Show HN: IRC like chat platform with 4chan like reply system
10 by ignasheahy | 5 comments on Hacker News. Hello HN, I want to share something that I worked on for quite a while as my side project - www.heahy.com an IRC like chat where you can share various media and even record yourself (using web MediaRecorder api). Here is a thread with short explanation on how it works: https://ift.tt/3ef3WbT I am looking for any feedback and if you have any ideas, advice or questions I am eager to hear it here or on heahy!
If Donny van de Beek was expecting time to acclimatise to life in Manchester, away from the media spotlight, he was in for a rude awakening.
In the past few weeks alone, the 23-year-old has had a Dutch legend telling him he made the wrong move, an ex-Manchester United defender stating the club made the wrong decision in signing him, while his new manager has been bombarded with questions as to why he keeps omitting United’s new man from the starting XI.
Do United even need Van de Beek, came the cries from exasperated fans, with Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes already there? Where does he even play? Is he a defensive midfielder? A No. 10? Can he play out wide? Welcome to the circus that is Manchester United, Donny.
The fact that so much remains unknown about Van de Beek is not a surprise to those who oversaw his development in the famed Ajax Academy, and that element of mystery is why they believe he will keep grabbing the headlines in the ensuing months, but for the right reasons.
It all started for Van de Beek in the countryside, before a wide-eyed 10-year-old travelled to Amsterdam for a trial. Nobody could have foreseen how well that was going to go, and the stature of the man who put his faith in Van de Beek’s bright future.
“Dennis Bergkamp was coaching the under-10s, and Donny came for trials,” former youth coach and head of academy talent development at Ajax, Ruben Jongkind, tells i.
“Donny was picked out. I can still remember Bergkamp saying to me ‘this child is very interesting, he’s very special. He could make it to the top.’
“I was working with the players individually and Dennis said I should work with this kid. I said maybe he was a bit young for individual work, but Dennis said ‘yes, but I think he will make it’.
Manchester United’s Van de Beek started his career at Ajax (Photo: GETTY)
“He told me that Donny had this ability to know where to be, at the right time, that he had some kind of insight into where the ball will go. At the age of 10.”
From there on in, Van de Beek was in the perfect place for a jack-of-all-trades kind of player to turn into a master of many. With the ‘Plan Cruyff’ that Jongkind helped implement at Ajax – one of the many Johan Cruyff legacies that has lasted the test of time – the emphasis was on talent development, at all costs.
“We took the main instinct of football – to win – away from coaches,” Jongkind says. “That’s not our aim. The aim throughout the academy was to develop the player, not win youth matches.
“Initially, Donny was still rough in his play, but he just had this incredible positional sense and drive forward. These were very interesting characteristics of a Cruyff player.
“Coaches would then play him as a No. 6, as he was physically big, but we could influence the other coaches into decisions that helped develop the player. We would put different-aged players like Donny in different teams and positions to develop all areas. This does not happen in other academies.
Van de Beek (centre) already has 14 caps for Holland (Photo: GETTY)
“Matthijs de Ligt looks like he’s just a central defender, but we played him as a defensive midfielder to develop his passing and reaction speed. Sergino Dest, who has just joined Barcelona, was a striker at first, and with Donny, it was important he could play as a No .6 to develop his passing, but also a No. 10 and No. 8 on the right of midfield.”
Even in his short cameos off the bench for United and in his impressive first start against Leipzig that helped Ole Gunnar Solskjaer outwit one of Europe’s most promising tacticians in Julian Nagelsmann, fans saw how Van de Beek’s uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time could be a devastating weapon.
He may get game time against Arsenal on Sunday when United resume their stilted Premier League campaign. Having claimed just seven points from five games – including a dour draw against Chelsea last weekend – Solskjaer will be hoping Van de Beek and co. can get one over Bergkamp’s old side.
Solskjaer is still very much under pressure, his tactics being the main cause for derision, but having a diamond in the rough, an unknown entity, in reserve to call upon, could prove vital in the long term. It is a role Van de Beek has been destined to play ever since catching Bergkamp’s eye.
“He’ll take time to adapt, but he will bring so much value to the midfield,” Jongkind adds. “Give him some time to get used to the Premier League and fans will see what an amazing player he is.
“He expects the unexpected – suddenly he is there. United made the right choice, and so did Donny. I just hope it works, because he can be really special in Manchester.”
Joe Gomez is a certain starter at centre-back, but Klopp must decide whether the England international is partnered by Rhys Williams, Nat Phillips or Billy Koumetio.
For Williams, a first Premier League start would follow two Champions League appearances off the bench, with the 19-year-old coming on late against Ajax before replacing the injured Fabinho during the first half of the midweek win over Midtjylland.
Klopp saw this heightened attention on Williams coming. “You will make a story of him,” Klopp correctly predicted, “then he has to prove that he can deal with that as well, because before everything was calm around him.”
But it is the “before” which is fascinating, so apologies to Mr Klopp, but the story of a young defender playing in the sixth-tier National League North and then the Champions League – all in one year – is too good to ignore.
Williams spent last season on loan at Kidderminster Harriers, and now manager Russell Penn – who was assistant last term – is getting plenty of questions about the player he and captain Cliff Moyo affectionately call “baby face”.
“I’ve just texted Rhys to tell him he’s got me in the media spotlight,” Penn tells i, “but it’s expected.”
Williams arrived at Kidderminster as an 18-year-old on his first loan experience away from Liverpool. It was a “coup”, Penn admits, but no one predicted he would be playing European football so soon.
“Did us and Liverpool think he’d be playing Champions League so quick? Not a chance but football changes so quick it doesn’t surprise me,” Penn adds.
Comparing the Williams who arrived to the one that left Kidderminster, Penn said the youngster came out of his shell as time went by, owning up to his mistakes on the pitch while growing as a person off it while living in a shared accommodation with three other players.
