Young, Gifted and ...?

Well, the missing word, boys and girls, is 'Black', the title of one of the first-ever reggae hits at the beginning of the seventies, by my old acquaintances (well, I said 'hello' to them once) Bob and Marcia Griffiths, who used, as did I at times, to frequent the dear old Blue Beat club on Princess Road in Manchester's Moss Side.

However, my topic for today is not reggae, which is why the final word of the song title has been left out. Today I wish to discuss Young and Gifted matters.

Young is of course Charlton's current captain and full back, Luke Young, likely, according to today's media, to start for England against Wales tomorrow, with the specific task of marking Ryan Giggs. Gifted is what he is, as his contribution to Charlton's terrific start to the Premiership season clearly demonstrates. However the BBC sports page, and one or two others which have used the same basic story, are referring to Eriksson's selecting Luke Young as a "gamble", because he has only played a total of 18 minutes international football thus far in his career.

I do not, however, believe this. If the media claim that it is a gamble, the number of minutes of international football Luke Young has played cannot have much to do with it. The rules of the game are exactly the same, and the atmosphere at most international matches is probably less intimidating than at Premiership ones, which Luke is perfectly well accustomed to. Also, the opposition are mainly the same calibre of player, if not the same actual players (as they will largely be tomorrow) that he plays against every week. And in any case, add up the total number of minutes of international football the members of the England side who lost the other week to Denmark had under their belts, if you still believe that the number of minutes of international football played is a reliable guide to form or effectiveness.

For the media, the problem is that Luke plays for Charlton, who might have a 100 per cent record, might be third in the Premiership with a game in hand, but at the end of the day are still Charlton, and thus not a Big Club and thus not worthy of being taken seriously, whereas I am sure that were he a member of the squad of that well-known laughing stock of the Premiership, Newcastle United, no one would have batted an eyelid.

All the ballyhoo about Michael Owen this week reminded us, as if we needed it, that Newcastle United are a Big Club. They finished 14th in the top division last season, are 19th at the moment, and haven't scored a goal yet. But they are a Big Club; meaning that they have a lot of supporters, who are well known in the game for being very keen on their team (though in my experience most fans are) and if the England manager selects any of their players then that is just the way it should be.

Charlton, though, don't produce England players, Spotty Parker, now ironically at Newcastle, was spotted identified as a potential England player two or three years back, but at least one football writer actually said that he would have to leave Charlton in order to secure his England career, and no doubt Spotty believed him, as he was off as soon as Chelsea came round waving their cheque book. Round about the same time, the papers were against the selection of Chris Powell for the squad; I can't recall what they said to support their argument, but it doesn't matter; the real reason was that he was a Charlton player. And Charlton are not a Big Club, and had better not embrace any notions of ever becoming one, either.

Big Clubs not only have lots of supporters, they spend huge amounts of money. It doesn't matter if they don't actually have any money of course, as witness Leeds United, a Big Club to end all Big Clubs, at least in their own eyes, who spent their way to the final stages of the Very Wonderful Champions' League three years ago. When it turned out that they had borrowed over £20 million in order to do this, and now had to pay it back, they had to disband their expensive team and this led to them being relegated. But I bet everyone still thinks they are a Big Club. Their preposterous manager certainly does; he said, last year, that Leeds would be back precisely because they are a big club, which prompted me to remark in these pages that football teams do not win leagues by people taking a tape measure to them. Leeds didn't make it back last year though, so this year the same absurd manager is saying that Leeds are 'massive', and compares them to an oil tanker, which is such a big boat that it takes a long time to turn round. Actually that metaphor is so good that if Kevin Blackwell thought of it all by himself, then maybe he isn't as absurd and preposterous as I am making out. And you can't blame him for trying to cover his back. I'd do the same in the circumstances.

However a lot of people in football still believe that only Big Clubs are allowed to win things, which is why the Champions' League is rigged to avoid the likes of Total Network Solutions getting anywhere, and also why it is becoming such a colossal bore.

Perhaps the time is coming when we can do away with all this tedious running round after a ball. The various leagues could be decided using a formula which would go: 2 points for every pound spent during the season and 1 point for every supporter, and if Charlton or West Bromwich Albion or Bolton or Fulham or Birmingham City still managed to come out tops, then they could be disqualified on the grounds of not being fashionable (though I wouldn't give much for Newcastle's chances here, either), or because many so-called football fans believe them to be in the Second Division (which ceased to exist 13 years ago).

The song I mentioned at the start of this piece had as its theme the fact that even if you were young and gifted, then being black might still count against you. Times have changed quite a bit on that score since 1970, but if you are Luke Young, gifted and play for Charlton, then you still have no chance, at least not where the British media are concerned.