twofootedtackle

Prediction League: Week 11 - Predictions

Friday, 30 October 2009

Arsenal vs. Tottenham
Chris: Draw
Ian: Draw
Gary: Arsenal

Bolton vs. Chelsea
Chris: Chelsea
Ian: Chelsea
Gary: Chelsea

Burnley vs. Hull
Chris: Burnley
Ian: Burnley
Gary: Burnley

Everton vs. Aston Villa
Chris: Everton
Ian: Aston Villa
Gary: Aston Villa

Fulham vs. Liverpool
Chris: Draw
Ian: Liverpool
Gary: Draw

Manchester United vs. Blackburn
Chris: Man United
Ian: Man United
Gary: Man United

Portsmouth vs. Wigan
Chris: Portsmouth
Ian: Wigan
Gary: Wigan

Stoke vs. Wolves
Chris: Stoke
Ian: Stoke
Gary: Draw

Sunderland vs. West Ham
Chris: Sunderland
Ian: Sunderland
Gary: Draw

Birmingham vs. Manchester City
Chris: Man City
Ian: Man City
Gary: Man City

Thursday, 29 October 2009

Social media is increasingly important to brands and businesses and football clubs should be no exception. Most clubs want a closer relationship with their fans, be it through a genuine desire for feedback or as an image-building tactic, but few have demonstrated the technical ability to do so in a properly integrated way.

Football clubs have excellent public relations and marketing people who know what they want to achieve from supporter engagement, but they don't necessarily know how to go about it online.

It's not all bad news. Most other brands, even those with a high level of "fan" engagement, would kill for the opportunities open to football clubs. Football's tribalism, tradition and inherent loyalty lends it superbly to all aspects of PR, not least social media strategy. Fans want to be engaged. Every football supporter is a potential evangelist, and a club which embraces a new approach to sharing content can foster a mutually beneficial friendship without being exploitative.

Aston Villa director General Charles Krulak keeps an eye on some social media on behalf of the club, and recognises the importance of listening: "It is important to listen to the fans because they are the life blood of any club. They provide the club with real-time feedback on a wide variety of issues - issues that have a financial, motivational, and reputational impact on the club. Listening is learning and learning is good."

It's just a case of clubs being willing to get their feet wet, to get stuck in to social media. Social media is a vast arena and we can't possibly get close to covering it all here. There are ways of dealing with hot tools like Twitter and established players like Facebook, but the blogosphere should be football's focus.

The game has a vibrant blog scene which ranges from superblogs like The Offside - where each club has an individual blogger - to one-off fan blogs which simply chart a club's progress. Both can be worrying and often critical, but the very fact that these supporters are dedicating so much time to their blogs shows that they care. That's a wonderful opportunity, not something to fear.

A football club can take some simple steps to engage appropriately with its fan bloggers. A good first move is to identify the most important bloggers. These are your opinion formers and there are many ways to work out who they are.

Of course, the best way to confirm the established and influential bloggers attaching themselves to your club is to simply to start reading. "There’s a number of different things I do to track down useful blogs," says Gary Andrews, a web publicist at ITV.com. "It starts off with blogs that I personally read on a daily basis. They’re the easiest places to start because I’m familiar with the content. From there, I’ll often follow links to other football bloggers they regularly link to or have on their blogroll."

When you have identified your key bloggers, it's vital not to weigh in straight away. Bloggers are notoriously sensitive to "bad PR" and are liable to expose any poor practice. The first move should always be to read the blogs over a period of time to build up an idea of what the bloggers post about, what their pet topics are, what kind of pick-up they achieve and whether they are naturally club-friendly. Share some interesting, provocative or revealing posts around within the club. Show some poor posts too. Give that a few weeks, and then it's time to get your hands dirty.

The process of engagement is where football clubs really have a chance to shine. Commenting on blogs is useful, but should be done transparently (disclose your full name and that you work for the club) and either answer the topic or add value. That said, there's nothing wrong with just getting involved in a friendly conversation, as you'd be surprised at how far you can get just by making it clear that you're listening.

Invite your top five or ten bloggers to have a tour of the stadium next time you have some news. The invite, the day, a beer and the fact that they are already committed supporters could make the event hugely positive. Being able to talk to them about the specifics of their blogs and posts brings even more goodwill.

Bloggers love interviews with big names not only because it shows that they matter, but because it brings in traffic. It's a good idea to provide interviewees for your identified bloggers and it can also work wonders for the club's image online. People like to know that the fans are cared about.

The next step is to use your commenting on identified blogs to subtly drive conversation onto your own web space. Football clubs in general blog badly, and this is an area where cost-effective fixes can be applied to achieve your online PR goals and improve the club's search engine optimisation.

So many clubs have tipped a hat in blogging's direction, which is a positive sign. But the articles they put in place are problematic for three reasons.

Firstly, they're not written by the named author. It seems obvious that a blog by a player will bring in traffic, but in reality these blogs are worthless if they're written by the media team. The strength of blogs is their down-to-earth authenticity. Thankfully, they actually don't need to be written by high-profile people. It's better to have a blog genuinely written by a named in-house publicist than to pretend it's written by a player. They're more likely to post, for one thing.

Secondly, they're not really blogs. The definition of blogs is a little vague but as a rule putting "Blog:" in front of a news article's title does not make it so, and that's a real missed chance. Have a read of other blogs for an idea of how they should look and feel.

Finally, the blogs should be hosted off-site, on a specialised blogging platform like Blogger, Typepad or Wordpress. These can be fully customised, and offer so much more than a blog hosted within the official website. It gives you an opportunity to own more of your club's first Google results page - two results are better than one - because it acts as a second site which can be optimised for search.

Off-site hosting also allows clubs to use a little trickery during times of crisis. You can blog a statement and respond to external blog posts to link back to the official statement. By doing this you subtly direct the conversation to your own territory. You're back in control.

This brief look at blogging has merely scratched the surface of the blogosphere, and touched upon an even smaller proportion of the social media available. The themes which run through all of them are openness, transparency, immediacy and sharing. Keep those in mind and you can't go far wrong, but for the first ambitious club that really takes the plunge and releases control to take control there are great gains to be made.

The balls are in the pot for the Carling Cup quarter-final draw. Well, seven are in the pot - Manchester United's is still in the microwave. United are joined by Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers, Portsmouth and Tottenham Hotspur, about as strong a line-up as was possible given difficult fourth round encounters faced by Liverpool, Sunderland and Everton.

The League Cup, as I've written here before and for another website (it never saw the light of day - thanks), is a competition which deserves more respect and to be treated far more seriously. A glance at the teams through to Saturday's draw suggests that the so-called big clubs are in it to win it this year.

So is this a revival of the League Cup, a sign of something more worrying or simply a timely fluke of fortunes?

The teams so irritatingly referred to as the Big Four - yes, by me too - do prepare for Carling Cup matches with the intention of winning. Even Liverpool. To a certain extent their team selections are not as weak as they were for this tournament in previous years. I wonder, though, what that actually says about the bigger picture. Are the top clubs eager for a trip to Wembley or is it simply the case that their second strings are now so formidable that they can beat a pain-free path through this competition?

The answer of course is that United, Arsenal and Chelsea have such quality in depth that their reserves could arguably be competitive in their own right. There is undoubtedly an element of randomness too, given the fact that they were all at home in the previous round. It's just the luck of the draw, at least for the two London clubs.

But there is encouragement to be drawn from the second tier clubs and their attitude toward this season's Carling Cup. Manchester City, Spurs and Villa all beat excellent Premier League opponents in the last round and all did so with only slightly weakened teams. Taking Villa as the example, only three changes were made as Martin O'Neill brought in former West Ham captain Nigel Reo-Coker, England forward Emile Heskey and an American international goalkeeper who proceeded to save one penalty in normal time and three in a shoot-out.

These clubs are, for the time being, out of the Champions League picture and forced to aim for the Europa League on a European level. O'Neill has routinely fielded under-strength sides for Villa's recent European play and it does make you wonder why these teams aim for sixth at all.

And while a European spot is up for grabs at the end of the Carling Cup campain, there's something more important at stake, something forgotten all too often in football: silverware.

It is a damning indictment on a sport when an arbitrary league position (fourth, sixth) is an acceptable target and achievement. In an ideal world, target number one should be the title, number two the FA Cup and number three the League Cup. Domestically, everything else will work itself out over a season. But an afternoon at Wembley and a cup final win should mean more than sixth.

As a Villa fan who's now seen his club finish sixth for two consecutive seasons only to turn its nose up at Europe, I say this: thanks for two impressive league campaigns, Martin, but sixth means nothing to me now. I would take a League Cup win over that without a second thought. I think other supporters are beginning to think the same way which can only be good for the prestige of the tournament.

Intentional or not, the presence of the Champions League clubs on the latter stages can only further that effect. Long live the League Cup!

(Pic via Guardian.co.uk)

Wednesday, 28 October 2009

Despite some *massive* technical problems the twofootedtackle Podcast is alive and kicking. Gary Andrews is back from Croatia and we're joined by Manchester City supporter and Guardian scribe Will Dean to talk footy (the round ball kind).

On the agenda this week: the Champions League, the FA Cup first round draw, Atletico Madrid's managerial insanity, the Premier League, Major League Soccer and Manchester City.

Episode 24 of the twofootedtackle Podcast is now available via iTunes, this link and the media player at CSRN.

Please leave your comments below. Have a week!

Tuesday, 27 October 2009

ITV has announced its FA Cup first round schedule, and in doing so has added a third match to the line-up for the first and second rounds. Take that, Setanta!

