Charlie Adam’s shocking attempt at a tackle at White Hart Lane on Saturday has left Welsh wing wizard Gareth Bale with ruptured ankle ligaments. The injury will ensure the PFA Player of the Year plays no further part in Tottenham’s Premiership campaign. Bad news for the North Londoners! However, it will come as a crumb of comfort to Spurs fans that Bale’s injury has come when seemingly the fight for fourth place is over. Furthermore, there are only three games to go until the end of the season. After already suffering one injury set back this year the 21 year old will be cursing his luck, on the other hand he was fortunate not to have broken his leg as a consequence of the tackle. Obviously, no Spurs fan would have wanted to see their star player on the end of such a horror tackle, however could Bale’s injury be advantageous to the club in a strange way?
I know what the Spurs fans are thinking, ‘What is this guy talking about, how can having our best player on the treatment table over the summer be an advantage?’ Well here’s my explanation….. Unless Manchester City have a collapse of epic proportions in the next three games, then Tottenham will at best be in the Europa League next season. This is likely to be a signal for Europe’s elite clubs to start dusting off their cheque books and stalking their Welsh prey. Even if Bale has every intention of staying with Spurs this summer, it won’t deter the big boys from lodging multi million pound bids for one of the hottest properties in world football! Now here comes, the probably obvious, but still worth while observation, will they still be interested in an injured Gareth Bale? Who knows, maybe some clubs would, but it may be enough to cause some of Bale’s suitors to look elsewhere!
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It’s not unheard of for injured players to move clubs, Andy Carroll, for example, made his move from Newcastle to Liverpool whilst suffering an injury. So the bids could still come flooding in for the former Southampton starlet. Then there is the argument that Bale will be match fit by the time the season gets underway anyway. Not only that, but the transfer window doesn’t close until 31st of August! However, Bale’s injury may prevent the tabloids from continually splashing rumours all over the back pages…… ‘Bale in Madrid talks’, ‘Inter in pole position for Bale’, ‘Chelsea step up Bale interest’… you get the picture. I’m sure Spurs fans would much rather pick up the morning papers and see Fabregas’ name all over the back pages this summer than Bale’s.
FootballFanCast.com WORLD Exclusive: Robbie Savage’s Face in a Baby Scan…
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Everyone knows the names of Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and Neymar, and no doubt these young stars will next season come of age, perhaps going on to be greats of the beautiful game; yet of course there are numerous lesser-known prodigies out there that the media has yet to catch on about, but who I’m sure behind closed doors have been lauded by chief scouts across all continents. Whether these hidden gems are midfield maestros, dominant defenders or formidable forwards, this is the run down of football’s best kept secrets…for now
Click on John Flanagan to see the top 10 players to watch out for
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Listen to the third episode of our brand new podcast – The Football FanCast. – Featuring Razor Ruddock, Gary O’Reilly and singer/songwriter Alistair Griffin, who performs a live version of his cult tribute to Mark Viduka, with Razor on backing vocals!
Porto manager Andre Villas-Boas does not want the credit should his side make him the youngest coach to win a major European title.Villas-Boas, 33, can create history if Porto wins the all-Portuguese Europa League final against Sporting Braga on Wednesday, which they are strongly favoured to do.
Porto went undefeated on their way to the Liga Sagres title, and can claim a treble if they triumph in the Europa League and the Taca de Portugal final against Vitoria Setubal on Sunday. But speaking on Tuesday, the highly rated manager said the club’s exploits are not about him.
“People focus a lot on the work of the manager and I don’t see it that way,” Villas-Boas said on Tuesday.
“I don’t see myself as a one-man show. Football isn’t won by one person but by collective competence. It is the quality of the players and the structure of the club.”
“I just want to make my players give their most. I give them room to express themselves because that’s how they develop. I promote their talent and let them make their own decisions. There are no dictators.”
“We don’t see the game as a tactical game. If you are a dictator of choices, players won’t be able to explore their possibilities to the full. You have to be able to free them.”
Villas-Boas is a former assistant to Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho, but said the reason he left his role under his countryman at Inter Milan – after also working with him at Porto and Chelsea – was to further his own managerial ambition.
Villas-Boas joined Liga Sagres side Academica and guided them free of relegation trouble, before his appointment as Jesualdo Ferreira’s replacement at Porto in June 2010.
”The position I had with him was a position he needed some help on. I understood my role from the beginning and tried to fulfil it with maximum professionalism,” Villas-Boas said.