“The one that arrived was a young academy graduate, six-foot-five baby face, obviously technically very good,” says Penn. “The player that left, left with a broken nose, with experience of being sent off and scoring goals, and learning that it really mattered playing with players who at this level live month to month, rent by rent.
“It means something, not that it doesn’t at Liverpool, but it’s still very high-pressured because we’re in a results-based industry. That’s football all over whatever level you play at.”
The broken nose away to Darlington occurred in late October, and captain Moyo recalls this telling moment for Williams fondly.
It’s been pleasure playing for @khfcofficial throughout this season. Absolutely gutted that we couldn’t finish the season the way we had hoped. Met some top lads and played with some top players. I’d like to thank everyone who’s been involved with my development, appreciate it????. pic.twitter.com/TRRPsAscZ7
“When he broke his nose he carried on. It brought the best out of him, to get physical and aggressive in the right manner,” Moyo tells i. “Even though he looks like a baby face, he’s got an aggression in the right manner.
“In training and in the gym, he really bulked up and put a bit of size on. It’s tough when you come up against non-league players, they’ll make things difficult for you and fight, and he stepped up to it massively.
“That’s one thing which surprised us all. You look at this lad who’s 18, baby face, he had a fighter side which we all love. He stepped up to battle. He wasn’t fazed.”
Williams worked hard to earn the respect of his team-mates, but Penn said the youngster had already turned a corner before the broken nose.
“The defining moment for Rhys was his first month and he gave two or three goals away due to sloppy play or being pushed off the ball or being a bit too clever,” said Penn. “In the changing room away at Telford he held his hands up and said ‘Not good enough’ – I think that was his moment because after he was first-class.”
The sense that Williams embraced the situation was echoed by Moyo, a fellow centre-back who got to know the Liverpool loanee better than most on the pitch.
“Embrace is the right word,” Moyo adds. “You’re coming from a Premier League team, there’s a big difference and it’s not always pretty in non-league, a lot of it’s do it yourself, but he was humble and keen to learn.
“We used to have chats in the changing room, I’d guide him but he would help me too, he wasn’t shy to let me know if I was in the wrong. It worked both ways, that’s what I liked about him. I’m really happy he’s gone back and had that chance to show people.”
Like Penn, Moyo witnessed a player mature quickly during his time at Kiddy.
“The transformation was amazing,” Moyo says. “I remember the first day he came in, he was tall, slim, baby face, looked quiet and as if he wasn’t going to be up for the level. He had these nice new boots and you thought ‘Who’s this kid coming in?’
The spotlight will be on Williams if he makes his first Premier League appearance on Saturday (Photo: Reuters)
“It’s hard but you judge people at first glance don’t you. Then the first few months he got really stuck in, took everything on board and improved.
The fan’s view: Williams toughened up
“I saw a lot of him,” says Kidderminster fan Adam Matthews. “It’s a big shock when you get someone on loan from Liverpool. It grabs your attention and he was one to look out for. It became quite apparent they sent him down on loan so far because they wanted to toughen him up. He was very raw at the start, and for us as a team we’ve had a problem at that level because we’re more of a footballing side, coming up against big and physical sides. They wanted him to get into the mix.
“It was a good fit for us. He took a while to find his feet but it was apparent there was a player there who needed toughening up and some life experience really.
“We see a lot of players who have a loan stint with us then do well in League One or Two, but when they’re with us they can lack that physical presence. It was a bit different with Rhys, but he embraced it as well. It helped it was a season-long loan. He did get bullied a bit, as you can imagine, coming up against experienced campaigners in Conference North, but by the end of the season you could tell he had learned a lot.
“From our point of view it’s hopeful we’ll get more players on loan from bigger sides. We’ve also got Max Taylor on loan from Manchester United. He’s 20 but again he’s come down to toughen up a bit.”
Rushed into first-team consideration, the question will now be whether Klopp throws Williams in from the start or uses him sparingly despite the growing injury list.
Either way, Penn acknowledges that Liverpool have an exciting project on their hands in Williams, and one which will only do the player good having already benefitted Kidderminster.
“He is going to be one hell of a centre-half if he can handle himself in the Premier League at 19,” Penn says.
“It’s a massive project for Liverpool, I’m sure it’s one everyone’s excited about. It can only do us good. We are part of that pathway – only a little bit but we are part of it.
Big clubs are tending not to disrespect our level now, it’s a competitive level. It’s a good standard and they’re looking at us for real options, which is fantastic.”
When Willie Kirk arrived at Everton in December 2018 the team was bottom of the WSL and not so much a sleeping giant as a fallen one. The club that had been as close as any to challenging Arsenal’s dominance a decade earlier, and produced a string of England internationals, was heading back to the ignominy of a second tier they only escaped the previous year.
Two years on and Everton are an unbeaten, second in the WSL and into Sunday’s final of the delayed 2020 Women’s FA Cup. Holders Manchester City are their opponents but after despatching Women’s Super League champions Chelsea in the quarter-finals Everton will not lack belief.
It is the tenth anniversary of their last silverware, the 2010 Women’s FA Cup. Co-incidentally that year Kirk led Hibernian to triumph in the Women’s Scottish Cup. That game was at Alloa Athletic, this one is at Wembley, though Alloa’s Recreation Park had more fans as Covid restrictions means Sunday’s match is behind closed doors.
There was some discussion, speaking to Kirk via Zoom this week, as to how the absence of fans will affect an Everton side only one of whom has played at Wembley. Covid protocols means the team cannot even visit in advance. The bottom line is neither he nor anyone else knows. Every player is different, he observed, some respond well to the pressure of a crowd, some do not. But he recognised the value of Izzy Christensen, a Wembley scorer for City in their 2017 victory.
“People like Izzy are absolutely essential to what we’re trying to grow at the club,” he said. “We’re trying to grow a group of winners. People like Izzy are really important in developing that mindset.