Two matches in the first round and two in the second will be shown live on ITV1 (or live and exclusive on ITV, as the channel used to say relentlessly during World Cups), with the third being shown on a shiny new medium called teh internetz - at TheFA.com, to be precise. And it's free, bargain fans.

As I've stated many times, I like what ITV has done with the early parts of the FA Cup since it took over broadcast rights. Stepping into a Setanta-shaped gap only reinforces that.

But most importantly, the games shown in the third round will be (drum roll):

Paulton Rovers v Norwich City, 7th November @ 12.45pm, ITV1
Oldham Athletic v Leeds United, 7th November @ 5.15pm, TheFA.com
Northwich Victoria v Charlton Athletic, 8th November @ 1.30pm, ITV1

Looking forward to it - let's hope Tooting & Mitcham United beat Eastbourne tonight and join them.

Another lacklustre week in the Prediction League, as a few of our predictions go against us once again. But, I suppose that's all part of the fun and games. This week we earned a combined total of eight points. Derren Brown eat your heart out. Here how's it panned out:

Wolves 1-1 Aston Villa
Can't say I saw Wolves getting a draw against Aston Villa, but the Villa supporter among us did. Congrats to Mr. twofootedtackle.

Birmingham 2-1 Sunderland
I think it's a pity Sunderland didn't follow up last weekend's victory against Liverpool with a win over Birmingham, a former club of Steve Bruce's. None of us saw this one coming.

Burnley 1-3 Wigan
Burnley's 100% home record is over, as Wigan secured another comfortable victory this season. Sadly, none of us tipped them to win.

Chelsea 5-0 Blackburn
Not a fair reflection of the actual game, only for Paul Robinson Blackburn would have lost by more, points across the board for us.

Hull 0-0 Portsmouth
A relegation six-pointer ending in the only way possible, a draw, not a surprise by any means as both sides are as bad as each other. I managed to get a point in this one.

Tottenham 0-1 Stoke
Great win for Tony Pulis' men, keeping up their winning ways in the league. Not a result we saw coming though.

Bolton 3-2 Everton
Vital win for Bolton, Everton unable to bounce back from their 5-0 defeat mid-week against Benfica. Both I and Gary predicted this.

Liverpool 2-0 Manchester United
None of us saw this coming, perhaps because Liverpool had lost four games in a row before this game.

Manchester City 2-2 Fulham
Manchester City threw away a 2-0 lead against Fulham to draw their third game in a row, we all thought City would win this one, sadly not.

West Ham 2-2 Arsenal
Arsenal also throwing away a 2-0 lead to draw with London rivals West Ham, bit of a shock I think. Not for Chris though, who predicted this one.

Still no change in the league table as Chris remains top, now on 52 points, I am still in second on 47 points, while last but by no means least is Gary on 44 points.

As always I will be back on either Friday/Saturday as we continue with the twofootedtackle Prediction League as we hit Week 11.

There is a man out there somewhere in football land who supports overlord Richard Scudamore's evil plot to take Premier League matches abroad. "The NFL does it," he argues. And he's right, the National Football League does do it, or at least something in the same...ahem...ballpark.

Game 39 is an idea so akin to destroying football that even Reading, the club which plays its football matches in front of fans more suited to ice hockey, had two men riled enough to walk a Football Supporters Federation banner along their row at the Madejski. It's somewhat quieter these days, but the idea is most certainly not dead yet.

The Premier League will not give up just because every right-thinking fan would turn his back on the top flight. Some godforsaken approximation of the scheme will emerge in due course.

I am a hypocrite. On Sunday, I went to Wembley to attend my third consecutive NFL International Series game. I love American football and I'd never pass up the opportunity to see a game live. I have been a suffering New York Jets supporter for many years and I played the game over football during countless school lunch hours. By attending these games, I suppose I endorse the NFL's decision to take regular season games abroad. But if the Premier League ever followed suit, you'd soon find an Isthmian League season ticket in my pocket.

The use of the International Series to justify Game 39 and its future variations is wholly and fundamentally flawed, but there are some interesting truths too. Here's what football should learn from the NFL's Wembley vacation:

Overseas games will only work for unique leagues. The NFL is the only meaningful gridiron league in the world. It is beyond a world leader, it's the sole owner of the entire American football market. The Premier League does not enjoy such a position. It would be stepping into competing markets and, despite potentially huge supporter demand, would face opposition from many of the local governing bodies
The Premier League couldn't just put any old game into a foreign city and expect everyone to be thrilled. Foreign football markets are sophisticated and they won't want to watch low-quality games after year one. The atmosphere on Sunday was very poor because the fans are not stupid - they knew it was going to be a very predictable, very one-sided game. This is because New England Patriots are good, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are crap
The game did have a huge amount of attraction because of New England's popularity in the UK and the excitement at watching Pats quarterback Tom Brady in the flesh. However, this was a Buccs home game with all the bells and whistles and cutlasses that go with that. There aren't so many Buccs fans in the UK, and the game was a little flat as a result. So unless Game 39 is always a Manchester United home game, it doesn't work - but then we knew that already
NFL International Series does not add a game to a symmetrical league format (or a growth, as I call it). For better or worse the London games are taken from the home schedule of one of the teams and fit the NFL's 32-team league system. "Game 39" would more likely be the same in reality, except with more opposition from the supporters. American football still has a world to conquer, football does not
However, people will pay ridiculous amounts of money for merchandise. I thought about buying a Jets baseball hat to counteract my windswept look on Sunday, until I discovered that it would set me back a cool £25. Many people weren't so reluctant, and that goes for larger items too. I've theorised elsewhere that a certain type of overseas football "fan" can be defined by Justin.tv and his obsessive desire to have the latest home shirt. He'll spend to get them, and that could only benefit the Premier League's money men - and let's face it, that's who this is all about

In conclusion, I still hate the Premier League. What do you think?

(Pic via Londonist)

Saturday, 24 October 2009

It's back to business once again for the Prediction League, hard to believe ten weeks have gone already, but things are now really starting to take shape as the league hots up.

PREDICTIONS

Wolves vs. Aston Villa
Chris: Draw
Ian: Villa
Gary: Villa

Birmingham vs. Sunderland
Chris: Draw
Ian: Sunderland
Gary: Sunderland

Burnley vs. Wigan
Chris: Draw
Ian: Burnley
Gary: Draw

Chelsea vs. Blackburn
Chris: Chelsea
Ian: Chelsea
Gary: Chelsea

Hull vs. Portsmouth
Chris: Portsmouth
Ian: Draw
Gary: Hull

Tottenham vs. Stoke
Chris: Tottenham
Ian: Tottenham
Gary: Draw

Bolton vs. Everton
Chris: Draw
Ian: Bolton
Gary: Bolton

Liverpool vs. Man United
Chris: Man United
Ian: Man United
Gary: Man United

Man City vs. Fulham
Chris: Man City
Ian: Man City
Gary: Man City

West Ham vs. Arsenal
Chris: Draw
Ian: Arsenal
Gary: Arsenal

As always, I'll be back once again on Tuesday for a round-up of the results and league table.

Friday, 23 October 2009

Liverpool supporters can blame the club's American owners all they like but the man responsible for the awful start to the season is Rafael Benitez.

It is becoming a habit on Merseyside to excuse poor results on the grounds of an "injury crisis". But the crisis is triggered by injuries to just two players: Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres.

And when one looks at the squad without its two best players and compares it to others in the same hypothetical situation, it looks distinctly average. That's down to Benitez.

Take two world class players out of any team and it will be severely weakened. But Liverpool's strength compares unfavourably with Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.

United are top of the league despite losing the services of Cristiano Ronaldo and, while Wayne Rooney is sorely missed when injured, Alex Ferguson's team can absorb injuries in a way Liverpool cannot. In midfield, United's options are worthy of envy. Paul Scholes, Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick and Anderson are all excellent in a position in which Liverpool rely entirely on Gerrard.

Chelsea have Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba up front - already more quality strikers than Liverpool - and Saloman Kalou and Daniel Sturridge leading those in reserve. The midfield is remarkably deep.

Arsenal are less impressive in depth terms, but if one took out the two best players the team would be better than Liverpool's equivalent. In short, Liverpool's hopes hang on two men. Without them, the best player is Glen Johnson. Arsenal have more top-class depth.

Worryingly for Liverpool, the same is true further down. Remove Gerrard and Torres and Liverpool begin to look ordinary even in comparison with Manchester City, Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland. It's a squad littered with expensive, average players.

There is only one man culpable for that situation and that is Benitez, who famously forced Rick Parry out of the club in a bitter power struggle which centred on transfer policy. It doesn't take a genius to sign Torres - he was already established and well-disposed to a move to a Premier League club with a large Spanish community.

And with the exception of the over-priced but talented Johnson, he has wasted a huge amount of money. Dirk Kuyt was a good buy but he's a rose in a crown of thorns consisting of Andriy Voronin, Ryan Babel and whining Brazilian midfielder Lucas.

Xabi Alonso was treated shabbily last summer as Benitez attempted to tap up Gareth Barry, and forced a move to Real Madrid. He's been a huge loss, and Alberto Aquilani will be no replacement.

These are errors of judgement and poor uses of resources by a man who also appears weak under pressure from other managers and is increasingly disliked by other supporters because of his snide demeanour.

Liverpool's supporters are right to ask questions and be angry about the club's inner workings. But the quality of the team should be of more concern, and will continue to be exposed when the only top-level pair are absent.