“When I left him, he took on another person who I hope gives him the same level. Regarding why I left Inter, it was because I wanted the extra edge to fulfil my ambitions as a professional coach, so I took the risk to find my own job at Academica.”
Liverpool have been linked with a move for out-of-favour Real Madrid midfielder Fernando Gago, according to the Daily Mail.
The 25-year old moved to Real from Argentine side Boca Juniors in January 2007 and has made 121 appearances for the club. However, he has fallen down the pecking order under Jose Mourinho in favour of Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira and only made 7 appearances last season. With the summer arrivals of Nuri Sahin and Hamit Altintop from Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively the Argentinean’s opportunities next year could be even more limited.
Real signed the midfielder for a fee in the region of €20 million but are willing to do business for £15 million. However, Liverpool look like starting the bidding at closer to £10 million.
The club have already splashed £20 million on ex-Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson and continue to be linked with a move for Blackpool’s Charlie Adam. However, the club must first look to offload high-earners such as Maxi Rodriguez, Joe Cole and Christian Poulsen. The future of Alberto Aquilani is also to be decided whilst Raul Meireles has recently been linked with a move to Inter Milan.
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Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has also been linked with a move for Newcastle due Jose Enrique and Jonas Gutierrez but has yet to make a move for either player.
For those of you that were there when we thumped Everton 7-0 on a Wednesday night at Highbury in May 2005, you might recall singing ‘one more year’ to the tune of ‘here we go’ over and over again for the last 20 minutes.
It was our last home game of the season, with a cup final to look forward to, so why were all our voices in accord that evening? The whole of Highbury were saluting the genius of one man, who if I recall correctly, came on as second-half substitute and we were imploring him to sign a one-year extension to his current deal at the club – this man of course was none other than Dennis Bergkamp , and he did indeed sign on for one final year.
Now the circumstances are not the same in 2011, but one could certainly argue that we need Fabregas for one more year now, more than we needed ‘the Iceman’ in 2005. Dennis was in his mid 30’s, and whilst still a remarkable player, the team was not built around him or reliant on him as it had been in earlier years. Indications this week are that Cesc will stay as he has told us himself that only monsieur Wenger can make the decision to sell him and will not ask to leave. However, he will return to Barcelona one day, and with Xavi turning 32, you have to think 2011/12 could be the ‘one more year’ for our skipper.
So I hope he stays, and I hope, as I have said in a previous article last week, that we revert to a four man midfield, but only last week I thought that would be without our uniquely talented Spaniard. With a stronger back four, as we had in the 1998, 2002 and 2004, we do not need a genuine holding midfield player. So I hope we do give the traditional formation a go, but either way, Fabregas will thrive. He is not necessarily a genuine goal-scoring central midfielder yet, but like the great Dutchman before him boy can he create goals for those around him.
I have heard so many tributes to the retiring Paul Scholes, and heard him described as a one of the greatest creative central midfielders of the Premiership era. And for years we have had to suffer the boring debate about which of Lampard or Gerrard is the greater.
Well I am happy to tell you all that when it comes to creativity, vision and pure improvisation, none of them compare to our Spanish talisman. Fabregas was the youngest player in Premiership history to reach 100 assists. In fact, Fabregas reached 100 assists in only 190 games, creating an Arsenal league goal more than every other game. It took the mighty Paul ‘I never learnt to tackle’ Scholes 325 games to reach the same milestone. This is the player that Zidane describes as the greatest English player of his generation? It took Gerrard 332 games and Lampard 354 games to create 100 league goals and before you comment that they both score more goals check your facts. Neither Lampard nor Gerrard came close to scoring double figures in a league season until they were 25, and Cesc did so in 2009/10 at the tender age of 22. At 23, Cesc has 35 league goals for the Gunners, and at the same age, Gerrard and Lampard had 20 and 12 respectively.
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I have given you plenty of evidence there to suggest that our enigmatic captain is the best creative central midfielder in the Premiership in this century. Of course what he is missing to go with this mercurial talent are Arsenal trophies and for that we need proper sensible investment this summer from Wenger and the backing from the board.
By sensible investment I do mean in proven experience Arsene, not unproven French potential. It is not a case now of what Fabregas owes Arsenal, but what Arsenal owes him.
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So let’s make the right defensive signings, keep our best players, and ensure that if our skipper gives us ‘one more year’, he can leave England with more than just incredible statistics, but with a Premiership winner’s medal around his neck, and like Bergkamp, as a true Arsenal legend.