“Izzy has been there and done it, and her experience on a day-to-day basis is huge for us, never mind on a one-off occasion like this.”
City have the better players and a squad so deep several internationals will not make the starting XI, but besides Christiansen Kirk has some stars of his own to call on such as Aussie flyer Hayley Raso, young English keeper Sandy MacIver, Scottish midfielder Lucy Graham and French centre-forward Valerie Gauvin, whose ability has caught the eye of Everton men’s coach Carlo Ancelotti.
“This can be a launchpad for us to go on for future success,” Kirk added. “We are determined to get back to the days where Everton were competing for trophies and winning silverware. Ten years is too long for a club this size.”
Willie Kirk is one game away from delivering silverware back to Everton (Photo: PA)
Having initially been left behind when City and Chelsea raised the bar for women’s football in this country, Everton have been making up ground. When Kirk arrived the players still did their own laundry.
But not any more – they also train at the club’s Finch Farm complex and play within the city at Walton Hall Park rather than at Crosby, Southport or Widnes, all recent venues.
“The club trusts us, believe in us and wants to invest in us,” said Kirk.
Opponents City have won plenty in recent years but their manager has not. Tomorrow represents a chance for Gareth Taylor to make a mark in only his tenth match in the dug-out. The former Wales international hopes his team’s superior experience will tell. Not only have they won two of the last three finals but also played at a shuttered Wembley in the Community Shield in August.
City are justified favourites but Everton should be harder to dismiss than Birmingham and West Ham, who City respectively beat 4-1 and 3-0 in the 2017 and 1019 finals.
Manchester City (4-3-3): Roebuck; Bronze, Houghton, Bonner, Stokes; Mewis, Walsh, Lavelle; Stanway, White, Kelly.
Referee: R Welch
Kelly up against former teammates
Manchester City striker Chloe Kelly began this FA Cup campaign in January by hitting the post as Everton beat London Bees 1-0. She played again when Everton won 5-0 at Bristol City in the last 16. Then came Covid-19, a long break, and a move to City.
On Sunday the 22-year-old lines up against her former teammates, with the FA allowing players to feature for two clubs given the season’s unique circumstances.
“It means she’s guaranteed a winners’ medal,” said Everton boss Kirk wryly.
Chloe Kelly joined Manchester City from Everton over the summer (Photo: PA)
Kirk regards Kelly as the only player whose departure he regrets – having broken into the England team at Everton Kelly turned down a new contract to join City. She has quickly become one of their key players.
“She’s bedded in well and is a real asset,” said City manager Taylor, who has tapped Kelly for information on Everton.
“It was a tough decision to leave,” Kelly said. “I was enjoying my football. But I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to come to such a huge club and play in the Champions League.
“This is a strange situation but it is an FA Cup final, something dreams are made of. Whoever it is against we want to get the job done.”
Liverpool manager Klopp accused Masters of a “lack of leadership” for putting the issue to the vote in August.
Manchester United manager Solskjaer, meanwhile, revealed he fears for the physical and mental well-being of players in the midst of the packed fixture schedule.
And at the end of a week in which Liverpool’s Fabinho, Sergio Aguero at Manchester City and West Ham forward Michail Antonio have all been lost to hamstring injuries, the high-profile trio were united in their condemnation of the League’s failure to retain the five-sub rule that was used during Project Restart.
Guardiola said: “Definitely they should, they should 100 per cent. It’s not about one club.
“There are statistics that they don’t deny – that in the Premier League players have 47 per cent more muscular injuries than the previous season. Due to no preparation for most of the teams and the amount of games.
“All the leagues – Germany, Spain, everywhere – is five substitutions to protect the players, not to protect one team.
“They should [reconsider], hopefully they can reconsider and do what the rest of the world does because we have to adjust to the pandemic situation and other things.
Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan comes on as a substitute to replace Sergio Aguero (Photo: Reuters)
“The reality is completely different now to before. Intelligent people adjust to the situation in the world – football is about the players. We’ll see.”
Clubs voted against the new rule in August, due to fears it would offer big clubs an advantage due to their deeper squads.
But the Liverpool manager believes Masters showed a “lack of leadership” by putting it to a vote rather than imposing it.
Klopp said: “I thought it should have been in in the first place. For me it is a lack of leadership just to put the question on the table and say; ‘So what do you want with that?’
“It should have been sold differently with more information, showing more of what could happen, all these kind of things, by Richard Masters.
“We never asked for any advantage. None of the top seven clubs asked for any advantage. We just knew, because we knew our schedule, that it would be incredibly difficult.
“To have the best games at the weekend in the Premier League, it would have helped that as well. I think we should think about it again to be honest.”
Solskjaer has been relatively unhurt by serious injuries in his squad to date.
But like his two rivals, the Manchester United manager has lost players due to positive Covid tests with full-back Alex Telles missing Sunday’s clash with Arsenal for that reason.
Solskjaer joined his colleagues in voicing his unhappiness at reverting to three substitutes for the current campaign.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants the five-sub rule back (Photo: Reuters)
He said: “I don’t understand, and I cannot believe, that the vote went against because we have to think about the players and this season is the most demanding season of all.
“I can see the point why clubs voted against but if you take a step back and think about these professional footballers and their mental and physical health, I think the only sensible solution would have been to give us the opportunity to rest a few more.
“We have already seen a load of injuries in the Premier League. I know Pep has been talking about it, and we as managers, as clubs and staff, medical staff, we have to look after them.
“That’s why we have to rest players at certain times. So, yeah, I would have liked to have had five subs.”
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Klopp was so convinced Phillips would be moving on that he left him out of the Champions League squad he submitted to UEFA at the start of the season.
But with Virgil Van Dijk, Joel Matip and Fabinho all ruled out, the Liverpool manager is “thanking God” the 23-year-old remained at Anfield and is considering playing him in the tea-time fixture against West Ham.