Thursday, 22 October 2009

Do you want to hear an interesting titbit? Today is the 21^st anniversary of my very first football game. It was at Villa Park (standard!) and we beat Everton 2-0, with goals from Tony Daley and David Platt. I'M OLD!

Speaking of the Villa, we had a great result last week and Sunderland also managed to beat another member of the 'Sky four'. I was quite confident we could get a result as, last season aside, we have a good record against Chelsea in recent years. I'd have actually bet on us had I known that we were somewhere in the region of 3/1 for the win, which is ridiculous when you think about it.

I would have DEFINITELY bet on Sunderland had I known that Gerrard and Torres were both out. I really should pay attention to things! That would have made a nice double with the Villa, but a double with the first goal scorer of 'Beach Ball' would have been even nicer! It was very strange wasn't it? I agree with the players, managers and pundits alike who said that they weren't sure about the rule. I also assumed that the game just continued. So yeah, Liverpool were unlucky but for one thing, it was their own fan that knocked the ball onto the pitch (how stupid can you get? Seriously?) and also, well, it's Liverpool so it's funny!

Liverpool without Gerrard and Torres are pretty poor, especially now that Alonso has moved on to pastures new. I'm not saying that everyone else in the team is rubbish, but they are essentially a mid-table team without them two players. Put it this way, take them out and compare their XI to Villa, Man City, Spurs and Everton... What Gerrard and Torres are, of course, are two of the very top players in the world that would get into any - and I mean any - team in the world. But after that, player for player, the squads of the other three quarters of the 'Sky four' are definitely better on a player-for-player basis.

So our friendly neighbours have announced that they will be spending between £20m and £40m in January and/or the summer. Erm... Rule number 1; NEVER reveal your transfer budget! Thank you, yet again, Birmingham 'gunna be bigga dan da Villa' City for providing me with a good chuckle.

What was going on with the goalkeepers in the Real Madrid vs. Ajax game? A quick point though on the first Milan goal. The commentators described it as both a 'wonder goal' AND 'a mistake by the keeper'. Sorry, it doesn't work that way, it can't be both! A mistake can lead to a wonder goal (see Patrick Viera pass/Ryan Giggs run/FA Cup semi-final/Villa Park for the perfect example) but a long range shot is either unstoppable or a keeper mistake. Jesus, how much do these people get paid?! But anyway, the game was a weird one, better in the second half, but weird overall. Over the course of the two games I watched (that and ManUre in Moscow) I was a little disappointed but there were still some great moments of quality, along with some comically bad errors!

Well that is me done for another week. I am off to contemplate my age...

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

Recent events in the Fratton Park boardroom have again raised concerns about the motives and viability of a number of people coming into the game.

They are now subject to a "fit and proper persons test", designed to prevent predatory behaviour such as asset-stripping and stop the kind of Walter Mitty character which can be so damaging to clubs talking their way into the boardrooms.

But the test itself is becoming the subject of discussion and criticism, its detractors arguing that it is ineffective and toothless, offering inadequate protection to Premier League and Football League clubs.

The two bodies have separate but similar tests. The most important difference is that the Premier League test is applied before a new owner or director takes up his post while its Football League counterpart does not come into play until a takeover has been rubberstamped.

The Premier League also shows more willingness to act against those deemed improper, though the Football League is set to take a stricter pre-takeover approach to the test.

It was introduced by the FL in the summer of 2004 and has three main rules of prohibition: incoming owners or directors with two football insolvencies under their belts, unspent criminal convictions for fraud or theft, or bans from other sports are deemed improper.

Though slightly different from one another, the Premier League and Football League tests share the same weaknesses.

The largest problem is the lack of moral accountability for incoming owners or directors. Restrictions are applied based on established financial concerns or legal convictions. Football should be stronger than that; it shouldn't be easy to own a football club.

What should be remembered in all this is that clubs are important local institutions and are kept alive by the emotional and financial dedication of their supporters. They are not simply "businesses". With that in mind, the authorities should exercise their right to refuse league participation to clubs with unsavoury owners or directors. Suspicion or accusations should be enough. Accused human rights criminals, for example, should be blocked from owning clubs.

One of three cases brought before the Football League this month highlighted this paucity of moral bite. Queens Park Rangers director Flavio Briatore may now be in breach of the fit and proper rules after being banned from Formula 1. As Renault's team principal, Briatore sought to gain an advantage for one of his drivers by instructing the other, Nelson Piquet Jr, to crash his car.

The wording of the banning statement is sufficiently vague as to prevent his ban from football being an open and shut case. But the very suspicion should be enough for the Football League to eject him. Briatore can own or be a director of any business he chooses. The League is not obliged to allow that business to participate in its competition. However, the resulting legal battle would be fascinating.

The second major problem is the test's apparent inability to challenge owner anonymity, something the Premier League's test now addresses. Again, these are football clubs reliant on supporters' money. They have a right to know who owns the club that means so much to them - I'm sure Notts County fans, those affected by another of the League's most recent hearings, would agree. The County case, like QPR and Leeds United's, was adjourned.

Portsmouth's plight over the last few years shows just how flawed the fit and proper persons test can be. The takeover by Sacha Gaydamak was briefly controversial when it was suggested he didn't have the kind of money purported to be involved.

That, in itself, should have been enough to warrant further and granular investigation. To then add in the possibility that the ownership actually lay with Gaydamak's father, a man allegedly of very seriously questionable character, is a concern. I'm not sure we'll ever really know who owned Portsmouth during that spell.

The case of Sulaiman Al-Fahim, the public face of Manchester City's takeover by Abu Dhabi United Group who supposedly took charge of Portsmouth this summer, exposed the need for a worthwhile means test for incoming owners. Shortly after his takeover was confirmed, he had to borrow money to cover the players' wages.

Common sense suggests he should not have been allowed to take over in the first place. Again, when one considers the many and various accusations that he has a habit of bending the truth to breaking point, it is clear that serious, potentially club-threatening character flaws are not taken into account by the fit and proper persons test.

Still, if these people are asked to fill in their forms themselves then the leagues won't know anything until allegations reach the media. If that doesn't confirm the need for reform, nothing will.

The twofootedtackle Football Podcast Episode 23

It's Wednesday, and it's podcast time again. With Gary Andrews swanning about with something called "a girl" (me neither), Theo Delaney stepped up to host Episode 23 and mediate between Chris Nee and David Edwards as they engaged in some friendly sparring before Villa's trip to Wolves on Saturday.

On the agenda this week: England, the World Cup, Major League Soccer, the Premier League and the Champions League. Part Three is a a beast, because we got carried away talking about the fantastic Premier League weekend - sorry about that.

Episode 23 is now available via iTunes, this MP3 or the media player at CSRN.

Please leave your reviews on iTunes, comments here, add us on Twitter and Facebook and tell a friend. You know you want to.

Huge thanks to Eddie and Theo for a great show, we'll have them both back in the future. Gary will return next week to BRING THE PUN!

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

Tom Dunmore at Pitch Invasion poses an intriguing question: are Liverpool the next Leeds United? Given the Reds' reliance upon the Champions League and awful start to this season, it's a reasonable enough thought. He also touches upon the wider issue at the top of the Premier League.

There is no football concept more abhorrent than the so-called Big Four. It's disheartening enough that we have to put up with the Champions League creating a four-strong closed shop, but it's made even worse by the media - in particular Sky Sports - nauseatingly and emphatically endorsing the idea. Grand Slam Sunday: ranking football clubs by last season's position so you don't have to!

The referees favour them, the authorities favour them and the media favours them. It all adds up to make football far less enjoyable than it should be.

But the hidden danger is to the hallowed quartet themselves. Tom's post refers to the clubs' possible reliance upon the Champions League's dizzying financial rewards and adds to a discourse which questions whether they factor this money into their accounting. If they do, failure is not an option. Sadly for Liverpool, they seem the most likely to be writing cheques on the back of assumed success.

They also look in danger of failing to qualify this season. Beaten four times in the Premier League already this season, they have doubled last season's loss column by the middle of October. Manchester United offer a formidable next challenge. Saturday's defeat to Sunderland has been amusingly overshadowed by the fact that the winning goal was scored by a Liverpool-branded beach ball, but there is no masking the team's weaknesses.

Perhaps most worryingly, the defeat did not come as a surprise to anyone - even a miserable cynic like me had Sunderland down for a win. It highlights Sunderland's abilities but also exposed Liverpool's inability to be anything more than average without Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. Yes, all teams would suffer if the two best players were unavailable, but none so dramatically as Rafael Benitez's men.

85 toothless minutes after Glen Johnson and Pepe Reina were beaten by Darren Bent's beach ball strike, Liverpool's title challenge was again questioned. For me, even fourth place is now wide open.

Even if Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool do comprise the top four, the Big Four as inspiration of fear may be dying. They look increasingly bearable on any given day. Liverpool's four defeats demonstrate this, as do Chelsea's losses to Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa, and Manchester United's to Burnley. They're still impressive, but they're not as intimidating as they once were.

If they can be - and are - beaten more regularly, then the trapdoor is open. Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City are more than willing to stride into the void, with a clutch of clubs not far behind.

Is the top four as a concept dying? Could it be broken up as soon as next May? Let me know what you think.

(Pic via smh.com.au)

At last proper football is back, no dead rubber games here. I think we are starting to the get the hang of this prediction thing, saying that nobody has successfully predicted a whole round of fixtures just yet. But, at least it’s close in our league table. Anyway, here’s how we fared in Week 9:

Results

Aston Villa 2-1 Chelsea
Another win for Villa over one of the Big Four, sadly for us we didn’t see it coming. Not even Villa fan Chris.