Read more of David Seager’s articles at Gunnersphere
Rangers’ Champions League hopes have been thrown into disarray after the Scottish champions were beaten 1-0 in qualifying by Malmo FF.The first leg of their qualifying tie at Ibrox on Tuesday was meant to be smooth sailing for Ally McCoist’s men, but an 18th-minute strike from Daniel Larsson was enough to hand the Swedes an unlikely triumph.
The loss continues Rangers’ uneasy start to their overall campaign, after they were forced to come from behind in their Scottish Premier League opener against Hearts to force a draw.
The result means the SPL title holders must score at least once in the second leg next Wednesday at Malmo’s Swedbank Stadion, to avoid an embarrassing pre-group stage exit from Europe’s elite football competition.
Last season’s Europa League quarter-finalists Dynamo Kiev were beaten 2-0 by Russian side Rubin Kazan in Ukraine.
A sixth-minute opener to Alan Kasaev gave the visitors the ascendancy, before Bibras Natkho’s penalty midway through the second half sealed a commanding victory for the Russian club.
Racing Genk pulled off a stunning come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Partizan Belgrade at their Cristal Arena home.
The Belgians were in strife when South African defender Anele Ngongca was shown a red card just past the half-hour mark.
But before the first goal, the sides were both down to 10 when Partizan’s Stefan Babovic was shown his marching orders also in the 48th minute.
Despite their setback, Partizan led on 65 minutes through a Nemanja Tomic goal, which seemingly sparked the hosts into action.
An equaliser within five minutes from the penalty spot, converted by Jelle Vossen, gave the Belgians hope of a result, before Marvin Ogunjimi struck the winner deep into injury time to give Genk the lead heading into a second leg in Serbia.
In other results, Poland’s Wisla Krakow beat Lovech 2-1 in Bulgaria, BATE Borisov, a Belarusian club, held Ekranas to a scoreless draw in Lithuania, Georgian side Zestafoni earned a 1-1 draw at home to Sturm Graz, APOEL’s battle with Slovan Bratislava ended 0-0 while a Marc Janko brace gave FC Twente a 2-0 triumph over Romanian side Vaslui.
With Charlie Adam signed, Liverpool ’s next high profile target is Stewart Downing . The England winger has made no secret of his desire to leave Aston Villa this summer and is expected to force a transfer by handing in a transfer request if Liverpool ’s advances continue to be knocked back. The proposed transfer has been met online by a group of whingeing Liverpool fans, many crying ’sign Mata, sign Mata’ or alternately stating that Downing is average at best, or simply not good enough. Such comments display the naïveté of some fans in terms of how they perceive the modern game.
What seems to escape the attention of these fans is that in January of this year Liverpool paid a club record £35m to sign Andy Carroll. Call me crazy but I believe this would suggest that Andy is seen as a key first team player for next season. One only need look at Liverpool’s last two games of last season, when Carroll, despite clearly not being fit, was chosen to play alongside Suarez as a striker ahead of the in-form Dirk Kuyt. Carroll is seen as first choice. As such Dalglish will be looking to construct a side to get the best from his £35m man.
To think that Kenny Dalglish gave the go-ahead on signing Carroll for £35m without realising that he needs good service borders on insulting the King’s knowledge of the game. We all know Andy’s main strengths, he has great physical presence and colossal heading ability. He gets less praise for his ability to pick a pass and he also has a decent touch, impressive attributes for such a big man. Carroll also has a ferocious shot, it is clear to see why, in this department, parallels with Alan Shearer have been drawn.
Carroll however, also has weaknesses. He could do with working on his ball retention and hold-up play, as he is often clumsy or wasteful when playing a simple pass. Also, for a man who to look at, appears at a glance to be something of a beast – Carroll could also improve on his strength.
Upon his signing I had noticed in his medical photos that his upper-body could do with a lot of work, he did not cut the figure of a toned, conditioned and muscular modern pro, but then he did have a reputation. Carroll is also not the quickest, which diminishes our ability to thread through-balls to Carroll as a viable, steady supply-source of goal-scoring chances.
This is precisely the problem in the debate over Mata that so many fans seem to miss. Liverpool need someone who can deliver a cross. This is not Mata’s style. He is a great little player but a gamble in terms of getting the best from Carroll. Mata is a typical Spanish schemer, playing in a floating role on the left, looking to playing quick one-twos, or to pick an incisive through ball. Mata plays most of his football in a more central area of the pitch, drifting in on the left side of a front three. The same people who clamour for Mata would also likely state that Liverpool need width. Mata would simply not provide the desired width we need.
