Sun's hair to the throneUpdated: December 20th, 2006
There might be another reason Sun Jihai has decided not to get his hair cut until he plays again.
According to this story in The Times, Sun doesn’t trust English hairdressers.
Last November The Times reported that Sun was a guest of the Queen at a banquet held in honour of Chinese president Hu Jintao.
Looking dapper in a black tuxedo with white waistcoat and bow-tie, the Times revealed that Sun’s only regret over the evening was that he hadn’t got his hair cut beforehand.
“I asked him about getting his hair cut, but he doesn’t trust the hairdressers in England and always goes back home to China to have it done,” Wing Shing Chu, Sun’s interpreter and a restaurateur in Manchester, explained. “I think he wished he had now.
I hear the Queen wants to invite Joey Barton to a palace banquet, but only so she can crack her “annus horribilis” joke.
A Frank Clark memory
Sometimes you wonder what goes through the heads of certain managers.
On reading that McClaren was planning to play 3-5-2 my reaction was probably similar to a lot of fans - puzzlement mixed with derision. Just how many fans were shaking their heads before the game knowing that a disaster was about to unfold? Quite a few, I imagine.
So if the world and his wife could see it, not to mention Croatia coach Slaven Bilic who was “delighted” when he saw England’s starting formation, why couldn’t McClaren?
It reminded me of watching City play at Norwich in 1998, when Frank Clark was manager. I went up there with a friend who supported Palace, and who had never seen City under Clark.
The Norwich game plan that day was pretty much to kick Kinkladze, and it proved successful.
After about 30 minutes the fouls on Kinkladze had reached double figures. My friend turned to me with a puzzled expression: “You’ve no battlers in midfield. Your main threat’s being kick off the park and no-one’s doing anything about it,” he said.
He could see it, I could see it - and so could the City fans at the game. Joe Royle saw it straight away and bought Jamie Pollock a month after taking over.
It didn’t seem to dawn on Frank Clark though.
Maybe in football management you sometimes just can’t see the wood for the trees.