Arsenal 3-1 Birmingham
We certainly fared better in this fixture, with everyone picking up a point.

Everton 1-1 Wolves
We didn’t see this one coming at all, vital point for Wolves though, Everton are still a bit shaky.

Man United 2-1 Bolton
Not a flawless performance from United, but as they say, a win is a win. It certainly got us a point a piece.

Portsmouth 1-2 Tottenham
I’m on my own with this one, which is a good thing, helps me keep the pressure on Chris.

Stoke 2-1 West Ham
A good win for Stoke, no second season syndrome yet. West Ham appear to be stuck down the wrong end of the table. The points go to me and Chris here.

Sunderland 1-0 Liverpool
As Gary did with Wigan’s win over Chelsea a couple of weeks ago, Chris did it with this fixture. It’s certainly a well earned point for Mr. twofootedtackle.

Blackburn 3-2 Burnley
Burnley’s terrible away form continues, while Blackburn actually find the back of the net for once. The points go to Chris and Gary on this one.

Wigan 1-1 Man City
Wigan will certainly be happy with a point, but we will not be happy, because we got no points.

Fulham 2-0 Hull
Hull go back to their losing ways, not a surprise at this stage. I don’t see how they can last another season in the Premier League. Gary and I envisaged the Cottagers winning this one.

Chris continues to top the prediction league; this week predicting 5/10 results correctly, that now moves him up to 49 points. I remain in second place, also predicting 5/10 results, and have 44 points. Last but not least, is Gary, predicting 4/10 results this weekend, moving his tally up to 42 points.

Gary is away on holidays this week but he has submitted his predictions for the coming weekend. Once again, I will be back on Friday with Week 10 of the Prediction League.

Sunday, 18 October 2009

What a breathtaking weekend of football. The Premier League led the way in the drama stakes, and here's what happened from there down.

Premier League

In the early Saturday game, Aston Villa beat Chelsea 2-1 thanks to headers from centre backs Richard Dunne and James Collins, turning the game on its head after Brad Friedel had been caught out by Didier Drogba's opener. In another London v Birmingham clash, Arsenal beat Birmingham City 3-1, Robin Van Persie, Abou Diaby and Andrey Arshavin overpowering Lee Bowyer's goal for City.

Diniyar Bilyaletdinov's late, late equaliser spared Everton's blushes against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Kevin Doyle had put Wolves in front and they lost Stefan Maierhofer to a stoppage time red card. Tim Howard should have joined him on the walk of shame.

An own goal from Zat Knight and Antonio Valencia's first league goal for Manchester United should have seen Alex Ferguson's side cruise to victory over Bolton Wanderers, but a goal from Matty Taylor 15 minutes from time made the finish nervous. It was a tale of the old boys at Fratton Park, where Jermain Defoe added to Ledley King's opener for Tottenham Hotspur against Portsmouth, whose goal came from Kevin-Prince Boateng. Defoe was later sent off for a stamp, along with Pompey's dirty scumbucket Michael Brown.

Two goals from James Beattie saw Stoke City to a 2-1 home win over struggling West Ham United, who did have the game at 1-1 thanks to a header by Matthew Upson.

And on Sunday, Wigan Athletic held Manchester City to a 1-1 draw at the DW, Charles N'Zogbia (after having one disallowed) and Martin Petrov netting the goals. Pablo Zabaleta was sent off for two bookable offences. At Ewood, Blackburn Rovers triumphed in the derby game against Burnley. Robbie Blake put Burnley ahead before David Dunn, Franco Di Santo and Pascal Chimbonda swung the game in Rovers' favour. Chris Eagles scored a late consolation.

But for the story of the weekend we have to go back to Saturday, and to the Stadium of Light. Five minutes into Sunderland's game against Liverpool, Darren Bent's shot hit a beach ball, deceiving Glen Johnson and Pepe Reina and finding the back of the net. The ball had been thrown onto the pitch by a Liverpool fan and not removed by Liverpool players. Serves them right, but it shouldn't have stood.

Championship

West Bromwich Albion have knocked Newcastle United off the top of the second division. Albion came from behind to beat Reading 3-1 at the Hawthorns before Newcastle's defeat at Nottingham Forest. Cardiff City are third after drawing with Crystal Palace, Middlesbrough fourth after losing to Watford. Fifth-placed Blackpool beat Plymouth Argyle and sixth-placed Preston North End where thumped 4-0 at Queens Park Rangers.

Ipswich Town remain bottom having drawn with Swansea City. Above them, Plymouth are one below Peterborough, who drew away at Bristol City. Defeat to the leaders leaves Reading perched on the dreaded dashed line.

Barnsley beat Doncaster Rovers, Scunthorpe United beat Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday beat Coventry City while Leicester City and Derby County drew 0-0 in their disappointing derby match.

League One

Charlton Athletic top League One after beating Huddersfield Town and seeing Leeds United sit out another weekend. United now have two games in hand. MK Dons are third thanks to a 2-0 win over Gillingham, while Colchester United could only draw at Wycombe Wanderers. Bristol Rovers lost at Southend United, and Leeds host sixth-placed Norwich City tomorrow.

At the bottom, Southampton won at Oldham Athletic to leapfrog Wycombe and escape bottom spot for the first time this season. Tranmere Rovers beat Brighton & Hove Albion after the sacking of John Barnes and are now just a point behind Carlisle United, who lost at Yeovil Town.

Leyton Orient beat Brentford, Millwall thrashed Stockport County, Hartlepool beat Swindon Town and Walsall eased to victory over Exeter City.

League Two

A goal from Danny Hollands gave league leaders AFC Bournemouth a much-needed win at Accrington Stanley. Dagenham & Redbridge are keeping pace thanks to a home win against Bradford City. Rochdale are in touch too, beating Grimsby Town and sealing the fate of Grimsby boss Mike Newell.

Rotherham and Notts County, in fourth and fifth, fought out a goalless draw, while Shrewsbury lost to basement club Darlington to stay seventh behind Aldershot. Darlo stay bottom, with Grimsby in 23rd and level on points with Torquay United, who drew at home to Morecambe and stay two points behind them.

Burton Albion beat Barnet, Hereford United beat Chesterfield, Northampton Town beat Lincoln City and Macclesfield Town beat Cheltenham.

Non-League

Oxford United are still tearing it up in the Conference, but could only draw with York City, who stay outside the playoff spots. Stevenage beat Salisbury and are second ahead of Kettering. In fourth, Mansfield Town won at Eastbourne Borough, while Luton Town beat Altrincham. Chester City moved onto -10 with a win over Gateshead. They are 19 points behind Ebbsfleet United, who lost at Barrow. Forest Green and Grays Athletic, on 11, were beaten at Histon and Wrexham respectively.

Droylsden lead the Blue Square North despite defeat to Workington. Southport's win at Telford draws them level on points, and wins for Fleetwood Town, Stalybridge and Corby leave them just a point behind. Farsley are bottom but won at Redditch to close the gap on them to a single point. Harrogate are third-bottom after a home thumping by Alfreton.

Newport County lead the Conference South ahead of Dover after both picked up away wins. Dover beat Weymouth, who remain rooted to the bottom - that's the least of their problems. Lewes and Dorchester also lost.

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Bit of a delay on last weekend’s Premier League results, but I’m here now so here’s how week 8 went for us, let’s just say it was great!

Results

Bolton 2-2 Tottenham
Tottenham continue their run of not winning at the Reebok, not something we saw coming.

Burnley 2-1 Birmingham
The Clarets make it four wins out of four at home, something which we did see coming.

Hull 2-1 Wigan
Hull winning is about as rare as Portsmouth winning these days; sadly we didn’t think Phil Brown’s side would actually win.

Wolves 0-1 Pompey
In fact Portsmouth did win, picking up their first points of the season, but no points for us.

Man United 2-2 Sunderland
No points here either I’m afraid. Not looking good eh?

Arsenal 6-2 Blackburn
Finally, a game that dished out some points, one each in fact.

Chelsea 2-0 Liverpool
League leader Chris picks up another precious point here.

West Ham 2-2 Fulham
I keep up the pace with a point from this game.

Everton 1-1 Stoke
Share of the spoils for the two teams, while Gary gains a point also.

Aston Villa 1-1 Man City
Gary gains another point to keep in check with me.

Let’s just say that was a review quicker than a Katie Price fling. Here’s how the league table looks:
1. Chris - 44 points
2. Ian - 39 points
3. Gary - 38 points

Things are starting to hot up, so let move swiftly along to this weekend’s predictions.

Predictions

Arsenal vs. Birmingham
Chris: Arsenal
Ian: Arsenal
Gary: Arsenal

Aston Villa vs. Chelsea
Chris: Chelsea
Ian: Chelsea
Gary: Chelsea

Everton vs. Wolves
Chris: Everton
Ian: Everton
Gary: Everton

Man United vs. Bolton
Chris: Man United
Ian: Man United
Gary: Man United

Portsmouth vs. Tottenham
Chris: Draw
Ian: Tottenham
Gary: Draw

Stoke vs. West Ham
Chris: Stoke
Ian: Stoke
Gary: Draw

Sunderland vs. Liverpool
Chris: Sunderland
Ian: Liverpool
Gary: Draw

Blackburn vs. Burnley
Chris: Blackburn
Ian: Draw
Gary: Blackburn

Wigan vs. Man City
Chris: Man City
Ian: Man City
Gary: Man City

Fulham vs. Hull
Chris: Draw
Ian: Fulham
Gary: Fulham

Dare I say this could be a make or break weekend for us. Check back on Tuesday to see how we got on.