Bolton-born Phillips – son of former Wanderers defender Jimmy – has made only one senior appearance for Liverpool but it was a notable one, last season’s FA Cup third round 1-0 win over Everton.
And Klopp received impressive reports from his native Germany of the 22 appearances Phillips made in two loan spells with Stuttgart last season which prompted interest from two other Bundesliga clubs, Schalke and Werder Bremen, as well as English clubs during the transfer window.
None of them matched Liverpool’s valuation so now Phillips is vying with two other youngsters, Rhys Williams and Billy Koumetio, to face a Hammers team, which much to Liverpool’s relief will be without in-form striker Michail Antonio.
Klopp said: “They have all done well in training but I’ve known Nat the longest and been really happy with his development. He’s made big, big steps and is an exceptional character.
“There were a lot of clubs interested in him and we all expected him to leave the club to be honest. In the end maybe because of the Coronavirus nobody had the money to do it.
Klopp is relieved he can call on Phillips (Photo: Getty)
“Thank God he didn’t leave but that is the only reason he is not in the Champions League squad but he is available for the Premier League – all three are – and now I have to make a decision.
“Rhys’ progress in the last few months since he has been with the first team squad has been exceptional. It’s one of the benefits of having an elite development coach [Vitor Matos] on the coaching staff because he made us aware of him and said ‘take him in training, he looks good’ so that’s what we did – and he looks good.”
Klopp could also consider moving a more senior player into the centre of the defence alongside Joe Gomez, adding: “We still have other options like Hendo [Jordan Henderson], Gini [Georginio Wijnaldum], James [Milner] or Robbo [Andy Robertson]. None of them are smaller than [Javier] Mascherano who played pretty well in that position.”
But either Phillips or Williams look set to get the nod while Klopp hopes to have Matip fit, possibly for the midweek Champions League group game with Atalanta on Tuesday, but more likely for the key clash with Manchester City next weekend.
Thiago Alcantara is expected back today but Klopp confirmed Fabinho will miss at least three games with the hamstring injury he picked up against Midtjylland on Tuesday. “It’s a minor thing, not something that will keep him out for ages. After the international break he will be back for sure, we just don’t know exactly when.”
Van Dijk meanwhile had “successful” surgery in London yesterday to repair the knee ligament damage he suffered in the Merseyside derby and is likely to keep him out for the rest of the season, although Liverpool are refusing to put a timescale on his absence.
“This time [after surgery] is always unpleasant,” said Klopp. “He is as good as he can be. The surgery was successful which is very good, the best news we could get.”
Nobby Stiles gone. With his passing does the glory of England’s 1966 World Cup victory retreat further from view, ever more the museum piece. Only four of those who jigged along the touchline with Stiles remain; Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Geoff Hurst, Roger Hunt and George Cohen.
Hurst, still the only player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, was quick to pay tribute. “We were playing together way back for the U17s, U23s, and of course, for England. In fact, it was my first cap when Nobby scored. I think he was wearing No. 9! Great character, and the heart and soul of the team. He will be sorely missed.”
The goal was the only one scored by Stiles for England. His job was to keep it out of the net not fill it. He was only 24 when he took the field at Wembley, a toothless, balding figure who had made his England debut just the year before. Stiles was fast-tracked by Sir Alf Ramsey just as he had been by Sir Matt Busby at Manchester United, recognised for his selfless guile and enthusiasm for a tackle.
Stiles was a son of Collyhurst, the same Manchester barrio that produced Brian Kidd. His father was an undertaker, which provided a fund of stories on the after dinner circuit, a favourite being his birth in a cellar during an air raid and the day 17 years later his father took him to Old Trafford in a hearse to sign professional forms for United.
Typically self-deprecating Styles wrote in his autobiography that he had been born “a half-blind dwarf who was bombed by the Germans and run over by a trolley bus when he was one”. The story gained legitimacy a year into his United career when Busby, concerned at his erratic tackling, sent him for an eye test. A pair of contact lenses later, coupled with thick-rimmed spectacles for non-sporting use, Stiles’ career took off.
Busby converted him from full-back to midfield anchor with the instructions to feed the ball as efficiently as possible to the fabled trident Denis Law, Charlton and one George Best. You could not imagine a more inverse proposition to the latter than Stiles, who had none of Best’s flair, hair or flashing smile.
He would nevertheless become a folk hero for his role in helping England to World Cup victory against West Germany and two years later United to European Cup success against Benfica, a one-man Eusebio disposal unit on the same Wembley pitch along which he had danced with the Jules Rimet trophy.
Sir Alf Ramsey (left), Sir Bobby Moore (centre) and Nobby Stiles (right) with the Jules Rimet Trophy (Photo: Getty)
Stiles was an England player for only five seasons gaining just 28 caps. In 11 seasons at United he turned out 311 times. You might say his timing was perfect, finding himself the glue that bound the greatest England and United teams. Stiles left Old Trafford for Middlesboro in 1971, sparing himself the trauma of his beloved United’s relegation three years later.
Spells as the manager of Preston, Vancouver and West Brom proved unsuccessful, though he did return to United as a youth coach bringing his influence to bear on the Class of 92. The careers of David Beckham, Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers that he would set in train would be rewarded with the kind of cash that was unavailable to Stiles’ generation. Stiles would be forced to auction his World and European Cup medals to provide for his family.
In his later years Stiles was struck down by dementia, an episode which left his family bitter, believing that both United and the FA could and should have come to his aid financially. The relationship between former players and dementia is now the subject of some scrutiny following research that highlighted the dangers of heading the ball over long periods. A study by Glasgow University found players were five times more likely to suffer with Alzheimer’s, four times more susceptible to motor neurone disease and a two times more likely to get Parkinson’s.
Though Stiles ended his life as modestly as he began it, in a red-brick semi within shouting distance of Old Trafford, he leaves behind a legacy few could have imagined when bombs formed the soundtrack to his earthly debut.