Whilst the thought of Mata and Suarez linking up on the left, playing intricate, incisive football on the deck is great in theory, such a system would not suit big Andy, who thrives on good crosses (or indeed even average ones. Man City anyone?). Make no mistake – next season we will be looking to get crosses to him. Whilst Mata does not provide traditional, touchline-hugging, by-line-driving width, Downing certainly does.
It is the width offered by Stewart Downing which puts him ahead of Mata as a priority signing for Liverpool. The left-footer whipped in more crosses in open play than any player in the Premier League last season, 135 in total. According to Opta stats, this is more than any other player has accumulated in a season in the last three campaigns. Very impressive. We are all aware too that Downing is not overly elaborate and could hardly be described as a ‘flair’ player, but then the same can be said for the likes of Antonio Valencia at Man Utd, who was widely praised for his simplicity on the ball at the tail end of last season (rightly so in my opinion, he rarely loses the ball).
Downing is not a ‘one-trick pony’ as many lazily suggest – some, with dreams of comedy superstardom have described him as a ‘no-trick pony’. Again, this is lazy – if not just downright idiotic. As we can see, Downing’s main ‘trick’ is offering width and providing crosses, but he is also capable of scoring goals as well as creating them (as we found out to our detriment) – eight in total last season. Downing can also pick a pass as well as deliver crosses. Strikers with pace, such as Gabriel Agbonlahor, and more recently Darren Bent have both benefited from Downing’s ability to split a defence over the last few years. Were it not for Bent’s famed profligacy in front of goal, and inability to stay onside, Downing may have claimed many more than the nine assists he contributed last season.
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Downing also displayed his versatility when playing on the right-wing last year, showing that he can cut inside and create havoc in such a role. Were Kenny to employ a 4-3-3 next season. Suarez would naturally play on the left, where he creates so much trouble for club and country. As such, were Mata to sign where would he fit exactly? He is untested on the right. Downing provides better options in this regard – added to this, Downing has also shown he can still provide crosses and width when playing on the right if the system is a 4-4-2. Something Mata cannot provide from either side.
Which brings me back to Andy Carroll.
I wish we weren’t building a side around Carroll but lets face it, we are. His price tag makes him almost undroppable. It is for this reason I feel that, barring injury to Carroll we will employ a 4-4-2 next year. In every game Carroll played last season, we utilised this formation. That Downing is a desired signing theoretically re-enforces this view.
Parallels with Dalglish’s signing of Alan Shearer can be drawn here. Dalglish recognised that Jason Wilcox and Stuart Ripley could provide ammo for Shearer in what turned out to be a masterstroke. Neither player was flash or full of tricks, but without these two it is hard to see how Shearer would have scored such an alarming amount of goals. Width was a crucial factor in getting the best out of Big Shearer – the same goes for Carroll.
What Blackburn under Dalglish did not have was creativity from the centre. Their title-winning side contained David Batty and Tim Sherwood in central midfield. Whilst both were good players, neither possessed great vision, or the ability to deliver a defence-splitting pass. This was not essential however, as neither Shearer or Sutton possessed great pace. Their title win was largely based on a strategy of bombarding the opposition with crosses, they played to their strengths.
But Blackburn did not have a Luis Suarez.
In Gerrard and Adam, Liverpool have players capable of releasing Suarez with quality through balls – both can pick a telling, defence-splitting pass. Liverpool have the quality to be creative in the central areas, many would argue that Aquilani or Meireles could also provide such options. I agree. We are not lacking in creativity in central areas, which is what Mata would provide us with more of.
Mata can pick a pass, but then so can Downing. Mata can score goals, but then again so can Downing. Mata can drift into central areas, but then isn’t this the type of narrow football we have been looking to get away from? Creativity in central areas is not what we are looking for – it is what we already have. It is the predictability of this style which has led to the clamour for width in the fist place.
Width is where we have been lacking. As such, Downing can give us the added option of natural width which we so desire. Mata cannot.
Downing would give us the ability to drag and pull defences apart, to keep them guessing where the next threat is coming from – making as dangerous from wide areas as we are from central midfield. As all Liverpool fans know, this is something we have lacked badly for years. Dalglish is looking for a player that provide such width, a player who can get the best from both Carroll and Suarez.
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This is why Mata, however talented, is simply not what we are looking for..… Perhaps in some alternate reality where we have Suarez and Sergio Aguero up front it makes perfect sense. But not in this reality.