Thursday, 15 October 2009

International football seems to lack something these days. While there are a few games which foster huge excitement, for England fans most are a little dull. Last night's dead rubber against Belarus was earned by Fabio Capello's side by way of a superb qualifying campaign, but it just strikes me that too many of our games are boring and meaningless.

Perhaps this is simply because there are too many friendlies, compounded recently by England's new-found quality. But I think there's more to it. International football, possibly partly thanks to globalisation at club level, is shedding its rivalries.

Let's take England as our example. With the exception of the supporters with a nationalist bent, few England supporters concern themselves with the home nations these days. The faux-hatred from England fans when we actually play Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is simply a hat-tip to geography. And I hope we never have to play the Republic again, but that's nothing to do with football and everything to do with hooligans.

I suppose one could argue that a rivalry developed between England and Turkey in the first half of this decade and for a while that was enjoyable. But once again I think that was a rivalry which stemmed from events off the field, unsavoury and occasionally tragic incidents involving Turkish and English supporters. Although hostilities will be resumed on the streets next time we play them, I think the players on both sides have been renewed enough for the past to be largely forgotten.

Thankfully there is a new rivalry, a rivalry based entirely on the pitch and involving football as its central and only dimension. England and Croatia have been drawn against one another in qualifying for two consecutive international tournaments. In Euro 2008 qualifying, Slaven Bilic's men triumphed, leaving Steve McClaren jobless and hopeless and the England players with a summer off.

But in the preliminaries for South Africa 2010, England dominated. Dropping just three points in their World Cup qualifying group, England took the time to hand out special treatment to Croatia, spanking them twice and helping to send them crashing out. Next summer, it will be Croat towels on the beaches.

I think it's great that the rivalry has been allowed a certain intensity by the draws, but it's been developed thanks to dramatic moments like goalkeeping howlers by Paul Robinson and Scott Carson, McClaren's umbrella and the fact that we have both missed out on qualification in recent years. These games mean something.

But what I like about this two-way competition is that it has a definite affection to it. I like Croatia a lot. I have huge respect for Bilic and he's a real character. I like many of Croatia's players, and I think that is true of most supporters and even the players. The two countries get along, but they love sparring with one another. That's the kind of rivalry I can subscribe to.

(Pic via This Is London)

Sheriff Kimbo's Thursday Thoughts #8

Hello everybody. I write this having just being bored by England. Not that it was really their fault; we have already qualified and Belarus had nothing to play for. I had to laugh at Potato Head's suggestion of David Beckham as MOTM. The strange thing was, although I thought that was a stupid decision, I struggle to make an actual suggestion! I guess Crouch, as he got two goals.

Speaking of stupid decisions...James Milner at left-back? What the hell?! I think Jimmy could potentially be a good central midfielder and was expecting him to go where Barry was (with him moving to left-back) but alas, no. Weird!

The aftermath of the Villa/Citeh game resulted in lots of talk about the treatment of Barry, which lead Shay Given to say that Villa fans and fans of many other teams were jealous of Man City. Now that is true to a certain extent, but let's get a few things straight. The likes of Tevez and Lescott are very overrated. The amount of money they are paying for them is ridiculous - for example, is Lescott worth four times Richard Dunne? Is Tevez worth somewhere in the around £200 a week or whatever it is? Okay, don't answer, because I'll tell you - NO!!!

The other thing they will have to start putting up with is the fair-weather fans. Even as a Villa fan I have experienced that. No, seriously! Since Lerner & MON have come in, I have had to put up with listening to people that I know for a fact were barely interested in the Villa - hell, football - the last few seasons leading up to the change, so there must be plenty more out there! Now, imagine being that rare breed - a genuine fan of someone like ManUre of the RedScouseScum? I met a ManUre fan from Moss Side a few months ago. He actually said that he, "hates 95% of the fans" and I can't say I'm surprised.

In fact, that is one of the things me and my Dad miss about when we were rubbish... it was a lot easier to find a parking space and get away from the ground! hehehe!

I see that Ryan Giggs has said that players' wages are justifiable. I fail to see that. I fail to see how someone like the aforementioned Carlos Tevez 'earns' in a month the same amount of money that could secure the future of some lower league clubs for the foreseeable future. Yes, there is a lot of money in the game and percentage wise it probably can be justified but two wrongs - which they are - sure do not make a right in this case. Football will kill itself, of that I am sure. What a great thing to say on a football blog, hey!

With it being an international week I have found that football has not really been at the forefront of my mind, so I suppose this Thursday is not the most thought-filled one I have ever had! Therefore it is a short one this week lads and lasses, I am sure you are all delighted! See ya!

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

With our sincerest apologies (well, mine) for skipping last week, this week's podcast is now available.

Gary and I were joined in the studio by Tom Phillips of the Metro and we talked about Nottingham Forest, the Championship, the Premier League, England, World Cup Qualifying, the fit and proper persons test and Major League Soccer.

It's funny, and a little bit emotional towards the end. You'll love it.

Episode 22 is now available via iTunes, this link, or the media player at CSRN.

If you have any comments, please leave a...comment. What do you think of the fit and proper persons test?

Enjoy!

Monday, 12 October 2009

England lost their 100% record in qualifying for World Cup 2010 on Saturday, but the headlines since have been dominated by two more worrying problems. First, Robert Green's sending off may have just been "one of those things" but from my point of view the blame should be placed squarely at Rio Ferdinand's door. His form has to be a concern for Alex Ferguson and Fabio Capello.

But yesterday's back pages carried images of a more disturbing issue. Early on in Saturday's match in Ukraine, lit flares were thrown onto the pitch, landing in Green's penalty area and causing a delay to the game. After Green had been dismissed and Andriy Shevchenko had hit the post with the resulting penalty, substitute goalkeeper David James was subjected to a second wave of flare-throwing.

The Football Association is planning an official complaint to UEFA, and rightly so. England players were put at risk by the stupidity of a tiny minority of Ukrainian supporters and the fact that they were able to get flares into the stadium is a worry, if entirely unsurprising. It is the FA's responsibility to hold the Ukrainian authorities to account, but from the tabloid coverage yesterday you'd be forgiven for thinking the English are angels abroad.

Anyone who has followed their team away in certain countries in Europe will know how easy it is to get flares into the ground and how often English fans take advantage of such ineffective security. Let's not kid ourselves.

That being said, the flares used on Saturday looked, for some reason, unusually dangerous little numbers. And the same can be said of the potential fallout for Ukraine. The country is due to share hosting duties for the European Championships in 2012 but their capabilities have been questioned from the moment they were selected.

In the coming days, Michel Platini and UEFA are due to discuss yet again the problems facing the tournament in Ukraine, largely regarding the readiness of stadia and infrastructural capacity. But Saturday's flare-throwing has thrown the issues of security and player safety into sharp focus. It will be interesting to see how Platini reacts.

England supporters have a paranoid outlook when it comes to UEFA punishments, even before alleged Anglophobe Platini took office. But there seems little doubt that England would be severely punished for such behaviour. Platini must show consistency here.

The scenes on Saturday were reminiscent of the worst days of European football culture, one step removed from large-scale hooliganism. In England, though we now face a different kind of football-related disorder, we have largely done away with violence which takes part inside our stadia. And while I'm loathe to look at any phenomenon independently of its cultural context, It's time certain parts of Europe joined in.

(Pic via Daily Express)

Sunday, 11 October 2009

A truncated programme took place during an international weekend in which England lost their 100% record in qualifying for World Cup 2010. Here's the lowdown.

England

In a match disrupted several times by flares being thrown onto the pitch, Ukraine beat England 1-0. Shocking defending from Rio Ferdinand (remember when he was good?) resulted in Robert Green committing a foul in his area and being sent off early on. Andriy Shevchenko faced David James from the spot and hit the post.

Sergiy Nazarenko scored the winner after his powerful shot flew in off Ashley Cole's head, and England were unfortunate in front of goal on a few occasions. Robert Green became the first England player sent off under Fabio Capello and the first England goalkeeper ever to be given a red card.

The Football Association will be making an official complaint about the flares, and UEFA will doubtless mention it when it considers Ukraine's position as Euro 2012 hosts.

League One

With no Premier League or Championship action this weekend, all eyes were on the bottom two divisions. Leeds United didn't Bristol Rovers play due to players being on international duty, but remain top of League One thanks to Charlton Athletic's 0-0 draw with Oldham Athletic. Colchester United are third after beating Leyton Orient and MK Dons' win over Walsall leaves them in fourth. Rovers are fifth, and sixth placed Norwich City won away at Carlisle United.

Southampton are bottom but moved onto five points with a win at Southend United on Friday night. Wycombe Wanderers sacked Peter Taylor after their defeat to Gillingham, and Brighton & Hove Albion stretch the gap between themselves and Tranmere Rovers with a draw at Yeovil Town.

Huddersfield Town demolished Exeter City 4-0, Swindon Town drew with Millwall, and Hartlepool United and Brentford were goalless on Friday.

League Two

AFC Bournemouth continue to lead the bottom division despite faltering form, resulting largely from the Football League's criminal treatment of the club. They were beaten at home by Chesterfield on Saturday, while second placed Dagenham & Redbridge picked up a home win against Darlington. Rotherham United complete the top three after drawing with Hereford United, who got a last-minute equaliser.

At the bottom, Darlington have lost more ground on Torquay United, who got an impressive away point at Notts County on Sunday.

