The Exiled Robin

My latest article from Bristol City's matchday programme, Red Alert : Burnley, Nov 5th The days when John Barnes, John Fashanu et al regularly had banana skins thrown at them and monkey noises were common-place seem many moons ago.   Those that run the game today are often keen to point out that racism in the game has been virtually eliminated and occurred before the formation of the Premier League and the Champions League.   Prior to multi-millionaire owners, before the fences came down and we had new all-seater, family-friendly stadia. There have been persistent flashes abroad, with Southern and Eastern European team’s fans in particular causing disgruntlement amongst those within the English game.   The fact that UEFA seem unwilling to deal with these issues with any more than a financial slap on the wrists is another story for another day. However, the topic has returned with a vengeance to dominate English football headlines in the past couple of weeks. ...

When Stephen Caulker arrived on loan at City during the early autumn we were bottom of the league and it almost went un-noticed with the fans still talking about signing Danny Rose - he who scored THAT goal for Spurs against Arsenal last season. A few months on, with eight clean sheets in the last 19 games, and it is Caulker who looks a sure bet for a clean sweep for the player of the season awards. Not since Andy (as he was known then) Cole graced the Ashton Gate turf in the 1992-93 season have so many talked about a "future England international". Whether Caulker ever gets that far is still to be proven, but his maturity and assuredness, allied to his pace, reading of the game and the knack of coming up with the odd goal certainly gives him every chance. However, Caulker's performances have got this blogger thinking...when have I seen a player of such ability that I got that hunch that he would go on to much greater things. This is not a "look-how-clever-I-...