In this reality it’s £35m worth of 6ft 3” of Geordie bruiser we’ve got, and Dalglish isn‘t afraid to use what he has.
In addition to chasing Downing, the signing of Charlie Adam further demonstrates the importance that Dalglish has placed on getting good service to Carroll. In Adam’s case – particularly in regard to set-pieces. Carroll in particular is going to be salivating over those patented Charlie Adam ‘corners from hell’.
Even the greatest sceptic must admit that the thought of Downing providing the ammo for Carroll from the flanks next season, in addition to Adam’s delivery from set-pieces – is a very juicy thought indeed!
Read more Barry Henderson’s articles at Live4Liverpool
Alan Pardew says he has left the door open for Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton to stay with the club.The 28-year-old was placed on the transfer list earlier this week, and was fined two weeks wages after he criticised the club on social networking site Twitter.
Barton was also made to train by himself as a result of the sanction, but the Newcastle boss was not about to give up hope on his influential midfielder.
“I think I’ve never closed the door on any individual and I won’t close the door on Joey,” Pardew said.
Pardew believes Barton could still have a future at St. James’ Park, but has urged football authorities to take control of player’s use of social media websites.
“The problem with Twitter and I think this is a bigger problem generally for football is that we need to get hold of this. There’s nothing coming down from above within the game to tell us how to deal with this from the Premier League,” Pardew said.
“I spoke to Sir Alex (Ferguson) this morning because they’ve had a problem with Twitter as well and we’ve gone on a similar line to Manchester United in that you cannot criticise from within on your personal account. In fact, you shouldn’t mention your football club at all, in my opinion.”
Pardew said there were no hard feelings between him and Barton following their pre-season friendly loss to Leeds United on Saturday, contrary to reports.
“Myself and Joey have had words since Saturday and most of it has been pretty controlled from both of us. I think we both realised we could have done things better at the weekend and I think that’s where our relationship is,” he said.
“Our relationship at the moment is unbroken as far as I’m concerned. And the repairing of that will be quite simple but the bigger problem is the criticism of the club and the board and that’s something else we need to reflect on to.”
Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy is a busy man. Since the departure of Damien Comolli, he has taken on the task of signing players on top of his already lengthy list of responsibilities. Given the problems Tottenham have had during this transfer window, is it fair to conclude that he needs some help?
In the last couple of days, Tottenham appear to have got their act together. After months of endless speculation with no real signs of movement it appears the club have finally stirred themselves into action. Emmanuel Adebayor has been confirmed on a season-long loan from Manchester City and Iago Falque, an attacking midfielder from Juventus has also agreed to join for a season (although how he will fit in is hard to say). On top of these moves, Spurs are now in talks with Joe Cole whilst Lassana Diarra remains ‘a real possibility’ according to Harry Redknapp.
However, it seems strange that throughout the summer, Tottenham maintained that the squad needed cutting down before new players could be brought in and yet so far, of all the unneeded high earners, only Robbie Keane has been sold. In May, this was Levy’s primary task, to offload Bentley, Keane, Krancjar, Bassong and Palacios amongst others. This has not been done. Levy has always overseen Tottenham’s sales, developing a reputation for driving a particularly hard bargain, but this summer that hard stance does not appear to have worked and the fringe players remain on their exorbitant salaries.
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In the end, the era of Comolli did not work out. His track record had some impressive successes, such as Bale and Modric and some startling failures such as Bentley and Dos Santos, but at least he was decisive. He got things done. Whilst I’m eternally grateful for Levy for keeping transfers out of Harry ‘administration’ Redknapp’s hands, it has felt this summer that he is biting off more than he can chew.
If Levy had succeeded in offloading the squad players at the start of the summer, Tottenham may have been in a better position to actually do some buying. The loan deals are a temporary fix but the fundamental problem remains, Spurs cannot pay too many people too much money and it is this that Levy was supposed to address. Of course he has been distracted by endless stadium shenanigans and the Luka Modric situation but in the end the squad should have been trimmed and quality players actually purchased instead.
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This recent activity is good but with a bit of help this summer Levy and Tottenham could have done a lot more and done it quicker.
Last night, the IndigO2 theatre in London held the Stella Atrois World Draught Master Final for the United Kingdom, where 28 bartenders battled it out for a place in the Global Final set to take place in Buenos Aires on October 26th. Stella Artois are a brand desperate to empahsise the importance in pouring the ‘perfect Stella Artois’, and their Quality Draught Masters programme was set up to ensure a superior customer experience through the art of pouring lager. In a stylish and sophisticated theatre inside the O2, guests arrived to this ‘smart and 60s chic’ dress-coded event to watch these bartenders compete with one another to represent the United Kingdom at the World Draught Master Global Finals.