Accrington Stanley beat Cheltenham, Aldershot beat Morecambe, Crewe Alexandra beat Bradford City, Burton Albion beat Grimsby Town, Lincoln City beat Macclesfield Town, Rochdale beat Barnet and Port Vale beat Shrewsbury. Bury and Northampton Town drew.

Non-League

Oxford United thrashed Grays Athletic to continue to sit comfortably atop the Blue Square Premier. Stevenage and Kettering are nine points behind after Stevenage won 4-0 against Hayes & Yeading. Chester, behind Hayes in bottom spot, were beaten by Rushden & Diamonds to leave them on -13 and had two players dismissed. AFC Wimbledon deserve a mention after an impressive 5-2 win away at Forest Green Rovers.

The rest of the non-league card was reduced over the weekend thanks to the FA Cup having reached third qualifying round stage. Harrogate Town and Droylsden drew 2-2 in the Blue Square North's only match on Saturday, leaving Droylsden just three points ahead of Southport having played a game more. The point took Harrogate out of the drop zone, replaced by Redditch.

The only game in the Conference South saw Weymouth destroyed at home by Maidenhead United, beating the Dorset side 5-0 to leave them bottom, below Lewes. Weymouth manager Matt Hale has resigned.

Friday, 9 October 2009

At the inaugural Socrates I was speaking to Ian King, author of the excellent twohundredpercent blog, about the identity and nature of the football fan: how he behaves, how he characterises himself and what he puts into - and wants out of - the game.

Ian had recently had a piece published in When Saturday Comes about the blinkered outlook of the modern fan. In fact, he draws what I consider to be a very valid distinction between the "fan" and the "supporter", the former being the one-eyed, vituperative, hate-filled individual one would expect considering the very word stems from "fanatic".

I had long considered myself a fan. I am obsessed with football and with my club in particular. However, I am more of a supporter, in Ian's terms. I view the sport as a whole, and care about it as one entity. I don't want other teams to go out of business and have donated money to clubs in trouble with which I had no previous contact. I love the game and I support my club. But I don't, despite much bluster and bravado, hate - truly hate - the supporters of another club.

Perhaps that is as strong a pillar of my identity as is the club I support. Within football I am characterised by the team I support and my obsessive enthusiasm for the game. To the outside world I am simply a football supporter. I carry this badge with as much pride as I do the crest of my club.

In truth, I revel in the impression football supporters emit to outsiders. I like that we are, despite following the biggest sport in the world, afforded honourary status as subcultural participants. I like that our game is criticised by followers of others. I even like that we have our aura, though I dread a return to the days of violence by which it was created.

The traditional and non-violent supporter has a large cross to bear in a world of hastening globalisation. Hooligan culture is enjoying a revival, though mostly on cinema screens and the pages of the countless "hoolie-lit" books which merely mirror one another and amount to little more than pornography.

But those of us who grew up on the terraces without knocking seven bells out of rival supporters are seemingly becoming the quiet men and women of football. While the game is beamed to televisions and computer screens to shirt-wearing fans - yes, fans - all over the globe, we are just trying to do what we've been doing for generations: going to the match on a Saturday, having a Bovril, and watching Match of the Day. But suddenly, we're a minority within the football community.

The increasing importance of the foreign fan (by which I include those in the UK who consume their football in the same way) is inevitable and, when one considers the riches on offer, understandable. These fans live in a world of black and white where rivalries are absolute but distant and football was invented (as opposed to destroyed) in 1992. The term "in the history of the Premier League" sums these fans up perfectly.

The problem is that they are the ones swelling the coffers. If you consider yourself a traditional supporter and believe you are the lifeblood of the game, think again. We are slipping down the pecking order.

Another recent conversation made me realise just how much I'd been identifying with the game rather than my club lately. I confessed that I have an internal conflict. Deep down, I am torn between my love for football and the fact that I happen to support and adore a Premier League club.

I watch my local team on a regular basis. They play in the Ryman Premier League and consider it a day worth celebrating if they get 500 people through the turnstile. That is the heart of football and is now where I extract the most enjoyment from a game whose top players and businessmen are leaving me further behind by the year.

The question I was asked was "do you think you'll turn in your season ticket and commit to non-league?" And as much as it hurts to say it, one day I think I'll have to.

To return to Ian's distinction, I like to see things in terms of a supporter-fan continuum along which we all have our place. At one end, the supporter has his team but will watch another when they're playing away, and would have a pint with a local rival without a second thought. At the other, the fan is thousands of miles away watching his team on JustinTV, buying merchandise and contributing nothing but money.

English football, the top-heavy behemoth, is quickly following the smell of bank notes. The traditional football supporter will soon have a decision to make about his relationship with the sport he loves. Fortunately the grassroots are beautiful, pure and in dire need of nourishment.

FA video wrongly criticised

A little while ago I went up to Hackney Marshes to play a starring 0.25-second role as a referee in a film made by the Football Association. More importantly, I spent the morning on set talking about the bigger issues around the film, entitled Whatever Your Level and launched several weeks ago.

Due to illness earlier this week I spent some time with my old irritating friend Sky Sports News and was surprised to see the video back in focus, this time as the subject of criticism.

Let's rewind. The film was made to raise awareness of the worryingly high quit-rate of amateur footballers between the ages of 16 and 18 - if I remember correctly it's about 50%. I feel I can speak about this with at least a degree of authority, having turned my back on the playing side of the game at the age of 16 to concentrate on beer and wotserface.

Filmed from a first-person perspective, it sends up a Nike ad and features the hero playing football, getting drunk and going on the pull. And that's the bone of contention for its recent criticism, although I must confess to having forgotten the name and role of the gentleman interviewed by SSN.

He argued that this is not the impression the game should be emitting. He has a point, of course - it certainly wouldn't attract me to the game. But when the FA produces these films we need to think in terms of target markets. Ray Winstone, the star of the two FA films for the Respect campaign which sandwiched Whatever Your Level, was chosen specifically because he is known and loved by the demographics targeted.

And Whatever Your Level, whether we find its hedonistic content palatable or not, speaks to a significant section of footballing society. Why do the older teenagers stop playing? Because they want to drink and womanise. The film tells them that these things do not exclude them from the game, and that football can be more than just booting a pig's bladder around for 90 minutes.

It doesn't present a perfectly realistic picture, but one which represents the excitement, camaraderie and passion I left behind at 16 and have missed ever since. As I said, it wouldn't attract me back to the game because I want different things from life and I also want football to be seen in a better light. But I'm 24, and this film wasn't aimed at me, and it's important to recognise that.

(Pic via cpluv.com)

Thursday, 8 October 2009

With me being a Villa fan, the big event this week was the Manchester City game. The fact that we didn't play brilliantly, coupled in with some questionable tactics made the fact that ultimately we got a fairly comfortable draw with a team that is now apparently strides ahead of us (according to the media and their own fans, as well as some of our own) quite pleasing.

What I didn't find pleasing was the booing of Gareth Barry. Barry will know that it's the vocal minority that booed him. But I still thought the treatment of a player who consistently gave us his best for 12 years was absolutely out of order. I won't pretend that I haven't been hurt over certain things to do with Barry leaving (the, "I left to guarantee my England place" comment I found particularly galling) but ultimately, this man gave us a hell of a lot and I think the fan that booed should be more thankful for what he did in a Villa shirt for over a decade.

An international break awaits us. *YAWN*. There will undoubtedly be lots of talk about Jermain Defoe/Emile Heskey yet again. Personally I would play Agbonlahor but I am biased... (Yes, I am aware that Heskey is also a Villa player). I have said on many occasions to many different people that the reason Heskey gets picked over Defoe is that while Defoe is undoubtedly a better goal scorer, he offers nothing else to the team and when he doesn't score, we may as well be playing with ten players. Say what you like about Heskey but the fact is that he follows the ball across the line, he DOES help the likes of Rooney and Gerrard to play, and ultimately if Fabio Capello can see this then who are any of us to argue? The bloke has one heck of a record in football, he has an England side that qualified by winning every game and with games to spare, and yet people still want to tell him how to do his job. Brilliant! Put it this way; Defoe is a top class finisher. But there are very big reasons why none of the top 4 will go anywhere near him.

I will not be watching the game against Ukraine due to the fact that it is on the internet. Sure, it is cheaper than going the pub but I wont be doing that either. We have already qualified and I am quite open about the fact that international football is not really something I feel that passionate about anymore anyway. I may watch the U-21's, as that is free. To me, the fact that this game is being covered in this way is just another reason that modern day football winds me the hell up. Chris has already covered the reasons why the whole saga is a short-sighted experiment in a very good article on this very site and rather than me rehash what he wrote, just scroll down and read it you lazy buggers!

I thoroughly enjoyed the Old Firm clash on Sunday; possibly because if I have any loyalty it is to Rangers. If you're really interested you can ask me why but I won't go into too much detail because, well, I think it's not that interesting! But it was a proper game, I thought it was quite well refereed and there wasn't really any of that rolling-around-on-the-floor-like-I've-been-shot malarkey. Celtic were denied a clear penalty before they actually got the one they scored from, which was a bit of a theme this weekend. Ask the Wolves fans!

Right, have a good week everybody. I'll be back next Thursday with more irrelevant drivel to waste some space on this otherwise fine website!

Wednesday, 7 October 2009

Showing an England international online might sound modern and progressive but Saturday's World Cup Qualifier against Ukraine exposes flawed ideals and a lack of understanding of the football market in 2009.