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England World Cup hero Nobby Stiles has died at the age of 78 after a long illness.
The former Manchester United, Middlesbrough and Preston midfielder passed away on Friday.
Stiles won the World Cup with England in 1966 and was also part of the Manchester United side which became the first English club to win the European Cup two years later, when they beat Benfica in the final at Wembley.
He won a total of 28 caps for England – the fewest of any of the World Cup-winning side.
Stiles is best remembered for his performance in the semi-final against Portugal, nullifying the prolific Eusebio, and for the pictures of him dancing on the pitch with the World Cup.
Stiles, born in Collyhurst in 1942, started his career at United and made almost 400 appearances for the club over an 11-year period.
When he retired from playing he went on to manage Preston and West Brom, and enjoyed a three-year stint coaching the Vancouver Whitecaps. But he admitted that his time in charge of the Baggies had brought on a bout of depression and he walked away from top-level management.
Stiles went on to work as a youth team coach at United, where he helped bring through the so-called Class of ’92.
England fans do not have much major tournament success to cling on to but the triumph at the 1966 World Cup remains the centrepiece of national footballing pride.
But where are those heroes who won England’s only global football trophy more than 50 years ago?
Goalkeeper – Gordon Banks, Leicester City
Lauded as England’s greatest ever goalkeeper, Banks left Leicester City the year after winning the World Cup. He had been dropped for Peter Shilton and was told to move on. He joined Stoke despite interest from Bill Shankly’s Liverpool and ended up making 250 appearances and winning the 1972 League Cup.
Gordon Banks dives low to stop Pele’s header as the Brazil No 10 begins to celebrate, one of the greatest saves ever (Photo: Getty)
After retiring, he spent a brief period in coaching with Port Vale and then Telford United, but ended up walking away from the game in the 1980s. He did return to Stoke as president from 2000 until he died on 12 February 2019.
Defender – George Cohen, Fulham
In a side that lacked natural width in midfield, the likes of Cohen were crucial to manager Alf Ramsey. Sadly, injury forced Cohen, a one-club man for his whole career, into retirement just three years after topping the world with England. He spent some time in coaching with Fulham, England and in non-league, but is more often seen raising money for dementia causes, a disease that has affected so many of his teammates.
Defender – Bobby Moore, West Ham
World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore won the trophy in 1966 (Photo: Getty)
Moore went on to win a total of 108 England caps, a record for an outfield player that stood until 2009 when David Beckham surpassed it. The majority of his club career was spent at West Ham, where the No 6 shirt has now been retired in his honour, although he did spend three years at Fulham and some time playing in the USA. Like so many of the 66 heroes, management did not appear to be his calling with Oxford and Southend his only jobs in England. Moore died of cancer at the age of just 51 on 24 February 1993.
Defender – Jack Charlton, Leeds United
Unlike Moore, Charlton Sr did enjoy success as a manager after his playing career ended in 1973. After spells in charge of Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United, he went on to spend a decade with the Republic of Ireland, the highlights a 1-0 win over England at Euro 88 and a run to the World Cup quarter-finals two years later. A long-running personal feud with his brother and teammate Bobby is said to have driven the pair apart. Jack Charlton died on 10 July 2020.
Defender – Ray Wilson, Everton
Wilson had been part of the FA Cup-winning side in 1966 and was already a well-established international coming into the tournament. However, a series of injuries saw him released for free in 1969 and his career petered out at Oldham and then Bradford City. Wilson took an unusual path after retiring, running an undertakers in Huddersfield until retiring. He passed away on 15 May 2018 after suffering with Alzheimer’s for the last 14 years of his life.
Midfielder – Alan Ball, Blackpool
Still just 21 when he lifted the trophy, Ball was bought by Everton in the aftermath of the World Cup, winning the title there, and went on to Arsenal five years later. After spells at a number of other clubs, including Blackpool again, he worked as a manager for more than a decade with lengthy spells at Portsmouth, Exeter, Southampton and a season at Manchester City in the Premier League. He tragically died in 2007 at the age of 61 having suffered a heart attack while trying to put out a bonfire in his garden.
Midfielder – Nobby Stiles, Manchester United
Stiles is best remembered for his performance in the semi-final against Portugal, nullifying the prolific Eusebio, and for the pictures of him dancing on the pitch with the World Cup. (Referenced in the song “Three Lions” by the lyric “Bobby belting the ball, And Nobby dancing!”) He was part of United’s European Cup-winning side of 1968 and left the club in 1971 just five short of 400 appearances. He had a brief foray into management, but admitted that his time in charge of West Brom had brought on a bout of depression and he never took a top job again. Instead, he worked as a youth team coach at United, helping to produce the so-called Class of ’92. After suffering a stroke and prostate cancer, Stiles was later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He passed away on 30 October 2020.
Midfielder – Bobby Charlton, Manchester United
Bobby Charlton in action for Manchester United (Photo: Getty)
Charlton was already an England and Manchester United legend by the time he won the World Cup, and added another league title and the European Cup to his achievements after. He also won the Ballon d’Or in 66 and was runner up for the next two years. When he finally retired, he had scored 309 goals in 913 games as a professional. Charlton is still an influential figure at United, where there is a stand named after him, having sat on the board of directors since 1984.
Midfielder – Martin Peters, West Ham
Peter left fellow World Cup winners Hurst and Moore at West Ham in 1970 and moved to Tottenham, where he was part of the Uefa Cup winning side and twice won the League Cup. He ended his career as player-manager in the Third Division with Sheffield United in 1981. After retiring, he worked in insurance but remained involved upstairs at both Spurs and West Ham. Peters was another to suffer from Alzheimer’s in later life and he died at the age of 76 on 21 December 2019.
