks like we’ve got a proper title race, with Manchester City confirming they are contenders.

Arsenal look like they are going to give it all they have to win something this season. Yet despite seeming progress, they are currently 0-1 down to Ipswich in the Carling Cup, needed a last minute penalty and a replay to see off Leeds in the FA Cup and face Barcelona in the Champions League. Things may not look so rosy in a month.

But they’ve played well enough to have the chairman asking where they left the key to the trophy cabinet, despite being on the third goalkeeper of the year.

The Manchester teams are in good little battle of their own, with the blue half splashing the cash on Dzeko and having a bit of a clear out of players who didn’t quite make the grade.

Alan Pardew rode in on a white horse and with promised to play “sexy football”… No, wait. Getting my managers confused, that was Kenny Dalglish way back when, or was it that bloke now in charge in Chechnya?

I am too young to remember with any detail the last Anfield reign of King Kenny but (despite some mediocre results) he has already given Liverpool a sense of belief. They don’t have a good squad and are not challenging for trophies but a feeling has been created that this is now a temporary state of affairs, whereas a few weeks ago it seemed inevitable. They will need more players to come in this month, and they need quality, but optimism is on the rise.

An interesting little side note brought to my attention the other day: There are currently more managers working in the English Premier League from Glasgow than from the whole of England. (Ferguson, Dalglish, Moyes, McLeish, Kean and Coyle vs Redknapp, Bruce, Holloway and Pardew)

Blackpool look to be facing up to the inevitability of their success, the realisation that they aren’t big enough to hold on to your truly good players. So how much is Charlie Adam worth? And, more importantly, when to let him go? Now at an inflated price, at the end of the season after hopefully staying in the Premiership, or for free in 18 months? Pros and cons to all. Tough job being a football manager.

The big news, about six months after losing Martin O’Neil because of lack of investment, Aston Villa have been forced to shell out £24million for Darren Bent because they can't score goals and might go down. Worth the trade? Tough job being a football chairman.

It's staying interesting people!

Will blog again once the transfer sagas are done and dusted to try and make sense of the prices, winners and losers.

The Scottish Football Blog News Feed

EPL Round-Up: Money Talks

Guest blogger Mark Briggs returns with his monthly look at the English top flight. October saw Liverpool win in the law courts but struggle on the football pitch. One Manchester millionaire got even richer and Chelsea carried on regardless.

Early season form is beginning to develop into season defining starts.

Liverpool, far from having a season to rebound or consolidate, are only a few bad results away from bringing into use one of the classic cliché of modern football, being ‘too big to go down.’ Having said that, one of the biggest milestones of the season happened off the field. New England Sports Ventures battled the owners and, bizarrely, a Texan court, to finally take control of Liverpool. To highlight that off the field problems weren’t the only thing hanging over the club, the following weekend the team lost 2-0 to fierce rivals Everton and put in a damp performance.

In all likelihood, if Roy Hogson’s men still find themselves in this mess come January there will be money to spend, although potentially by a different manager. Another striker and an attacking midfielder seem to be a must.

The Reds traditional big rivals are also struggling and have also had their start to the season overshadowed by peripheral matters. Manchester United have struggled to hold on to leads, something that would have been unthinkable two years ago, when Ferdinand andd Vidic looked like the preverbal brick wall and Jonny Evans looked a natural fit as a replacement for either. Rio Ferdinand has been injured and Evans is looking vulnerable against the high ball. In what is rumoured to be his final year, Edwin Van der Sar has unfortunately also suffered a dip in form. But being an Alex Ferguson team ‘struggling’ means they are still third.

The top of the table has a familiar look to it, with Manchester City occupying the 4th spot ahead of Spurs this time round.

Spurs are playing well, with their usual swashbuckling style, but it seems to be more of an effort this year. Modric has not hit his best form, but this has been tempered by the arrival of Rafael Van der Vaart who has come out of the blocks flying and seems determined to score or create a goal every time he gets the ball.

West Ham have been unable to push on from last year, not helped by a loss of form by Carlton Cole. There were rumours that Liverpool failed with an 11th hour bid for the England striker before the last transfer window closed - if he doesn’t have his head in the game, they are likely to continue to struggle.

Chelsea are surging forward, they have to be favourites to win the league this year. They have looked very impressive, lots of goals and a solid back line.

Much was made of Arsenal’s showing at Manchester City, and while it was impressive, the sending off of Deryk Boyata less than 5 minutes in made the process a lot easier. Having said that Almunia will now surely not walk back into this team, and they pulled of this feat without Jack Wilshere, their star performer this year.

Arsenal’s inability to beat the top teams has been the major factor behind those 4 trophyless seasons. But how often has the Arsenal first team been involved? They are not a team who picks up a knock and misses a couple of games. If an Arsenal player gets injured they seem to miss months. Even this week the first choice centre backs were missing.
City have not responded to that loss, going down at Wolves. As soon as their form dipped questions surrounding the temperament, the egos, the wages etc were bound to follow. But on field arguments, coupled with rumours of some behind closed doors incidents will have the blue half of Manchester a little worried.