The UK rights to show the game were originally held by Setanta Sports, the astroturfers supreme who collapsed in the summer. The company's spending on football it couldn't afford, most notably England and Premier League matches, forced it out of business as far as UK coverage is concerned, leaving the Ukrainians with rights to sell. Unsurprisingly, nobody of note was willing to pay. It's likely the asking price was astronomical.

As a result, the coverage has wound up online. Omnisport, who've been blitzing the football blogosphere with invitations to take part in an affiliate scheme to help sell the game, are charging £4.99 until midnight today and putting prices up thereafter. The same prices are available on some of the newspaper websites including The Sun.

The purchasers have shown a serious lack of insight here. The game is meaningless, with England having already qualified for next year's World Cup in South Africa. The assumption that supporters will pay for the game is a dangerous one. Many, like myself, would have watched the game on free television or even gone to the pub to watch it on paid TV. But pay for a match online? Not a chance.

There are also a number of oversights on Omnisport's part:

Bet365.com are showing the game for free to customers with a funded account
The game would likely have struggled for an audience anyway
If it's online, it's online for free - people will watch illegally
The market isn't ready to pay for football online, by and large
Football supporters hate being ripped off

So, I suspect the newspapers and Omnisport will be slightly disappointed with the take-up for this game. I'm not paying for it, and I won't watch it. But if I were to do so it wouldn't cost me a bean. I have noted the speed with which the rights purchasers have attempted to make some cash from England fans.

On the plus side, we like a freebie. So well done to the Football Association who (having taken advice from it disgital agency, I'm sure) is showing Friday's England under-21 international against Macedonia online for the princely sum of zero pounds.

Tuesday, 6 October 2009

Afternoon everyone. I'm sorry to say that there will be no podcast this week due to illness. We'll be back and raring to go next week - hopefully.

Apologies.

Sunday, 4 October 2009

I spent Saturday afternoon watching Tooting & Mitcham United beating Tonbridge Angels 5-3, so the rest of the football pyramid had a lot to live up to. It didn't do a bad job.

Premier League

On Saturday, leaders Manchester United were fortunate to get a point at home to Sunderland. Darren Bent struck early to put Sunderland in the lead, and United didn't equalise until Dimitar Berbatov's wonderful acrobatic volley in the second half. Kenwyne Jones rose above Ben Foster to head Sunderland - who finished with ten after the stupid sending off of Kieran Richardson - back into the lead, only for Anton Ferdinand to deflect in a Patrice Evra shot to make it 2-2 in stoppage time. Referee Alan Wiley then failed to extend injury time, but Alex Ferguson's outrageous criticism of the referee neglects the fact that he had a very good game and should be punished heavily.

United get ludicrously favourable treatment in this league and to expect more is truly disgraceful. But then what else would we expect from Ferguson?

Congratulations to the temporarily unpaid Portsmouth players on their first win of the season, a 1-0 away win at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Hassan Yebda scored the only goal of the game with a neat diving header from a Kevin-Prince Boateng cross. Wolves were denied a clear penalty and were remarkably restrained considering the circumstances.

Ricardo Gardner put Bolton Wanderers ahead at home to Tottenham Hotspur in just the fourth minute at the Reebok. Two Croatians scored for Spurs, Niko Kranjcar blasting in a half volley to equalise and Vedran Corluka getting the second - but not until after Kevin Davies had headed Bolton back in front.

Burnley bagged yet another home win, defeating Birmingham City at Turf Moor. Steven Fletcher scored the first, though Joe Hart should have saved it, and Andre Bikey made it two after playing a lovely one-two with David Nugent. Sebastian Larsson scored a last minute consolation for Birmingham with a superbly struck free kick. And at the KC, Hull City picked up a much-needed win over Wigan Athletic. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Geovanni made the scoresheet for the Tigers, Scott Sinclair for Wigan.

Sunday saw Chelsea take over from Manchester United at the top after beating Liverpool 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. Steven Gerrard was apparently playing, but I didn't notice him. I did notice Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda, Chelsea's goalscorers. At the Emirates, Arsenal were rampant and bagged another six-goal haul. Blackburn Rovers were the lambs to the slaughter and got two goals as the Arsenal goals racked up from Thomas Vermaelen, Robin Van Persie, Andrei Arshavin, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner. Strange to think that Steven Nzonzi and Pieboy Dunn had put Rovers 1-0 and 2-1 ahead in the first half hour.

Carlton Cole opened the scoring for West Ham United against Fulham, whose fate got worse when debutant Kagisho Dikgacoi was sent off for raising a hand to Scott Parker. Danny Murphy equalised and Zoltan Gera made it 2-1, but Junior Stanislas earned the Hammers a point with a deflected goal off Aaron Hughes. Everton hosted Stoke City and went ahead through Robert Huth, but Leon Osman levelled to secure a share of the points for the home side.

Championship

Newcastle United still lead the Championship despite drawing at home to Bristol City thanks to West Bromwich Albion's draw at Preston North End. Middlesbrough are third after winning at Reading in a game which featured a cracking goal from ex-Reading striker Leroy Lita. Preston are a point behind Boro and level with Cardiff City, who thrashed Watford at Vicarage Road. Sheffield United drew at home to Doncaster Rovers.

At the bottom, Ipswich Town lost again thanks to a stoppage time winner from Barnsley. Peterborough were beaten at home by Nottingham Forest, and Plymouth Argyle go past them with a home win against Scunthorpe United.

Crystal Palace beat Blackpool, Derby County beat Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea City beat nine-man Queens Park Rangers. There was a draw between Coventry and Leicester City (with another screamer of a free kick from Sammy Clingan).

League One

The biggest Football League game of the weekend was at Elland Road, but Leeds United and Charlton Athletic had to share the spoils to leave them first and second in League One respectively. Behind them, Bristol Rovers emphatically failed to take advantage, being whalloped 5-1 at Norwich City. Colchester Rovers were the main beneficiaries, beating ten-man Huddersfield Town 1-0 to move within a point of Rovers. MK Dons are now only two points off third after winning at ten-man Brighton & Hove Albion. Swindon Town won at Brentford and complete the playoff places.

I'm delighted to report that last-placed Southampton are in the black! Their home win over Gillingham takes them to two points, finally overturning their ten-point penalty. Wycombe Wanderers remain on six after being beaten at home by Leyton Orient, and Tranmere Rovers stay one point ahead after a 5-0 thumping at Millwall and had a man sent off at 4-0. Brighton occupy 21st.

In the other matches, Exeter City beat Hartlepool United, Oldham Athletic drew with Yeovil Town, Southend United beat ten-man Stockport County and Walsall drew with Carlisle United.

League Two

In League Two, AFC Bournemouth are still top after a 0-0 draw at Port Vale for which Eddie Howe was only able to select three substitutes. Rotherham closed the gap by beating Dario Gradi's (that's right, Dario Gradi's) Crewe Alexandra. Dagenham & Redbridge, Barnet and Shrewsbury Town are all four points behind the Cherries. The Daggers drew at Hereford United, Barnet beat Grimsby Town and Shrewsbury drew at Morecambe.

At the bottom, Darlington are in deep trouble on two points. They were beaten by Macclesfield Town, while Torquay United won their eighth point of the season against Bury. Grimsby, Morecambe and Hereford are the next three teams from the bottom, followed by Northampton Town, who drew at home to Bradford City.

Burton Albion beat Rochdale today. Notts County drew at Cheltenham, Chesterfield beat Accrington Stanley and Chris Sutton's Lincoln City beat Aldershot.

Non-League

Oxford United's lead in the Blue Square Premier is down to six points after they drew at Barrow. Kettering are second and beat Eastbourne Borough, while fourth-placed Mansfield Town beat Forest Green Rovers and third-placed Stevenage drew at York City after conceding a stoppage time equaliser. Luton Town are fifth, beating Tamworth. Chester City move to -13 at the bottom, but could only draw with second-bottom Hayes & Yeading despite the hosts having two sent off. Ebbsfleet United and Gateshead both drew, with Crawley Town and Grays Athletic respectively.

In the Blue Square North, Droylsden stay top by winning at AFC Telford. Southport and Eastwood Town both have 22 points, drawing with lowly Solihull Moors and sixth-placed Corby. Fleetwood Town are fourth after drawing with Gainsborough Trinity, and Stalybridge Celtic are fifth thanks to a 3-0 win over Redditch. Farsley Celtic move onto six points by beating crisis-ridden Hyde United but stay bottom. Vauxhall Motors are three points ahead after losing at Workington. Redditch complete the bottom three.

And in the South, Newport County rule the roost after a win over Bath City in the Chris-On-Train-Visiting-Girlfriend Derby. Dover are two points back after losing to Worcester, who move out of the drop zone. Thurrock are third, beating Basingstoke 4-0. Fourth-placed Woking won at Chelmsford, and fifth-placed Bishop's Stortford won at Welling. Below Worcester, Weymouth are bottom and lost at Hampton & Richmond. Lewes drew with Staines Town and Weston-Super-Mare were beaten at home by St Albans.

MLS: Houston Dynamo v Kansas City Wizards

Join me for a twofootedtackle Major League Soccer liveblog at 8pm UK time (3pm Eastern) as Houston Dynamo look to pick up three points by beating Kansas City Wizards in the run-up to the post-season.

Saturday, 3 October 2009

Having acquired the services of the likes of Samuel Eto'o, Diego Milito and Wesley Sneijder, Inter are hot favourites to win another Scudetto this season. They went into tonight's home game against Udinese in third place with the opportunity to put themselves top of Serie A ahead of tomorrow's matches.