Striker – Geoff Hurst, West Ham
Fame and fortune beckoned for the man who had scored 40 in 59 leading up to the World Cup and then a hat-trick in the final but West Ham turned down a considerable offer from Matt Busby’s Manchester United. Instead he stayed at Upton Park, but did not add any further silverware before moving to Stoke in 1972. He eventually retired after a spell in the US in 1976 and, like so many of his teammates, made only a fleeting impact on the management side of the game, with Telford United and then Chelsea, instead opting to pursue a career in finance.
Striker – Roger Hunt, Liverpool
It seems a million miles away that Hunt started his career scoring 41 goals in the 61-62 season to help Liverpool out of the Second Division. He remained a prolific goalscorer in the top flight too, winning the title twice and the FA Cup. He was the club’s record goalscorer until Ian Rush bettered his 286-goal tally in 1992. A private man, Hunt now lives near Warrington with his wife Rowan.
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After two penalty misses this season the spotlight is on Jorginho’s technique as Chelsea boss Frank Lampard weighs up whether to take the Italian off spot-kick duties.
Jorginho’s record from the spot has taken a hit in recent weeks. Before this season, the midfielder – known for his hop, skip and jump run-up – had missed just one of 21 penalties for club and country taken in normal time – for Napoli in 2017. He scored the rebound.
For Chelsea he then saw a penalty saved by Ederson in the League Cup final shootout defeat to Manchester City in 2019, and in this current campaign, Jorginho has converted three but missed two, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker saving his spot-kick in the Premier League last month before he hit the post against Krasnodar in midweek.
“If you’re going to take penalties as regularly as he does – and I did – you’re going to miss some,” Lampard said after the Champions League win in Russia. “You might actually miss a couple because of the level of goalkeeper and the pressured situation.
“It was not normal that he had such a great record – it was unique and stood out. I’ve got no worries with his confidence and he shouldn’t have. I’m not concerned about that at all but I’ll speak to him about it myself.”
With Timo Werner also in the side, Lampard admitted he would talk with the pair regarding Chelsea’s first-choice penalty taker, and should the referee point to the spot at Burnley on the weekend or against Rennes next week, there will be a keen eye on which player steps up.
Jorginho’s hop, skip and a jump analysed
Ex-Aston Villa and Man Utd goalkeeper Mark Bosnich has one of the best penalty-save rates in Premier League history, and the Australian would back himself to save Jorginho’s penalties so long as he stayed still until the final moment.
“That’s a little bit of an evolution from what Dwight Yorke did, where he would run up at a medium pace and wait for the goalkeeper to go,” Bosnich tells i. “That jump, we’ve seen it with Jorginho and Fernandes, can limit your options as a penalty taker especially if the goalkeeper doesn’t move.
Jorginho penalties compared
Jorginho saw his 2019 League Cup final penalty saved in the shootout (Photos: Sky Sports)
City goalkeeper Ederson remained upright and ultimately saved the attempt when Jorginho was unable to place it beyond the goalkeeper’s reach.
Jorginho scored both of these penalties with the goalkeepers already leaning one way during his run-up (Photos: BT Sport (L), Chelsea FC (R))
Two examples, against Ajax and Brighton, highlight how Jorginho will go the other way when the goalkeeper leans the other way.
“With the jump, I would have fancied myself because I’d have thought whether he jumps or not, I’m just going to wait till that final moment. Once he jumps it’s hard when he lands to do any type of adjustment.
“You’ll find that if the goalkeeper doesn’t move, it limits the taker’s options where he’s going to hit it.”
Former Watford and Brentford shotstopper Richard Lee – who offers analysis regularly in his Goalkeepers’ Union podcast – believes the hop limits Jorginho, but said the overall technique of focusing on the goalkeeper instead of the ball is how penalties should be taken.
“I love the idea of the technique,” Lee tells i. “From a taker’s point of view, it’s the way penalties should be taken, where you can see the ball with your peripheral vision but you’re watching the keeper and looking for the slightest move.
Alisson also stayed up when saving Jorginho’s penalty last month (Photo: Chelsea FC)
“The bit I would say about Jorginho’s technique that for me is unnecessary is the hop. I get it, he wants to buy that extra second to wait for the movement, but if you look at his eyes, they go from the goalkeeper to the last second they have to go back on the ball because he is doing this elaborate thing. I think that’s very much for show.
“A referee can’t say he’s stuttered because he hasn’t, he’s still moving. But I think the fact he is having to go up in the air, if you consider the physics behind it, it makes no sense to be landing from a height to then hit a penalty.”
Does Jorginho need to alter his technique?
The fact Jorginho hit the post from the spot against Krasnodar highlights the fact he is attempting to be more precise with his penalties. Typically he would roll a spot-kick a few yards inside the post as the goalkeeper has gone already gone the other way.
Essentially, goalkeepers are learning not to move – like Alisson did in September – and they are forcing Jorginho to think harder about his placement.
“With someone like Jorginho my decision would be I can’t move, I literally have to stay dead still and try to react,” Lee said. “A ‘keeper will know with every Jorginho penalty to make the decision to not move and hope he hits it somewhere near them, or he hits the post like he did in the last game.
Timo Werner could assume penalty-taking duties for Chelsea (Photo: Getty)
“They’re figuring him out. It’s very easy, you imagine the smallest movement from a goalkeeper, which he can see, and he can literally put it a yard the other side. Once your weight as a goalkeeper is on one side, it’s physically impossible to transfer it back and get down to make the save.
“The goalkeeper moves, for him it’s so simple, he can pass it a yard, three yards inside the post and it’s still going to beat the goalkeeper. What’s made it tough now is the goalkeeper’s aren’t moving. He has got more pressure to hit the corner, knowing there’s a chance.
“He can’t roll it a yard to the side, because like Ederson did they will save it, so now he has to hit the corner. We saw that the other night, he’s trying to be so precise. You can see he has actually tried to hit the corner much more than he ever has done before, this will be because he’s missed one or two and suddenly the realisation he has got to hit the corner. That will obviously impact him.”