Special mention has to be reserved for West Brom, who until a few days ago sat fourth. There is still long way to go, but they look more like a Premiership team, rather than a championship outfit hanging on. There are a number of clubs looking over their shoulder and this season looks to be two tiered. Anyone in the top half seems capable of beating any of the others, and everyone in the bottom half is more than capable of getting relegated.

Hopefully next month the back page headlines will not be dominated by money issues.

England: The Story So Far

So England won 4-0 last night. All is well with the world. Hell of a manager that Italian boy, isn't he?

Elsewhere down south the annual cattle auction that is transfer deadline day has passed. As in Scotland the international break has come too early in the season to allow us to draw any firm conclusions about the English Premier League season ahead.

Still, as guest blogger Mark Briggs discusses below, we might just be able to find a few pointers about the drama to come:

We’ve hit the international break, so this is the ideal time to reflect on the start to the new Premiership season. In a handy combo for summarisers the transfer window has also closed. So who’s started well, who is squirming in their seat, and who did the transfer window treat well or poorly.

Well let's start at the top, well it’s the big 4 isn’t it. Isn’t it?

Well, yes and no. Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester United make up the top 3. Then Aston Villa have got themselves up there, despite being hammered by Newcastle and dumped out of the Europe League (still sounds weird).

Europe, of various kinds, looks to have caused a slight hangover for Manchester City and Tottenham who both had disappointing results after midweek games.

Blackpool sit comfortably in mid table (also despite being humped 6-0) and Stoke lie in the bottom three, but have picked up some very useful looking summer signings.

All this shows that looking at teams start to the season is pointless in terms of, well, points gained. So which individuals have caught the eye, and who looks a bargain, or a financial pain in the neck.

For all the sobbing about England’s golden generation (see previous posts) and the lack of replacements for them it’s young Englishmen who have caught my eye. Theo Walcott looks sharp, not just quick, and with purpose. Neither of these could be directed at him last season. This year he has had the summer off, and has started the season fully fit. These are also two things he couldn’t have been accused of last year. Twelve months ago Arsene Wenger complained the Walcott shouldn’t have gone to the U21 tournament, he needed rest and a proper pre-season. Whinge, whinge is what most people heard, but having got just that this summer, well, he looks on fire.

Andy Carroll caught my eye when Newcastle got relegated. Despite not scoring a hatful of goals there was something about him. A season of regular football at Championship level and he looks ready for the Premiership. It was the manner of his hat trick against Villa that was most impressive and his early season form must be making Carlton Cole look over his shoulder, nervous for his England squad place.

And finally Joe Hart. His performances so far this season have spectacularly made a mockery of Fabio Capello’s decision not to play him at the World Cup. Having kept Shay Given out of the team the only goal he has conceded so far is a penalty.

Questions remain over the rest of the City team, however. What is their preferred line up, important for when the big games come around, what style do they want to play, and how do you keep Given, Adebayour etc etc happy (or at least quiet) till January?

Liverpool have recouped more money than they have spent this summer, perhaps a statement on the teams behind the scenes troubles, and haven’t had the type of start that suggests they are ‘back’. Their quest for a second striker yielded no results, so hope now falls on Ngog to continue some bright form. Arsenal also failed to acquire a goalkeeper. This is the bad side of Arsene Wenger. We love the flowing football, the attacking intent, and the slicing open of a defence with one touch. But the stubbornness to not get a goalkeeper, because he believes in someone the rest of us have never seen, or because the one he was after cost 99p too much looks likely to turn round and bite him at least once this season.

A goalie gives the rest of the team stability, look back to the history of Manchester Utd between the Schmeichel and the Van der Sar years. If nothing else they lacked the aura. These two goalies put it in the opposition’s head; it is going to be hard to score today. Never mind generating chances, if you get a chance, in the back of your head you back the goalie to save it. Manuel Almunia is capable of spectacular saves, but he doesn’t give you that aura.

Staying with Manchester United, what can you say about Paul Scholes? He is simply getting better and better. At one point last year he came in for a few games and looked totally inept. The decision to keep him in the squad looked a sentimental one. Then he burst back into form and hasn’t looked back. At the moment he is playing like Iniesta or Xavi, and over the last few years at club and international level there is no higher praise.

It has been the start we hoped for, goals flying in from everywhere, many of them from Chelsea who have carried on as if the summer didn’t happen. Now switch your attentions to Euro 2012 before we really get this season going and into the autumn months, where the football really starts to count.

Rangers Win Weiss Race

Looks to be a good bit of business in Walter Smith has managed to secure Vladimir Weiss on loan. He could well be a revelation in the SPL this season and inject the sort of pace and width that Rangers look to lack. Missing out on him would be another bitter pill for Neil Lennon to swallow at Celtic.

The first Old Firm of the season for Rangers?