Udinese were just two points behind and travelled to San Siro full of confidence after beating and subsequently leapfrogging high-flying Genoa in the last round of matches.

Throughout much of the first half Inter played counter-attacking football, allowing Udinese to have a lot of the ball in the attacking half and getting numbers forward quickly when in possession.

And it was Inter who took the lead in the 22nd minute with a stunning break and a wonderful strike by Dejan Stankovic. Eto'o glided forward from the halfway line to the edge of the box and found the overlapping Stankovic with a lovely weighted pass. The Serbian's shot flew like a missile across the goalkeeper and into the top corner.

Four minutes later Udinese were level. Antonio Di Natale was played clean through and was onside thanks to lapse positioning by Christian Chivu. Julio Cesar rushed out from his goal and Di Natale calmly knocked it past him to equalise.

Inter became more aggressive towards half time but it was Udinese who should have taken the lead in the 42nd minute. Chilean forward Alexis Sánchez broke the offside trap this time but was challenged as he brought the ball under control and snatched at his shot on the turn.

The second half began evenly, both teams happy to exchange attempts without landing the killer blow. Sulley Muntari should have put Inter back in front after 66 minutes but fired over after pouncing on a poor parry by Udinese goalkeeper Samir Handanovic. His next effort was even worse and was met with loud dissent from the stands.

His substitution quickly followed and the Inter supporters were very vocal in their approval of Jose Mourinho's decision to take him off. The Inter coach looked less than pleased with their reaction and Muntari's team-mates gathered around him on the way off to show their support.

Inter knew that one point would do their title hopes no favours and began to turn the screw with fifteen minutes left. David Suazo was brought on to join Eto'o and his fellow substitute Mario Balotelli up front and Lucio was briefly pushed up to boost the attack before being replaced with two minutes left by Davide Santon.

Their efforts were not in vain. Two minutes into stoppage time Wesley Sneijder found himself in the box and bent in a low, pinpoint winner, his first goal in the blue and black of Inter Milan. It was an undeserved win and Udinese thoroughly deserved a point. Inter's win sends them to the top of the table.

Friday, 2 October 2009

It was a goal fest last weekend in the Premier League; Fernando Torres scored a hat-trick for Liverpool, while Robbie Keane went one better scoring four for Tottenham. Shock of the weekend had to be Chelsea being beaten by Wigan, which was predicted by one of us. So, let's get down to business and round-up the results:

Results

Portsmouth 0-1 Everton
Pompey losing seems to be routine now as they continue their awful start to the season. We all predicted the Toffees winning.

Birmingham 1-2 Bolton
A late goal secured a Bolton win and also gave me a well-earned point.

Blackburn 2-1 Aston Villa
Rovers notched up a surprise victory which none of us saw coming.

Liverpool 6-1 Hull
The Kop hit Hull for six to move Phil Brown closer to the door, no surprises here, one point each.

Stoke 0-2 Man United
What would Manchester United do without Ryan Giggs? They would probably have drawn this game; instead he made an instant impact as a second-half sub. United victory gives us points across the board.

Spurs 5-0 Burnley
Burnley's away form is abysmal, so they will have to keep up their winning ways at home to keep notching up points for safety. Spurs look very hot at the moment and clearly put their back-to-back defeats against Chelsea and Man United behind them. This was another result we saw coming.

Wigan 3-1 Chelsea
Shock of the day by far, Chelsea's 100% start to the season is over, as we welcome Roberto Martinez's to the Premier League masterminding Wigan's first win over a Big Four side. Strangely, Gary predicted this one. Well done!

Fulham 0-1 Arsenal
Funnily I was on my own in predicting an Arsenal win, but on the whole they did have to battle for the win in a game which could have easily gone the other way.

Sunderland 5-2 Wolves
Great start to the season from Sunderland; they certainly know how to hit the back of the net that's for sure. Points for Gary and myself on this one.

Man City 3-1 West Ham
Tevez scored twice against his former club, but he certainly didn't do an Adebayor and rub it in their nose. The points go to me and Gary once again.

Still no changes in the league table as Chris continues his lead, on 41 points, I remain in second place on 36 points, and last but not least is Gary on 34 points.

That's last weekend's round-up done and dusted, let's move swiftly along to this weekend's predictions.

Predictions

Aston Villa vs. Man City
Chris: Man City
Ian: Man City
Gary: Draw

Bolton vs. Tottenham
Chris: Tottenham
Ian: Tottenham
Gary: Tottenham

Burnley vs. Birmingham
Chris: Burnley
Ian: Burnley
Gary:Burnley

Hull vs. Wigan
Chris: Draw
Ian: Wigan
Gary: Wigan

Man United vs. Sunderland
Chris: Man United
Ian: Man United
Gary: Man United

Wolves vs. Portsmouth
Chris: Wolves
Ian: Draw
Gary: Wolves

Arsenal vs. Blackburn
Chris: Arsenal
Ian: Arsenal
Gary: Arsenal

Chelsea vs. Liverpool
Chris: Chelsea
Ian: Draw
Gary: Draw

Everton vs. Stoke City
Chris: Everton
Ian: Everton
Gary: Draw

West Ham vs. Fulham
Chris: West Ham
Ian: Draw
Gary: Fulham

Sheriff Kimbo's Thursday Thoughts #6

I see that Emmanual Adebayor got a £25,000 fine for his goal celebrations. Is it just me or should footballers fines be based on a percentage and not fixed amount? Let us say that a League Two player did the same thing. If he is fined £25,000, it is enormous. Adebayor being fined £25,000 is like most of us being fined around £100 - which is so sickening in itself that it is beyond belief. Sadly, as a Villa fan, it is even more frustrating to see that his two-game ban is suspended so he is available for Monday's game. That's less than ideal, isn't it!

Speaking of the Villa, it was extremely frustrating to see the penalty given against Richard Dunne that ultimately cost us the game. I also believe the tactics played a major part but that is a discussion for another time. The thing is that, week after week after week after week after week there are so decisions that officials get wrong that it is mind-boggling. Look at this past week alone, and there were plenty of decisions that potentially changed the course of matches. Wigan's first goal against Chelsea - corner, ball not in the arc when the corner is taken. Burnley's disallowed goal - not offside. Rangers penalty claim that was not given - one of the worst decisions I have ever seen made by a match official. Then there are all the frustrating incidents that happen in every game. Foul throws not given; obstructions ignored; distance gained on throw-ins; the horrific amount of back-chat from players; and so on. I strongly suggest that this is looked at. It won't be, of course. But it should.

On the subject of foul throws, there actually have been two given in the last two games (one was a Cardiff player, then Ashley Young did it at Blackburn) so fair is fair - well done to the officials on that one! Hey, I'm a fair man, me!

Carson Yeung's takeover at our friendly neighbours has not been met with much approval by the great unwashed. In fact, one of my best mates (who is sadly a nose; I have no doubt that our friendship would be even better if he followed the right team) sent me a text that, whilst certainly not suitable for publishing on this website, can be described as 'showing concern'. I hope he is correct!

How good has Ryan Giggs looked lately? He is certainly not looking like a man in the twilight of his career. He is an absolute example for anyone looking to make a career in football. When he won the PFA Players Player of the Year I shook my head because it appeared to be much of a 'Lifetime Achievement Award' rather than being actually relevant to last season - and I stand by that. But he is undoubtedly still a top, top player and I for one can't help but admire him.

Giggs is an example of why I don't hate Manchester United as much as I should! Don't get me wrong - there ARE things I hate about them. Their 'fan' base for one thing is undoubtedly impressive (and for whatever reason always has been) but the typical glory hunting ManUre 'fan' disgusts me, in all honesty. In fact, apart from one bloke I met that was in his 50's, from Moss Side and, in his own words, "Loves United but hates 90% of the fans", I can't really say that I have met a fan of United who is in the same mould of fans I have met that support most other clubs; I say most because Liverpool fans generally fall into the same category.

With all that said, I don't really hate United the way I should. Sure, I despise Gary Neville (what an absolutely vile piece of vermin he is) and there are a few others (Nani especially springs to mind) that I would gladly punch in the face. But if I was listing, say, my five favourite players that have no Villa connection, I would probably have three United players in there - Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs. If you're REALLY interested, the other two would probably be Steven Gerrard (oh how that pains me to say!) and Lionel Messi. The other thing about United is that I just love watching them play. Out of the other 'Sky 4' sides, only Arsenal come close on the entertainment level. But while Arsenal play prettier football in a way, Man U are more exciting to watch because they have a directness about them that Arsenal don't. I am a little excited about Fergie retiring though, because even though I think United will do just fine without him, I can see a whole set of new problems heading their way that they haven't really had to deal with. Plus with Scholes and Giggs on their way out at some point in the not-too-distant future, United could find themselves in a couple of years facing bigger challenges than they have had to face since that FA Cup win back in 1990.

I feel a little dirty after saying them nice things about ManUre so I am off for a shower. Speak to you next week, y'all!

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Friday, 30 October 2009

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Wednesday, 28 October 2009

Tuesday, 27 October 2009

Saturday, 24 October 2009

Friday, 23 October 2009

Thursday, 22 October 2009

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

Sunday, 18 October 2009

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Saturday, 17 October 2009

Thursday, 15 October 2009

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

Monday, 12 October 2009

Sunday, 11 October 2009

England

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Friday, 9 October 2009

Thursday, 8 October 2009

Wednesday, 7 October 2009

Tuesday, 6 October 2009

Sunday, 4 October 2009

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Saturday, 3 October 2009

Friday, 2 October 2009

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