Bruno Fernandes – Same same but different?
At Manchester United, Bruno Fernandes has at times adopted a similar technique to Jorginho’s, but the Portugal international has varied his run-up to ensure the goalkeeper does not know what’s coming – an approach which worked against Brighton at the start of the season, but did not prevail against Newcastle.
“That’s where Fernandes is a grade above at the moment, although he’s not perfect,” Lee adds. “There’s a lot of psychology in taking and saving a penalty. You’ve got all these mind games going on.
Karl Darlow saved Bruno Fernandes’ penalty in October (Photo: Reuters)
“The fact Fernandes is so intelligent, he’s got that technique, but will also know if a goalkeeper who is also intelligent is also going to stand still. Knowing the goalkeeper is going to stand still you may as well rock up and smash it into the corner, because you’re going to score.
“It’s where the psychology and mind games come in. It’s a game of poker, I love seeing it.”
Bosnich and Lee’s favourite penalty takers
Bosnich on Dwight Yorke: “Yorkey for me was the best of his generation with Le Tissier. Shearer obviously. I’m maybe biased because he was my team-mate, but he was phenomenal. He’d do the Panenka if he had to, because he would back his reflexes against yours. It wouldn’t matter because he was watching you. He wouldn’t put his head down, he’d watch you. If you moved, he’d go the other side. If you didn’t move, he’d put it into the corner. That’s almost impossible to save if it goes in the corner.”
Lee on Heidar Helguson: “He would roll it. It was painful, so slow in the other corner. The moment your weight as a goalkeeper even slightly goes one way, I don’t know how he saw it a lot of the time. Even sometimes when I’m thinking I’m completely still, he saw something.
“He said to me, if a goalkeeper doesn’t move at all, then nine or 10 times out of 10, they’ll wrap their foot around it and pull it across themselves. If you consider a taker having to open up at the last minute, that’s harder than whipping it into the corner.
“So if the goalkeeper doesn’t move, ordinarily the taker will whip it across because they can get more pace and be a bit more accurate. So a right-footer will go to the goalkeeper’s right. So that was interesting for me.”
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Show HN: Inspired by the 'memex' I created Kokoro for building your second mind
2 by etanaka | 0 comments on Hacker News. Hi HN, I have been working on a new tool that was inspired by Vannevar Bush's memex and Luhmann's Zettelkasten. Having been a long time user of different tools, I got to the point where I decided to build my own. For the longest time I have been looking for something that puts association first, works as fast as the mind, and allows you to stay in flow state. Making building a second mind, playful and rewarding. If anyone is interested, I have added the link below. At this point I am slowly letting on the first users, and hoping to gather as much feedback as possible. The explore link on the homepage leads you to a live demo you can play with. https://kokoro.app
Launch HN: Deepnote (YC S19) – A better data science notebook
42 by Equiet | 6 comments on Hacker News. Hello HN, I'm Jakub and I'm the founder of Deepnote ( https://deepnote.com/ ). We're building a better data science notebook. As an engineer, I spent most of my time working on developer tools, building IDEs, and studying human-computer interaction. I helped build a couple of startups, I built tools for JavaScript development, and worked on Firefox DevTools. But once I started to work with data scientists, all those code editors and IDEs that I knew as a software engineer suddenly stopped being the right tool for the job. Notebooks were. Notebooks as we know them today have many pain points (versioning, reproducibility, collaboration). They don't work well with other tools. They don't exactly encourage best practices. But none of these are fundamental flaws of the notebook paradigm. They are signs of a new computational medium. Much like spreadsheets in the 1980s. Two years ago, my co-founders and I started to think about a better data science notebook. Deepnote is built on top of the Jupyter ecosystem. We are using the same format, and we intend to remain fully compatible in both directions. But to solve the above problems, we've introduced significant changes. First, we made collaboration a first-class citizen. To allow for this, Deepnote runs in the cloud by default. Every Deepnote notebook is easily shareable (like Google Docs) and easy to understand even by non-technical users. Second, we completely redesigned the interface to encourage best practices, write clean code, define dependencies, and create reproducible notebooks. We also built a really good autocomplete system, and added a variable explorer. Third, we made Deepnote easy to integrate with other services. We didn't want to build another data science platform where people work with an iframed notebook. We want to build an amazing notebook that plays well with other services, databases, ML platforms, and the Jupyter ecosystem. Check out a 2-min demo here: https://ift.tt/3oJrCKc Building a new computational medium is hard. It takes time. Today, we're launching a public beta of Deepnote. Not everything works yet. Some pieces are missing. But we also have a lot in store, including versioning, code reviews, visualizations. We still have a lot to learn too, so I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback.
If there is much more of this, the anguish over Marcus Rashford’s suitability for inclusion on the Spoty shortlist will be no more.
During his Champions League cameo, he showed himself as adept on the pitch as he is in the political arena, the RB Leipzig defence going the way of the British Government against the unanswerable cogency of his attacks.
There are some Manchester United moaners yet to be convinced by Rashford, who believe him over-rated and symbolic of a team that blows hot and cold. Chatrooms ache with laments about his failure to kick on. Before the hat-trick there had been glimpses this season, the fine goal at Brighton, the embroidery at Newcastle, the winner in Paris, but outside of that too many duds.
It might be argued that Rashford’s better performances come with England, where the personal loading is not so great and responsibility is shared among Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Jadon Sancho. At United, Rashford ran himself into a stress fracture of the back in the service of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who, in the pre-Bruno Fernandes period, could not rely on Anthony Martial, Paul Pogba, Juan Mata or Dan James to deliver an edge.
Rashford slots one of his three goals against RB Leipzig past Peter Gulacsi (Photo: Reuters)
Post-lockdown, Rashford found himself campaigning on two fronts, sporting and political. This would be a risk for the most established athlete. Though Rashford seems to have been with us an age already, he turns just 23 on Saturday. The bar was set high with those goals on debut against Midtjylland in 2016, repeated days later against Arsenal. There was little scope for backward steps.