Mark Dolan presented the evening to a crowd made up of friends and family of each bartenders, as well as some of biggest names in Stella Artois. Alongside Dolan, ‘Master Beer Sommelier’ Marc Stroobandt talked the audience though the ritual of pouring the perfect Stella Artois, and explained just what these bartenders had been training to achieve. Bartenders from over 600 pubs across the UK had registered with the programme, and attended exclusive masterclasses throughout April, May and June with Stroobrandt, where they were taught not only the ritual behind pouring the perfect pint, but how to appreciate different beets, which food pairings work with Stella Artois, as well as improved serving standards.
These 28 finalists were the crème de le crème of the UK, the “best of the best” according to Stroobandt, and would compete in pairs over 14 rounds where a panel of judges including the 2010 World Draught Master Chris Myers, Stella Artois marketing manager Alexander Lambrecht, and brewmaster Paul Van de Walle would decide their fate. The contestants had just two minutes to perfect the ritual and serve the perfect Stella Artois to the judges in the first round, and only 7 of the 28 would make it through to the next round. The nine-step ritual that these bartenders must follow is one of such intricate detail and skill, that those thinking there can be no ‘art’ or ‘beauty’ in pouring a pint of Stella Artois will surely think twice in making such assumptions. The contestants are given a mark between 1 and 10 for each step of the ritual, which is broken down as follows.
1. ‘The Purification’ – the glass must be perfectly clean and rinsed, held by the stem at all times, and with the Stella Artois logo facing forward throughout.
2. ‘The Sacrifice’ – the tap is opened in one quick action, with the first drops of beer allowed to flow away; “sacrificed”.
3. ‘The Liquid Alchemy Begins’ – the glass is held at a 45° angle just under the tap but must not touch at any point.
4. ‘The Crown’ – the glass is lowered to allow the natural formation of the foam head, a ‘two finger’ head is necessary with a slight overflow to be removed.
5. ‘The Removal’ – the tap is closed quickly and the glass removed so that beer does not drip into the head.
6. ‘The Skim’ – while the head overflows slightly, it is smoothed over gently with a ‘head cutter’ at a 45° angle “with the flow of the bubbles.”
7. ‘The Cleansing’ – both the bottom and sides of the glass are cleaned and dabbed dry, and a drip catcher is placed on the stem of the chalice glass.
8. ‘The Two Finger Rule’ – the right amount of foam is usually about two fingers, and the head should be “rounded and without big bubbles.”
9. ‘The Bestowal’ – the beer is presented to the consumer on a clean coaster with the logo again facing forward at all times.
Alongside the nine-step ritual, contestants are judged on their preparation, attention to detail, and for their personality in engaging with both the audience and the judges.
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After 14 rounds, the judges had narrowed the 28 bartenders down to just seven. In the next round the remaining contestants would again perform the ritual, but this time on their own, and would be asked a question by the panel of judges as to why they deserved to be in the Global Final. After much deliberation and discussion among the judging panel, the evening came to a close when Alexander Lambrecht announced this years winner was Mark Simmonite of Henry’s in Sheffield.
Speaking after the UK finals, Simmonite was overjoyed not only with the result, but with the opportunites that Stella Artois were giving himself and others. “The commitment, passion, and drive from the team at Stella is fantastic” he told us, and the UK champion shared the belief that the “perfect pouring ritual can only improve business” for pubs and bars across the country. Simmonite claims that “Pubs are in competition with Facebook”, and they “need to give people a reason to leave their home, because anyone can pour a bottle of beer.” The UK Champion seems adamant that the Draught Masters programme will certainly make a difference to pubs, and believes it already has in some places.
On stage, Simmonite was presented to the audience for having the best shoes out of all the contestants, and he told us he had been “up all night” polishing them to impress the judges. Until October, where he will now represent the UK in the World Global Finals, Simmonite plans on making a microbrewery with his brother in Sheffield, so that he can continue to offer people “something better than sitting at home” He described his experience so far to have been “mind-blowing, awesome, and crazy”, and expressed his relief to being on the other side of the panel next year. Before then, Simmonite will prepare to tavel to Buenos Aires, where he will compete with the best bartenders from around the world for the Stella Artois World Draught Master 2011 title – and we wish him the best of luck from all here at FFC.