Last night I spent the evening in the company of a number of old friends who constitute football journalists and football-educated “civvies” and, as one would expect three days before the start of the season, the conversation was predictable. We gather about the same time every year to thrash out our hopes, dreams and, more [...]
Chelsea are just a few games from an historic double for the club, but the concensus of opinion is that they are a poor winner of a broken league weakened by the financial crisis of the last few years. What does this mean for the near future of English football. Is it heading backwards?
We are now creeping towards the 100-day marker for the world cup in South Africa in the summer, which is starting to have an intriguing side-effect on the Premier League. It is a very difficult thing to spot, but any team with a number of World Cup-bound players in it, is going to suffer a little as those players begin to get the injury-sweats. To pick up an injury at this stage – with only a couple of weeks before national managers make provisional decisions about their final squad – would be absolutely calamitous, and the players are more than aware of it.
The season is just moments away and the inevitable has happened – favourites Leeds are down a player. And not just any player either… whereas the fans of the League One club would have sighed and accepted the disappearance of a potentially temperamental Jermaine Beckford or the ageing Luciano Becchio with a whistful shrug, the [...]
As is always the case in the Championship, much of the significant transfer moves revolve around the clubs relegated from the Premiership. There could be quite a battle at the bottom, although it is difficult to see Blackpool remaining a Championship club, despite the tenacious spirit of new boss Ian Holloway….
Man Utd won the Premier League in 2008/9, but will they be as strong this year after the loss of Ronaldo in the summer. What effect will Man City’s newfound riches have on the shape of football at the summit in England. Who will struggle at the bottom this year as the billions dry up and will there be a genuine battle for the top four place at the European table this year?