Rashford began his charitable drive last year, providing essential items to the homeless at Christmas. He extended that in the early days of lockdown to the provision of food for kids no longer receiving meals at school. And in June the game-changing open letter shaming the Government into a policy U-turn to supply school meals during the holidays.
This moved Rashford from sports bulletins to the main news. Not only had he become a national figure in a radical new context, he was transformed into a folk hero, a symbol of good. Simultaneously the football season was about to resume, and Rashford, recovered from injury, was asked to play his way into form while at the same time holding the Government to account more successfully than Her Majesty’s opposition.
Though United dragged themselves into third place in the Premier League they ran out of gas in the Europa League. When United began this campaign after a short intermission Rashford struggled to find a rhythm. The brilliance of his social media strikes against the state contrasted with his faltering form, making him an easy target for hardliners too ready to believe his priorities were elsewhere.
This week Thierry Henry, manager of Montreal Impact in MLS, was mic’d up for 1-0 home defeat against Nashville SC. It was the Impact’s fourth defeat in five league matches.
The video was illuminating. Henry can be heard questioning his players for taking extra touches, making illogical runs and blaming teammates for their passes when they had not moved into space. At one point Henry repeats the sequence “one, two” like a maths robot that needs rewiring. As the final whistle blows, he puts his head into his hands and marches down the touchline.
The overwhelming sense is of Henry’s disbelief that his players lack the natural instincts that his own greatness as a player was founded upon. How do they not get this? How are they not pre-programmed to do this better? Why are they not listening?
That frames being an exceptional player as a barrier to being an exceptional manager. What made them supreme players, putting them on a higher plane than their peers, is useless when they need to teach it. Their brilliance hangs like a weight around the neck of their ability to communicate. “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe,” as Carl Sagan once said. You can do it with shop-bought pastry and a few apples, Carl.
It reminds of a wonderful anecdote about Glenn Hoddle’s tenure as Tottenham manager. One day in training he took the ball off Jamie Redknapp as he was practicing free-kicks and promptly curled the ball into the top corner, first with his right foot and then his left. “I was just thinking, that’s not the best way to get the players on board,” recalled Stephen Kelly. “You could see that there was a sense of unrest among some of the senior players. They didn’t like it and weren’t encouraged by it. They felt he was undermining them.”
You cannot bestow ability onto players. The key lies in the communication of your principles. When working as a translator for Bobby Robson at Barcelona, players noted – and were impressed by – the way Jose Mourinho translated Robson’s chalk drawings and passed them onto the squad with supplementary information that crystallised the manager’s plans. Mourinho had no playing history. That wasn’t important.
The last two winners of the Champions League – Jurgen Klopp and Hansi Flick – had middling playing careers. Last season’s four semi-finalists failed to win an international cap between them as players. Successful managers without stellar playing careers are nothing new (think of Arrigo Sacchi, Arsene Wenger, Gerard Houllier and Carlos Alberto Parreira). But we have entered a new egalitarian age of football management where success as a player is neither a barrier nor an indicator of success as a coach.
It is aided by the rapid increase in available information. There remains a benefit to the ‘been there, done that’ principle of management by inspiration that non-elite players miss out on, but the rise in sports science and analytics provide advantages that are not solely enjoyed by the old boys network of former players. In fact, there’s a theory that successful ex-players are likely to over-exaggerate the benefits of their playing experience at the expense of more scientific aspects of the art.
Reputation over experience
Jurgen Klopp’s success is a reminder that genius managers often have middling playing careers (Photo: PA)
English football remains the exception. Frank Lampard this week bemoaned the perceived treatment he receives for being English. But Lampard was surely missing the point. He is doubted not due to his nationality, but because he was over-promoted by any reasonable measure because of who he was as a player rather than what he had proven as a manager. One season at Derby County does not get you a Big Six club with title aspirations. Nor does a relegation with Cardiff City and success at Molde in Europe’s 22nd-ranked league. Again, this not does render Lampard and Solskjaer as certain failures. But nor does it persuade that they are the best men for their jobs.
Lampard and Solskjaer were appointed to two of the richest clubs in the world because English football remains hypnotised by the intangible draw of reputation. It would be foolish to expect them to have turned down such glorious opportunity – that isn’t the point. But both lack the experience of those around them. Jose Mourinho worked as a translator, opposition scout and assistant coach. Jurgen Klopp earned experience with Frankfurt D-Juniors and during seven years at 1. FSV Mainz 05. Ralph Hasenhuttl honed his tactical philosophy at SpVgg Unterhaching and VfR Aalen. Marcelo Bielsa managed the youth teams at Newell’s and embarked on an educational tour of South America and Europe.
These managers also started young. Julian Nagelsmann took his first job at 29. Brendan Rodgers effectively retired from playing at 20. Bielsa was a youth coach at 25. Klopp took charge of 1. FSV Mainz 05 at 33. The benefits of a long, stellar playing career provoke a clear temporal disadvantage: Lampard began his coaching career at 40. The one benefit that being a player certainly does afford is opportunity.
Perhaps things are slowly changing. Ross Embleton was named Leyton Orient manager having earned his corn as a youth coach at Tottenham, Bournemouth and Norwich. Ben Garner was mentored by Jose Mourinho through his UEFA ‘A’ licence and is now Bristol Rovers manager. Mark Bonner is the second youngest manager in the country and was promoted through Cambridge United’s academy set-up before being made permanent manager last March. But all were internal appointments and all face a fight for relevance to prove they can succeed elsewhere.
At the top of English football, reputation still counts for far more than experience. To play at the highest level is to receive a VIP pass to a job interview and an advantage when you get there, for better and for worse. Frank Lampard is right; he is treated differently. Just not how he might care to think.
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